"Tree Woman" Anastasia

Meanwhile, Iver and Grace, who were teleported directly, landed in a sparsely populated wheat field.

After Grace landed, her first thought was to check on Iver's condition.

After checking and finding him to be completely unharmed, the elven girl said half-jokingly, "Isn't Her Majesty Titania quite adorable?"

"Really."

Iver nodded in agreement.

Calling a celestial being "cute" seems a bit odd, but it's perfectly fitting for Titania.

"Come with me," Grace said casually. "Go anywhere. If His Majesty is willing, we're sure we can find Anastasia."

Is it really that amazing?

After thinking about it, Iver followed Grace.

After walking for a while, Grace, feeling a little bored, fell behind by two steps and walked alongside Iver, chatting with him. "Did you know that Her Titania of this generation is actually only a little over two hundred years old, even younger than me?"

Grace's opening remarks were completely unexpected.

Iver was somewhat surprised. "This generation...?"

"Don't you know? The Fairy Queen is called Titania, and the Fairy King is called Oberon. For us lovely, kind neighbors, they can change their names at any time. But only the name 'Your Majesty' is fixed."

Grace reminisced. "When I was a child, I was learning how to make ' Moonlight Wine,' and once I licked my fingers because I was greedy. As a result, after I fell asleep, my soul drifted into the Fairy Kingdom."

"I happened to see a little girl at the time. She was a Half-Elf... to use your human age as an analogy, she was probably only eleven or twelve years old. I was a little older than her at the time, and I played with her for a long time until my mother caught me and took me home. I was scolded by my mother for a long time after that day, and I never made that mistake again."

"After I truly mastered the inheritance, I entered the Fairy Kingdom again using my own power. That's when I saw her again."

"—At that time, she had already become a fairy and completely forgotten her name as an elf. The flower bud she hatched was a lily, hence her white dress; while I hadn't yet condensed wings, and my back was bare. Also, because I would glow green when resonating with the Path of Beauty... I called her Little Lily, and she called me Little Leaf."

"Not long after, I heard that a new Queen had been appointed. So my mother took me to pay my respects... That's when I learned that Little Lily had become the new Titania."

Grace reminisced as she strolled through the wheat field with Iver.

Unlike her distant and polite demeanor outside, she became much more lively after entering the Fairy Kingdom.

At this moment, Iver's expression was somewhat strange. "Speaking of which... how old is Anastasia?"

"Eighty-seven years old."

Grace answered immediately.

—Very good, even older than Her Majesty Queen Sophia.

Iver thought to himself.

And what about you?

"I have over two hundred."

"She sounds even younger than Her Highness the Saintess?"

"Hmm, about right. I should be a little smaller," Madam Grace said lightly.

That means she's smaller than both Pure White and Yanis.

Iver pressed further, "How old were you when you met Mr. Maxim?"

"I think it was over 130. I was just a little girl back then."

Madam Grace, with her hands behind her back, said with a smile, "I know what you're thinking, Mr. Iver. Indeed, Maxim was over three hundred years old at the time... He looked just like my father to us."

"However, we Tai Yi as humans. We generally reach adulthood at the age of 100, so I am already an adult. That is the moment when 'two digits' break through to 'three digits'. It signifies the transition from the second beauty, representing 'innocence,' to the third, representing 'responsibility,' of dedication."

"At the same time, the 'one' contained within 'one hundred years old' is also the Sacred Number of love. Therefore, elves are only allowed to reproduce from the age of one hundred. Their bodies also begin to develop from that point onward... Before that, both men and women would appear very thin."

It wasn't just his imagination— Iver had always felt that Mrs. Grace looked quite young. Tai Yi from the composed and steady Maxim. Previously, Iver had thought it was due to Grace's heritage, but now it seemed she truly was very young. She must have been less than half her age when she gave birth to Anastasia.

No wonder she still has the childlike heart to use fairy magic even though her child is so grown up.

"That's why I hope Anastasia can live a few more years..."

At this point, the smile on her face faded considerably, and her voice softened. "When she was in her thirties, she showed signs of treeification. Even by your human standards, thirty is considered young to have a terminal illness, isn't it?"

"...really."

"But for us elves, that's only the first third of adulthood. By the time she was in her fifties, the treeification disease had already entered the second stage. Once it enters the third stage, it's basically impossible to awaken her."

"I just hope she can live to adulthood."

"I just hope to celebrate her 100th birthday... to celebrate her coming of age."

Grace was somewhat melancholy. "When you see her later, please don't look surprised, afraid, or pitying... That child is very sensitive."

"I lied about something before. You guessed right, she did use ' True Illusion.' That's First Ring of the 'Moonlight' lineage of illusion magic."

"The reason she used ' True Illusion '... is because she felt she had become very ugly. Mr. Yunus said he encountered an 'elf girl.' That means what he saw was definitely not the real Anastasia..."

Grace's words came to an abrupt halt.

Because they had already spotted a girl in the distance.

—Or rather, it "might" have been a girl.

She wore a light gold long dress, long enough to cover her legs. It had been dragging on the ground for a long time, and the ends were worn, faded, and tattered.

She didn't have the graceful figure of a girl, but rather resembled a hunched and withered old woman.

Like a leafless sapling wearing a skirt under the moonlight.

She raised her hands high, like a tree raising its branches—her arms were covered with a layer of dry, white bark that completely covered her skin, and the joints of her left arm and right wrist were bent backward, with branches emerging from above.

But no butterfly-like fairies perched on those raised branches.

She gazed wistfully at her hands—a flower rested in her palm.

Those were clearly not flowers that grew on her body, but rather flowers that had been taken by a fairy.

At this moment, she was half asleep and half awake. Bathed in sunlight, she was quietly drowsy.

"Aya."

Grace called her daughter by her nickname softly.

This young mother finally exuded a clear gentleness. Only at this moment could Iver truly feel... that she was indeed a mother worried about her daughter's health, rather than a still innocent and carefree girl.

"Mother!"

Anastasia was startled when she heard the call.

She wanted to turn back, but it was very difficult for her.

With her turn, a stiff, creaking sound rang out. As her skirt swayed, Iver could see that her legs had transformed into tree trunks. Her face was almost completely covered by bark. Only a small area, about the size of a palm, still showed soft, bloodless skin, where her youthful and beautiful features could be faintly discerned.

Like a petrified person, the petrification begins at the extremities and gradually spreads towards the face... At this point, the petrification has reached its final stage, leaving only that face filled with fear.

She looked up, half at the sky and half at her raised hand. She gazed at the sky as if trying to break free from it.

Just by trying to bend down, the tree trunk emits a terrifying creaking sound.

Rather than saying she transformed into a tree, it's more accurate to say a girl was trapped inside a twisted and terrifying tree—

She was startled the moment she saw Iver.

In an instant, Iver saw the "Tree Woman" suddenly become blurry and indistinct.

The next moment, a little girl in a light gold dress came running over in a panic. "Mommy! Why... why didn't you tell me you were bringing a friend..."

She looks at least 80% like Grace, like Grace's sister.

Iver leaned closer in surprise, only to find that she was warm and had a faint fragrance from her hair.

Everything seemed so real.