In the train corridor, the number of passengers had thinned out considerably compared to when the train had stopped.
Lanqi and Talia walked down the passage carrying their suitcases, their footsteps echoing along the empty aisle.
"Sir, Miss, please present your tickets and identification."
A young uniformed attendant stood ahead, courteously blocking Lanqi and Talia's path.
Although the war was now progressing methodically toward peace negotiations, both within and outside the Empire lay an impending period of unrest, whether short or long. It was the time most prone to chaos, so long-distance identity checks had recently become rather stringent.
"Here you go."
Lanqi reached into the pocket of his gray coat, retrieved his and Talia's tickets, then turned to take the identification papers from her hand and handed them over with a genial smile.
"..."
The attendant's gaze lingered on Lanqi's face for an extra second, seemingly admiring the dignified, handsome aristocrat.
Yet that single second provoked displeasure from the gray-haired woman behind the dark-haired youth. Her sharp golden eyes made the attendant instinctively avert her gaze at once.
She gingerly took the tickets and documents, careful not to brush against Lanqi's hand, and inspected them thoroughly with the device in her grasp.
*That gray-haired woman is terrifying. She won't let anyone look at a handsome guy for even a second.*
Before she could ponder further, the attendant's eyes widened in surprise.
"Professor Landry... Washington?"
She murmured the name softly.
In the capital of Brillda during recent days, the professor's name had not appeared in official announcements, circulating mostly among the public.
Even without the recent turmoil of the decisive duel between Hyacinthus and Emperor Loren, Landry Washington was already a renowned military engineering expert in the Creti Empire, as well as the chairman of the Imperial New Energy Organizing Committee whose name had frequently surfaced in the news over the past two months.
"Just returning to my hometown," Lanqi explained in an unhurried manner, bringing the dazed attendant back to her senses.
"Please keep your documents safe, sir. The inspection is complete," the attendant said, immediately handing the tickets and papers back with both hands.
Professor Landry's registered domicile was Nixassend on the northwestern border. This northbound train was undoubtedly the best route for him to return home.
"Compartment 404. Walk straight to the end of Car 4; it's the fourth room on your right. Sir, Miss, welcome aboard the Brierda magic train, and I wish you a pleasant journey!"
The young attendant respectfully stepped aside to clear the way and gave Lanqi and Talia directions.
"Thank you for your hard work," Lanqi acknowledged with a nod, taking back his and Talia's tickets along with their Imperial documents.
*Tata, why did that attendant look so startled just now? Am I really that intimidating?* Lanqi asked Talia in his mind.
At the end of last month during their assault on Blood Moon City, Talia had fused with the Poet of Great Love once again to become the Demon King of Fanatic Love. Their compatibility was so high that it always took at least a month or so before they could separate.
Even now, Talia still had to remain in that fused state.
"I wouldn't know," Talia replied nonchalantly, gazing out the corridor window.
The train's interior was typical of the Creti Empire's style—the walls paneled with mahogany, the aged carvings wafting a faint, relaxing fragrance.
*That doesn't make sense. Landry's reputation should be quite good. I've taken great care to uphold Elsa's brother's reputation as my repayment to the Dimensional Holy Son, Landry.*
Lanqi scratched his head in confusion as he strolled down the aisle.
"Four-oh-three, four-oh-four..."
He muttered the room numbers under his breath.
Soon, he found their compartment on the right.
Tapping the ticket against the lock with a gentle push, the heavy wooden door swung open.
Since the journey was not overly long, the train was not equipped with sleeper berths, but this first-class compartment was nonetheless luxurious and comfortable.
The spacious luggage rack easily accommodated several suitcases.
Once he and Talia brought their baggage inside and properly stowed their luggage, Lanqi finally shed the weight on his shoulders and sank into a chair, feeling a state of mind and body entirely different from when he had first arrived in Creti.
The velvet seat cushions were plush and thick; sitting down felt as though one's entire body were sinking into them.
"Phew, winter really makes one drowsy. It's barely morning and I want to sleep again."
Lanqi shook his head, hugging the mini black cat plush pillow.
Having set off early this morning, it was only a little past seven now. Settled into such comfort, he felt the urge to catch up on sleep.
"Then take a nap. I'll wake you when we arrive," Talia said, her voice softening as if coaxing a child to sleep.
Lanqi's eyelids drooped twice.
He seemed to abandon any resistance to slumber.
"Wait, I need to go to the dining car to buy some snacks. The next meal won't be for hours, and your stomach will get hungry."
Just as he was about to doze off, Lanqi suddenly remembered an important duty. He rose to his feet immediately, muttering to himself to stay awake.
"No, I'm not hungry."
Talia was at a loss whether to praise or curse Lanqi's deeply ingrained instinct.
"You will be," Lanqi said firmly to Talia, as if he understood her body better than she did.
"..."
Biting her lip, Talia's cheeks flushed slightly as she clenched her fists.
Her meaning was roughly: if Lanqi didn't leave right away, she was going to hit him.
Lanqi instantly put Boss Cat down and briskly walked out of the compartment.
"Damn it, why does he know me so well..."
Once she was sure Lanqi had left, Talia muttered in vexed helplessness.
"Meow, Tata, do you still remember how you two interacted at the very beginning?"
Sprawled on the table, Boss Cat wagged his head and asked Tata.
He was long accustomed to the daily banter between Lanqi and Talia.
Recalling when he had first met Tata and Lanqi, the two hadn't been on such friendly terms.
Back then, he merely noticed the black-haired, green-eyed youth visiting Boss Cat Restaurant at fixed times to find Tata, and naturally assumed they were a couple—only to discover later that things weren't nearly so simple.
He had been intensely curious about the relationship between the seemingly frost-cold Tata and that gentle, refined youth.
At the time, he intended to observe them a bit longer.
That was until one day, when the youth actually brought along another equally stunning girl with silver hair and amber eyes to see Tata. That finally drove Boss Cat's curiosity past its limits, prompting him to ask Tata directly about her relationship with the youth.
"Back then... we merely knew each other, nothing more. What I said was true," Talia said, her voice flat and devoid of emotion.
Initially, her relationship with Lanqi had been purely employment.
Along with protecting him and urging him to pay his debts until they were settled.
Besides, he had a knack for bringing about wonderful things to her liking—for example, Hyperion, whom she had longed to see. Before she could even find a suitable excuse or opportunity to hint at it to Lanqi, he had abruptly brought Hyperion right before her eyes.
"Back then, I asked if you thought he was someone special, but you didn't even understand the definition of 'special' yourself and ended up asking me, meow," Boss Cat reminisced fondly, resting his paws.
Looking back over a year later at those days when the youth and maiden met at the restaurant, he had always felt that Tata and the youth shared an extraordinary bond.
Tata, who never socialized with anyone else, could spend hours upon hours with this youth alone.
"Did I ask you what counted as 'special'?"
Even after wandering human realms for so many years, there were still many human emotions Talia did not comprehend.
She knew full well that the 'special' Boss Cat had asked about that night wasn't literal uniqueness, but the kind of special related to the human concept of a partner or romance.
"Yeah. I said it means he can always make you happy, that you gradually and unconsciously find yourself unable to part with him, that you begin to care about and wonder what he's thinking, and that your otherwise calm self becomes easily swayed by emotions because of him, meow."
Boss Cat recalled how, after he said that, Talia had remained behind the front counter frowning in deep thought for a long time, genuinely seeming unable to make sense of it.
Yet looking at Talia's expression now, she seemed to harbor no doubts left.
"No, I don't get it," Talia said after a pause, shaking her head resolutely.
Happiness was no longer merely because he fulfilled her wishes; staying by his side was no longer because of a contract; she had long since figured out what he was thinking; and sometimes the emotions he stirred in her were far more than just anger.
This could only mean...
Mean...
Talia thought hesitatingly, refusing to utter the conclusion even if it killed her.
She looked up to face Boss Cat, only to catch an inadvertent glimpse of her own reflection in the window glass.
Outside, vast and continuous mountain ranges rolled into the distance. As far as the eye could see, snow-covered trees gleamed beneath the winter morning sun, like a silver paradise.
And in the faint reflection, illuminated by the morning light, her face wore an unmistakably smitten expression.
She immediately felt mortified by her own expression and patted her cheeks.
For a dignified demon princess, losing to her appetite was bad enough, but had she truly fallen so far as to want to marry a human and become a virtuous wife and loving mother?
A hundred-odd years ago, when the Demon Realm still existed, such a notion would have made her rather die!
The compartment fell unusually silent, save for the monotonous clatter of wheels against rails. Talia closed her eyes and sank into deep thought.
"Tata, if I ask you again just like before, meow, what do you think of Lanqi... how would you answer?"
Boss Cat felt that Talia's face had already betrayed her heart completely.
Even Hypie was no longer in denial, yet Talia still seemed to be holding out.
"Lanqi? Honestly, he's pretty average. He just has decent looks, carries a touch of a dean's dignity, can paint a few pretty pictures, and possesses an indelible sense of innate righteousness in his bones, wishing to save every soul whether worthy or not. He happens to be somewhat my type, too. I really don't understand why so many people like him. Could they please not like him? Because he is..."
Hearing Boss Cat's question, Talia immediately raised her chin and rattled off a stream of words, her tone even carrying a hint of grievance.
"...Because he actually has a lot of flaws, which I won't bother listing."
Her voice shifted abruptly, concluding in a lowered murmur.
"Meow," Boss Cat could only offer a feline squeak.
Demon princesses were all somewhat stubborn to varying degrees, but in Talia's case, it was a chronic and incurable affliction.
Before long, a soft click came from the door lock.
The compartment door was pushed open once more, and Lanqi wheeled a small food trolley inside.
"Because I bought quite a lot—enough to match their meal-cart serving size—they just lent me the trolley directly. Someone even asked on the way if I was selling, but I said no, telling them it was all for an elder in my family. Then they asked how many people were in my family, hahahaha."
Lanqi shared the story with Talia and Boss Cat.
"Lanqi, are you trying to unlock the Seven Captures achievement?"
Talia looked up at once and demanded, "Don't think that just because we're on a train I won't lay a hand on you. The narrower the space, the easier it is for me to give you a rough time."
She had already lost count of how many times Lanqi had completed his daily tasks in that single sentence; she only remembered she was just one short of capturing Lanqi seven times.
"Lord Demon King, would you prefer tea or coffee?"
The smile on Lanqi's face vanished in an instant. With poised decorum, he secured the food cart beside the table and returned to sit across from Talia.
"Either is fine. I'll have whatever you're drinking; the same is fine."
Talia gave a slight nod, no longer fussing over Lanqi's daily tasks.
They just had to make do and get along.
Sometimes, as long as Lanqi didn't infuriate her too much, she would turn a blind eye. They had a long life ahead of them; she couldn't straddle Lanqi and beat him up every single day.
"Then I'll doze off for a bit. Take your time eating..."
Lanqi poured black tea, placed it before Talia, and settled into his seat, preparing to close his eyes.
Confident that Talia had food, he could finally sleep in peace.
"Wait," Talia called out to Lanqi, making him lift his lashes once more.
"What is it, Tata?" Lanqi asked, looking at Tata, who was in no rush to eat.
"If you want to rest, do you need me to use the Land of Gentle Slumber so you can have sweet dreams?" Talia asked.
She had habitually deployed a portable barrier magic device inside the Creti Empire's train compartment. If she used the Overflowing Land of Gentle Slumber at its minimum radius, it would not disturb other passengers.
"Why so extravagant all of a sudden?"
Lanqi was generally very cautious when it came to using Tier 8 magic.
Previously, because the spell might be needed at any moment, it was never cast lightly as a trump card.
Now that vacation had arrived and there were no immediate threats, the spell could reasonably be repurposed toward everyday comfort.
Even so, it was still a Tier 8 Epic spell; the mana consumption was by no means small.
"Do you remember the complimentary gift we received at the very end of the Shadow World?"
Talia cracked open a suitcase slightly and retrieved a sealed letter from within.
Once the simple seal was dispelled, its surface shimmered with an interweaving sheen of sea-blue and amber-orange like deep-sea ripples, reminiscent of the boundless blue waters around Neclis Island.
Vaguely, whispers lingered in the compartment, echoing like the song of waves under the clear skies of the Demon Realm.
"This is Caliera's letter," Lanqi said, taking the envelope from Talia. The azure ripples appeared exceptionally soft beneath the morning light.
[Caliera's Handwritten Letter]
[Category: Artwork]
[Rarity: Epic]
[Tier: 1]
[Effect: Those who read this manuscript will receive a minor increase in mental magic and illusion resistance, and feel Caliera's companionship.]
[Note: There is no reason to fear the night, my child of light. Dawn breaks slowly, but morning will surely come; after touching my name, you will not have to wait long.]
Their deduction was that, much like the previous material [Caliera's Shadow-Weaving Record], it contained a trace of Caliera's magic power.
If triggered using Talia's spell [Overflowing Land of Gentle Slumber], which shared the same magical origin as Caliera's, it might conjure an illusion akin to Caliera's innate ability.
Because Caliera's magic was full of unknowns, triggering it immediately might cause them to fall into a deep dream from which they could not awaken for a long time—just like when the two of them had used Caliera's Shadow-Weaving Record to craft cards in the City of Flowers, Palieu.
Back then, they needed to return as swiftly as possible to the present-day Creti Empire, so they had refrained from activating Caliera's gift letter in the threshold space at the end of the Shadow World.
"You said that once our business in the Creti Empire was finished and we were on our way back, we'd look at it together," Talia asked tentatively after a moment's hesitation.
She was not sure whether Lanqi still remembered the hasty promise they had made.
"Of course. We even hooked pinkies," Lanqi nodded earnestly and with certainty.
"Then there should be no problem using the Land of Gentle Slumber now, right?"
Talia let out a breath of relief, glad that Lanqi still remembered.
The train journey was indeed well-suited for watching a motion picture—it felt like a private screening.
"Meow! I don't want to get caught in it. Let me retreat outside, meow."
Boss Cat leaped lightly off the table and scampered out of the compartment.
Someone had to stay awake later; they couldn't both be asleep without anyone watching over them to make sure they didn't miss their stop.
"If you don't feel hungry, I have no objections," Lanqi replied, watching Boss Cat close the door to a crack before turning back to Talia.
Once they entered the dream together, it would likely last an hour or two.
He was worried Talia would go hungry.
"I'm not hungry!"
Talia's blood pressure spiked again in an instant.
"Shall we get some rest then?" Lanqi asked Talia.
"Mm," Talia answered, casting the spell she had grown quite familiar with and letting it resonate with the magical letter in her hands.
Accompanied by an invisible surge of energy, ripples of dreams began to manifest in the compartment's air.
Ring after ring of visible ripples expanded outward rapidly, making space itself seem increasingly unstable, as if preparing to convey them to another time and realm.
A faint hum echoed in Lanqi and Talia's ears. One after the other, they collapsed onto the table.
Drowsiness surged like an irresistible tide.
Suspended between dreaming and waking, no longer knowing whether will or body held sway, their eyelids slowly slid shut, and vision faded into darkness.
Chapter 864