Chapter 165: Sylvia, You’ve Come at the Perfect Time (7k)
Meow~
The white cat, which had been lurking in the twilight and rushing over in a hurry, heard Isadorella’s words echoing through the hall as soon as it approached the palace.
Its body suddenly stumbled, almost falling out of the twilight.
Did I… come at the wrong time?
The thought had barely surfaced.
The next moment, the white cat heard Shaya’s pleasant chuckle, “No, Sylvia.”
“You’ve come at the perfect time.”
He waved his hand gently.
Immediately, the elegant white cat felt its body lighten.
It actually fell out of the halo of twilight.
When it came to its senses again, it felt itself fall into a strong and steady embrace.
A hand, not particularly thick but with well-defined knuckles, gently stroked the white cat’s body.
The faint warmth contained between its fingers made the white cat momentarily dazed.
But soon, the subtle sense of something being wrong quickly brought the white cat back to its senses.
Although it was merely a spiritual avatar split from Sylvia’s own mental power, it was still Throne-level mental power, and it held the authority of twilight divinity.
In terms of status alone, this white cat-like spiritual avatar was a legendary existence, and when necessary, it could wield authority to possess combat power close to that of a Throne.
If that weren’t the case, Sylvia would not have felt at ease leaving a spiritual avatar to watch over Shaya’s safety while her main body returned to the White Tower headquarters to handle affairs.
However, even though it was partly due to her letting down her guard when facing Shaya, and partly because she had briefly lost her composure upon hearing Isadorella and Shaya’s conversation, it was still incredible that she could so effortlessly pull her avatar out of the twilight domain and into her arms.
And, most importantly—
She had only just had that fleeting thought, and hadn’t even had time to express it, yet Shaya seemed to be able to hear her thoughts and directly interjected.
This…
Although it was merely a spiritual avatar without a physical body, its connection to the spirit world was more direct, making it easier for its mental fluctuations to be perceived. Furthermore, she was completely unguarded towards Shaya, let alone establishing defensive measures like a cognitive barrier.
Yet, even ordinary demigods and Thrones should not be able to see through her thoughts so easily.
“After all, you’ve spent so long in the embers of the realm of imagination.
Even a blockhead should have some improvement, shouldn’t it?”
“Besides, your Shaya brother is no useless bum, but a genius who properly passed the Brunnhildr family’s coming-of-age ceremony and obtained the contract of your family’s guardian beast, the Silver Spirit.”
The pleasant chuckle sounded again in the white cat’s ears.
The words still seemed to pierce through her very soul.
Shaya looked at the white cat in his arms, its eyes hazy and its body gradually going limp. “Sylvia, do you remember what I said to you in the letter when we parted ways at the hotel in Lokiia?”
He smiled slightly, “I said I wanted to try experiencing the passage of time and the flow of years in that realm of imagination.”
“Because I’ve always felt guilty towards you. I couldn’t accept my casual actions in the historical echo back then, making you bear the weight of five hundred years of burying yourself and enduring hardship for a memory, a promise.”
“If I didn’t experience something similar myself, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself back then.”
“And now—”
“I’ve returned.”
Shaya’s words paused slightly.
“Just as I promised back then.”
“This time, I can embrace you without any lingering regrets, without reservations, and without any debt.”
He lifted the white cat, his calm voice softly sounding in its ears.
“Sylvia, I look forward to meeting your main body again.”
“And then, to announce to the world that you are my lover, my fiancée.”
Meow~
That direct, undisguised confession.
In an instant, it overwhelmed all her senses.
The tidal wave of “love” and “joy” washed over her core mental power, making the white cat’s form somewhat illusory, as if it would dissipate at any moment.
“Meow meow meow~ (Shaya brother, I’ll let this avatar go back first.)”
Faint twilight appeared.
The white cat struggled to jump out of Shaya’s embrace, then staggered and disappeared into the twilight.
With Shaya’s current strength, she felt that if this spiritual avatar stayed any longer, all her impure thoughts about Shaya brother would be exposed.
It was too embarrassing.
…
Golden Plains, White Tower.
Netherworld.
This was once the burial ground that the founder of the White Tower, the Azure Silver Witch Sylvia, used to bury herself.
However, after the ancient witch awakened from her long slumber and walked the world once more, this Netherworld, originally intended as her grave, had now entered its second spring. Under Sylvia’s instructions, the wizards of the White Tower had carried out various renovations.
The withered, twilight-frozen dilapidated palace was renovated and rebuilt, becoming vibrant once again.
According to the official reason given to Isvilda and other high-ranking White Tower officials, this was Sylvia’s residence prepared for herself within the White Tower.
The residence of a Throne-level expert was bound to be somewhat opulent.
However, why was it that this residence, ostensibly for the White Tower’s master alone, had furniture and tableware for two people, and even a male-specific wardrobe and fitting mirror in the bedroom…
That was something only the White Tower’s master, who made such requests, would know.
In the spacious hall, the silver-haired witch sat on the silver main seat.
Illusory, dim yellow wings cascaded layer upon layer from behind her. She held an exquisite glass cup and swayed it slightly.
Her pure silver beautiful eyes gazed at the swirling crimson liquid in the glass, lost in thought.
Below, Isvilda, the Vice Tower Master of the White Tower, known as the “Silent Singer,” respectfully stood by, reporting on the various developments after the White Tower truly intervened in the Western Continent’s affairs.
“As per your decree, my Tower Master, White Tower branches have been established not only in the Imperial Capital but also in all major cities of the Empire.”
“Recently, cults in the Lost Domain have been frequently active within the Empire. We, the White Tower, have also assisted the Directorate and the military in various regions of the Empire to combat the cults’ activities.”
“However, such extensive construction of branch towers requires a large amount of White Tower’s reserve resources…”
“That is his hometown.”
Light golden text appeared in the void, preventing Isvilda from making further suggestions.
“Understood.”
Isvilda nodded, about to say something else.
The next moment—
*Crack.*
The sound of breaking glass rang out.
Isvilda looked up in confusion.
She saw the glass cup in the silver-haired witch’s hand being crushed violently, turning into scattered crystal fragments, and the crimson liquid spilled all over the floor.
A light began to flow in her originally languid, azure silver beautiful eyes.
Who could cause the Tower Master to lose her composure like this… I wish!
As a subordinate of the White Tower, she had witnessed the entire process of the Azure Silver Witch’s revival from the Netherworld.
If, in the first few instances, Isvilda would still be surprised as to why her aloof Tower Master would display such a flustered demeanor.
But after a few times, Isvilda had long since understood the temperament of this Azure Silver Witch.
Although she seemed cold and aloof on the surface, in reality, beneath her high and mighty witch’s body hid the secret thoughts of a maiden in love.
And the person who could make Sylvia lose her composure like this.
On the entire Western Continent, there was naturally only one such person.
“Understood, so that man is back.”
“And Tower Master Sylvia, you’re going to leave the White Tower again and dump all those affairs on me, right?”
Isvilda sighed helplessly.
This caused the slender figure on the Throne to look over in surprise.
“How did you know?”
Given this matter, and considering your usual behavior, Tower Master, anyone could guess it.
Isvilda sighed, suppressing the urge to complain. “Tower Master, feel free to go find him.”
“I’ll handle matters at the White Tower.”
With that, she skillfully exited the Netherworld and returned to the White Tower in the Prime Material Plane.
She couldn’t help it; she was used to it.
Although the Azure Silver Witch Sylvia hailed from five hundred years ago.
After spending these days together, Isvilda felt that in terms of psychological age, she was more like an elder to this Azure Silver Witch.
And as Sylvia’s “family,” she naturally had to worry about her Tower Master’s lifelong happiness.
After all, her Tower Master was already over five hundred years old and still single. Even with the entire White Tower as her dowry, what if she couldn’t get married?
In an instant, the hall of the Netherworld was left with only Sylvia on the silver main seat.
She looked in the direction Isvilda had disappeared, blinking in surprise.
But soon, her pure silver beautiful eyes could no longer hide the ripples of emotion.
Her plain white fingers extended slightly, and the ancient diary reappeared, its pages rustling as it automatically turned to a blank page.
“After three months, Shaya brother has finally returned.”
“Although his appearance hasn’t changed, I can clearly feel that Shaya brother has undergone quite significant changes.”
“I’m so envious of Little Ai. To us, it’s only been three months, but she can stay by Shaya brother’s side and spend ten years accompanying him as he grows.”
“Moreover, I feel it distinctly.”
“The current Shaya brother has become even more familiar to me…”
Sylvia looked at the dim, yellowish sky in the distance, her pure silver eyes reflecting the faint light of twilight.
Back in the historical echo, Shaya was Sylvia’s savior, pulling her out of the mire of darkness.
Although their time together in the Ancient Azure Court was only a year, in Sylvia’s eyes, Shaya was an omnipotent hero. Wherever he took her, it was fun, and interesting things happened everywhere.
But when they met again five hundred years later at that banquet.
Although that affection had not soured, the power disparity between a Throne and a Fourth Ring, the high and mighty master of the White Tower and a student of Saint Roland Academy, destined that the relationship between Shaya and Sylvia could never return to what it was five hundred years ago.
But at this very moment, recalling the true feelings conveyed by her white cat’s spiritual avatar, she distinctly felt that familiar feeling had returned.
When Shaya touched her, Sylvia felt as if everything had returned to that cold winter night, to the surging Grant Sea.
At that time, it was also a pair of well-defined hands that pulled her out of the bone-chilling sea, giving her a new life.
Then, as now.
Everything seemed to have returned to the beginning. She was no longer the Azure Silver Witch who had ascended to the Throne, but merely an unwelcomed daughter of a Grand Duke’s family, who would follow that young man around, calling him “Shaya brother.”
Peaceful, simple, yet immensely satisfying.
“Actually, I… I’ve always just wanted to depend on you like before.”
The delicate golden script paused.
It took Sylvia a long time to calm the surging emotions in her heart and continue reading the memories from the spiritual avatar.
Then, a blush rapidly spread across her plain white face.
Delicate script was written on the diary again.
“Shaya brother, has it really come to this? He can even sense the slightest mental fluctuations of my avatar.”
“Fortunately, my avatar ran fast.”
Sylvia couldn’t help but cover her face.
If she had been a step slower, and Shaya brother had known that she had more than once fantasized about binding him in a small room with a spell, then personally taking the initiative to tie him down and have her first time, living a life of endless bliss…
Then the life of the White Tower Master would probably end there.
“But…”
After a long while, text appeared on the diary again.
“This kind of Shaya brother—”
“So dominant!”
—Excerpt from “Diary of the Azure Silver Witch,” page 705, Holy Calendar Year 903, Summer Flower Moon, 30th day.
*Plop.*
The ancient book was abruptly closed.
The twilight flickered.
When the light dissipated, the Netherworld returned to silence.
And the slender figure on the Throne had already disappeared through crystalline spatial rifts.
…
“You’re the first man to dare flirt with another woman so openly in front of me.”
In the side palace, Isadorella watched Shaya and the white cat’s interaction with her arms crossed, her expression calm.
“Of course.”
Shaya watched the white cat flee into the twilight and nodded.
“I am His Majesty’s first man, and I will be the last.”
“Your Casanova sweet talk is as proficient as ever, just like when we first met.”
A smile appeared on Isadorella’s pretty face.
She recalled the scene of her first meeting with Shaya through magical communication.
It was also such a direct confession, especially the phrase “white hair and red eyes are my ideal type,” which Isadorella still remembered clearly.
She had initially thought it was Shaya’s tactic to disguise himself, but now it seemed that a good portion of it was his true feelings.
Speaking of which, in the Prime Material Plane, that was only about half a year ago.
But in the eyes of both Shaya and Isadorella, it felt like a lifetime ago.
“That’s a sincere compliment.”
“All of Your Majesty’s traits, whether it’s white hair, red eyes, or the military uniform Empress attribute, perfectly fit my type.”
A hint of nostalgia appeared in Shaya’s eyes; for him, that was also a matter of eleven years ago.
He reached out and pulled the silver-haired empress in front of him into his embrace. “Fortunately, back then I could only fantasize about a man’s ultimate ideal in Miss Diris’s dreams.”
“But now, I can achieve it in reality and indulge in animalistic behavior as I please.”
Isadorella did not resist.
She merely tilted her head slightly, gazing up at the young man’s profile.
“Miss Aerora is one thing; as the last survivor of the Winter Flower Family, the Empire is indebted to her, and I know she’d rather commit suicide than leave you.”
“Draw a clear line with other women, especially with Sylvia.”
“I can have Diris bring her kin from the Abyss, and they can weave dreams for you every night. Succubus dreams can satisfy all your lustful desires and fantasies, far more stimulating than what can be achieved in reality.”
Diris, the third-wheel standing nearby, blinked. “?”
“Forget it, Miss Diris. I’m not familiar with other succubi.”
“What if it triggers the ‘Red-Haired Handsome Youth EX’ passive and ruins their lives?”
Shaya shook his head.
“Besides, I don’t think being a playboy conflicts with responsibility.”
“I made a promise to Sylvia. When I return, she will be my fiancée. This is a man’s promise, both a responsibility and an obligation.”
“If that weren’t the case, I should have watched Your Majesty perish with the realm of imagination in reality back then.”
Isadorella sighed, “I knew it.”
However, after a moment of hesitation, she still allowed Shaya to embrace her, neither struggling nor resisting.
“As a perfect monarch, I shouldn’t have left myself with any weaknesses or vulnerabilities. After all, having weaknesses means compromising step by step.”
“But it can’t be helped; my weaknesses and vulnerabilities already exist, and it seems they can’t be removed.”
Shaya smiled. “But conversely, it is precisely because people have weaknesses that they are human, not gods on high.”
“Honestly, compared to the cold and stern princess we first met, I prefer the current Your Majesty more, because the current Your Majesty is more human, no longer a perfect political machine devoid of emotion.”
Shaya paused. “As for being Your Majesty’s weakness, that is my honor.”
“Yes, time can change many things.”
“A year ago, I probably wouldn’t have imagined becoming what I am today.”
Isadorella did not deny it. “From birth, I have lived to meet others’ expectations.”
“My father wanted me to be the heir to the imperial throne, a ruler who could lead the declining Empire to its revival.”
“As for the ministers and high-ranking nobles… some have the same expectations as my father.”
“Others have malicious expectations, hoping I would degenerate and collude with them, thereby maintaining the interests of the vested interest groups.”
“To meet the world’s expectations, I put on the mask of the ‘Second Princess of the Empire,’ learned to become flawless, and became the person longed for by all.”
“Everything I did had to be carefully considered. I abandoned frivolous pursuits like admiring butterflies and flowers, couldn’t form deep friendships with peers, and wasn’t even allowed to develop feelings for contract familiars… because all of these would become weaknesses that my enemies, who studied me so closely, could exploit.”
A gentle breeze swept through the palace, scattering the embers of the darkflame.
Isadorella looked at the night sky outside the palace. “In the past, I lived like this—like a mirror, reflecting a perfect image that met others’ expectations.”
“The citizens and ministers of the Empire cheered, foreseeing a ruler who would revive the Empire.”
“The radiance reflected by that mirror was so dazzling that no one ever cared about the little girl named Isadorella beneath that mirror.”
“Living for my father and ministers, for countless people, for the Empire. I was accustomed to responding to others, so much so that I never held any expectations for myself.”
“Not that I didn’t want to… but I neither knew how nor dared.”
She turned her head to look at Shaya.
“This attitude only began to change with your appearance, Shaya. I developed expectations for you, even though I didn’t realize it myself at first—”
“What kind of expectations?”
“I’m not sure.” Isadorella’s gaze shifted to the imperial capital under the distant night sky. “This feeling is very vague. If I had to describe it, it would be like the witch hunts you once spoke of.”
“If I were burned at the stake as a witch, I wouldn’t expect anyone to save me, nor would I care if they did.”
“Because being burned at the stake as the embodiment of all evil in this world in exchange for divine forgiveness was precisely what the world expected of me.”
“But—” Isadorella’s words paused slightly. “If you didn’t immediately break through the crowd on a white horse and chop down the stake with a sword, I would be very angry.”
Shaya couldn’t help but chuckle. “Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to pilot the mech Black Knight and level the place with a nuclear explosion?”
“What if I were vaporized by the nuclear explosion too?” The silver-haired empress also smiled. “This expectation should not have existed. It’s like a stray dog I adopted when I was very young. The ministers, using reasons like its unknown origin and potential as a carrier of curses from enemy sorcerers, convinced my father, and then killed it mercilessly in front of me.”
“But now, I want to try… to place some expectations on others.”
“Just like in that erroneous history, someone, defying the tide of history, brought me back to reality from the realm of imagination.”
“Speaking of which, you still haven’t answered me.”
Isadorella gazed into Shaya’s eyes with her crimson beautiful eyes. “When do you want to marry me?”
“I thought Your Majesty was asking this question earlier to try out the thrill of making a cuckold in front of Sylvia…”
Shaya pondered for a moment. “A year from today.”
“So long? Why?”
Isadorella paused. “If possible, I’d prefer to have the wedding sooner.”
“Because I believe that in another year, I can resolve all the hidden dangers on the Western Continent.”
“And the Western Continent should be able to completely enter a stable Fifth Era.”
Hearing Shaya’s answer, Isadorella couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“I can feel that you are very strong now… but during the transition from the Third to the Fourth Era, even just the region of Escarnia took us over a decade to pacify.”
“Let alone opening up the Fifth Era…”
Her delicate brows furrowed slightly, but then quickly smoothed out.
“However, I believe in you.”
Isadorella leaned closer to Shaya. “There are still several locations around the Imperial Capital with cult presences above the legendary level. They are not full divine descents like the Lord of Ashes, but rather rituals for semi-divine descents.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“If we stop the descent ritual in advance… then even if the cultists are killed, the faith and divine power will still remain, right?”
Shaya pondered. “In that case, why not let them complete those half-god descent rituals.”
“The era of gods walking the earth is bound to begin, and it cannot be avoided. It’s better to take the initiative and weaken their power in advance.”
Upon hearing Shaya’s suggestion, Diris, who was eavesdropping nearby, broke out in a cold sweat.
Although Shaya spoke calmly, to anyone, such an idea was no different from dancing on the tip of a knife.
Even if it were just the half-god descent of an evil god, not a complete one.
However, a complete half-god of an evil god surpassed the legendary level, touching upon the realm of demigods.
And if it were just one, the auras erupting in the Imperial Capital at this moment were clearly six in number.
Even though Shaya now possessed Throne-level combat power, for Isadorella and Shaya to confront six demigods, even with the Holy Sword’s enhancement, it was an almost impossible feat.
As the thought arose.
The next moment, Diris heard Shaya continue, “As for Your Majesty, just watch me here.”
His gaze fell upon the distant spots where majestic auras converged.
Shaya could feel a vast mystery descending from the Astral Realm, pouring into the faith bodies condensed in the Prime Material Plane.
And those auras were growing stronger, constantly expanding.
From legendary to demigod.
“I hope my return can have a stage befitting it.”
“Guys like Tarik are simply not qualified enough.”
His words were not particularly loud, but they clearly reached the ears of everyone present.
If it were the Isadorella of the past, she would definitely not have agreed to Shaya’s arrangement and would have personally gone into battle.
The only thing one could trust in this world was one’s own strength; this was the principle instilled in Isadorella since childhood as a princess.
But at this moment.
The new silver-haired empress suddenly smiled, her icy demeanor melting away, revealing breathtaking beauty.
“Okay.”
