Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 613 Saying goodbye to the past?
In a room in the Night Palace, Lorena sat in a wheelchair, silently listening to the noises coming from outside the room. When she heard the roar of the building collapsing and the orderly footsteps of the patrolling guards, she realized that the critical moment her sister had mentioned had arrived, and she had to hurry and escape from here before the summoning ceremony was over.

Having already made the decision, she would not hesitate when the time came. Therefore, Lorena only took a last look at her room, with a complex look, showing both nostalgia and reluctance, as well as determination and awareness. She had spent her childhood here, and the gradually eroding shadows on the ceiling and the bitter smell of medicine in the sea water formed all her memories, mixed with her mother's gentle care for her, her sister's company and comfort, and the sympathetic and loving eyes from everyone around her. They whispered in private, discussing a curse that tortured the princess to sleep all night... Lorena heard it all, but remained calm.

Due to her injuries, she lost many things, including friendship, laughter, freedom, and the right to be carefree. However, at that time, the little girl, who had understood that everything in the world was difficult, did not regard these losses as regrets, but accepted her fate calmly. If the followers of Crystal Snow are destined to regard the continuation of the glory of the Son of God as their mission, then let her shine forever on the throne of Nereids, because she has gained enough, and the loss is not so important.

But when did this thinking change?

It was probably after her sister came, or to be more precise, after the night she and her sister watched the meteors on the sea, that she suddenly didn't want to be the offspring of God anymore. She just wanted to live as herself, as Lorena, as a girl who was not bound by any mission.

What changed her was a meteor that streaked across the sky, trailing a dazzling trail of light, and fell into the end of the sea, in the city of mankind. When her sister saw it, she said to her, or perhaps to herself, "Isn't the meteor beautiful?"

"Yeah." She nodded slightly.

"Have you ever seen a shooting star, Lorena? I don't mean the kind that flies across the sky, I mean the kind that falls to the ground."

"No."

"That's true. After all, we all live in the sea."

"But, you just said..."

"will not."

"In fact, sometimes I also want to leave here and go to a faraway place to see what a meteor that falls to the ground looks like."

When a meteor falls into the sea, it will extinguish in an instant and turn into black and cold rocks. Such rocks are everywhere in the sea and are not uncommon.

"I just want to chase the shooting star, but that doesn't really make sense. Lorena, if a person wants to be free, she shouldn't just watch the trajectory of the shooting star and imagine it, she should become that shooting star."

"Will you leave me, sister?"

"Turning yourself into a shooting star?"

"That's right. Even though it only flashes in the night sky, no one can restrain it. Not the sky, not the sun, not the moon, not the other stars. I think that kind of light is the most beautiful light in the world."

"But it will soon go out, right?" Because it is fleeting, it is not eternal.

"Then let it go out." Her sister suddenly turned around and gave her a genuine smile. She seemed to have rarely seen such cheerfulness since she came to Nereids. Most of the time, she was silent and melancholy like a snowflake in the deep winter. "I don't think the shooting star releases its light for others to see, right? So whether it shines or goes out, it is its freedom. Why should we care what others think?"

Whether it shines or goes out, it is its freedom and has nothing to do with others.

Rorona was touched by these words. She was overwhelmed by a strange feeling. She felt as if something had taken root in her ignorant heart and would break out of the ground one day in the future. But what was it? An ignorant and bitter emotion? A firm but unwilling awakening? A distant and confused yearning? She didn't know anything. She just instinctively feared such things because she had a premonition that it would change her future life.

"Lorana," she heard her sister's voice in her ears, hazy like fog and echoing like the tide: "Thank you."

……

From that day on, the eldest princess of the Nieride royal family finally became cheerful and had a smile on her face, which relieved her mother and teacher who were secretly worried about her; and the second princess was still the well-behaved little girl who seemed unable to utter a single "no", but she suddenly became interested in things beyond her mission.

What does it feel like to come back after recovering from an injury? You feel relieved, but then you feel scared again; is the care from your mother and other people around you pure love? In fact, it is more of sympathy, because you see the prison that binds you; small shells, scales of unknown fish, and seaweed that can be seen everywhere on the roadside, if you put all of these into the alchemy cauldron, can you create anything as you wish? You want to try, use more materials and more combinations, and witness the countless equations of miracles with your own eyes; in the process of alchemy, what are the glowing little people jumping out of the alchemy cauldron? After they disappear, the purity of the alchemical substance becomes higher, which means that they are also like you, people who are not needed here, but perhaps there will be a small place for them in another place in the world.

Are the injuries on your body really incurable? If a pair of hands has the ability to create miracles, then the possibilities she holds are beyond the definition of fate, and you just need to dig for it yourself; Is she really the child of Crystal Snow? But I can't feel the call of that god, only the ocean resonates with me; Can people really turn into a shooting star? If you still can't forget the light you saw that night, then try it yourself.

Under the shadow of the erosion of the ancient abyss, in the sea water filled with bitter medicine, in every night when she was tortured by injuries and couldn't fall asleep but no longer felt bored... a little girl gradually grew up. She was the most well-behaved and sensible girl in everyone's eyes, but she had the freest soul in the world. She was destined to pass through the long night of Nereids like a meteor, but she only left a moment of light and then quickly extinguished.

Gently placing her hand on the doorknob, Lorena knew that as long as she opened the door, her past identity and status would be left behind and would have nothing to do with her. From then on, she was no longer the second princess of Nereids City, no longer the sea-dwelling princess of the Azure Mirror, and no longer the half-son of God favored by the Crystal Snow. Instead, she was an ordinary traveler, following those companions she had just met, embarking on an incredible journey.

She will encounter many difficulties, experience many setbacks, gain a lot of growth, find ways to heal her injuries, and perhaps close her eyes forever before that; she will keep her dream in mind, help those in need and this ocean that is being polluted, and follow the direction of her sight, striving to become a shooting star that can shine longer, and then suddenly remember the direction of her home and loved ones on some extinguished night.

Under the surging and wailing sea water is the longing. Rolena feels that she will soon miss her mother's face, her sister's smile, and Lord Katins's severity... She will miss the people she has helped and who affectionately call her "Your Highness". She once had so much love, but she did not hesitate at all, because she knew that this love would only become the driving force of her journey, not an obstacle.

"Goodbye, my mother, my sister, my dearest ones."

She whispered, and the next moment she exerted a little force on her wrist and firmly opened the door to the future, leaving only a gradually receding back view to the furniture in the room that accompanied her silently, and a whisper that was slowly drowned in the sea: "And my past, my memories, and my immature self."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)