Rhine nodded.
"Of course. It's not difficult for me to find that girl. Divination isn't omnipotent; it requires a medium and prior information.
"But the information Prince provided is already sufficient, and Prince himself, standing here, is the best medium.
"Besides, not much time has passed."
What he didn't say was that the prior information needed for his divination not only came from the Prince's account but more so from the advantage of having understood the story's cause and effect beforehand; the medium he used for divination was not only the Prince standing there but also the fish scale in his large pocket.
—This beautiful fish scale came from another witness to the Prince's story.
"Let's begin."
Rhine took out a crystal ball and chanted a strange incantation.
This crystal ball was also a gift from the Sea Kingdom, given to him by the Sea King and Ariel's sisters', which could enhance his prophecy and divination magic.
Ordinary crystals came from deep within the earth, but absurdly, people who studied mysticism and seers who liked crystals classified them as having the attribute of water. Yet, the crystal ball in Rhine's hand came from the deep sea, a gem formed after thousands of years of compression of deep-sea water, possessing magic not found on land.
It was precisely by relying on this magical crystal ball that he was able to see the painting's appearance before the court painter had even finished it!
"Let me resolve Prince's heartache," Rhine said while casting the spell.
Specks of starlight emerged in the crystal ball, as if the boy held the vast universe in his hands.
"Wait a moment!" Prince advised, "Let's deal with Father's task first. The origin of that amnesiac girl is more important than what I want to know!"
Rhine, however, smiled:
"My Prince, fate's arrangements have their own exquisite subtleties.
"Sometimes, people choose different paths at a fork in the road but ultimately arrive at the same destination. Sometimes, different questions can yield the same answer."
Prince didn't understand Rhine's words, but he vaguely felt that the prophet was hinting at something.
The gloom in the crystal ball dissipated, and specks of starlight converged into a colorful image, a sight that made Prince marvel inwardly.
"This is what a magician is! Although Father said he had seen many magicians perform spells and display miracles, for me, this is a fresh experience, the first time I've ever seen it!"
What appeared in the crystal ball was none other than Rhine, holding the crystal ball, and Prince, squatting down and leaning in to watch the scene in the crystal ball.
"What is this?" Prince asked.
"Prince, this is our present," Rhine explained. "Next, we will look from backward to forward."
The scene in the crystal ball seemed to undergo a time reversal, like rewinding a modern film, with past scenes appearing one after another;
First, Rhine retrieved the crystal ball, and the two walked backward, talking as they went; then came the recent competition, where Prince announced Rhine's victory on the fishing boat. After that, the crystal ball's rewind sped up, so fast that Prince couldn't see anything clearly.
Then, the constantly changing colored blocks re-stabilized into specific scenes, beginning to play in normal chronological order.
In the crystal ball, the unconscious Prince lay on the shore, the dawn light illuminating his face.
He looked pale and bloodless, exactly the complexion of someone who had just fallen into the water.
"That's me, that's me, I'm about to see the girl who saved me!"
Prince was extremely excited.
That was the person he had longed for day and night.
Soon after, a young woman walked over. She was stunned when she saw the unconscious Prince. She woke Prince up and called for the people nearby—everything was exactly as Prince remembered.
"Quick, esteemed Magician, please zoom in on that woman's face a bit; I want to see her appearance again," Prince said eagerly.
"As you wish," Rhine said.
So the woman's face grew larger and clearer. Prince truly saw that beautiful face:
Her skin was delicate and fair, and beneath her long, dark eyelashes were eyes filled with a smile.
This was the face he had longed for day and night!
"Yes, it's her, it's her!" Prince exclaimed excitedly. He was, after all, just an adolescent boy under 16.
But then, Prince suddenly noticed something was wrong.
"No, no, why isn't it the same?"
Prince remembered the amnesiac girl with the beautiful singing voice.
When he had taken her in, he had thought she looked very much like the girl who had saved him.
However, when Prince Eric saw the woman who saved him with his own eyes, he realized that the two girls didn't resemble each other at all!
Although they were both beautiful, there was no similarity in either their figures or their facial features.
But Prince was also absolutely certain that the beautiful woman now displayed in the crystal ball was indeed the one who had saved him.
"Why? Why do they bear no resemblance to each other?" Prince was stunned, confused and bewildered, as if he had just woken from a long dream.
"Prince. Please continue watching."
Rhine caressed the smooth surface of the crystal ball again, and the scene in the crystal ball rewound once more.
Time rewound again; the tranquil dawn in the crystal ball disappeared, replaced by the stormy night.
The howling winds, the deafening thunder, and the cries and prayers of the sailors came from the crystal ball. Silver lightning snakes moved through the heavy dark clouds, and black giant waves were as massive as mountains, making the ship appear tiny.
Prince clenched his fists, as if he had fallen back into the nightmare of old.
They were back, all of them! All the elements of that unbearable nightmare were back!
In the crystal ball, he saw the ship he was on, saw himself on the ship, saw the ship being tossed into the air by the black giant waves and then falling, saw the thick ship planks being smashed by the raging waves, and saw himself falling into the sea.
"Esteemed Magician, why are you playing such a scene?" Prince asked, his face already pale.
"Isn't this exactly what you and your father requested?" Rhine smiled. "Didn't you want to know where that amnesiac girl with the world's most beautiful singing voice came from?"
In the crystal ball, a graceful figure moved rapidly through the dark sea.
That beautiful figure bravely swam against the violent currents, passing through broken ship beams and planks, not caring at all about the danger that they might crush her.
That figure was half-human, but her lower body trailed a long fish tail. She leaped out of the waves, rushed to Prince's side, and held him tightly in her embrace, not daring to let go for a moment.
Then Prince saw the beautiful figure's face—that incredibly familiar face.
He saw her again.