Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 223: Will tears smile at the time of parting?
A wound cut the old tree, and the cracks on the trunk surface extended endlessly upward and downward, chasing the end of life. The dagger named the Star of Grass and Trees greedily licked the last bit of power accumulated by the old tree over the years, and transformed it into infinite surging magic power. The dagger was gradually shrouded in a layer of bright red halo. The light was the color of blood, but it also revealed the majestic breath of life. The expansion and contraction of the dagger was like the beating of a heart, inspiring endless echoes.

"Madam Tree!?"

Except for Metien, everyone in the void space opened their eyes wide in disbelief. Shemi even shouted in panic. This call seemed to cross the boundaries of time and space and reached Olvera's ears at the same time, making the dazed princess finally realize that what she saw before her was not an illusion, but a cruel reality.

Her body was shaking, her lips were shaking, and her slowly stretched out hand was also shaking. She wanted to touch the teacher's wounds, as if to heal those scars that would never heal, but she hesitated and hung in the air, unable to get close. The pale lips moved up and down, passing the cold temperature to each other, and she said in a trembling sad tone: "You are injured... Teacher..."

"No." Although her life force was fading, the smile on Mrs. Shu's face became even warmer. She said softly, "This is neither an injury nor a disease, Your Highness."

Faced with her answer, Olvera seemed confused and at a loss.

She has always known that life is the most fragile thing in the world, not as hard as stone, nor as flexible as water. It only takes a shallow scar or a small disease to kill them. But the teacher said that this is neither a wound nor a disease... So what is it?

Is it fate?

Is it fate that wants the teacher to die?
"It's a promise." Madam Tree said softly, her voice as clear as a ray of sunshine under the shade of a tree: "Many years ago, I said that I would find you, Princess. Now I am just fulfilling my promise. After absorbing my vitality, the Grass and Wood Disaster Star can burst out with the most powerful force to help you overcome all difficulties and defeat any powerful enemy. Don't you want to leave this castle, Princess?"

Olvera didn't notice that the "many years ago" the teacher said actually meant earlier, earlier than when she became her teacher. The princess just suddenly felt a huge sadness surge in her heart, making her unable to control her emotions. She slowly lowered her head, and her low and choked voice was like a person who finally surfaced after drowning. She took a deep breath, pressing on her fragile lungs. Those rapid gasps made her sentences seem intermittent: "I really... want to leave here, but... I also want the teacher to be alive... Why, in order for me to leave here, the teacher must... cough, sacrifice himself? There has never been such a reason... cough cough!"

She spoke too quickly and ended up coughing violently. She looked breathless and so frail that it made people feel distressed.

Madam Shu listened quietly and watched quietly at the same time. After listening, she shook her head and said, "This is an unrealistic idea, Your Highness. If you want to gain something, you must pay for it. This is the only truth in the world. What's more, human life is born and dies in the morning, just like a moment. From the day we met, that number began to move backwards, and now it is just back to the starting point. Didn't you have the same idea as me for a moment, Your Highness?"

Olvera recalled her past memories because of her words. She remembered that her teacher once said to her that loneliness is an eternal thing. People always have to find new encounters after separation in order to gain temporary comfort in this journey of eternal loneliness. Olvera has experienced separation from her father and mother, and has met with Lingge, Alice and others. Now, it seems that the moment of separation she mentioned has come again.

but.

"I know, teacher, I've always known this...but..." She slowly squatted down, biting her lower lip where no one else could see, with stubborn tears flashing in her eyes: "Why does it have to be so soon? I've only been with you for such a short time, and we've only been together for such a short time, but you suddenly said you were leaving and would never come back... The time that has passed in between is not as long as the birth, aging, sickness and death of a person. It's as if I woke up and you told me you were leaving this world. Can't I think this is just a dream and I haven't woken up yet?"

She took another deep breath, her chest rising and falling with heavy gasps.

Mrs. Tree did not answer, but looked at her student quietly with a loving and regretful look. If we only count the ten years she spent as a human, then the time they spent together was naturally very short. She did not have time to tell the princess the story of a tree growing into a human, and even their reunion was only a moment; but if we add the time she spent as a tree, then it becomes very long, so long that even fate is jealous of this lucky soul, and after losing and finding the past thoughts twice, it swears to make her pay something to prove its fairness.

A tree listened to those gentle and peaceful words and developed a yearning to be human; a little girl stood in the garden full of blooming violets, breathing in the deadly fragrance. When I looked back at her, those gentle, tender, and timid eyes looked familiar. Will the past that is so familiar to me feel deeply melancholy and confused when I experience it again?
The tree's breath was getting weaker, and the heartbeat of people was gradually stopping. She reached out her hand and tried to touch the princess's cheek, but found that her fingertips began to scatter like sand. That was the consequence or outcome of her determination to fulfill her promise. Now it passed away without reservation and gradually lost in the wind with a slight smell of rain. But where did such a damp breeze come from in this dim corridor? Was it from the tears that the princess couldn't help falling from her eyes?

The sour, fishy and salty smell reminded her of a rain many years ago. She and she had watched it together in the room, and saw traces of rain sliding down the glass, and it has been raining until now.

She lowered her head, and her peaceful eyes searched for the shadow of her past in the princess's hair. The tree that grew silently and never felt sad for any rainy day met a knowledgeable and gentle girl, and planted a lifelong obsession from then on. But is it all worth it?

The scenes flashed before my eyes: the sunlight pouring down from the branches when we first met, and her profile as she spread out a book on her knees and read it carefully; the innocence of whispering to myself when I was alone, sharing my thoughts with a tree without reservation; the firm belief that I could fight for my lofty ideals and sacrifice everything for them; the stories I had told her about how trees should grow, which I had always remembered and never forgot; watching her resolutely leaving, feeling powerless, and suddenly feeling sad about the rain that was falling, which I had regarded as a symbol of separation from then on; finally becoming her lover. After becoming a human, I set out on a journey to find the traces she left behind, but I only found her relics in the ruins of an ancient battlefield. How painful it must have been at that time; after traveling all over the continent, I returned to this long-lost mountain range. Standing on the land of the light elves, I suddenly smelled a familiar breath; when I saw the young girl, I couldn't stop the urge to burst into tears; I accepted the king's commission and became the girl's teacher, restarting a seemingly true fate; I couldn't help her remove the curse, and watched her walk into the castle and seal herself, feeling helpless and sad; I woke up in shock countless times at night, with scenes from the past flashing in my mind...

At the end of her life, Mrs. Shu found two people in front of her. They had the same face, but they looked at her in different ways. One was calm, wise, steady and gentle, and the other was docile, dependent, curious and admiring. They both had their own ideals and emotions.

Then she suddenly realized that she was wrong. She had thought that they were destined to be together, but in fact, they should be two people, because a person's previous life cannot affect the fate of this life. She had used this principle as a teaching, but she could not see through it, which led to a sad ending.

She was her teacher, and later she became her teacher again. Time is a constantly turning wheel, rolling over the dust and the earth. Although the emotions and memories attached to the surface always repeat in cycles, in the final analysis, it is still on the road to moving forward.

After realizing this, she felt more relieved and relaxed.

The scene of that day reappeared in front of her eyes. The forked trees, the lush shade, the falling light, the rustling of leaves, and the wind with a slight smell of rain... In those familiar scenes, in the vague memories, in the future that she wanted to foresee, she said to herself -

"Don't cry, Olvera."

The wind blew the scattered sand across Olvera's cheek, as if her outstretched hand still touched her face. The corners of her mouth turned up, outlining the smile she had when she first became a human. It was also the first time in her life that she called out the princess's name, and said to her in a gentle, helpless and emotional tone that was extremely familiar in her memory: "Be careful."

Be careful of the ups and downs of fate and those confusing emotions.

As the words fell, the last grain of sand blew through the princess' hair, turned into the rain of that day, and dissipated in the damp wind.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)