A Villainess Should Be Strong

"First of all, let's heal her. If she was really on the run, getting involved with her older sister is going to be.. bad. Like, literally a disaster," Heine said.

Minerva could only perform basic levels of healing magic, so it made sense that she could not fully recover. Compared to her, Heine and Estelle had a much higher understanding on the magic and could revitalize her easily.

Estelle was still confused, but she cooperated with Heine and healed Minerva.

It was not just her physical state that got affected, her mental state was also on the brink of collapse. Even though they had healed her to a perfectly healthy state, she still refused to wake up.

"Err, this should be because she didn't sleep for.. probably days," Heine scratched the back of his head.

Worse off, Yulia was a drunkard. She was someone who enjoyed drinking for an energy boost. The amount of scattered wine bottles on the floor after she came out of a secluded research would be equivalent to how much alcohol the merriest pub in the town served for a week.

She only liked to drink a special brew from the Elven Kingdoms. It was named the Moonlight Wine. It is said that the Elven lands contained particles of the Moon Goddess' divine powers, and most of it was concentrated in the royal palace.

The Moonlight Wine brew was not something anyone could just easily get a hold of. It required the wine to be composed of a specific species of mutated grapes that only grew inside the Royal Palace's gardens, where it was directly exposed to the divine particles.

The country's best winemakers would then be brought to the palace, where they had to meticulously take care of the grapes and ferment in under special conditions.

The wine could not be separated from the source of divine power, so the entire process had to be done inside the palace.

Storing was another problem.

All and all, it was a very troublesome thing to get your hands on.

Now, the only reason a human like Yulia Eire could get an abundant supply of such rare wine was simply because, she played a major part in the Elven Kingdom's safety.

Just like how Minerva could forcefully awaken someone's power and elevate their potential, Yulia Eire was absurdly adept in the arts of seals and barriers.

Thus, an exchange was made. The Elven Kingdom would provide her with the wine, and Yulia would create a barrier that would protect the Elven Forest in its entirety.

And how was that same Yulia Eire dangerous, you say?

Because the wine was a deadly weapon when it crossed her research.

The wine would basically provide her with the last energy spurt at the culminating stage of the entire process.

What made the Moonlight Wine so different with the other wines?

The high level of intoxication.

"MINERVA, WHERE THE F*CK ARE YOU?!" A loud scream that seemed to hold enough power to shake the earth itself was slowly getting closer to where they were standing.

"As I thought... Do I really have to deal with this sh*t again..?" Heine's face was drained from energy as he lamented.

"How far could she go?" Estelle knew the gist of things just by Heine's former reactions and the incoming scream.

"At her worst... maybe burn down a couple of houses?"

"...As much as I'd like to ignore it, we're in my house. Hell no, we are getting out of here!" Estelle cast enhancement magic on herself and princess carried the knocked out Minerva as she leapt high enough to step on the roofs.

"You're running away... Good, good! We were about to finish that sh*t, you ran away at such a crucial time! Let me catch you, you little punk!" Yulia let out maniacal screams as she followed suit. The crimson locks of her sister was akin to the red cloth used to instigate bulls in bullfights.

Only, Estelle the Matador was not on the attacking side, but rather the defensive side.

Estelle quickly contacted Heine using a mind connection.

[I don't even know what she looks like! I can't look back, I'm damn scared!] Estelle felt chills running up her spine. Even though she had not even made a single eye contact with her mentor's sister, her piercing stare directed at her back was enough to deter her from ever making that decision.

Heine had hidden himself seconds before Estelle ran up to the roofs. Receiving Estelle's message, he chuckled in delight.

One's misery was another's happiness.

[Don't worry, just play cat and mouse for a few hours and Yulia should be down. If you're lucky, maybe you can stop her..? I'd advise you not to, though. She'll go full offense once you attack her.]

[You damned- YOU BETRAYED ME TWICE! SEE HOW I'LL DEAL WITH YOUR DISLOYAL ATTITUDE LATER ON!]

True to Heine's words, Yulia would only chase her, but never attacked her with magic.

Estelle could not risk the chance of being caught off guard by Yulia's foreign magic, as she had never experienced it. She followed Heine's advice and played what seemed to be a never-ending game of tag.

Fortunately, Yulia ended up collapsing after about a little over two hours. Sensing the opponent's pause in movements, Estelle halted.

Letting out a sigh in relief after confirming that the other party was unable to continue the pointless chase, Estelle was finally able to take a good look at her mad chaser.

Yulia Eire had straight white blonde locks and was clad in simple black robes and a dress underneath. She was not even wearing shoes. Her adrenaline proved its worth as her feet was visibly bloody, and yet she showed no signs of stopping moments before she collapsed.

[She looks like->

"She looks like an elf? That's because she is one," Heine's voice came from behind.

As a reflex, Estelle created an energy ball in her palm and launched it against the entity behind her.

"Calm down there," Heine formed a barrier as a protective measure and diffused the energy ball in great haste.

"...You f*cking bastard. Once everything's finished, you think you can just act like nothing happened and walk here calmly? Have some shame, you piece of sh*t," Estelle scowled.

"I'd like to be called an opportunist instead. I pride myself in making profitable choices at all time," Heine smiled, unbothered at her words.

"Nevermind that, what do you mean she's an elf? Isn't she Minerva's sister?"

"... The reason is probably not very appealing to hear," Heine's gaze grew clouded.

"Truth doesn't need to be appealing,"

"Guess so," Heine gazed at the two collapsed beauties in pity.

"To put it simply, one of the reasons why Witches are despised is because of their special genes," Heine sucked in a deep breath. "After delivering a baby that has a Witch's bloodline, the mother has a very high chance of dying. The baby will unconsciously start sucking the nearest cold energy, which conveniently happens to spike in a pregnant woman's body,"

"You're saying that Yulia's mother didn't survive,"

"Of course. But I doubt that anybody would want her to continue living," Heine clenched his fist. "Both Yulia and Minerva's mothers were forcefully assaulted by their abomination of a father,"

"..What about the father? How's he doing right now? More importantly, why have you never told me this?" Estelle was confused as to what she was supposed to feel.

Anger? She had never met the father. To say that it was anger would be too far of a stretch. She disliked the man just from the stories, but that was it.

Pity? Even if the situation was one that would elicit pity, she doubted that Minerva would like to be pitied for something she was not directly involved in.

"Minerva killed him," Heine was a living eyewitness of the incident.

"Oh," Strangely, Estelle felt glad.

"And I personally don't believe that one's past should get in the future's way, so I deemed it unnecessary to tell you. Minerva is still Minerva," Heine clarified.

"Yeah. Fair enough,"

"Estelle..? Happy birthday... I made it to the party, right?? Be careful, I think my sister.." Minerva fluttered her eyelids, struggling to open her eyes fully but failed repeatedly.

The two hours long sleep proved to be not enough to make up for the mental stress she was under during the secluded research.

"Just sleep. You're tired. I'll carry you to our home," Estelle squatted and covered Minerva's eyes.

Minerva gave up to the promise of great slumber once again as she closed her eyes, her breathing becoming steadier every passing second.

Yeah, she was glad.

"Thank you, Minerva," Estelle said as a reply to the crimson-haired lady's well wishes.

"It's past midnight. It's not your birthday anymore," Heine chided.

"Some words are not meant to be spoken out loud. Maybe you should study that line," Estelle jabbed the King with shallow strength, clearly joking around.