The next morning.
The Ender envoys behaved unexpectedly calmly—at least, they appeared to.
They did not loudly publicize the Old Witch being attacked and killed.
They simply met with the King as usual, did everything a diplomatic mission should do, and claimed that the wise Court Witch was unwell and resting in her room.
"Those envoys from the bandit kingdom must be frantic. They know in their hearts that the Old Witch was killed after failing to kill someone else, but they can only accept their bad luck! Otherwise, they lack strength and are in the wrong."
Aurora couldn't help but laugh after learning about the situation with the Ender delegation.
Undoubtedly, her counterattack against the Old Witch last night brought her immense joy, just like a 10-year-old girl finding her favorite doll.
For some unknown reason, Aurora vaguely felt that the Old Witch had some similarities to Black Witch Maleficent, whom she had never actually met but who had cursed her.
Was it because they both wielded insidious and cruel magic?
Meanwhile, Rhine had already contacted the Sea King of the Sea Country, instructing him and his Soldiers to prepare for an important upcoming mission.
He was currently studying the magic wand on the table, which had broken into two pieces—this was the wand the Old Witch had left behind last night, the one that had transformed into a jade-green venomous snake.
Now, with the death of the venomous snake, the wand was damaged and temporarily devoid of magical power.
However, with a simple divination, Rhine was still able to determine the wand's original function.
"It can transform into a deadly venomous snake, ignoring most spells. Against powerful spellcasters, it's definitely a very useful item. I wonder if there's a possibility of repairing it?"
Rhine thought.
In Western and Eastern fairy tales, myths, epic stories, and classical fantasy novels, powerful magical artifacts often possess strength exceeding that of their creators.
This is not surprising: if a magical item cannot do something its creator cannot do in some aspect, then why create it?
Undoubtedly, in this fantastical continent, for a truly excellent Magician, practical magical tools are essential: the tinderbox's dogs have already proven their wondrous utility several times! He and Aurora currently only have one tinderbox, which is still a bit too few magical items.
After confirming that the Ender delegation would not bother them for the time being, Aurora urged again:
"Teacher, let's check on Ariel or Prince Eric again! The King seems completely unwilling to let Prince Eric and Ariel marry, which is truly terrible."
Rhine placed the crystal ball on the table and then placed a button belonging to Prince Eric in front of it as a medium.
—He had deliberately touched the Prince's button earlier, so he could summon it at any time.
Just as the Little Magician began to chant the spell, he heard a polite knock at the guest room door.
The Little Magician snapped his fingers.
The doorknob turned by itself, and the door opened automatically.
It was none other than Prince Eric and Ariel who walked in.
Both looked very disheartened.
"What's wrong? Prince Eric?" Rhine asked, "Did His Majesty not agree to your marriage with Ariel?"
"Exactly. My father told me that for royalty, a marriage based on love is a luxury. The person I marry must be that Little Princess from Ender."
Prince Eric's face was ashen, like a dead man's.
The only time Ariel had seen this handsome young man's face so pale was on that stormy night when she saved him.
"Why is this happening? I don't object to an alliance between the two countries at all, but why should sacred marriage be tied to dirty politics? Why must I swear an eternal vow to someone I don't know? I cannot accept Ariel's heart breaking and turning into sea foam!"
Prince Eric spoke a lot in one breath, as if he couldn't pour out all the accumulated emotions in his heart without saying everything.
"Did you tell your father about Ariel's background, as I described it? That's why your father initially recruited a diviner, wasn't it?" Rhine asked.
—Last night, he had already received his divination reward. It was a considerable amount of gold and silver coins.
"Now that the Ender delegation has arrived, my father is busy dealing with them and is temporarily not concerned with this matter. I vaguely hinted that Ariel is also a foreign Princess, but my father thought I was joking."
Prince Eric sighed in disappointment.
Ariel also sighed along with him.
She was regretting her impulsiveness and rashness.
"I think it's time for me to give up. I really can't be with the Prince! Why did I fall in love with a young Prince of all people?" she thought.
"So, after much thought, I had no choice but to make a decision," Prince Eric said.
Ariel awaited the Prince to speak his cruel decision.
"Let's elope, Ariel!" the Prince said.
"What?" Ariel was stunned, "Are you kidding? You are the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Xiya."
"I also have a younger brother who is currently traveling abroad. He can replace me as the future King of the Kingdom!" Prince Eric said resolutely, "I am not a politician at all. If I ascend the throne, I would not be an excellent King."
As Prince Eric said this, Aurora, who had been silently listening nearby, felt a stir in her heart.
She was also the future King of a certain kingdom.
"What is a politician?" Aurora asked.
She wasn't ignorant of the definition, she just wanted to see what Prince Eric would say.
"They are people who know how to ruthlessly sacrifice a certain group of people for a greater goal. They sacrifice the minority for the benefit of the majority; they sacrifice the unimportant for the important, and they don't experience emotional fluctuations because of it," Prince Eric said, "I respect them, and I know the world cannot do without them, but I don't want to be one of them."
Aurora lowered her head, lost in thought, and said nothing more.
At this moment, Ariel grasped the Prince's hand, staring intently into his dark eyes:
"No, my Eric, my Prince. I cannot just elope with you like this. To indulge my selfish desires, to abduct a young man who could have been King and enjoyed the service of an entire kingdom, and run off to an unknown temple to swear an eternal vow.
"What would your father think? If you suddenly disappeared one morning, he would surely be very worried about you!"
At this point, Ariel suddenly froze.
She thought of her family, of the palace in the sea and her sisters' gardens, of her five sisters holding hands and singing on the surface of the sea, of the Sea King holding a trident and sitting on his crown, and of her Great-grandmother wearing a silver crown and standing above the deep-sea palace.
She might never be able to return to them!
Even if she successfully married the Prince in the end, it would be the same; they would only be able to stay in the human land kingdom forever.
Once, before coming ashore, Ariel longed for human life. But now, she only appreciated what she had lost. Both the land world and the sea world had their own beautiful places. Why couldn't she have both? Ariel thought greedily.
Prince Eric smiled; he knew what Ariel was thinking just by looking into her blue eyes:
"It doesn't matter, my Ariel. Isn't this what you once did for me?
"You abandoned everything in the sea to come to this land. You had to leave your sisters and your King, leave the beautiful palace beneath the deep blue sea.
"And what I am about to do, how is it any different from what you once did?"
Ariel retorted:
"We are not the same, my Prince!
"I am a mermaid from the sea, born without an immortal soul, and will eventually turn into unknown foam on the sea. And you are a noble human.
"You don't need me to gain soul completeness, but I desperately need you."
Saying this, Ariel inwardly condemned her selfishness: "I might cause Eric to abandon everything for me just to gain an immortal soul. This absolutely won't do!"
She then said to the Prince:
"Besides, where could we elope to? The King would find us within a day of us leaving the palace!"
At the same time, Aurora, seeing Ariel and Prince Eric talking back and forth, felt incredibly emotional but also slightly surprised:
"Since they decided to elope, why did Prince Eric come to see Teacher? Just to tell a newly acquainted Magician about their plan to elope?
"He didn't need to say all this in front of us! Does Prince Eric have some other plan that requires Teacher's help?"