Esther took a quick gulp of the potion. The effect of the potion started to work. Slowly, her hair color, which was originally brown, changed to silver, her original hair color. Arthur was even more amazed when he saw the beauty of the woman he called his mother.
Esther smiled at Arthur. "Just a potion that brings back my original hair color."
"I just found out mother's real hair color is silver. As far as I know, Count Arbellion's family has always had brown hair," Arthur said.
"I never said I was Count Arbellion's daughter," Esther said with a grin.
Esther held out her hands to Arthur. Arthur looked confused. "Why are you holding out your hand to me?"
"We'll be leaving soon."
"But I'm an adult, so I can walk alone without being held together," Arthur critiqued, who felt he was still treated like a child by Esther.
"Who said I wanted to hold your hand as we walked? I just wanted to hold both of your hands so we could easily get out of here," Esther explained.
Arthur, who still didn't understand Esther's intentions, could only walk closer to Esther and grip Esther's hands tightly as he had previously ordered. Esther, who was still smiling, began to close her eyes and chanted a long spell. Then suddenly a bright light appeared around them. Esther's magic started to work.
Arthur also closed his eyes because he was unable to open his eyes because of the bright light that surrounded them. Arthur's head suddenly hurt. His whole body felt very hot. Several minutes passed like that. About ten minutes later, things were back to normal. Arthur blinked his eyes.
How surprised he was when he saw the place around him which was not Esther's room like a few minutes ago, but a small dark alley with Esther still holding her hands.
"We're finally here," said Esther and took a deep breath.
"What happened just now? How did we get here in just a few minutes?"
Esther let go of Arthur's hand and started walking ahead. "With magic, of course."
"What?? Magic? How can you use magic? Don't you know about this rule of our Kingdom?" Arthur said, looking both surprised and worried.
The Nightingale Kingdom is one of the many kingdoms on the continent that prohibits magical activity. Usually, people who can use magic will be immediately arrested and burned alive in public because they think the presence of magic users can be very dangerous.
"You don't have to worry like that. After all, your father and your late mother also knew about my magical powers," Esther replied casually.
"Instead of you worrying like that on this happy day, we'd better go around town," Esther continued.
Arthur could only surrender if he was in front of his mother. "Okay."
The two of them started walking around a market. The market had many visitors. Lots of people are walking around there. Arthur was stunned for a moment. This was the first time he saw the buying and selling process and the daily activities of ordinary people firsthand. Looks like following Esther to this place isn't such a bad idea.
Arthur walked leisurely. It felt like this was the first time he could breathe a sigh of relief. It was very different when he was in the palace. All behavior and steps are always observed. The people in the palace continue to find fault in order to overthrow his position as Crown prince.
Several times, Esther stopped at every food stall selling snacks she thought were delicious. Just like before, Arthur hesitated a little when Esther offered him the food he bought himself.
"Eat! It's not poison. Besides, I can't even poison my own child," said Esther, trying to convince Arthur.
Arthur took the food Esther was holding on to him hesitantly and started to taste it. His eyes immediately lit up. "It's very tasty."
"Like I said before," Esther said, shrugging her shoulders.
They both resumed their journey. While they were walking, they accidentally saw a little girl in tattered clothes who was wincing in pain and several men who were seen torturing the girl. Esther bent down and tried to match Arthur's height. Esther brought her face close to Arthur's ear.
"Let's help the little girl. I will take care of the men while you please close both the little girl's eyes at once if you can close yours too."
Before Arthur could answer, Esther had already walked over to the men. So like it or not, Arthur was forced to follow Esther.
"Hey, aren't you one of the shameless people for attacking a little girl!" Esther said casually.
"I don't think that's what a pretty girl like you should say," said a man with a grin.
Another man walked up to Esther. The man lifted Esther's chin and looked at her very intensely. "This girl is very beautiful. I don't think we need to bring the little girl."
"Of course. I can satisfy all of you myself," Esther teased. The three men laughed loudly in satisfaction.
"Look at this bitch!"
Esther immediately gave Arthur a code to close the little girl's eyes as well as herself. Arthur, who had understood, immediately followed Esther's orders. He closed the little girl's eyes but he wasn't with her.
Esther, who thought that Arthur had followed his orders 100%, immediately started to take action. Esther cast a spell and suddenly the three men's bodies began to burn slowly. Screams and screams could be heard clearly. Their bodies began to burn and turn to ashes.
Arthur was shocked to see the incident with his own two eyes. The reason is, what he has known all along is that Esther has a gentle and loving nature, even according to him if she saw blood, it was certain that she would immediately faint on the spot. However, what he saw now was the complete opposite of what he had in mind all this time.
After finishing executing the three men, Esther immediately walked over to Arthur and the little girl. Arthur who saw Esther coming immediately removed his hand from the little girl's eyes.
"Hello, little girl. What's your name?" Esther asked softly as she knelt down and adjusted her height to the child's height.
"My name is Elissa," the little girl answered with sobs. It seemed that he was still frightened by what had just happened.
"What a beautiful name, just like the owner of her name. What have those men just done to you?" Esther asked again.
"They just took my money. Even though it was the money I used to buy food for my mother and sisters," answered Elissa.
Esther took a bag of gold out of her dress pocket and gave it to Elissa. "This is for you. Buy some food and use enough for your family."
"But the men will definitely take this one back. You'd better take this money back," said Elissa, who returned the bag of gold to Esther. Esther put the gold bag back in Elissa's palm.
"Those men will never appear before you again. I can assure you of that. So take this money with you."
Elissa immediately prostrated before Esther. "Thank you, lady. I really don't know what else to say to you. You truly are the embodiment of the great Goddess Nightingale. I can only pray that you will always be given a wonderful life."
Esther, who felt uncomfortable with the overtreatment, immediately helped Elissa to stand up. "Never mind, it's no big deal. Stand up and go back to your family."
Elissa who had risen to her feet bowed and walked away leaving Esther and Arthur. "Thank you again lady and young master."
"Looks like I can't hide my charm. Even with this simple outfit they still know that I'm a noble," Esther muttered, her narcissism returning.
"By the way what have you done to those men, my dear mother?" Arthur asked which broke Esther's mood.
"If you've seen it all from the start why did you have to ask, my dear Arthur."
Arthur flinched a little, he thought Esther didn't notice it just now. "Just want to make sure."
"I burned the bastards," said Esther curtly.
"What? What if people see what they did and report it? Mother could be caught and burned alive," Arthur said, worried again.
"That is a difficult thing." Esther grinned and looked very scary. "No one in Nightingale has silver hair, my dear."
"Your magic is very dangerous."
"Of course. Even if I wanted to, I could overthrow your father's power right now," Esther said with a cheerful smile.
"If you have such great magic, why don't you give the queen a lesson with your magic power?"
"Arthur, remember this mother's words. Not everyone has to be fought with violence. Especially for that bastard Averia. I'd rather deal with her with my brain than with my magic. Because fighting her will only be a waste of my energy and time," he replied.
Arthur just nodded his head. The two of them resumed their journey. Esther tried to re-melt the atmosphere that had previously been quiet because of the discussion about her magic. Luckily it worked. Esther's heart felt very happy after seeing Arthur's bright smile because it had been a long time since she had seen the child smile that happy.
That day ended very happily for both of them.