Qingxi Kingdom, a lake not far from the capital.
The lake’s surface was like a piece of glass carefully polished by time, reflecting the azure of the heavens. The forest on the opposite shore was bathed in mist, every leaf adorned with dew that had yet to evaporate under the sun. Occasionally, a bird would sweep past the treetops, its wingtips shaking loose a string of silver-like water droplets.
In the shallows, the water lilies were slowly closing their milky-white petals. On one lily pad, a bright green tree frog crouched, its vocal sac inflating into a transparent bubble as it croaked. The lake was so clear that several salmon could be seen darting through the water like liquid bronze, stirring up fine sand with every flick of their tails.
A herd of deer had just finished drinking at the water's edge and were retreating into the forest, leaving hoofprints filled with shallow water that reflected the sky, looking like countless hazy eyes suddenly opened by the earth.
The fingers of the wind plucked the strings formed by the flower clusters, and the lake responded with gentle ripples. These sounds were kneaded into a moist coolness by the breeze, lightly soothing the slightly heated forehead of the traveler.
Whenever Faust saw this scene, he couldn't help but marvel at the scenery that looked like it belonged in a fairy tale kingdom. Thinking about it now, it really was.
The name of the Qingxi Kingdom came from a river called "Qingxi" that flowed through the entire territory, feeding one lake after another.
And "Qingxi" was a river with mystical properties, possessing an extremely powerful self-purification ability.
In the past, when it served as a province of the Empire, the Empire valued the purification effects of the Qingxi and built weapon forging factories there, crazily discharging pollutants into the river.
Once beautiful and fertile land was tainted by waste water. Seeing their mother river being so desecrated, the people living on this land felt an unbearable agony. Moreover, the Empire's administration in the area was quite brutal, treating the Qingxi people as nothing more than cheap labor.
Thus, the seeds of resistance were planted. It wasn't until the Empire fell into turmoil and split apart that the current king and his followers resolutely rose in revolt and set things right.
Decades after overthrowing the Empire's rule and establishing independence, the Qingxi had long since regained its former beauty.
Faust had even taken advantage of the local conditions to vigorously develop the tourism industry in the Qingxi Kingdom. Today, it had become the backbone of the kingdom's finances, and travelers coming and going were all enchanted by the beauty of the Qingxi.
If the prince regent hadn't insisted on pursuing hegemony, the Qingxi could have been a secluded paradise just by focusing on the service industry.
And today, Faust had come to go boating on the lake.
As for the reason, after establishing his status as "co-regent" with Yusewood, Faust had handed over as much work as possible.
Fortunately, the people he had trained early on were highly professional technical bureaucrats. Although the sudden hands-off approach of their leader made them a bit uneasy, as long as no one went looking for trouble, these people could still govern the Qingxi Kingdom in an orderly fashion.
It was then that Mephistopheles gave a suggestion:
【If you have nothing to do, why not follow the river downstream? There will be a surprise.】
Good, good, the blessing has finally arrived.
The prince of Qingxi immediately understood this as a hint from the fairy. Thus, he called Viviana, boarded a royal skiff, and drifted along with the current.
On the pure white boat, Viviana brewed black tea and poured a cup for Faust.
"Your Highness, why did you suddenly want to come out and play?"
Even though many of the scenic spots in the Qingxi Kingdom had been personally planned by Faust, the prince himself had never been interested in these views.
"Didn't I say it? From now on, I intend to enjoy life to the fullest."
Faust picked up the teacup, took a light sip, and smiled. "I haven't gone on many outings in the past. Trying to enjoy the scenery isn't a bad idea."
But his constantly twitching leg betrayed that the prince wasn't actually that comfortable. With world domination as his life's goal, wasting time was unforgivable in Faust's eyes.
Having suddenly stepped back from a fulfilling life of governance, Faust felt uncomfortable all over, even experiencing a sense of guilt.
Truly beyond help.
"That's right, Your Highness. We can retrace the paths of the past. Is that what you were thinking? The fragrance of the marigolds on the shore... it's truly nostalgic."
Hearing Faust's words, Viviana was quite happy. Although few changes in expression could be seen on her doll-like face, the joy radiating from her inside-out was truly hard to ignore.
Only then did Faust remember that when he was surveying sites for the scenic areas a few years ago, he had once traveled by boat with Viviana.
The boat drifted all the way, and the two occasionally exchanged words, but more often than not, they were in silence.
To be precise, it was Viviana who remained quiet.
Faust looked at his childhood friend. The pale-blonde girl's posture was dignified and elegant. A pair of magnificent purple eyes watched him quietly, her already soft features appearing even more gentle against the backdrop of her pale-gold hair and the lake light.
But Faust's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but ask, "Vivian, what are you looking at?"
"I'm looking at myself."
"Hmm?"
The girl answered, "The me in your eyes... what does she look like? Is she stars or mist? You should look at the you in my eyes as well. It should be spring."
Being addressed with such poetic words by a girl who looked like she stepped out of a painting made Faust nervous. He coughed lightly and asked tentatively:
"By the way, Viviana, do you recently... cough, have any needs? Don't hold it back; you must tell me."
Although she looked normal now, Faust, who had already witnessed her crazed side, knew that Viviana wasn't as ascetic or indifferent as she appeared on the surface.
On the contrary, Viviana was extremely repressed, so much so that she had developed an extreme and pure personality like cinderella.
Faust was truly traumatized. Rather than waiting for Viviana to bottle up something huge for him, it was better to proactively help her relieve it.
Prevention is better than a cure, after all.
Viviana was stunned for a moment, then she pressed her lips together tightly.
"Your Highness, are you saying you want to mate in the wild?"
As she spoke, the pale-blonde girl reached out to unbutton her collar.
Faust hurried to grab Viviana's hands.
"I didn't say that!"
Viviana blinked. "Sorry, I thought you were hinting at it. Based on your habits, don't you usually find it impossible to sleep at night without a woman? You seem to have been enduring it these past few days."
Oh, for goodness' sake—the villain sues first! I was worried that you wouldn't be able to hold back!
Just as Faust was re-buttoning the pale-blonde girl's clothes, a calm and unhurried voice drifted over:
"Humans, are you planning to mate?"
"!!!"
Faust and Viviana followed the sound and saw a beautiful silhouette standing on a branch by the shore.
She wore a slightly loose coat over a white shirt that was stretched taut without a single wrinkle. Beneath her hot pants were rounded, slender, snow-white legs.
A glimpse of her profile was enough to see a breathtakingly refined beauty, exuding a chilling yet clear temperament.
One eye was covered by her highlighted bangs, while the other was a translucent, bright gold eye that looked as if molten gold was flowing within it.
Most importantly, her ears were quite pointed, completely different from those of ordinary humans.
Without a doubt, this was an elf.
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