Aina could not help but smile. She was just like that back then. However, when one finally met the person that meant something to them…
“Hey! Hey! Daydreaming again? Sigh… not one of you adults are carefree.”
Huiyin helplessly waved her hands about. That absolutely adorable expression caused Aina to pinch Huiyin’s little face.
“However, the award presentation will be at the Milky Way Alliance’s headquarters at Roland Garros. You are not thinking of escaping your duties to attend, are you? If my mom finds out about this, I’ll be dead meat too!” Huiyin stuck out her little tongue. She was really afraid of her mom. In fact, there was no one in the royal family that was not afraid of her.
Aina smiled and blinked her eyes. “Do you think the beautiful and wise princess of Aslan is qualified to present the awards to the guests?”
“Yeah, Mommy praised you for being capable as well as being able to uphold the image of the Empire. The old men at the Union Academy of Sciences would love to have you there. Plus, you’d be able to secretly date too. Heh heh, three birds with one stone. You really are smart, Sister,” Huiyin retorted.
Bang!
Aina smacked Huiyin’s head.
“What do you mean by date? He should be properly addressed as older brother, do you understand?”
“I know, I know! You are always bullying me.”
“Okay then, my most adorable little sister. You have sacrificed so much, tell me what you wish to do. I will give you a hand!
This little girl liked to hide her evil intentions.
“Heh heh, nothing much, actually. Just remember to bring me along when you go out to play.” Huiyin showed a sly smile.
This was when Aina realized that she had been tricked. This little girl had predicted what she would do.
In the past, not many people knew the true identity of Huiyin, but as she followed Aina around, more people began to take note of the little princess. Although Huiyin was under the protection of the law for minors and no harm would come to her, a lot of people were secretly concerned for her. This had resulted in her freedom being restricted. Why should Huiyin be restricted though? Her art required inspiration after all.
The entire Aslan royal family’s public relations institution became busy because of the first princess’s decision. To Aina, she only had to suggest an idea and the entire institution would complete it at the fastest possible speed.
Student Huiyin shook her head as if she was an insightful old man. Ahh, women!
After Aina disconnected her Skylink, the corners of her mouth curled up. She looked more brilliant than ever, blindingly beautiful.
“Dear Older Sister, according to my personal experience, you cannot afford to treat boys too well, or they will become arrogant. He might even end up liking another girl! You must let him know that the girl he is dating is the best!”
Aina smiled. “My most adorable little sister, wherever did you get your personal experience from? And also, aren’t you underestimating your sister’s charm?”
Aina was confident in this regard.
Huiyin sighed, forget it. She was too lazy to persuade her even further. In fact, she was merely worried about others doing evil things to her. She did not want her cousin to invest too much and end up regretting it. Why was it that people could be wise when handling other matters but become blinded when it came to matters of the heart?
At this moment Huiyin’s Skylink started to ring.
“It’s Angela. Pick it up, it might be something urgent,” Aina said.
Huiyin unwillingly picked up the device. She hoped that this wouldn’t be another message telling her to return home.
But Huiyin’s expression suddenly change and her little face showed anguish. This startled Aina.
“Huiyin, what happened?”
After a while, Huiyin shook her head. “Older Sister, do you remember some time ago when I wrote a song but was not satisfied with some of the lyrics? I uploaded it to my official website for anyone to see and, well, the results…here, you listen to it.”
Not only were there lyrics, there was even a singer for the song Huiyin had written. The singer had a familiar voice, a voice which possessed deep emotions.
“Turning on the lights and seeing the lonely bed in the room”
“Turning off the lights and an indescribable pain in the heart is all that is left”
“Life passes by like the years”
“And with the whitening of the hair”
“And as you left, there were no news of happiness”
“With the past fading away”
“With the fading dreams”
“Along with the numbing of a heart”
“I miss you so very much, but I can’t find traces of you….”
Huiyin was totally immersed in the song. This had a melody that reminded her of her own songs as well as her style. Although she had listened to NOTAFRAID as well as the other tracks, this was the style she preferred the most, but she did not expect the lyrics to have created this sort of feeling.
“I still reminisce every now and then”
“I still relieve the memory”
“I still cry with my eyes closed”
“I still pretend to not care”
“I really miss you very much”
“But I keep lying to myself”
This was the voice of a girl, and it spoke of unrequited love.
“I really miss you very much”
“Let’s keep this a secret”
“I really miss you very much”
“Let’s keep this in my heart….”
Aina and Huiyin were immersed in the song. The voice was nowhere as sweet as Huiyin’s, but this voice belonged to a girl, and she sung it as though it were her own life story. They were both deeply moved by this.
After listening to it for the second time, Huiyin’s eyes turned red. She was feeling very emotional, but perhaps every artist was like that. It was as if both the singer and Huiyin had crossed space and time and could relate to each other. Huiyin had always fumbled around with the lyrics, feeling that something was missing. It turned out that the emotions of yearning and pain behind the voice were what she needed but had never experienced.
“It sounds really good, congratulations! This song! Aina really likes it too!”
“This singer is pretty good. What an intense feeling of infatuation. Let me see who she is, I want to hire her as my vocalist….”
Huiyin was stunned upon seeing the name. Aina was also shocked, because this name was very familiar to the both of them.
Ye Zisu
On the far away Earth, a girl looked out her window. Her mind had already wandered off into the distance. She was working towards her goals. The harder she worked towards them, the closer she got to Aina, but the further away she moved from herself.
“I still reminisce every now and then”
“I still relieve the memory”
“I still cry with my eyes closed”
“I still pretend to not care”
“I really miss you very much…..”
Ye Zisu was singing from her own heart. Separation had not created more distance between them but rather made her reminisce more. But Ye Zisu could only keep her feelings in her heart, as this was the only way they could still be friends…
Immortal Puluo’s Galaxy, the core hub of the Milky Way Alliance, and also where the Milky Way Alliance’s headquarters was located. A giant planet filled with colorful lights which also acted as a deterrent to invaders. This planet symbolized the nature of human interstellar travel – To conquer and dominate!
After the Milky Way Alliance stabilized, this area became the political and cultural center of mankind.
As the headquarters of the human race as well as its allies, it was a neutral territory. It was only responsible for the affairs of the Milky Way Alliance.
Thousands of warships that were armed to the teeth orbited around the planet, performing a variety of tasks. When it came to things like area control and defense, they were the best. They even had advanced means of delivering supplies and transporting passengers, but none of these ships were controlled by businesses. These services were free of charge on the planet of Roland Garros, sponsored by the Alliance. One could enjoy all the benefits of this level for free, but if one wanted premium treatment, they had to pay for it.
The headquarters of the Milky Way Alliance was also one of the greatest creations of human interstellar civilization. It had been hailed as the Great Wall of the Star Age. This artificial planet was the culmination of the efforts of human civilization. Inside it was a captured black dwarf star. (TL Note: Wikipedia “Dyson Sphere”)
After numerous levels of alterations, the gravity of the black dwarf star was transformed into a never-ending energy source. This super-heavy star represented the pinnacle of mankind. If there was ever a need, this star could be transformed into a star-destroying weapon. This was the representation of the collective power of the members in the Milky Way Alliance.
The current chairman of the Milky Way Alliance was Ryan Jones from the Gemini Union. He had just taken office this year. The Gemini Union was a powerful system with five habitable planets and it had two stars in stable orbit.
Ryan’s public bio stated he was a hundred and seventy centimeters tall, but those who knew the truth stated otherwise. He was in fact only a hundred and sixty centimeters tall. The difference in height could be explained by the platforms in his shoes.
“I was born on Epp and grew up on it. If you grew up under Epp’s gravity and could grow to a hundred and fifty centimeters, I’ll serve under you.”
Every time someone ridiculed his height, this was how Ryan would retort back in a rude, joking tone.
But that was before he became chairman of the union. No one dared to joke about this after he assumed the position of chairman.
The chairman of the Milky Way Alliance was not the supreme commander of the Milky Way Alliance. The galaxy committees were the ones who ruled this alliance. They were its top ten permanent members. Each member of this committee held a key, and all ten of them were required to activate the planet-destroying weapon, Roland Garros. The chairman was more akin to a housekeeper, coordinating some of the daily affairs and mainly overseeing the development of science, technology, and culture of Roland Garros.
“It is decided then, Tess. Urge the Andromeda Commonwealth to clean up the pirates before the arrival of Christmas. Or at the very least get them out of the league’s core business operations, they have seriously disrupted the stability.”
Ryan ended the long distance call through a wormhole. His pressed the index finger and thumb of his right hand on his temples. He held his coffee cup with his left hand and prepared to take a gulp, but he realised that the cup was empty.
His secretary had not refilled his cup, which meant that he had reached his daily coffee quota. If he drank any more, that would mean disrupting his sleep for the night. That would then eat in to his performance efficiency the next day, and once his efficiency was disrupted, everything after that would be in a total mess.
The Union’s official events on his desk were sorted according to color with yellow being the most urgent. These needed to be given top priority. Blue meant that the think tank had made a specific proposal for that document and it only required his signature as approval to be completed. Red were the most complicated and thorny cases, this usually meant that it required protracted negotiations. Purple indicated special events that could not be dealt with immediately and required lengthy considerations. The most terrible of them was the bold, black color. These cases meant that he had to make decisions for them by today.
He pressed the button to request for more coffee and forcefully pressed down on his temples. He prepared to deal with the next tricky black-colored case.
Following the Aslan Empire’s firm grasp on power, the Milky Way Alliance’s influence grew stronger in the last hundred years. The wars in the galaxy had decreased by seventy percent when compared to the last century. This was proof of the alliance advancing human development. There had to be appropriate changes when humans had developed to a certain point.
“Aslan, purple channel.”