TGS - Chapter 54
Chapter 54: Writing and Names
A reed pen, dipped in creamy white ink, wrote characters on the dark brown paper.
The characters, which did not belong to this era, spelled out Lotus's name.
Alyuin set the pen aside and gently blew on the paper to help the ink set faster. She held it up to the light, examining the few simple yet significant letters with a dissatisfied expression.
"It's too neat. I haven't captured its fluidity," Alyuin criticized herself. "I still need more practice."
According to the "wager" from their previous chess game, Lotus was to teach the Princess the script of a so-called distant land. She had to teach whether she won or lost, so the outcome of the game had been unimportant.
The Princess was very serious about this, approaching her studies with the same attitude she had as a child toward the exams in her dreams. The first thing she wanted to learn was Lotus's name.
Lotus thought for a moment and reminded her, "That country is very far away, almost impossible to reach. There's not much use in learning this script."
Alyuin replied, "But you like it."
Lotus was slightly taken aback.
The Princess said softly, "I always want to understand more about the things you care about."
After speaking, she lowered her head and continued to wrestle with the letters. For a beginner, Alyuin's writing was already neat and beautiful, but she was determined to make it more natural and elegant.
When it came to matters concerning Lotus, the Princess always became a perfectionist.
The carriage curtains rustled as they were stirred by the wind.
Lotus quietly watched the moving pen tip for a while, unable to quite describe the complex feeling of gratification and nostalgia that washed over her.
Her slender fingers toyed with her red-gold bracelet, and Lotus couldn't help but think of the mirror that had brought her to this era—the one made of bronze, encircled by a snake pattern.
Could she still find that bronze mirror?
Based on all the information she had, Lotus had likely traveled back a thousand years... The first temple to the River Goddess was in Kadera, and the center of divine worship at the time was in Yilulaila. It was highly probable that she had arrived somewhere near one of those two cities.
Lotus had tried to find clues related to the bronze mirror along their journey, focusing her search on those two cities, but she had come up empty.
Solancia was a vast kingdom. Trying to find a single mirror within its borders was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Lotus was quite philosophical about it. A god's life was long; there would always be enough time to search.
In any case, she had no desperate desire to return to the modern era. The only things tying her to it were her hometown and her responsibilities. In comparison, it was Alyuin who commanded more of her affection.
This was the child she had watched over and protected as she grew up.
Her thoughts drifted, and she recalled the little princess in her childhood, with her cat-like eyes staring unblinkingly. She had been so small and soft, so well-behaved and clever.
Back then, Alyuin had been delicate and adorable, yet very composed. No one could treat her like an ordinary, ignorant child. Only in front of Lotus would she act spoiled. Like her golden eyes, she was like a piece of clear, sparkling honey—soft yet resilient.
Just as she was lost in thought, a satisfied sigh from Alyuin sounded beside her.
"This one's not bad."
Lotus instinctively turned her gaze and saw her own name written on a fresh sheet of parchment. It was written just once, right in the center, in the Princess's characteristically elegant yet powerful script. One could faintly see traces of her imitating the engraving on the bracelet.
Alyuin showed her work to the goddess, then carefully put it away. "This is the first time I've written your name in this script. I must keep it as a memento."
Lotus glanced at the stack of papers to the side. "..."
That "first time" was quite a stretch.
The Princess said righteously, "That was practice. Of course it doesn't count."
Despite her words, she still took out the very first sheet and put it away with the new piece of parchment.
Lotus asked, "Do you want to know how to write your name?"
Alyuin had been about to ask how to write "Yilu River," but she paused. After a moment of consideration, she quickly changed her mind and said, "Please teach me."
Lotus took the pen, casually pulled out one of Alyuin's practice sheets, and wrote the Princess's name in the modern language.
In the distant future, the ancient Solancian script had long been lost to war and the passage of time. A civilizational fault line separated the eras, and the modern script did not even belong to the same language family.
Alyuin's name was, in fact, a transliteration. In later ages, people would name their children after this historical figure, with the name coming to mean "brave female warrior," and it was even included in dictionaries of names.
The tip of Lotus's pen paused, and she looked up at the Princess.
The petite shadow of the child lingered in her memory, but the young woman sitting opposite her now was a rose on the verge of full bloom—magnificent and captivating, growing ever closer to the image she once had of her.
The figure from the fragmented historical records had grown up, bit by bit, right before her eyes.
—And yet, she seemed completely different.
Looking again at the name she had just written, Lotus fell silent for a moment.
Seeing the Princess's name written in this familiar yet strange script after so long, it was as if she were back in her school days, pulling a book on ancient Solancian civilization from a library shelf, that name printed in ink on its yellowed pages.
It gave her a dizzying sense of time and space overlapping.
As it happened, the name was written right next to one of the many instances of "Lotus" that filled the page.
Alyuin watched carefully as Lotus wrote, only speaking after she had finished. "A mortal's name placed next to a god's. Is that alright?"
A smile was clearly hidden at the corners of her mouth.
Lotus said calmly, "Are you going to accuse me of impropriety?"
Alyuin's smile finally broke through. "How could I? I was just suddenly reminded of a situation where a mortal's name can indeed be written together with a god's."
"What situation?" Lotus asked.
"The God-Concubine. Isn't the God-Concubine's name written together with the Sun God's during sacrificial rites?" Alyuin tapped her lip, smiling. "But the God-Concubine's name isn't placed on equal footing. To be truly placed side-by-side, I'm afraid one would have to be the god's wife."
Lotus said calmly, "There, the goddess herself wrote it. You can be completely at ease."
"I can't be at ease," Alyuin said, "because I'm about to write it myself."
The Princess studied the characters Lotus had written for a moment, then took out the sheet with what she considered her most perfect rendition of the goddess's name and wrote her own name right next to it.
Without a doubt, they were perfectly side-by-side.
"There, it's done." Alyuin admired the paper from different angles. Heaven knows if she had ever appreciated famous poems and paintings with such care.
She tilted her head and asked, "You don't find it offensive, do you?"
To an outsider, her tone might have sounded frivolous, but Lotus only found it amusing and endearing. She couldn't help but shake her head. "As you wish. You know that."
Of course Alyuin knew.
She was taking advantage of being spoiled.
Unfortunately, this kind of affection was not what the Princess wanted.
But that didn't stop her from using any available topic to steer the conversation in her desired direction, in a way that was both an insinuation and a concealment.
Longing to make things clear, yet afraid of them being made clear.
Hoping to be discovered, yet dreading discovery.
Every time she brought it up, it was like stepping her toes over the edge of a cliff, but she always pulled back to safety in the end. In any other matter, the Princess would have considered this cowardice, but this was about Lotus.
The smile in Alyuin's eyes suddenly faded, replaced by a hint of self-mockery. She put away the paper with both their names on it.
Before they knew it, the caravan had completed half its journey. The city they were approaching was not a major one, but its prosperity rivaled, and perhaps even surpassed, that of a typical capital.
This secondary city, named Tannier, was located near the mountains, but the terrain within its walls was quite gentle, making it a peaceful and prosperous place to live.
Its transportation links were not particularly good; its commercial development was entirely thanks to the natural hot springs scattered throughout the mountain forests on its outskirts.
Of course, winning over the powers in Tannier had been one of the goals of this trip, but the city's lord was simply too cautious.
The man had greeted the Princess properly at the city gates, his attitude polite and earnest. Before they had even begun to talk, he had made it clear that "we are just an ordinary little city that doesn't get involved in anything," thoroughly demonstrating his desire to stay out of the royal conflict.
Alyuin thus abandoned any pointless efforts and began to properly enjoy her journey.
What could be better for relaxing mid-journey than the hot springs of Tannier?
Especially when enjoying them with her beloved... beloved goddess.
There were many hot spring pools, and as a princess, she could certainly have one all to herself.
A stone tablet stood by the side of the pool, engraved with a few lines of text.
It said that these scattered hot spring pools were a gift from the Goddess of the Yilu River. She had taken pity on Tannier, which was not located on the river, and had bestowed upon it these warm pools that never froze. Soaking in them could even improve one's health and had excellent therapeutic effects.
Yes, Lotus was quite used to hearing about these "gifts" that she herself had no knowledge of granting.
And now, it was finally the turn of the goddess who had bestowed the "gift" to enjoy the hot springs herself.
Lotus wore only a short tunic, the common attire for locals using the hot springs.
The white fabric was already light and thin, and once soaked by the warm spring water, it became nearly transparent, clinging to her body and outlining its curves.
A tray of food rested at the pool's edge. Lotus pillowed her head on a naturally smooth stone, leaning relaxedly against the wall of the pool.
In such an environment, even a goddess could feel drowsy—not from true sleepiness, but from an illusion born of pure comfort.
Lotus tilted her head back slightly, her eyes half-closed. The steam from the hot spring veiled her blue chalcedony eyes with a misty sheen, and her porcelain-like skin was tinged with a faint, rarely seen blush.
Her arms rested at her sides, the water reaching her chest. The ripples on the surface gently distorted the view of her body beneath, creating a breathtakingly serene beauty.
When Alyuin walked over, wrapped in a long cloth, this was the scene that greeted her.
She stopped in her tracks almost instinctively, pausing for several seconds before casually walking to the edge of the pool. "So this is where you were," she said with a smile.
Lotus opened her eyes a little wider. "What took you so long?"
That posture, that tone of voice… it honestly sounded like an invitation.
Alyuin composed herself. "I was just looking around over there."
"Mm, come on in." Lotus closed her eyes again. "It really is comfortable here."
Alyuin was speechless.
She suddenly felt that coming here might have been a mistake.
It was too great a test of her self-control
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