Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 582: Isn’t it the wrong time?

The silence in the study was soon broken.

Queen Amyra put down the teacup in her hand, frowned and stared at her daughter, her face serious: "Do you know what you are talking about, Lorena?"

"I know, mother." Rorona didn't seem to feel the pressure from the demigod and smiled nonchalantly: "I said I don't want to leave here, or I don't want to stay in Nereids, and I don't want to go to the distant and unknown sea with you. I agree with your idea and I am sure that it will become the new home of the mirror elves, but that is not the future I want. I have other ways to go. So today I returned to Nereids just to convey the news to you and to express my wish in person."

"Really?" the queen asked, "What kind of future do you want? Which path do you want to take? As an ordinary mirror elf, or as the second princess of the Nieride royal family?"

"I think it should be the former." Rorona's eyebrows curved. "As for the future I want and the path I want to take, don't you know it best, mother? If not, you wouldn't have agreed to let me live in a human city, right?"

"At that time, I thought you were just impulsive, and you would soon change your mind after realizing the cruelty and indifference of the human world." The queen looked at Rorona with complicated eyes: "But I didn't expect that after so many years, you still have such... naive ideas, thinking that everything in the world can be accomplished by your own efforts."

She hesitated for a moment and then used the word "innocent" instead of "childish" to describe her daughter.

Rorona still had a faint smile on her face, and she did not feel dissatisfied or sad about her mother's comments: "Maybe it is true, but living creatures are very complicated, mother. The human world is not as cruel and indifferent as you think. There are good people and bad people among them, just like the deep sea has peace-loving races like us mirror elves, but also breeds evil species like heart-eating demons and brain-eating octopuses. I learned this truth not from humans, but from the sea."

"I can't speak to you."

But this agreement was based on temporary concessions, and the seeds of conflict had actually been planted at that time, but they only broke out completely today.

"Do not."

Many years ago, when her mother, Lord Sandro, and many famous doctors in Nereids City all believed that the disaster that happened to her was not a disease, but a stubborn curse, only the girl insisted that she was not cursed, but sick. So she tried many methods and used her alchemy to make potions to cure the disease, but none of them worked. After trying all the materials that could be tried in the deep sea, she turned her attention to the human world. There are more unknown creatures, more magical herbs, and more incredible magic on land. Maybe there is a way to cure her disease?

Queen Amyra rubbed her brows and gave up arguing. It was not so much that she could not argue, but rather that she was too lazy to argue, because she knew that she could not convince Lorena. The girl in front of her seemed well-behaved, but she had never been at ease. "No matter what, I don't agree with you staying here, and I don't agree with you continuing to live in the human city. You are the sea-dwelling princess of Nereids City and the second princess of the Nieried royal family. I have no reason to indulge you to continue to make trouble. And the curse on you, Lord Sandro and I are trying to solve it. The heritage of our fellow tribesmen in the chaotic sea is even longer, and they may have relevant records. Lorena, don't you want to return to normal life as soon as possible?"

Emilia frowned deeply: "Don't be willful, Lorena."

"I'm not willful."

"I will find a cure." She looked straight at her mother: "To prove to you that there is no curse in this world that can trap me here. I have my own dream to fulfill, but it is not your dream, mother."

Rorona replied, "You should know my personality. I'm never willful. I'm just a little more insistent at certain times and in certain places. But... that's what you taught me."

Rolena shook her head and said softly, "That's not a curse, it's my disease."

With this idea in mind, the princess, who had been frail since childhood, remained extremely persistent despite the resolute opposition from her mother and sister. She was even so determined that her family, who were worried that she would do something stupid, had to agree to let her live in a human city.

The atmosphere in the study gradually became stiff, as if the sea water had solidified, without any signs of flowing. The mother and daughter, sitting opposite each other across a round table, stared at each other quietly. No one spoke first, as if speaking would mean compromise, and would mean defeat in this war about family, dreams, freedom and hope.

That's right, war.

Who would have thought that this mother and daughter who had never doubted each other's feelings would stand on hostile positions? Although this hostility had nothing to do with other things, it only involved a mother's overly strong love and a girl's desire for independence. Emilia didn't say anything, and Rorona looked at her mother, the calm expression on her face and the unshakable look in her eyes. Somehow, she thought of her father again at this moment.

……

Rorona's father loved her mother deeply, and so did her mother. They had almost no conflicts since they got together, and everyone thought they were a destined couple in the world. Even if they didn't fall in love here and now, they would fall in love somewhere in the future one day.

But such a perfect match eventually separated. What separated them was not the resistance of reality or political oppression, but a very cruel fact: Queen Amyra was a Sequence 4 origin priest, but her lover was not, that's all.

When she grows up, Lorena will know that when her father realized that he could not spend the rest of his life with her mother, his last wish was to leave something behind as a memorial for him and her in the world. However, there are fundamental differences between demigods and ordinary people, and they can even be considered two different lives. Therefore, not only is there a huge gap in lifespan, but it is also difficult to leave offspring.

Finally, her mother chose to use a forbidden ritual in the origin magic to help her father temporarily improve his life level. During that happy time, they had a child, Rorona. But soon after she was born, her father died due to the side effects of the ritual, causing little Rorona to not even remember her face. In the years she had memories, she only faced her mother's gentle face and her sister's curious eyes.

Although this was her lover's request, because she was the one who performed the ceremony, the queen hated herself for causing young Lorena to lose her father, and this hatred was even greater than the grief she felt when she lost her lover. Because of this, she cherished the last treasure left by her late lover very much, and vowed to give her complete love, so that she would not lose something important in her life because of losing her father.

No matter how busy she was at work, she would come home every night to eat with Lorena, teach her to read, play with her, and finally tell her stories in a gentle voice to lull her to sleep... This habit continued until one day when Lorena said that she had grown up and no longer needed her mother to lull her to sleep. At that time, she still felt a little regretful, but more happy, and felt satisfied that she had lived up to her lover's expectations and raised Lorena to be a kind and optimistic girl.

In fact, Lorena herself is also very clear about this. She has realized since she was a child that her mother's attitude towards her is too tolerant, even more so when compared with her sister. However, she has inherited her mother's gentle character and has not become spoiled. Instead, she has become more sensible and even indulges her mother and meets all her expectations of her.

It sounds incredible, a child accommodating his mother, but it is true. Lorena never violated any of her mother's wishes: her mother hoped that she would be a good child, so she could wait in the cold palace for a whole day until her mother came back to accompany her; her mother adopted Galene and hoped that Lorena would not bully her sister, so she took out all her best toys and favorite foods to share with her, and even comforted her sister who was very sad after losing her parents on behalf of her mother; her mother hoped that she would live up to her bloodline and become a role model for the royal family of Nieride, so she forced herself to learn dances, poems and court etiquette that she originally disliked, and always tried to maintain her cultivation as a royal heir, kind, cheerful, noble, gentle, elegant, and humble, and thus became the "sea princess" praised by everyone... Perhaps the process of this mother and daughter getting along is essentially a process of mutual accommodation.

But this compromise continued until the quarrel six years ago. Rorona wanted to go to the human world to find a way to cure her disease, but her mother insisted that it was a curse and the best way was to stay in Nereids. That was the first time in her life that Rorona disobeyed her mother and disobeyed the path she had planned for herself.

When she opened her mouth and said without thinking, "Mom, you don't understand me at all," what expression did her mother have on her face? Disappointment? Surprise? Helplessness? Or was it like now, so complicated that it was impossible to see through, and reminded her of the father she had never met?

A feeling of grievance surged in my heart and could not be dispelled for a while.

……

Rorona's thoughts returned to reality, and she suddenly realized that she was not in the past, but in the present. She looked at her mother sitting opposite her, her calm expression and tired eyes, her lips slightly opened, and her thin lips touched up and down, as if she wanted to say something.

But in the end, this sentence was not said.

Because the door of the study was suddenly pushed open.

“Mother!” Galene rushed into the room panting, “And Lorena, you guys… uh!”

Feeling the stagnant atmosphere in the room and the silent gazes from two pairs of eyes, she shrank her neck and said hesitantly, "I think I came at the wrong time?"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)