Otaku Witch

"Uh, Mother Superior, what are you so nervous about? This is Her Majesty Queen Guinevere."

Protected behind Mother Dragon’s outstretched arm, Dorothy looked at her clearly nervous mom in front of her, and introduced her with some confusion.

While she was talking, the homebody witch was still secretly marveling at how powerful this Life-Stealing Curse Queen Guinevere used to hide her identity was. This kind of Magic that completely replaces someone else’s identity on the level of Fate is seriously terrifying; it’s way stronger than any Transformation Magic-type disguise, and way more convenient than Soul Possession.

Transformation Magic can be seen through easily by big shots, and Soul Possession is easy for close acquaintances to notice something off, but under the effect of this Life-Stealing Curse you don’t need to do anything at all—others will naturally treat you as the person in their memories. All sense of dissonance or abnormality gets rationalized by Fate.

Looking at it now, even someone like her own Mother Superior, whose combat power is at a rule-breaking Peak comparable to a Sage, can hardly escape the influence of this terrifying Magic. Only "Fate-insulated" beings like her, or special existences like Sophia with a Jade Level Eye of Fate, can perceive the anomaly.

"Queen? Her Majesty Guinevere?"

Hearing her daughter’s explanation, Euphilia was also stunned.

Does the Dragon Kingdom even have a Queen?

She subconsciously thought this in her heart.

But very soon, a segment of memory surfaced in her mind, and she gradually calmed down.

It does seem like there is one, and she really is called Guinevere.

Mm-hmm, this Queen has always been very low-key and rarely shows up in public, so she never left that deep an impression on her.

Mother Dragon thought this to herself.

And once she realized this, her impression of this Queen immediately became vivid; she suddenly found that she seemed to have seen this Queen at many important banquets in the Dragon Kingdom, and every time she went to meet the Dragon King, this Queen seemed to always be at the Dragon King’s side.

Uh, then how did I not recognize her right away just now? And has the one at the Dragon King’s side really always been the Queen? Wasn’t that the secretary-general?

Oh, maybe it’s just that Her Majesty’s concealment methods are too brilliant, and anyway there’s no rule that the secretary-general can’t be the Queen. Perfectly reasonable.

She convinced herself like this.

Then that Fortune Teller back then was also the Queen?

Yet another doubt surfaced in Mother Dragon’s heart.

But she immediately talked herself around again.

Mm-hmm, that would explain why that Fortune Teller disappeared afterward. That was probably just something Her Majesty did on a whim to kill time.

Still, in that case, she really needed to properly thank Her Majesty for that Divination; without her guidance, she wouldn’t have such a cute and outstanding daughter like Dorothy.

The Dragon Queen thought this to herself.

So she dropped her guard. After all, as the Dragon King’s partner, Her Majesty Queen Guinevere was certainly someone trustworthy.

After all, the Yemengade Family traces its origins back to Ancestor Yemengade, and this Queen was Ancestor Yemengade’s mother, which naturally makes her their own Ancestral Elder. How could an Ancestral Elder possibly harbor any bad intentions?

Euphilia successfully convinced herself, then offered her sincere thanks.

"Forgive my dull eyes, Your Majesty, and also, thank you for your guidance back then."

"Uh, what guidance?"

Hearing her Mother Superior’s thanks, Dorothy asked curiously.

Mother Dragon had just opened her mouth to explain, but was interrupted as Guinevere spoke up first.

"Dorothy, your Mother Superior and I are old acquaintances. Back then, your Mother Superior once came to me for romance consultation."

She said this.

Mother Dragon froze, but then more memories surged up. When she looked at Guinevere again, there was a bit more closeness in her gaze.

Mm, the two of them really were good besties. The reason she could become a close confidant of the Dragon King was also largely thanks to the pillow-talk recommendations of this good best friend.

"Alright, enough gossip. Don’t pry into your elders’ past, you little kid."

Mother Dragon gave her daughter’s back an exasperated pat as she said this.

Dorothy: "..."

The homebody witch really was curious, though. No matter how she looked at it, she just couldn’t imagine her career-obsessed, iron-lady mother ever going to someone for romance consultation. That was super weird, okay.

On a subconscious level, she just felt something was off somewhere.

But since Mother Superior had said so, she couldn’t keep gossiping; she had to leave her some dignity.

Yeah, when all’s said and done, she and Mother Superior had only been reunited for less than a year; she really couldn’t make sweeping claims about her mom’s personality yet. Besides, no matter how strict an iron lady is, she wasn’t born that way—she must have had her own girlish phase.

The homebody witch figured she could maybe go gossip with Spider Teacher or Aunt Miko later. After all, the three of them had been besties since their school days.

With that thought, Dorothy stopped dwelling on it and turned to look at Mother Dragon instead.

"Mother Superior, are you here to watch today’s duel tournament too? Want to join us?"

She invited her like this.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t properly spent time with Mother Dragon in a while, and she’d only found out yesterday that Mother Superior had been secretly preparing a birthday party for her all this time, wanting to give her a surprise, only to have it snatched away by the Dragon King.

Thinking of that, Dorothy felt she really should spend more time with Mother Dragon. After all, once the celebration was over, they’d be heading off into the Mechanical Wilderness again, and who knew how long they’d be gone this time.