Lanqi Ate from Lunch to Dinner

The afternoon light was soft and lazy, lending a tender warmth to the air by the restaurant windows. As one delicacy after another was served, Lanqi and Talia gradually set aside their reservations. "Say ahh." Lanqi cut off a piece of pan-seared veal with his fork, dipped it in rich sauce, and brought it to Talia's lips. Blushing shyly, Talia parted her cherry lips, and soon a spoon fed the delicious morsel into her mouth, a hand held attentively beneath it so nothing would drop onto her. Though these overly intimate gestures drew envious or teasing glances from onlookers, Lanqi and Talia had no attention to spare for them. Just focusing on each other consumed every ounce of their mental energy. Even so, Talia still found it difficult to relax as she usually did, her body stiff and tense. Even though Lanqi's movements as he fed her were quite restrained, she still felt as if she were being held in his arms. Yet the way Lanqi fed her was truly so gentle that she felt as though she might melt. In her mind, Talia was screaming nonstop— She felt she must have lost her mind, possessed by some mad impulse to sit on Lanqi's lap and let him feed her. Lanqi fed her, occasionally dabbing the corners of her mouth with a napkin, and whenever she was on the verge of feeling thirsty, he would preemptively ask if she wanted a drink. At first she had sat upright, but as the hours dragged on, Talia grew visibly fatigued. Trying her best to empty her thoughts and dull the sense of shame, she did nothing but open her mouth and chew, cooperating with Lanqi. As the hands of the clock turned, the sun slowly began to sink westward. The midday sun grew more fiery, its golden hues gradually tinged with shades of orange. With the beauty nestled in his arms, Lanqi's heart pounded like a drum. Right now, Lanqi felt she truly resembled a soft little cat—no, more like a big cat. After all, the weight resting on his legs was undeniable. "Tata, you wouldn't happen to weigh 52.6 kilos now, would you?" Lanqi asked in a quiet murmur, as if talking to himself. "!" Talia snapped back to her senses, her cheeks flushing bright red as she glared up at him. "You pervert! Were you secretly gauging my weight...?" She suspected Lanqi could tell her exact weight every time she pinned him down. She admitted that since arriving in the Kingdom of Posen, she had been eating every day, and after fusing with the Poet of Great Love, she had been lacking in exercise. Still, to state her weight so accurately—it was hard to believe there wasn't something wrong with him! "Who told you to jump into my arms every time? Besides Boss Cat, you're the only one who does that," Lanqi muttered softly. He could never predict what this old hag would do. Every time he spent time with her, things somehow always ended up spiraling like this. "..." Talia was speechless and could only continue eating the food Lanqi fed her. After a moment's thought, she touched her belly. There was clearly no fat, which proved any slight gain was harmless. "Pfft." Lanqi seemed to have noticed her gesture and her train of thought. Staring at her hand, he couldn't help stifling a chuckle. "What are you looking at?" Talia glared at Lanqi with utter vigilance, shrinking back slightly. Strange as Lanqi's quirks were, surely he wouldn't go so far as to touch her belly just to mock her, would he? "You're right, but this is Talia: weight 52.6, height 168, an 800-year-old demon with mind reading, damage reflection, proficiency in curses, mental control, and incredible beauty; she even gains Original Slate buffs when shifting stances, deals true damage, can use the Poet of Great Love's costume-change magic, loves wearing school uniforms with short skirts, and whenever you feed her, she goes—aaaaah!" Lanqi had already begun openly mocking her, only to be pinched hard on the waist halfway through, letting out a shriek of agony. "Feed me properly!" Talia snapped, boiling with irritation. If she weren't still sitting in his lap, she would have loved to pin him down on the sofa! Then again, if they did that, they would definitely get themselves hauled back into custody for round two. Light and shadow shifted continuously across the restaurant, and the distant surface of the Selena River took on a golden-orange sheen. Only the two of them remained tirelessly engaged in feeding. Until the sun gradually dipped lower, washing the sky and the earth in magnificent orange-red. Many patrons had come and gone at the Colonges Sunbridge Inn Restaurant. The customers arriving at this hour were likely here for dinner. And Lanqi and Talia's lunch was finally drawing to a close. Dessert was another signature specialty of the restaurant. The chestnut cake was crafted from fresh chestnut purée from the Kingdom of Posen's Aquidance Mountain region, filling the mouth with delicate, pure chestnut sweetness. Lanqi sliced it up and fed it to Talia piece by piece. The sponge base was coated in crisp almond slices, made primarily with freshly picked raspberry purée whipped repeatedly until it was soft and light as a cloud, each bite bursting with the tart sweetness of raspberry. Seeing their lunch nearly finished, both of them felt as if liberation was at hand. Accompanied by after-dinner black coffee and herbal tea, Lanqi and Talia concluded their grand feast. "We look forward to welcoming you again!" Before they departed, the waiter presented them with an exquisite gift box of pastries courtesy of the restaurant. Talia snatched it up and hurried out, her face burning red. "..." The moment Lanqi and Talia stepped out of the restaurant, five-o'clock Palieu was already draped in the glow of the sunset. The two strolled along the street. Ancient buildings stood in neat rows, their stone brick walls looking exceptionally warm under the evening sun. They were no longer holding hands; in fact, they kept quite a distance between them. It seemed that getting even a little closer to each other would bring back the sensation of having served a whole afternoon's prison sentence. Gradually, they walked out of the bustling city center and turned down a secluded path. The narrow lane wound upward, flanked on both sides by cascades of lush green ivy spilling down like waterfalls. Even without speaking, both knew where they were headed nearby. What they needed right now was to clear their heads, and there was a place perfectly suited for that—a scenic spot highly recommended by Countess Rosalinda. Montmartre Heights, standing at 135 meters above sea level, was the highest point in the entire Flower Capital of Palieu. Atop the heights, one could take in a panoramic view of the Flower Capital, with comfortable benches to sit on while watching the sunset. Compared to the other districts of Palieu, Montmartre Heights in District 3 of the North Bank was situated remarkably high—so high that not even the Selena River could flow against it. Here were scenic, winding lanes, towering sacred churches, Place du Tertre where painters gathered, and dance halls alive with revelry night after night. Within minutes, they reached the upper tier of Montmartre Heights. Fallen leaves lay piled by the roadside; children dashed along the path now and then, while further off, middle-aged gentlemen in sharp suits sat reading newspapers. Looking out, the vast expanse of Palieu stretched before their eyes. The sinking sun had begun to slowly melt into the horizon, tinting the sky in shades of pink like blazing clouds. The two sat down on a bench before the railing, both looking as though they had just escaped a deadly ordeal. For a long time, neither said a word. The gentle evening breeze ruffled the tips of their hair, carrying a faint, refreshing fragrance of roses that soothed the mind. "Shall we go have dinner?" Lanqi glanced at the clock tower and suddenly asked. Although they had just finished lunch, it was already dinnertime by the clock. "No need." Talia didn't look at him, feeling that Lanqi's motive for asking such a question was thoroughly damnable. She was stuffed to the brim right now, fuller than she had ever been in her life. It was all Lanqi's fault for feeding her so much. Whenever she was around him, her restraint broke completely, like a broken switch. "I mean having a normal dinner. I won't feed you anymore," Lanqi asked with genuine concern. He was always worried Talia might go hungry. "I don't want you to feed me! Never again!" Talia finally turned to look at him and shouted, as if swearing an oath to the goddess. Recalling the entire afternoon spent nestled in his lap being spoon-fed, she felt her cheeks burn all over again. Such an absurd spectacle would never happen between them again! "Looks like you're truly full," Lanqi said with relief. This afternoon had felt like several centuries to him. Fortunately, they were in the Flower Capital of Palieu. Had they been in Ikerite, shamelessly hugging and feeding each other, and their friends walked in on them, both of them would have wanted to leave this world for good. "..." Talia slowly turned her head away, no longer gazing at Lanqi's face. The setting sun draped a veil of light over her exquisite features, dusk over the Flower Capital reflected in her eyes like memories adrift. Without realizing it, quite a long time had passed since they arrived in this beautiful Flower Capital. Every moment of memory was remarkably vivid in retrospect. When she first arrived in this city, she had never imagined she would bicker and fool around with Lanqi like this every day, let alone endure a catastrophe. Perhaps more than one... "Regarding card crafting, do you have any new thoughts?" Talia asked as if tired of quarreling, talking almost to herself. Perhaps having eaten her fill, her tone had returned to normal, no longer stirring up trouble with Lanqi. "None at all," Lanqi shook his head. "Though if you deliberately hold back from scolding me during card crafting like you did today, I might actually have trouble getting used to it." The card-crafting skill he possessed today was, to some degree, trained into him day after day by Talia's stern rebukes. "You noticed that long ago?" Talia glared at Lanqi, interrogating him. "Of course." Lanqi truly didn't have the heart to tease her any further. "Then why did you deliberately make me angry?!" Talia pinched Lanqi's cheek, glaring at him furiously. "I was wrong, I was wrong! Ow!" Lanqi surrendered on the spot. The two began horsing around as usual again. Amid the playful ruckus, their two shadows cast by the sunset looked both angry and joyful. They drew the curious gazes of the children, who soon dashed past once more. "Fine, I'll let you off the hook today." Perhaps Talia truly lacked the energy to spar with Lanqi any longer; before long, she let go of his face. The two sat back on the bench, watching the sun about to vanish below the horizon. "I have this feeling... that maybe we've started to figure out how to cooperate with each other..." Talia murmured, furrowing her brow as if struggling to find the right words. "If we could recapture the state we were in during our final battle in the Posen Demon Realm, things might turn out differently." For some reason, she felt that if she worked with the Lanqi from that moment, they would definitely coordinate seamlessly. "But that feels really difficult," Lanqi murmured to himself, gazing at the sunset. Setting aside how to recapture that state, simply not bickering with each other was hard enough. "How about we resurrect Old Man and ask him how he got our minds to act as one that day?" Lanqi asked Talia. "..." Talia looked at Lanqi's deadpan expression. She had already realized that this fellow didn't show much respect for the defeated. In a way, though, he showed them extraordinary respect—because he was always paying homage to them. No doubt she would frequently have to hear him tell stories of his legendary opponents in the future. He had fought Old Wu for Hubao, and Old Man for her. Wait, then who was the strongest, Old Sang, fought for? "Still, we haven't tried crafting cards for several days, right? How about we give it a shot once we head back tonight?" Lanqi felt that he and Talia might have genuinely found the possibility of successful collaboration; they merely needed to practice again and recreate it. Ever since Lanqi fell into his deep slumber, they had not attempted card crafting again. Their departure from the Flower Capital of Palieu was drawing near. If they couldn't complete it according to the original plan, they would have to take a step back and reconsider. Yet with their trip to the Creti Empire imminent, they might truly need the power of the great demon Caliera. Otherwise, infiltrating the Creti Empire—the most terrifying realm on the Southern Continent—would inevitably be fraught with extreme danger. Talia lacked area-of-effect crowd control magic; if they were surrounded, escaping would not be easy, whereas Caliera excelled at indiscriminate crowd control. "What kind of demon is Caliera of the Fall, really?" Thinking carefully, Talia realized that although she had studied Caliera's Shadow-Weaving Record numerous times, she alone had never actually seen Caliera; even Hyperion knew more about Caliera than she did. Any demon Hyperion liked left a favorable impression on Talia. Thus, even though they had never met, she held a positive regard for Caliera. "Teacher Cali is actually quite gentle. It's just that in her position, she sometimes had to project a stern, ruthless side, so in the eyes of most demons, she was a great demon whom no one dared cross," Lanqi recalled, leaning back against the bench. Caliera had truly given her all for the demon race, leaving her power to future generations even after death. He wondered how her story had ended. If a ninth-rank demon never bestowed their crest in life, they could transform upon death into a Great Demon Trial, giving later generations of demons more opportunities to obtain a crest. In the beginning, the demon race had no great demons. To them, great demons were forged across vast stretches of time through generation upon generation of demons—a legacy of their race. Although the Shadow World only projected the historical Caliera, akin to a heroic spirit, the personality she displayed was indeed no different from the true Caliera of history. "What's your impression of her?" Talia asked out of curiosity. Originally, she had thought that hearing Lanqi speak favorably of other women wouldn't stir any feelings in her. For example, when he praised Hubao before, she had only been delighted to hear it. Yet right now, for some reason, she found herself secretly reluctant to hear Lanqi continue praising Caliera. "..." "Beautiful, dignified, mature, useful," Lanqi pondered for a moment before answering. "?" Talia clenched her fists, ultimately holding back from striking Lanqi. This fellow truly dared to say anything right to her face now! Just when had her tolerance for him become so dangerously high? "Isn't she at least over a thousand years old? Why don't you consider her old?" Talia argued, refusing to let it go. She was truly indignant. Why was it that she was merely eight hundred years old and Lanqi never let her hear the end of it, while Caliera was over a thousand and Lanqi selectively ignored it! "She doesn't have your vintage flavor. You are one of a kind," Lanqi turned his head to look at her and replied. "..." Talia was completely at a loss for words. Hearing only the latter half, her heart had actually skipped a beat—after all, that was something any maiden would yearn to hear. Combined with the first half, however, her blood pressure surged right back up. She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. His demeanor was earnest to the core, yet utterly lethal. She knew full well how much she resented this man, yet at this moment, she only wanted to remain hopelessly entangled with him. The fiery clouds gradually faded, and the sun finally sank entirely beneath the horizon. "Let's go. Time to pray before the statue," Talia said, rising to her feet. She reached back, caught Lanqi's wrist, and pulled him up. Before officially crafting cards, they always went to receive a mental-attribute blessing from the Statue of Will and Love at the Temple of Love in the Flower Capital of Palieu. "No matter what, listen to me when we craft cards. I am your teacher—your one and only teacher," she pointed her other finger at Lanqi, making a stern declaration. "Then I'll be in your care from now on, Teacher Tata," Lanqi said with a clear, bright chuckle. The sky transitioned from magnificent orange-red to deep indigo. Beneath this near-night canopy, his face still wore that harmless smile. The title seemed to make Talia feel a twinge of unease; she realized Lanqi had spoken in that exact same way the very first time he called her teacher. Yet this time, she didn't just answer him with tacit acceptance. "Let's go." She tugged Lanqi along toward the steps of Montmartre Heights. To pray at the Temple of Love, and then give card crafting a try.