My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1227: Chapter 1228: Getting Relatable

Damon was somber, and so was Sylvia. There was a silence between them that no one around them could understand. Damon was still just a floating soul, but his powerful aura was deep and oppressive. Those who were weaker could not stand it if he did not restrain himself.

Even so, he remained somber as he approached a chamber. He glanced at the Elf King, then at Sylvia.

”Your Majesty, if you don’t mind, I would like to have a word with Sylvia alone.”

Kadelas was a little taken aback by the way Damon was speaking to him. He was respectful, without even a trace of his usual snark, but he simply nodded. Taking his wife’s hand, he walked down the hall with her.

Damon could understand him in a way now. After all, he was a father too, and if someone had done to his daughter what he had done to Sylvia years ago, he would probably never forgive them either.

It would be too hypocritical to hate Kadelas for loving his own daughter and wanting what was best for her.

”Damn, I’m getting old. Can’t believe I find Kadelas relatable,” he whispered with a sigh.

Sylvia bit her lips before glaring at him.

”Then stop staring at my mother’s rear, you insufferable bastard. I already told you old elven women have a musty scent.”

Damon coughed awkwardly. He hadn’t been thinking about it, but her mother was certainly a fine woman.

He quickly glanced away before looking at Sylvia again. He floated down the hall, and Sylvia followed beside him. More and more noble carriages were appearing outside, and the council meeting would soon begin. With the amount of traffic arriving, Damon was surprised by just how many nobles had taken an interest in this.

”It seems a lot of people are dissatisfied with the Temple,” Sylvia remarked, noticing how many nobles had arrived and just how important this discussion, as well as the actions they would take afterward, seemed to be.

”They’ve always been dissatisfied with the faith. They just haven’t had an opportunity to destroy it yet. Now the chance has come. The Temple has lost a lot of its prestige and power, the Holy City is destroyed, and the nobles of this world are more powerful than ever.”

They soon reached a large chamber with knights carrying the flags and banners of House Brightwater. They opened the door immediately, and the moment they entered, they saw Damon’s Astral form.

Damon floated into the room, then hovered over a chair and sat down, even though he was actually just floating above it.

Sylvia didn’t say anything. She walked toward the window and looked outside at the bright sunlight, where Leona was speaking with the Great Dragon, Aethergon.

”What did you see?” she asked without looking at him.

Damon didn’t reply. Instead, he chuckled softly.

”I’m more interested in what you did.”

He looked at her, but Sylvia didn’t bother turning around. She already knew what expression he was wearing.

”And what is it that you think I did?”

Damon wasn’t sure how to respond. Sylvia had changed. She was far from the naive girl he once knew. She had grown in ways he could not understand, and she was...

He tried to appraise her, but all her stats came back as question marks. It wasn’t simply because she was higher ranked than him. There was something about her power itself that he could not see through.

”Don’t do that. If you want me to strip bare, just ask. I will.”

She turned to look at him, her strange eyes peering directly into his soul.

”I know what you did, Sylvia.”

When he said that, she smiled, a strange sense of déjà vu passing through her.

”I feel like we’ve done this before in the past, huh? I just can’t put my finger on it.”

”Are you trying to be evasive, Sylvia? You do that when you’re hiding something. Tell me what you did,” Damon demanded.

”I didn’t do anything. At least, not yet.”

Her expression tightened as she spoke.

”Then what is it that you sacrificed to that wretched book? What happened to your eyes?”

She raised a hand and placed it over one of her eyes before taking a deep breath.

”I’m fine.”

”No, you’re not, Sylvia. Have you been giving parts of yourself to that vile book?” Damon asked, his voice becoming heavier. ”You have, haven’t you?”

Sylvia lowered her hand slowly.

”I do understand, Damon. Life is like a book. The more you know, the less you experience it...”

She gritted her teeth, and for a moment, her voice faltered.

”Unknown seems to represent the abyss beneath existence, but his philosophy is more specific than simply believing everything should die.”

She seemed to choke on her own words, her face remaining cold as ice despite the anguish hidden beneath her voice.

”He looks at existence and sees a fundamental cruelty. Nobody chooses to be born. Happiness is temporary. Suffering is unavoidable. Love creates the possibility of loss. Knowledge reveals truths that can destroy one’s peace.”

Her fingers slowly curled against the fabric of her sleeve.

”Life gives people desires and then creates circumstances where those desires can never be fulfilled.”

She paused, her gaze lowering.

”Even the happiest person eventually loses everything through death.”

”It’s all meaningless. The things we hold dear...” Her voice became quieter. ”You think I don’t know that? In hindsight, he’s right.”

She showed almost no emotion that Damon could see, but the anguish in her voice betrayed her.

”You’d think that if I were your number one, I would be loved. But I’m not. And I’ve realized that’s fine, because I love you enough. Maybe that makes me weak, because I think that if I make enough sacrifices, my love will be fruitful.”

Her lips trembled slightly before she forced herself to continue.

”It won’t. I knew that from the moment I kissed you in the deep, damp darkness of Lysithara.”

She stared at him, her gray eyes reflecting the sunlight behind her.

”I foresaw it then. Even knowing that, I don’t care anymore.”

She slowly walked toward Damon.

”Yes, life is painful.”

”Yes, I never asked to be born.”

”Yes, I have suffered.”

”But suffering does not give you the right to decide that my love has no value.”

She stopped in front of Damon and looked directly into his Astral form.

”Because it’s mine. My choice. And I would do it all over again.”

Damon’s Astral form trembled. He slowly reached out and rested his hand on her shoulder.

”Then your love is my torment. It breeds my suffering, and with each tear you shed, I continue to suffer.”

Sylvia looked at him for a long moment before a faint smile appeared on her lips.

”That is why I love you. So we may suffer together.”

Before Damon could say anything else, the door opened, and Lilith and Renata walked in.

”Are we interrupting?” Renata asked, placing a hand on her waist.