**Chapter 18: Happy Birthday, Sylvia**
Sylvia had a very long dream. In that dream, she was not the only daughter of a Grand Duke, but merely a member of one of the countless ordinary civilian families in the Royal Capital. Her mother had not passed away either. On a winter evening, her family sat around the fireplace, enjoying dinner. The aroma of food filled the air, and the fireplace emanated a warm heatwave, adding a bit of temperature to her originally cold body. Sylvia was somewhat unconsciously immersed in it.
Ever since the Bronze Cross deep within her soul first stirred and her mother left her because of it, Sylvia had not slept a single peaceful night. Even if she managed to fall asleep, she would always be startled awake by nightmares at midnight. It could be said that this was the first time she had slept so soundly in ten years, as if she had forgotten all her worries.
Sylvia’s consciousness was gradually awakened from the deep darkness, and her memories began to revive. However, as her previous memories became clearer, Sylvia felt her heart grow colder little by little. “I actually fell asleep just now, completely defenseless, dropping all my guards… That thing on the Bronze Cross, which had a tendency to go berserk and lost my willpower’s restraint…” She dared not imagine everything she was about to face—pitch-black shadows covering her entire body, rotting flesh, lives ending in pollution and wailing. And then, that overwhelming malice that left her nowhere to hide.
However—when she turned her mind to the Bronze Cross deep within her heart, the chaotic outburst she expected did not occur. The pitch-black shadows coiled above the twisted figure bound by the Bronze Cross, rising and falling quietly. Even under Sylvia’s full suppression on normal days, those pitch-black shadows had never been as tranquil as they were now. It was as if they had also fallen asleep with Sylvia.
“The more you think about some troublesome matters, the more you’ll get stuck in a dead end. So, there’s an old saying in my hometown: ‘Since things have come to this, let’s eat first.'” A familiar voice sounded in Sylvia’s ears. She opened her eyes and looked around, realizing that the warmth she felt in her dream was not an illusion.
The young man who had wanted to jump into the sea with her at first had somehow started a bonfire on the shore with branches and dead leaves. Two skewers of sizzling, oily grilled fish were suspended above it. Amidst the crackling sound of burning firewood, this small bonfire dispelled the cold and loneliness of the winter night. He stood up, handed one skewer of grilled fish to Sylvia, and brought the other to his own mouth.
But soon, his face showed a look of disgust, and he put the skewer aside. “I knew those wilderness survival shows were a lie. Grilled fish without barbecue sauce is simply not for humans. Next time, I’ll have Shining prepare some seasoning jars in the Spatial Pocket.” “Silver, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Hoo hoo hoo~ (Master, you made that starry-gazing yourself, so you deal with it yourself.)” On the young man’s shoulder, a small Little Mink raised its fluffy tail and elegantly refused its master’s attempt to pass the buck. Sylvia looked at the one person and one mink pushing the responsibility back and forth and asked softly, “Is that your Familiar?”
“Yeah, my first Familiar.” “That’s great.” A hint of envy flashed in Sylvia’s deep purple eyes. “My father said that most low-level Familiars cannot withstand the abnormality in my soul. Contracting with me would be equivalent to suicide. I wonder if I’ll ever have the chance to become a Beast Tamer in this life.”
“You will,” the other party’s reply was quick, as if he were stating a sure fact rather than making a guess. “One day, you will become an even more powerful Beast Tamer than your father.” “Is that so?” Sylvia smiled faintly. Although his words were fantastical, for some reason, she was willing to believe his ungrounded prophecy.
A moment of silence. The flames flickered, illuminating the dark night. After a long while, Sylvia spoke softly, “Why did you jump into the sea earlier?” “Of course, it was to save you.” Sylvia smoothed her somewhat messy long hair. “Is that how you save people? Pulling the rescuer into the sea with you?”
“Because those who are determined to die cannot be stopped. If this opportunity is missed, there will always be another. And only by truly facing death can one understand the true meaning of life.” After a prolonged struggle with the Little Mink on his shoulder yielded no results, the young man finally grudgingly gnawed on the grilled fish, saying, “Of course, the so-called saving you is actually a pseudo-proposition. That guy inside you won’t let his host truly die. If my guess is correct, you are quite a rare Carrier for Him. However, living like that… it’s no different from being a walking corpse.”
Sylvia perceived the hidden meaning in the young man’s words and also recalled his question in the deep sea earlier: “You know my true identity? Then why did you still dare to approach me?” “I know. I also know that many people fear the only daughter of the Grand Duke of Azure Court like a wolf or a tiger, and they wish they could hide far away at every gathering. But, so what?”
The other party’s reply was casual. “A person’s life, if lived entirely under the gaze and opinions of others, how difficult would that be… I can’t even imagine it.” He threw the finished grill skewer aside and leaned back on a rock with satisfaction. “In my hometown, there’s a law that if a mentally ill person commits a crime during an episode, their crime will be pardoned. Of course, this law is controversial and not perfect, but I think its original intention is not wrong—to show leniency to the kind and punish the wicked. Therefore, I think—you who carry that power were not born evil. Whether you are good or evil is not determined by your origin, but by the choices you make.”
*The choices I make…* Sylvia repeated the young man’s words in her mind. The shore fell into a long silence, and the two sat by the campfire, drying their clothes, with only the crackling sounds of the burning firewood. After an unknown amount of time, indistinct human voices could be heard in the distance. Sylvia was, after all, the only daughter of a Duke. Although she wasn’t very popular, the factions within her family loyal to the Duke himself could not ignore her safety. After discovering Sylvia had run away from home, they quickly sent people to look for her.
“Well, see you next time. If those gossips find out that the Duke’s young lady is alone with a strange man by the sea in the middle of the night, wet all over, who knows how many rumors will spread.” The young man stood up and shook his trench coat, which had already dried by the fire. Sylvia hesitated for a moment and asked somewhat hurriedly, “Can you tell me your name?” “Shaya.” “Shaya Egut. I’m three months older than you. Although I’m an adopted outsider member of the family… but by age—you can call me Brother Shaya.”
“Oh, right… I almost forgot.” The young man paused slightly, walked over to Sylvia, and tidied her chestnut long hair, which had been scattered by the cold wind. Then, he pinned a crystal hairpin to the tip of her hair. “Happy birthday, Sylvia.”
When Sylvia came back to her senses, the young man was nowhere to be seen. She reached out and gently touched the hairpin on her forehead. The hairpin made of amethyst still retained a faint warmth. This was the first birthday gift she had received since her mother’s death. She had intended to end her life on the last winter night before she came of age. But now, it seemed, this seventeenth birthday… she had spent it very happily.
“Brother… Shaya.” She softly uttered this somewhat unfamiliar name and picked up the skewer of cold grilled fish beside her. She took a shallow sip, and a smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of her lips: “It really doesn’t taste very good.”
