The cooking part was fun.

Lith saw many new colors on Sylvia. Her slightly flushed face, her slightly confused face, her slightly amused face, her mildly inconvenienced face, and her slightly happy face.

Every emotion was just in slight amounts. This girl was destined to be a kuudere in future, if she ever awoke feelings for Lith.

Nonetheless, at least her neutral face had some change to it.

Lith sat down with her on a rock by a river. They gazed at the many fishes leaping and going upstream.

Lith blew on a hot spoonful of curry rice and fed it to Sylvia, who ate it without any resistance.

He turned his gaze to the fishes and with a smile, asked, "Do you know the story of the carp leaping through the dragon gate?"

Sylvia, chewing on the curry rice cutely, shook her head. There was no time in her life to go through fairy tales.

"Well, long long ago, there was once a carp"

Lith began reciting the famous tale of the carp while feeding Sylvia curry rice.

She fed it to him too, so they both were having alternate bites of food from the same plate. It was an awkward yet romantic atmosphere.

The food was eventually finished, but the story did not end.

Sylvia was invested in the story with how her ears perked up during crucial moments of the story.

Despite being belittled by its peers for going against the current, despite being pushed down by the gushing force of the water, and despite being wounded by its fall, the carp persisted and never gave up.

Initially, Sylvia was indifferent to the story, but then Lith recited on how the carp never gave up and swam on and on and on.

Her brows furrowed in annoyance as she thought of how stupid the carp was, for continuously going against the stream. It could lead a good life even without it, so why bother? Why give yourself additional troubles?

Lith hadn't stated her the reason for the carp's motivation for swimming against the current. He kept it as a surprise for later.

He just told her that it one day decided to go against the current, that's it.

This was bound to annoy Sylvia, and that was what he wanted to achieve.

Eventually, Sylvia's frustration peaked, but the sweet, slightly tart, and creamy cheesecake soothed her emotions.

By the time the food was finished, the story had come to its final climax.

Lith put aside the plates and wrapped his arm around Sylvia's waist, pulling her closer.

For reasons she couldn't figure out, Sylvia found herself complying and even unknowingly putting her head on Lith's shoulder.

'I shouldn't do this'

Lith was her Master. She shouldn't be putting her head on his shoulder like that. But then

'It feels warm.'

Lith's body was cold. He was a Vampire, it was bound to be that way, but as of this moment, Sylvia felt a comforting warmth.

Maybe it was her own body heating up to warm up Lith's cold body, or maybe Lith was doing something to make her feel this. Sylvia didn't know, and she wasn't interested in knowing the details.

What mattered was the warmth, and the story he was saying.

'The carp is annoying'

Indeed. It was annoying, yet she could relate with it.

Countless years have been spent trying to survive. She could give up anytime and kill herself, ending it once and for all, but just like the dumb carp, Sylvia too persisted and continued to live.

Everyday was hell. The curse on her was really strong.

Plus, there was a being that tried to absorb her.

A face half-covered in a veil, wearing purple robes and a big pointy hat.

Sylvia vividly remembered her blood red lips curved into a threatening glow.

That figure, she used to lick her lips and say:

"Darling, you have no idea how much I'm longing for you."

These words were not of love or longing, but of a threat.

This figure wanted to devour Sylvia, take up her entire essence, and ascend to greater heights.

To her, Sylvia was just a delicious piece of meat.

"Get lost!" Sylvia's hoarse voice would echo in the surroundings.

She barely ever spoke, and the words were usually only said out loud when she saw this being.

"Oh darling, just come to mother's loving embrace. I promise you'll always be treated right." The figure would try to entice her.

"Get lost!"

Sylvia would used to send out a powerful attack after shouting again, then escape from the place.

The figure couldn't do anything about it or stop her. Sylvia was powerful and a Supreme Rank at that. Finding her was difficult.

However, she would always find her in some or the other way.

The only reason she did not go all out and attack Sylvia was

"Heh heh I'll wait for you to weaken fully, then devour you. It's not that I'll lose to you in your current state, but once you're completely weak, absorbing your helpless self and watching you scream would bring a great melody to my ears. I want to see you struggle"

The woman would lick her lips after saying so. Her veil covered red eyes could still be seen shining brightly as she said those words.

"I want to see you cry, I want to see you beg, I want to seeyouplead, I wanttoseeyougiveupIwanttoseeyouinpaonIwanttoseeyouides

parIwanttoseeyou"

The woman was going totally crazy with her words. She would always do so if Sylvia did not escape within the first ten minutes of their encounter.

Countless years. Countless years had been spent running away from her and trying to find ways to break the curse on her.

It was a pathetic life with nothing to look forward to.

Honestly, Sylvia should've just ended it all and fallen into an eternal sleep, but like the carp, she persisted and endured the pain for no particular reason.

Till this day, she was trying to figure out why she had persisted so much.

Was it her natural instinct to survive? Was it some celestial phenomenon? Was it due to the curse? There were a lot of possibilities, yet Sylvia had little to no clue of her answer.

"and so, one fine day, the carp leaps again. This time, it's neither a weak leap nor a leap leading to its downfall. It's a strong, graceful leap the carp majestically does and"

Finally, the answer was here.

Sylvia's eyes sparkled with slight anticipation and a tinge of excitement.

"it finally leaps over the dragon gate, crossing the realm of mortality, entering the realm of immortality, and turning into an azure dragon"

'Ah'

'It was the dragon gate!'

Sylvia momentarily forgot the name of the story Lith had stated in the beginning. Right, it was trying to leap over the dragon gate wait a second

Sylvia was confused once more.

She lifted her head up and asked with knitted brows, "Your Highness, did the carp know there was a dragon gate from the start?"

Lith smiled. "Did I mention it to have seen a dragon gate?"

"no?"

"Then there's your answer."

Sylvia frowned, visibly this time, surprising Lith. He didn't know she could show this emotion too.

'If the carp did not know of the dragon gate's existence why did it try to go upstream?'

This question was still unanswered.

Her life's question would not be an easy one to find, but at least she could find out about this answer regarding the carp.

Articulating her words properly, Sylvia asked, "My apologies, but I wanted to ask, why was the carp trying to go against the stream? Did it have some thoughts or motivation for it?"

"Oh, that"

KA-BOOOOM!

A loud explosion occurred in the sky, cutting off Lith and Sylvia's talks.

Annoyed, the two looked up.

An eerie being full of dark scales had torn apart Space itself, entering the world through the void.

The powerful malevolent aura it gave out was roughly equivalent to a Supreme Rank's.

The being's slit pupils moved and finally landed on Lith.

"#@##$$!!"

The being screeched in an unknown language. However, Lith and Sylvia could clearly understand its meaning.

[Found you!]

Sylvia's usual indifferent expression was turned into annoyance. It wasn't mild annoyance anymore, but a full blown one.

"Please wait a second, Your Highness." Sylvia said and vanished from her spot.

Lith sighed and rubbed his temples. 'I have to do something about this halo on my head or I'll be consistently hunted.'

The malevolent being's intentions were clear as day light. It wanted to kill Lith and absorb the negative essence within him to fuel itself.

Lith looked up at him and saw Sylvia to have appeared there.

Sylvia did not talk and made hand signs, summoning a demonic gate of some sort. It was gray, metallic, had spikes and skulls etched on it, and appeared really ancient.

Sylvia extended her hands out and clapped. With clinging-

clanging sounds, thick dark chains rushed out of the gates, attacking the malevolent being.

It did not get any time to react and got bound by the chains.

"Raaaaaah!" The being screeched as the chains tightened around itself.

Sylvia made hand signs again and the chains were being pulled into the demonic gate.

Soon, the being passed into the gate. It closed itself and vanished.

The clear sky and the warm sun was visible again.

Sylvia re-appeared in front of Lith like a phantom and said with a flat look, "My apologies for leaving the conversation abruptly, Your Highness."

Lith smiled and shook his head. "I should be the one to apologize for bringing a disaster out of nowhere."

Sylvia did not brood on this topic further. With a curious look in her eyes, she asked, "So, can His Highness answer now"

"Right. So about the carp going against the stream"