Chapter 328
Returning to Crescent Moon Manor (Third Update)
When Eivass awoke, she realized she was being held in Miss Beyad’s embrace.
Their position was peculiar.
Miss Beyad had removed her shoes and was lying on the soft bench of the tavern’s private room, her back against the cold wall. The Shadow Demon had already returned to Eivass’s shadow.
Eivass, on the other hand, lay like a rag doll in her arms. Miss Beyad’s arm was wrapped firmly around her slender waist, and her head rested on Miss Beyad’s chest. Miss Beyad also withdrew her outer leg, bending her knee slightly to shield the girl lying on her. This was to prevent Eivass from rolling off if she got drowsy.
Although the Child of the Moon was a reanimated corpse, she was not an undead. Unlike the Shadow Demon, whose touch was icy and bone-chilling like winter iron, Miss Beyad’s body was warm.
At this moment, Miss Beyad’s eyes were closed, her breathing calm. She gently sniffed the aroma of Eivass’s hair… it was the fresh scent of the citrus shampoo used at Crescent Moon Manor.
It was said that citrus could stimulate the appetite of the Child of the Moon, so this was likely a deliberate, appetizing design.
Sensing the change in Eivass’s breathing, Miss Beyad immediately opened her eyes. “Awake?”
“…How did I fall asleep?”
Eivass had just woken up and was still a bit groggy.
This body was simply too weak. Not only was it weak, but there might also be something wrong with it. Eivass couldn’t use Fire Worship Magic to recover her state… making her feel a long-forgotten headache upon waking.
She might have caught a cold, or perhaps her body was still burdened from finally eating her fill after so long.
“…Did you black out?”
Miss Beyad sounded a bit surprised. “You can black out from drinking beer? Or was it because you ate too much soup?”
Eivass tried to recall, and indeed, she couldn’t remember when she fell asleep.
The last memory remaining in her mind was Miss Beyad revealing her identity, sighing sadly, “Fortunately, none of this is real.”
This caused Eivass to lift her head with focus, subconsciously reaching upwards. Miss Beyad instinctively recoiled slightly, trying to avoid Eivass’s touch. But she quickly came to her senses, instead lowering her head slightly so Eivass could touch her face more easily.
“I will remember you.”
Eivass replied seriously, “Not just Miss Beyad, and not just my Shadow Demon… but the unique you.
“If so, you are not just a residual image, a fabricated doll. You will interact with me like everyone else, and be remembered by me.”
Hearing this, Miss Beyad was slightly taken aback.
She let out a somewhat helpless laugh. “As I thought, you really did black out.”
“…What?”
“You’ve already said these words once.”
Miss Beyad chuckled softly, then picked up Eivass and sat sideways, helping her put her shoes back on. “But I won’t get tired of hearing them even if you say them again.”
With that, she put on her own shoes.
Then, she playfully rubbed Eivass’s face forcefully to wake her up. Amidst Eivass’s angry shouts of ‘Don’t pinch my face after I just put on my shoes!’, she wore a mischievous smile and laughed heartily.
She extended her hand to Eivass. “Want to walk around more? The night in this era… it’s almost three in the morning, but there should still be some places to go. Even false things can provide an experience of ‘beauty’. This is probably why the Twin Mirror pursues perfection.”
Pursuing perfection…
Eivass smiled upon hearing this.
Amber was the “God of Perfect Eternity.”
“Then, do you have anywhere you want to take me?”
Eivass placed her hand on Miss Beyad’s, asking in return.
Miss Beyad thought for a moment, then smiled down. “Probably nowhere else. The place I most wanted to bring you was here.”
“Then let’s go back.”
“Alright.”
Miss Beyad nodded gently.
The fleeting缘分 (fate/connection) from this encounter had to come to an end.
When they first met, the coldness and arrogance on her face had completely vanished. Her brow was no longer perpetually furrowed, and there was no longer contempt or scrutiny towards others between her brows.
The current Miss Beyad seemed more like a young, ordinary girl than the famous tycoon of the Empire, the sole controller of Beyad Investment Group.
—Those false things would one day dissipate like smoke. They were neither beautiful nor eternal.
At that time, the only thing that could remain… would be the imprints one left in the hearts of others.
If there was anything truly real in this false world, it was likely these imprints. And among all imprints, only love and hope were eternal.
For “Beyad,” who existed after abandoning the light, all that could be left were traces of “love.”
Remember me… Eivass. If so, I can live on.
Miss Beyad thought her true name in her heart. It was the true name the girl had spoken after getting drunk earlier.
Since even someone as strong as you is melancholic about whether you are a false being… then I must also become strong.
Heh, seeing others suffer more than myself can alleviate my own melancholy. Such a despicable and cowardly act, truly befitting of me.
Miss Beyad smiled self-mockingly, tightening her grip on Eivass’s hand. It was as if she were holding Eivass’s shadow.
And at this moment, on the other side.
A little girl with silvery white hair was stumbling forward in a secret tunnel, clutching her waist.
That was the Philosopher (Zhe Ren).
Her face was grim, and intense killing intent suppressed her emotions, making the blue light of the Path of Wisdom in her eyes almost unable to shine—the Path of Wisdom was a path that could only be fully resonated with by maintaining absolute rationality, and she was clearly not in that state.
Finding the location of the secret tunnel had wasted too much of her time. Even so, she still hadn’t found her two teammates—they had seemingly vanished into thin air.
Perhaps they were killed, the Philosopher thought malevolently.
She had just witnessed a dismemberment. The young man being dismembered was possibly Castellan Lady.
She was a righteous person who could not accept such an evil and decadent ritual. Furthermore, she was of noble birth and unwilling to lower herself to play her part, so she had directly cursed out loud. This vibrant act had piqued the interest of the Children of the Moon… After a brief hunt, he became the “main course” of the banquet.
The Philosopher’s main occupation was Demon Scholar, so she didn’t feel uncomfortable. However, realizing that the Children of the Moon not only drank blood but also ate people, she was shocked and truly understood the danger of this ritual.
The young man’s eyeballs had become a delicacy, and his liver was cut and plated. He was auctioned off at a high price, becoming the main course of the banquet and bringing the atmosphere to a climax.
But the Philosopher knew that the Children of the Moon did not need to eat people to survive. This was merely the unbridled rampage of those monsters out of sheer interest.
Even Demon Scholars would not easily engage in such evil acts. Although Demon Scholars also killed, stole corpses, executed, and even tortured living people, their ultimate purpose was for ritual materials. Indeed, some rituals required the corpses of those who died in pain, and some materials themselves were filled with evil energy.
But Demon Scholars ultimately had a purpose… whereas the Children of the Moon were simply unleashing unrestrained malice.
—Even Demon Scholars think you guys are too extreme!
Unable to reunite with her teammates… forced by circumstances, she could only enter the “private room” by herself. To facilitate her escape, she chose a room that was sufficiently secluded yet close to the end.
The result was that her body was almost torn to shreds.
This disgusted her to the point of near-fury—those despicable, disgusting, utterly awful monsters dared to do this to me! Do you know who I am, you foolish scum!
Just thinking about it, she felt the people of the Iris Kingdom were disgusting, considering that such decadent monsters held nearly half the voting power in the Upper Council of the Iris Kingdom.
She coughed in anger.
She coughed up blood foam and spat out bloody phlegm—a testament to how close she had come to dying in that room.
—After I get back, I need to put further pressure on the Iris Kingdom.
No, I need to find a way to go to war with the Iris Kingdom!
We must eliminate the Children of the Moon!
A race this disgusting doesn’t deserve to exist in this world!
The Philosopher, a Lieutenant General of Star Antinomy’s army and a Count, thought resentfully.
Update complete! Nearly eight thousand words!
Tomorrow, I will also finish writing before posting. I’ll let the cat sleep in naturally in the morning… so I probably won’t be able to update at twelve, but I should be able to release three chapters in the evening around six!
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