Chapter 457 - 23. Favoritism

"I understand, where is Isabella now?"

"They started fighting in the cabin below the deck. After the conflict, the other crew members pulled Sigg out. Isabella didn’t let anyone else in, so she should still be in the cabin all by herself."

"Hmm, I’ll go and talk to her."

"I’ll go with you and apologize to her."

However, Fisher shook his head after hearing that, glanced at the crew members who were being scolded by Pahetz, and said with a smile,

"I’d better go alone. She is definitely no match for your crew members; she must have been badly beaten. Nali ladies aren’t as tough as Sardinian ladies... don’t worry, I’ll handle it."

Actually, Alagina was also worried that Isabella might exaggerate things to Fisher, which is why she wanted to go with him. She didn’t want this to create a rift between her and Fisher.

But looking at Fisher now, she suddenly distrusted that Fisher would believe anything from others so easily. She trusted his judgment and believed that she should trust him too.free

So, she nodded her head, stood still, and simply said,

"Okay, I’ll wait for you here."

Fisher waved his hand and walked down into the cabin below the deck. The hallway under the ship was narrow, and both the walls and doors on either side were made of steel. Near the stairs leading to the deck, Old Jack and the three Mouse Ladies were peering into a room.

Old Jack, with a lit cigarette in his mouth, nodded towards the direction of the room, indicating that Isabella was inside.

Fisher didn’t immediately respond but looked curiously at the cigarette in his mouth and asked,

"What brand of cigarette is that? It smells weird, where did you get it?"

"Some obscure Northern Realm brand, I’m not sure exactly. Pahetz gave it to me; ask her if you want one."

Hearing the way Old Jack referred to Pahetz, Fisher’s expression grew strange, and all thoughts of asking for one disappeared. He patted Old Jack on the shoulder with an inscrutable expression and then knocked on the closed cabin door.

"Knock, knock..."

"May I come in?"

Fisher asked, but there was total silence inside, no response at all.

After waiting a second, he didn’t wait any longer and directly pushed open the door, grateful that it wasn’t locked because he would have had to break in otherwise.

The cabin space was rather spacious; it was used as a dining hall where the crew usually ate. Although it wasn’t mealtime, the fruits that Fisher and Pahetz had collected on the island were stored in another small room in the corner, frozen by ice from the Ice Prince.

At that moment, however, the outside of the cabin was scattered with broken fruits, and the fixed furniture at the base of the room bore scratch marks from a collision. Clearly, the conflict had arisen while they were handling supplies.

Fisher’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, then he turned around and saw Isabella in the corner nearest the door. She was dressed in a crew member’s uniform, hugging her knees tightly together.

She had her face buried in her thighs, her golden hair falling loosely over her features, hiding much of her face. But from the small gaps in her blonde hair, Fisher still saw noticeable bruises on the patch of cheek that showed.

"Isabella."

Hearing Fisher’s voice, her body shook gently, but she still didn’t lift her head, maintaining her position.

"Fisher... Teacher."

After confirming she was okay, Fisher moved closer and sat beside her, then asked,fre ewebno(v)e\l.(c)om

"What happened, why did you fight with the others?"

Isabella didn’t respond and just gently clenched her trousers. Only when the grip of her fingers tightened did she suddenly ask Fisher a question,

"Mr. Fischer, do you hate my sister Elizabeth?"

Taken aback by her sudden question, Fisher remained silent for a moment, then leaned against the wall behind him like she was, and replied,

"Hate, but also not hate, yet the place of resentment and no hatred is not the same, which is a very contradictory matter. Even I cannot escape this entanglement..."

He didn’t look at Isabella, he only looked at the fruits scattered all over the restaurant floor,

"Your sister is undoubtedly a ruthless person, who can raise the butcher knife mercilessly towards life and enemies, and will use any means to achieve her goals. This should be the reason why I resent her."

"If I had never loved her, if she hadn’t let her guard down facing my blade when I had escaped from her side, if she could feel resentment towards me due to my neglect over these years, perhaps there wouldn’t be such contradictory concerns today... After all, her tenderness was all left for you and me, and those who enjoy favoritism are not qualified to talk about objectivity and justice."

"So, for me, to say that I resent her, don’t resent her, it’s more like I resent myself, resent my indebtedness towards her, resent that I didn’t discover her mistakes earlier."

Isabella pressed her lips together, a teardrop glistened as it slid down her cheek until it fell to the ground,

"I... I do too. These last few days, I’ve often dreamt about how my sister raised her sword to kill my brother and father, their expressions glaring fiercely at me. But sometimes, I also reminisce about how she stayed by my bed when I had a fever, how she encouraged me to go to university to study and learn, how she encouraged me to make friends with non-nobles and go out to have fun..."

"I keep thinking, if I didn’t have a sister, what would I have become, would I have been as happy as before, would I have been as oblivious?"

"Mr. Fischer, in the eyes of most scholars and mages in Nali, you are a highly talented person; in my eyes, you are an unattainable mountain. Clearly such a distinguished person, far surpassing your brothers in achievement, yet they look down on you..."

"What you don’t know is, during the griffin race that year when my sister made that famous ’universal request’ to the whole school, just how angry our father and brother were. It was as if my sister belonged to them, as if this matter had lost their face. Who they wanted to marry my sister and me off to in exchange for what, I was utterly unaware of..."

"I was merely... overshadowed too much by my sister’s figure, thus I truly didn’t understand, for my father and for Gedelin, what exactly do my sister and I count as?"

Fisher’s gaze drifted, seemingly also recalling that day when Elizabeth stood before the whole school with a gentle smile announcing that "universal request"—the elder princess who seemed to have boundless glory,

A Nali orphan without parents, a penniless young man, yet had gained the favor of a princess, perfectly meeting the prerequisites for a tragedy in dramas.

But Elizabeth did not believe in tragedy; rules and conventions were but shackles to her, thus she forcibly twisted and destroyed the trajectory leading to tragedy.

As Fisher said, those who enjoy favoritism are not entitled to talk about objectivity and justice; this is the source of the conflicted thoughts.

"So... I just, just resent myself, resent that there’s nothing I can do."

"Actually, just now, those female country people had only spoken a few teasing words, it was just... about my family, so I uncontrollably grabbed and hit her. It was completely... completely unnecessary, it was my mistake to want to vent my inner turmoil, it was my fault."

She sniffled, then lifted her face, by now her beautiful cheek was badly swollen, the right cheek ballooned out at least slightly compared to the left cheek, and her left eye, covered in a purplish-blue hue, was barely able to open, only managing to weakly peer at Fisher.

Clearly, the delicate lady of Nali was no match for a soldier of Sardinia Female Country, much less for Gedelin’s perpetually fragile pearl.

She had barely been scratched a couple of times on the face, and there was nothing wrong with the other woman, yet Isabella was almost beaten to a pulp, and that was only because other crew members pulled them apart immediately, probably a few more blows and Isabella would have been taken apart.

Fisher’s gaze on Isabella’s swollen face made her tears fall even more violently, she sadly covered her face, but suddenly touched the swollen injury, pain forced her to inhale sharply and sniffle, it was truly miserable.

"Wuwu... Mr. Fischer... don’t look anymore, it really hurts."

Fisher couldn’t help but give a bitter smile, then took out a jar from his chest, filled with powdered magic materials, still forcefully collected from that rich woman Valentina,

"Don’t cry, later I will carve some healing magic for you, it will be better overnight."

"Really?"

"I am a student of Great Mage Helson, and also the youngest senior member of the Nali Magic Association, do you think I’m telling the truth?"

Watching Isabella nod her head foolishly after being beaten left Fisher wanting to laugh. He shook his head, got up, and walked towards the door,

"Alright, I will help you carve the magic later. As for now, you’ve arguably been woken up by the beating and realized how vulnerable you are. If you want to do more in the future and not resent yourself, just work hard. After all, we both have a lot of room for improvement, don’t we?"

It was unclear whether that last sentence was meant for Fisher or for Isabella, and after pondering for a second without an answer, he just decided to tell Isabella something more direct,

"Also, if you know you made a mistake, go apologize to the crew member who beat you."

Isabella pursed her lips in aggrieved manner, though her face hurt badly, she still nodded and said,

"Hmm!"