"Here's the book. Sorry, it took a bit long. Are you bored?"
Her mother appeared from behind the door, her apron still wrapped around her slender figure.
Elara shook her head.
"No, not at all. Thank you, Mom," Elara answered, her gaze shifting towards the book she had received, her nose unconsciously inhaling its distinctive aroma.
After inhaling the scent for a moment, as if it had been her habit for the past 5 years, Elara smiled contentedly, as if she had confirmed something certain.
"Thank you for the book, Mother! I will read it properly later!" exclaimed Elara happily.
The middle-aged woman smiled as she saw her daughter receiving the gift with a smiling face, before glancing towards the window.
"It seems like it's already midday. I should get ready."
"Are you sure you don't want me to help, mom?" Elara looked at her mother with a worried expression.
Even so, the middle-aged woman shook her head, reaching out to gently tousle Elara's short hair.
"No need. I know how to knead the dough properly, so you don't have to worry," she said, laughing, before heading into the kitchen, leaving Elara alone in the living room.
Elara gazed at the green book, which emitted an odd aura, making her not want to hold it for too long, yet also wanting to embrace it tightly.
A green-covered book with intricate designs; it was unmistakably an expensive book that seemed out of place in a remote village like this.
'I wonder which noble was fooled by my Mother to the extent that they were willing to give her such an expensive and antique book just as payment for bread?' she thought in amazement.
However, despite feeling proud at the moment because the bread sold at their bakery always sold well due to her recipe, she never imagined it would be valued this highly to be exchanged for various books.
'Well, the taste of bread in this world is still hard and difficult to chew. Even the desserts for nobles are lacking in variety due to the limited ideas and creativity of the Chef. So it's no wonder that the nobles are obsessed with the delicious taste of the bread I make!' Elara exclaimed proudly.
Elara stared in silence before deciding to push away those useless thoughts for now and instead chose to open the first page of the green book titled, [The Legend of the Great Queen Titaia and Her Mighty Elemental Wings].
"Gulp...!" Elara's mouth watered as her fingers traced the raised surface of the green book, feeling the unique engravings.
For some reason, her heart raced every time she read books like this, filling her with a sense of excitement for something unknown.
***
"Lara, it seems you should go to your room now. I'll bring warm milk to your room to help you sleep easily,"
Her mother's loud voice from the kitchen suddenly brought life back to the otherwise calm and quiet wooden house.
Elara, who was immersed in reading, looked up to respond to her mother's words, gazing out the window with a thoughtful expression. "... Yes."
The sun was still visible although the sky had turned into a deep orange hue.
Seeing this, Elara sighed.
"It's about time I should sleep...." she murmured, her tone not reflecting tiredness or drowsiness in the slightest.
Elara stood and faced the window. Because her house was situated on top of a hill, she could see the village scenery even from a distance. There, she observed children her age still gathered and playing, running joyfully outside their homes.
"..."
Feeling dismal, Elara promptly closed the still wide-open window, no longer allowing the gentle breeze that had freely entered their home.
She also drew the curtains, blocking any incoming light, and transforming the once bright living room into darkness.
Elara turned around and lit a lantern, holding it as a guiding light toward her bedroom.
While walking, she remembered something that she would never forget for the rest of her life because of the strangeness of the experience she was currently going through.
Since the age of one, or perhaps a little older, Elara had followed a peculiar rule. She had to fall asleep before the sun completely disappeared, and she must not stay awake during the moonlit nights.
"... It seems this is a rare condition that could be attributed to the combination of both dominant genes from parents, but the issue might be that one of the genes is unique or stronger, causing the immune system to work extra and require early rest... and you need to sleep early to avoid any unwanted occurrences when the immunity is inactive."
The Doctor brought by her mother to examine Elara's health after she had fainted for an entire day explained at length with a puzzled expression.
He was a Doctor from one of the capitals of the three Kingdoms who happened to be staying in their village on his way to the Galatea territory. Little did he expect to be puzzled by discovering a rare hereditary condition that shouldn't be affecting common folks like Elara, who lived on the outskirts.
Despite that, her mother had firmly rejected his suggestion of moving Elara to the hospital in the Kingdom of Terra for further treatment and monitoring of her condition.
'W,What? I have a rare hereditary disease...? But why does Mother refuse the suggestion for me to be treated at the hospital in the Kingdom of Terra? Is there something there that Mother is avoiding?!'
'... In that case, what will happen to me?'
Because Elara didn't want to die early in her second life due to her disease since childhood, she decided on a course of action that under normal circumstances, she would never consider due to embarrassment.
Elara often pretended to whimper in pain every time she was about to sleep, indirectly signaling to her mother to be willing to send her to a hospital in any Kingdom. Unfortunately, her mother encouraged her, saying that Elara could surely endure and bear the pain.
Therefore, for the first time, Elara daringly attempted to stay awake in the middle of the night when the moon was shining in the night sky. She experienced excruciating pain, so intense that she convulsed and eventually passed out right then and there.
As a result, her panicked and bewildered mother had handed her various types of unfamiliar medicines, muttering a phrase like a spell.
<"My dear Lara. You can surely endure it!! Just hold on until you 'adult', and you won't face difficulties like this anymore. I promise.">
Elara bit her lip as she tried to recall, the memory of her mother's voice lingering in her mind, soft yet with a hint of something different.
'So, when is the adulthood that my mother was referring to?'
Elara could only shake her head in silence because until now she still didn't know the answer. She couldn't ask either, remembering her mother's words to endure it until she grew up.
'Well, Mother wouldn't lie, let alone hurt me.'
With the green book she hadn't finished reading in her left hand and a medium-sized lantern in her right hand, Elara finally arrived in front of her room.
She casually entered her bedroom, not too spacious but not too cramped either. She intentionally left the wooden door wide open so her mother, who would come with warm milk for her, wouldn't have to struggle to open it later.
Elara smiled bitterly as she looked at the wooden study table adorned with four luxurious animal carvings, each the size of an adult's fist, a birthday gift from her mother.
A year ago, on her 4th birthday, despite being accustomed to the condition that required her to sleep early due to the rare disease she had, Elara decided to ask her mother about her condition amidst her little birthday celebration.
"Because what I'm experiencing is a hereditary disease, does Mother also have the same condition? ... But it seems not. Could it be my father who caused it?"
Elara has never mentioned the word 'father' since she was born until now, not wanting to sadden her mother or remind her of the absent 'father' who has never appeared since her birth.
She understands how challenging it is to be a single mother, which is why she tries to be good and not burden her mother, both in their first life and in this second life of Elara.
However, somehow, perhaps because she has reverted to being a child again, she often feels the curiosity typical of children, and this curiosity continues to accumulate until it becomes unstoppable and slips out of her mouth without her realizing it.
Elara remembers that at that moment, she was extremely anxious and half-terrified because her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own. She feared disrupting the atmosphere of her birthday celebration and ruining her mother's warm smile.
However, unexpectedly, her mother's reaction upon hearing Elara's unintentional question was neither angry nor sad at all.
"Why are you asking that... I mean ... I don't know. It's unlikely that he experienced it, right?"
Oddly, her mother answered with a tone that indicated her confusion.
It was as if the entities of her mother and father were merely strangers who didn't truly know each other.
Unable to obtain a satisfying answer to her curiosity, Elara's mood soured for several days.
As if driven by a mother's instinct to not let her daughter continually feel disappointed due to not obtaining clear information about her father, her mother did something unusual.
One day, when their bakery was closed, Elara accidentally caught her mother reading one of her books.
Her mother, who had never shown interest in the books she brought home, suddenly touched and read one with an expression of utmost seriousness.
"..."
Witnessing that, Elara chose to ignore it, assuming her mother was just bored and reading for leisure.
But the next day, something unexpected happened.
Her mother suddenly shared a piece of information that Elara had long thought would be kept under wraps.
"I've checked it. Neither your father nor his whole family has ever had a history of such a disease. It seems you're the first."
Hearing this, mentally mature Elara restrained herself from asking.
'Mom checked it? Through the books you read yesterday? Isn't this rare condition categorized as some sort of secret information? Can such vital information be so easily found by reading a few thick books?'
But Elara couldn't say a word, due to her mother's follow-up statement.
"Don't worry. It's not dangerous. It will vanish once you grow up. As long as you're not yet an adult, try to sleep before sunset and avoid staying awake during the night like the doctor said."
"Yes, I understand...." Elara could only nod in obedience. After all, her health was more important than any suspicious-seeming issues she might have had as a young child.
Despite that, deep within Elara's heart, she was half-dying of curiosity, as her mother, who had been tight-lipped about her father's information, suddenly broached the topic.
'So, who is my father?'
'Is my father a well-known figure with his biography and family history recorded in a specific book?'
'Which book is it? I would like to read it.'
Unfortunately, Elara couldn't recall what kind of book her mother was reading at that time because she only glanced at it briefly. Therefore, Elara had to let that incident pass without further inquiry.
"Lara?" Her mother's gentle voice brought Elara's reminiscence from a year ago back to the present.
"Hm?" Elara turned around and found her mother standing at her bedroom doorway, carrying a tray with a full glass of warm milk.
Hastily, Elara approached her mother and reached for the drink. However, her mother, tall and slender, lifted the tray slightly higher, out of Elara's short reach.
"Uh, mom...? What are you doing? That's my milk, right?"
"It should be me asking. Why aren't you lying down?" She laughed at how easy her daughter was to tease her, before carefully handing her a glass of still warm milk.
"I'll sleep after drinking the milk," Elara said while receiving the glass of milk from her mother.
"Okay, drink it all up. Oh, by the way, does Lara want to wake up early tomorrow?"
Elara nodded after finishing the glass of milk in one gulp. "Yes, I want to pick Red Cherries. If I'm lucky, I might be able to pick White Cherries."
"White Cherries? Hmm...."
The Red Cherries in this world is the same size as the cherry in Elara's previous world, but it tastes exactly like an apple.
Red Cherries were often used as snacks for commoners, but they were rarely consumed by nobles or used as ingredients in their meals.
On the other hand, White Cherries were considered rare and were often used as a primary ingredient to create elixirs, the potent potions using alchemical methods, known for their effectiveness in curing various chronic illnesses.
Merchants and nobles, those sorts of people, were more interested in White Cherries than Red Cherries.
'What a waste. If used properly, Red Cherries could be a high-quality fruit and food ingredient,' Elara pondered.
Because of that, she decided to experiment by using Red Cherries as a primary ingredient in their bakery.
Her mother nodded and took the empty glass.
"Alright then. I'll head back to the kitchen. Good night, dear," she said, slightly bowing with courtesy.
"Good night too, Mom. Sweet dreams."
As Elara gently closed the bedroom door, her mother stood there with a warm smile, still bowing.
"Another odd thing...." Elara whispered to herself after successfully closing the door without making any noise.
Every time her mother wanted to greet or do anything to her, she would bow as if showing respect to someone of higher rank.
Showing respect for her daughter? What kind of strange idea had she been thinking just now?
"Maybe I'm being overly negative because I used to be a modern human, suddenly thrown into this another world. It's clear that my life here is vastly different."
Despite the peculiarities and occasional mysterious behavior that Elara noticed in her mother, at least their lives were peaceful and tranquil. Therefore, she didn't mind it for now.
Elara moved to close the window curtains, preventing the late afternoon sunlight from entering her room. She also placed the green book on her private bookshelf and placed the lantern on her bedside table.
"It's time to sleep!"
Elara lay down on her wooden bed, which was quite spacious for her small frame. She made sure to wrap herself in a blanket, as the night temperatures in this world were quite chilly.
Zzz...
Not long after, the sound of gentle breathing filled the air. The little girl had fallen asleep, and the soft light green mist, which had inexplicably appeared out of nowhere, surrounded her tiny body.
Swoosh~
But it wasn't just that, a few clusters of the remaining mist gradually formed into a human figure. The misty figure sat next to little girl's bed.
Its mist-formed hand attempted to caress the plump cheek of the little girl.
It didn't stop there; it even gently kissed the girl's forehead, the soft sound of a kiss heard.
Chu~
"They're all impatient... so hurry...." The mysterious misty figure's whispered words stuttered, before it slowly vanished without a trace, as if it had never appeared in Elara's room.
Yet, someone in the kitchen of the simple wooden house was making dough, heaving a deep sigh.
"Haaaaa... I'm running out of time...."