"Officer, I present this pearl to you! Look how large, full, and lustrous it is; it's definitely a top-grade item."
The Soldier who had previously bullied Old Carpenter Geppetto looked at the officer, who was lazily reclining in a wooden chair, with a fawning expression, respectfully handing over the large pearl he had snatched from Old Carpenter Geppetto.
"Well done."
The pot-bellied officer smiled as he took the pearl and examined it carefully.
"It truly is a priceless treasure! How did you get it?"
The Soldier answered truthfully:
"I got it from a stinky old man. Haha, that fool thought if he gave me this, I'd let him in to see his child. I just made up a random excuse and confiscated the pearl."
"Heaven knows why a commoner like him would have such a large pearl! He must have picked it up or stolen it somewhere."
"But none of that matters now; this treasure is yours, Officer."
The corpulent officer smiled, wrapped the pearl in a handkerchief, stood up, and patted the Soldier's shoulder:
"From now on, you'll be my deputy! From this day forward, our fates are intertwined; we'll share wealth together. Everyone on this entire street, whether human or dog, will have to act according to your whims!"
The Soldier was overjoyed; the sudden leap in status almost suffocated him.
Sharing wealth with the officer meant his status would be incomparable to what it once was!
Suddenly, the wooden door was knocked open.
Several fully armed Soldiers burst in.
"Sergeant, you are under arrest! The Queen has evidence of your corruption, collusion with foreign spies, and instructing subordinates to extort protection money from commoners!"
They seized the officer and dragged him away, leaving the Soldier dumbfounded.
The arrested officer struggled to protest:
"Let me go, let me go! My brother is a court jester, a favorite of the Queen! Have you forgotten?"
"Your brother? He was already thrown into prison earlier today and is expected to be hanged in a few days," the newcomer replied sternly.
Upon hearing this, the officer's face instantly turned pale, his legs trembled, and he could barely walk, only able to be dragged along.
"The Queen is diligently working to strengthen the nation, and the first step is to eradicate vermin like you who prey on the common people!"
"Confess all your crimes now while you still can, and you might live!"
The Soldier, who had just bribed the officer, watched his usually arrogant superior being dragged away, standing rooted to the spot in a daze, feeling as if the sky had fallen.
"Is White Kingdom about to change?"
He knew that when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact.
With his officer arrested, his own sordid deeds would sooner or later be exposed. His days of bullying others by relying on power were over.
"Officer, I don't want to share your fate!"
...
"Hello, old man. Are you Carpenter Geppetto?"
Old Carpenter Geppetto looked at the Soldiers who had come to his door and almost fainted from fright, retreating several steps.
"Don't be afraid, old man. This is your property, isn't it? It's now returned to its rightful owner." The Soldiers handed the smooth, translucent pearl to Old Carpenter Geppetto.
Looking at the beautiful pearl back in his hands, Geppetto was utterly stunned, feeling as if he were dreaming.
"By the way, your adopted son, Angus, who was imprisoned, did not commit any crime. He has already been released. Corresponding compensation will be issued soon. Oh, look, here he comes!"
Behind the group of Soldiers, Hunter Angus was seen rushing over, waving to his adoptive father.
"Father, I'm here!"
"You're back? I thought I'd never see you again! Everyone said you were going to be hanged." Geppetto was both surprised and delighted to see his adopted son unharmed.
"Yes. When I was thrown into prison, I heard I was to be executed next week, and I thought I was done for. That prison was so dark and cold, it made one despair!" Hunter Angus recalled the scene, his face clouded with lingering fear, "Soon after, I was suddenly released. The jailers said it was the Queen herself who ordered my release and that I would receive compensation."
Old Carpenter Geppetto asked in disbelief:
"Really?"
He had always heard that the wicked Queen was extremely petty, and no one thrown into prison because she disliked them ever came out alive!
"Really, Father, and there's more!"
Hunter Angus was overjoyed and continued:
"I heard that the Queen is determined to strengthen the nation and is implementing many major reforms across the country to bring justice to commoners like us who have been bullied."
The accompanying Soldiers who had come to deliver the news also said:
"That's right, Old Man Geppetto. The Kingdom's Soldiers who maliciously assaulted you will all be punished!"
Old Carpenter Geppetto could hardly believe what he was hearing. He stood rooted to the spot, like a stone statue.
In the past, the most beautiful fantasy he could imagine was that omnipotent Magician retrieving his precious pearl for him, delivering justice, helping him rescue Hunter Angus from prison, and retaliating against everyone who had bullied him.
Isn't this the kind of story that many commoners love?
He never expected that in just a day or two, the Kingdom would undergo earth-shattering changes.
He and his son would soon receive fair treatment through official channels, no longer needing to seek the pity of some powerful rogue.
"Just as Magician Rhine said, my son really was released. It must be that Magician who did something!" Old Carpenter Geppetto said excitedly.
"Old man, were you referring to His Excellency Great Magician Rhine, the Kingdom's Sage?" The Soldiers who had come to his door immediately looked at him with awe when they heard Rhine's name.
"You know him?" Old Carpenter Geppetto asked in surprise.
The Soldiers gestured excitedly:
"Soon, the entire country will know His Excellency Rhine's name!"
"Great Magician Rhine traveled from Rose Kingdom to White Kingdom, demonstrating extraordinary ability and wisdom, and was jointly invited by the King and the Queen to become the Sage of White Kingdom."
"It is said that he will assist the Queen and the King in a thorough reform of the Kingdom!"
"At that time, he will be the most esteemed person in the entire White Kingdom, besides the Queen and the King."
"Even the most powerful ministers' authority doesn't compare to his single finger. Moreover, he himself is an exceptionally powerful Magician."
What? Old Carpenter Geppetto's mouth hung open in astonishment.
Rhine had only left a day or two ago.
And now he had become the Sage of White Kingdom?
What exactly did that Little Magician do in those short one or two days?
Geppetto increasingly felt like this was a dream.
A ridiculous yet incredibly beautiful dream, in which he was immersed.
He hoped this dream would last as long as possible, lasting until the end of all things, preferably never to awaken.
Old Carpenter Geppetto listened to the Soldiers praising the wisdom of this newly appointed Kingdom Sage, extolling the reforms the Queen was implementing, hearing their dissatisfaction with corrupt officials and bullying officers, watching his adopted son, Hunter Angus, beaming with joy, a long-unseen smile on his face and a longing for the future, and touching the heavy, priceless pearl in his hand…
The elderly carpenter suddenly felt a pang in his nose, and everything before his eyes was covered in a thin mist, making the world blurrier and less real, like a true dream.
On the towering distant watchtower.
Rhine and Aurora watched this scene from afar.
The wind blew, lifting the Kingdom Sage's cloak and the girl's golden hair.
They watched Old Carpenter Geppetto tremblingly put away the beautiful pearl, saw his extremely astonished expression, saw his eyes brimming with fervent tears, and saw two hot streams of clear tears flowing down his cheeks.
"Teacher, seeing the change in Old Carpenter Geppetto's and Hunter Angus's situation, I suddenly feel something," Aurora said softly.
"What do you feel?" Rhine asked.
Aurora spoke her realization:
"Teacher, I initially thought you would teleport into the prison to rescue Hunter Angus. I thought you would use that magic that recalls previously touched items to retrieve the pearl and give it back to Carpenter Geppetto and Hunter Angus's family. Just like the protagonists in storybooks who suddenly gain supernatural powers, or the chivalrous rogues."
"But I ultimately chose not to do that," Rhine said calmly.
"Yes. If Prince Eric, who loves reading fantasy novels, were here, he would definitely say this is completely different from those chivalrous rogue stories in storybooks," Aurora said.
"Unlike those stories, we didn't defeat the villain at the end, but rather, upon entering White Kingdom, we immediately dealt with the Queen, who was the culprit. But our task has only just begun."
At this point, Aurora, from the highest tower in the city, looked down at the dilapidated streets and the people coming and going, overlooked the layout of the entire White Kingdom's capital, and gazed upon the tens of thousands of people in this city, feeling something:
"A righteous hero can only save a few people, only erase one injustice happening before their eyes. They can kill a corrupt official or a bullying Soldier who preys on the common people, saving a few families."
"But in places they cannot see, there are thousands upon thousands of similar families still suffering greatly."
"In contrast, a King can change more, saving tens of thousands of times more people."
"I think that's why I must become an excellent King!"
At this, Aurora thought of Prince Eric, who had suddenly shed his rebellious demeanor and become serious, diligently working to be an heir.
Rhine smiled without speaking.
Another gentle breeze swept by, caressing the boy's and girl's cheeks.
"Oh, right, Teacher, I have another question."
Aurora seemed to have thought of something and turned to look at Rhine:
"Teacher. After I applied the perfume, what did I look like in your eyes? The 'Wrong Love' perfume makes me appear as a different beloved in different people's eyes. Teacher, you shouldn't have a beloved, right, so I still look like my original self to you?"
"Yes." Rhine smiled and answered truthfully, "You still look like your original self to me."
...
Time flew by.
With the joint efforts of Rhine, Aurora, the magic mirror, and the King, the great reforms in White Kingdom progressed in full swing.
In the blink of an eye, two months passed.
During another routine chat and discussion of the Witch Society, Maleficent proactively brought up recent events:
"Have you heard? That Queen has been making big moves in White Kingdom recently. The surrounding countries all know about it."
The Eastern Witch recalled her fruitless attempt to find the Queen two months ago and asked curiously:
"What big moves?"
Maleficent replied: "I heard in Mado Kingdom that she's actually governing the country with the magic mirror! And she's doing it quite impressively."
"What? There's such a thing?" The Eastern Witch was extremely surprised.
In her impression, the Queen had always been a particularly gullible fool, completely unrelated to words like "smart" or "diligently working to strengthen the nation."
"This is not a good thing," the Eastern Witch emphasized. "If the Queen becomes smart, that would be terrible! We need to go see the Queen ourselves to confirm what's happening!"