Liuli felt that Serveyia’s question was a bit much.
What did she mean by asking this now? Or rather, what kind of answer was Serveyia actually hoping to get from her?
“Serveyia, do you want me to change back?”
“I don’t necessarily want you to change back, Little Fox. But if you truly wish to, I wouldn’t have any objections even if you did.”
“Since you don’t want me to change back, Serveyia, then I won’t.”
In this kind of situation, Liuli knew very well that she shouldn’t give a direct answer.
Instead, she needed to follow Serveyia’s lead.
Only then could she keep herself clear of responsibility and avoid all sorts of strange problems cropping up later.
“So, Little Fox, do you feel happy as you are now?”
“I am happy. What is there to be unhappy about?”
Liuli thought for a moment, then looked at Serveyia and spoke with a slightly serious tone.
“Right now, I have resources that were almost unimaginable before, and my standard of living is much better than it used to be. Why does Serveyia think I would want to change back? Besides, why are you asking me this question?”
Liuli thought this question had lost its meaning after she accepted her new name.
After all, she had already embraced it; how could there still be a possibility of wanting to change back?
“It’s nothing. I was just a little curious about how much physical changes can affect one’s psychology. Looking at you, Little Fox, it seems they can indeed affect a lot.”
“So, is there any significance to your curiosity about this issue, Serveyia?”
This subject sounded somewhat profound, the kind of thing that seemed like it would only be covered in professional psychology courses.
Logically, if Serveyia wasn’t researching that specific subject, then it was highly likely she was facing a similar problem herself.
“It has no real significance. I just had a sudden thought while watching you change day by day.”
“So, have I met your expectations for a Princess, Serveyia?”
“You have certainly exceeded my initial expectations, but you are still a bit short of my expectations for a true Princess.”
“Then what does Serveyia think I should do?”
“You don’t need to do anything. No one can grow up in a single instant. The princesses of past generations weren’t perfect the moment they took office, either. They all became the excellent princesses everyone admired only after going through a long growth process.”
“Just like the previous princesses you saw in Qingli Hall, they weren’t born as princesses. Every one of them went through a long period of learning to become a Princess. Furthermore, the way a Princess fulfills her duties now is different from the past.”
“In the past, if a Princess wanted to spread her ideas of Peace, she might have had to rely on her own two legs to measure the land. Those were just the difficulties of travel; if you factor in uncertain variables like potential War or plague, the hardships would only increase.”
***
“Liuli, where did you go?”
By the time she and Serveyia returned to the camp, Fina had already come forward to meet them.
She took Liuli’s hand with a concerned look and asked.
“Serveyia and I went for a walk in the forest for a bit. As for you, Fina, do you really need to soak in the bath every day?”
“Yes, staying moist is very important for the Mermaid Race. But is there anything fun in the Moonlight Forest?”
“No, I was just a bit curious. After all, I’ve been studying at Saint Laia Academy for so long and didn’t know anything about the nearby Moonlight Forest, so I wanted to come out and take a look.”
“If you’re bored, come out and play with me! There’s nothing fun about this place.”
Fina pushed her luck, going a step further to hook her arm into Liuli’s.
Feeling her arm covered by something soft, Liuli couldn’t help but wonder why Fina had suddenly become so close to her.
“Where do you want to take me, Fina?”
It didn’t seem like there were any particularly famous attractions near Saint Laia.
Liuli truly didn’t know where Fina planned to take her.
“It depends on where you want to go, Liuli. We could go shopping, to an amusement park, or of course, we could go swimming. Liuli, do you know how to swim?”
“Um, actually, I don’t…”
At least, her former self didn’t know how.
She just didn’t know if this current body could do it.
Maybe she could inherit a fox’s instincts and be an expert swimmer for all she knew.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Mermaid Magic can help you learn how to swim, so as long as you’re willing, you can go swimming.”
“Is there really such a convenient Magic?”
While swimming was technically a Skill and should be learnable through Magic, could one really master a Skill that way?
“Even if you can’t master the Skill, our Magic can allow you to breathe underwater. Besides, doesn’t Liuli still owe me a punishment?”
Once Fina mentioned that, Liuli’s mood soured instantly.
She hadn’t forgotten that she had to wear the clothes of the Mermaid Race for Fina to see.
Although her long experience with girls’ clothing had made her much more accepting of it, a swimsuit was honestly still a significant challenge.
If possible, Liuli still hoped that the fewer people who saw her in a swimsuit, the better.
“I can do it, but when will you have time, Serveyia?”
Liuli had subconsciously grown used to having Serveyia accompany her whenever she did anything.
Serveyia letting Fina go shopping with her while she was busy before had been a rare occurrence.
This time, it looked like they were going far away, so she felt that Serveyia should come along.
“Oh, Liuli doesn’t need to get Serveyia’s permission for everything. I can protect our Princess, too.”
Even though Fina said that, Liuli knew very well that in her relationship with Serveyia, she wasn’t in the dominant position.
Therefore, she really did need to get Serveyia’s permission.
“Do you want to go, Little Fox?”
“I think so?”
Honestly, she didn’t know if she wanted to go or not.
But then again, there were only so many things to do every day while staying at Saint Laia.
If she could actually do something new, she was willing.
“If you want to go, Little Fox, then of course you can. I don’t have to go with you, but you must take your Guard.”
Serveyia had actually relented, which was rare.
Was it because Fina was someone she considered trustworthy?
“Okay…”
Liuli glanced at Fina.
Seeing that the other girl didn’t seem to have any objections, Liuli agreed.
“Hehe, I bet you don’t have a swimsuit, Liuli. So, buying a swimsuit needs to be put on the agenda! What kind of swimsuit do you like? I heard there are many fashionable styles within the Elf Race. Let’s find a chance to go pick one out!”
“I… I don’t know.”
Fina’s enthusiasm was a bit hard for Liuli to handle.
Moreover, it seemed she was already well-prepared, having even put buying a swimsuit on the schedule.
“It’s fine. You have such a good figure and great skin, Liuli. Any swimsuit will look good on you.”
***
After returning to the Motorhome with Fina and Serveyia, Liuli found that Aili was still reading her Book.
To be honest, no matter how well-written the book was, no matter how much it was a labor of love, and no matter how narcissistic one was, one should have grown tired of it after reading it for so long.
Furthermore, Aili kept emphasizing its practicality, which surely meant the book’s practicality was decent.
To be able to read it for 1 entire day with such intense interest… should she say Aili was suppressed to the extreme, or that her heart was as still as water?
“Aili, have you really been reading this book all night?”
Serveyia and Fina had gone to change their clothes, leaving only her and Aili in the Room.
Liuli naturally had to take this opportunity to ask the question on her mind to see what was going on.
“Ah, it’s the Princess. You’re back. Yes, after all, I have nothing else to do.”
“But won’t you get tired of it after reading your own book for so long?”
“It’s actually alright. If you look at it with a critical eye every time and modify a thing or two now and then, you won’t really get tired of it. Besides, I skip the practical parts every time I read it, so there’s no problem even if I read it for a long time.”
Well, Liuli felt as if Aili had anticipated what she would ask.
But thinking about it that way raised an even more important question:
“But I think most people who choose to read your book, Aili, are probably doing so for the practical parts. Most people won’t pay much attention to the ordinary content after reading it once. Most people will head straight for the highlights. Some might even skip everything else and go straight to the spicy parts.”
This was actually the supreme truth Liuli had mastered through years of immersing herself in the internet: when people are blinded by desire, they don’t actually consider that much.
Reason and logic can all be discarded.
Therefore, in Liuli’s mind, actions like Serveyia’s constant revising of the “clear soup” portions were quite unnecessary.
People often wouldn’t take special notice of those parts after seeing them once.
“I’m bored anyway. It’s only normal to want to make one’s Works a bit more perfect, right?”
“That’s true. So, Aili, do you release a new edition every time you finish revising?”
“It depends on how much content is modified. If the modifications are minimal, I won’t go out of my way to release a new edition. After all, I don’t have a publisher supporting me; it’s basically self-published. So usually, I won’t bother with those things.”
“Is that so? How exactly do you keep at it, Aili?”
Liuli actually admired people like Aili who could persist in doing one thing well.
Writing Liu Bei Wen really depended on one’s state of mind.
Sometimes inspiration gushed like a spring, and the writing was divinely inspired, allowing one to write 10,000 or 20,000 words in 1 day.
Other times, one was drained dry and couldn’t even squeeze out 1,000 or 2,000 words.
Being able to write a full book like Aili was rare enough; those who could go back and modify it after finishing were even fewer.