The next day.
Nekalis, the royal capital of the Demon Realm.
When the first ray of morning sunlight angled into the glass-curtained lobby, a young man and a cat walked slowly down the stairs.
"Today is your..."
"Twenty-ninth day in this Shadow World."
Lanqi had already learned to jump in with the answer.
"Meow."
The little black cat choked back a grumble, interrupted by Lanqi before it could even finish its announcement.
In the dining room of McCarthy's mansion, a table beside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows was laid with fine white linen and neat cutlery, looking ready for its patrons.
On one of the sofas, however, a figure was already seated.
Hyperion looked toward Lanqi and smiled at him.
Today, she was no longer clad in formal Demon Princess attire; instead, she had changed back into her usual, casual dress.
"You're up early."
Lanqi sat down on the sofa opposite Hyperion and glanced out the window. Without checking a clock, he could roughly tell the time: the light on the horizon was gradually dispelling the deep purple night, the sea was no longer dim and murky, and the entire Demon King's city of Nekalis was stirring awake.
"Well, I spent most of yesterday in broad daylight dreaming, after all."
Hyperion was staying on the top floor. After waking up this morning and walking down past the third floor where Lanqi and Boss Cat stayed, she had stepped lightly, worried about disturbing them.
Still, she had felt as though the fourth floor was occupied as well.
There were traces of someone living there.
During the brief wait for breakfast, the two chatted idly.
"Good morning."
Before the attendants arrived to serve breakfast, light footsteps drew their attention.
Another small figure came walking down the stairs.
Hyperion looked at the petite wolf demon in the distance, then back at Lanqi.
"She was my guide across the Land of Evernight to the Demon Realm, Xigelei. She's our companion now," Lanqi introduced her to Hyperion.
Yesterday he had stayed by Hyperion's side until parting with her after dinner, never getting the chance to introduce Xigelei to her.
"I see."
Hyperion understood immediately: this young girl had used transformation magic to disguise herself as a demon.
In reality, she was probably from the Polant Empire as well.
Hyperion no longer found the little girl intimidating at all. It was rare to encounter a human here in the Demon Realm.
Xigelei jogged over to Lanqi's side without any intention of braking and threw herself onto the sofa.
"What a cute child," Hyperion said, watching Xigelei's deadpan yet lively antics.
Although her outfit was rather boyish, her face showed she was naturally pretty, and her long light-colored hair was braided as neatly as ribbons.
"Luoqi braided my hair for me," Xigelei said.
In the past, she had only ever bundled her hair haphazardly and stuffed it into a cap. It was only later that Luoqi began braiding it for her every morning like a mother.
After arriving in the Demon Realm and getting a whole new wardrobe, she had looked in the mirror for the first time in ages, only to discover she looked completely renewed.
"You can do that too?" Hyperion looked at Lanqi.
She knew Lanqi could paint, sculpt, and do many other things, but she hadn't expected that, just like Duke Mikhail, he could even braid a girl's hair.
"Want me to do yours tomorrow?" Lanqi smiled faintly and asked.
"No, no, that's fine." Hyperion waved her hands. She was no longer a little girl who needed a grown-up to braid her hair.
Not that she completely objected, but there was no need for it right now.
"Are you a princess?" Xigelei looked at Hyperion and asked curiously.
She had heard from the butler and the dining room attendants that Luoqi brought back a Demon Realm princess yesterday. If she wasn't mistaken, it could only be this young lady.
Xigelei had never seen a young noble lady who seemed to glow like this at first glance.
"Uh, I don't really want to be a princess..." Hyperion averted her gaze in embarrassment.
She didn't want to deny her current responsibilities, nor did she want to lie to a child; she was just worried about frightening her.
"Holy shit, that's amazing!" Xigelei's eyes went wide as she exclaimed in admiration.
Hyperion froze in stunned silence for several seconds.
"She's been learning to read and practice etiquette recently. I'm still teaching her, so please excuse her," Lanqi said with a helpless smile.
Yet there was no reproach toward Xigelei in his tone, only self-blame.
Compared to the way Xigelei had spoken at first, she was already holding back quite a bit.
When he first heard her speak, his reaction had been just about identical to Hyperion's.
Teaching Xigelei to become a noble young lady befitting the prime minister's household would likely take quite a while, but Lanqi felt there was no need to force her into that mold. She was born with an untamed streak and shouldn't be domesticated by anyone. If anything, she was born to be like an emperor, refusing to be bound by arbitrary rules and conventions.
"Is there anything I can help with?" Hyperion asked.
Even though Lanqi was Xigelei's teacher, she couldn't shake the feeling that he resembled a single father looking after a child.
Just like Duke Mikhail raising her when she was young.
Feeling a pang of sympathy, Hyperion wanted to lend Lanqi a hand and, at the same time, look after this little girl who shared similarities with her younger self as best she could.
"That would be a huge help," Lanqi breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
For a child of Xigelei's age, what she needed was more than just one person's companionship.
"When I'm not around, you can ask Hyperion to teach you. She's a genuine highborn lady; she might be even better than me at things like correspondence," Lanqi explained to Xigelei.
"Okay," Xigelei nodded.
Then she fell quiet.
It seemed she was still a bit shy around Hyperion, whom she had just met, preferring to cling to Lanqi instead.
"Let me let you in on a secret: Hyperion hates the Blood Clan too," Lanqi whispered in Xigelei's ear.
"How much?" Surprise flickered in Xigelei's eyes.
"Go ask her." Lanqi patted Xigelei on the head.
Xigelei thought about it for a second, then jogged over and sat down beside Hyperion.
"Hyperion, do you hate the Blood Clan?" Xigelei looked up and asked.
"Of course I do. If not for the Blood Clan, my father wouldn't have..." Hyperion could not hide the hint of hatred in her eyes, her voice trailing off until words failed her.
Xigelei looked at Hyperion, remaining silent for a long time.
As if having found a kindred spirit, she wrapped her arms around Hyperion's slender waist.
"Xigelei, did your father... also suffer because of the Blood Clan?" Hyperion looked at Xigelei in surprise. Pondering for a moment, she finally understood what prompted this reaction.
"Mhm," Xigelei murmured, burying her head against Hyperion.
It seemed as though she was comforting Hyperion, yet also seeking comfort in return.
"Don't worry, Xigelei. The Blood Clan will be defeated. The Demon Realm has already officially resolved to declare war against them," Hyperion gently stroked Xigelei's long hair and said.
Hyperion knew Xigelei's warmth toward her was all thanks to Lanqi opening the topic just now.
*How can Lanqi be so normal when interacting with children?* Hyperion thought in bewilderment.
This was one of the rare moments where Lanqi not only looked like a normal person, but actually acted like one too.
"Really?" Xigelei tilted her head up to look at Hyperion, her voice brimming with incredulous excitement.
She used to read the newspapers every single day, straining to understand even when she couldn't make out the words.
She had hoped that one day, the seemingly unstoppable Blood Clan and Horning Empire would suffer defeat.
She hadn't imagined that now, such electrifying news of change would finally arrive.
"Would the Demon Realm's princess ever lie to you?" Hyperion asked with a smile. "Come, Xigelei, let me explain it to you piece by piece."
Hyperion had Xigelei sit comfortably beside her, instructed an attendant to bring over a copy of the Nekalis Morning Post, and began telling Xigelei about the Demon Realm's current situation.
She found Xigelei utterly adorable, practically a mirror of her younger self.
Hyperion was now convinced that the four nodes of the Blood Moon Ruined World were continuous Shadow Worlds; as long as they secured an advantage in an earlier Shadow World, it would carry over into the next.
The fact that she could now reunite with Lanqi in the Demon Realm was precisely the result of the deviation they had achieved at the end of the second Shadow World.
It was just that the maps and timeframes of the first two Shadow Worlds had been too constrained, limiting their influence on subsequent ones.
This Shadow World, the Darkest Solar Eclipse Realm, however, was a completely open-world map with an extensive timeline; any action here had the potential to dramatically alter the storyline of the final Blood Moon Ruined World Shadow World.
Perhaps the next Shadow World would take place a decade or more after this era.
When she and Lanqi entered the Shadow World again from the real world, Xigelei would be grown up.
By then, Xigelei would surely become a dependable teammate for them.
Just thinking about it made Hyperion look forward to what an adult Xigelei would be like.
If only she could bring her back to the real world as a younger sister—though unfortunately, that was impossible.
Chapter 593