CH 38

Chapter 38 – To the Capital of the Empire (1) 

And so I became the mother of a child, and then decided to raise this boy well…was nowhere near my plan.

“Why would I be your mom….gross.”

So the reason why Andrew thought I was his mother was also nonsense.

“The fact that you came to me, that we met, and how you suddenly suggested that we go to the Island of Lost Souls was very entertaining, mother.”

He probably thought that I used magic or disguise to look like a rabbitman and led him here.

“Because I knew so much about this?”

“Yes. So, please return to your true self. Ah, is it because you don’t have this?”

Andrew reached out his hand as if he were to hand me over the jewel.

“Don’t say such stupid things. It’s giving me goosebumps.”

When I refused with all my heart, Andrew snorted.

“You are the one who is weird now, mother. Isn’t it bizarre that the Ice Queen decided to turn herself not into a human, but a rabbit?”

I tried to get Andrew to his senses, but he was not listening. So, it would be a waste of time to keep denying.

“You got me. I really tried hard to hide.”

Well, then I will just be his mom. It’s not like I’m actually his mom.

“Mother!!!”

But Andrew hugged me with so much built up emotion. Well, since he was bigger than me, I felt suffocated.

“Stop this!”

I tried to release his grasp, but he didn’t let go.

“Why are you so shy hugging your own son?”

“No, it’s suffocating! If you let go of me, I will kick you!”

Andrew finally let me go after I said that.

“So, mother. What will you do now?”

Andrew asked me with a serious tone, as I fixed my hair.

“What do you mean?”

“Since you have risen, and gotten your heart, will you reclaim the throne? Or will you take revenge on the world?”

I looked at Andrew and shrugged.

“Well, I will first check out the place for a bit. I need to find Pucci.”

“Pucci? That legendary slave trader?”

“Yup.”

“But why would you go look for him?”

Andrew seemed to be confused. It was a petty goal for a Queen of Ice to have.

“Well, I have a reason. He is involved in my death.”

I pretended to be angry. I wasn’t that bad at acting like a mother for the first time.

“I see. I will come with you.”

Andrew said that he would follow me right away, but I held his shoulders freaking out.

“No. This is your mother’s business. You stay here.”

To be honest, he would help out a lot, but if I were to continue this act, I would actually become a mother or make a mistake after losing my mind.

“You are pushing me away, even though you just met me.”

Was he sulking?

“That’s impossible. I want you to keep my heart. I will come back for it oneday.”

Andrew nodded.

“I understand, since I’m not a little kid. Please come back for it. I will treasure this and keep it safe.”

He was acting all mature compared to being a baby earlier. 

“Okay. I will be back soon.”

To be honest, to bring her back to life, I would have to go around more islands and retrieve the other body parts, but since there was no reason or need to bring that evil lady back, it shouldn’t be a problem. I still felt sorry for Andrew.

“Still, I am glad.”

Andrew smiled again.

“To be honest, I thought you would again bring the world to its end, and if conquering the world was your plan, I would have put you to sleep again. Since that is my duty as your son.”

I guess that he would stop his mother as the son even though he really missed her? As I expected, he was a good guy, although he was mean on the outside.

“You use ice magic yet you talk unlike a sorcerer.”

“Huh? What do you mean, mother?”

“There’s just something like that.”

“What? Where did everybody go?”

As I looked around the ship, I found Arje and the pirates walking over.

“Arje! Where were you leaving the ship behind?”

Looking at Arje’s expression, I thought that maybe she had gotten lost, but looking at how confidently they were walking and the treasures they were holding, I suspected that it wasn’t the case.

“We were on Bonnie’s ship.”

“Bonnie? To get those?”

“Yes. Miss Mary said that she wanted to.”

“Just call me Mary, your highness!”

The confident Mary freaked out and lowered herself.

“Seriously, stop. It feels like you are making fun of me.”

Arje was still complaining, and I assumed that it was how Mary acted that made her uncomfortable.

Thud!

The pirates started to place the equipment one by one onto the ground. There were things like food, weapons, and even treasures. It seemed as if they had emptied everything on the boat.

“Where is that box from?”

“Oh, this? I got it from the captain’s room. There must be something great inside.”

There was a treasure box that the pirates struggled to bring over. I watched them open the chest using a lever, since it was interesting.

“It’s opening!”

There were various treasures inside, and one caught my attention.

“Would you like one? I’ll let you have one since you helped us.”

Putting back Mary’s generous offer, what I held up was a thick balance sheet wrapped in brown leather.

“I don’t think that’s a treasure. You want that?”

Mary asked why I would want something that appeared so worthless, but it had important information inside.

“Arje, look.”

I showed the book to Arje.

“Goodness.”

Arje looked inside in disbelief.

“Don’t you think that we now know where Pucci is?”

Inside were all the transactions between Bonnie and Pucci. Seeing how there were locations and dates written in detail, Bonnie must have held this to use against him in case of betrayal. Although it was no use being dead now.

“How dare they do that in the capital of the empire….”  

The location in which Pucci and Bonnie traded was all the same. ‘Zeros,’ which was the name of the Empire’s capital, and the last location of my finale.

“Arje, what will you do? Will you go?”

From my question, Arje nodded strongly and closed the book.

“Of course. I cannot believe that they were right under my nose the whole time. I was about to search the entire world without knowing this.”

Arje sighed out loud, then looked over at Mary, who was grabbing all the treasure.

“Miss Mary!”

“Ahhh!”

Mary was surprised from the sudden call of her name. She almost dropped everything.

Was the authority of Arje that powerful?

“Please take us to Zeros. You will, right?”

Arje had been nice until now, but this was more like a command.

Mary said with a flustered expression, ‘yes.’

“If you are to take me to Zeros, the empire will reward you with great gifts. If you want, you could even lead our navy.”

From the shocking offer of Arje, the entire crew froze.

“Let’s go!”

“Come one!”

“We will prepare to set sail immediately!”

The pirates started to run around like crazy, and 

“Like a cruise ship of the empire, we will take you safely and comfortably!”

Mary had her smile from ear to ear and started to order the preparation to set sail.

“Mother, please drop me off first.”

Ah, right. I had forgotten about my son.

“Oh, before that…let’s stop by Profin and let the child…I mean Andrew get off there.”

I almost called him my child. I would really become his mother at this point. It was a good thing that we weren’t taking him along.

“Mother? Mother who?”

Arje looked around, since she had no idea what was going on. There was no one among us who would be called a mother.

“Did the Ice Queen reincarnate?”

Arje shouted from surprise, but Andrew pointed at me.

“Didn’t you know, your majesty? She’s right here!”

Arje blinked as she looked that the direction to which Andrew pointed was me.

“Aris had a kid and was the Ice Queen?”

I tried to deny it, but then I decided to fool her for a little bit, since she got away a little easy this time.

“Sorry, Arje.”

“Oh my, dear Emperor….”

Plop.

Arje fainted on the floor.

“The royal highness has fallen!”

“What the? What’s going on?”

“Move her safely!”

The pirates were surprised for a bit but dragged her below the deck.

“I will go check on her, mother.”

Andrew also followed the pirates down.

“Was that too much of a joke?”

I held onto my stomach and laughed.

…but why did Andrew have to go check on Arje himself? Hmmm…