Silvia had a very long dream.
In that dream, she wasn't the only daughter of a duke, but simply one of the countless commoner families in the Royal Capital.
And her mother had not passed away.
On a winter evening, her family would gather joyfully around the stove, enjoying dinner together.
The aroma of food wafted through her nose, and the stove's warm heat warmed her previously chilled body.
Silvia found herself somewhat unconsciously indulging in it.
Ever since the Bronze Crucifix deep within her Soul first became turbulent, and her mother had passed away because of it, Silvia had not had a good night's sleep.
Even if she managed to fall asleep, she would always be awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night.
It could be said that this was the first time in ten years that she had slept so soundly, as if she had forgotten all her troubles.
Silvia's consciousness slowly emerged from the profound darkness, and her memory was gradually returning.
However, the clearer her previous memories became, the colder her heart grew, piece by piece.
I just, without any defenses, fell asleep so carelessly...
That thing on the Bronze Crucifix, which had shown a tendency to go rampant and was no longer constrained by my will...
She dared not imagine everything she was about to face—
The pitch-black shadows that covered her entire body, the decaying and rotting flesh, the life that perished amid the pollution and wailing.
And that overwhelming malice that left her nowhere to hide.
However, when she directed her focus towards the Bronze Crucifix deep within her Soul, the uncontrolled rampage she had anticipated did not occur.
The pitch-black shadows lay still upon the twisted figure bound by the Bronze Crucifix, rising and falling quietly.
Even under Silvia's full suppression on ordinary days, those pitch-black shadows had never been as docile as they were at this moment.
It was as if they, too, had fallen asleep alongside Silvia.
"Some worries, the more you think about them, the more you get trapped in a dead end," a familiar voice sounded beside her. "So in my hometown, there's an old saying. It goes, 'When you've reached this point, just eat first.'"
She opened her eyes and looked around, only to realize the warmth she had felt in her dream was not an illusion.
Earlier, the boy who wanted to jump into the sea with her had somehow started a bonfire on the shore with branches and dry leaves, and above it hung two skewers of sizzling fish.
Amid the crackling sound of the firewood, the small bonfire dispelled the cold and loneliness of the winter night.
The boy stood up, handed one of the skewers to Silvia, and brought the other to his mouth.
But soon, he grimaced in disgust and set the skewer aside.
"I knew it, those wilderness survival shows are all lies; grilled fish without barbecue seasoning is simply inedible. Next time I'll have Shiny prepare some seasoning jars in the Spatial Pocket."
"Silver, these are yours now."
"SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK! (You made this culinary disaster yourself, Master, so you deal with it.)"
On the boy's shoulder, a little white ferret raised its fluffy long tail, elegantly refusing its master's attempt to pass the buck.
Watching the boy and ferret trying to push responsibilities onto each other, Silvia softly asked, "Is that your Pet Beast?"
"Yep, my first Pet Beast."
"That's so nice."
Envy flickered through Silvia's deep violet eyes. "My father says that most lower-level Pet Beasts can't withstand the anomaly in the depths of my Soul, and making a contract with me is akin to suicide. I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to become a Beastmaster in this lifetime."
"You will."
His answer came quickly, as if it wasn't just a guess but stating a certain fact.
"One day, you will become a Beastmaster stronger than even your father."
"Is that so?"
Silvia smiled faintly.
Although his words were far-fetched, for some reason, she was willing to believe his groundless prophecy.
A moment of silence fell. The flame flickered uncertainly, illuminating the pitch-black night.
After a long while, Silvia spoke softly, "Just now... why did you jump into the sea?"
"Of course, it was to save you."
Silvia smoothed her somewhat disheveled long hair. "Is that how you save someone? By dragging the person you're rescuing into the sea with you?"
"Because a person intent on dying cannot be stopped; if not this time, there will always be a next time. And only by truly facing death can one understand the true essence of Life."
After a long, futile struggle with the little white ferret on his shoulder, the boy finally began to gnaw on the grilled fish with a pained expression, speaking while he ate, "Of course, this so-called 'saving you' is actually a false proposition. That entity inside you would not allow its host to truly die. If my guess is correct, you are also a rather rare vessel for it. However, living like that... isn't that basically no different from being a walking corpse?"
Silvia caught the hidden meaning in the boy's words, and also remembered the question he had posed in the deep sea. "You know my true identity? And you still dared to approach me?"
"I know, and I also know that many people are as scared of the Duke of Azure Garden's only daughter as they would be of fierce tigers and wolves, wishing nothing more than to avoid you at every gathering. But what of it?" His reply was nonchalant. "If one always lives under the gaze and opinions of others, how painful that life must be... it's simply unbearable to imagine."
Having finished his skewer of fish, he threw it aside and leaned contentedly against a rock. "In my homeland, there is such a law that if a mentally ill person commits a crime during an episode, their wrongdoing is pardoned. Of course, this law is controversial and not perfect by any means, but I believe its intention is not wrong—to offer forgiveness to the kind-hearted, and to mete out punishment to evildoers. So, I think—that the you who bears that power are not inherently evil. Whether you are good or evil is not determined by your birth, but by the choices you make."
The choices I make... is that it...?
Silvia repeated the boy's words in her heart.
A long silence fell on the shore. The two of them sat around the campfire, drying their clothes, while only the pile of firewood continued crackling with flames.
After an indefinite time, vague voices came from afar.
After all, Silvia was the sole daughter of a duke, and although not particularly popular, the factions within her family loyal to her father could not possibly ignore her safety.
Upon realizing that Silvia had run away from home, they quickly dispatched people to look for her.
"Then, see you next time," the boy stood up, shaking out his windbreaker which had dried by the fire. "If those gossips find out that the Duke's daughter is alone on the shore with a strange man in the middle of the night, soaking wet, who knows how many rumors will fly."
Silvia hesitated for a moment before asking urgently, "Can you tell me your name?"
"Shiayar."
"Shiayar Egutt."
"Three months older than you, although I'm an adopted member of the Egutt family with a different surname... But by age—you can also call me Brother Shiayar."
"Oh, right... almost forgot."
The boy paused for a moment in his movements, coming before Silvia and tidying her chestnut hair that the cold wind had disheveled.
Then, he fastened a crystal hairpin in her hair.
"Happy birthday, Silvia."
By the time Silvia came to her senses, the boy was gone.
She reached out her hand, gently touching the hairpin in her hair; the amethyst body of the pin still retained a subtle 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 her coming of age.
But now it seems, this seventeenth birthday...
She had, truly enjoyed it.
"Shiayar... Brother," Silvia murmured.
Repeating the somewhat unfamiliar name, Silvia picked up the skewer of cold grilled fish beside her.
She took a tentative bite, a smile unconsciously spreading across her lips. "It really isn't that tasty," she admitted softly.