Hello everyone, I will be on a break for a few days because of my university entrance exam. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
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At the royal harbor of Enderland, two children appeared on the streets—one a silver-haired boy, the other a golden-haired girl.
"I have a question, teacher," Aurora asked, looking up.
"If you don't want Prince Eric and Ariel to elope into the sea, then why did you create a potion that turns humans into merfolk?"
Throughout their journey, Aurora had come to realize something.
Though her blessings had granted her an exceptional talent, she was still too young, too inexperienced. Much of the knowledge she had learned from books remained just that—dead knowledge, impractical and difficult to apply. The blessing had enhanced her memory, but it had not directly increased her intelligence.
There was still so much she needed to learn... Aurora thought to herself.
"That potion isn't truly meant to let them elope into the sea," Rhine replied.
"Huh? Then what's it for?" Aurora asked, puzzled.
"Fate is a funny thing," Rhine chuckled. "There's an old saying in a distant land—'The will of heaven must not be revealed.'"
And he was telling the truth. Prophecy was bound by countless limitations—it required a medium, only provided vague fragments of the future, and above all, revealing certain details to others could distort their accuracy.
"Fate truly is strange," Rhine mused as he gazed at the drifting clouds in the sky.
He still remembered when he first advised the King of the Rose Kingdom to invite the Black Witch, thinking it would prevent the infamous event where she stormed in uninvited in a fit of rage.
Yet fate found another way. Maleficent still became furious over something else and cast her curse regardless.
Likewise, when Grandma Rosa searched for the Tinderbox, she had deliberately kept the information from others, unknowingly preventing any warnings—ensuring that the soldier ultimately obtained it.
It was as if some events were destined to happen no matter what.
These two incidents had been a harsh lesson for Rhine.
He had once believed he could easily change fate.
But now, with his newfound prophetic powers granted by the crystal ball, he had sensed something even greater—
For an outsider like himself, fate possessed an overwhelming self-correcting force.
Certain critical moments—scenes so fundamental that changing them would unravel the entire story—seemed impossible to truly alter.
Even if he attempted to forcefully interfere, the world itself would twist events to ensure they still took place.
"But that doesn't mean fate is unchangeable," Rhine thought.
From his past failures, he had learned a better method.
Rather than preventing these critical events outright—rather than fighting fate head-on, which would only lead to unintended consequences—
The key was to ensure that while these events appeared to happen as they should, their true outcomes were entirely different from the original fate.
For example, changing the nature of Aurora's blessing had been one such approach.
"Fate can be deceived!"
Rhine couldn't help but smile at the thought.
"I suspect we'll soon hear the news that Prince Eric and the Princess of Enderland are getting married," Rhine said.
"What?!" Aurora was stunned. "But that's impossible! Prince Eric would never agree to the marriage. And Enderland has no reason to force him, right?"
"Oh? No reason?"
Rhine flipped his hand, revealing a small amount of shimmering powder in his palm.
"Earlier, I transformed into a bird and secretly inspected the cosmetics used by the Princess of Enderland. That's when I found something strange."
"I used divination to analyze them—these powders are ground from enchanted herbs and imbued with powerful spells.
"The magic only affects men.
"If Prince Eric is exposed to this fragrance for long enough, he will become a puppet under the caster's control."
Aurora's expression turned grave.
"So their so-called 'alliance through marriage' is nothing but a cover for an even darker scheme. We have to warn the King of the Western Asia Kingdom!"
Rhine shook his head.
"Other people—including ordinary diviners and magicians—would never detect the hidden magic within the scent. Even I wouldn't have discovered it without my crystal ball's assistance."
"One piece of evidence isn't enough. Enderland can simply deny it. They'll claim it's just a magician's baseless accusation. The alliance will continue as planned."
Aurora frowned in concern, lost in thought. "Then… what should we do?"
"Think about it—Prince Eric will surely reject the marriage.
"But that Old Witch of Enderland will never allow that to happen."
Rhine smiled.
"They'll soon start making mistakes.
"They'll be the ones to hand us all the evidence we need."
"If our plan succeeds, we won't just prevent this unholy alliance between the Western Asia Kingdom and Enderland…
"We will also shatter the prejudices that humans hold against merfolk!"
The Old Witch found the heartbroken princess crying in her chambers.
"My dear princess, do not despair. I have long heard that Prince Eric of the Western Asia Kingdom is a rebellious youth."
"Perhaps he is deceiving you. Perhaps he merely made up a nonexistent lover to escape his father's arrangement."
The princess's sobbing quieted. She lifted her tear-streaked face, her sapphire-blue eyes filled with hesitation.
"Really?"
"You can test him yourself," the Old Witch said, handing the princess a bottle of wine.
"It is often said that people only speak the truth when they are drunk."
"Offer the prince this fine liquor from my collection.
"Once he is intoxicated, ask him again—does this mysterious 'lover' of his truly exist?"
The Old Witch gently whispered,
"My dear princess, I suspect that you are the one he truly loves."
The Princess of Enderland accepted the wine.
"Alright… I suppose it's worth trying."
She wiped away her tears and left her room to seek out Prince Eric.
Watching the princess's departing figure, the Old Witch grinned wickedly.
She had laced the wine with a powerful potion—one that could permanently erase a single memory from the drinker's mind.
The moment Prince Eric drank it—
He would forget Ariel forever.