Chapter 49
Wanting to Meet in Advance
Isabel suddenly let out a breath of relief and opened her eyes.
She covered her forehead, slowly waking from the soft feather hammock.
“You’re awake?”
Janis, with her back to Isabel, was painting in Isabel’s bedroom. She spoke in a light tone, “How was the experience of the ritual this time?”
Isabel turned her head and saw a brilliant morning sun.
Above the shimmering lake, the newly born crimson sun seemed to set the entire lake ablaze.
Below was crimson and gold, above was light blue and dark blue…
This strange and beautiful scene reminded Isabel of Mr. Fox’s eyes when they resonated with the Path of Devotion.
“Hmm, why aren’t you talking?”
Not hearing a response from Isabel for a long time, Janis curiously turned her head back and joked, “Don’t tell me you failed the advancement?”
“…No, I succeeded.” Isabel said softly.
“You succeeded?” Janis’s tone was surprised.
“Teacher Janis, why are you so surprised!”
“Because I did consider the possibility of you failing the advancement.”
Janis casually spun the paintbrush in her hand, tilting her head, “What, you don’t blame me for not telling you the various precautions for the ritual beforehand?”
“…It’s okay. Failure is also a form of experience.”
Isabel said softly.
“Heh.”
The elf artist let out a laugh, walked over, and gently tapped Isabel, “You’re clearly bad-mouthing me in your heart. You little dummy.”
Seeing this, Isabel stopped pretending.
She sulked and snuggled up, “Teacher, I think you still need to teach me some common-sense things. Otherwise, unprepared setbacks are meaningless… I’ve failed quite a few times.”
This was basically what Sherlock had told her before. Now she directly quoted it.
“Someone taught you to say that, didn’t they?”
But Janis easily saw through the truth.
“…Huh? How did you—”
“With your personality, when you say ‘your own words,’ they won’t be so fluent and precise. You would hesitate in your own judgments. Just as you said earlier—you’ve failed too many times. To the point where you lack confidence.”
Janis sighed, leaned closer, and stroked Isabel’s hair, “So, do you know why I didn’t want you to succeed on your first try?”
“…Why?”
“Because failing the advancement ritual is inevitable.”
Janis replied patiently, “Whether it’s the New Moon Ritual or the Full Moon Ritual, its essence is competition with others. It’s just a matter of direct or indirect competition. Since it’s a competition with others, where there are winners, there must be losers. Some people may fail constantly, but no one can win constantly.
“If you keep winning, it will only build up more and more pressure. Because of this, the first failure is actually a precious opportunity, it can balance your mindset and make you less nervous.”
“Why do you say failure is an opportunity?”
Isabel stubbornly pressed, “I’d rather win.”
Janis silently stroked her hair, then affectionately pinched her soft cheek.
The elf said seriously, “It’s very simple, little Isabel. Because failing the first advancement won’t cause any loss to yourself. It only delays time—half a month or a month later, you can participate in the ritual again. In other words, if you fail this time, you can participate in another New Moon Ritual and experience true competition. Then, when you go back to the Full Moon Ritual, you will have experience.
“You were deceived and defeated in the ritual. You were exposed by your real identity and used like a prop—yes, these are indeed ‘failures.’
“But at the same time, it’s just a dream. What if they know your true identity? You are Princess of Avalon, what else can they do? This is your biggest reliance, Isabel. They can’t do anything to you, your failure is just failure. It won’t cause any irreversible actual losses.
“In a place where no one knows you, people won’t care about your identity or show any mercy, only cruel competition, survival, deception, betrayal… This will undoubtedly make you grow rapidly.
“And you only need to pay the price of ‘time’—participate in a few more rituals, and you, a princess who is well protected and has a noble identity, can be exposed to the undisguised malice in people’s hearts while ensuring her own safety—in my opinion, this is more valuable than the advancement ritual itself for your improvement.”
Janis revealed the truth she hadn’t spoken before: “Competing fairly with others who are prepared, without understanding or comprehension, is indeed unfair. But reality is often like this… You will be ambushed by those who are prepared, without any precautions or preparations.”
“…If that’s the case,” Isabel said a little flustered, “did I do something wrong by succeeding in my advancement? In that case, I won’t be able to fail next time, because failing will come at a real price…”
Hearing this, Janis blinked.
For a moment, she didn’t react. Then she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“My little Isabel, how can you be so cute—”
Like hugging a puppy, Janis exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, pulling the soft Isabel into her arms.
Her eyes were full of tenderness and affirmation, “What are you talking about, my little darling? The fact that you advanced smoothly means you are indeed excellent.
“You’ve done very well. As for the next ritual… you don’t need to worry.
“No matter what means you used to win, it shows that you are at least not the worst. You won even when you knew nothing, so won’t you do even better after I teach you seriously?”
Janis soothed her softly, “Don’t talk about those things, little Isabel. What Path Trait did you choose?”
Although she looked like a sister only three or four years older than Isabel, she acted like an elder.
“…Speaking of which.”
Isabel complained softly in Janis’s arms, “You didn’t tell me what to choose either. I hesitated for a long time and finally chose ‘Nimble Voice’.”
“Increasing the singing difficulty of magic songs? That’s also good. You are a versatile talent anyway, so you can choose whatever you want. Following your own heart is ‘beauty’.”
Janis raised her eyebrows, “As expected, you sang in the dream this time, didn’t you? I thought you wouldn’t even find teammates.”
“That wouldn’t go so far—”
Isabel retorted stubbornly, “I can find teammates, I found them right from the start!”
“All right, all right…”
Janis smiled, tilting her head and looking at Isabel, “How about I paint you a picture? To commemorate your first ritual victory.
“Your current appearance, this posture—the laziness of just waking up, surprise, shyness, with a hint of confidence quietly rising like the morning sun, and a little bit of cute timidity…”
“…Teacher!”
Suddenly, Isabel interrupted Janis, “I have one more thing!”
A hint of surprise appeared in Janis’s pupils.
She couldn’t help but smile, “What is it, my little darling?”
Although she was happy that her student had gained confidence… she never imagined that Isabel would progress to the point of having the courage to interrupt her after only one ritual.
She became even more curious about what Isabel had experienced.
But she respected Isabel. If Isabel didn’t take the initiative to say it, she wouldn’t ask—because she knew that if she asked, her obedient student would definitely tell her.
This was not good. It was like she was using her teacher’s authority to force her to reveal her secrets, losing the beauty of naturalness and tacit understanding.
“I remember, you said before… you hoped Mr. Eivass would visit the Silver and Tin Hall.”
Isabel whispered impatiently, “Can we invite him over sooner?
“I want to see what he looks like now as soon as possible… and chat with him.”
She had held young Eivass for a full four hours just now, and now she felt she was no longer afraid of interacting with the real Eivass. If she had only been “somewhat looking forward to it” before, now she was somewhat “impatient.”
That fear and barrier when first interacting with any stranger had completely dissipated during those four hours.
Thinking of this, she wanted to see Eivass as soon as possible. It was like seeing a character from a story appear in reality, that feeling was very magical.
That feeling of knowing the other person while the other person didn’t know her gave Isabel a rare sense of security. And that was precisely what she constantly lacked in her daily life.
When she met Mr. Eivass, Isabel wanted to quietly say in her heart:
— Sister, I was once your mother, and I even sang you a lullaby!
She could only say it in her heart, because saying it directly would make one seem impolite. But even just thinking this would make her smile secretly.
That would definitely be interesting!
Hearing this, Janis raised her eyebrows with interest, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
