Chapter 212: Best Sister

On the way back to the royal palace, Perletti’s footsteps unconsciously slowed.

Her head remained slightly tilted upward, her gaze lingering upon the vast blue sky above.

Pure blue.

High, distant, endless, dotted with thin strands of white cloud. Sunlight poured down unobstructed. After enduring the long darkness and suffocating enclosure beneath the World Tree’s canopy, as well as the baptism of raging flames, seeing such a sky again unexpectedly stirred within her a feeling almost akin to “reunion.”

A faint trace of nostalgia rose in her heart.

But the feeling did not last long before it was replaced by something lighter.

There was still some distance left before reaching Olivia’s office when a particularly noisy commotion drifted faintly into her ears.

As she approached, she saw the elven guards and civil officials gathered outside the office doors exchanging helpless glances, their faces filled with hesitation. They wanted to go inside and stop the argument, yet none of them seemed to dare.

“Great Elder?”

The moment the Great Elder saw her, it was as if he had found a savior. He visibly relaxed and gestured toward the door while lowering his voice.

“Just listen for yourself.”

Perletti stepped closer.

She did not even need to press her ear against the door — the fierce argument inside rang out clearly enough already:

“You blondie! Where did you hide my sister?! Give her back right now or I’ll pluck every single strand of your hair out!”

“Feiye! Calm down! Perletti really just went out! I genuinely don’t know where she is right now!”

“You think I’d believe your nonsense?! Sister’s presence disappeared! I can’t feel her anymore! Did you do something to her?!”

“Bang—!”

Something sounded like it had been knocked over.

Perletti’s heart skipped a beat. Sensing trouble, she immediately pushed the door open.

The sight before her was utter chaos.

The once-neat office was now a complete mess. Documents, files, and ink were scattered all over the floor, while the tables and chairs sat crookedly askew.

At the center of the disaster—

Feiye was currently straddling Olivia’s shoulders in an extremely ungraceful posture, both hands mercilessly yanking at Olivia’s iconic pale golden hair. Her little face was flushed red with anger, looking fully prepared not to stop until Perletti was handed over.

Olivia, meanwhile, appeared thoroughly miserable.

She was trying to grab Feiye’s wrists to stop her, yet also afraid of genuinely hurting her.

Clearly, Olivia’s worries were rather unnecessary.

As for Seviala…

The little dragon had curled herself into a trembling ball in the farthest corner of the room, looking as though she wished she could disappear on the spot.

She was obviously terrified by the scene.

“Feiye. Get down.”

Perletti’s voice was not loud, yet it carried unquestionable authority.

“Wah—! Titi! You’re finally back!”

The moment Olivia saw her savior, she nearly burst into tears from joy.

“Please hurry and control her! At this rate the roof’s going to get torn off too!”

“Eh?”

Hearing the voice, Feiye turned her head while still sitting atop Olivia’s shoulders.

The instant she saw Perletti standing safely at the doorway, the fierce expression on her face vanished completely, replaced instead by pure delight and lingering grievance born from fear.

She immediately released Olivia’s hair and lightly jumped down, throwing herself into Perletti’s embrace like a fledgling returning to its nest.

At the same time, she did not forget to turn back and make a huge face at Olivia, who was currently rubbing her aching scalp with her hairstyle in total disarray.

“I-I thought sister had secretly been ‘dealt with’ by this evil-hearted blondie!”

Feiye buried her face into Perletti’s collar while muffledly lodging her complaint.

“There, there.”

Perletti gently patted her back, amusement hidden in her voice.

“No matter what, Olivia still counts as your sister.”

She deliberately emphasized the word “sister.”

Sure enough, the instant the words fell, Feiye’s entire body visibly stiffened.

Those fragmented memories forcibly buried in the corners of her mind — memories belonging to the World Tree illusion — surged uncontrollably back to the surface.

Within that beautiful yet false “home,” she had intimately and naturally called Olivia “sister,” enjoying that fabricated warmth of sisterhood without the slightest reservation.

To the proud Witch of Night, this black history was more unbearable than outright killing her!

The embarrassment was so overwhelming she practically wanted to claw an entire palace out of the ground with her toes.

“Ugh…!”

Feiye let out a short cry that sounded almost mournful, burying her face even deeper as the tips of her ears visibly reddened.

“Sister, d-don’t say it anymore… please…”

Seeing Feiye looking as though she wanted to crawl into a crack in the earth, the smile in Perletti’s eyes deepened, though she did not continue teasing her.

“Alright, Titi, don’t bully Feiye too much either.”

Unexpectedly, it was Olivia who proactively stepped in to rescue Feiye from the situation.

She adjusted her disheveled hair and clothing, speaking calmly.

“At that time, none of our memories were complete. Our perceptions were twisted by the illusion, which is why all those… unusual things happened. You can’t blame Feiye entirely.”

This abnormal gentleness and magnanimity immediately aroused Feiye’s suspicion.

She suspiciously lifted her head from Perletti’s chest and stared at Olivia.

“Wait… what’s with you today, blondie? Why are you talking so politely? Don’t tell me those government affairs finally broke your brain?”

Faced with Feiye’s questioning, Olivia merely responded with a somewhat weary yet unusually peaceful smile, rather than firing back sarcastically as she normally would.

Indeed.

If this had happened before, she definitely would have followed Perletti’s lead and thoroughly mocked Feiye’s embarrassment, adding fuel to the fire with even more teasing.

But for some reason, those playful, mocking words now felt like stones sinking into a deep lake, unable to stir even the slightest ripple within her heart.

Perhaps…

This was what people called “growth.”

In merely a few short days, the schemes and death of her beloved ancestor, the burden of her people’s future, the life-and-death crisis of close companions…

Too many heavy things had been pressed upon her shoulders, nearly leaving her unable to breathe.

If not for Teacher Caroline’s full support in handling governmental affairs, and if not for Perletti standing beside her and supporting her at the most critical moments, she likely would not even possess this fleeting bit of “leisure” amidst everyday trivialities.

And what they had given her went far beyond concrete help.

It was the reassurance that she was not alone.

A light shining into the darkest moments.

“She’s probably just exhausted from the past few days.”

Perletti noticed the weariness hidden beneath Olivia’s smile and tactfully changed the subject.

She looked down at Feiye in her arms, her tone turning serious.

“Right, Feiye. What exactly did you dream about? Why did you sleep for so long before waking up? Even the elven healers said you yourself refused to wake up.”

“Eh? About that…”

Feiye blinked her amethyst-like eyes, trying hard to recall.

Yet her brows gradually furrowed, and in the end she shook her head in confusion.

“It feels like… I had a very, very long dream. But the details… Feiye can’t remember anymore. I only remember feeling very warm and safe…”

“So it probably wasn’t anything important, right?”

“You’re sure it wasn’t something important?”

Perletti asked again uneasily, her fingers unconsciously tightening.

The image of Feiye collapsing unconscious in her arms, her breathing faint and fragile, remained painfully vivid in her mind.

Any danger that might still be lurking beneath the surface — no matter how small — was something she simply could not ignore.

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