CHAPTER 491: CHAPTER 237: ACROSS COUNTLESS WATERS AND MOUNTAINS, WILL YOU GO SEE THEM WITH ME?

Perhaps, it was a long-standing habit of silence, or maybe due to some deeper reasons, even Silvia herself couldn’t quite understand.

In front of outsiders, even in the White Tower, facing Isveytan and other high-level members of the White Tower, Silvia still preferred to remain silent, choosing instead to communicate through writing.

Only when alone with Shiayar would she briefly set aside the reserve of the Gray-Silver Witch, revealing the original voice of the Duke’s daughter beneath the exterior of a Throne Level Beastmaster.

For Shiayar, these were memories from long ago, recollections that should have faded away.

Yet perhaps what remains in the depths of memory are those seemingly insignificant details from the past.

When the melodious voice saying "I want to see the other side of the sea" echoed in Shiayar’s ear, he seemed to return to the Ancient Dukedom Azure Garden of the past.

Back then, Shiayar was just an inconspicuous student at St. Roland Academy, troubled by the inability to gather enough extraordinary materials for his main pet to advance to the 3rd Order.

And Silvia had not yet stepped into that extraordinary realm, remaining merely a noble girl who, despite facing discrimination within her family, still harbored innocent and whimsical fantasies.

On the beach outside the Azure Garden Royal Capital, adjacent to the Grant Sea, Silvia used her water-dipped finger to write in Shiayar’s palm, "I want to see the other side of the sea."

The backdrop of that moment was also today’s setting, the beach at sunset.

The giant sun wheel was about to sink below the sea horizon, the last afterglow of the sunset setting the clouds in the sky ablaze with fiery colors, in the increasingly thickening night, Silvia’s eyes were brighter than ever before.

"Then let’s go to see the other side of the sea."

Shiayar suddenly rose from the beach chair, taking the hand of the silver-haired witch beside him.

"Even though in the timeframe of the First Era, that ancient kingdom named Azure Garden hadn’t yet been established... but the Grant Sea is still that Grant Sea, and the beach is still that beach."

"Time indeed changes many things—"

"But some things remain there, unaffected by the passage of time."

He slightly turned his body, gazing at Silvia, who was revealing a hint of bewilderment in her silvery eyes.

Evidently, the Gray-Silver Witch hadn’t expected her casual lament to incite Shiayar’s earnest resolve to take action.

At this moment, as the sun set, an all-encompassing darkness swept over the entire world.

Silvia’s hand was soft, with an icy touch, just like many years ago when Shiayar pulled her from the cold waters of the Grant Sea.

"If your heart desires to go, then go."

"At that time, we neither had the capability nor the composure to cross the sea, to witness all mountains and rivers such as wish could only remain as words of longing and yearning."

"But now, it’s different."

Shiayar seriously looked at the silver-haired girl beside him.

"When I was very, very young, I used to love something called Mystery Egg, it had two parts, one part was a kind of sweet called chocolate, and the other part hid a small toy."

"Perhaps it was out of childlike curiosity back then..."

"I loved this little thing that you could eat and play with, but it was costly, at least back then as a child I couldn’t afford it, could only hang around my elders to buy it, but in the end, it was always rejected with reasons like it’s useless, purely a waste of money."

"Once, I couldn’t resist, secretly opened a Mystery Egg in a store, and after being caught by my elders, they scolded me harshly, and looking back now, it still leaves a deep impression."

Shiayar smiled slightly.

"Of course, back then I was still a child, with no ability to support myself, the money for food and clothing all came from my elders... So it was normal for them to scold me, as seen from my current perspective, that thing was indeed a foolish waste of money, not worth the high price, just a way to exploit children’s naivety."

"But at that time, I didn’t see things so clearly, and I secretly vowed—"

"When I grow up one day, afford Mystery Eggs... I must buy myself a cart full of them, break as many toys as I want, eat as much chocolate as I like."

"And then? Did you really buy a huge amount, enough to fill a cart with Mystery Eggs?"

Silvia squatted down, using her finger dipped in seawater, writing in Shiayar’s palm.

As a listener, Silvia was quite competent, quietly listening while Shiayar talked at length.

Even though there were many contradictions in Shiayar’s tale, such as how, according to Silvia’s knowledge, Shiayar was from Ceylon, and that border town shouldn’t have such novel luxury items for sale, and how Shiayar was raised by an icy plains hunter who died when Shiayar was very young, leaving him to live alone, so where would these so-called "elders" come from...

But since Shiayar said nothing, Silvia wouldn’t ask.

And whenever Shiayar paused, she would timely inquire about the continuation, perfectly fulfilling Shiayar’s desire to speak.