Wanting to Meet Ahead of Time

Isabel suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and opened her eyes.

She covered her forehead, slowly waking up from the soft feather hammock.

"Woke up?"

Yanis, with her back to her, was painting in Isabel's bedroom, and said in a light tone, "How was the experience of this ritual?"

Isabel turned her head and saw a brilliant morning sun.

Above the sparkling lake, the newborn crimson sun seemed to ignite the entire lake.

Below was crimson and gold, above was light blue and dark blue...

This strange and beautiful scene reminded Isabel of Mr. Fox's eyes when resonating with the Dedication Path.

"Well, why aren't you talking?"

Not hearing Isabel's response for a long time, Yanis turned her head curiously and joked, "Could it be that you failed to advance?"

"...No, I succeeded," Isabel said softly.

"You actually succeeded?" Yanis said in surprise.

"Yanis, Teacher, why are you so surprised!"

"Because I did consider the possibility that you would fail to advance."

Yanis casually twirled the paintbrush in her hand and tilted her head, "What, don't you blame me for not telling you all the precautions in the ritual in advance?"

"...It's okay. Failure is also a kind of experience."

Isabel said softly.

"Heh."

The elven artist laughed, walked over and gently poked Isabel, "You're clearly saying bad things about me in your heart. You little fool."

Seeing this, Isabel stopped pretending.

She rubbed over in grievance: "Teacher, I think you still have to teach me some common sense things. Otherwise, unprepared setbacks are meaningless... I have failed quite a few times."

This was basically what Sherlock had told her before. Now she directly copied it.

"These words, someone else taught you to say, right?"

But Yanis easily saw through the truth.

"...Huh? How did you—"

"With your personality, when you say 'your own words,' you won't be so fluent and precise. You will hesitate about your own judgment. Just like you said just now—you have failed too many times. So much so that your confidence is not enough."

Yanis sighed, leaned over and touched Isabel's hair: "Then do you know why I don't want you to succeed at once?"

"...Why?"

"Because the advancement ritual will fail sooner or later."

Yanis patiently answered slowly, "Whether it is the New Moon Ritual or the Full Moon Ritual, its essence is competing with people. It's just the difference between direct competition and indirect competition. Since it is competing with people, then there must be losers if there are winners. Perhaps some people will always fail, but no one can always win.

"Winning all the time only accumulates more and more pressure. That's why the first failure is actually a valuable opportunity, it can balance your mindset and eliminate tension."

"Why is failure an opportunity?"

Isabel stubbornly pressed, "I'd rather win."

Yanis silently stroked her hair, then lovingly pinched her soft cheeks.

The elf said earnestly, "It's simple, little Isabel. Because failing the first time you advance won't cause you any loss. It only delays time—after half a month or a month, you can participate in the ritual again. In other words, if you fail this time, you can participate in the New Moon Ritual again and experience real competition. Then, when you go back to do the Full Moon Ritual, you'll have experience.

"You were deceived and defeated in the ritual. Your real identity was tricked out of you, and you were used like a tool—yes, these are indeed 'failures.'

"But at the same time, it's just a dream. Even if they know your real identity, what can they do? You are the princess of Avalon, what can they possibly do? That's your biggest advantage, Isabel. They can't do anything to you, your failure is just a failure. It won't cause any irreversible actual losses.

"In a place where no one knows you, people won't care about your identity or show any mercy, there will only be cruel competition, survival, deception, betrayal... This will undoubtedly make you grow quickly.

"And you only need to pay the price of 'time.' Participating in the ritual a few more times will allow you, the well-protected and noble princess, to be exposed to the undisguised malice in people's hearts while ensuring your safety—in my opinion, this is more valuable to your improvement than the advancement ritual itself."

Yanis spoke the truth she hadn't said before, "Competing fairly with others who are prepared, without knowledge or understanding, is indeed unfair. But reality is often like this... You will be ambushed by those who are prepared when you are neither wary nor ready."

"...If that's the case," Isabel said, somewhat flustered, "did I do something wrong by advancing successfully? If that's the case, I won't be able to fail next time, because failure will come at a real cost..."

Hearing this, Yanis blinked.

She didn't react for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.

"My little Isabel, how can you be so cute—"

Like hugging a puppy, Yanis cried out in a high-pitched voice and hugged the soft Isabel tightly.

Her eyes were full of tenderness and affirmation, "What are you saying, my little darling? The fact that you were able to advance smoothly means that you are indeed very excellent.

"You've already done very well. As for the next ritual... you don't need to worry.

"No matter what means you ultimately used to win, it shows that you are at least not the worst. You were able to win even when you didn't know anything, so wouldn't you do even better after I've taught you seriously?"

Yanis softly comforted, "Don't talk about those things, little Isabel. What Path Trait did you choose?"

Although she looked like a sister only three or four years older than Isabel, she acted like an elder.

"...Speaking of this."

Isabel complained softly in Yanis's arms, "You didn't tell me what to choose. I hesitated for a long time and finally chose 'Nimble Voice'."

"Increasing the difficulty of chanting magic songs? That's also good. Anyway, you're an All-rounder, you can choose whatever you want. Following your own heart is 'beauty'."

Yanis raised her eyebrows, "Sure enough, you sang in this dream, didn't you? I thought you wouldn't even be able to find teammates."

"It's not that bad—"

Isabel stubbornly said, "I can find teammates, I found them from the beginning!"

"Okay, okay..."

Yanis smiled and tilted her head to look at Isabel, "How about I paint a picture for you? To commemorate your first ritual victory.

"Just your current appearance, this posture—the laziness, surprise, and shyness of just waking up, with a little confidence rising quietly like the morning sun, and a cute little timidity..."

"...Teacher!"

Suddenly, Isabel interrupted Yanis, "I have one more thing!"

A hint of astonishment flashed in Yanis's pupils.

She couldn't help but smile, "What is it, my little darling?"

Although she was happy that her student had gained confidence... she had never imagined that Isabel would progress to the point of having the courage to interrupt her after only one ritual.

She became increasingly curious about what Isabel had experienced.

But she respected Isabel. If Isabel didn't take the initiative to speak, she wouldn't ask—because she knew that if she asked, her good student would definitely tell her.

That wouldn't be good. It would be like she was using her authority as a teacher to force her to reveal her secrets, losing the beauty of naturalness and tacit understanding.

"I remember, teacher, you said before... that you hoped to invite Iver to sit in the Silver and Tin Palace."

Isabel couldn't wait to say softly, "Can we invite him sooner?

"I want to see what he looks like now as soon as possible... and chat with him."

She had just held the young Iver for a full four hours, and now she felt completely unafraid of coming into contact with the real Iver. If before she was just "somewhat looking forward to it," now she was a little "impatient."

That fear and estrangement that comes with meeting any stranger for the first time had completely dissipated in the previous four hours.

Thinking of this, she wanted to see Iver as soon as possible. It was like seeing a character from a story appear in reality, that feeling was wonderful.

That strange position where she was familiar with the other person, but the other person didn't know her, gave Isabel a rare sense of security. And that was exactly what she lacked in her daily life.

When Isabel sees Iver, she wants to secretly say in her heart:

—This big sister was once your mother and sang you lullabies!

She can only say it in her heart, because saying it directly would make people think she was impolite. But even so, it would definitely make her secretly laugh in her heart.

That would be very interesting! Hearing this, Yanis raised her eyebrows with interest, noncommittal.