Chapter 139 The Intertwined Lakes: Only One Link Went Wrong—…
Seaweed drifted like duckweed, and lingering crow feathers swirled along the ripples. Dew warmed the throat and awakened the sleeping lover.
"...Eleanor?"
Andra called out her lover's name, her right hand instinctively twitching but finding nothing.
She blinked her sleepy eyes, propped herself up on the blanket, and sat up.
This is a simple tent, empty inside, but you can see the shimmering lake water when you lift the curtain.
Andra touched the pile of clothes and pulled out a note from between the coat and the blanket.
I'm going back to attend to your coronation preparations now. Get some rest.
...As thoughtful as ever.
A faint smile appeared on her lips, but she quickly suppressed it.
The pleasure and pain from last night still lingered in her body; Eleanor was definitely retaliating for the "cold treatment" she had received a few days ago.
She sat on the blanket and waited for a while, opening and closing her eyes repeatedly three times, until she was finally certain that the auditory hallucinations had ended.
What's going on? If I had known, I wouldn't have worried for so long.
Andra got up, fastened his belt, put on his clothes, and walked out of the tent.
Sunlight filters through the trees, casting dappled shadows on my body.
Wait, the shade of a tree?
She stopped abruptly and looked around—where was the lake? The vast lake she had just seen had turned into a forest.
Andra quickly turned around, and even the tent behind him disappeared, turning into a clearing in the woods.
She swallowed hard, but instead of running or yelling, she clenched her fists and tried to prick her palms with her fingernails.
Wake up! Wake up quickly! Ouch—it hurts, it's not a dream.
Andra's languid expression turned serious: If it's not a dream, then it's an illusion. There used to be a large river nearby; we can't just wander around like that.
She slowly drew her long sword from her waist, cautiously probing the ground with the tip of the sword, taking several deep breaths every two steps to make sure she hadn't fallen into the water.
Snap, snap.
The blades of grass rustled softly, then turned to ashes right before her eyes.
"!" It really was an illusion. What was that pile of ashes originally?!
Andra stood still, not daring to move. The trees withered around her, some turning to ash, others crackling and rustling.
Clusters of flames rose from the ashes and dead wood, the real heat scorching the hair and burning the skin.
hiss!
Andra used his sword to cut off a strand of hair, and the air was filled with crackling and popping sounds.
We can't delay any longer.
She gripped her longsword and ran towards an open space, where trees were set ablaze one after another, passively clearing a path.
Hoo hoo—
Flames swirled around her as Andra extended her legs, the path beneath her feet sloping instead of level.
She instinctively ran down the mountain, and the trees that had disappeared began to reappear, with fewer and fewer traces of fire remaining.
Am I running along the river of time, from after the fire to before it started?
A strange thought crossed her mind, but she quickly dismissed it.
A figure staggered into view.
She was a somewhat disheveled traveler, her cloak stained with blood and filth. She held a torch in her left hand and crossed her right arm over her chest, as if cradling some precious and fragile treasure.
Andra subconsciously slowed her pace, but the road beneath her feet seemed to push her forward like an accelerating conveyor belt.
She quickly reached the side of that figure and couldn't help but turn her head to look.
The person's arms were empty, and her face... was exactly the same as his own.
She is "Andra".
Despite the horrifying truth, Andra felt a sense of calm, as if a long-standing question had finally found its answer.
They stood side by side, the forward and backward tracks stopped simultaneously, and even the flames on the torch heads seemed to freeze.
*Slap*
Andra stopped, and as she twisted her body, her bones made a cracking, stiff sound.
They stood facing each other in the shattered space-time.
Their long, flowing hair danced in the wind. They both had strong bodies, but one of them had an extra strand of gray hair and a deep indentation between her eyebrows.
Their longswords reflected the firelight.
Andra held the sword upright in front of his chest.
Andra dropped the torch, seemingly finally realizing that she had nothing in her arms, and drew a longsword from her waist, holding it with both hands.
Her eyes were bright and full of energy, carefully scanning for the "enemy's" weaknesses with each blink.
Her eyes had been extinguished, but the moment she saw herself, flames suddenly ignited, illuminating the sky in crimson.
"Unleash my world."
“Give me back my Eleanor.”
A flash of sword light, and with a clang, they were pressed together before each other.
......
If artists were asked to paint a portrait of His Majesty Andra's coronation, they would come up with all sorts of creative ideas and eventually go to the ceremony to paint a portrait of Andra.
What are you looking at? His Majesty's charm is unparalleled, of course we have to copy his portrait!
What if we painted a picture of "Princess Alisa on a March"?
They'll most likely scratch their heads, then put the "His Majesty Andra's Coronation Picture" on the stool and rename it.
You ask why this painting is called "Princess Alisa on the March"? Because Princess Alisa was definitely running away at that time!
As Aguno's second daughter, Alisa knew from a young age that all the excitement belonged to others, but life was her own.
In her childhood, she avoided Attila's sharp edge; in her adolescence, she avoided Andra's sharp edge; in her youth, she avoided Eleanor and then Attila, and after avoiding Attila, she avoided Andra... In short, she avoided everything.
There's no way to avoid it, so there's no need to avoid it anymore.
Don't underestimate the poverty of children, teenagers, and young adults; they should shoulder their burdens and go home.
Even Alisa's childhood best friends knew that Attila had been killed in two sword strikes, and Andra would probably be "cut" three or four times by Eleanor that night. They should just wash their necks and go to sleep.
That's true, but when Alisa gritted her teeth and stomped her foot, slowly driving back with all her possessions and her friends, a feeling of dissatisfaction began to grow in her heart.
It is a denial of the status quo, an unrealistic expectation of a certain possibility without any effort.
If I risked everything to assassinate Andra and become Hetuya's only princess, would things be different?
Ever since learning of Attila's death, Alisa has tossed and turned in bed every night, imagining how she would react if she met Andra—and ultimately triumph.
But whether it's a daydream or a night dream, a dream is just a dream, and no matter how long you cry after waking up, it's all fake.
"Waaaaah..."
Tonight, Alisa is also biting her pillow and crying.
She couldn't even be bothered to summon her wife and lover, only indulging in self-pity in the darkness. "Why did my mother give birth to Andra...?"
Gesha.
A cold, hard object was suddenly pressed against her neck. In a mere 0.01 seconds, Alisa knew what it was—a dagger?!
"Waaaaah?!" She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand firmly covered it and squeezed it shut, making her tongue and teeth ache.
"Shh—shut up and listen to me."
The voice in the darkness recognized even Alisa after she was killed; it was Andra!
Her heart sank with a thud, then jumped again—ah? Andra? How did she get here?
Of course, one of Alisa's various scenarios was that "the shameless Eleanor and the shameless Andra used their shameless ultimate move against me, actually using assassins to kill the powerful me."
Putting everything else aside, she raised a large number of assassins to prepare for a deadly charge against Eleanor.
Although it wasn't ultimately used, judging from my own experience, Eleanor's side is so rich, they must have even more assassins... But having Andra as an assassin is still a bit too exciting.
"Give me all your men."
Even though she couldn't see Andra's eyes in the darkness, Alisa's composure crumbled completely.
She cried out, pressing the dagger against her, "Sister, I'm calling you sister! You've inherited Hetuya's mantle, can't you just let us lowly creatures go? Hey, hey, hey, don't cut me! Don't cut me!"
The blade pushed a little closer to her neck, and Andra's voice was low: "Hmph, only your men would dare to lay a hand on that fake Eleanor."
W-what? Fake Eleanor.
Upon hearing this, countless conspiracy theories flashed through Alisa's mind.
They even thought of scenarios like "Eleanor actually died a long time ago, and Eva found a burly, fierce woman to impersonate a princess" and "Eleanor drowned in the sea, and Andra brought a wife from among the wildlings to compete for the throne."
"Should we give it to them or not?"
The voice grew increasingly hoarse: "I will meet with your people wearing full armor, and you will say that I am your representative, that you are the one who wants to assassinate Eleanor."
Glug, that immortal ball is gone?!
Alisa inwardly groaned: You two crazy women teamed up to act against me, didn't you? You don't want me to live, and you don't want to leave a good reputation either, so you tricked me into going there to ambush me.
Ha, I bet he'd be chopped into mincemeat the moment he walked in!
"Please... Waaah!!"
A strong arm tightened around Alisa's neck, and the intense feeling of suffocation made her cower. She slammed her hand on the table and begged for mercy.
The person behind her loosened their grip at the right moment, giving her one last chance to answer.
"Okay, you promise, you promise not to touch me after it's done, then I'll agree."
Alisa agreed in a hoarse voice, and as she turned her head—her eyes, gradually adjusting to the darkness—she saw "Andra".
That is indeed Andra, but something just doesn't feel right.
The clothes are Andra's clothes, the sword is Andra's sword, and the face goes without saying.
They look so alike, they can't be a body double.
She comforted herself, saying: "It's normal to feel that my sister is a little strange after not seeing her for so many years."
"Andra" stared at her coldly in the darkness and said, "Don't worry, I'll rescue Eleanor and leave. We won't hurt you."
That's the truth. The Alisa she knew had died decades ago and couldn't move anymore.
......
There are less than three days until Andra's coronation ceremony.
With Eleanor's strong coordination, a large sum of money, and a large number of helpers, all preparations for the ceremony were completed in advance.
There was only one problem – Andra was missing.
"No way, she's not here?!"
Eleanor was completely stunned after hearing the reports from the scouts.
She'd seen movies about runaway brides and novels about broken engagements, but this was a coronation! Who would run away from a coronation?!
She might have thought of assassination if it were someone else, but that was absolutely impossible with Andra.
She had rewound countless times in her previous lives to kill Andra. If Andra was to be assassinated at this critical juncture, then either she or the assassin must be involved in something.
The last scout came from Mount Aphrodite—Eleanor had even considered the possibility that "Andra awakened her past life memories and decided to divorce," and immediately sent someone to investigate.
But their reply was, "The priests swear that they absolutely did not see His Majesty Andra."
Eleanor took a deep breath, looked at the panicked servants, and said in a deep voice, "Keep the news under wraps. I'll go find them myself!"
"yes!"
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