Isabel breathed a sigh of relief and opened her eyes.
She covered her forehead and slowly woke up from the soft feather hammock.
"Awake?"
With her back to her, Janice was painting in Isabel's bedroom, and she said briskly, "How was the experience of this ceremony?"
Isabel turned around and saw a bright sunrise.
Above the sparkling lake, the rising red sun seems to ignite the entire lake.
The bottom is red and gold, the top is light blue and dark blue...
This strange and beautiful scene reminded Isabel of Mr. Fox's eyes when he resonated with the Path of Devotion.
"Well, why aren't you talking?"
After not hearing Isabel's response for a long time, Janice turned around curiously and asked jokingly, "Did you fail in the advancement?"
“… No, it worked,” Isabel whispered.
"It actually worked?" Janice asked in surprise.
"Teacher Janice, why are you so surprised?"
"Because I did think about the possibility that you would fail in your advancement."
Janice casually turned the paintbrush in her hand and tilted her head: "Why, don't you blame me for not telling you about the various precautions in the ceremony in advance?"
“… It’s okay. Failure is also a kind of experience.”
Isabel whispered.
"Ah."
The elf artist laughed, walked over and tapped Isabelle gently: "You are obviously saying bad things about me in your heart, you little fool."
Seeing this, Isabel stopped pretending.
She came over with a feeling of grievance: "Teacher, I think you still have to teach me some common sense. Otherwise, there is no point in being unprepared for failure... I have failed many times before."
This was essentially what Sherlock had said to her before, and now she was repeating it directly.
"Did someone teach you this?"
But Janice easily saw through the truth.
"…Huh? What are you—"
"Given your personality, you won't be so fluent and precise when you speak 'your own words'. You will hesitate in your own judgment. Just like what you just said - you have failed too many times. So much so that you lack confidence."
Janice sighed, came over and touched Isabel's hair: "Then do you know why I don't want you to succeed this time?"
"… Why?"
"Because the advancement ceremony will fail sooner or later."
Janice answered patiently and slowly: "Whether it is a new moon ceremony or a full moon ceremony, its essence is to compete with others. The only difference is direct competition or indirect competition. Since it is a competition with others, there must be losers if there are winners. Maybe some people will always fail, but no one can always win.
"If you keep winning, the pressure will accumulate. That's why the first failure is a precious opportunity. It can help you balance your mentality and stop being nervous."
“Why is failure an opportunity?”
Isabel asked stubbornly, "I want to win more."
Janice stroked her hair silently, and pinched her soft cheek lovingly.
The elf said seriously, "It's very simple, little Isa. Because if you fail in the first advancement, you won't suffer any loss. It will only waste time - half a month or a month later, you can participate in the ceremony again. In other words, if you fail this time, you can still participate in the New Moon Ceremony again and experience real competition. Then you can go back and do the Full Moon Ceremony and you will have experience.
"You were deceived and defeated in the ritual. You were tricked into revealing your true identity and used like a prop - yes, these are indeed 'failures'.
"But at the same time, it's just a dream. Even if they know your true identity, what can they do? You are the Princess of Avalon, what can they do? This is your greatest support, Isa. They can't do anything to you. Your failure is just a failure. It will not cause any irrecoverable actual losses.
“In a place where no one knows you, people will not care about your identity and will not show you any mercy. There is only cruel competition, survival, deception, betrayal… This will undoubtedly make you grow quickly.
"And you only need to pay the price of 'time' and participate in a few more ceremonies, and you, a princess who is well protected by the people and has a noble status, can be exposed to the undisguised malice in people's hearts while ensuring your own safety. In my opinion, this is more valuable to you than the advancement ceremony itself."
Janice said something she had not said before: "It is indeed unfair to compete fairly with others who are prepared without knowledge and understanding. But this is often the case... You will be ambushed by those who are prepared when you are least prepared."
"... If that's the case," Isabel said in a panic, "Did I do something wrong by advancing successfully? If so, I won't be able to fail again next time, because failure will come at a real cost..."
Janice blinked when she heard this.
She was a little slow to react for a moment, then she couldn't help laughing.
"My little Isa, how can you be so cute—"
As if hugging a puppy, Janice shouted at the top of her voice and hugged the soft Isabel tightly in her arms.
Her eyes were full of tenderness and affirmation: "What are you talking about, my little cutie? The fact that you were able to advance successfully shows that you are indeed excellent.
"You've done very well. As for the next ceremony... you don't have to worry.
"No matter what means you use to win in the end, it means that you are at least not the worst. You were able to win without knowing anything, so after I teach you seriously, won't you do better?"
Janice soothed her softly, "Don't talk about those things, little Isa. What are the characteristics of the path you chose?"
Although she looked like a sister who was only three or four years older than Isabel, she was like an elder.
“… Speaking of which.”
Isabel complained quietly in Janice's arms: "You didn't tell me what to choose. I hesitated for a long time and finally chose 'Smart Voice'."
"Increase the difficulty of chanting the magic song? That's fine too. You're a versatile person anyway, so you can choose whatever you want. It's beautiful to follow your own heart."
Janice raised her eyebrows. "Sure enough, you sang in your dream this time, right? I thought you wouldn't even be able to find your teammates."
"That's still not the case—"
Isabel said stubbornly: "I can find my teammates. I found them at the beginning!"
"Okay, okay..."
Janice smiled and tilted her head to look at Isabel: "How about I draw a picture for you to commemorate your first victory in the ceremony
"Just the way you look now, the way you look now—laziness, surprise, shyness of just waking up, with a little confidence rising quietly like the morning light, and a cute little timidity..."
"… teacher!"
Suddenly, Isabel interrupted Janice: "I have one more thing!"
There was a hint of astonishment in Janice's pupils.
She couldn't help but smile: "What's wrong, my little cutie?"
Although she was happy that her student had gained confidence... she never thought that Isabelle would progress to the point where she had the courage to interrupt herself after only one ceremony.
She became more and more curious about what Isabel had experienced.
But she respected Isabel. If Isabel didn't ask, she wouldn't ask - because she knew that if she asked, her good student would definitely tell her.
This is not good. It's like I'm using my teacher's authority to force her to reveal secrets, which loses the beauty of naturalness and tacit understanding.
"I remember you said before... that you hope to invite Mr. Aiwass to the Palace of Silver and Tin."
Isabel couldn't wait to whisper: "Can we invite him earlier
"I want to see him as soon as possible... and talk to him."
She had just held the young Aiwass for four hours, and now she felt that she was not afraid of coming into contact with the real Aiwass. If she was just "a little bit looking forward to it" before, now she was a little "impatient".
The fear and alienation that one feels when making first contact with any stranger had already dissipated in the previous four hours.
Thinking of this, she wanted to see Aiwass as soon as possible. It was like seeing the characters in the story appear in reality. It was a wonderful feeling.
The strange position that she was familiar with the other party but the other party did not know her gave Isabel a rare sense of security, which was exactly what she lacked in her daily life.
When Isabel sees Mr. Aiwass, she will say to herself:
—Sister, I used to be your mother and I even sang a lullaby to you!
I can only say it in my heart, because saying it directly will make people feel that I am not polite. But just doing this will definitely make me laugh secretly in my heart.
That would be fun!
Hearing this, Janice raised her eyebrows with interest but did not comment.