Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 137 Do you forget things occasionally?

In the 223rd year after the founding of Berman, the court's scribes wrote down this history: Due to the curse of Princess Olvera, this land lost its sun and welcomed the arrival of eternal night. In the third month after the disaster, two thousand people fled the forest, abandoning their hometowns as if they had escaped from a swamp. It was midsummer, and the wheat, peas and grapes in the fields were all dead without anyone to tend to them.

Apparently they had reached a silent consensus before they put pen to paper, believing that someone must be held responsible for this horrific disaster, but it should not be the old king who was exhausted from working hard for it, nor the ministers who had performed their duties conscientiously, nor the innocent citizens who were powerless in the face of the disaster... Then there was only one suitable person left.

The princess who was born with the curse was the most precious treasure of the Leslie royal family, the pure and spotless "Lady of Light", but she relied too much on light and resolutely resisted darkness. The light elves knew that their power came from the eternal balance between light and darkness. Breaking the balance would lead to chaos.

"We love light, but we also fear darkness, because without the depth of darkness, there would be no way to set off the splendor of light. But Your Highness can only accept light and cannot tolerate even a little darkness." A scholar openly declared: "Obviously, this is the root cause of the disaster we are experiencing."

Although he was soon convicted of this disrespectful remark, every word of it reached Olvera's ears without omission.

Later, when the girl stood on the barren hillside and looked at a dark and gloomy castle gradually rising on the top of the cliff, this passage suddenly appeared in her mind, and she had a strange association, as if what was built there was not a castle, but a cemetery, a tombstone, or directly a coffin, and she was the one who would soon be buried in it.

Yes, buried alive, she used this word to describe what she was about to face, and felt that there was no better description in the world than this. Because those people - whether they were the people who left their homes, the scholars who wrote history books, or even her haggard and anxious father, actually did not hate themselves. What they really hated was the deep darkness that separated from themselves, the eternal despair and the lingering haze.

What they really want to bury is not themselves, but darkness. However, darkness is such a cold, cruel, and evil thing, how could it allow mortals to manipulate it and walk into the tomb prepared for it? Therefore, it is necessary to choose a noble soul to be buried with it to appease the violent and barbaric nature.

Olvera was the unfortunate chosen one, or destined to be chosen. The curse she carried determined her innate fate and mission. Otherwise, there would be no shortage of loyal and courageous subjects or brave and noble warriors in the country of Bemang who were willing to die for loyalty to the royal family and to save the people.

"I'm so sad that I want to cry." The girl standing on the hillside murmured, her platinum hair was blown by the dull and hoarse cold wind, and it was dry as if it was dying.

"Are you still sad, Your Highness?" Someone's call woke her up from her trance. She raised her head slightly and saw the teacher standing beside her with a concerned look in her eyes.

And it is——

Olvera believed that if they were given a chance to choose, they would stand up bravely and bear this painful fate instead of her. This attitude was often so tolerant that it made people want to cry, just like the gentle scent of violets that the princess smelled in the garden when she was young. But it was also because of this that she was even more sad.

"It's okay. I understand how you feel now." The teacher also raised his head and looked at the gloomy castle on the high cliff. He found that every wall and every building was built with black stone bricks and had no windows. It was more closed and solid than he had imagined. He frowned slightly and said, "That shouldn't be the castle you live in. It's just a cage."

"Isn't this something everyone knows, teacher?" Olvera laughed in a low voice: "It was originally sketched to remind people of the image of a cage, "the bushes and vines growing in the silent wilderness that no one has explored, these buildings conceal our ever-changing and turbulent lives... At night, darkness itself is like the entrance to the prison, dark and deep." Mr. Stephen Graham wrote in "Silent Night" that the prison is not an image, the real image is the meaning of imprisonment, submission and pain it gives us."

"I've been standing here for a few minutes, you just didn't notice."

"I'm so sorry, teacher."

"When did you finish reading this book?"

"When did you come, teacher?"

"few days ago."

The teacher sighed softly and asked again: "So, you really want to enter the cage prepared for you and waste the rest of your life in it?"

Olvera fell silent after hearing this. She stared at the castle without saying a word, but her hands hidden in her sleeves were shaking slightly. If she could choose, which girl would be willing to live in such a cold, heavy, and depressing cell? Besides, she was so afraid of the dark that she was almost afraid to the bone. "Being locked in a cage, unable to leave and unable to see the outside world, is like a tree." The teacher whispered, "Trees cannot pull their roots out of the soil, otherwise they will wither and die. So, when you are a tree, no matter what kind of disaster you encounter: storms, earthquakes, mountain torrents, fires... you can only bear it alone. Is that the life you want, Your Highness?"

She looked at her only and most worried student with loving eyes: "If you are afraid, please don't feel embarrassed, because this is human nature. I can take you away from here, to a place where no one knows, and live a peaceful life."

"But I also remember you once told me that trees have their own destiny. Besides." The girl's eyes swept across the dark sky and cast a gaze at the lifeless world below. She saw that the trees in the entire forest had withered and every leaf on the branches had fallen; the skeletons of flying birds were buried and covered by gray sand, and they had lost the power to spread their wings; dark evil beasts roamed this desolate land, their scarlet and cold eyes filled with hatred and disgust for the living, so she opened her mouth and said sadly: "Where can I go?"

When she leaves Bemang, these dark beasts born from the curse will follow her like a shadow, trampling every piece of land she passes by and swallowing every ray of light she sees. Could she destroy her hometown and then ignore the lives of others and bring them painful harm?

"There is no place in this world for me." She said to her teacher sadly but firmly, "So perhaps, letting me stay in that castle forever is the most appropriate choice. I have never hated my father or anyone else for this. Do you believe it, teacher?"

"Of course I believe you, Princess. I believe there is no one in this world who is kinder and more innocent than you."

The teacher stretched out her withered hand, which was as thin as a branch, and gently stroked the student's cheek. Her voice trembled slightly, like leaves rustling in the autumn wind: "But please believe that this is definitely not the fate you should have. The time you wait in a cage will never be so long that it can only be described as eternity. One day, you will leave the castle and return to the outside world, live like an ordinary girl, and do what you want to do... I promise you this, Your Highness, and please believe that I will do it."

"because--"

At that moment, the wind suddenly blew, and all the fallen leaves were blown up, like a sky full of dead butterflies, flying past the girl's eyes.

She stared at the scene in a daze. The teacher's voice gradually became blurred in her ears, and finally, she sank into an unpredictable dream.

……

So, what did the teacher say that day?
Many years later, facing the strange guests, Princess Leslie thought blankly that this was the first time she had thought about this question in a time so long that it was difficult to count the exact years. It was as if a boring fire had been refining her day and night, and finally all her memories had been cleared out, leaving only this piece of incomplete crystal.

"Hey! Olvera? Hello!?" Alice rudely stretched out her hand and waved it in front of her, asking in a puzzled tone, "What are you thinking about? Why are you suddenly silent?"

Aoweila came back to her senses in a trance and subconsciously avoided the guests' suspicious and inquiring gazes. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she suddenly asked in a low voice: "Do you forget things occasionally?"

"Ah? That's only natural." Alice scratched the back of her head. She was not ashamed but proud of it. "I have forgotten many things, completely!"

Saint Shalia nodded seriously as well: "Me too."

"So that's it." For some reason, Ovella felt a sigh of relief.

Because it’s been so long, it’s inevitable to forget some things, right?
She comforted herself so much.

Only Lingge saw the confusion and loss that flashed between her sleepy eyes.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)