The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Evelyn felt that there was something not quite right about the way Eula looked at her, but she couldn't tell what was wrong either, so she could only shrug the strange feeling off.

Eula's table was surprisingly empty. Perhaps no one dared to associate with her, or they were more interested in playing with other children. In any case, it suited Evelyn just fine since it gave them more privacy.

As they continued their conversation, Eula was surprised to discover that Evelyn had already been to Aquavahn before, though not for long.

"You visited the port of Nemer?"

Evelyn smiled as she remembered the day Bree had taken her to buy little Ruru. If not for that, would she have ever met her precious fox? It was perhaps the happiest day of her life.

"Yep, my aunt took us there for my birthday."

Eula's eyes were open wide. 

"Wow… she must be really strong. Like, ridiculously strong! I can't imagine anyone being able to do that below level sixty… no, maybe even seventy! That's almost at the national guardian level! Do you know how strong she is?"

Evelyn was starting to discover why Cecilia mentioned hating to talk to Aquans.

'If I say that she's not strong or I don't know, she'll probably detect that as a lie, right? How do I get out of this? Bree is definitely strong, but not right now, and I don't want to tell her the specifics… ugh.'

"… Let's just say I've never met anyone stronger, maybe except the centipede?"

Eula didn't seem to detect anything wrong with her words as she nodded. "That's amazing… I'm curious though, since she took you there for your birthday, she must have gotten you an amazing gift, right? Don't tell me it's that cute little fox?"

'I definitely have to look into how this Aquan lie detection thing works. It's a pity that there was nothing like that in her status.'

"…How did you know Ruru is a spirit beast?"

Anyway, she never had any intention of hiding Ruru's status. Since they had openly purchased her, anyone who wanted to know would be able to find out. But she knew that Eula had definitely never looked into it. She didn't even know her name before last night.

The green-haired girl rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Ahaha… Although I can't tell for sure, I had a feeling it was a spirit beast. Although it could have been a rare type of regular beast that I've never seen before, too. But after hearing about your trip to the port of Nemer and how your aunty could take you there on a round trip in a single day… yeah, it kinda just clicked together."

"…"

Eula stuck out her tongue. "Don't worry! I won't tell anyone. Ehehe."

Evelyn took some joy in the fact that while she was keeping Eula busy, the other three girls had already munched through almost the entire bag of Eula's precious cookies.

The green-haired girl didn't seem to care that she was being snubbed. "What about the little puppy, by the way? Is that also a spirit beast?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. 'Even if I tell her this is the one she was in so much admiration of earlier, she'll probably think her lie detection is short-circuiting.'

"Do you think I have a spirit beast farm? Ruru is the only spirit beast my aunt got for me."

Eula grinned sheepishly. "Ahhh… I guess not. Our princess has a few, too. A crab, a snake, and a fish. But they're kinda… let's just say that they're not cute at all, compared to yours. Oh, by that, I mean—"

And as she blabbered on and on, Evelyn soon discovered that this diligent-looking prefect was actually just a huge bag of bad habits. 

Not only did she like to dig into others' secrets, she also loved spilling her own. To prevent her from poking and prodding around her own matters, all she had to do was… not tell her to shut up.

"So that's what really happened?"

Eula nodded, like a sage bestowing knowledge upon her disciples. "That's right. The Terran King wasn't satisfied with the fact that the Aquan Empress wanted to stay out of the war. Although he couldn't do anything about it on the surface, he sent his son, that bastard Craig, to win over the  Aquan princess with the intention of drawing us into the war."

Evelyn tilted her head in confusion. Although she had heard of royalty sacrificing their children in a marriage to form alliances or prevent wars, she never thought it actually had that much impact. 

If their familial ties were that strong, would they sacrifice their children? And if their familial ties were weak, how much sway would those weak ties to discarded children actually hold over their decisions?

"If they didn't want to take part in a war, would marrying the princess really change anything?"

Eula scowled, almost reaching over to pull the little girl's soft-looking cheeks, but stopped herself in time. 'Oh no, that's a bad idea. The poor girl already has a crush on me. I can't be too affectionate!'

She cleared her throat. "Of course it will! You don't know this, but princess Arial is the most beloved daughter of our Empress, and she dotes on her so heavily that you won't believe it even if I told you."

"Eh?"

Eula couldn't help but snort. "You're doubting me, aren't you? Let me tell you this, the Empress actually has a collection of over three hundred thousand dolls, portraits and statues in her palace, all in the image of her dearest daughter, our beloved princess Arial. As long as she hears of a talented artist or craftsman coming to Aquavahn, they must make her dearest daughter's image for her, so she can 'appreciate her beauty all over again'!"

"…"

'Let's hope I never have to meet this woman.'

Eula continued, unaware of the little girl's scorn for her Empress. "Even the decision of not going to war was because of the princess in the first place!"

At this moment, the big bag of cookies had finally run out, and just as the three girls were about to guiltily hand it over, the green-haired prefect nonchalantly took another big bag out of her spatial necklace and slammed it on the table.

"Don't worry, these kinds of things may be expensive for outsiders, but our princess has mountains of them I can take for free! My necklace is stuffed full of nothing but cookies, so eat as much as you want."

For once, Evelyn had no idea whether she should be impressed or disgusted. 'Why would the Aquan princess have a mountain of cookies? And why would this girl keep nothing but cookies in her spatial artifact?? More importantly…'

"Didn't you say earlier that the Aquan Empress didn't want to go to war, and that's why the Terran King sought his son's marriage with your princess? What the heck is going on?"

This time, Eula really did reach out and squeeze Evelyn's cheek, although only briefly.

"Little babies like you shouldn't say bad words! Anyway, you're putting the cart before the centipede!"

Eula chuckled at her own joke. Evelyn felt she was a little pitiful, so she tried her best to make a convincing smile.

"Hmph, let me tell you this, unlike the other four powers in the continent that operate mostly on their ego and whims, our Aquavahn makes most of their decisions based on the benefits it will bring. When it comes to war, it's complicated enough that we actually had two factions in the empire." 

Evelyn blinked. "Aren't all final decisions made by your Empress?"

Eula scoffed. "Of course, for the major decisions that require her attention at least, but she still takes advice so that she remains informed and her decisions are well thought out. For decisions that are controversial, it's normal for these advisors to split into factions and get into arguments."

The pink-haired girl nodded as her eyes shone with enlightenment, making Eula puff out her chest with pride as she continued to prattle.

If she knew that Evelyn was just acting to dig out as much as she could from this information gold mine, she would definitely squeeze the little girl's cheeks till they swelled to twice their original size.

"One side wants to reap immediate benefits from the war, and the other believes that destabilizing factors such as war are like slow poison. Even if it's sweet at the moment, it will surely cause more harm than good."

Evelyn clapped her hands. "Wow, so wise!"