A is in StarCraft, just disembarked from the Zerg Prince spaceship.

************

......

Amidst raging winds and towering waves, the lady struggled to paddle, and the two, one large and one small, bobbed and sank in the waves.

If she couldn't hold on any longer, the little princess of the Leaf Fairy would grit her teeth, fly at the highest frequency with her wings, and once again support her sinking head, using all her strength to lift it upward.

She struggled to support the lady, keeping her afloat on the sea.

Hang in there! Keep going!

It's unclear whether the little princess was encouraging her mother or herself.

The outcome is unknown, but she persevered anyway.

The little fairy princess was rescued and taken away by human soldiers at the last moment of their escape, and then sent off the spaceship before being captured.

The little princess regained her freedom and ran out to sea, where she happened to run into the still-living lady.

Her wound looked frightening, but it didn't actually cut off any vital organs.

The Leaf Fairy is a wood-type fairy with precious healing abilities, and the little princess helped her heal the wound on her neck.

The little princess thought of the young soldiers who had thrown her off the spaceship before she was captured, and a few tears welled up in her big eyes.

I don't know how they are now...

Despite her exhaustion, a surge of strength seemed to well up within her. The little princess shouted, her wings practically smoking as she lifted the lady up even higher.

She will definitely protect the people of this young soldier's clan!

The woman, suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion, was on the verge of losing consciousness, and mumbled, "I thought I was dead."

The little fairy princess gritted her teeth and said, "That lieutenant is a black widow spider. His venom can cause humans to lose their respiratory muscles and suffocate. He used a drop of venom to fake your death."

The lady's consciousness was suddenly pulled back from the void, and she was stunned.

But the little princess of the Leaf Fairy didn't say anything more about the adjutant's behavior; she started pushing the lady flying again with all her might.

After an unknown amount of time, the storm subsided somewhat.

The little princess pushed her mother as they swam with difficulty in one direction.

For some reason, her sense of direction was exceptionally accurate on the vast ocean, and she acted with unwavering determination, never losing her way.

Then they approached a black reef that was inconspicuous and surrounded by a small, shallow bay.

The water is shallow here, and the waves are very small.

The reef was also very small, only a few square meters in size.

The lady thought the little princess was going to take her up the reef, but she didn't expect the little princess to take her diving.

"Follow me!" The little princess took a deep breath and plunged into the water first.

The lady regained some strength, and the will to survive sustained her. She took a deep breath, held it, and followed the little fairy princess as she descended.

In the dim underwater light, the faint glow on the little princess became a striking guiding sign.

The lady followed the golden light and descended three or four meters, bypassing a dense patch of seaweed, until she found a hidden cave opening in the rocks on the seabed.

The cave entrance wound its way upwards, and the little princess swam in first, followed closely by the lady.

Upon entering the cave, the water slopes upwards and becomes very calm, making it much easier to ascend thanks to buoyancy.

They swam a few more meters, and then, with a "splash," their heads suddenly felt light!

They surfaced.

The inside of the reef was hollow, with a passageway sloping downwards and opening onto the seabed.

Inside is a natural cave of moderate size, with a crack in the rocks overhead that lets in a sliver of sunlight.

This cave is difficult to spot from the outside.

The cave walls were covered with glowing moss, and the moss and a sliver of light leaked down, making it barely bright enough to see.

The cave and the raging sea outside seemed like two different worlds; the water inside was completely calm with no waves.

There was a black stone platform protruding from the water. The little princess flapped her wings, flew away from the water, and landed on the platform. She was exhausted and panting heavily.

The lady struggled to climb ashore.

She collapsed to the ground, her body ice-cold and trembling uncontrollably.

But she survived.

Humans are children of the earth; once humans set foot on land, they are unlikely to die.

......

They couldn't make a fire or have any insulation in the cave. The nights on Blackwater were very cold, and although they had climbed out, they were still at risk of hypothermia.

The little princess thought this wouldn't do, so she took a seed out of her clothes and forced it to grow.

The seed quickly grew into a plant with huge leaves.

Soft and tough leaves, layer upon layer, covered the open space in the cave, piled up one after another.

The little princess crawled into the leaf, and then let the lady crawl in too.

The lady did as instructed.

As soon as she crawled into the leaves and was enveloped by the dense foliage, the lady was taken aback.

The plant's thick leaves insulated the cold ground and chill, somewhat like a plant version of leather; going inside actually made it much warmer.

The little princess crawled over to her, looking very disappointed, and said, "These are leaf beds, a specialty of our Little Leaf Elf Planet. There aren't many seeds left."

These were the few seeds she had with her when she was arrested; it's unknown whether the outer leaf bed survived.

She used up another one.

This leaf bed is growing inside a rock cave, without any nutrients, so it probably won't last long.

If the leaf beds hadn't survived, they might have gone extinct.

The lady didn't know how to respond, so she simply said, "Thank you."

The little princess mustered her spirits and said, "You're welcome."

"I didn't know you were...?"

"I am the little princess of the Leaf Elf Clan." The Leaf Elf Princess leaned closer to continue treating the wound on her neck.

The wound on the lady's neck had not fully healed and was still oozing blood.

In such a damp environment, wounds are extremely prone to infection if not properly treated.

The lady thanked her again solemnly, "Thank you so much, Your Highness."

"You're welcome! I'm on His Highness Kyle Lorius's side! If you want to thank someone, thank him!" The little leaf fairy princess emitted a faint green light.

"You should thank me too." The lady felt the wound on her neck sting and itch in the green light. She swallowed and couldn't help but ask the question she had vaguely heard: "What about the adjutant you mentioned who faked my death...?"

The little princess replied, "He didn't use his full strength. The wound looks scary, but he actually avoided the trachea and blood vessels. He was also a black widow spider, and black widow venom can cause suffocation. You suffocated, but you held your breath in the seawater and luckily didn't drown. As the seawater washed over you and the blood drained away, the venom lessened, and you were able to breathe again. Then I happened to find you and healed your wound."

The adjutant couldn't be certain that the lady would survive being pushed into the sea. In any case, he had tried his best, and the rest was up to fate.

The lady is probably just lucky; good deeds bring good fortune.

The soldiers kindly helped the little princess of the Leaf Fairy regain her freedom.

The little princess, who had regained her freedom and possessed healing abilities, brought her chances of survival to almost 100% and saved her.

The lady seemed lost in thought.

The intense tingling and burning sensation at the wound quickly subsided, turning into a mild, healing itch.

The lady thought that sometimes she truly believed that fate was fair.

No one is unlucky forever; sometimes the good fortune you accumulate will come to your rescue.

"Alright." The wound had almost healed, and the little princess withdrew her hand, lay down next to the lady's cheek, and buried herself even deeper into the leaves.

She's cold too. The little leaf fairy prefers a warm, spring-like temperature and the height of summer.

"thank you."

"You're welcome. We're safe for now. It's well hidden here; the cave entrance is underwater and hard to spot," the little princess said.

The little princess was always resolute: "Let's wait here until Prince Kyle Lorius breaks in."

"He will definitely win."

Prince Kyle Lorius is invincible; he will surely defeat the space pirates. He helped the little leaf elf rebuild her home; she still wants to go out and see the world.

She was very, very determined. The lady looked at her and was also infected by her determination, so she nodded in agreement.

His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely win.

They hid together here.

The little princesses can cultivate plants, so they have no shortage of food.

They awaited the final outcome.

Although humanity failed, there is still the Crown Prince outside, and the Crown Prince will surely win.

......

*********

......

Outside of Blackwater.

There's no point in continuing the standoff.

The Crown Prince made a communication with Orion.

Orion seemed to have been waiting for him to contact him. When the call connected, Orion's smiling face, almost identical to that of the previous insect queen, appeared on the screen.

Looking at his face, Lan didn't feel like she was seeing a worm, but only felt that she was desecrating his female father.

"Let's go all in. If this stalemate continues, we'll become a laughing stock for the foreign races watching the Lernian Queen War, and the Empire will lose face."

The Crown Prince raised his chin, his sharp, fluorescent blue eyes, similar to Orion's, piercing through the screen and fixing on Orion's face: "Keep your underhanded tactics to yourself, and stop dragging irrelevant people into this. Let's have a direct duel between the queen candidates. The winner takes all, and the loser accepts their fate."

On the other end of the screen, Orion chuckled.

He leaned back lazily on the armrest of his chair: "A duel?"

He spoke in a sarcastic, drawn-out tone.

"You're still a child, you little brat. I'm not going to fight you. Even if I won, it would be an unfair victory, and people would think I'm bullying a kid. I'm not going to do something that doesn't pay off."

Lan was disgusted by his shamelessness and sneered, "You're threatening me with the Crown Princess's life, isn't that an unfair victory? Does that make you worthy of being in the Queen of Insects competition?"