Sylvia had a very long dream.
In that dream, she was not the only daughter of a grand duke, but just a member of one of the countless ordinary civilian families in the royal capital.
Her mother was not dead.
On a winter evening, the family sat happily around the fireplace enjoying dinner.
The aroma of food lingered in her nose, and the warm heat from the fire added a bit of warmth to her originally cold body.
Sylvia was somewhat unconsciously intoxicated by it.
Ever since the bronze cross deep in her soul rioted for the first time and her mother left her because of it, Sylvia has never slept well again.
Even if I managed to fall asleep, I would always be awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night.
It can be said that this was the first time in the past ten years that she slept so soundly, as if all her worries were forgotten.
...
...
Sylvia's consciousness was awakened little by little from the deep darkness, and her memory was gradually revived.
However, as the previous memories became clearer, Sylvia felt her heart growing colder by the second.
Just now, I was totally defenseless, I let down all my guard and fell asleep...
The thing on the bronze cross that had just begun to run wild and lost my willpower...
She couldn't imagine what she was about to face.
Dark shadows all over the body, rotting and corrupted flesh, and lives lost in pollution and wailing.
And, that which is blowing in your face.
The malice that left her nowhere to hide.
However--
When she focused her mind on the bronze cross deep in her heart, the scene of losing control and running wild as Sylvia had expected did not occur.
The dark shadow hovered over the twisted figure bound by the bronze cross, rising and falling quietly.
Even under Sylvia's full suppression on normal days, those dark shadows had never been as obedient as they were at this moment.
It was as if he had fallen asleep with Sylvia.
…
“Some troubles, the more you think about them, the more you will be stuck in a dead end.”
“So there’s an old saying in my hometown.”
"That is it - now that things have come to this, let's eat first."
A familiar voice sounded in Sylvia's ears.
She opened her eyes and looked around, only then did she realize that the warmth she had felt in her dream just now was not an illusion.
The boy who wanted to pull him into the sea had already made a bonfire with branches and dead leaves on the shore, with two skewers of sizzling grilled fish hanging above.
Amid the crackling sound of burning firewood, this small bonfire drove away the cold and loneliness of the winter night.
The other person stood up, handed one of the grilled fish skewers to Sylvia, and put the other skewer to his mouth.
But soon, an expression of disgust appeared on his face and he put the skewer of grilled fish aside.
"I knew that those wilderness survival shows are all scams. Grilled fish without barbecue condiments is not meant for human consumption. Next time, I'll have to ask Shanshan to prepare some seasoning jars in her space pocket."
"Yin, I'll leave these to you."
"Oh~ (Master, you created the starry sky yourself, so you should solve it yourself.)"
On the boy's shoulder, a small ferret raised its long furry tail and rejected its owner's attempt to shirk responsibility with an elegant manner.
Sylvia looked at the man and the marten who were pushing the blame to each other and said softly, "Is that your pet?"
"Yes, my first pet."
“That’s great.”
A trace of envy flashed in Sylvia's purple eyes: "My father said that most low-level pets cannot withstand the abnormality in the depths of my soul. Contracting with me is equivalent to suicide."
"I don't know if I will have another chance to become a beastmaster in this lifetime."
"There will be."
The other party answered quickly, as if he was not making a guess, but stating an indisputable fact.
"One day, you will become a more powerful beastmaster than your father."
"Yeah?"
Sylvia smiled faintly.
Although the other party's words were very far-fetched, for some reason, she was willing to believe his unfounded predictions.
A moment’s silence.
The flame flickered, illuminating the dark night. After a long while, Sylvia whispered, "Just now... why did you jump into the sea?"
"To save you, of course."
Sylvia smoothed her messy long hair and said, "Is there anyone who saves people like you? Pulling the rescuer along and jumping into the sea together?"
"Because you can't stop someone who is determined to die. If you miss this time, there will always be another time."
“Only by facing death can one understand the true meaning of life.”
After struggling with the little ferret on his shoulder for a long time without any results, the boy finally ate the grilled fish with a bitter face. While eating, he said: "Of course, the so-called saving you is actually a false proposition."
"The creature inside you will not allow its host to truly die. If my guess is correct, you are also a rare carrier for Him."
"It's just that living like that...is actually no different from being a zombie."
Sylvia sensed the hidden meaning in the boy's words, and also thought of the question he had asked her in the deep sea: "You know my true identity? How dare you approach me?"
"Yes, I know that many people are afraid of the only daughter of Duke Cang Ting, and they would like to stay away from her every time there is a gathering."
"But, so what?"
The other party's answer was very casual: "If a person's life is always under the gaze and public opinion of others, how hard it would be to live... I simply can't even imagine it."
He threw the skewer he had just eaten aside and leaned against a rock with satisfaction: "In my hometown, there is a law that if a mentally ill person commits a crime during an attack of illness, his crime will be pardoned."
"Of course, this law is controversial and not perfect, but I think its original intention is not wrong—"
"Forgive those who do good and punish those who do evil."
"So, I think - you who carry that power are not born evil."
"Whether you are good or evil is not determined by your birth, but by the choices you make."
The choice I made...
Sylvia repeated the other person's words in her mind.
The coast fell into a long silence as the two men sat around the fire, drying their clothes. Only the firewood was still burning and crackling.
After an unknown amount of time, a vague voice was heard in the distance.
After all, Sylvia is the only daughter of a grand duke. Although she is not very popular, those factions within the family who are loyal to the grand duke himself cannot ignore her safety.
After discovering that Sylvia had run away from home, they quickly sent someone to look for her.
"Well, see you next time."
"If those gossipers found out that the Duke's daughter was alone with a strange man in the middle of the night, who knows how many rumors would spread."
The boy stood up and shook his windbreaker which had been dried by the fire.
Sylvia hesitated for a moment, then spoke hastily, "Can you tell me your name?"
"Char."
"Shaya Eggot."
"I'm three months older than you. Although I'm a foreign member adopted by the family..."
"But in terms of age—"
"You can also call me Brother Xia."
"Oh, yes... I almost forgot."
The boy paused for a moment, came to Sylvia, and straightened her long chestnut hair that was blown by the cold wind.
Then, he pinned a crystal hairpin on the end of her hair.
"Happy birthday, Sylvia."
…
When Sylvia came to her senses, the young man was no longer in sight.
She stretched out her hand and gently stroked the hairpin on her forehead. There was still a faint warmth on the amethyst hairpin.
This was the first birthday present she received after her mother passed away.
She originally wanted to end her life on the last winter night before she became an adult.
But now it seems that this seventeenth birthday...
She was living a really happy life.
"Char...Brother."
Murmuring this somewhat unfamiliar name, Sylvia picked up the cold grilled fish next to her.
She took a sip and a smile appeared unconsciously on the corner of her mouth:
“It’s really not very tasty.”
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