Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 492: Can’t Stay Out of It?
This resurrection brought Nevile not only the surprise of returning to the world, but also she found herself back in her youth. The youth that had abandoned her returned to her in an attitude more unstoppable than the torrent of time. The power that had been waning with a gradually silent heart also regained its vitality in its heyday. From then on, she became a legend or an anecdote that has been passed down on the Shikilia Peninsula for a long time, mentioning a witch bathing in the cold moonlight under the night sky, who is immortal, immortal, and possesses eternal youth and beauty.

"But it's not without a price." The Countess said calmly, "It's just that the price is not borne by me."

She fixed her eyes on the sleeping face in her arms, with a complicated expression: "On the day I woke up after my resurrection, I discovered something strange. That is, although it was not yet the full moon night that comes once every six months, Leticia had already lost her memory and forgotten everything except me. This shocked and confused me. For a time, I thought that the curse on her was even more serious. Later, after careful investigation and verification, I finally understood the truth of the matter."

“Could it be that—” Alice opened her eyes slightly, an answer was about to come out, but she did not say it, but let the person involved speak for himself.

"That's right." Nevile nodded gently. "Just as you thought, it wasn't me who came back from the dead, but Leticia used her magical power of resurrection to bear this death for me. In other words, not only me, but anyone whose blood she sucked can have this ability. This is the [Tooth of Eternal Life] that the aliens on the peninsula heard about for a while, and even the religious alliance secretly spied on it. It is not a tangible treasure at all, but Leticia's own power - or as you say, the power of the girl's royal power."

Linger thought thoughtfully: "No wonder she said that to you."

Leticia once said to her grandmother, "You will never die because I have your blood in my body." She must have anticipated what would happen later. Although this sensitive little vampire girl would forget many things because of the curse, she had an instinctive memory of her royal power.

A look of reminiscence emerged on Nevile's face. "That was the night I first adopted her. She probably hadn't had a good rest for a long time and slept very deeply, just like now. But she suddenly woke up at night and gently bit my wrist and licked a drop of my blood from the wound. I didn't take it seriously at the time. After all, in troubled times, it was normal for a little girl to be so wary of strangers - but later I thought about it, it turned out that she had already recognized me at that time."

As early as when they first met and fell asleep in that warm embrace, the girl determined that the owner of this embrace was someone she could trust and rely on for the rest of her life. She coveted that warmth and didn't want to see it pass away so easily, so she was willing to use her own strength for her.

Some things seem to happen a long time in the future, but in fact they were destined long ago.

"That's great." Metien said enviously.

But in fact, she had nothing to envy. After all, she, like Nevile, had gained Leticia's trust when they first met, even though this trust came without reason, just like the friendship between little girls, which did not require any consideration of logic.

Nevi paused for a moment and continued, "That drop of blood is not only the thread that connects my fate with hers, but also the bridge of our memories. The reason why she remembers me every time she comes back to life is because there is a blood-thicker-than-water connection in our bodies that transcends life and death."

It turned out to be the case.

Is blood the bridge that maintains memory?
Lingge was thoughtful, and Metien's eyes lit up: "So, if Leticia also drinks my blood, she will never forget me again!?"

She was a little excited, so her tone of voice could not help but rise, which slightly dispelled the depression caused by witnessing the flames burning the swamp. But soon, the pink-haired girl realized that it seemed that she had ulterior motives. She hurriedly looked at the countess and explained anxiously: "That, that, Miss Nevile, I didn't mean it! I, I didn't want Leticia to share the power of immortality with me, I just, just, I didn't want to see her forget me again..."

Metien could not forget the scene when her friend came back to life in the mangroves and only responded coldly with "Who are you" to her happy reaction. The feeling of loss at that time was probably the same as the feeling of watching many innocent lives die in the sea of ​​fire of the cult. The simple and naive logic of the little girl would not distinguish the weight of emotions. To her, both were equally sad, helpless, and powerless. Nevill looked at her deeply, and then replied: "I know what you mean, Metien, and I understand your feelings, but I advise you not to do this."

Metien was confused: "Why?"

"Because originally, Leticia's reincarnation only occurred once every six months on the night of the full moon, but since she drank my blood and endured death for me, it has become once every month on the night of the full moon. In addition, if I die in an accident, she will passively bear the death for me, which she cannot control." Nevill stared at Leticia's sleeping face and whispered, "In other words, the more you use the power of the [Eternal Fang], the more serious the reincarnation curse will be. If Leticia drinks your blood, maybe this frequency will become once a week, or even every few days."

"Death is just an illusion to Leticia. It has never actually existed. However, she needs to endure the pain and struggle of death completely. As a teenage girl who will never grow up, how can she face the pain that makes the self-proclaimed gods and magicians shudder? This is why she avoids me before each reincarnation: she is afraid that I will see her fear, shrinking and powerlessness when facing death, afraid that I will see her embarrassed and ugly posture, so she would rather die quietly alone than stay with her relatives."

"Of course, these painful memories will be lost after rebirth, but that makes her unable to get used to this feeling and lose the opportunity to reconcile with them. Therefore, every reincarnation is a new torture for her. Metien, you are her good friend, do you want to see your good friend suffer such pain every day?"

Of course, Metien shook his head, and at the same time, he finally understood why Leticia suddenly ran away at that time. On the one hand, perhaps she did not trust Linger and others, and did not want to let herself reincarnate in front of outsiders; on the other hand, she was driven by a strong self-esteem and did not want her good friend to see her most vulnerable and helpless posture.

If Leticia had to endure the pain of death every few days because of me, then even though she would still remember me, what was the point?

The pink-haired little girl murmured, "If that's the case, it would be better to let Leticia forget me... Anyway, even if she forgets me, we will become good friends again!"

At the end of her speech, she seemed to have found a solution that had the best of both worlds. She cheered herself up and became more spirited. Her eyes sparkled like bright gems.

"That's it, thank you for understanding me, Metien."

Nevi nodded gently to her granddaughter's good friend, and then ended the story in a calm tone: "You all know what happened afterwards: Leticia's power scared me, not because of its strength, but because of the consequences it would bring. I knew that once the power of immortality was exposed, it would inevitably bring her endless troubles. Countless people would try to control her power in various ways, and if I didn't have enough strength, I wouldn't be able to protect my only relative in the world. For this reason, I changed my previous ideas and took the initiative to join the troubled times. I gathered a large group of vampires and established the Bloodfang Family Valenhild. Later, I formed an alliance with Saint Junnio and fought side by side to help him unify the Taguao Wilderness, establish the Metosh Empire, and exchange the Shikilia Peninsula as a territory - all of this was just to have the power to protect Leticia."

"But how can a person's careful planning compare to the tricks of fate? First, Neo died, the Metosh Empire fell apart, and the rule of the aliens ended; then the Inquisition took control of the Siqilia Peninsula and launched a dark purge, causing panic among the people; then, at a critical moment, a traitor appeared in the family and leaked the existence of the [Eternal Fang], forcing me to confront Wolfgang head-on, and both of us died at the hands of the Grand Inquisitor. However, my resurrection attracted the attention of the Balance of Order, and they secretly investigated the relevant information of the [Eternal Fang]; finally, this file was seized by Gundalufu through force, causing the entire Virtual Root Swamp to fall into disaster and catastrophe... All of this was linked together, leaving me no time to breathe. If the time span had not spanned nearly a thousand years, I would have thought that someone was conspiring behind the scenes to control and guide the direction of fate."

"Of course, at this point, there's no point in saying this anymore." Nevile sighed softly, "I just hope that Leticia can live a stable life after leaving the Shikilia Peninsula. But judging by the current situation, it's probably just wishful thinking."

"After all, in an era like this, who can expect to stay out of it?"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)