After Aeliana used the power of her Dryad Transformation, her partially-transformed appearance was revealed to everyone.
It wasn’t just Solana who had realized she had complete control of it; the other three people also grasped the situation.
The doubts in their hearts were dispelled, and they accepted their punishment without a complaint.
After Aeliana removed the obstruction, she strolled over to her mother, who had been hesitant to embrace her due to her dirty state.
Nevertheless, Solana was freed of dirt and wounds after Aeliana cast some simple healing and cleansing spells on her body.
Shortly after, the two embraced each other intimately, but Aeliana’s previous emotional state was no longer present.
Only calmness or indifference could be found on her face, masked by the rain.
“Do you blame me, Allie?” Solana softly asked.
She wouldn’t be surprised if her daughter resented her for letting her live and suffer over the past three years.
The malevolent aura her daughter had previously revealed only gave her a glimpse of how much she had suffered.
Nevertheless, Solana didn’t care what had become of her daughter; she was very content with Aeliana returning to her, alive and well.
It was more than she could ask for.
Although Aeliana did blame her mother at one point, such feelings of resentment disappeared after she reunited with her mother.
In the end, she was still her mother’s child.
She would rather be the one to endure all the misery and torment than to see her mother suffer. But, of course, the same applied to her Lord.
“I don’t blame you, Mother,” Aeliana replied.
“That’s good, that’s good…” Solana’s heart felt unburdened before she urged, “Come, let’s head back to Sunpeak Town. There’s much for us to talk about once we return.”
“Yes, Mother,” Aeliana obediently nodded.
However, after a short pause, she suddenly glanced at the other three injured people with a stern and fierce look.
- “My recovery is to be kept secret for the time being. If I hear a word of it spreading in Sunpeak Town, I will hunt down every one of you,” Aeliana warned before she sought their confirmation, “Is that understood?”
“Yes, Lord Aeliana—!” Maria and the two Aura Grandmasters loudly replied before violently coughing due to their internal injuries.
After Solana recovered some mana, she helped them recover for the return trip with Light Magic.
Although Aeliana’s attack had been heavy, Maria and the two Aura Grandmasters did not blame her for punishing them. They deserved it.
In fact, they had gotten off lightly.
After all, Aeliana was legally still the Lord of Sunpeak Town, the Lady they serve after Lady Solana.
If Aeliana wanted to execute them for pointing their weapons at her and falsely accusing her of being a demon, it would have been well within her authority.
“I still find it hard to believe… How did Lord Aeliana return from the Abomination state? I thought it was an impossible feat.”
“I also thought the same, but we can’t deny what we’ve seen with our eyes. And as curious as I am right now, we won’t know how Lord Aeliana recovered until Lord Aeliana decides to divulge the information to us.”
…
Sometime later, Solana and Aeliana returned to Sunpeak Town during the night with over a dozen other people after encountering them along the way.
Nevertheless, Solana Immediately noticed the rare festive atmosphere in town.
However, there was one problem – the townspeople in the central district weren’t celebrating their recovery from the curse that had been lifted.
Instead, they were rejoicing over the sales of their properties as they loaded their carts with their belongings.
At the same time, Solana and Aeliana found a row of people lining up to sell their property deed to a Senior Witch. The person was buying out all their properties for less than thirty low-rank mana stones.
Those who offered lower prices had priorities over others.
As such, a few central district property owners even offered to sell their homes for as low as fifteen low-rank mana stones.
“What on earth is going on here…?”
Solana expressed her surprise along with the people that returned with her, except for Aeliana, who retained a calm look.
Nevertheless, they eventually grasped the situation after she listened to the folks talk with joy.
After being freed from the curse of the inability to use magic and aura, the witches and aura users were free to leave Sunpeak Town and travel to other cities.
It was great timing that a wealthy Senior Witch came to buy out their properties with low-rank mana stones. They could use the mana stones to fund their travels and help them settle in other, more prosperous cities.
Solana didn’t blame the townspeople for leaving. However, she didn’t like the wealthy Senior Witch exploiting them.
She wasn’t stupid.
With the curse lifted, Sunpeak Town was bound to rise again. If the townspeople had just waited for a period of time, they would have sold their properties and land for much better prices.
“Hmph!” Solana snorted with displeasure.
She quickly strolled to the front of the line, which was located right outside an old inn, ready to give the wealthy Senior Witch an earful and kick her out of her town.
Her townspeople had suffered a lot alongside her. Even if they wanted to leave, she couldn’t allow them to settle for piss-poor changes.
But before Solana could open her mouth to spew a bunch of words, Dahlia, with her quick wits, spoke first after sensing the incoming trouble.
“Wait a moment. You must be Lady Solana,” Dahlia hurriedly stood up from behind her counter to welcome her with a friendly smile. “And before you say anything, I want to let you know that Sir Vahn sent me here.”
She had quickly deducted Solana’s identity with a short glance.
“He also anticipated that you might make things difficult for me, so he instructed me to hand you this letter. I mean no trouble, Lady Solana.”
Dahlia didn’t hesitate to pass Vaan’s letter over to Solana.
In that instance, the words Solana wanted to say were immediately stuck in her throat like a fishbone.
“You… Uh, Sir Vaan did?” Solana stuttered, caught off-guard by Dahlia’s preparedness.
At the same time, she did not notice the subtle difference in pronunciation between Vaan and Vahn when Dahlia mentioned the person.
Nevertheless, Aeliana silently and promptly informed her about Vaan and Vahn.