Let's start over, Your Majesty.

Chapter 90 Elf Family
"No, but... why did you do that?"

This situation was beyond his imagination, and for a moment he didn't know what to say next.

Caroline pressed a button on the desk, and soon the middle-aged housekeeper with a full head of white hair appeared at the door.

"lady."

She seemed to be waiting to be ordered around, showing little reaction to Caroline's changed appearance or even to Caesar's unexpected appearance.

"Go brew a pot of black tea, using the sweet tea leaves that Mr. Hunter gave me last time."

"Yes."

Caroline then looked at Caesar: "Caesar, do you like sweet black tea?"

"I, I'm fine with anything," Caesar replied, somewhat confused.

Caroline sat down on the sofa, pointed to the seat in front of her, and said to him, "If you can, please listen to me slowly."

Caesar sat down, his eyes full of doubt.
He never expected that a mother of Yumilia would suddenly appear, nor did he expect that she would come and not acknowledge Yumilia, but instead behave so strangely and approachably, making him think...
At the time, he only felt that it was strange that a stranger he had only met a few times was looking at Yumilia with loving eyes, but he never imagined that the love was maternal love.
However, looking back now, I seem to have lacked depth in this regard; I panicked the moment I saw Yumilia being targeted.
Hot tea was served quickly. After serving the tea, the butler left and closed the door behind him. Now, only Caesar and Caroline remained in the quiet study.

Caroline took a sip of her black tea, and Caesar tilted his head slightly, re-examining her appearance.
Around the age of thirty, her appearance no longer carried the sophisticated and strong woman's demeanor from before her transformation, but instead exuded a gentle and loving charm.

With her exquisite features, crimson lips, silver hair cascading down her sides, purple eyes, a beauty mark at the corner of her eye, and fair skin, she was indeed remarkably similar to Yumilia in both features, but exuded the dignified air of a mature woman. She was practically a future, enlarged version of Yumilia.

"Caesar, where did you learn your magic?" she asked softly.

“I learned it from the old man next door when I was a child,” Caesar replied.

"I see." Caroline nodded slightly, not pressing further.
She held the teacup in both hands, gazing at a landscape painting hanging on the wall of the room. After a moment of silence, she slowly spoke.

“My original name was Freya, Freya Thranduil.”

Caesar gazed at her silently, waiting for her to continue.

Freya put down her teacup and picked up the pinky ring.

"This is a disguise artifact, given to me by her father. It can completely isolate my original aura, so I can sneak out of the forest to date him. But I've kept it a secret from Yumilia, and she's never seen what I look like in disguise."

“...Yumeria’s father…” Caesar looked at the photo of the handsome elf man wearing the uniform of a major in the Kingdom of Fane.

“His name is Partrig, he is a half-elf, his bloodline is not so pure. My marriage to him also made my father, who is Yumilia’s maternal grandfather, very unhappy. What’s more, he was admitted to the Finn Military Academy and became a soldier in Finn.”

Freya took a deep breath and continued:

“My father, who was the last Elf King, was over five hundred years old. He was a stubborn and inflexible man. Even though the royal family had long lost all the land and all the power, and had become uncared for and ignored, he still insisted on following the ironclad rules that had been passed down from ancient times to the present. We are the subjects of the Elf Kingdom of Romania, and we are not allowed to participate in the affairs of other countries, not allowed to accept charity from other countries, and not allowed to leave our territory at will.”

She gave a mocking smile: "But his so-called territory is nothing more than a small forest and a dilapidated manor. He is all alone, wearing his so-called crown, and he can't even get enough to eat every day, yet he still dreams of his kingdom."

“He wouldn’t allow us to accept Fane’s subsidies to the elves, nor would he allow us to work for Fane. We could only farm in that forest, be self-sufficient, and live the poorest of lives.” “Sometimes when we couldn’t make ends meet, and even the vegetables we grew weren’t enough to eat, he would loosen his grip slightly and let my mother pawn some of our belongings to exchange for bread.”

“I grew up in the forest, and my mother would only take me out occasionally to buy necessities, until I met Partrig,”

“He’s an elf from outside. He told me a lot about the outside world, about the changes, about fashion shows, about beaches full of colorful parasols, and about how elves can live well even if they don’t work.”

“We fell in love. Although my father was very unhappy about his mixed-race identity, there are very few elves left now, and the royal bloodline must be passed down. So he had no choice but to agree to our marriage.”

"Later, we had Yumilia, which was the happiest period of my life. It is very difficult for elves to have children, but I got pregnant in the first year. I felt that she was a gift from the Virgin Mary. I wanted to give her the best of everything, but at that time, I could only give her very little. Sometimes I didn't even have a new dress."

“Patrig told me he wanted to leave this place and venture out into the world so that my mother and I could live a prosperous life, but my father believed that since Patrig had married into the elven royal family, he should abide by the rules here and was not allowed to leave the forest again.”

“Patrice challenged his authority, saying something that thoroughly enraged his father: ‘Romania is long gone, why cling to those rules that nobody cares about?’”

My father drove him out of the forest and forbade me to see him again; that was the first time I truly hated him.

“Even so, we cannot resist him. Even though Romania has perished, he is still the inheritor of the [natural divine right]. Although this power is almost useless after the Great Destruction, it is enough to control us.”

Freya looked at Caesar and explained, "You may not have heard of it, but the power of nature is a power passed down through the Elven race since ancient times, inherited by every Elven King. In the past, this was an important force that maintained the existence of the Elven Kingdom. However, after the Great Destruction, the power that the Elven King could obtain from the power of nature was greatly weakened, and now it may not even be as strong as that of a third-tier mage."

Caesar nodded.

He knew this secret perfectly well; he had even borrowed the power of the natural gods when Eldaria and Romania formed their alliance.

"But he can still use this power to control us. Humans who forcibly enter the forest will be driven out by him with the power of his divine authority. He can summon royal guards and keep track of the elves' aura at all times. Even if I disobey his will and take a small step out of the forest, he will find out and use the power of his divine authority to bring me back and lock me in the basement to reflect on my actions."

Freya shook her head and said, "I can't go with Partrig, I can't rebel against my father."

"Later, my mother also passed away, leaving him all alone. At that time, I hoped almost every day that he would die the next moment, so that I could take Yumilia away from this forest that had imprisoned me for more than seventy years."

Six years later, Patrick secretly came back to me and told me some good news. He said that he had graduated from Fane’s White Dove Military Academy and was now a second lieutenant in an artillery battalion. He would be promoted in the future and become a general with great power to take me and Yumilia out of my father’s control.

“I eagerly awaited that moment. During that period, I often sneaked out to meet him, and thanks to the ring's power, my father couldn't find out at all,”

"After a date, he told me he was about to go to the battlefield, and this was the fastest way to gain military merit and promotion,"

"Just as he said, only five months later, he was promoted to major. He came back to visit me once during his leave, and I boldly brought Yumilia with me to greet him. That night, he held me and told me about his wonderful vision for the future, to take me to see the sea, to travel the world, and to make up for all the freedom I had lost in the past seventy years. I was really proud of him and felt that he was my hero."

That was the last time we met.

Freya's voice trembled as she said this, and deep sorrow welled up in her eyes.

"When I saw him again, two Finn soldiers came to the forest, carrying his urn, his medals, and his blood-stained uniform."

(End of this chapter)