episode_0126

“This was truly the best gift.”

Rupert was drawing cartoons in his studio late at night.

He had not worked at night unless it was really urgent since he collapsed from overwork the other day, but since receiving the gift from the goddess, he has not felt tired much.

Even if I stay up all night, I wake up refreshed after sleeping for an hour or two, so the time I spend working naturally increases.

‘They said they will call the royal family soon.’

It was a blessing in disguise for Rupert, who was busy moving forward and desperately needed time to devote to cartoons.

-Sir Rupert, I’m glad it ended well, but it was really dangerous.

This was what Julius, the Emperor’s Count of the Palace, who came down in person to confirm the facts, said to Rupert after completing his investigation.

This was more of a warning than a piece of advice to spare Rupert.

If only the Somerset family had been involved in this affair, it would have been different, but from the prince to the royal family of other countries and even the heirs of the Margrave family, a powerful noble family in the empire.

It is an undeniable fact that the people involved in this incident are extremely dangerous.

So, Edric had no choice but to follow Count Julius back to the palace.

In fact, since Rupert was trusted by both the Emperor and the Crown Prince, there was no particular word.

If these people had gathered in another noble’s mansion, the original emperor’s appearance might have emerged.

Because the emperor was a person who could sacrifice even his own children without any blood or tears for the sake of imperial power.

***

“Rash, why don’t you transform?”

The once bustling mansion became deserted again after all the guests left.

But Ada was still filling the deserted mansion with noise.

Ada is currently holding Rash’s ball in the garden of the mansion and questioning him about the transformation.

“Huh?”

But Ratchet just ignored it with a look in his eyes as if to say, “What is that?” as if it had nothing to do with him.

“Dad and brother said they saw you transform into a human, Rash!”

Ada was glaring at Rash as if there was no way out, but in fact, Rash also felt wronged.

“Boom! Boom!”

“What? Transformation is impossible in the future?”

When Ada, who had managed to understand what Rash was saying, asked again, Rash nodded as if to say yes.

Originally, the Blue Werewolf clan grew up in wolf form until they had their coming of age ceremony.

When they become adults, they are usually protected by their clan and consume the blue flower that they are guardians of to take on their true form.

At this time, someone was needed to guide the energy of the blue flower that was embedded in the body.

However, since there are no parents or elders in the clan who can guide the energy that resides in Rash’s body, even if he eats the blue flower like he did when he dealt with Satanael, he will only be able to transform for a short time.

It was a situation where it was impossible to awaken as Ratsh intended.

“Boom!”

“Should I do it?”

Again Ratchet nodded.

The reason he took such good care of Ada and fed her the clan’s treasure, the Blue Flower, and various elixirs from the forest was because he thought that Ada was the only one who could guide his energy.

However, Ada could not know this, so she climbed on top of Rash and whined, asking him to teach her how to transform.

***

“Thank you!”

“No, it’s nothing like this… .”

Rupert was embarrassed to see Xenia’s lips rising to a frown as if she couldn’t hide her happiness in front of him.

– Mr. Rupert, may I ask you a favor?

Rupert was very nervous as he watched Xenia come to him and ask if she could ask him a favor.

That would be expected, since it was a request from Xenia, who in the original work displayed an obsession bordering on madness and merciless cruelty.

Of course, I knew that the original and the current Xenia were different, but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

but,

-Please sign the book!

Sigh.

Xenia’s request was to have Rupert’s precious collection of books autographed by her.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you to do it last time I came, but Rupert looked so tired that I couldn’t bring myself to ask you… .”

Xenia speaks excitedly as Rupert signs each of her books.

“I see. Huh? This must have been hard to get… .”

“Hey… I borrowed money from the teacher for a 10-year contract to get this.”

What caught Rupert’s eye while he was signing was none other than the Cinderella fairy tale book he had produced as a limited edition.

Initially, only 100 copies were released, so it was extremely difficult to obtain, and Xenia also began to explain how difficult it was to obtain it.

After listening to it for a while, Rupert was finally able to accept that Xenia was a completely different character from the original.

“I guess you really like Cinderella.”

“Yes… I actually like The Dog of Flanders too, but my favorite is Cinderella.”

Xenia answers Rupert’s question by caressing the book as if it were precious.

It was still a smiling face, but unlike before, it was a smile with a hint of bitterness.

“Can I ask why?”

“Yes?”

“Oh, if you don’t mind, you don’t have to answer. I’m just curious.”

Xenia looked puzzled, as if she didn’t know Rupert would ask her why.

But soon, he started talking with a more serious look than before, as if everything was okay.

“Actually, I don’t have parents. They both passed away when I was young.”

“Ah… I asked a pointless question.”

“No. That’s why I stayed at my uncle’s house. In fact, I was beaten and scolded every day.”

Xenia spoke as if it was nothing, but Rupert could hear the sadness in her voice.

He also knew well the hardships of not having parents.

“But one day, a kid living next door came to me with a book and bragged about it to me.”

The kid next door who was bragging about his pirated copies that were briefly on the market in the early days, rather than the genuine ones sold at the top of Uren.

“Actually, now that I think about it, it was so crude that it couldn’t even compare to what Rupert drew, but at the time, it became an invaluable memory for me.”

Xenia said that Cinderella, the main character in the fairy tale, felt like her.

And Xenia says that Cinderella finally meeting the prince and having a happy ending is what made her who she is today.

“Do you know what my nickname was in town?”

“… No, I don’t know.”

Actually, the witch did come to mind, but Rupert wasn’t oblivious enough to say it out loud.

“She was a witch. The red-haired parent-eating bitch. From my uncle’s family to the village people called me the witch Xenia.”

When Rupert heard Xenia’s words, he suddenly remembered the time when he was making The Little Mermaid.

Originally, the main character of The Little Mermaid had red hair, but Rupert felt embarrassed at having to change it because he was worried that people would react negatively to red hair appearing in children’s books at the time.

So when he was making , he intentionally changed the main character Nero’s hair to red, but it is still one of the things he regrets to this day.

“If I hadn’t seen Rupert’s fairy tale book back then, I might have really become a witch.”

Xenia gained strength and persevered by seeing the main characters in fairy tales go through hardships and eventually find happiness.

They said that fairy tale-like miracles happened one after another to Xenia.

From the time he met his teacher, Eustace, while reading Rupert’s first comic book, The Ice Kingdom.

While reading , he developed a new magic and gained everyone’s recognition.

“All of me would not exist without you, Rupert.”

For Xenia, Rupert was the man who changed her life.

“… There was a portrait of a woman once upon a time.”

After listening to Xenia’s story, Rupert remained silent for a while and then started talking out of the blue.

“The portrait painted by the best artist of the time became instantly famous. Do you know why?”

“Couldn’t the model for the portrait have been a beauty?”

“Hmm… It was just an ordinary portrait. But the reason it became famous was because everyone who saw it had different opinions.”

-Some said he was smiling, some said he had a blank expression, and some said he seemed angry.

Xenia finds herself absorbed in Rupert’s story.

“That’s really amazing, I guess we’ve seen the same picture.”

“Yes, we all saw the same picture. But our impressions were different.”

Rupert smiled and replied to Xenia’s answer.

“It’s the same. I’ve made many books, but the reactions from people who read them are all different.”

“Yes?”

“Some people were even angry that the villains weren’t properly punished in the ending?”

“Really?”

Xenia laughs, thinking Rupert’s words are a joke. Rupert laughs, unable to bring himself to say that it really happened and that she is the princess of the empire.

“It’s not because of my work, but because Xenia is a good person that I’m happy.”

“… Really? I still doubt myself.”

In fact, although Xenia was now recognized by everyone and was living a happier life than before, she sometimes felt anxious for no reason.

Whenever I thought that someone might take away this good luck that had come to me, I couldn’t stop feeling depressed and anxious.

“Jenia, who said she wanted to become a hero after reading my book, wasn’t she originally a hero, not a witch?”

“… .”

“I have also created works and regretted them and sometimes even ran away. But you are much stronger and more wonderful than me. Jenia.”

Xenia felt her heart pounding again at Rupert’s heartfelt words.