Chapter174

After a few days of running around the battlefield, as soon as Elara returned home, she heard someone waiting outside the door. Even though she wasn't someone who showed much emotion, her expression still softened a little.

She raised her hand and hugged Haochen back. When her arm brushed against his waist, she found there was a bit more flesh there. His belly had rounded out slightly.

What surprised Elara even more was that Haochen seemed to have grown taller in just a few days. He was nearly her height already.

Maybe he had been malnourished before, and now he was catching up fast.

But since kids around his age grow quickly, she didn't think too much of it. She just hugged him back and gently pinched the soft little belly he'd grown, joking:

"What have you been eating lately? All the fat's going to your belly."

The boy froze slightly in her arms as if she had touched a sensitive spot. Then he tightened his grip around her and snuggled even closer.

"Mm~ This house smells like you. It's like you've been here the whole time, so of course I've been eating well."

"Do you like touching my belly, big sister? Keep touching it. I like it too. It feels really good when you do it, touch it more…"

He lowered his voice and spoke with a pampered tone as he pressed closer to her. Haochen grabbed one of Elara's hands and placed it right on his round belly, sighing beside her neck like her touch made him feel completely at ease.

Elara: ...

If this boy weren't just nine years old, she would've thought he was doing it on purpose.

But thinking about his background, and how the Gu worm in his body depended on her, she figured his clinginess made sense. She had been away for many days. Now that she was back, it was normal for him to stick to her like this.

So Elara didn't pull her hand back and just let him lean on her as they walked inside together.

"Alright, show me what you've been studying these days."

"Okay, big sister!"

Haochen took her to see the books she had personally compiled for him before she left. He said he'd learned a few more passages and understood more principles.

After talking about his studies, he showed her some of the little gadgets he had been working on while staying close to her the entire time, like a cat that had finally found its treat and didn't want to let go.

Elara had just returned after dealing with the situation in Youdan. Even though more problems were likely to follow, she had been tense for too long and also needed rest. No matter how many issues there were, she had to rest first to face them with full energy.

So staying with Haochen now felt like giving herself a break. She stayed with him in the room until noon.

After lunch, Haochen still clung to her and asked her to nap with him. Elara lay down on the couch with him and dozed off for a bit.

Until someone from the Ministry of Agriculture and Labor sent a message through a servant asking to meet her. Elara glanced at the boy still asleep in her arms, gently pulled her hand back from his belly, got up quietly, and put on her coat before leaving the room.

As she walked out of the courtyard and neared the hall, Elara suddenly felt something was off.

She stopped and reached into her sleeve, pulling out a sachet.

The sachet was delicate and pretty, filled with herbs that Oswyn had specially prepared for her. Its purpose was similar to the one used at the Princess Residence in Marigold when they discovered a "nameless expert."

Now she was far from that place, in the distant county of Marigold.

She only kept this sachet because of her cautious nature. It was specifically designed to react to the presence of that "nameless expert." As long as the person didn't follow her to Marigold, the herbs inside wouldn't change.

But now… the herbs in the sachet she was holding had already changed color.

By the time she came out of the ministry, it was already dark.

Elara stood under the lantern at the door, staring at the sachet in her hand and thinking for a long time.

Then she turned and headed straight for the military medical hall.

Inside, Oswyn's tall figure was still busy at the oil-lit desk.

Elara walked in, dismissed everyone else, then went to him and took out the discolored sachet.

"This sachet, does it still only react to the person who appeared in the Princess Residence?"

Oswyn paused when he saw the color change, put down his herbs, and walked over to examine the sachet. He frowned and said,

"Mostly yes. As long as no one else accidentally touched something that would make the herbs react, which is extremely unlikely…"

While talking, his pale fingers subconsciously tightened around the sachet. His gaze held a trace of worry he didn't even realize, "You kept this in your house, right? Or did you carry it with you?"

"In the house." Elara said. After Oswyn had made it, she had just tossed it into the sleeve of a coat and forgotten about it. Today she had happened to wear that coat again. She had no idea how long the herbs had been discolored.

Oswyn's brow furrowed even more. "Then it's nearly certain. That person who appeared in the Princess Residence has followed you here to Marigold. Not only that, he's entered your home."

Elara stared at the sachet in his hand and didn't speak.

Seeing her deep in thought, Oswyn didn't say anything more. He picked a herb from the sachet and smelled it, then frowned and said:

"The scent is still that person's, but slightly different from before. Something in his body has changed. I'll take it back to study. I'll let you know what I find."

Oswyn took the sachet and left.

Elara stood in place with her eyes lowered for a while.

"Uno."

Uno, who had been following her closely, immediately knelt down in front of her.

"Summon all the Wei clan members who stayed behind in Marigold while I was at war in Youdan."

"Yes."

They gathered quickly, as expected.

In just a few minutes, the Wei clan members across the city had all assembled and were kneeling before her.

"Your Highness!"

"I ask you, after I left, has any stranger entered my residence?"

"No, Princess. Only people from inside. Aside from the cleaning servants, Young Master Haochen stayed in your quarters the most. He slept there nearly every day and rarely left during the day."

Elara looked toward the direction Oswyn had gone. "What did he do in the quarters?"

"Read, paint, or tinker with the little things he just showed you."

Elara looked away, her eyes narrowing slightly, thoughts swirling behind her calm expression.

After the other guards answered, the thirteenth Wei guard suddenly added, "But Princess, besides staying in your residence, Young Master Haochen also went to the back mountain every three to five days to collect herbs. And… once he entered the mountain, he would disappear quickly. We tried to follow him a few times, but always lost track of him inside."