How Far Away They Are~The Sea and the Depths of the Land

Inside the room, Lin Ye rubbed his brow helplessly.

"She really... has a one-track mind..."

In the original story, Liya had been exactly this sort of person: determined to repay every kindness, stubborn to a fault, and true to her word.

He could already imagine how disappointed she would look when she returned full of joy with her "treasures," only to find the room empty and its occupants gone.

With her personality...

She might really stay in the nearby waters, waiting stubbornly for him!

That would never do. He had to leave a message.

A few days later.

Lin Ye, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing packed their belongings, preparing to leave Vast Sea City.

Before leaving, Lin Ye found the innkeeper and took out a heavy pouch of Gold Soul Coins.

"Innkeeper, sorry for the trouble, but I have a favor to ask," Lin Ye said solemnly.

The innkeeper stared at the Gold Soul Coins, his eyes fixed on them.

"Just say the word, sir! I'll make sure it's done!"

"If a girl with long aqua-blue hair comes here someday..."

Lin Ye began describing her precisely.

"She has very beautiful eyes, blue like the sea."

"She looks about sixteen or seventeen."

"If she comes to this room looking for me..." Lin Ye pointed to the room he had stayed in.

"Please pass on a message for me. Sorry for the trouble."

"Tell her, 'I'm no longer here. I've gone home.'" Lin Ye paused, then added, "And one more thing: 'You don't need to look for me or wait here for me. If fate wills it, we'll meet again.'"

The innkeeper repeated Lin Ye's words, then patted his chest in assurance. "Understood! Leave it to me!"

Lin Ye nodded, took one last look toward the sea, then turned and left Vast Sea City with the two girls.

A few days later.

A cute little head emerged from the sea near Vast Sea City.

It was Liya.

Her face was filled with irrepressible excitement and a hint of bashfulness she could not hide.

She swam cautiously toward the shore, clutching a small, exquisite box crafted from Deep Sea Pearls and Crystal.

Inside lay several Deep Sea Pearls and a small piece of Thousand-Year Coral Heart.

These were all thank-you gifts she had carefully selected.

Of course, what mattered most was that she wanted to take another good look at that person.

The one... who had made the Seashell glow.

Liya activated her Secret Art, and sea-blue light enveloped her tail.

The light faded, and a moment later, beneath the concealing seawater, her tail had become a pair of long, fair human legs.

A blush crept unbidden across her cheeks again.

Luckily, no one was around. Otherwise, someone might have seen her without...

Liya hurried ashore, condensed a simple white dress with her Soul Power, and put it on.

Then she picked up the box as though she were cradling her own heart and hurried toward the inn where Lin Ye had stayed, excited, expectant, and nervous.

Knowing the way, she made her way up to the second floor and found the room.

Standing before the door, Liya drew a deep breath and tried to calm her excited heart.

A moment later, she raised her hand and knocked gently.

"Knock, knock, knock."

She held her breath and waited, but no one answered. There was only silence.

Her smile stiffened a little.

She knocked again.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

This time, it was a little louder, but there was still no response.

The corridor was silent, and the joy slowly faded from Liya's eyes.

Confusion and unease rose together.

"Excuse me?"

She timidly called out to an inn attendant who happened to be passing through the corridor.

"Who are you looking for, miss?" the attendant asked.

Liya pointed at the door. "I... I'm looking for the guest who stayed in this room before. His name is Lin Ye..."

The attendant remembered immediately. That gentleman had been very handsome, with two exceptionally beautiful girls at his side. It would have been hard not to remember him.

He glanced at Liya and could not help sighing. "That honored guest? They checked out and left several days ago!"

"Left?!"

Liya felt as though lightning had struck her. Her heart seemed to plunge into an icy sea, and she nearly dropped the pearl box in her arms.

She could not believe it. Lin Ye had actually... left?

Seeing her like this, the attendant could not bear it either. "Before he left, that gentleman seemed to have a word with our innkeeper. I don't know what they talked about, but you could ask him. Perhaps he knows something."

"Where is your innkeeper?"

The attendant pointed downstairs. "At the counter downstairs."

Like someone clutching at a lifesaving straw, Liya spun around, raced down the stairs, and rushed to the counter.

"Innkeeper! Please! Lin Ye, who stayed on the second floor before, he..."

The innkeeper recognized Liya's features at once.

Long aqua-blue hair, and eyes as beautiful as the sea.

"You must be the girl with aqua-blue hair that gentleman mentioned?" the innkeeper asked.

Liya froze, then nodded vigorously.

Seeing her nod, the innkeeper relayed the message Lin Ye had left, word for word.

"Before Childe Lin Ye left, he said, 'I'm no longer here. I've gone home.'"

The innkeeper looked at the beautiful girl, who was clearly utterly dejected.

He continued, "He also said you don't need to look for him or wait here for him."

Slowing his speech, the innkeeper repeated the final sentence. "'If fate wills it, we'll meet again.'"

Liya stood motionless, like a beautiful statue.

Her hands tightened around the box, those clear words echoing in her ears.

I've gone home...

You don't need to look for me...

If fate wills it... we'll meet again...

The noisy crowd around her seemed to blur in an instant, and even the sound of the sea seemed to recede into the distance.

She did not hear a single word of the comfort the innkeeper offered afterward.

An immense sense of loss washed over her like the rising tide, engulfing her in an instant.

Clear tears began gathering little by little in her sapphire eyes.

He had left...

And taken with him the first stirrings of her heart.

Lin Ye...

Liya walked out of the inn in a daze, the evening breeze lifting her long aqua-blue hair.

She came to the beach where she had sensed the Seashell that day and wandered aimlessly.

The seawater gently lapped at her ankles, as though trying to comfort her.

At last, she sat on a reef rock, clutching the pearl box she had never managed to give him, and gazed deep into the land, toward the direction in which Lin Ye had gone.

Her gaze was somewhat lost...

She murmured to herself, her voice as soft as a sigh. "Is your home... deep within the land...?"

"But..."

Her slender fingers gripped her skirt tightly as a fierce struggle raged within her.

"I'm a sea soul beast..."

She lowered her head and looked at the conjured "human legs" beneath her, so real it was frightening.

Those legs... were only an illusion in the end.

She belonged to the sea. She was a princess of the ocean, a soul beast.

But the person who had made the Seashell shine pink, the one destined for her...

He... was human.

A teardrop, like a shattered pearl, rolled silently down her cheek and fell onto the box.

Liya raised her head and gazed once more at that vast coastline, stretching toward unknown distances.

Loss, confusion, and a trace of unwillingness mingled in her eyes.

At last, her rosy lips parted, and she voiced three questions that troubled her deeply, still hanging unanswered.

"The sea and the depths of the land... how far apart they are..."

"Can a soul beast and a human... really..."

"If fate wills it... when will we meet again?"