Free Web NovelChapter 559: Chapter 559 Daughter of the Sea_1
The next day, in the reading room of the Rose Iron Prison Library.
"...The mermaid princess finally returned to the sea, and her body slowly turned into many bubbles that glistened with a rainbow of colors in the dawn’s first light.
Day broke, and from then on, people never found the mermaid princess again, only the white foam dancing on the waves beside the boats."
The librarian Asenna stared expressionlessly at the story in "Dreams of Children" magazine, her gaze fixed on the last line.
Sitting in the same reading room, Avansa looked up from the letter she was writing and, sensing that Asenna’s eyes were not moving, said, "You’ve finished, haven’t you? Now it’s my turn."
"Wait, I want to savor it a bit more, then read it again," Asenna coldly denied Avansa’s request.
"Is the new serial story that good?" Avansa blinked her eyes.
"This isn’t a new serial, oh, it’s an old issue that was accidentally omitted last year. I requested to fill it in," Asenna corrected, "I’m really glad it was filled in on time. It’s a remarkable story, a rare tragic fairy tale, where the heroine in the end..."
"Don’t spoil it for me!" Avansa puffed up her face in discontent.
"Oh, sorry. I was just so engrossed in reading I didn’t realize," Asenna sincerely apologized, "Speaking of which, your facial expressions have become much richer than before."
"Asenna is still the same as before," Avansa replied.
"The Watcher claims that the stories he submits are collected from all over the world, and I’m starting to think that may really be the case," Asenna suddenly said.
"Hmm," Avansa lowered her head to continue writing her letter, responding absently.
"His submitted stories, according to writing style, can be divided into several categories, as well as by background setting, giving the impression that they could be tales by multiple authors with different backgrounds," Asenna continued her analysis. freёwebnovel.com
"Hmm," Avansa responded. freewebnøvel.coɱ
"But in the Southern Continent, there seems to have never been any fragments or prototypes of these stories. Many believe that ’The Watcher’ might actually be a native of the Northern Continent or a settler from the Empire..."
"Hmm."
"Are you even listening?" Asenna noticed that the other party hadn’t looked up once.
"I am listening very attentively, and I’m including it in the letter; you’re providing me with a topic just in time," she said.
"By the way, what have you been writing all this time?" Asenna finally couldn’t help herself and craned her neck to see.
"Writing a letter, Aiden told me to practice my communication skills and found me a penpal who also reads ’Dreams of Children’," Avansa said without looking up, her writing measured and exceedingly neat, "I am replying to his letter."
Asenna stared at Avansa’s letter and felt something was off just from the beginning: "’Long time no inquire’? Have you corresponded with him a long time ago?"
"No, it’s the first reply," Avansa replied.
"May I ask, do you know what ’long time no inquire’ actually means?" Asenna asked.
"I don’t know."
"Why did you write this?"
Avansa finally looked up, replying matter-of-factly, "I often see letters being used in books."
"The format is all over the place." Asenna shook her head as she spoke, "I should teach you how to write a letter first."
...
At this moment, Aiden sat in his office, frowning at a letter.
"To the Watcher,
I am a fan of your book, and I suppose you must be quite surprised to be reading this letter.
I went to a lot of effort to find out your true identity. But please rest assured, I did it only out of admiration, and apart from writing to you, I will not do anything inappropriate. You do not need to respond.
Nevertheless, I felt the urge to write you a letter. If my presumptuous actions have caused any discomfort, please accept my apology..."
Aiden read and re-read the letter, deep in thought.
How had someone found out his real identity when he, as "the Watcher," had used a different email to submit his work to "Children’s Dreams"?
"Your submissions could each become a classic tale for generations, but my favorite fairy tale is ’Daughter of the Sea.’ I often sail, and whenever I stand on the deck looking at the foam on the waves, I see the image of the mermaid princess, who sacrificed herself for love, and it’s simply touching..."
Aiden felt an uncontrollable passion in the fan’s letter, and although it appeared the writer held no malice, the sensation of having his privacy inexplicably stripped away left him feeling uneasy.
The letter, filling two whole pages, ended with a signature that Aiden was all too familiar with—Fantasist.
"Fantasist," a headlining author for "Explorer" magazine famous for the series "The Hound of Duboman," based on the dog Duboman, indeed came from his pen.
The identity of the Fantasist was a mystery; it was said that he only corresponded with the magazine to submit his works and receive payments without ever meeting anyone in person. In magazine notes, he claimed to hail from the Northern Continent, having traveled the world and drifted to the Southern Continent on a sailboat before the Empire established trade routes. Naturally, most readers didn’t take his "boasting" seriously.
Based solely on a signature, it could not be definitively confirmed that he was the well-known writer Fantasist, but Aiden saw something at the end of the letter that caught his eye: "I hope you like my work as much."
Despite a lack of further evidence, Aiden believed the letter was indeed from that very "Fantasist."
To think that another mysterious author, comparable to the Watcher, was a fan of the Watcher himself...
It was after Deborah, Duboman’s adopted daughter, initiated contact with him that the author of "The Hound of Duboman" series suddenly reached out with a letter. Aiden did not consider this a mere coincidence.
It was said that the protagonist of Fantasist’s stories resembled the real Duboman in temperament, even to the point of sharing the same small habits, leading many to speculate that Fantasist was actually Duboman, or at least a close friend.
"What on earth is going on?" Aiden tapped his forehead with his finger, utterly perplexed.
He did not sense overt hostility from either the letter or Deborah. If someone was behind all this, drawing him in with these methods, then sending the letter was superfluous—it would only lead him to more information.
Regardless, one thing was certain: this Fantasist was far from simple. Having the means to uncover the Watcher’s true identity showed that this person was quite skilled at gathering intelligence, and likely knew many more secrets.
Somewhere within him, a thought emerged—this matter might not be as straightforward as Melissa orchestrating everything to enable him to attain the final fragment of authority.
