Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 224: World Travelling Together?

But...what should she do after that...

Astrid’s words seemed to touch a blind spot in Lyra’s mind.

She looked at the former’s silver hair flying like ribbons, and the blood-red gem hanging on her chest shining brightly under the moonlight, unconsciously pursing her lips.

Earning enough money would allow her to do whatever she wanted freely, but it was precisely this "whatever she wanted" that Lyra had never thought about.

She hadn’t considered it that far ahead, nor had she made a clear plan for the next stage of her life.

Perhaps in the future, she would always stay by her family’s side.

But then wouldn’t she be able to see Princess Astrid anymore...

The fear of loss deep in her heart kept pounding at Lyra. She took a sip of juice and said softly.

"I want to settle my family first...my parents borrowed a lot of money to pay for my tuition at the Elizabeth Academy of Magic..."

Although this tuition fee was nothing to a royal princess like Astrid, it was an amount that an ordinary family would need to save for many years and go into debt to afford.

Almost all the money Lyra earned from her year of working as a maid had been sent home, and it should have paid off most of the debt.

Astrid nodded upon hearing this, her red eyes glistening with moisture.

"Miss Lyra is truly a filial child."

"But what I’m asking isn’t just this..."

She lightly tapped the glass with her fingertips, the pale pink nails making crisp sounds against the glass.

"After doing all this, what does Miss Lyra plan to do?" Astrid asked.

Throughout the entire book "The Innocent Knight of the Stained Light" and all the Chapters she could read, this destined female lead had always been pushed forward by various factors, and had never revealed to outsiders the life she wanted after everything was settled.

But thinking about it carefully, Lyra at that time was so busy that she didn’t even have time to stop and smell the flowers by the roadside, let alone have the leisure to consider her future after everything was over.

"I..."

Lyra’s lips moved a few times, her eyes lowered, her palms tightly gripping the glass.

After a while, she spoke in a low voice.

"...I also want to travel around."

Astrid’s words had indeed inspired Lyra.

Besides the immediate concern of food and clothing, she should also consider those beautiful and wonderful things that had only appeared in fairy tales, poetry and distant places.

After listening to Lyra’s words, Astrid smiled and straightened up, her slender heels tapping the ground, her smooth legs wrapped in night-colored stockings slightly rotating, letting her back lean against the railing.

The hem of her lace skirt drew an arc in the air, and quietly fell into Lyra’s sky-blue beautiful eyes. Astrid curved her lips and spoke softly.

"I heard there’s a constantly burning volcano in the northeast corner of the empire, where flames flow like water."

"And the Broken Archipelago closest to the deep sea in the Pan-Human Alliance, it’s said there are countless emerald sea vortices at the edge of the islands, where mermaids live. Whenever the weather is clear, they lean on the reefs and sing beautiful melodies."

"Some adventurers have also said that in the far north of the continent, they once saw a dragon soaring high, its broad wings covering the sky, the gale it stirred up enough to destroy forests, and its steel-like claws could even tear through the tundra."

Astrid’s voice was soft, her silver-white hair scattered outside the railing, like fluttering butterflies.

"...South of the Kingdom of Velys, west of the Valeria Empire, there live centaurs and harpies, as well as a kingdom formed by goblins who love to tinker."

"After everything is over, I’ll have Elise help organize a map, carefully plan and annotate it. If Miss Lyra needs it, you can also make a copy then."

Hearing the last sentence, the slight brightness in Lyra’s pupils suddenly dimmed.

Right...although it’s said to be traveling, they might not be on the same path...

Princess Astrid would have to wait at least until Princess Amalia ascended the throne before implementing the next phase of her plan, and she herself didn’t know when she would complete her set goals. freēwēbnovel.com

Whether in terms of time or place, she and Princess Astrid might not match up.

Her pearly teeth lightly bit her pink lips. Lyra felt the wind making her exposed arms a bit cold, and she silently retracted them. After a moment, she spoke softly.

"Princess Astrid..."

"What is it?"

"That...if, I mean if..."

Lyra took a deep breath, her voice as soft as a mosquito’s hum.

"If there’s enough time..."

"...can we travel together?"

It would be nice to see the world alone, but Lyra felt that such a long journey would be a bit lonely if it was just herself.

If there was someone else accompanying her, perhaps she would feel much more at ease.

And out of selfishness, she hoped that companion wouldn’t be anyone else, but the noble silver-haired princess before her, Astrid Calliste.

The girl’s gentle voice melted into the night.

Astrid held the glass with one leg stretched out, the other knee bent against the railing seat, her delicate foot slightly slipping out of the high heel to relax, revealing the smooth and delicate black silk heel.

After half a minute, Astrid chuckled.

"Miss Lyra wants to travel with me?"

Then, the woman changed her tone.

"It seems Miss Lyra likes me more than I imagined..."

"...doesn’t she?"

Astrid’s tone slightly rose at the end, lazy yet seemingly with a hint of temptation.

Hearing this, Lyra’s face immediately turned hot, her eyes avoiding Astrid’s gaze, but her fingers constantly rubbing the glass betrayed the turmoil in her heart.

Princess Astrid was so gentle and kind, she really did like her.

But having it said so directly by the person herself still felt a bit overwhelming.

It was too embarrassing.

Her toes slightly curled against the ground. Lyra felt her neck must have turned completely red, but there was no mirror here to confirm immediately.

Seeing Lyra turn her body away, not even showing her profile, Astrid stopped talking, only her high heels lightly tapping the floor, making rhythmic sounds.

"Tap tap..."

The rhythmic tapping sounds seemed to hit the pink-haired maid’s heart. After half a minute, Lyra spoke softly.

"So..."

"What does Princess Astrid think?"

About traveling together, the two of them.

Upon hearing this, Astrid brushed her hair and said calmly.

"Sure."

Such a simple response seemed to set off fireworks in Lyra’s heart. The girl turned to look at the graceful figure under the moonlight, a certain emotion in her heart seemed to burst through the threshold in that instant.

"Then...it’s a promise..."

Lyra tried to calm her emotions, but her voice still couldn’t help but carry a slight tremble.

"Mm."

Astrid reached out to touch her earlobe, raised her neck, and finished the last bit of juice.

"Shall we pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise?"

Seeing Lyra tilt her head in confusion, Astrid put down the glass and shook her head.

"...Never mind, forget I said it."

She almost forgot, this world didn’t have such a custom. Astrid stuck out her pink tongue and lightly licked her moist lips.

"But I’ll bring Elise along, because the places we’re going aren’t that safe, I need a bodyguard."

That said, thinking about how much time there was, in a few years, her mage level should be enough to protect herself.

By then, Elise’s main job might have already shifted from being a part-time bodyguard to a full-time serving maid.

"I can also protect Princess Astrid!"

Almost without any thought, Lyra blurted out.

After speaking, she thought about her level that had just barely reached advanced knight last week, and immediately seemed to deflate.

"To protect Princess Astrid...I’ll work hard to learn..."

"At least, I won’t fall too far behind Miss Elise..."

Lyra’s original goal for herself was peak Grand Knight and Peak Sorcerer, but now it seemed far from enough.

At least she needed to be a Master Knight or Magnus, otherwise she couldn’t protect Princess Astrid at all.

Hearing Lyra say seriously that she wanted to protect her, Astrid blinked a few times, a warm feeling also rising in her heart. After a few seconds, she replied softly.

"Okay, I understand."

"Speaking of which, there’s one thing Miss Lyra might not have known all along."

Astrid slightly narrowed her red eyes, her fingertips gently touching the red gem on her chest.

"I’ve always thought your future achievements would exceed everyone’s imagination."

"At the very least, you will be an Arcanist level mage and Crusader, and it’s not impossible to reach that threshold."

Lyra was the destined female lead chosen by the author.

According to the general progression of normal novels starting with a bicycle and ending with a starship, her final strength probably wouldn’t even be enough at the current levels on paper, she’d need to break through at least two more levels.

If not for fear of scaring Lyra, Astrid could have even exaggerated more, saying she might become the second Spell Creator after Gemini, or the first ’Transcendent’ in the empire’s history, surpassing the mortal world, immortal and indestructible.

Hearing this, Lyra was slightly stunned, then her whole body was filled with a feeling called emotion.

So in Princess Astrid’s eyes, she had so much potential.

But Arcanist mage and such were still too far away, Princess Astrid must have just said that to encourage her.

"Arcanist mage, it’s not that easy..." Lyra whispered, not taking it seriously.

If her talent could reach Arcanist mage, then the empire should already be full of Arcanist level mages, and Crusader would be as common as cabbages.

Knowing these words were a bit too advanced for Lyra, Astrid didn’t say more, just continued to accompany the pink-haired maid in the breeze, chatting occasionally.

Perhaps because Lyra’s maid term was about to end, or perhaps because Astrid had said at the dinner table to temporarily set aside their master-servant relationship tonight and acted particularly approachable, Lyra’s words became slightly more, and the topics of conversation were quite different from usual.

"Princess Astrid knows so many things...you’re really amazing..."

"Thank you for the compliment, but these are basically required courses for imperial nobles, if you can’t learn them before adulthood, you’ll be laughed at."

"..."

"Princess Astrid, has Miss Elise always been so cold?"

"Most of the time, yes, but occasionally she can be a bit nagging, especially at those more important banquets, she’s punctual like there’s a clock inside her, knocking on my door every five minutes to remind me to get dressed and prepare to leave the palace."

Before Astrid transmigrated into the book, the original Astrid was a very troublesome person, but even so, the head maid would still tolerate her arrogant temper time and time again, and strive to do things well.

Now Elise wouldn’t be troubled anymore, but the workload was much higher than before, besides taking care of the princess’s daily life, she also had to develop the intelligence organization, cultivate a team, purchase magic materials, and prepare for the biweekly magazine release.

"Miss Elise is indeed quite hardworking..."

Lyra nodded in agreement, then thought of another thing.

"Princess Astrid, we’ve been out for so long, won’t Princess Amalia be unhappy?"