Chapter 297 – These are the best friendships I could have achieved.

After arriving in the elven forest, Lara was again greeted by Thasli.

As soon as he met her, he immediately asked her about the war.

"It's all over."

"What? So quickly?"

"Yes, that's right. Now I will go and talk to everyone about the end of the war. I also need to prepare to take everyone to the capital."

"The capital? But don't you live in another city?"

"Yes... But some things have happened." Lara smiled at Thasli. He could tell she was nervous, but he didn't question her about it.

So the two of them went to the elf village again.

As soon as Lara arrived, some elves approached her to talk to her.

Since she wasn't too keen on talking to everyone, she asked Thasli to push them away.

"All right, everyone. Larissa is a little tired."

Everyone looked upset, but they walked away.

"Thanks for that."

"No need to thank me."

"I'm going to go over to your place. Could you call all my friends to come over? Also, tell them to start packing."

"Are you going to take them to the capital now? You should wait a little while."

"I have no reason to leave them here any longer."

"..."

Lara went upstairs and found Phiana sitting in the living room.

As soon as Phiana saw her, the woman smiled and then stood up.

"Welcome. It looks like everything is already finished, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it was faster than I thought."

"It was very fast. How were you able to stop a war in just one day? You are amazing."

"It wasn't that hard since I'm the new queen of Mabely," Lara said as if it was no big deal. Phiana, on the other hand, opened her two eyes wide and opened her mouth.

"You are the new queen of Mabely? How is that possible?"

"I never talked about it with any of my friends, but my name is not Larissa, but Lara Southlein."

"Your friends don't know that?"

"No. I always wanted to stay away from nobility and royalty. My grandmother hated me, she tried to kill me a few times. Because of that I changed my name and decided to live a normal life away from the capital."

"But it didn't help, did it?"

"No... She kept sending a man after me, he was also responsible for killing one of my friends. And because of that, I killed him."

"But why did you decide to take over the throne?"

"I am afraid that the country will be destroyed if I do nothing. And surely my mother would want me to do that." Lara gave Phiana a sincere smile.

"I understand. You should tell your friends everything. It may take them a while to assimilate all this, but they certainly won't abandon you or anything."

"..."

"I'm sure they will be very happy if they know that you are such an important person."

"..."

Lara and Phiana were silent until everyone arrived at the house.

Emily, Syl, Lincy's father, and Lincy's mother. Emily's mother had stayed behind and was taking care of her father.

"Are you back yet? I almost couldn't believe it when Thasli warned us." Emily said cheerfully.

"Yeah, it was pretty quick..." Lara bowed her head a little looking dejected.

Emily noticed Lara's discouragement, so she sat down on the floor next to her.

Syl also did the same thing.

"What's going on?" Emily looked worried, but Lara calmed her down.

"Nothing's happened. It's just that I'm afraid you guys are going to end up getting irritated with me."

"Why would we get irritated?" Emily said confused.

"That's right, we would never be annoyed with you!" Syl complemented.

Lara looked at the two and then looked away.

"All right, I think it's time to explain everything that's going on to you guys. Can we go to the house where you are staying? Emily's parents need to be along with us too."

"What's this? You're making me anxious." Emily said worriedly.

Lincy's father and mother also seemed a little worried.

Because of this Phiana calmed them down.

"I already know what she will say, and don't worry, you guys will love the news, fufu." She giggled as she placed her hand in front of her mouth.

####

After everyone walked to the house where everyone was staying, Thasli said goodbye and left everyone alone.

It was a large house made of wood. The house was so large that it held everyone comfortably.

Lara, sit on the floor, just like at Phiana's house.

There, everyone sat down too, including Emily's mother. Her father was sitting in a chair right next to everyone. Despite his condition, he seemed to be paying close attention to the conversation.

"All right, first of all, I would like to apologize to you guys." When Lara said this, everyone looked at each other in confusion.

But Emily was the only one to say something.

"Apologies? I don't understand."

Lara sighed and then stood up. Everyone looked at her.

"First of all, I would like to tell you my real name. Maybe only Emily remembers that my name is Lara and not Larissa. I changed my name a little while ago."

"Yes, you had told me your name was Lara as soon as we met," Emily remembered the day the two had met. They had met in a rather shameful, so Emily put that out of her mind.

"Yes, and after that, I worked and changed my name to Larissa. They are two very 'similar' names so I chose Larissa as my new name."

"Yeah, but what's about that? You just didn't like your name, didn't you?" Emily's mother asked. But Lara shook her head.

"It's not as simple as it sounds. I didn't change my name just because I didn't like it I like my name a lot. The problem was that my real name connected me to something quite problematic."

Everyone looked at Lara waiting for her to continue.

"My real name is Lara Southlein. Since you live in Mabely you must know that last name."

Everyone looked at each other startled.

"Wait, you mean..." Emily looked at Lara. She was scared.

Not just her, but everyone around.

Lara looked at that scene and began to feel quite nervous.

"Yes, I am the granddaughter of the queen of Southlein. I disappeared for a long time, but it was all because of my grandmother, she hated me."

"Yes, I remember that. The princess was executed after being accused of treason. She had a little daughter, her name was... Lara." Emily's mother clearly remembered everything.

Not only her but Lincy's parents too.

"Yes, that happened a few years ago. I thought that little girl was killed too." Lincy's father said.

"That's right. Most of the residents believed that the little girl had been killed even though the queen had said she was fine. You had completely disappeared..." Lincy's mother looked at Lara.

"That's right, I am that little girl. And now I just found out that my grandmother is dead, she wasn't the one who declared war against the other countries. When I went to the castle, my grandmother was already dead and a strange woman was on the throne."

"Is that true?"

"Yes. I killed that woman and then warned all the armies and countries about everything that had happened. And as you might imagine..."

"Since you are the only heiress..." Emily said completely perplexed.

"Exactly. I didn't want to have to do this, but I can't abandon my country, I'm sorry." Lara bit her lips saddened by the situation.

She thought everyone was frightened by all that information. Lara was too important a person to be there, should they be talking to her so casually?

She thought that all of them would no longer stand by her side after this.

But she was completely wrong.

Everyone around her was smiling at her.

Lara looked around without reaction. And after a few seconds of looking at everyone, tears came to Lara's eyes.

Surely these were the best friendships she could have made in this world.