Novel Full Chapter 991: Caught
Chapter 991: Caught
The little blue girl hesitantly floated down to where Serika knelt on the ground with a pool of tears gathering beneath her.
Delicately, she extended a tiny hand, her fingers trembling, and patted Serika’s vivid crimson hair.
“W-Why are you sad?” she asked in the softest of voices. Her wings fluttered in nervous motions, and her large sapphire eyes shimmered with innocent concern. “Did I do something wrong?”
Serika sniffled, then laughed gently, wiping her cheeks. “No… I’m not sad,” she whispered, placing a finger over the girl’s hand. “I’m happy. So, so happy.”
The blue girl blinked up at her in confusion.
“The human Lysandra… she lived a life far too heavy for her heart,” Serika explained. “She made many cruel choices that wounded others, and in turn, herself. She died a very burdened person. That pain would’ve stayed with her forever, if she had lived on.”
She looked at the fairy with nothing but joy and familial love in her gaze. “But you… you’re her soul, reborn into something new. A second chance. A clean start. She wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”
The little fairy tilted her head. “So… does that mean I’m her? Am I… Lysandra?” Her voice was almost fearful. “Is that my name?”
Serika didn’t answer right away. Instead, her teary gaze drifted to her father.
Rykar, who hadn’t shed a tear, still looked visibly moved. His gaze was deep, but his expression calm, gentle. He gave the smallest of nods, as if to say: Whatever you choose, I will support it.
Then Serika looked at Quinlan.
He met her eyes and shook his head. “I don’t feel justified naming her.”
Then Rosie—who once again managed to wiggle her way toward his head where she sat perched atop Quinlan’s head like a leafy little queen—leaned over and waved.
“I think Lysandra is a beautiful name!” she chirped, swinging her legs against his forehead. “But it doesn’t fit anymore! She isn’t the old Lysandra! She’s squishier and smaller and brighter and bluer!”
Serika let out a soft giggle of agreement.
It was Rykar who finally spoke again. “Do you have a suggestion, little miss?”
The green girl blinked. “Me?”
“Yes, you. I wouldn’t know what name would suit someone like her… After all, we only ever had humans in Zhenwu. But she’s something new to me, just like you are. Something fairy-like. What would fit a being like her in your opinion?”
Rosie’s eyes lit up like a lantern.
She leapt to her feet, still on Quinlan’s shoulders, and struck a dramatic thinking pose, stroking her chin at lightning speed, so fast it began to generate a visible haze of friction. “Hmmmm…”
Then, *snap!* she pointed a triumphant finger at the little fairy girl.
“Forget-Me-Not!”
Everyone stared at her.
Rosie beamed proudly. “That’s the flower Rosie based her transformation on! It’s cute, it’s blue, and it fits! So let’s call her… Mimi!”
A pause.
Everyone stared at her a moment longer… and then understanding began to dawn.
“’Forget-Me-Not’… → ’Me-Not’… → ’Mi-not’… → Mimi…” Serika whispered, blinking at the progression.
“Might be a little eccentric but it works if you ask me…” Quinlan murmured, cracking a soft smile.
Rykar chuckled under his breath in agreement.
Rosie puffed up proudly like she’d just solved a world-ending riddle.
The little fairy blinked, then shyly pressed her fingers together.
“Mimi…” she whispered. “That’s… really cute…”
“You are really cute, so it’s only fitting. A cute name for a cute girl,” Serika said, smiling through tears.
Mimi’s face turned the faintest shade of violet as she beamed, wings fluttering in glee. She twirled once in the air and hugged Rosie from behind, nuzzling her leaf-like hair.
“Th-thank you for naming me, Big Sis Rosie!”
“You’re welcome, Little Sis Mimi~!”
And just like that, a new name was born. A new being was welcomed. And a broken soul, once heavy with burdens, fluttered freely once again.
…
“So is Mimi the same species as you?” Quinlan asked, watching from a distance the trio of Serika, Rykar, and Mimi converse.
Rosie, who was naturally still seated right on her throne, shrugged. “Rosie doesn’t know! She just did what felt natural.”
“I suddenly feel like a grandfather.”
“… Huh? Rosie doesn’t follow!”
“Well, you’re the one who is responsible for Mimi’s creation. So in a sense you could be thought of as her mother… I don’t even know why you two act like sisters. What’s different between how I created you and thus became your father compared to what you just did today?”
Rosie puffed out her cheeks the moment Quinlan finished speaking. She didn’t like what she was hearing one bit.
“Rosie and Mimi are nothing alike!!” she declared, slamming her tiny fists against the top of his head.
The impact was so soft Quinlan barely registered it as more than a gentle patting.
“Nothing alike! Not even a little!!” she squeaked between each weak little thump. “Rosie is special! Mimi is special! But in totally different ways!”
Quinlan raised an amused brow as the girl hammered him with what amounted to weaponized tickles. “Alright, then. Care to elaborate?”
“NO!” she cried, increasing her tempo of ineffective violence.
Even still, Quinlan could feel it, she was holding back. Just like always. If she really wanted to hurt him, he had no doubt her tree could help her do just that. Even her small body wasn’t exerting all its strength, afraid to hurt him.
This was nothing but pouting. Pure, leafy indignation.
“You’re stupid! Papa is stupid!” she yelled. “A low-intelligence mongrel! A dummy!! He can’t understand something so basic!”
“I see,” Quinlan nodded sagely. “So that’s a no on the explanation? By the way, just so you know, I’ll learn who taught you such words and I’ll have a conversation with them even if it’s the last thing I do.”
“HRNGH!!” Rosie stopped thumping just long enough to clench her fists and shake them dramatically, as if to scream at the sky.
Quinlan chuckled, thoroughly enjoying her reaction, then lifted a hand and gently patted her head. “Alright, alright. Mimi is your sister. Got it.”
Rosie immediately deflated. “Phew…”
But then…
“You know,” Quinlan said, smiling like the smug father he was. “Mimi was just born, yet she has quite the advanced speech pattern. Meanwhile, you’ve been around for months now and you still speak in cutesy third person. Why is that, exactly?”
Rosie froze mid-sigh.
“Rosie doesn’t understand whatever Daddy could mean!” she declared instantly, eyes wide with innocence.
“Oh really?” Quinlan reached up and flicked her forehead with a single finger.
“OWWWWWW!” she gasped dramatically, though there was absolutely no way that light flick could’ve hurt her. She rubbed her forehead while peering down at him with a betrayed expression. “Papa is a big meany!!”
“You’re also a very clever girl,” Quinlan replied smoothly. “I know you’ve been acting this way on purpose since day one.”
“Rosie doesn’t-!”
“Don’t even try it, Little Lady. Today you gave a whole lecture about soul ecosystems like a scholar. You connected fragmented ideas, guessed at divine law structures, and even created new life through metaphysical loopholes.”
“But Rosie-!”
“Yes, yes, I know. You pretended you didn’t understand something in the middle of that conversation, but frankly? That was too little, too late, Daughter.”
“Papa is very, very stupid!”
“Am I? Then what about what you said immediately after being born?”
Rosie froze.