Looking at the loose sandcastle that barely resembled a house, Liyami couldn’t help but wonder if she had done something wrong, or if Laura had intended it to turn out this way.
With this question in mind, Liyami looked over at Laura beside her, only to find that Laura was also looking back at her with a puzzled expression. Before Liyami could ask what was wrong, Laura beat her to it and questioned, “Why doesn’t it look like what I imagined when it’s done?”
Hearing this, Liyami didn’t know what to say. After all, this was her first time building a sandcastle, and she had no idea if she was doing it right.
Of course, even though she wasn’t sure if she had done it right, Liyami began to doubt Laura’s ability. She might have made some mistakes, but she had mostly followed Laura’s instructions. Not only that, but Laura had also participated in building it. Yet the result was still this unsightly mess. It definitely couldn’t be just Liyami’s fault!
Thinking this, Liyami didn’t beat around the bush and straightforwardly questioned Laura. “…I know it might not be the best thing to say, but I followed your instructions all the way. Now the finished product turned out like this. This can’t be just my problem, right?”
Faced with Liyami’s question, Laura also looked puzzled. She spread her hands helplessly and said, “I have no idea how this happened either! Maybe we really did do something wrong?”
Seeing this, Liyami couldn’t hold back and instinctively pressed further. “But didn’t you say you played with mud when you were little?!”
“So what?!” Laura looked aggrieved at Liyami’s accusation. “Playing with mud and building a sandcastle are different! This is my first time too! Besides, even though I did play with mud for a long time as a kid, I never said I was good at it! I was just playing around normally!”
What Laura said made a lot of sense, and Liyami couldn’t refute it. Looking back at the ugly finished product that came from her own hands, she could only console herself by thinking, ‘After all, it’s the first time.’
But just then, Lavinia suddenly appeared from the side. As soon as she showed up, she made Liyami, who had almost let it go, feel embarrassed again.
“Oh, Liyami, are you two done too? Let me see… Huh, what is this thing? What are you building? A giant monster? Like the ones the bards sing about?”
Hearing Lavinia’s words, Liyami wasn’t too hurt at first, but when she saw Lavinia’s astonished expression genuinely thinking they were making some kind of giant monster sand sculpture, Liyami finally broke down.
“Yeah! That’s right! I’m just not good at it! I wanted to build a house, and it turned out like this! I’m so sorry! I don’t have your experience!”
Liyami vented all that nonsense, leaving Lavinia bewildered. Laura, on the other hand, wisely slipped away, perhaps realizing that nothing good would come from staying around.
“…Ah? I see, okay then… So this is actually a house?”
Fortunately, Lavinia didn’t pay much attention to Liyami’s outburst. Instead, she focused on examining the sandcastle Liyami and Laura had built. Her serious and thorough scrutiny made Liyami, who had been wanting to vent just moments ago, feel shy.
“Alright, alright! Stop staring! I know I did a terrible job, okay!”
Liyami said urgently, desperately hoping Lavinia would stop looking at her sandcastle. It was making her embarrassed.
To her surprise, Lavinia seriously evaluated the sandcastle, which left Liyami stunned.
“Hmm, hmm… Although the finished product is terrible, with many loose and sloppy parts that are hard to understand, since this is your first time building a sandcastle, it’s not bad for a beginner! Keep it up!”
Unexpectedly, Lavinia didn’t take the chance to mock her but instead encouraged her. This left Liyami unsure how to respond.
Fortunately, Lavinia didn’t dwell on it for long. She quickly pulled Liyami over to her own sandcastle and forced her to be the first to admire it.
Liyami had been wondering why Lavinia didn’t mock her, but after seeing Lavinia’s own sandcastle, she understood why Lavinia had made that comment.
The sandcastle before her looked very plain. Although it was recognizable as a house, its completely flat sides made it hard not to criticize: how could a house look like that? Faced with this perfectly square sandcastle, Liyami suddenly didn’t think her own was so bad.
Of course, if they were to compare, Lavinia’s was definitely better, because Liyami’s was too abstract. If Liyami hadn’t said it outright, it would be hard to imagine it was a house. At least Lavinia’s sandcastle was immediately recognizable as a house.
“How is it? How is it? Mine’s pretty good, right?”
Lavinia eagerly awaited Liyami’s evaluation. Liyami didn’t know what to say and could only force out a compliment. “Uh, how should I put it? Your sandcastle… it’s pretty good! I think it’s, uh, very flat and neat! Very… very good!”
Liyami couldn’t think of any more praise. Fortunately, Lavinia didn’t mind much and just raised her head proudly, shamelessly accepting the compliments.
Watching Lavinia secretly pleased with herself, Liyami decided to go see how the others were doing. After her moment of joy, Lavinia also followed Liyami to check out the others’ work.
First was Eleanor. Although they wanted to see Kolin’s work, he said he still needed a bit more time to finish, so they had to check out Eleanor’s first.
But when they approached Eleanor and before they could even greet her, they were amazed by her work.
What surprised them was that Eleanor’s skill was actually pretty good. Just from the choice of subject, Liyami and Lavinia had chosen to build a structure, while Eleanor chose to sculpt a figure. Although the finished product wasn’t perfect—with some disproportionate aspects and awkward details—it was definitely far better than theirs.
Most importantly, this came from Eleanor! Liyami was okay with it, but Lavinia had originally thought Eleanor wouldn’t be able to build a sandcastle at all! So until she saw it with her own eyes, she thought she was definitely the best!
But reality gave her a harsh slap. Eleanor’s sandcastle was far better than her square building!