Chapter 170: Thesis

Life inside the Tower turned out to be far duller than Perletti had imagined.

In fact, it was almost boring.

There was no urgent mission that had to be completed immediately, nor any particularly clear sense of purpose. Olivia had been extremely busy these past few days and no longer came to the Tower to see Perletti.

Perletti also had no way of knowing exactly what she was planning within the royal palace.

Even the fact that Olivia was busy had only been learned through Caroline.

After meeting all the other witches in the Tower, Perletti found herself completely trapped in a state of having absolutely nothing to do.

She genuinely had no idea what she was supposed to do now.

Maybe I could buy some books?

But she quickly abandoned the thought.

Perhaps she still hadn’t truly adapted to being a “long-lived species.”

Her internal sense of time was still stuck in the hurried rhythm of a human lifespan that lasted only a few decades. The Dust Witch, Furong, had casually mentioned before:

“Once all the humans you know have turned to dust, your fixation on ‘short lifespans’ will disappear along with them. After another hundred years or so, you’ll gradually get used to our pace.”

Using a hundred years just to “adapt” to an identity…

In the past, that length of time would have been unimaginably vast to Perletti. Yet to the witches, it was merely an offhand remark.

A hundred years?

Perletti felt it might not even take that long.

Maybe in thirty years, Ailberna, Josuna, Irene… all those familiar faces she once knew would gradually vanish from the world due to the passage of time or the cruelty of war.

Speaking of which… just how many centuries had that old monster Kaeldimoz lived for? There had to be something strange about him.

The thought flashed briefly through her mind.

Knock knock knock—

The rhythmic knocking shattered the room’s silence.

Perletti’s hand, which had been holding a feather pen suspended above the paper for a very long time without moving, finally paused.

“Ah, got it.”

She snapped back to herself and gently placed the pen onto its holder.

Carefully organizing the stack of papers filled with elegant handwriting on the desk, she finally rose and walked toward the door.

At this hour, who could it be? Youhuo? Or Judy?

“Titi!”

The door had barely opened a crack when a figure carrying a familiar fragrance eagerly rushed in and threw her arms around Perletti in a firm embrace.

Perletti was knocked back half a step and hurriedly steadied herself against the doorframe.

“Olivia?”

She looked surprised.

“How come it’s you?”

“Seeing me surprised you that much?”

Olivia released her, her emerald-green eyes carrying a smile.

Yet somehow, that smile didn’t seem as bright and lighthearted as usual.

“Yeah. A little.”

Perletti nodded honestly. A few days ago, Caroline had mentioned that Olivia was buried under official duties and overwhelmingly busy. Logically speaking, she shouldn’t have had time to visit.

“There really have been a lot of things lately.”

A trace of exhaustion slipped through Olivia’s voice, though she quickly covered it with a cheerful tone.

“But no matter how much work there is, eventually it gets finished, right? See? I still came.”

“So… it’s already been a really long time?”

Perletti blinked, once again feeling strangely numb toward the passage of time.

“Of course.”

Olivia walked into the room and casually looked around.

“Before I came here, they told me you’d locked yourself in this room and hadn’t stepped outside once for an entire month.”

“A month?”

Perletti froze slightly and turned toward the desk.

Writing, revising repeatedly, making observations and records, occasionally staring blankly out the window…

Without realizing it, an entire month had already passed?

Time slipped away so silently whenever one was focused—or lost.

“Hah…”

She suddenly laughed and shook her head.

“Furong even said it’d take a hundred years to adapt… but looking at me now, I seem to be adapting pretty well already. I didn’t even notice that this much time had passed.”

“Yeah.” Olivia walked to the window, gazing out at the seemingly eternal greenery beyond the Tower. Her voice softened slightly. “I think time only feels precious to people nearing the end of their lives. During a long ‘youth,’ it’s so cheap… you almost don’t even notice it exists.”

“Why are you suddenly talking about something so heavy?” Perletti looked at her side profile and frowned slightly. “That doesn’t sound like the usual you.”

Having someone visit to break the boredom was naturally welcome to Perletti.

She began tidying the messy manuscript pages on the desk, preparing to put them away.

“You’re right.” Olivia turned around, a smile returning to her face. Walking closer, she asked, “So then, what grand undertaking has Titi been busy with this entire month?”

“Writing a thesis.”

“Ah—?”

Olivia’s expression instantly collapsed into a complicated mixture of awe and horror, as though she’d just heard the name of a childhood trauma.

“A thesis?! Good heavens, why do humans have to write those things too?!”

Back when she was an elven princess, the graduation theses assigned by those rigid old elders—requiring careful and formal discussions on various academic subjects—had been among the most painful memories of her life.

“I was bored, so I suddenly felt like writing something.”

Perletti shrugged.

“Can I see it?” Olivia leaned over curiously.

“Sure.”

Perletti handed over the neatly organized stack of papers.

Olivia accepted them and read the title aloud:

“‘On the Relationship Between Specific Stress Responses in Juvenile Dragons and Primitive Protective Mechanisms — Taking the Violet Radiance Dragon Individual “Sevyara” as a Case Study.’”

“You actually treated her like a research subject?”

Her gaze involuntarily drifted toward the corner of the room—

Sevyara was sprawled comfortably atop that enormous dark-purple gemstone, limbs stretched out lazily, wearing an expression of complete bliss. The tip of her tail lightly tapped against the gem’s surface every now and then.

Olivia had expected something about long-lived species’ perception of time, or perhaps applications of light magic…

Yet this turned out to be an observation log?

“Wait here. I’ll demonstrate part of the thesis for you.”

Perletti grinned slyly and tiptoed toward Sevyara, who was immersed in what looked like a “gem bath.” Then she suddenly reached out and lightly smacked the back of her head.

“Awoo?! Insolence! What little creature dares—”

Sevyara jolted awake.

Almost instinctively, she whipped her head around, baring sharp dragon fangs as a threatening growl rumbled from her throat. Her eyes turned fierce, looking ready to pounce and bite at any moment.

But Perletti had clearly anticipated this.

Calmly, she reached out and precisely pinched a soft patch of skin on the back of Sevyara’s neck.

Miraculously, the instant she was grabbed there, all the ferocity vanished from Sevyara’s expression.

In its place came complete stiffness.

Her limbs curled slightly inward, her tail drooped limply, and her entire body froze as though someone had pressed a pause button.

Perletti simply held her suspended in one hand.

Only her eyes could still move around, silently expressing grievance and protest.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Odd Eyes of the Shining Knight

#MistakenIdentityBLBL Romance

Read Now →
Not interested