Chapter 87
When Water Lord came back from the living room, he also brought some clothes for her and placed them next to her pillow. She reluctantly got out of bed, put on the clothes and slowly did her hair. Before leaving the dressing room, she tried hard to make herself look tidy. She forced herself to walk with light steps, but when she met Virgil, he was startled. "What happened? Did the storm last night keep you awake? Why do you look so unwell? Have a warm drink, Elvis, did you make some tea for your lady? Put more sugar in it!"
"Shut up! Can't I see for myself?" Fire Lord retorted as he busied himself and didn't forget to argue with Virgil.
Even Titus abandoned his own plate of mashed potato dumplings and hurried over to comfort Xerath, which made her very uncomfortable.
"I'm fine. I woke up in the middle of the night." She calmly walked to the table and sat down, picking up a cup. She took a small sip. At that moment, Elvis brought a fragrant roasted pork patty and a hot pancake coated with honey butter.
Elvis floated over to the stone table, and his skull-like head revealed a creepy smile. The gaps in his "teeth" glowed brightly. "Madam, when you can't sleep well, I think you should eat something sweet."
"Okay, thank you."
Fire Lord slowly floated back to his fireplace, and suddenly there was a burst of flames inside.
Xerath silently ate breakfast, while Virgil enthusiastically told her about all the big and small events that had happened across the continent in these past few months. This man had traveled extensively throughout the land, gathering various pieces of news. If he had agreed to become a contributor to the "Highway Gazette," he might have already become one of the most famous journalists in the world.
"But I really don't understand why you had to send Sylas back to Star Song Castle. Don't you think you have more enemies than friends there?"
"If you want to say that I don't have many friends, that's true. I feel like I've helped a lot of people though."
"Are you referring to having others copy your homework? That might be true as well. Among the core young teachers at Star Song Castle, there's probably none who haven't copied your homework."
"Exactly, perhaps even Maryland agreed to help me because of the favor of copying homework. By squeezing Sylas in, I used up her spot as a dependent."
The so-called dependent spot is a small convenience that allows the children of staff members to be exempt from certain exams when they want to enter the school. However, because Sylas is not a direct relative, she would have to take a preparatory exam or else repeat a year in primary school.
"She and your brother..."
"I think my mom is forcing my brother to have a baby. He's quite funny though. From what I observed, getting married is like pushing a wall, once you're forced into marriage, it becomes easier to be pressured into doing other things. But he seems immune to it."
"After all, he's your brother."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It's up to you. When are you leaving?"
"After finishing lunch, feel free to wander around." Archmage stood up wearily, trying to maintain a calm appearance and not let Virgil see any abnormalities. She straightened her back and walked out of the room.
The library was a mess, with bookshelves full of notebooks on the floor and books piled into a small mountain. There were scattered sheets of paper everywhere, books twitching occasionally, a librarian bent from being hit, crooked displays, and broken glass in the wall. Moose was sleeping on the wall, with its nose hidden among its deer legs. Surrounded by a few big trees, it moved its ears slightly upon hearing Xerath enter, standing up with an air of royalty and looking at her arrogantly.
Xerath briefly greeted it, and the scattered items on the floor floated up and flew in front of Xerath. She picked out what she needed from them one by one and put them back where they belonged.
Unfortunately, the window glass couldn't recover quickly enough. She placed a stone there, trying her best to fill the gap. The sun was coming out, and Frostchild would soon be unable to bear the heat outside and return to the Elemental Realm.
The heavy "Unicorn Observation Diary" fell to the side of the table. Xerath walked over and bent down to pick it up.
She held it in her hand for a long time, sighing softly, before putting it back on the bookshelf in an inconspicuous spot, among a pile of identical notebooks.
"I still have to go pick her up," she turned around and brushed off the dust on her hands. The gust of wind last night had brought in some sand, but the archmage hadn't swept the floor in a long time. She summoned a few Sons of the Wind, and their whirlwind quickly gathered the dust on the ground, which the water lord then kneaded into moist sandballs before throwing them out of the "door" of Shamodial.
After doing all this, the archmage slumped in the chair and stared blankly for a long time, only to snap out of it and realize she had been fixated on Sylas's desk to her right. It was a posture Sylas often assumed and now it suddenly held an unusual significance, leaving her more bewildered.
Only two months. The strong desire to hide her conflicted fiercely with her rationality. She understood that Sylas needed to be free, which meant she had to possess the strength to match that need.
It's not just about living as an ordinary person, having a carefree life, doing any random job, having ordinary hobbies, or any other ordinary way of living. Sylas's very existence would bring about various conflicts—a ferocious demon beast, a war machine.
There was no other way for this poor little girl to control her own destiny except to take it into her own hands.
However, that crazy, sudden surge of thoughts was strongly eating away at her rationality. The irrational part of her screamed to imprison this emerald-like elf, to have her imprisoned by her side, trapped within this tower, where the emerald would only reflect her own shadow.
Whether it's fifty years or sixty years, even if her own life came to an end, the archmage had at least three ways to keep her soul, to keep her confined by her side, never to leave.
... But no, it's not right. She should... grow freely, nurtured and watered, under the sun, in the rain, in the wind, instead of being distorted, imprisoned, confined, deceived.
The powerful wizard leaned against the window, looking down at the various colored plants. There were green ones, yellow ones, blue ones, pink ones, needle-like ones, diamond-shaped ones, tongue-like ones, and drop-like ones. They all stood tall, facing the wind and the blazing sun, with the shadow of the mage tower covering them. As time passed, the shadow slowly moved away.
After staring into space for a while, she returned to her room and picked out the clothes she wanted to bring. She handed them to the water lord, and Hyectra folded the clothes and put them in a box.
"You've packed quite a lot of clothes..." Hyectra pushed them down forcefully. "Is it too much? I mean, five outfits? Aren't we only staying for three days?"
"I plan on going straight to Star Song Castle." She picked out two short-sleeved shirts. "I don't really feel like wearing a tie...but I'll bring it just in case."
"Should I bring two books? Nah, I have a feeling Sashara will give me a new one."
Hyectra smiled and asked, "Did she write it herself?"
"Oh, I don't know if she's still writing new books. If she is, it might be a gift from Biatris."
"I kinda miss them, Diomis and Zewineke."
"Won't we encounter them in the Endless Water Realm?"
"Zewineke lived in warm waters, and Deomis was hard to come across on the surface of the sea. Madam, I am a 'cold' water lord."
"Oh? Is that so?" the archmage passed by and gently touched its body surface.
This little joke made her feel a bit more relaxed and temporarily put aside thoughts about Sylas. If she couldn't figure out this problem, she would set it aside for now. When she had enough knowledge, suddenly new ideas and thoughts would appear.
This was her way of dealing with all problems, and now she decided to handle it this way too.
She packed up the box, carried it downstairs to the living room. Virgil was not there, maybe he was eyeing her collection again, perhaps he would secretly borrow it to play with, but he would carefully save it and not dare to use it, afraid she would get angry if she found out.
Virgil came in without her noticing. He sat quietly opposite her as the salted pork elbow with pickled cabbage and mashed potatoes was brought and placed on the table. They both started eating without saying a word, and only then did Xerath notice that Virgil was unusually quiet today.
Unable to resist, she touched her own face. "Why aren't you speaking?"
"You seem to have no mood for talking, what's wrong?"
"If I were you, I wouldn't ask."
"Look, why do you ask me if I'll speak? I won't speak now, not a word, don't even think about making me talk." He angrily cut through the crispy pig skin and stuffed it into his mouth along with the soft and rotten gelatinous meat.
Xerath shrugged her shoulders, firmly grabbed both hands and released many small wind blades at the same time. The scattered wind blades cut a whole pig's elbow into eight pieces. Then the archmage, with a serious and overly focused effort, made sure to stuff sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, lean pork, and pig skin into his mouth with each piece of meat.
Virgil and Titus ran several times in the house, only then did she finish this meal completely. She elegantly wiped her mouth and walked up to Virgil, saying, "I'm leaving, take good care of Titus and Elvis."
"Yes, my lady, will you be bringing the little beast with you when you return?"
"Maybe, but I don't know when I'll be back. Perhaps I'll feel like taking her out for some fun."
"It's hard for me to associate the phrase 'feel like it' with you."
Xerath tried her best to act indifferent and slightly impatient, "You should get in touch with Sylas. She always feels like doing things on a whim, who knows what she'll get up to after playing outside for two months. I've kept her locked up for too long." Wondering if she succeeded or not.
Maybe not," Virgil looked skeptical, "Go ahead and leave, I won't go into your room or the little beast's room." Virgil suddenly emphasized, "Especially hers, I promise!
