Chapter 65: Beautiful times
Time passed peacefully, and the hours that followed brought the father and daughter warm, unforgettable moments. After leaving that luxurious restaurant, they preferred to embrace the simplicity of the streets; they headed for an ancient alley fragrant with the aroma of spices and the famous local cuisine that characterizes the "Starry Empire." There, they ate traditional street food made from fresh wild and stellar ingredients, replacing the soup experience with real food filled with laughter and simplicity.
Next, they set off toward one of the most famous fashion design houses in the capital. Upon entering, the minds of the designers there were captivated by Amelia’s mesmerizing and unique beauty; her features and eyes made her, in their eyes, an irreplaceable "perfect mannequin." The lead designer rushed over to her and began trying on the finest and most exquisite dresses for little girls amidst an atmosphere filled with joy and pampering.
At the end of the tour, after an enjoyable time of laughter, the designer presented Amelia with a premium membership card bearing her own name and gifted her a magnificent dress worthy of her status. Before they departed, the woman pulled out a radiant crystal star and delicately pinned it onto Amelia’s locks of hair, who smiled with warm, childlike gratitude.
As they stepped out into the public square, their attention was drawn to a street painter sitting alone in a quiet corner, surrounded by his paintings. Cain, accompanied by his daughter, stepped forward and requested that he paint them together in a single portrait. To ignite passion within the artist’s heart, Cain pulled out a pouch of coins and paid him three times the base amount! The surprise caused the painter to dash off for a few minutes, only to return carrying expensive painting tools and unique magical pigments.
"This painting must be my unparalleled masterpiece in my career!" the painter shouted with burning enthusiasm.
Cain and Amelia sat side by side on a wooden bench, and the artist appeared in a state of maximum concentration; his hand moved like lightning, and his eyes flashed with every stroke. After a full half-hour of tireless work, the painter stepped back and smiled with satisfaction, then turned the canvas around to show it to them.
Amelia’s eyes fell upon the canvas, and expressions of displeasure and astonishment formed on her face; the background was entirely white, featuring an extremely primitive drawing with simple and comical lines, as if sketched by a toddler in their first year! For a moment, Amelia thought this artist was merely a cheap fraud who had taken advantage of her father’s generosity.
However, the painter bowed politely and said, "Apologies, my little lady... Could you place the final brushstroke on this painting yourself?"
Amelia decided to play along to prove to her father that he was a charlatan; she dashed with her small feet and took the large brush from the hand of the artist, who pointed with a mysterious smile toward a specific point in the center. Amelia dipped the brush into the color and pressed it onto the canvas...
At that exact moment... the magical miracle occurred!
The instant the brush contacted the canvas, the primitive lines jolted and glowed with golden and silver hues, and the magical painting transformed in the blink of an eye into a highly beautiful and masterful living depiction. In it, she and her father Cain appeared walking together in sheer happiness amidst the glowing streets of the Starry Empire. What was staggering about the drawing was that Cain in it was extending his hand to place a tiny, real "radiant star" in place of that fake glass star the designer had placed on her hair!
The painting pulsed with life and warmth to the extent that Amelia, despite her grand stature and ancient imperial mind, could not restrain herself; a clumsy, highly spontaneous and genuine smile etched across her face as she contemplated the scene.
"I will keep it always... Thank you, sir," Amelia said in a low voice carrying real emotion. The painter replied with gratitude, "You are most welcome, little one."
Cain noticed his daughter’s overwhelming joy with the painting. Though his magical expertise made him realize that the trick performed by the painter was not a complex incantation, but merely a visual activation magic that relied on the mana energy of the person touching it, his daughter’s happiness was worth the treasures of the entire world to him. Before they left, Cain turned around and multiplied the amount for the painter tenfold as a reward for that perfect moment.
As they walked with the splendid painting in Cain’s hand, they stopped at a noisy gathering of children and families around a small ice cream stall. The vendor there was not merely a cook, but a performance mage; he crafted ice cream utilizing freezing magic and rapid whipping in the air, creating colorful, dazzling ethereal auras that stole the eyes of the children watching him in awe.
Amelia stood watching the show from afar with feigned rigidity; despite her pride preventing her from asking to watch a simple magical show for children, her gleaming eyes betrayed her hidden desire—a detail Cain caught immediately with his fatherly instinct.
Without introduction, Cain grasped her warm, small hand, and they headed together toward the crowd just as the show concluded; the shouts and applause of the children and their parents erupted.
(Clap.. Clap!)
Meanwhile, the vendor bowed with vanity, thanking the attendees before serving them the ice cream.
Cain smiled at this spontaneous sight, and a wild, wonderful idea flashed in his mind to make Amelia happy and dazzle her. He stepped forward with confident strides toward the ice cream vendor and extended his hand to push a heavy pouch of premium "Star Coins" toward him.
"Would you allow me to hold a performance for a few seconds?" Cain asked with a mysterious smile.
The vendor opened the pouch cautiously, and as soon as he saw the glitter of the coins that could alter the course of his life, he nodded frantically, surrendering control to the Duke, and rushed to bring out some rare fruits with strange and distinctive shapes to offer him.
But Cain did not agree to those rare fruits; instead, he bypassed the vendor and headed himself toward the magical storage box where materials were frozen, selecting very ordinary and simple fruits that he knew children adored: strawberries, mangoes, and watermelons.
Cain did not wait for the stunned vendor’s opinion; rather, he grabbed a small, red strawberry that looked perfect in shape and tossed it lightly toward the sky. Under the gazes of the astonished crowd, Cain moved his finger and pumped a portion of his own magic, and with a staggering amplification incantation, the size of the small strawberry multiplied in the air until it became the size of a "giant elephant," floating with majesty and grandeur over the heads of the children whose mouths dropped and eyes widened in absolute shock!
Cain did not stop there; he moved his other hand in a complex circular motion, and the giant red strawberry suspended in the sky began to pulse slowly and powerfully like a living, beating heart. With every pulse, it unleashed waves of brilliant, colorful lights that filled the entire street, starting to rotate around itself with speed and magic, turning the sky above them into something resembling a "sweet disco ball" radiating unparalleled joy and brilliance!