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Chapter 134
The Future
Ann remained silent in her thoughts for quite a while, and this silence was making the rest nervous.
Meanwhile, the little pinkie girl continued to stare at the thinking Ann with a somewhat expectant gaze, perhaps having a bit of understanding that the person she was staring was thinking of a name for her.
Under everyone’s gaze, Ann finally opened her mouth.
“Aves…?” murmured Ann.
Laura managed to hear what name Ann was muttering, and she quickly objected, “Hey, isn’t that the scientific name for… I mean, the name literally means bird, right? You must be joking?”
“…” Ann, the one totally not joking with the name suggestion, only smiled awkwardly…
The name sounds fancy enough! And I don’t think Aves has become the scientific name of birds in this world and time?
That was why she was so bold to make this suggestion.
But when Laura objected to the name strongly, the rest of their party members from the kingdom seemed like they were inclined to add to the objection, despite not fully grasping the reason behind Laura’s objection.
If her so-called bestie from the same ‘world’ as her gave this strong of an objection, the name can’t be something good.
That was what they concluded in their minds.
Noticing their intention, Ann sighed and scolded Laura in her mind.
Gee, Laura! Look, you turned their non-objection to a strong objection in the twinkle of an eye!
But most importantly, the girl in front of her–the one who would get her name suggestion–had a very deep frown.
Wait, a very deep frown…?
“Avery, then?” Ann modified the name she suggested.
It sounded like a good name.
The girl in front of her still remained frowning, which communicated that she didn’t fancy the name at all.
“Okay, okay, let me think…,” Ann said, noticing that the girl didn’t seem to agree or fancy the name at all.
Bird or Aves-related names seem to be out of question, huh? She didn’t seem to like it.
Then what about angelic names?
Angel? Nah, too basic.
Enjel? No… just a fancy spelling of Angel…
If this girl doesn’t like Avery, perhaps she won’t like Angel.
Ann thought and concluded on her own, based on her own train of thoughts.
And Angel is usually depicted with a soft color like blonde or white… This girl here is a pinkie girl.
Pink…
Angel, pink…
What is the word related to angel but has something like pink in it?
Hmm… angel, Gabriel, Seraph… Wait, Seraph?
Seraph pink… Seraphine?!
Nobody knew how Ann’s train of thoughts worked, and perhaps they would have their jaws open in disbelief if they were to know how Ann came up with this name suggestion…
“Seraphine?” Still, Ann asked.
The girl in front of her didn’t frown, but she tilted her head, as if feeling not satisfied with the name yet.
Ooh, she seems to like the name, but perhaps only a little tweak is needed!
For some reason, Ann could easily understand what this little girl was thinking.
“Seraphina?” Ann modified the name a bit.
The girl lit up, but she still seemed unsure.
Hmm, let’s modify it a bit more. The pronunciation and spelling, just a little bit? Make it seem softer, maybe? Then…
“Serafina?” Ann softly suggested.
Hearing Ann’s last suggestion, the little pinkie girl lit up and showed them a brilliant smile.
“Fina! Seraf!” The girl said with her hands waving like a little chick, clearly liking the name.
“Those are two good nicknames for it! Serafina, then?” Ann asked, feeling so relieved upon seeing the little girl’s positive response to her suggestion..
“Name’s Serafina!” The girl happily declared.
Phew, it’s finally solved!
Ann finally felt like a big burden had been relieved of her shoulders.
As she scanned the gazes of everyone around her, she seemed to notice their approval and relief as well, which made Ann relax even more.
Good job, me! Well done, me! Hooray!!
Allen, who had been frowning nervously all this time, finally easened his expression.
Thank goodness they didn’t settle for a weird name!
***
“Must you go?” Quira asked as she grasped tightly on Ann’s hands.
“Quira… Yeah…,” Ann almost couldn’t resist Quira’s cute puppy-like eyes that pleaded for her to stay, but she had to harden her heart on this.
She needed to return first, to settle things for good.
They needed to report the ritual’s success, discuss the arrangement of Ann from now on, and Serafina’s future.
“Serafina, you are leaving as well?” Quira turned to Serafina, who was currently clinging to Faye.
Serafina nodded.
“Really, you won’t stay?” Quira’s eyes turned misty.
Not only her master, the new friend she’s got and the child born out of the ritual with the Mythical Bird of Soul Ascendance would all be leaving.
Things were merry with their presence, but all of them would go at the same time… things would suddenly get quiet and lonely in an instant, with their departure.
The Imparie tribe had tried to convince Serafina to remain with them.
Usually, the person born through the ritual with the Mythical Bird would become a member of the Imparie tribe… since they were one even before the ritual had taken place.
But the Imparie tribe respected Serafina’s will the most, perhaps due to their respect to the Mythical Bird of Soul Ascendance.
As of now, little Serafina was especially attached to Faye–perhaps due to similarities between them, and perhaps Serafina thought of herself as Faye’s family–like her little sister.
And Faye also felt a sense of solidarity with this child that looked like a bird halfling, just like her.
Also, both Serafina and Ann felt a sense of closeness with each other, perhaps due to how part of Serafina’s soul was Anne–who used to dwell inside Ann’s body.
Ann scratched her head when she noticed how Serafina seemed inseparable from Faye and was close with her as well.
Does this mean it’s settled that she will become my personal loli maid #2?
Not that I am opposed to this arrangement, though…
In any case, she decided to put it to the back of her mind, for she had other stuff to worry about–namely her identity and how she would move forward from now on.
Right.
She couldn’t remain having the identity of the previous king’s only surviving daughter, for the danger it would bring. Even if she chose to forfeit her rights to the throne, there would be people who wanted to exploit her identity, regardless of what she wanted.
Ann’s brain almost melted when Allen tried to explain all this to her.
There were just too many issues to think of.
How to forge another identity out of thin air?
And how to make sure she would be able to remain married to Allen, even with her new identity?
Right.
Since Allen and Ann’s marriage was based on the false identity of Claritianta family’s daughter–an identity that Ann could never retain–their marriage would essentially be a fraud and be annulled.
Now then, it would be easy to forge a commoner’s identity, but she had to be a noble so people won’t oppose her marriage with Allen, right?
When Ann wanted to cry because her brainpower couldn’t solve this, Allen simply told her, “Don’t worry about it now. We will discuss with the royal family to solve this matter.”
So it’s not up to me to think of a solution? Why waste my brain power and emotions by talking about this right now, when we won’t be going anywhere with our discussion?
I thought you explained all this so I could think about it and discuss the solution I think of, later on during the real discussion with the royal family as well, but you’re telling me I do not need to fuss about it on my own and just wait for the discussion?
Why bother telling me in the first place, then? Arrrghhh!!!
Ann felt like she wanted to smack Allen’s head for causing her useless stress before its time.
Thus, only after this issue of her identity is settled that she could think of Serafina’s arrangements.
“Masterrrr! What happened to your promise of teaching me?” Quira sulked one more time.
“Quira. There are lots of things in your teacher’s mind right now. It won’t be good for her to be distracted while teaching you, right? Would you rather be taught by someone who’s focused on you or someone who has other stuff going on in their mind as they try to teach you?” Rakiasha asked her daughter gently.
“Hmmmm… Makes sense,” Quira couldn’t continue pestering anymore, knowing this.
She continued to look at Ann, Faye, and Serafina with a hint of reluctance.
Though sulking, Quira didn’t ask to follow, which amused Ann.
“If you wanna come, why not come with us?” Serafina asked while tilting her head.
“No, the human world is impure! It is not an appealing place!” Quira quickly refused.
Whoa, what a strong rejection!
Ann was surprised to see that Quira didn’t even think of it first.
“Impure? Not appealing?” Serafina tilted her head, not understanding Quira’s words.
Quira then explained that she had gone to the outside world along with her mother before and, just like the rest of the Imparie tribe, she didn’t like it there.
Oh, that explained. Ann thought to herself.
Just like the indigenous tribes of the modern world, the Imparie tribe liked to live in seclusion and surrounded by nature, not really accepting the technological and industrial advances that the rest of the world welcomed and depended on.
Perhaps in a way, that was a really good way of living–one with nature.
But since she was a person of the modern world especially, Ann could never imagine having the same preferences as the Imparie tribe.
Is there even a member of the Imparie tribe that prefers the outside world and decides to live outside instead?
Perhaps there might be a few such cases, but of course it would be a taboo among them, so I should probably not ask about it, right?
Ann decided to keep silent about this question in her mind.
“See for yourself, satisfy your curiosity first. If you ever feel like staying here, the Imparie tribe will always welcome you,” the stern Nymnienna smiled gently as she caressed Serafina’s head.
Ann almost fell in horror looking at the expression that she didn’t think Nymnienna could make!
“Okay,” Serafina nodded obediently, though the rest of them were unsure whether Serafina understood things clearly or not.
Ann looked at the currently unfolding farewell scene.
They came here only expecting to get help, but got into an intense conflict instead.
However, the intense conflict ended with the Imparie tribe helping Ann’s ritual until it became a success, and surprisingly, they managed to get into relations with the Imparie tribe.
This won’t be my last time coming here. I am obliged to come here periodically to teach Quira, to honor my agreement with them.
Eh, it doesn’t seem to be a bad thing.
I can treat my future visits here as a getaway! It was the fad in the modern world back then, retreating to secluded areas, ‘becoming one with nature’, things like that.
Thinking about it, Ann became cheery as she waved back and said, “See you guys in the future!”
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