Chapter 167 – Bucket List

Act 8: Memories To Be Made Together

Estian gazed at Cecile, whose quiet and regular breathing indicated she’d drifted off into a deep slumber.

“Estian.” She’d continued to call his name until she’d succumbed to drowsiness, and even now he could still hear her voice ringing in his ears.
Just thinking about his name being called made him feel good.
He took her hand into his and looked at the big and small scars that marked it, like those on her face.
Even though he’d ordered Richard to cast healing magic, her wounds didn’t heal.

“I did it properly! My healing magic can even make grilled fish swim again!” Richard haughtily protested when Estian had eyed the archmage like he was the biggest fraud in the world.

“So, why won’t Cecile’s wounds heal?”

“How should I know? If there’s a problem, it’s with the empress, not my magic.
And speaking of problems, I’ll say it clearly now—she’s a strange one, she is.” Richard launched into recounting the showdown between Cecile and Yuliana. “Do you think any of it makes sense? She completely erased Princess Yuliana’s power.
Even I would’ve found that difficult to do… not that I couldn’t manage it, of course.”

The archmage’s words were hard to believe.
Both Estian and Richard had sensed Yuliana’s power immediately, but neither had ever detected any unnatural powers from Cecile, which only deepened the mystery.
It would’ve been easier if Estian had sensed something from her; it would’ve made it easier to identify what it was.
Instead, he found his wife to be the definition of ordinary… if you excluded her face.

And yet, she’d used the scepter in that manner… Cecile had explained what happened with the scepter in a drowsy mumble, and though it wasn’t detailed, Estian understood that she’d followed the instructions from a book.

‘It was just like this with Girgantia’s appearance as well.’

In the end, the book from the dragon incident hadn’t been recovered.
Even without a search, Estian knew the book Cecile spoke of now would not be found in Etia, or anywhere for that matter.
But what did this mean? He couldn’t figure out who in the world was helping him and Cecile, or why.
The only thing he felt certain about was despite the suspicious circumstances, he felt no malice.
Still, he wanted to know the identity of the one who’d helped or were helping them.

Having laid there deep in thought for a while, Estian eventually raised himself up and walked towards the table where the reports of fake Cecile’s deeds were piled up.
Beside the stack was an old notebook that Estian had brought over after Cecile had fallen asleep.

“Things I want to do,” he muttered as he read the title.
The notebook was one of the many items with traces of the empress collected by the subordinates from the royal villa in Navitan.
Among the items, this had caught Estian’s interest the most.
He quickly flipped it open.

Things I want to do when I get out of here.

It was the very first thing Cecile had written.
Having lived in Navitan her whole life before coming to the empire, she must’ve longed for the outside world.
He continued to skim down the page.

1.
Go to Stoa and eat tons of fruit.
I ‘must’ eat the golden melon no matter what!

“Pfft!” Estian desperately suppressed his laugh when he read the number one thing his wife wished to do.
Once upon a time, he’d asked her about what were the good things that had happened to her since becoming empress, and she’d happily replied, “I’m overjoyed that I can eat a ton of fruits!” No wonder she looked to be on the verge of tears when he told her to provoke the Stoa delegation.
It must’ve felt like the end of the world for Cecile.
He felt apologetic for having forced her to disparage the envoys from the first-ranked country she’d listed on her bucket list.

As he continued to flip through the notebook, he found each page was outlined with a different activity she wished to do, followed by a detailed plan of how she’d go about it and the amount of time and money it’d cost.