Chapter 78: I had a strange dream…haha~

The girl felt uncomfortable and wronged for a moment, but gradually, she calmed down completely.

Though her body still burned with pain, having just endured a brutal beating, she controlled herself and didn’t dare cry out in pain.

“Um…thank you…”

The girl slowly turned her head toward the old man who had just pleaded on her behalf.

She then forced a smile that wasn’t very sweet.

However, a whip mark stretched diagonally across her forehead, swollen and raw, blocking the path to a genuine smile, replaced by pain instead.

“No need to thank me, I was just speaking the truth,”

The thin old man waved his hand and said no more.

He slowly leaned his frail body against the edge of the cage and sat down, tilting his head slightly as if he was falling asleep right there.

“Um…”

The girl clearly wanted to say something else, but seeing the old man like that, she closed her mouth again.

Better not disturb his rest…

Thinking this, she swallowed back the words at her lips.

Then, mimicking the old man, she slowly moved her body to the corner of the cage, curling up like a little wet dog.

Enduring the pain in her body, she recalled better times and slowly closed her eyes.

What she didn’t notice was that the old man leaning against the cage hadn’t fallen asleep.

His eyes, hidden beneath white hair, were wide open, staring diagonally upward.

Because in his eyes floated a strange black shadow…

It swayed left and right from time to time.

Yes, the black shadow in the air was Ireya.

She had seen everything just now but showed no reaction.

Or rather, what the short man did was exactly what one would expect from a Slave Merchant…

More than that, Ireya was focused on something else.

No matter how much she moved, she could clearly feel the old man’s gaze behind his white hair…

That fact!

“This old guy…can really see me? So far (about two hours), aside from Veil, he’s the second person who can see me…Could it be that the one who subconsciously attracted both me and Ruilier here was him? But whether or not it was him, this old man definitely has something.”

Ireya had seen the whip strike clearly from the air.

The Slave Merchant hadn’t held back at all, yet the old man caught it casually, like grabbing a feather drifting slowly down.

That alone proved the old man was no ordinary person.

Thinking this, Ireya didn’t immediately approach to question him.

Instead, she gradually backed away, choosing to leave through the top of the big tent.

If he could see her, what if he grabbed her when she got close…that would be a big loss.

Isn’t this just a Slave Caravan…?

I’ll come back tomorrow and buy this old man out.

With a nod to her clever plan, Ireya’s figure instantly melted into the night, disappearing into the darkness…

“…Sigh.”

The white-haired old man sighed slowly after Ireya left, rubbing his head.

Ten minutes later…

Breathing out, the noble lady lying on the bed slowly opened her crimson eyes.

Then, sitting cross-legged upright, she scratched her hair rather unladylike.

Two questions.

First, if she wasn’t mistaken, the one who attracted her and Ruilier was that old man.

But why were she and her younger sister drawn to him?

Who exactly was he?

Why had he become a slave?

Second…the fact that he could see her — was he some sort of extraordinary being?

But this also served as a warning…

Though being in ghost form allowed her to ignore most surveillance and even physical attacks,

it was by no means invincible…

When encountering certain items or special people, the soul might be far more fragile than the body.

Breathing out, she organized her thoughts and lay back down, her head sinking into the soft pillow.

Forget it, thinking about this is useless…

Better sleep early.

Tomorrow…

I’ll go buy that old man as a slave…

Then I’ll know everything.

As the darkness before her eyes deepened, Ireya’s somewhat confused consciousness suddenly caught sight of a beam of light…

A soft light, like a summer afternoon, comforting.

In her dream, her body seemed to be constantly moving forward…

Huff!

Huff—!

No, she wasn’t moving, she was…flying.

“Gah…”

Purple-black feathers, a hoarse call, ruby eyes…

At this moment, the noble lady had become a purple-black crow!

Yet she had no awareness of this, as if everything was just as it should be, instinctively flying forward…

Huff! After countless beats of black wings, before the crow-lady’s eyes, the path suddenly cleared!

In front of her was a tree.

A Giant Tree growing in the middle of the Blue Lake!

Its trunk twisted upward like three entwined dragons, and atop the crown, countless pale purple diamond-shaped crystals clinked softly in the breeze.

A Godly Miracle?

Everything was so beautiful, so unreal…

And at that moment, a melodious harp tune drifted into the crow-girl’s ears.

Looking toward the source of the sound, it came from the center of the Blue Lake, at the foot of the Giant Tree…

A young man with pale golden short hair held a golden harp, sitting in a small boat.

His pale blue eyes gazed tenderly at the Giant Tree before him.

His fingers gently plucked the strings, and his mouth sang a graceful chant…

Ireya didn’t understand the words, but she knew…this man was sad, yet he was pouring all his gentleness into a tree.

Though this tree could be called a “Godly Miracle,” it was still unbearably tragic.

Thinking this, Ireya unconsciously began to circle in the air softly, matching the rhythm of the music…

After an unknown amount of time, the song ended, and the golden-haired young man’s sigh echoed by the crow’s ear.

【So this is…love? I see now…】

【…Teacher.】

A tree?

Huff—!!

A breeze blew, the crystal leaves of the Giant Tree rustled softly, and gentle waves rippled on the lake…

Everything before her seemed to freeze at that moment, like a faded oil painting hanging on a mottled wall, admired by passersby.

And now, the person standing in front of that painting…

Slowly opened her eyes.

But in her eyes, there was no longer the clear lake or the towering Giant Tree.

Only the somewhat tacky, elegant ceiling of her bedroom.

“Hm?”

Ireya slowly got up, her thoughts pausing for two seconds before rapidly spinning again.

“Crystal Giant Tree…”

That was the only phrase she could think of, perfectly matching the scene from her dream.

But why did she dream of that?

Was it because she attacked the Dark Tunnel Tribe, and the tree was retaliating?

It shouldn’t be…

According to Amisa, even the Supreme Beings of this world don’t care about their blood relatives or clans…

If it really was a protective Supreme Being, she would have been attacked the moment she raided the Dark Tunnel Tribe.