Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1172 Will I Have a Good Dream?

Olvera curled up in the chair, her knees pressed against her chest, her fingertips unconsciously tightening the hem of her skirt. She wanted to cover up her anxiety with a joke, but her words were like a sharp boomerang, tearing her disguise apart unexpectedly. Linger looked at her slightly trembling shoulders and suddenly remembered a heavy rain. That was a scene he had seen in the princess's memory. In late summer, the raindrops were like silver needles, wetting the violets in the courtyard one by one. The withered flowers looked a bit like the girl at this moment.

The night quietly infiltrated through the window lattice, blending with the broken starlight and the warm light of the kerosene lamp, dyeing the room into an amber mist. Sometimes jokes come from the heart, so they hurt people the most. Ling Ge really didn't know how to describe her self-inflicted behavior. Moreover, even if she was self-inflicted, Ling Ge couldn't ignore it completely. He had to find a way to comfort her and let Princess Berman get rid of this sudden state of depression, otherwise, I'm afraid she won't be able to spend the night safely.

After all this talk, why does it feel like I'm the one who gets tossed around in the end?
The young man sighed and said to Aoweila, "Didn't I tell you long ago that when you feel weak, you might as well compare yourself with me, maybe you can regain some confidence."

Olvera looked at him with wide eyes.

The same reason was used by Lingge before. It was when the group was about to leave the Heavenly Temple and Olvera secretly practiced swordsmanship to prepare for the upcoming battle. But the final result only proved that no matter how hard she practiced swordsmanship, even if she could beat ten Lingge with one hand, it would not be of any use on a battlefield like that.

At the time, she thought Lingge's words were funny. To this day, the death of Themis in the celestial world has drawn a gap in a memory, like a sword splitting the front and back of a piece of paper. On the front of the paper, Lingge took on those far-reaching responsibilities. He comforted his frustrated companions, connected strange allies, and outlined the way forward in a star-like strategy. His steps were so firm, as if the haze of the past had long been evaporated by the morning light; on the back of the paper, Olvera was sinking deeper and deeper, tortured by her own pain and guilt, and she didn't even dare to put a full stop to the story she wrote, as if she felt that as long as she didn't admit it, those things could be treated as if they had never happened.

The thin weight could not bear the difficult mission. The comparison between the front and back of the paper made Ovilla deeply aware that what Lingge said at that time was no longer true today.

"Different."

Her lips moved, and she said as if she was talking to herself: "Lingge, you are different from us. Your strength is not reflected in fighting, but in other aspects. Sometimes I even think that you should be the most powerful person in the world."

Linger listened quietly, and then asked quietly: "Then why aren't you?"

Olvera looked up and looked at him blankly.

"Why do you insist on having the strength to fight, but completely ignore that your strength can also be reflected in other aspects? For example, here." Linger pointed to a pile of thick documents on the table. Each document was handwritten by Ao Vera, which was extremely precious. It can even be said that if it weren't for Ao Vera, they would never be able to obtain this information in their lifetime relying on their own strength.

"The heart is the most powerful force. I believe you have already witnessed this."

Ling was referring to the battle between Alice and Carabosse. In that battle, Carabosse admitted that the Girl's Kingdom was essentially a kind of idealistic power. Whoever had a stronger belief had the possibility of victory. In the past confrontations, the reason why the Order Kingdom was repeatedly defeated by the Chaos Kingdom was because their beliefs were not strong enough - at least, not as strong as the Chaos Kingdom's belief in changing the world.

Of course, Lingge's words did not mean that he recognized the concept of Chaos Kingship. After all, firmness of belief and correctness are two completely different concepts. If you insist on a wrong belief, then no matter how firm you are, the power generated for it is wrong and can only be used for destruction and killing. The young man just hopes that Ovira can understand the true meaning of power and face her own heart. If you doubt yourself, your heart will become weak. And what can a weak person do even if he gains the power to fight?
In this regard, Alice is a lesson learned. Her game console has not been repaired until now, which may also imply that the genius player's heart has not yet gotten rid of those factors of self-doubt and self-denial. Lingge does not want Olvera to become like that.

"Don't be blind, Olvera."

He stared deeply at the girl in front of him and said, "You should know what it feels like to be trapped in darkness. Now that you have walked out, don't think about going back. I think no one wants you to make that choice."

Avra was silent after hearing this. She knew very well that the "whoever" the young man was talking about not only refers to everyone on Yunjingkong Island and her current companions, but also refers to those who had expectations of her a long time ago: father, mother, teacher... Their strength turned into a bonfire in the darkness, guiding her out of the ancient castle. At that time, the girl's strength was not much stronger than it is now, but she had a tenacious heart, as tenacious as the grass in the cracks of the rocks, desperately trying to absorb the limited sunlight. Therefore, everyone believed that she could adapt to the outside world and live a more wonderful life.

but--

Olvera looked away and looked at the lantern beside her. Tiny flowers were reflected on the glass lampshade. Warm yellow spots of light flickered and jumped between her hair, like countless fire elves dancing in a white and golden forest. Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Leslie Royal Family couldn't help but think, what if what I was afraid of was my own heart?

I was afraid that once I accepted such a reason, once I admitted that I really did not have the strength to fight and could only hide behind my companions and be protected by them, and if one day I needed to go to the battlefield, would I be able to sacrifice my life to protect everyone like Themis in heaven?
Questions like this are meaningless, but once you think about them, you will feel confused. Perhaps this is also one of the tests that life must go through in this world, just as once they have consciousness, they will want to know why they are born and why they die.

The wind blew in from the window, and the handwritten materials piled on the table rustled in the wind.

"That's it for tonight."

Linger suddenly said, reaching out to light the lantern beside him. The flame in the glass cover trembled violently, like wind passing through a tangible obstacle, forming a vortex around the flame: "This work cannot be completed in one day. Save your energy and continue tomorrow."

"I'm not sleepy yet—"

Olvera's voice suddenly stopped. She stared blankly at the young man walking towards her and putting his hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, she felt a sense of weightlessness. Her memory after that seemed to be cut off. There was only a blank in her mind. When she came to her senses again, she found herself lying on the bed, and the faint scent of primrose was lingering around her nose. The boss lady liked to fill the pillow with the most brilliant primrose petals in July, midsummer, as if sewing in an old and peaceful fragrance. Olvera liked this pillow very much. It was so soft that it felt like sleeping on a cloud. Unfortunately, she rarely used it. Most of the time, she held it in her arms instead of resting it under her head.

Lingge covered her with a quilt, tucked in the corners, and took out a lantern and placed it on the bedside. The warm light created a cozy atmosphere. For this girl, it was the only indispensable thing.

"Have a sweet dream."

Linger whispered. Is this a consolation? Or a blessing?

Olvera hid half of her face in the quilt, revealing only a pair of bright eyes that seemed to be filled with light brighter than the stars and the moon: "I won't dream."

After the curse weakened, she could fall asleep occasionally, but even when she slept, she never dreamed. Perhaps it was because she hadn't dreamed for so long that she had forgotten what it felt like. For mortals, it was easy to forget something, but it was not so easy to remember it again.

This was obviously not something to be proud of, but her tone was like a child showing off her new toy.

"It's ok."

Lingge's hand stroked the girl's eyes and gently closed her eyelids. The touch was warm and cool, like condensed dew in the morning. Olvera suddenly remembered the rain seven hundred years ago. After the rain, the courtyard was fresh, and the smell of flowers and soil seemed to be this smell. The teacher used a quill pen to record her mood at that time and told her that one day she would remember it in her dreams.

Now is that moment.

"You will have a dream tonight." The young man said to her in a very affirmative tone, "and it will definitely be a good dream."

How did he know?
Can young people predict the future?
This is not only a prophecy, but also requires some ability to penetrate dreams, just like Gloria's inner personality, Miss White Night. But Miss White Night has always disdained to mention what she saw and heard in other people's dreams, and only occasionally looked at her with a meaningful look. Avella often felt guilty when facing her, because she knew very well under what circumstances a person who can see dreams would become suspicious, just like a well-read person would only be interested in certain books. Fortunately, Miss White Night's frequency of controlling the body is not too high, and Gloria, she is not a threat, in any sense.

"Lingge." Before she decided to go to sleep, she asked the young man beside her for the last time: "Will I still be able to see you when I wake up?"

The young man said nothing, but just nodded slightly. This simple action gave the girl immense confidence and a sense of security.

She closed her eyes and immersed herself in the darkness.

……

The dream was flooding in, the past and the future were waiting, but the scene the girl saw was not either of them. To be precise, she didn't know what it was.

The sunlight weaved into spikes on the fields, and the shadows of the clouds were floating across the sky, drifting towards the azure mountains. In the distance, several elks were leaping and disappearing into the depths of the forest. Their movements were as agile as the darlings of the forest, unhindered by the growing vines and bushes. When the last bird song came, Olvera woke up vaguely and realized that she was not in the courtyard of the ancient kingdom. She thought she would dream of her hometown, her parents and teachers, but all she saw was a familiar landscape, wind, fields, forests, clouds and mountains, and... the young man beside her.

He had never been so close to Olvera. They sat side by side among the fallen ears of wheat and primroses and saw a stone guard walking in the brightest sunshine since spring. Its rock head was crowded with goblins, one of which looked particularly like Shaymi, or it could be others, Olvera thought.

There were seven primrose seeds nestling in the young man's hair. They took root in this silver land, absorbing the sunlight and moisture from the air, and seemed to be able to sprout soon. Olvera stared at them for a long time, but did not find any sign of sprouting from any of the seeds. She couldn't help but reach out her hand and wanted to touch them, but the young man dodged her without leaving a trace. He did not accuse her, but just looked at the girl in confusion. That innocent look made Olvera feel ashamed.

"I just wanted to help you get rid of those bugs," the girl said, pursing her lips. "They made your hair their nest."

The young man laughed, shook his head, and said nothing, but began to search on the ground. Just as Olivia was curious about what he wanted to find, the young man suddenly reached out and picked up a broken grass stem from the ground. It was probably the stem of primrose, because it still had a faint floral scent and a slightly lighter smell of soil.

It looks ordinary, why should you look for it?

The girl's eyes seemed to be asking questions, but the young man smiled mysteriously and did not answer. He had not spoken since Avra ​​woke up, but for some reason, Avra ​​did not feel strange or surprised. On the contrary, she felt very safe, more at ease than curling up in the quilt to read in winter.

The young man weaved the grass stems in his hands into a ring. His fingers were incredibly dexterous, with a power that could turn decay into something magical. In the eyes of the girl, even the ordinary grass ring seemed to have become a masterpiece of a master craftsman. The withered leaves, under the shining sunlight, seemed to sprout new buds and form emeralds, using the perfect combination of nature and manpower to seal a warm and bright spring day.

That was the most beautiful memory in the girl's life.

The young man stood up, knelt on one knee under her surprised gaze, and then slowly put the ring made of grass stems on the girl's ring finger. Their fingertips touched and separated, but they could not extricate themselves from the throbbing that was more hazy than the morning mist and more ignorant than the spring day.

It was her gradually widening platinum pupils, her slightly opened cherry-colored lips, and the feeling that I didn't know what color to use to describe it.

"I told you," the young man smiled, "you will have a good dream tonight."

Give me some meow