The Answer Is Before the Question

Aurora found the Sea Hag's question utterly baffling.

"If it's eternal, how can there be a concept of length? That's a complete contradiction."

Why does this Sea Witch always ask such strange questions?

Aurora, with a mindset of trying without loss, replied:

"Eternity is infinitely long time."

The Sea Hag smiled, "Indeed, so eternity—which is infinitely long—how long is that exactly?"

The Sea Hag's mocking smile made the young girl somewhat annoyed.

Seeing Aurora's angry yet helpless expression, Rhine laughed:

"Did you notice? Just now, when the Sea Hag was describing the special nature of the Immortal Soul, she used poetic descriptions. Just like the previous riddle, it was also like a poem."

"I think this represents the direction of the answer she wants."

"Future King of the Rose Kingdom, most things in the world cannot be fully encompassed by logic and dialectics. Try to answer this second question with the mindset of a fairy tale."

With the mindset of a fairy tale... Aurora pondered her teacher's words.

While Aurora was still contemplating, the silver-haired boy stepped forward, like a bard sitting by a campfire, narrating slowly:

"Far beyond the sea, deep within the lands where humans live, in a place very, very far away, there is a Diamond Mountain."

"This Diamond Mountain is vast. If you want to climb to the top, it will take a year; if you want to go around the mountain horizontally, it will also take a year; if you just go straight into the depths, to the back of the mountain, it will also take a year."

"Every hundred years, a bird will fly from afar, gently peck at the Diamond Mountain with its beak, and then flutter its wings and turn away."

"Many of the humans living at the foot of the mountain cannot see the bird come even once in their lifetime."

"Only the longest-lived centenarians might witness the miracle of the bird's arrival twice in their entire lives, taking this experience as a source of pride."

The Sea Hag sighed softly:

"Indeed, human lifespans are so short compared to ours. This is indeed a beautiful story about life, about time."

"But what does this story have to do with my question?"

Rhine smiled and told the end of the story: "When the entire Diamond Mountain has been pecked away by that bird, the first second of eternity will have ended."

The coral reef forest fell silent.

Everything was still. Only the bubbling sound of air escaping from the cracks, and the sound of fish swimming in the distance.

Aurora suddenly understood:

"I see. The second riddle isn't a literal question, but asks us to describe the weight of 'eternal and immortal' in the 'Immortal Soul' in some way."

How cunning.

The Sea Hag laughed heartily, "Haha, an interesting answer."

"As expected of a human with an Immortal Soul, telling me the weight of eternity firsthand. How did you come up with such an interesting answer, human?"

Rhine said truthfully, "This answer wasn't my idea. It's a story depicted in a book I read before. At most, I just added a little detail to it."

This was the beautiful story told by the little shepherd boy when answering the King's question in Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Of course, the reason Rhine in his previous life had a deep impression of this story was because a certain episode of Doctor Who mentioned it.

Unexpectedly, here, in another completely different story, the same answer could actually be used!

Just then, Rhine heard Aurora behind him, lowering her voice:

"Teacher, I've been thinking about something."

"After learning such a big secret from your conversation today, I finally understand."

"Teacher, like you, I am also eternal."

The Sea Hag suddenly remembered something and said coldly, "I want to add a rule to the last question."

"According to the rules, both of you should answer the questions. But the previous two questions were answered by that silver-haired boy.

"So, I believe the last question should be answered by that blonde girl first. That way, both of you are answering, not just one person!"

Ignoring Aurora's cry of "That's not fair," the Sea Hag asked, word by word:

"Now, for the third and final question!"

Just as the Sea Witch was about to ask, Rhine suddenly felt a scorching energy surge from the distant sea, piercing through the fish's belly and radiating onto his skin.

The Child of Destiny's Power of Wishes! Rhine instantly understood:

"To obtain the answer to this question" was the Sea Hag's wish!

If the first two questions were merely tests for the questioner,

then the answer to the final question was what the Sea Hag truly craved.

Only those who knew the secret of the Immortal Soul and clearly understood the weight of eternity were qualified to answer this question!

"Now, tell me. How can we non-human beings obtain a soul like yours, eternally immortal?" the Sea Hag asked.

"It's actually this question?"

Rhine almost couldn't believe his ears.

You didn't know? Of course, Rhine knew the answer.

The answer was "love."

If a human truly loved a Mermaid from the bottom of their heart, they could grant the latter an Immortal Soul. And the human's original Immortal Soul would not disappear as a result.

There were too few descriptions of the Sea Hag in the original work, but judging from her ability to instantly guess the Little Mermaid's intentions, she should have known about this.

"Could it be that in this world, the Sea Hag came into contact with Black Witch Maleficent and the Witch Coven behind her, delved into terrifying Black Magic, and was completely rejected by the Sea Kingdom, preventing her from accessing this hidden and beautiful knowledge?"

Rhine speculated, glancing at Aurora, who was trying hard to think.

Of course, Aurora didn't know the answer.

She had only just learned today that humans had an Immortal Soul, so how could she know how non-human creatures could obtain one?

The Magician youth had a flash of inspiration, pointed at Aurora, and said to the Sea Hag with a smile, "My friend has already given the answer.

"According to the rules you set, all three questions have been answered. You should tell us everything about Maleficent."

What? When did she say that? The Sea Hag looked bewildered.

From the moment she finished reading the question, Aurora hadn't said a single word! Rhine glanced at the utterly confused Sea Hag and Mermaid Princess, and reiterated the Sea Hag's rule: "The last question should be answered by that blonde girl first.

"According to this rule, as long as she gives the answer before I do, that's enough. Even if the answer comes before the question is asked."

The answer comes before the question? Ariel didn't understand the youth's words at all.

What does this mean? How could she give the answer when the question hasn't even been asked yet?