WTYTIAAN Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Leaving the tavern, Yan Yunqing originally intended to head towards the inn. He had left Lillian there for far too long. Judging by Lillian’s eating speed, she was probably starving with her front sticking to her back, since the food he left her had long been eaten.

But Yan Yunqing unconsciously found himself walking on another path, a quieter one with fewer people passing through.

The roads in this world didn’t have streetlights installed by the country. If people wanted to go out at night, they had to carry their own lanterns or rely on the moonlight and the dim light from the taverns along the street to see if there were any tripping stones on the ground.

Yan Yunqing had excellent night vision, so even on a nearly deserted path with the moon hidden behind clouds, he could walk steadily.

A gentle breeze swept by. The capital city of Bato Vita was located in the central region, and for some reason, there weren’t distinct seasons here. Even though it was already October, the climate was still pleasant.

Yan Yunqing walked aimlessly, without a clear destination, just strolling about. If a passerby saw him at this moment, they would probably be startled.

A dark figure drifting along the road late at night was quite frightening.

However, Yan Yunqing thought that no one should be here at this time.

Just as he thought this, a crisp voice broke the silence, startling Yan Yunqing.

“You’ll fall if you wander around here, you know?”

Yan Yunqing’s heart skipped a beat. He turned his head and saw a familiar face.

She had a single ponytail, wasn’t very tall, and wore coarse clothes suitable for running. Her face was round, still with some baby fat.

It was the Eleventh Princess, Alice, whom he had met in the morning.

She was sitting cross-legged on a tall stone pillar, looking down at Yan Yunqing’s direction, tilting her head curiously. “Weren’t you drinking with that General Sawyer? Why did you suddenly run here?”

Yan Yunqing was surprised. “You’ve been watching me?”

How could he not have noticed someone watching him? No, he and Alice had never met before. Why was Alice so interested in him?

“Hmm? Not really,” Alice said. Seeing that Yan Yunqing wanted to talk to her, she jumped down from the stone pillar, patting the dust off her hands. “We met once at the city gate in the morning, do you remember?”

“I have a good memory,” Alice said. “And your outfit is very special. I remembered you at a glance.”

“It just so happened that the tavern you and General Sawyer went to is owned by my friend’s family. I was originally going to help out there tonight.”

Alice sighed softly. “But as soon as I got back, my father called me over and nagged me for a long time. I barely escaped, and it was already so late. I took a look at the tavern, and it seemed they didn’t need my help anymore.”

“But I just happened to see you and General Sawyer sitting together.” Alice walked around Yan Yunqing, like a curious tabby cat, sniffing here and there. “You two seemed very close. Are you friends?”

Yan Yunqing: “…Not really. We just met.”

Alice was surprised. “Just met? I feel like General Sawyer’s look at you was very different.”

Yan Yunqing was curious. “How so?”

“Well… that’s a long story,” Alice pondered, patting her neck. “Oh, you’re too tall. Let’s find a place to sit down and chat!”

Yan Yunqing: …He had transmigrated for so long, and it was the first time someone said he was too tall!

This child had a sweet tongue. He’d follow her and listen to what she had to say.

“Okay,” Yan Yunqing nodded. “Lead the way.”

“Okay, okay, of course, follow me!” Alice took the lead, walking in front. Her steps were light, showing that she had practiced physical skills, unlike an ordinary magician.

Because ordinary magicians never practiced physical skills. They only waved their magic wands around, muttering awkward spells, and disdained any exercise that would make them lose their grace and sweat.

Alice was more like a nimble kitten.

Yan Yunqing followed behind Alice, turning several corners and even climbing over an abandoned wall, before arriving at the place Alice mentioned—in front of a dilapidated bungalow.

“This is?” Yan Yunqing looked at the dilapidated bungalow. It looked old, but there were signs of recent repairs. The most obvious was that the heavy wooden door had been cleared of dust, and the drafty windows had been filled with new turf.

“This is my former home.” Alice took out a key from under a flower pot, opened the wooden door, and pushed it open forcefully, revealing a darkness behind it.

“Come in. There aren’t many houses around here anymore. Everyone has moved to more prosperous areas these years. Only William and I come here occasionally.”

Alice skillfully secured the door and took out a box of firewood, lighting a candle stand placed by the door. Then, she took the candle stand and lit all the other candle stands in the room.

Yan Yunqing had already seen the interior of the room while she was lighting the candles. Unlike the dilapidated exterior, the inside of the house was surprisingly cozy. There was even a handmade woolen carpet under the table. All the furniture was in warm colors, and there was a graffiti painting on the wall.

“But since William and I went to Hogwarts Academy, no one has come here anymore. It hasn’t been repaired for a long time. William and I worked all afternoon today to barely clean it up. You don’t mind, do you?”

“…It’s okay,” Yan Yunqing said honestly. “The outside is a bit broken, but the inside doesn’t look like it hasn’t been lived in for a long time.”

Alice was very happy. “Because my friends occasionally come to clean up for us. They are very enthusiastic people. They probably hope that if William and I suddenly come back, we’ll still have a place to live.”

“Look, we just came back today. If they hadn’t cleaned up regularly, William and I wouldn’t have been able to clean this place up even if we worked all day.”

Alice saw Yan Yunqing discreetly scanning the room. She understood. “You’re thinking about William, right? He didn’t come back. He’s probably still in the palace. Our annoying father is holding onto him and reminiscing about the past.”

As she said this, Alice sighed, looking a bit melancholy. “William is very sentimental. Although Father has done a lot of annoying things, he always lowers his posture, and William gets tricked back.”

Yan Yunqing commented, “Many love-starved children can’t help but move closer when their elders show a little kindness, even if they know it’s just fake affection.”

“Wow!” Alice widened her eyes and gave Yan Yunqing a thumbs up. “You’re amazing! You’ve never even met William, but you can say it so accurately!”

Alice chattered. At this moment, she was no longer like a kitten, but a cheerful little sparrow, lively and curious.

“Okay, let’s not talk about my things. Let’s talk about you and that General Sawyer!”

Alice sat on a high chair, dangling her feet, swaying her head from side to side. “Did you really just meet? I found his look at you…”

Alice gestured. “It’s very strange!”

She pinched her chin, pondering for a moment. One hand held up four fingers, and the other hand held up three fingers. “There are four parts longing, three parts nostalgia, two parts bewilderment, and one part recklessness!”

Yan Yunqing: …What are you talking about? You even made a pie chart, didn’t you?

Yan Yunqing was a bit amused. “We just met. He was drinking all the time. You must have seen wrong, right? If you have to say there’s something wrong with his look at me…”

“It’s probably that he regarded me as a sugar daddy.”

“Eh?” Alice was stunned. “Sugar daddy?”

Yan Yunqing laughed. “He seems to be quite poor. He invited me to drink, but it was to drink free wine at the bar under the inn. So I said I’d treat him and take him to drink.”

Alice was thoughtful. “That does seem to be the case. The Sawyer family has always been stationed in the City of Scarne. That place is indeed not very wealthy, and they are constantly in a state of combat readiness. They probably don’t have the opportunity to manage the family property.”

“I also heard that the front line sent a battle report, asking my father to send more supplies over,” Alice said. “Although the Sawyer family is also a noble family, they’ve been losing a lot of money in recent years. Most of the things they’ve inherited have been sold to exchange for supplies.”

When she spoke of these things, Alice’s expression was very indifferent, not like a twelve-year-old girl at all. She looked more experienced than an adult.

“You even know these things?” Yan Yunqing asked curiously.

Alice blinked, reverting to her innocent and lovely appearance. “These aren’t secrets. You can find out if you inquire carefully. And I pay a lot of attention to the border situation.”

“Although I’m just a princess without real power, it’s not my place to worry about this, but I’m also a student at Hogwarts Academy. The academy organizes a group of students to go to the battlefield in the Underworld every semester.”

“—This is training, but also protection,” Alice imitated a solemn tone. “This is what our headmaster said. How is it? Very imposing, right?”

“Yes, very imposing,” Yan Yunqing nodded, acknowledging Alice’s statement.

He always had a high tolerance for such cute little girls, probably because his uncle’s family used to have a little sister of that age.

“Why do I feel like you’re saying so little?” Alice muttered. “It seems like I’ve been talking all the time.”

Yan Yunqing smiled. “Probably because I’m good at listening? And you have a sweet voice.” A chattering little sparrow.

Alice was happy. “Oh my god, you actually praised my voice as sweet! William only complains that I’m noisy!”

Yan Yunqing listened to Alice’s murmurings and felt a bit confused. Why did he find Alice’s ramblings cute, but Adrian’s ramblings annoying?

Probably because Alice was much cuter than Adrian.

He looked at the furnishings in the room, his gaze sweeping over a painting. It was a very childish painting, similar to a kindergarten child’s work, but it had been cherished and framed, and hung in the most conspicuous place on the wall.

In the painting, he could barely make out an adult woman holding the hands of a boy and a girl.

“Is this a painting of you and William’s mother?” Yan Yunqing suddenly asked.

Alice didn’t mind Yan Yunqing interrupting her, and looked in the direction Yan Yunqing was pointing. “This? No, this is William’s mother.”

“My mother passed away when I was born. William’s mother gave birth to William not long before I was born. Seeing that I didn’t have a mother, she felt sorry for me and took me in to raise together.”

“Fanny was having a hard time back then. Our father… well, he didn’t care about us at all. William and I were kicked out by the queen as soon as we were born. Fanny was just a maid in the palace before, and she didn’t have much money. She could only take William and me and rent this broken house with the money she had saved.”

She spoke of the past with a warm sense of nostalgia on her face, without any resentment or hatred. “Although it was a bit poor back then, everyone here was very friendly and often helped our family, so we were still very lucky.”

“But when William and I turned seven, Fanny got sick and passed away.”

Alice propped up her face. “That was probably the most difficult time for William and me. Fortunately, not long after, William and I were both found to have talent and went to Hogwarts Academy. That father also recognized us.”

Yan Yunqing listened, a bit strange. “You just told me all of this? Aren’t you worried that I’m a bad person?”

Alice stared at Yan Yunqing for a while. Just as Yan Yunqing was feeling a little unnatural, she burst out laughing. “No, I can tell you’re a good person.”

She swayed her feet, humming a song in a good mood.

“I’m not a naive child. If I didn’t have the ability to distinguish bad people, William would have been sold hundreds of times. Isn’t it because I’ve been watching him all along?”

Yan Yunqing shook his head. “All children like to claim they aren’t children, and you’d better not judge people by their appearances. Bad people can’t possibly write ‘I’m a bad person’ on their faces. They are used to disguising themselves as good people.”

Alice: “Hmm… But Uncle, you don’t look like a good person, do you?”

Yan Yunqing: …

A fatal blow.

Indeed, he was still wearing Edward’s shell. That gloomy magician didn’t look like a good person at all. Maybe he could even scare a few children to tears.

Alice saw that Yan Yunqing was speechless and laughed even more heartily, unable to stop herself.

“…You can’t trust those who don’t look like good people even more,” Yan Yunqing said helplessly. “You don’t even think I look like a good person, but you still brought me home?”

Alice: “No, I just said you don’t look like a good person, but I think you are a good person.”

With her calling him “Uncle” every other word, Yan Yunqing felt like he had aged a lot, but he had only just come of age this year, hadn’t he?

It could only be said that Edward’s persona looked too old on the outside.

“Oh, right!” Alice looked around and suddenly jumped off the chair. “I forgot that guests need to be entertained. Uncle, wait a moment, I’ll go boil some water.”

Yan Yunqing: “No need to trouble yourself…”

However, Alice had already run out with the kettle, not knowing where she was going to get water. Yan Yunqing was helpless and could only close his mouth, staring blankly at the wooden table with a missing corner.

William’s mother was a palace maid, so her identity should be very ordinary. And Cornelia had only shown unusual concern for Alice, so it was clear that Cornelia’s intersection with them couldn’t have been after Alice was born.

Alice’s biological mother passed away when she was born, and in Alice’s bean-like narration of her past experiences, she didn’t mention her biological mother at all. It was either that she didn’t know much about her biological mother, or that her biological mother’s identity was special.

Would a child not know about their own biological mother? Yan Yunqing thought not.

Then wasn’t the answer already obvious…? Cornelia and Alice’s biological mother must have known each other.

Could it be that Alice’s biological mother was Cornelia’s sister…? That’s not right either. According to what Alice said, her biological mother had already passed away twelve years ago. Cornelia was only now looking for her sister?

And Alice was obviously not a mixed-blood mermaid…

Yan Yunqing had a bit of a headache. He originally didn’t want to explore Cornelia’s secrets, but he didn’t expect to run into Alice on the way, and hear a bit of gossip from Alice.

Once his brain received the information, it analyzed it automatically! He couldn’t be blamed…

Yan Yunqing sighed softly. His gaze inadvertently swept over the minimap and found that a small blue dot had appeared on the minimap.

Yan Yunqing:?

Yan Yunqing opened the minimap and found that the small blue dot belonged to Cornelia.

Yan Yunqing:???

Yan Yunqing was first taken aback. After understanding, he was speechless: Cornelia was also coming to find Alice? Was he disturbing Cornelia?

That’s not right. He hadn’t revealed his identity to Cornelia yet… Cornelia wouldn’t really think he was some kind of bad guy, right?

Yan Yunqing slowly dripped a drop of cold sweat. Before he could even do anything bad, would his accomplice mistake him for a bad guy and start fighting him?

He hoped Cornelia could be rational, at least not attack him without a word. He wasn’t confident that he could face a level 60 mermaid head-on without hurting her and still win.

Alice skipped back with the kettle, and saw Yan Yunqing sitting uneasily at a glance. She took a glass of water and placed it in front of Yan Yunqing, pouring him a glass of water with the kettle. “Are you in a hurry to go back?”

The heat in the glass of water slowly rose, bubbling. Yan Yunqing could sense the residual magical elements in the water.

“Are you a fire mage?”

“Yes, how is it?” Alice said. “My fire element affinity is the highest, so I majored in fire.”

Yan Yunqing confirmed that Alice was definitely not a mixed-blood mermaid. Mermaids were sea monsters, and no matter how mutated, they couldn’t be more affinity with fire elements.

Yan Yunqing took a sip of water and calmly opened his mouth, “I have to go.”

Alice was a little disappointed. “I thought you could stay here and chat with me for a while longer.”

“If I chat any longer, someone might get anxious,” Yan Yunqing cryptically quipped. “I’d better leave early.”

Alice: “Someone? Who are you talking about?”

She tilted her head, looking very puzzled. Yan Yunqing confirmed that she didn’t know Cornelia’s existence. It seemed Cornelia hadn’t had time to find her before he met her first.

“It’s nothing.”

Yan Yunqing shook his head. Cornelia’s matter would have to wait for her to find Alice herself. He politely drank the water in the glass, put down the glass, and got up to leave.

Alice sent him out the door. Before Yan Yunqing left, she couldn’t help but remind Yan Yunqing, “Don’t trust that General Sawyer too much.”

Yan Yunqing was puzzled. Why did everyone tell him not to trust others too much? Did he look like some innocent little white rabbit? Even a child said this to him.

He was the Demon King!

“Why do you say that?”

Alice paused and suggested very sincerely, “He doesn’t seem as simple as he looks on the surface, Uncle… you’d better stay away from him.”

“Trust me, I’ve always been very accurate in judging people.”

Yan Yunqing casually nodded. “Got it.”

He hadn’t planned to get too close to that General Sawyer anyway, but Alice thought General Sawyer wasn’t a good person. Could it be that she was influenced by the bloody aura on his body?

Yan Yunqing was vigilant on the way back, afraid that Cornelia would jump out and give him a surprise attack as soon as he turned his head.

Fortunately, Cornelia wasn’t that insane. He returned safely to the inn.

Greeting him was Lillian’s eyes, so hungry that she could eat people.