Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1424 The most important emotion in one's life?

A breeze slipped in from somewhere, brushing against the canopy of the giant mushroom tree, shaking down a few glowing spores, like tiny specks of stardust, which slowly settled between the two. The air was filled with coolness, dampness, and the unique life force of soil mixed with fungi.

The glowing spores continued to fall, like silent snow; the village in the distance lay slumbering, save for the faint whistling of the wind through the cracks in the rocks, like the earth's slumbering breath. What time was it on the surface? Midnight? Dawn? Perhaps even the early hours of the morning? The passage of time had lost its meaning in this underground world; it was frozen, or rather, shut out. Only the two people present knew that if their conversation tonight didn't end, the next day would never come.

But when does it end? For a conversation that started out of nowhere, there seems to be no standard answer. It might end when one party completely convinces, refutes, or even suppresses the other. But in any case, at least the two haven't reached that point yet, so it can continue.

"Knows everything?" The little bat resolutely refused to believe such a boastful claim. While Ovira's royal authority was powerful, it could only access information recorded in writing. How could it possibly know what she was thinking? She couldn't help but mutter, "It's definitely just bragging. If this continues, she'll end up like Alice sooner or later..."

After all, Alice is the biggest braggart on Cloud Whale Sky Island.

"Well..."

Ovira was both amused and exasperated. She hadn't expected that telling the truth would be seen as exaggeration, and that she would even be compared to Alice. To salvage her reputation, Princess Beman had to do something to prove herself, and incidentally, take this opportunity to give the restless little bat a warning, telling her not to have any wicked thoughts.

"Whether I'm bragging or not, you know best in your heart, Leticia." She gave the little bat a meaningful look, her gaze seemingly able to penetrate his heart and reach his deepest secrets: "For example, I know exactly what you were thinking when you tried to bite me just now."

"What... what can I possibly think?"

After being told that by Ovira, Leticia was clearly flustered, her composure even worse than Shaymi's, but she still refused to admit defeat: "I was just so angry with you that I wanted to bite you..."

"You just want to suck my blood, don't you?" Ovira bluntly stated.

"No!"

Leticia's reaction was even more intense than before, shaking her head repeatedly in denial, even becoming somewhat incoherent: "I'm not hungry at all! Ugh, even if I were hungry, I wouldn't drink blood. Grandma said that only those low-level vampires who still submit to their bestial instincts feed on blood to sustain their lives. I am a descendant of the Valenhild Bloodfang Clan, of noble birth, and I have long since abandoned this barbaric practice. So, don't compare me to those stupid and wicked fellows!"

She became more and more confident as she spoke, and in the end she was completely confident. She raised her head arrogantly and tried to look down on Ovira with her chin to prove that her statement was a one-sided slander and completely wrong!

In truth, she had no blood relation to Countess Neville, and naturally wasn't a descendant of the Bloodfang Clan. However, Ovira didn't point this out, only giving a meaningful "Oh": "I didn't say you were doing this to fill your stomach, Leticia. You obviously have other uses for drinking blood, don't you?"

The little bat's expression froze instantly, as if someone had seen through its deepest secret.

It's really no secret. Everyone knows that Leticia's eternal reign not only grants her the ability to reincarnate and live forever, but she can also bestow this power upon others. As long as the little bat drinks the blood of someone, it can bear the price of death for that person. And since the little bat is immortal, it can bear the death no matter how many times it happens. So from another perspective, the person whose blood is drunk is essentially immortal.

A powerful, incredible, miraculous ability is enough to drive anyone mad. Back then, weren't the heretics of the Void Root Swamp tempted by the Fang of Immortality, gathering in the Silver Moon Castle to plot how to seize and divide the power of immortality, only to be wiped out by the combined forces of the Order? That old wolf, Gundaruff, had a sharp eye; his clever scheme seized upon the greatest fear and desire in the hearts of mortals. Unfortunately, he lacked the strength and was betrayed by Solomon, ultimately failing to succeed.

So far, the only blood Little Bat has ever received comes from her grandmother, who granted the Silver-Eyed Countess immortality. The two have relied on each other for many years. Because Little Bat is already plagued by a curse, and this ability would place an even greater burden on her, Neville strictly forbids her from revealing or using it casually. The only exception was after the events in the Void Root Swamp. To repay the kindness of the people from Cloud Whale Sky Island who accompanied her to rescue her grandmother, Leticia offered her ability as a reward, but everyone politely declined.

It was at that moment that Leticia vaguely realized that the people in front of her were different from the greedy and arrogant aliens in the Void Root Swamp, the cold-blooded monsters in the Order Alliance who wanted to use her as a research subject, and the fools in the mortal world who fanatically pursued eternal life but could not see the price behind it. Therefore, she willingly stayed on the Sky Island and gradually integrated into the team.

Of course, this is only the publicly known situation. In reality, there is another person who made the little bat drink their own blood, but this remains unknown. Both Leticia and the young man are keeping this a secret, partly because they both feel it's better not to reveal it, and partly because... the way the little bat did it wasn't very dignified.

Ling felt ashamed that he had been forcibly kissed by a little girl, and he occasionally displayed an even stranger sense of pride, which he absolutely could not allow others to know. Although Leticia was very proud of herself for making Ling feel embarrassed, she also felt inexplicably guilty afterward. She always felt that if this matter were exposed, especially if Xia found out, she would definitely not have a good ending. So, contrary to her usual behavior, she learned to keep silent and did not say a word to her best friend Medien. Only her grandmother vaguely knew some of the inside story, but she only knew that she had drunk Ling's blood, but she did not know how she had forced... cough cough, persuaded the young man to comply.

Will Ovira... find out?
After all, she just said that she knew everything.

Leticia lowered her head guiltily, not daring to meet Princess Bemang's gaze.

Ovira didn't notice anything amiss. Seeing Leticia lower her head, she assumed her intimidation had worked and smiled slightly, revealing an expression of surprise: "Hmph, now you know how powerful I am, right? I told you, I know everything, so why won't you believe me, Leticia?"

Since you didn't discover the secret between me and Ling Ge, it's clear that you don't know everything either.

The little bat thought to itself, then, where Ovira couldn't see, it smirked smugly. "However, I don't understand," Ovira suddenly tilted her head, asking疑惑地问道, "Why did you suddenly want to use the power of the Eternal Fang on me? And why did you launch a sneak attack so silently? It was so practiced, could it be that you had practiced beforehand? Or perhaps…"

"Uh!" Leticia was afraid that if she continued to analyze, her secret with Ling would really be exposed, so she quickly shook her head and denied it, while also hurriedly saying, "I, I just did it on a whim!"

"Really?"

"real!"

“I don’t believe it. Let me check it out.” As she spoke, Ovira raised her hand, and a thick ancient book appeared out of thin air in Princess Beman’s hand. It was the materialized form of her mysterious royal power: the Library of Truth.

"Isn't the library only for textual information?" In her panic, Leticia didn't have time to think about the question carefully before anxiously reaching out and snatching the ancient book from Ovira's hands when she wasn't looking. She clutched the book, heavier than a brick, tightly to her chest, her eyes filled with wariness and tension as she looked at Ovira: "No, you're not allowed to look at it!"

Ovira raised an eyebrow slightly: "I can use my own royal power without your permission, Leticia."

With another wave of her hand, the book in Leticia's arms vanished, only to reappear in Princess Beman's hands a moment later. A slight, sly smile played on her lips, as if to say, "No matter how much you struggle, it's useless. Once I open this book, all the secrets you've hidden and concealed will be laid bare before me..."

"..."

The innocent little bat, of course, couldn't withstand the wicked adult's psychological offensive. She watched helplessly as the adult turned the pages of the ancient book, the rustling of the paper like the tolling of a judgment bell, bringing immense pressure. Sweat beaded on her forehead, her lips trembled, and the pounding of her heart grew clearer in her ears… Finally, unable to bear the immense psychological pressure, she stopped Ovira's actions, feeling wronged and dissatisfied: "I… I know! I'll tell you!"

Ovira stopped in time, and the little bat breathed a sigh of relief.

So afraid? Does she really have some secret she can't let outsiders know? Ovira pondered, but knew now wasn't the time to pursue this matter. Compared to that, the reason Leticia suddenly used the Fang of Immortality on her was much more intriguing: "So, can you tell me the reason now?"

Leticia stammered for a moment before reluctantly giving a reason: "Because lately you've been starting to look more and more like Xia..."

"What kind of reason is that?" Ovira couldn't understand the connection between the two at all. Besides, "Didn't you just say that?"

"Yes, so I think this is not my imagination, but a fact."

“That should be a good thing,” Ovira said. “Since Sister Xia is gone, there has to be someone to encourage and comfort everyone, and give everyone confidence, right? I don’t know if I can do as well as she did, but as long as everyone doesn’t mind, I will keep trying. Leticia, you won’t mind, will you?”

“No, but…” Leticia glanced at her discreetly and lowered her voice, “Since you’re becoming more and more like Xia, will you do the same things as her and go down the same path in the future?”

For example, sacrificing oneself to save everyone.

Ovira's breath hitched suddenly.

She finally understood what Leticia was worried about, but she couldn't respond. Should she change the subject and pretend she hadn't heard anything, or should she smile and say, "You're overthinking it"? Different choices lead to different answers and different endings. The paradox is that without knowing whether the ending will be good or bad, no one dares to make a choice easily. Perhaps Sister Xia could; she didn't rely on fate, but used her own sincerity and love to understand the story's trajectory. Ovira knew that no matter how hard she tried, she could never be as rational and full of tender emotions as Sister Xia, because imitation can never truly make you another person.

Leticia was still muttering to herself, hugging her knees, chin resting on her knees, gazing at the fluorescent light emanating from the moss, reflected in her clear ruby ​​eyes like a shimmering lake: "I know Xia is a very gentle person, but sometimes too gentle. She kept some things from us so we wouldn't worry, and by the time we found out, it was too late. I didn't realize this at first, always thinking she was just leaving temporarily and would come back soon. But then Medien told me, 'If you only have one life, wouldn't you want to do something more meaningful? You can't always be so naive like in fairy tales, because the person who told us fairy tales is no longer here.' From that day on, I often thought, if I had known what Xia was going to do, why she was doing it, and what kind of ending she would face, could I have taken her place and endured it all? After all, I won't die. Memories only happen once to me, but life doesn't. If I could use my life—which isn't a once-in-a-lifetime life—to save someone else's once-in-a-lifetime life, wouldn't that be the meaning Medien wanted me to find…"

“Absolutely not,” Ovira interrupted her calmly.

Leticia looked up and stared at her blankly.

“I think that’s not what Medien meant.” Ovie reached out and smoothed her slightly messy bangs, revealing her eyes, purer than rubies, fully illuminated by the fluorescence of moss and spores. Although their owner was so bewildered and still confused, there was always a flame burning in her eyes, making them unforgettable: “Because your life is not meant to bear the cost for others. Remember that, Leticia.”

"That will be the most important emotion of your life."

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