Fufu Fufu Fufu

Xingsu raised her hand and took out an exquisite square box from her side, gently placing it in the center of the round table.

"La Signora. Furina, please give me your hand."

Furina paused for a moment, then subconsciously replied, "Oh, okay."

She hesitated before reaching out her hand, Xingsu gently grasped her wrist, placing her palm on the surface of the box.

Please close your eyes, relax, and focus all your attention on this box.

Although she didn't know what the purpose of feeling the box was, Furina did as she was told, feeling the box's fine texture with her fingertips.

The next second, a gentle dizziness came over her, and her consciousness suddenly left the tea room, finding herself in a small, softly lit magic theater.

Warm yellow spotlights bathed the stage, and the audience was completely silent, with her as the sole audience member, sitting in the front row.

At the center of the stage, Lyney, dressed in a sleek magician's suit and holding a black top hat, gracefully bowed to begin the performance. Beside him, Lynette stood quietly, silently matching his rhythm.

Lyney raised her hand and lightly waved her hat, the brim pointing downwards. With a gentle shake, the snow-white wings instantly broke through the light and shadow. Several pure white pigeons flew out from the empty brim of the hat, their wings fluttering across the sky. The pigeon feathers scattered lightly, drawing clean and smooth arcs in the stage lights.

The flock of pigeons circled once before finally folding their wings and landing steadily on Lynette's arms, gentle and agile.

Lynette stepped forward at the opportune moment, her fingertips lightly lifting and her movements gentle, brushing across the air in rhythm with the light and shadow. The scattered soft light slowly gathered, making the white doves on the stage appear even more pure and dazzling.

After several rounds of dove dance performances, the white doves all transformed into tiny particles of light and dissipated in the sky above the stage.

Just as the performance was coming to an end, Lyney smiled faintly, raised her hand and gently tapped the top of her hat, then slowly turned the hat upside down—and when she lifted it again, a soft little black cat was quietly curled up inside the dark brim.

The kitten, with its round, bright eyes, timidly peeked out and gently meowed at Furina. Furina carefully went over and touched it; the texture was exactly the same as the real thing!

As the magic show ended, the scene before her eyes suddenly vanished. Furina snapped back to reality, her consciousness returning to her body. She stared blankly at Xingsu, who seemed lost in thought.

The immersive experience just now felt like watching a complete live performance.

"Wow, that's amazing! How did you do that!" Furina sat up slightly, her eyes filled with amazement, and her tone was tinged with excitement.

"A slightly special ability; what you just saw was a manifestation of a memory. That's what I meant—I can preserve memories of things."

He looked up at Furina across from him and slowly explained his idea.

"This is what I want to tell you today. I have the ability to preserve memories. If everything in Fontaine is stored in the form of memories, even if the prophesied crisis really comes, the memories sealed in this box can be used as a blueprint to rebuild a Fontaine that is exactly the same as the past."

Since the prophecy ends with the water god alone weeping on his throne, why don't you stop crying and start building Court of Fontaine according to the blueprint?

Furina: "...?"

Dude, is this even human language?

Xingsu had previously researched how to store memories, and only recently, with the help of the Ley Line Blossom, was she able to successfully create the experimental sample before her—the box that Furina had just touched.

Even a single Ley Line Blossom can only hold enough memories to store a scene the size of a single house. To completely encompass the entire Court of Fontaine and all the countless creatures within it is practically a pipe dream.

In reality, the "storage kingdom" was just a pretext. Xingsu's true main purpose for this trip was to get up close and personal with Furina.

The memories of gods are invaluable in themselves.

If you're lucky enough, you might even be able to find clues to avert the rising sea level crisis from the fragments of Furina's memories.

Just as Xingsu was reading the memory fragments through the box, he stumbled upon an unexpected surprise deep within Furina's chaotic memories.

"The prophecy of Fontaine will one day come true. The sea will overflow, the people will perish, and the entire kingdom will be swallowed by the Primordial Sea."

In her memory, Furina panicked instantly, instinctively clenching her sleeves, her voice filled with helplessness:

"Then... what should we do? Can we stop all of this?"

"I cannot directly defy the judgment of Heavenly Principles," Focalors shook his head slightly, his gaze resolute, "But I can deceive fate, deceive prophecy."

She looked at Furina and revealed her plan:

"I will strip away my humanity and retain my pure divinity. And you, Furina, my unique human incarnation, need to take my place and play the role of Fontaine's water goddess."

Furina's pupils constricted, her face filled with disbelief:

"Playing a god? But I'm just an ordinary person! I don't understand authority, I don't understand judgment, I simply can't do it!"

"You can," Focalors's voice was gentle yet brooked no refusal, "You just need to step onto the stage and pretend to be a flamboyant, willful, and drama-loving water goddess. Pretend to be omnipotent, pretend to be carefree."

"Everyone will be watching you, and so will Heavenly Principles. As long as no one discovers your true identity, the prophecy will be flawed."

Furina tensed up, her voice trembling slightly:

"How long will the performance take? What if... what if I mess it up?"

"Keep performing," Focalors said calmly, "Until the prophecy ends, until I gather enough power of judgment to sever the shackles of fate."

"If you reveal even the slightest flaw, the entire plan will fail, and no one in Fontaine will survive."

After a brief silence, she softened her tone, her voice a request, her only request:

"Is it alright, Furina? For me, for all of Fontaine, to get through this long charade."

The Damselette in my memory hesitated, felt fear and confusion, but in the end, she gritted her teeth and gently nodded the head that would change her life.

"I do."

No wonder Furina always so flamboyant and high-profile, always extremely extravagant and pretentious in front of others, and occasionally even a bit hysterical and out of place.

She was just too afraid. Afraid that her scheme would be exposed, afraid that this long-running charade would come to an abrupt end, afraid that the entire Fontaine would be buried with her.

She was just an ordinary mortal, yet she stood on the high platform of the gods, wearing a mask she could never remove. With a mortal body, she imitated the posture of a god, supporting the hope of the entire kingdom, all alone, defying the predetermined rules of Heavenly Principles.

She single-handedly endured this unknown one-woman show for so long.