Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 122: Silver Hair?

"So, will you leave me one day in the future..."

She was willing to listen to Livia, but the word "leave" in her words brought her deep unease.

When I'm not around...

Did Livia mean the usual times they didn't see each other, or would she suddenly disappear one day, just as she had suddenly appeared before?

Hearing Amalia's almost lifeless voice, Livia hesitated for a few seconds before softly saying.

"As long as you don't dislike me, I won't abandon you."

Before she could finish, Amalia quickly interjected, "I won't dislike my sister."

Livia was her best friend and dearest sister. No matter what she did, she would never dislike her.

Hearing this, a faint ripple stirred in Livia's heart, but thinking of the problems she would inevitably face in the future, she ultimately didn't say more.

"Sleep, Amalia," Livia whispered softly five minutes later.

"It's late. Staying up often makes it hard to grow tall."

Amalia nodded in response, giving a soft "Mm."

The room fell silent again, only the sound of steady breathing and the ticking of the clock.

Timing it right, Livia took another bottle of the transformation potion and spent the second night sharing a bed with Amalia in meditation.

The next morning, as the sky began to lighten, she left a note for Amalia as usual, telling her she had left and reminding her to eat the sweets on the table.

About five or six minutes after Livia left, Amalia got up and sat at the desk, carefully reading the note before eating all the tarts Livia had left.

Auri meowed twice. Seeing this, Amalia picked up the orange cat in the corner who hadn't gotten any tarts, petted it, and sat on the bed for a while.

When the maid who brought the meals was about to arrive, she took the tray to the room and put the meat Auri liked into the iron bowl.

After breakfast, Amalia, who hadn't slept all night, lay back on the bed, curling up under the covers. Suddenly, her fingers were caught by something.

Looking down, she saw it was a strand of hair. Just as she was about to brush it away, she noticed the color and was momentarily stunned.

The color of this hair... it feels strange...

Lifting her hand, she compared the color of the hair to her skin. To her surprise, the hair she was holding was close to her skin color, not the golden hue of the sun.

Both she and Livia had golden hair, with only a slight difference. It couldn't possibly be like this.

Thinking this, Amalia quickly sat up, went to the desk, and examined the hair under the sunlight.

It's really silver...

Not believing it, Amalia plucked one of her own hairs and compared it to the silver one.

Unsurprisingly, the two hairs didn't match at all.

Why is this...

Fingering the strand of hair that definitely wasn't hers, Amalia's mind involuntarily flashed to a strikingly familiar figure, a certain silver-haired, arrogant, and malicious foreign princess.

Astrid Calliste, among the few people Amalia knew, was the only one with silver hair.

As the silver hair twirled between her fingers, Amalia's heart pounded in her chest.

It had been a year since she last saw Astrid, and she couldn't be sure if this hair matched hers.

Moreover, the only people who had slept in her bed were herself and Livia. Astrid couldn't possibly have left her hair here.

Looking at the silver hair glowing softly in the morning light, Amalia frowned.

This isn't silver hair... it's just a white hair...

Maybe Livia has been too busy lately, so she has a few white hairs...

Convincing herself with this reasoning, Amalia gradually relaxed her brow and gently lowered her hand.

Livia is Livia, Astrid is Astrid. The two are very different in appearance, temperament, and personality.

What was she thinking?

At 1:20 PM, in the princess's boudoir, a stunning silver-haired girl in a black dress sat at her desk, with two respectful maids standing behind her.

"Miss Astrid, here is the latest information we've collected. Please take a look."

Taking the parchment handed over by Elise, Astrid crossed her legs, propped her chin with one hand, and held the edge of the paper with the other, calmly reading its contents.

Natural red crystals mined from the Mercury Mine have officially entered the market. In the near future, related jewelry may experience a surge in availability.

Master Refot's painting "A Tree at the Bottom of a Well" was auctioned off at the Honeysuckle Guild a week ago by a private buyer, with a final bid of forty platinum coins and thirty gold coins.

A tavern in the eastern district caught fire on the afternoon of May 26th, destroying a large amount of alcohol.

The specific cause of the accident is still under investigation, with the most likely reason being improper handling of low-quality magic crystals, causing fire elements to expand and ignite a haystack, ultimately burning the entire roof.

With her delicate fingers flipping through the pages, Astrid searched for content that would pique the interest of the nobility among the jumble of information.

She picked up a quill dipped in ink and marked specific lines with wavy annotations.

Masterpieces, rare jewels, mermaid tears from the Pan-Human Alliance said to beautify the voice, and the frequent appearance of elves in the western part of the empire...

Astrid singled out these pieces of information, systematically integrated them, and then handed the revised parchment to Elise.

"Elise, pay more attention to the events I've marked in the future."

With Hibbort as her backer, Astrid encountered no obstacles in collecting necessary intelligence or gathering personnel. Everything was progressing much more smoothly than she had imagined.

"By the way, have you arranged for the people I asked you to find?" Astrid asked softly.

Elise nodded, her tone respectful. "Yes, Miss, everything is ready."

The Velmont family would handle sales on her behalf. In addition to professional intelligence gatherers, Astrid needed a calligrapher with impeccable handwriting and several advanced apprentices to help her print publications.

"Although these advanced apprentices haven't studied at the Elizabeth Academy of Magic, they have received careful guidance from Countess Charlotte. Their loyalty is beyond doubt."

Without a doubt, it was her beloved sister Charlotte who, knowing she was short on staff, had used her connections to find these apprentices for her.

Astrid's lips curved into a smile as she thought of her mature and charming aunt Charlotte, feeling a sudden warmth in her heart.

Compared to the people Hibbort had assigned to her, Charlotte's personnel lacked official backgrounds, which might make them less convenient to use at times, but they had another advantage.

The absence of complicated connections meant these people could be cultivated as her private force, aligning perfectly with Astrid's original intention of starting a newspaper.

Thinking that the related work was almost done, Astrid asked, "How is Mary doing?"

Yesterday, she had given Mary a crystal engraved with her image, and she wondered if the latter had started working on it yet.

"Miss Mary began her painting the same night she got her glasses. Roughly estimated, she should finish by sunset today."

After listening to Elise's report, Astrid nodded gently. "Thank you for your hard work, Elise."

Compared to the busy head maid, her own tasks seemed insignificant.

"It is my honor to assist you, Miss."

Elise bowed slightly and then left the room to fetch the commercial materials previously agreed upon with Elowen.

With the head maid gone, only Astrid and Lyra remained in the bedroom.

After the awkward experiment yesterday afternoon, Lyra found it difficult to look directly at Astrid when they were alone, so she kept her eyes fixed on the floor tiles, holding a tray, her white-stockinged legs standing straight.

"Lyra..."

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"Yes, Princess Astrid, what are your orders?"

"Have you encountered any difficulties in your recent magic studies?"

Astrid turned around, looking at the obediently standing pink-haired maid, her voice cool.

Undeniably, with the combined pressures of interacting with Amalia and establishing the newspaper, Astrid's time with Lyra had significantly decreased, and consequently, the latter's magic lessons had fallen slightly behind.

Lyra was momentarily stunned, then brushed her hair and answered softly, "Well... I have encountered a few..."

Under Astrid's guidance, Lyra had learned about the potential characteristics of various elemental particles.

With this foundational knowledge, most beginner spells had become less challenging.

Lyra's recent struggle was with the combined use of multiple elements, which was crucial for an apprentice's advancement and could even influence their later promotion to a spellcaster.

"Be more specific," Astrid said slowly.

She really hadn't had much time to guide Lyra lately.

Lyra paused before speaking, "It's about spells involving elemental mixing... like the Sandstorm spell. I'm not very familiar with controlling the ratio of wind and earth elements..."

Hearing Lyra's question, Astrid thought for a moment and began to explain the principles of the Sandstorm spell.

"In this spell, the ratio of wind to earth elements isn't absolute. The key lies in the effect you want to achieve."

"Generally, a ratio of two parts wind to one part earth is optimal. If you want more destructive power, gather more wind elements. If you're focusing on defense and control, gather more earth elements."