Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 899 Isn’t the relationship very good?
When Xino left the study, he looked up at the sky outside the corridor. The sky was gloomy and a little cold, and gray clouds piled up at the edge of his sight, like a monotonous arc, connecting the dark sky and the bleak earth. September was the end of summer, which should have been the most sunny season of the year, but the Grindelwald Field ushered in a rare low temperature, which must have cast a shadow on the championship being held.

But the gloom in Xino's heart was even greater than that, because she finally learned from her grandfather the exact date of the beast's awakening, which meant that she would soon face the most important battle in her life.

Although she had been prepared and confident, she could not help but feel anxious at this moment. Thinking of the nearly 700-year-old mission of the Gustave family, the long-cherished wish pursued by the glorious ancestors, and the shadow that had cast her father as a "bigot", which was about to end in her hands, the girl felt eager and urgent, but at the same time, she also felt a sense of emptiness - she had a premonition that if she did this, she would definitely lose something.

But even so, is there any reason for me not to do it?
Now that you have made up your mind, you cannot back down.

The girl let out a long sigh and turned to walk out of the mansion. Weber had prepared a carriage for her in advance. Next, she would go to the Bolian Manor near the Trovenica ruins to prepare for the upcoming battle. During this period, she had been training with her beloved horse Brandi and gradually regained her past feelings. Xino's father had no talent in martial arts and riding, but his daughter was born to be a knight. After the elderly Vandru Qin Gustaf taught her for the first time, he exclaimed in surprise: "This child has the blood of fighting in her bones."

So he gave up his son who was not good enough and transferred his expectations to his granddaughter, hoping that she would become the pride of the Whitethorn Flower family and end the endless fate of fighting with beasts. However, Leonard Jean Gustaf, who had just become a father, awakened his sense of responsibility at this time. He did not want his daughter to be born with a heavy mission, so he took up weapons and did things he had never wanted to do and did not like to do, until he sacrificed his life.

As time goes by, everything returns to the starting point, and the story still goes on according to the predetermined fate. The young girl Shino Jean Gustaf realizes that her grandfather's words are fatalistically correct: some people are born to live to meet expectations.

With mixed feelings, Xino hurried to the side door. At this moment, a carriage happened to drive in from outside. The coachman whipped the horse and slowly parked it on the spacious boulevard. The girl recognized that this was the carriage that Lingge and the others took when they left in the morning. She was a little surprised: They came back so soon, didn’t they watch the exhibition match?
At this time, the carriage door opened and a young man walked out of the carriage. As soon as he landed, he saw Xino waiting outside. He was also stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted and explained: "I came back early. Alice and the others are still watching the game in the city. It is indeed exciting."

Because it was an exhibition match, both sides basically showed off their skills. Gorgeous skills and bizarre tactics that they usually wouldn't dare to use in regular competitions were performed one after another, making the atmosphere on the scene boil. At least Alice was fascinated by it. While watching, she even named those moves, such as "Viper Spin", "State of No Self", "Alice Smash" and so on, which made it difficult to complain.

"In that case, why did Mr. Ling come back early?" Xinuo asked, "Are you not interested in the exhibition match?"

"Someone wants to see me? Who?"

And Xinuo did as she thought, without showing any sadness, but just smiled slightly: "Since you like, I will take you around the manor later. However, since I dismissed those servants, I have been managing the manor by myself, and there may be some places that I cannot take care of. If you feel that it is different from the past, don't blame me, okay?"

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Leila waved her hands repeatedly, a relieved smile on her face: “As long as Xino is okay! Besides, the lottery ceremony is not an important matter, it doesn’t matter if Xino doesn’t come!”

"No way, I think it's amazing that you, Xinuo, can take care of such a large manor by yourself!"

……

I see. That's why he rushed to Shadoly Manor without even watching the exhibition match, just to confirm his own situation?

Xinuo never expected that Leila, who was supposed to attend the lottery ceremony in Sumiya City, would come to Xiaduoli Manor, and it was Lingge who brought her. Although her schedule was tight, she still tried to spare some free time to receive her friends in the living room. After the three of them sat down and drank a cup of black tea, Lingge kindly suggested taking a walk in the garden, so he left the living room and left the private space to the two girls to talk about things that were not convenient for outsiders to hear.

She looked around and said with emotion, "I haven't been to Xiaduoli Manor for a long time. The environment here is still so good. It's even more beautiful than the school."

After Linger left, Xino looked back at his friend, his tone still filled with a little surprise, and perhaps even a little teasing: "I didn't expect you to come to Shadoli Manor at this time, Leila, I remember Phyllis invited you to come as a guest last time, but you refused on the grounds of training."

The two chatted for a while. Leila secretly observed Xino's expression. When she found nothing unusual, she breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "You didn't come to see my lottery ceremony today. I thought something happened to you. Mr. Ling didn't explain it in detail, which made me worried for a long time."

"Not exactly. For example, the tree-lined avenue near the mansion is frequently used, so it is cleaned every day. As for some remote corners, they are cleaned about every two or three days."

"No." Ling Ge shook his head: "Someone wants to see you, I am here to accompany her."

It was not until today that Leila felt that Xino had come out of that shadow and finally had the courage to touch upon this past.

Xino laughed at himself in his heart, put down his teacup, and explained: "I did have something to do today. Mainly, there were some minor problems in the vineyard below, which required me, the heir, to deal with it personally, so I didn't attend your lottery ceremony. I'm sorry to make you worry, Leila."

"It's okay, it just takes longer to clean normally."

……

The last time she visited the Chateau, Xino had not dropped out of school. At that time, she and Claire had just won the college championship. It was summer vacation, so Xino invited classmates and friends to the manor. Everyone had a great time, and it left Leila with a deep memory. But not long after that vacation, Claire was diagnosed with lung disease, and her condition deteriorated rapidly. Before everyone could come to their senses, she passed away early. Those memories have been sealed in everyone's hearts forever, and few people mention them, as if they were covered with a layer of haze, just like the recent weather.

"Do you have to clean every day? Wouldn't that be tiring?"

I have made my friends worry again, which is really outrageous.

Leila smiled embarrassedly when she heard that. "Because I was really anxious at the time, I always thought that if I continued to work hard before the competition, maybe I could improve a little. But today is the opening ceremony, so I want to give myself a break and not think about training for the time being."

Xino couldn't help but be curious, and the next moment, a familiar figure walked out of the carriage, causing her eyes to widen in surprise: "Leila!?"

"It's still very important." Xino smiled: "After all, the grouping is related to whether you can qualify. By the way, Leila, which group are you assigned to, and who are you with?"

At this point, Leila's expression became a little strange. She first glanced at the garden subconsciously, then lowered her voice and said to Xino as if telling her something: "Don't be too surprised, I was assigned to Group F, the same group as Miss Gloria! Moreover, the first game of Group F is between me and Miss Gloria!"

"This..." Shino opened her mouth, but she didn't know how to describe her current mood, nor did she know who to wish for victory. Although she was definitely biased towards Leila, it would be a bit unfair to Gloria who trained hard every day in the manor. After thinking for a while, she chose to send her blessings to both parties: "Then I can only wish you and Gloria to qualify from this group together."

The first half of the main competition is a group stage based on a points system. Sixty-four players are divided into eight groups to compete. The top two players in each group can qualify for the next round of knockouts. The third and fourth players will be qualified to participate in the loser group, but their schedule will be more intensive and more intense than those who directly advance to the knockout stage. These are the so-called top sixteen and bottom sixteen. A total of thirty-two players can enter the knockout stage, while the others can only stop regretfully.

The ideal situation is that Leila and Gloria take the first two places and advance directly, but the two faced off in the first game, which means that one of them is bound to lose a point first and get into an unfavorable start. Therefore, Xino's friendly blessing only exists in theory. As for whether it can be realized, it depends on whether the other players in the same group give face.

"It's very difficult." Leila counted on her fingers: "In addition to Miss Gloria, this group also includes strong professional players such as 'Heavy Gunner' Gray, 'Iron Knight' Freed, 'Fire Gunner' Garcia, etc. Each of them ranks high on the WT list. So, I should be the weakest one among them, right?"

"That's not true." Xino shook his head: "Believe in yourself, Leila, you have also fought your way up from the trials, you are definitely not inferior to anyone, I believe you have the ability to create miracles, just like-"

She paused, hesitating to say the name, but Leila understood it miraculously. Or rather, in the field of Wind Flower Ball, when talking about miracles, everyone would think of the name without any prior agreement: "Like Ms. Mistyan?"

Since she had already said it, Xino no longer hesitated and nodded gently, saying: "I wanted to say this originally, but Leila, you are different from my mother. My mother has her own fighting style and style, and you also have your own unique advantages. You don't have to force yourself to be someone else."

She said this because she was afraid that mentioning her mother Mistyan's name would cause too much psychological pressure on Leila, which would be detrimental to her performance in the competition.

But Leila still showed a happy expression on her face. She nodded her head vigorously, her golden ponytail swinging up and down. "Yes, I know! By the way, Xinuo, my match with Miss Gloria will be held on the 30th of this month. Will you come to watch it then?"

She looked at Shino with expectant eyes, hoping to hear a positive answer from her. After all, it was the most important game in her life, and the girl certainly hoped that her best friend would be there to cheer for her. However, after hearing this, Shino's smile froze for a moment, because the exact date of the beast's awakening mentioned by her grandfather was also September 30th.

This coincidence made her feel absurd for a moment, as if she had been fooled by fate. It had been like this for a long time, she was forced to make a choice between two important things, and every time she wanted to have the best of both worlds, one of them would always be hurt. Could it be that this time, she had clearly made up her mind to fight, but still could not defeat fate?
Her hesitation and confusion only lasted for a moment. Although she quickly calmed down and tried to calm herself down, Leila was so sensitive at this time. She had already guessed the answer from her reaction. The smile on her face gradually disappeared, and the ponytail behind her head drooped down, looking a little aggrieved: "So... it's still not possible?"

"I..." Xinuo opened her mouth, still unable to say anything to comfort her. She turned her eyes away, avoiding her friend's gaze, and whispered, "I'm sorry, I did have something to do that day, and it was something very important..."

I am no longer a child, so I naturally don’t dare to expect the best of both worlds.

Xino thought to himself: I will never let Claire's tragedy happen again.

"I understand." After a moment of silence, Leila showed a very forced smile on her face, and then asked cautiously: "Then...when you are done, can you still come to watch my game?"

"Of course." Hearing this, Xino looked back at his friend and nodded solemnly, as if he had made an important promise. Once the descendants of the Whitethorn Flower family made a promise, they would never break it easily: "After I'm done with my work, I will go to watch every one of your games. I will never miss it!"

"That's great!"

Leila let out a long sigh and regained her joy. Her beautiful eyes curved into crescents. "It seems that I have to work hard to win this game and keep winning. This way, Xino can always come to watch my games. Ah, am I being a little sorry to Miss Gloria by saying this?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't think Gloria will mind." Xinuo said seriously, "If you can defeat her with your strength and make her convinced, she will be very happy!"

After saying that, the two looked at each other and burst into laughter at the same time.

……

On the other side, in Sumya City, on the stadium stands.

"H-choo!" Gloria, who was watching the game attentively, suddenly sneezed.

"What's wrong?" Saint Shallia immediately cast a concerned look: "Are you feeling unwell?"

"Nothing, I just feel like someone is talking about me." Gloria touched her nose and suddenly had an idea: "Do you think it could be Lingge..."

Before she could finish, Saint Shallia changed her expression and said calmly, "No."

Gloria: “…”

Is this an illusion? Why did Sister Xiaoxia become so cold when she mentioned Lingge's name? Aren't they on good terms?

"Heh!" A sneer came from his mind. The only person who saw through the truth was Bai Ye, the inner personality of a girl who looked like a beautiful girl and was actually a beautiful girl.

At the same time, Alice, who was sitting one seat away, was secretly observing this scene, sneering with disdain in her heart: The war is imminent, yet you are still so relaxed, Gloria, you are looking down on Wind Flower Ball and me, the Scarlet End Demon King!
The plan has been made and the conspiracy is about to be executed.

I'm going to make you pay for your previous insults!

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)