Of course, none of this was what occupied Yulan's mind as she wandered through the beautiful and dense vegetation.
Chirp chirp.
The melody of birdsong reached her, and normally it would have brought a smile to her face, yet even this gentle sound and the peaceful ambiance were not enough to lift the mood of the usually so lively woman.
In this way, Yulan's solitary walk through the Peak continued until she brushed some foliage aside, revealing the scene beyond.
Swish, boom!
A mix of something cutting through the air and an explosion happening at the same time reached Yulan's ears, but the sound was so faint that she only noticed it after moving the foliage aside, or maybe it was simply that she had been too lost in her thoughts to hear it before—she didn't know, and to be honest, she didn't care.
The beauty was about to continue on her way without giving it any more attention, but the bit of curiosity usually present in her, though buried under her current sadness, surfaced just enough for her to throw a glance toward the source of the sound.
She didn't know what she was expecting, but instead she found something else—something that made her stop in her tracks.
This 'something' was Amelia!
The proud archer stood alone in the middle of a clearing, holding a drawn green bow of masterful craftsmanship, from which emanated an almost ethereal aura.
On its string rested a green-colored arrow, already nocked and seemingly ready to be released.
Amelia stayed in that position for a brief moment before closing one of her eyes, pulling the bowstring a little further as she aimed and then—
She let it go.
The green-colored arrow cut through the air with near-total silence, crossing hundreds of meters in what seemed like an instant before lodging itself into a target more than five hundred meters away.
And that wasn't all, for the arrow had landed directly in the bullseye!
"What?" escaped Yulan as her surprised gaze fixed on Amelia, whose display of archery had been nothing short of extraordinary, but then—
Boom!
The arrow that had been lodged in the target suddenly 'exploded,' not in the traditional sense where everything is reduced to dust, but in the sense that an 'explosion' had taken place without causing harm—neither to the target, nor the arrow, nor the terrain.
"Wow," murmured Yulan, momentarily forgetting her gloom as she watched this strange spectacle.
"Yulan?" Amelia's surprised voice reached her, and when she turned her head she saw the archer's green eyes fixed on her.
"Hello Amelia," waved Yulan with an enthusiastic tone, trying to mask the gloom and sadness still lingering in her heart.
A faint frown appeared on Amelia's flawless features as she listened to her new Dao Sister, the distinct impression that something wasn't quite right settling in her mind.
"Are you okay, Yulan?" Amelia's usually proud voice, now tinged with worry, reached the airhead beauty.
"Ehehehe, of course I'm alright, why wouldn't I be? It's not like there's any reason to be… it's not like Lifen is sad or anything, hehehe!" she finished with a small awkward laugh, but the undertone of sadness didn't fool Amelia.
'Lifen is sad? Why is that?' Amelia's frown deepened as she read between the lines of what Yulan had said and caught the truth.
Amelia stepped closer, her hand coming to rest gently on Yulan's shoulder. "Yulan," she said softly, her voice carrying a warmth uncharacteristic of her usual pride, "you care for Lifen, don't you?"
Yulan's eyes widened, her twintails swaying as she leaned forward. "O-of course I do! She's my precious sister! But…"
She halted mid-sentence, hesitating, yet for some reason her words kept flowing. "...but lately she looks so gloomy, and it saddens me to see her like that…" Her voice wavered as she finally let the façade of cheerfulness fall away.
Amelia gave a small, understanding nod. "Do you want to talk to me about it? Sharing what's on your mind can ease the weight in your heart, and who knows? Perhaps I'll have a different point of view that could help you see things more clearly."
Yulan fidgeted in place before giving a hesitant nod, and then she began to explain what she had discovered and seen earlier, along with what she felt.
She didn't leave out a single detail—not the reason behind Lifen's current gloom, nor the way it weighed on her, nor even the 'solutions' she had thought of, which were all terribly awful, and in the end…she just didn't know what to do!
Amelia listened to her new Dao Sister calmly before offering a gentle smile, and when she finally spoke, her voice carried both steadiness and warmth. "First, you've done well to speak about it, Yulan, because keeping such things inside would only make both your pain and Lifen's worse."
"You love your sister, and you love Mikael—that much is clear—but sometimes the answer isn't to choose one over the other, sometimes it's to follow the path that could lead to everyone being happy."
She didn't elaborate further, her gaze simply resting on Yulan as she waited for her to reach a conclusion.
Yulan blinked rapidly, confusion plain in her eyes, but then she seemed to think of something and her expression shifted, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
"E-eh? But… but how? I can't just… I mean… isn't it impossible? Sisters can't possibly have the same man…" Her voice trailed off, twintails swishing with her rising confusion.
Amelia chuckled softly, and when she spoke a moment later, her voice carried the quiet assurance of someone who had already seen past Yulan's doubts. "What makes it impossible? The world is not nearly as rigid as you may imagine. Bonds of love can take many shapes, and sometimes what appears to be an obstacle can instead become the very thing that strengthens a relation."
She paused briefly before continuing, "Do you truly believe that loving the same man would break your bond as sisters… or is it possible that it could make it even stronger?"
Yulan's eyes widened once more, her lips trembling as her voice rose in a mix of surprise and sudden excitement. "Stronger? But… but if Lifen joined Mikael's harem and became his Taoist Couple, then… then she wouldn't be sad anymore, I'd still be with Mikael, and—ohhh!"
Her face brightened as the realization struck, and with her twintails bouncing wildly she clapped her hands together in sudden enthusiasm. "Then we'd be even closer as sisters, right?! That's like… like the best scenario, I would be happy, Lifen would be happy and Mikael would be happy! This would be a win-win-win!"
The proud archer gave a faint nod, "Exactly… now I think you know what to do, don't you?"
Yulan bobbed her head furiously, her eyes sparkling again with her usual liveliness, "Yes, yes, I'll do that! Thank you, Amelia! You're so smart, I never would've thought of that on my own, ehehe…"
She giggled awkwardly, yet the gloom that had weighed her down seemed to melt away, replaced by a newfound resolve.
A warmth stirred in Amelia's heart as she saw Yulan's sincere joy, 'There, better like that, my new Sister is far better suited to be happy than to be sad, sadness…' she took Yulan in, '…just doesn't suit this lively airhead.'
On that note, Yulan gave a thousand thanks to Amelia before joyfully bouncing away to return to Lifen's side, this time determined to change her sister's gloomy mood.
Meanwhile Amelia gently shook her head before returning to her solo archery practice, she didn't worry about Yulan nor Lifen, as she knew everything would work out in the end.
And she was proven right not long after, when Yulan returned to Lifen's side and launched into a long and in-depth conversation, where she repeated again and again in a… Yulan way, that Lifen could go after Mikael and that, as sisters, it wouldn't drive them apart but only bring them closer.
Of course she didn't phrase it exactly like that, she tried to veil it in her usual… Yulan fashion, but the problem was that her 'sneaky attempts' were also at Yulan level, so Lifen naturally saw right through them and caught the true meaning behind her sister's words, but—
It didn't really matter, since the message had been successfully conveyed, and Lifen understood what her sister meant, and it changed everything.
'Yulan is right! Why should I needlessly stop myself from going after my sister's man just because we are sisters? It isn't like we are mortals, so it doesn't affect us in that way, and it's not as if I am competing with Yulan either, since Mikael has a harem!'
"Hmph!"
At that moment Lifen realized what she was thinking and let out a cold snort, 'It's not like I'm interested in him or anything, I was just saying it to say it…'
These contradicting thoughts passed through Lifen's mind, but no matter how much she tried to convince herself of the contrary, the 'news' that her sister brought her affected her.
Or else it would have been a really, really big coincidence, because following the moment when Lifen learned that it was okay to go after the same man as her beloved sister her mood 'strangely' improved, her gloomy aura rapidly faded, bringing back the Lifen of usual.
After that both sisters' 'conflict' was resolved, time, unknown to them, began to quickly pass, but there were two major changes compared to Yulan's confession to Mikael.
The first was obviously the fact that Yulan was now in a Taoist Couple with Mikael, and the second… was that Yulan had taken on the role of a 'double' wingwoman!
She gave her best so that both Mikael and Lifen could grow closer; she would 'inadvertently' forget things, prompting her to leave when it was only the three of them, just to give her sister a chance to be alone with Mikael.
She encouraged her tsundere sister to go talk and spend time with Mikael, she even went as far as organizing 'activities' for both of them and more.
Yulan truly gave her all to act as the best wingwoman one could dream of, she tried her hardest to help her sister but—
Lifen seemed determined, to Yulan's great frustration, to waste all of her efforts!!!!
Each time Lifen had an opportunity to grow closer to Mikael she would ruin it, whether it was by running away, failing to say the right thing, or committing some other blunder. The point was that no matter how good the chances Yulan prepared for her, Lifen would squander them every time.
Because of that, even as months passed, Mikael and Lifen's relationship hadn't changed much; sure, they were a little closer than before, but nowhere near what they should have been considering the countless opportunities Lifen had been given, and this—
Frustrated Yulan immensely!
Author Note:
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Great Sage Amelia strike and save the game (Amelia was always relatively composed so her giving wise advices made sense in my mind, maybe it would have been better with Lyra as she is 'smarter' but this isn't her scene, her scene came after…)
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— End of Chapter —