Leon lowered her head.
At some point, the crow on her leg was staring at her, a faint smile on its face.
That question just now had been asked by it.
Leon stayed silent for a moment, then turned her head away.
"Not at all…"
Vega flapped its wings and flew up, landing steadily on top of Leon's head.
Feeling the weight on her head, the golden-haired elf couldn't help but lower her head even more.
"Although I don't want to strike a blow to you, you weren't born through the divine tree."
Leon froze, suddenly lifting her head, only then remembering that there was a talking crow standing above her.
As a result, Vega adjusted its footing first and settled back down on her head again.
"I understand your curiosity and impulse to uncover the truth, but isn't things fine the way they are now?"
The crow's voice echoed softly by her ear.
"You also have your own family."
"But Miss Liya, she..."
Leon was just about to explain.
How could she, as a subordinate, become real family with Miss Liya?
But before she could finish speaking, a surge of magic sealed her mouth shut.
"What a stubborn little girl."
Vega raised its head, using its single eye to look at the elves enjoying family happiness nearby, while explaining to Leon, "You don't seriously think the surname Clavenna was something Viktor planned to give you, do you?"
Leon's body stiffened, freezing in place.
She couldn't speak, but her mind began racing wildly.
That's right. Viktor had no reason to help her at all.
To Viktor, her value was only one thing, to prove that the Yard Divine Tree could not grant power to other elves through surnames.
"So… it was Miss Liya who…"
Miss Liya treated her as family?
Leon sat there in a daze, not even noticing that the silence spell had quietly lifted.
The crow lowered its head, glanced at Leon, then giggled.
"That's not something I said. You're the one who understood it that way."
"But at the very least, Viktor really does treat his family well."
Vega laughed as it lifted its head again, looking toward the harmonious scene among the elves not far away.
Yet in Malenia's eyes, a trace of pitch-black color flickered past, unnoticed by any elf.
Like a winding wisp of smoke, it quietly dissipated.
———
Two days passed, and the elves gradually adapted to life without the Yard Divine Tree.
"No, why is it still me?!"
Inside the divine tree, Cocotte suddenly stood up.
She slammed the table, making it seem as if the entire room shook.
Several elves sitting across from her looked at one another in silence.
Vinia sat in the center, holding a scepter.
Her expression was calm, her gaze steady as she looked at Cocotte.
"This is the result chosen by a vote among the other elves. I'm sorry, Cocotte Yard."
"As long as you are still a member of the elven race, you must abide by this rule."
The other elves nodded, fully agreeing with Vinia's words.
The elven race had established new rules.
With the death of the Yard Divine Tree, the system of assigning elven positions based on surnames had been completely abolished.
Every elf could now create her own elven offspring through the divine tree.
Therefore, surnames would sooner or later become nothing more than simple symbols of each elven family's existence.
The method of assigning positions based on elven surnames was discarded immediately.
Thus, voting became the best available choice.
Although, in Vinia's eyes, those elves were still ignorant masses, at least after learning the true nature of the divine tree, they no longer blindly worshiped the newly born one.
The appearance of the new divine tree solved the elves' greatest problem, population production was no longer an issue.
They no longer needed to offer their natural energy to the divine tree every single day like before.
If they wished, elves could now store their natural energy.
They could use that natural energy for anything.
Strengthening themselves, or… transforming it through the divine tree into new elves.
The surnames of newly born elves would be determined by the producer, that is, the source of the natural energy.
There was no longer any hierarchy among elven surnames.
So why did the elves still need to elect an elven queen?
Because they still needed one.
The elves needed an elven queen to lead them, to rebuild a brand-new social system after the death of the Yard Divine Tree.
At the very least, they couldn't allow the elves to live blindly.
Otherwise, the elven race would have no way to progress.
"Even though your surname no longer carries the meaning of being an elven queen, you are still the most qualified elf to become one."
Vinia looked at Cocotte and said calmly.
Now Cocotte was panicking.
If she became the elven queen, wouldn't that mean her working hours would get even longer?
"Where's Viktor?! Viktor! Viktor is my boss! There's no way he'd agree to this!"
Looking at the anxious Cocotte, Vinia's gaze remained calm as she spoke lightly, "As for your status as queen, this is also…"
At this point, she became a bit shy, turning her head aside and speaking awkwardly, "This is also Father's decision."
Cocotte blinked in confusion, clearly not understanding what Vinia had just said.
'What the hell, father?'
'Where did a father come from?'
'A father dropping from the sky?'
Seeing Cocotte's blank expression, Vinia brought a fist to her mouth, her cheeks slightly flushed, and coughed softly twice to ease her embarrassment.
"I mean Lord Viktor."
"You also know what his existence means to the elves."
Elves are born of nature and revere nature.
And within nature, the six elements are the most important things to elves.
They need to draw natural energy from these elements.
Calamities are the tangible manifestations of those six elements.
Thus, Viktor, who possesses the origins of three calamities, is, to the elves, like their biological father.
On top of that, Viktor personally killed the Yard Divine Tree, freeing the elven race's imprisoned way of thinking.
Although that liberation was not entirely complete, with time, the elves would come to understand.
With the death of the Yard Divine Tree, their society would move in a better direction.
"Of course, in public, I won't address him as Father. You can rest assured."
Under Cocotte's stunned gaze, Vinia said calmly.
"Because Lord Viktor is not an elf, we cannot force him to lead us."
"So he recommended you to us."
At that moment, upon hearing this, Cocotte felt as though her mind was about to shatter.
It was like… she had been sold out by someone, yet still had to count the money for them.
"Why… why?"
Weren't she and Viktor comrades on the same side?
Seeing Cocotte's confusion, Vinia kindly explained, "Lord Viktor said..."
"That having a real elven queen working at his house would make the Clavenna family look very impressive."
BOOM!
In an instant, it was like a thunderbolt exploding in Cocotte's ears.
Her mind went completely blank, and she stood there in a daze.
She simply couldn't accept this reality.
Just for such a reason, she had to become the elven queen again?
Of course, that wasn't the only reason.
After hearing Vinia's follow-up words, Cocotte barely managed to accept it a little.
"And we also need a leader who is familiar with the world outside the Elven Forest, to build a bridge between the forest and the outside world."
After lifting the Yard Divine Tree's control that had lasted for thousands of years, the elves' outdated and single-minded thinking made Vinia realize, just how lacking their understanding of the world truly was.
No wonder that once elves left the Elven Forest, almost none of them ever returned.
"So, we plan to open the Elven Forest to the outside and make contact with other nations."
"For our first attempt, I want to choose the Calencia Empire."
Vinia gripped her scepter, her attitude extremely serious.
After all, with Cocotte and Viktor's connection, establishing relations with the Empire would be much easier than with other countries.
And Viktor was an imperial count, and the Empire's attitude toward elves was openly friendly.
Cocotte understood her meaning. Though she could accept it, she still wanted to resist a little.
Pointing at herself, she hurriedly added, "But I'm a retainer of the Clavenna family! A retainer, you know?!"
Cocotte's meaning was very clear.
If a retainer of an imperial count became the queen of the Elven Forest, wouldn't the whole world think the forest was about to become a vassal of the Empire?
However, Vinia shook her head.
"Lord Viktor also explained this point to me."
"In the human empires, there is a saying like this."
"The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal."
"And besides, although you are the queen, that doesn't mean your status is above ours."
With the Yard Divine Tree dead, all elven surnames had lost their meaning.
Even Vinia, the high priestess, was now completely equal to the other elves.
Because the divine tree was dead, the role of high priestess had lost its significance.
As long as other elves wished, they could all become "high priestesses."
Naturally, even if the elven queen was affiliated with the Clavenna family, Cocotte could not represent the entire Elven Forest.
By the way, after the destruction of the Yard Divine Tree, the elves finally discovered the most obvious benefit.
They didn't need to work anymore.
Elven work existed to produce natural energy, and natural energy was harvested solely to be offered to the Yard Divine Tree.
But now, the Yard Divine Tree was dead.
So those elves who didn't even want to have children and just wanted to lie flat could literally hang themselves from a tree, drink dew when thirsty, and live on nothing when hungry.
Of course, such unmotivated elves were still a minority.
For example, Cocotte.
Vinia glared at Cocotte with disappointment, then said, "After becoming the elven queen, you won't need to do any work."
"You just need to keep this title and continue staying at the Clavenna household."
"This elven queen position, I'm taking it for sure!"
In other words, Cocotte only needed to be a mascot.
At this point, Cocotte blinked and looked at Vinia.
"Why do I feel like you're more suited to be the queen than I am?"
Hearing Cocotte's remark, Vinia rubbed her forehead, sighed, and stood up from her seat with the scepter in hand.
"Don't misunderstand. I don't have the ability to be the elven queen."
"I still need to go home and raise my child."
She stood there, glanced at the stunned Cocotte, and smiled faintly.
'I hope you understand, I never once thought about replacing you.'
'But I can, and I am willing to, do it for you.'
'With all my effort.'