Alice in the Land of Steam

Olvera had never felt so happy.

In her dream, she became a princess of the country of Bemang again. At that time, her country had not perished yet, and the royal family of Leslie still ruled over the thousands of ancient lives, aliens or monsters in the vast Sosen Mountains. Her father was loved on the throne, and her mother was respected for her nobility and elegance. The couple did not have their first child until the seventieth snowfall, so they cherished her even more and promised her all the love and virtues in the world before she was born. When the last snowflake was melted by the sun and the spring breeze caressed the earth again, the child named Olvera arrived as promised. Fortunately, she was very healthy. The court doctor said that she was blessed by the light and would not be afraid of any disease or curse in this life.

So the princess grew up as expected, healthy like an oak tree in the forest. She was loved by her parents, cherished by her teachers and respected by her countrymen, and enjoyed a carefree life at every stage of her life. When she grew up, she was loved by countless men with her pure and beautiful appearance and innocent temperament. They traveled thousands of miles to Berman to ask for marriage from the old king. Even if they were rejected, as long as they got a look from the princess, they would have no regrets.

The old king doted on his daughter and thought that she should be the happiest person in the world. Therefore, he was very strict in choosing a fiancé. He chose and chose, but still couldn't find the one he liked. Finally, he gave the right to the princess herself. As long as she thought the man was suitable, he must be the best man in the world, right? However, what everyone didn't expect was that among the many candidates, there were both royal nobles with noble births and well-matched families, and young men who were famous on the continent and full of heroic spirit. But the princess finally chose an ordinary man, who was not even an elf, but a human.

"When I first saw him I was convinced," the princess said to the old king, "that I could only be happy if I was loved by him."

So the old king agreed to the marriage. The young human man had no origin to boast about or wealth to show off. He made a ring out of grass stems that could be found everywhere, knelt on one knee, and put the grass ring on the princess's ring finger. In an instant, the ring emitted a dazzling stream of light, and the withered leaves instantly sprouted emerald green buds, as if they were alive again. The tree lady, who had lived in seclusion in the Violet Courtyard for many years and was proficient in flower aromatherapy and prophecy, saw this scene and a gratified smile appeared on her face. She offered her blessing to the newlyweds: "This is a sign witnessed by fate."

The wedding lasted for thirty days and thirty nights. After the wedding, the old king suddenly turned into a white deer, and the queen turned into a red linnet. They walked around the palace three times, leaving behind mottos, entrusting the glory of the throne to the princess, and the responsibility of the crown to her husband. After that, the white deer disappeared in the depths of the morning light, and the red linnet flew to the end of the starlight. Then the ancient Kingdom of Bemang ushered in a brand new chapter. In the ancient history books, it was written that the princess and her husband's wisdom in governing the country was as pure as their love. The great light elf queen Olvera was kind and kind, generously sharing the water, herbs and all resources of this land of thousands of miles with races other than the light elves; the human king Lingge, who was crowned as king, was fair and strict. He taught the elves to use tools and trade methods made by humans, and punished those merchants who tried to seek improper benefits in trade equally. Under their governance, the Kingdom of Bemang became more prosperous day by day, and the people's lives became more prosperous day by day.

As time passed, thirty seasons of spring passed, and thirty seasons of autumn passed, Olvera had grown from a naive girl into a mature and steady queen. When she stood on the highest tower of the royal city and looked down at the city that she and he had built with their own hands, she suddenly remembered her teacher's prophecy. It turned out that the witness of fate she mentioned at that time was not only a witness to their love, but also a witness to how sweet fruits this pure love would produce.

Olvera had never felt so happy. When she thought of the wonderful years she had spent with her lover, she would still feel as excited as an 18-year-old girl. Her only regret was that she had not given birth to a child with her lover since they got married, to inherit their love and virtues, just as she had inherited their love and virtues from her parents. But she was not in a hurry, because she was sure that there was still a long time in the future. As long as the two of them held hands, they would be able to go through more years than a fairy tale.

Yes, this is a beautiful fairy tale, a fairy tale that will make everyone happy...

"So that's how it is. What an interesting dream." Just as Olvera was immersed in happiness and satisfaction, a voice suddenly sounded behind her, saying thoughtfully: "Will you feel happy like this? What a strange idea."

“Who, who is it!?”

Olvera turned around in a hurry, but saw a gray-haired girl standing in front of the portrait of her and her lover, looking at the characters in the painting expressionlessly. It was the tenth spring after the two got married, and the princess specially invited the most famous painter in the kingdom to paint a picture for herself and her lover. The beautiful girl in the painting had a head of rich white-gold hair, which surrounded her quiet and beautiful face like fluffy feathers. She was dressed dignified but not luxuriously, with a faint smile on her lips, slightly reserved; and next to her was a handsome man with silver hair, he was tall and slender, dressed simply but neatly. In order to include the whole person in the painting, he had to bend down, with one hand on the back of the chair and the other hand holding the princess's hand. His eyes did not look directly at the picture like other portraits, but were always fixed on the princess's shy and happy smile, as if there was nothing worth paying attention to in the world except her.

"This is really..."

The gray-haired girl smacked her lips, as if she didn't know how to describe it: "Does Lingge know that he appears like this in your dream? It's been beautified too much."

"I'm not embellishing it! Lingge is just like that!"

Avella retorted subconsciously, and then suddenly realized the true identity of the gray-haired girl: "Bai, Bai Ye!? Why are you here?"

The strange thing is that when she recognized Bai Ye's identity, the mature and steady Queen suddenly disappeared, just like what is described in many fairy tales, when a fairy's true identity is revealed, her true form will be revealed, and she will be replaced by Olvera in her teenage years. The characters in the painting also changed accordingly, not only the princess, but also the silver-haired man beside her, also lost their beautified decoration and became the real appearance, which is also the appearance that Bai Ye is most familiar with.

"It still looks better this way." Bai Ye nodded with satisfaction: "That guy is obviously not that handsome."

“It’s not embellished too much, is it?”

Avella argued a little, because in her mind, Ling Ge was indeed like this. Then she realized that there was a more important problem that needed to be solved: "No, you haven't told me yet, why are you here, Bai Ye?"

"That's weird, why can't I be here?"

Bai Ye sneered mockingly, but judging from her tone, she was not mocking Avra, but something else: "Dreams are the echo of memories, the imprint of the soul, and the overlap of the voices of the heart. Peeping into dreams is essentially peeping into the voices of others, and I happen to be the king of the soul."

Ovella was quite suspicious when she heard this: "But aren't you cursed by Gloria? Can a cursed personality also use the power of the kingship?"

Bai Ye's expression froze. She didn't expect that the secret she had been hiding for a long time was not discovered by Ling Ge, but was discovered by Avra. Was it because she subconsciously felt that she was not very smart, so she forgot to be vigilant during the communication? What a mistake. No matter what, Avra ​​was the king of secrets. In a sense, she was the synonym of human wisdom and knowledge. Her stupid appearance might just be pretended, just like Saint Xia Liya always pretended to be gentle.

Unfortunately, no one can see through their disguise. The only one who sees through the truth is the inner personality Bai Ye, who looks aloof on the outside but is actually keen on catching wind and shadows and snooping into other people's dreams everywhere.

As mentioned before, dreams are the voice of the heart. No matter how well a person disguises himself in reality, his true nature will always be exposed in his dreams. Therefore, when Bai Ye wants to get to know a person deeply, it often starts from his dreams. As for whether that person is willing to be understood in this way, it is not something she cares about. She has visited the dreams of most people on the entire Yunjingkong Island. So far, there are only two people whose dreams she cannot see through. One is Lingge. His dream is not too complicated, but too simple. It is so simple that it gives people a feeling of consistency. But that must be wrong. Bai Ye firmly believes that he is just disguising himself better, and sooner or later he will be exposed by himself; as for the other person, of course it is Avra, but she has nothing to say, purely because she does not dream.

Of course, it is a very rare thing for a person to stay awake and dreamless for such a long time, so Bai Ye was still a little curious. So when she found out that Olvera had a dream for the first time tonight, she rushed there as soon as possible. She wanted to know what kind of flowers would bloom in the long and lonely desolate heart of a person who had not dreamed for a long time. What was the reason that made her learn to dream again?
She felt she didn't need to ask.

It's him again.

Bai Ye stared at the handsome silver-haired young man in the picture frame, feeling inexplicably irritated. She didn't want to admit it, but his shadow was indeed everywhere in this world. It was okay in reality, after all, they lived under the same roof, ate and bathed every morning and evening, and saw each other every time they looked up and down. She had long been accustomed to it. But why was he everywhere in dreams? Avella was not even the first person to dream of Lingge. Long before her, Bai Ye seemed to see this guy in every dream she visited, including Saint Xia Liya's dream. If the image of Lingge in the dream was not so different from him, the girl would have suspected that this guy had the same ability as herself.

Olvera's dream was just a bit outrageous. When others were still stuck in the plot of dating, walking, chatting, and talking, she fast-forwarded to marriage in her first dream, which made Bai Ye speechless. She knew there was a term called dream lover, but it was obviously not supposed to be used like this, right?
Shouldn’t it be…right?

"Um," Avella asked carefully, interrupting Bai Ye's thoughts: "Are you really Bai Ye? Why don't you speak?"

"You don't believe it?" Bai Ye glanced at her and said, "When I tell others about this dream tomorrow, you will believe it."

"Ahhh, please don't! I believe you, I believe you! You must not tell them!" Olvera screamed sharply. It was not until then that she realized that the gray-haired girl in front of her should be the most unoffensive person in the entire Yunjingkong Island, even more than Saint Xia Liya. After all, she can enter everyone's dreams, which means she knows everyone's secrets. Even if she reveals a little bit, it will cause great psychological trauma to the person involved.

Olvera should have a say in this matter more than anyone else, because she has already had a similar experience. Past memories are treated as a script and performed in public, and the audience also asks you how you feel on the spot. Olvera must never experience such shame a second time!

Stupid woman, you actually want to fight me.

Bai Ye curled her lips, withdrew her gaze, and actually stared at the painting on the wall. For some reason, she seemed to be very interested in this painting.

"Um, Bai Ye." Seeing that she didn't speak, Aoweila couldn't help but probe: "Are you angry?"

"Huh?" Bai Ye didn't look back: "Why should I be angry?"

"It's because of... Lingge." Avella whispered, "If Sister Xiaoxia saw this painting, she would definitely be angry."

I have to say that her intuition was quite sharp. She actually knew that I was angry with that man, but the reason for my anger was different from what she imagined.

"You seem to be worrying too much." Bai Ye said coldly: "What happens to that guy has nothing to do with me. In the end, do I need to care about him so much?"

Even if he appears in the dreams of ten thousand people, it is none of my business.

The reason I was upset was that the more I interacted with that guy, the easier it would be for him to discover the secrets in my heart.

Maybe it has been discovered?
"Really?" Ovella thought, "But, this is just a dream."

"so what?"

"Bai Ye, you always appear in other people's dreams. Are you like me before and can't dream? Everyone tells the truth in their dreams, but you are the only one in other people's dreams, so you can lie, right?" Avella tilted her head: "Isn't this very cunning?"

You can't lie in dreams.

So this is what Olvera really thinks.

Bai Ye was stunned. (End of this chapter)