Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Cinderella’s Tears

With a light wave of his hand, Wang Xi’s Magic Power surged.

An icy mist swirled, and three Ice Crystal chairs materialized on the snow, giving them a place to sit and talk.

The sun was bright, and the Ice and Snow Queen had walled off the wind and snow from the area around the castle, so it wasn’t too cold.

Goddalir and Pinocchio were both stunned at the sight.

"Gai, how can you use Ice Magic?!"

Goddalir sat down and stroked the Ice Crystal chair in amazement. Her fingers didn’t feel cold, only slightly cool to the touch.

During her training in the Magic Forest Flower Kingdom, she had heard a Woodland Fairy say that within the entire Stag Kingdom, only the Ice and Snow Queen could wield Ice Magic.

Isabella was the Legend of Snow Mountain Peak.

But now, she had seen a second person use it with her own eyes.

"I’ve been studying Magic with Isabella recently. I learned Ice Magic from her."

Wang Xi also sat down and explained casually.

Goddalir froze. A familiar sense of inadequacy washed over her, and she couldn’t help but lower her head.

"Gai, your talent is so much greater than mine. I’ve been studying with Fairy Bettina for nearly a year, but I’m still so far behind you..."

"Don’t sell yourself short, Goddalir."

Wang Xi said with a gentle smile.

"Your talent already surpasses ninety-nine percent of the people in this world. I only progress so quickly because of the curse I was born with, and that’s nothing to be envious of... You don’t understand how agonizing the soul-rending pain can be."

’No. Gai. I do understand.’

A warmth spread through Goddalir’s heart at his comforting words, but she murmured to herself.

’Every time you deliberately push me away with lies, I feel that same pain. I think... the longing I’ve felt for the past half-year has been no easier to bear than any curse...’

"Gai, before I came to the Snow Mountain, I heard Her Majesty Queen Xianna arguing with the Court Ministers. It sounded like something big has happened."

Pinocchio spoke up.

Wang Xi immediately knew what this was about.

The last time he had returned, he had seen a glimpse of the future through his Retirement Preview. For some unknown reason, the Northern People had lost their minds and launched a sudden attack on the Stag Kingdom.

By now, the Northern Kingdom had likely been engulfed by the flames of war, and pleas for aid were probably raining down on Daphne.

Queen Xianna must be troubled by this matter.

’Mm. The Queen’s Sword has been dormant for over half a year. It’s time for it to be drawn.’

"I heard the Elves in the Flower Kingdom talking about it... The Northern Territory has been attacked by the Northern People again,"

Goddalir chimed in quietly.

She tilted her head up to look at the black-haired young man.

"Gai, it looks like Count Randall’s Domain has fallen too, but this time it’s much more serious... Our old home... I’m afraid it might be gone forever."

Randall was, after all, the place where she had grown up, a place filled with so many childhood memories. Even though her family was no longer there and she had no lingering attachments, it still saddened her to hear of her hometown being trampled under iron hooves.

"What?!" Pinocchio was shocked. "Gai, your and Goddalir’s hometown was destroyed..."

He clenched his fists, continuing indignantly,

"Those despicable Northern People! This isn’t over!"

The Mechanical Puppet Boy easily empathized with his friends. He felt the furnace in his chest roar to life, and waves of distorting heat began to radiate from his clenched fists.

Wang Xi patted Pinocchio’s shoulder.

"Thanks," he said. "Her Majesty Queen Xianna trusts me. She granted me the title of Prince and the name ’Queen’s Sword’... I think it’s time I went down the mountain and helped ease her worries."

’Besides,’ he thought, ’even if Isabella doesn’t say anything, I can’t pretend I don’t know what’s happening.’ His teacher was unwilling to meddle in the Kingdom’s affairs, content to remain secluded on the mountain and research Magic. But Sianna was her sister. As Isabella’s student, Wang Xi felt it was his duty to help.

"Gai, I’m going with you!"

Pinocchio shot to his feet, speaking eagerly.

"The past six months in Daphne have been so boring, just hanging around the Mechanical Puppet Legion all day... And those Court Ministers seem to be scared of me. No one ever wants to talk."

"I’ll go too!"

Goddalir hurriedly stood up and echoed his sentiment.

An anxious look crossed her face.

"Gai, Fairy Bettina said I’m strong enough to protect myself now... I’m not a burden anymore. Please don’t leave me behind, okay?"

At her words, Wang Xi looked over at the girl.

Cinderella Godalir (Friendly/Three-Star/Elite)

In the six months he hadn’t seen her, her power had increased by another star.

The power of a Three-Star Elite was indeed enough for her to protect herself.

At that, Goddalir, as if worried Gai would reject her again, quickly added,

"I studied Natural Magic and Wind Magic in the Flower Kingdom. I’m skilled at Healing and cleansing, and I can provide support in battle... Gai, please, believe me! I know I can be a help to you!"

Seeing the hopeful look on her flushed face, Wang Xi couldn’t help but remember how she had abandoned everything to flee with him, how she had risked her own safety time and time again to climb the snow mountain and find him.

In the end, he didn’t have the heart to refuse her again.

He stood up and walked over to a clear patch of ground, then turned back to the girl with a smile.

"Show me what you’ve learned this past year in the Flower Kingdom, Goddalir."

"Alright!" the girl quickly replied.

Goddalir unfastened her Cloak and hung it on one of the Ice Crystal chairs, then walked nervously out into the open space.

"Don’t hold back. Come at me with everything you’ve got."

Wang Xi encouraged her with a smile.

Goddalir nodded, her expression growing serious.

WHOOSH—WHOOSH—

She raised a hand and unleashed two crescent-shaped, translucent Wind Blades that shot straight toward Wang Xi, skimming across the snow.

At the same time, Goddalir brought her hands together. Her palms began to glow with a soft green light, and the fluctuation of Magic Power stirred her flax-colored hair.

"Thorns."

She thrust her palms forward, and thorny vines as thick as a man’s arm burst from the snow at Wang Xi’s feet, coiling around his legs like snakes to restrict his movement.

The two Wind Blades were already upon him!

A combination attack!

CRACK! CRACK!

The Wind Blades struck Wang Xi’s raised arm, only to be stopped by a bracer made of Ice Crystal. The blades, sharp enough to slice through a wooden stump, failed to leave even a scratch on its surface, disintegrating into a gust of wind that sent snowflakes flying.

CRACKLE...

The vines wrapped around Wang Xi’s legs were instantly covered in frost, then froze solid.

With a single movement, he shattered the frozen vines.

As shards of ice flew, Wang Xi started walking toward Goddalir with the ease of a leisurely stroll.

With his current power, he could have instantly appeared before her and ended the duel in a single blow. But he didn’t. Instead, he took his time.

After all, the gap in their power was simply too vast.

He just wanted to see Goddalir’s true skill, so he deliberately went easy on her, giving her plenty of time to react.

Seeing her Combined Magic had no effect on Gai, Goddalir pursed her lips and summoned a wooden broom.

This, apparently, was her Magic Wand.

The girl raised the broom, aimed the end of the handle at Wang Xi, and began murmuring a tongue-twisting Spell, a look of strain on her face.

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH—

A continuous, sharp whistling filled the air as one Wind Blade after another formed at the tip of the broom and shot out in rapid succession, carving a chaotic web of straight lines into the snow.

A full suit of Ice Crystal Armor now covered Wang Xi’s body, encasing even his face, leaving only a cross-shaped slit for his eyes. He looked like a knight sculpted from azure crystal.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!!

The Wind Blades slammed against him, but they couldn’t harm him in the slightest, nor could they even slow his advance.

Goddalir’s pupils contracted.

She thought she had already estimated Gai’s strength highly, but she never imagined that the barrage of Wind Blades she’d unleashed with all her power would be like a gentle breeze against him, completely ineffective.

Watching the young man draw closer step by step, Goddalir began to chant another Spell.

RUSTLE—

A thicket of interwoven vines suddenly grew from beneath her feet, lifting her up and carrying her rapidly backward.

She was surfing, using the vines to glide across the snow. In an instant, she had put another dozen meters between herself and Wang Xi.

’With an evasive Natural Magic spell like that,’ Wang Xi thought, ’Goddalir’s survivability has gone up a notch.’

Just as Goddalir raised her broom, preparing to fire more Wind Blades at Gai, she realized he was no longer in front of her. Only an explosion of snow remained where he had stood.

BAM—

The next second, a blast of wind hit her in the face, sending her hair flying and forcing her eyes shut.

When she opened them again, the Ice Armor Knight was standing right beside her. With a swift motion, he reached out and grabbed her broom.

"?!"

Goddalir froze in shock.

Then, her expression fell, and she lowered her head.

She knew that if an enemy had gotten that close and seized her Magic Wand on a real battlefield, she would already be dead.

"I’ve lost, Gai."

As she spoke, for reasons she didn’t understand herself, tears began to stream from Goddalir’s eyes. She choked out,

"I’m sorry. I-I’m so useless."

A strange fear rose in her heart.

The fear of being abandoned.

But that fear quickly morphed into a kind of obsession. For nearly a year in the Flower Kingdom, she had suffered the torment of her longing for him, burying herself in her training day and night, all for the sake of being worthy to stand by Gai’s side.

She couldn’t accept being useless.

And she certainly couldn’t accept this outcome...

Wang Xi had just dispelled his Ice Armor when he saw the expression on Goddalir’s pretty face shifting rapidly—from sorrow, to pain, to cold indifference.

A jolt of alarm went through him.

’Looking at her...’ he thought, alarmed. ’Don’t tell me she’s about to go dark?!’

Ever since Goddalir had followed him in his escape from Randall, even stabbing a guard out of worry for him, Wang Xi had suspected the girl had a yandere streak hidden deep down.

’If I reject her now, is she going to summon her pumpkin carriage and run me over...?’

"Goddalir."

Wang Xi gently took her trembling hand and said in a low voice, "Do you remember what I told you? That you have to learn to protect yourself, to become strong. It’s the only way to survive in this world."

"And now, you’ve done it. In just one short year, you’ve gone from a girl with no combat ability to a Natural Witch who can cast Combined Magic. That’s incredible."

"That series of Magic spells just now—the Thorn Binding, the Wind Blade Rapid Fire, the Vine Slide—it was all amazing to watch."

"Hm?"

The girl lifted her tear-streaked face, staring dazedly at his smile.

"I know how much hard work you’ve put in this past year for my sake. I’ve always understood your feelings."

Wang Xi reached up and wiped away her tears.

"Right now, not only can you protect yourself, but you’re also skilled in Healing Magic... Queen Xianna needs her sword, but that sword... also needs his Cinderella."

"Come with me, Goddalir."

"Gai!"

Goddalir bit her lip and threw herself into his arms, bursting into tears.

Wang Xi held the girl, his chest once again growing damp with her tears.

CLICK... CLACK...

He heard the familiar sound of turning gears.

The Gear Seal has been healed!

Current Blackening Progress: 0/100

Wang Xi froze.

The remaining quarter of her ’blackening’ had been completely wiped clean.

In that moment, he seemed to understand something.

The Spirit Medicine that cured her corruption...

...was true love.

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