After leaving the God Race’s territory, the witches were once again without a home. They wandered, using every available moment to practice Dark Magic. With their years of experience in witchcraft, they found that practicing Dark Magic yielded twice the results with half the effort. Some of the older witches and elders soon made great progress.

Because Dark Magic was more offensive in nature, the overall strength of the witches increased.

The witches didn’t know that the witchcraft they had always practiced was also a form of dark power. Seeing how quickly they mastered Dark Magic, they all believed they simply had a greater talent for harnessing the power of darkness.

The complex, cumbersome witchcraft, which lacked the offensive power of Dark Magic, was soon cast aside. After mastering the few Dark Magic spells they knew, the Garcia and Morgan families began trying to research new ones.

But a new spell couldn’t be developed through effort alone. The Anderson Family had been secretly researching for a long time, and in the end, they still chose the simplest path.

Eunice had always been called a “genius” by her people. Whether they said it with jealousy or sarcasm, the fact that she was a genius was undeniable. Her ability to develop Dark Magic was proof enough of her talent.

It was just that her personality was too peculiar. She was only willing to share the Dark Magic she developed with Betty, always treating any other witch who wanted to discuss it with her with disdain.

Her affinity for the power of darkness and her outstanding talent had not made for a pleasant childhood. The title “little genius” was no compliment to her. She was envied, ostracized, and isolated. Because of her affinity for dark power, she had been used as a test subject for other witches’ Dark Magic experiments when she was powerless to resist.

She couldn’t care less if other witches wanted to practice Dark Magic, and she certainly wouldn’t teach them her spells. There was only one person she wanted to teach—Betty.

Unfortunately, Betty wasn’t very interested in Dark Magic yet.

Eunice leaned against a tree trunk, her eyes fixed on Betty, who was sitting not far away, diligently writing a letter. She toyed with an unsharpened dagger in her hand, quietly enjoying what was, for her, a very leisurely moment.

Betty clutched a quill, writing ceaselessly on a piece of parchment. She would occasionally pause to think, not even noticing the ink smudge on her fair cheek.

Eunice watched her for a while before she couldn’t help but ask, “Are you writing to the God Race again?” Her tone was thick with dissatisfaction.

Betty signed her name at the bottom of the parchment, then gently blew on the wet ink. She picked up the parchment and ran over to sit beside Eunice, saying happily, “Darcy said Cynthia rescued many of our people in Pegel. She wants us to send someone to the Slade Sea Region to pick them up.”

“Cynthia is so amazing.”

Eunice clicked her tongue. She plunged the dagger in her hand into the ground and said, displeased, “Haven’t we rescued plenty of our people, too?”

After leaving the God Race’s territory, they had come to Shastaya, which was very close to their original home, the Capri Plains. Many fourth-generation Vampires were stationed here. Besides practicing Dark Magic, the witches had also been rescuing their imprisoned kin.

Compared to when they had just left, their numbers had already increased by a quarter.

Betty leaned on Eunice’s shoulder and couldn’t resist taking out the parchment from the God Race again, unfolding it to read it carefully. Her eyes sparkled with happiness. “Will we be able to find all our people soon?”

“Maybe we can even take back our own territory.”

“The God Race will definitely continue to expand their territory. Although the Capri Plains and Ochester are a bit far apart, if we work hard and drive out all the nearby Vampires, our territory can be next to the God Race’s.”

Betty chattered on for a while without getting a response from Eunice. She looked up in confusion at Eunice’s profile and said with a frown, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Eunice glanced at her, then reached up to ruffle her hair, deliberately dashing her hopes. “Those ideas of yours are too naive.”

Betty’s face fell. She buried her head in the crook of Eunice’s neck, her voice sounding a little muffled. “…I just want the witches to have a better future.”

Betty’s unconscious intimacy made the corners of Eunice’s lips curve up slightly. She adjusted her position and wrapped an arm around Betty, then said with a smile, “Looks like I’ll have to work on getting stronger, then, so I can make your dream a reality.”

After she spoke, she paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but mutter, “But your dreams are one more boring than the next.”

Saving humans, making the witch clan better and better—in Eunice’s eyes, these were all ridiculous ideas. But when the person who had these ideas was Betty, she began to seriously consider how to help her achieve them.

Because Betty was the only warmth in her heart, both in her childhood and now.

Although Cynthia had successfully “persuaded” Olivia to rest with her, they were, in fact, still within the Forbidden Land. And while Olivia had verbally agreed to rest, she couldn’t help but check on the state of the Elf Fruit. Cynthia observed her for a while and, seeing that this was no way to recuperate, simply demanded that Olivia follow her back to the wooden cabin to rest, since it was still several hours until evening.

Olivia was somewhat surprised by Cynthia’s suggestion, but after a moment of contemplation, she agreed.

Elves liked to be close to nature and, unlike Vampires, didn’t place much importance on luxury. Their resting places were simple wooden cabins, and this was true even for Olivia. The only difference was that her cabin was probably a bit larger.

There was a designated area in the Elf Territory for receiving guests, and Polly had settled Cynthia and Hanni there. Although the cabins were prepared for guests, they were very well-equipped. Knowing that other races disliked hard wooden beds, the elves had made the guest beds exceptionally soft.

The cabin wasn’t particularly spacious; a wooden table in the center already took up a quarter of the space. Olivia stood at the door, her gaze sweeping across the room. The silver-haired God Race had only lived here for a few days, but the cabin was already filled with traces of her presence.

Parchments densely covered with spells, Light Crystals for studying formations placed casually on the table—seeing these things that didn’t belong to the Elf Race, Olivia was suddenly reminded of their time in the Slade Sea Region. Cynthia had been just like this, “moving” these things onto her bridge bit by bit, naturally occupying a space on the bridge she used for rest.

Speaking of which, Olivia still hadn’t figured out why she had tacitly allowed that God Race to stay on her bridge back then.

Every morning, a young elf would bring Cynthia fresh flower nectar, a basket of petals still glistening with dew, and fragrant fruits. Cynthia walked into the cabin, tidied the table a little, then picked up the bottle of nectar and gave it a shake. When she looked up, she found Olivia still standing at the door. She raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile, “Why don’t you come in?”

Olivia withdrew her gaze from the cabin and met Cynthia’s eyes for a moment before stepping inside. “It seems the Elf Race’s hospitality is to your satisfaction,” she said faintly.

She walked to the table and sat down, her long, light green hair cascading down her straight back to the floor.

Cynthia poured herself a cup of nectar, then pushed the bottle toward Olivia. “I would be even more satisfied if I could be a little closer to Her Majesty the Queen,” she said with a grin.

Olivia took out her own cup from her Space Gem and poured some nectar, choosing to ignore Cynthia’s teasing words.

The cup Olivia took out was the very one Cynthia had “accidentally” made off with. In all the time Cynthia had spent with her, she had never seen her use any other cup for nectar.

“This cup is quite exquisite. Was it a gift?” Cynthia leaned against the table, stroking the wooden cup in her hand as she asked casually.

“No.” Olivia took a sip of nectar, feeling the floral fragrance spread in her mouth. She looked down at the cup in her hand and said, “I carved it myself.”

“Oh?”

Hearing the surprise in Cynthia’s tone, Olivia frowned and added, “A pastime from my youth.”

Cynthia chuckled softly. “Her Majesty the Queen only came of age not long ago,” she said gently.

Olivia turned the cup in her hands, her light green eyes slightly lowered, and said nothing.

The cabin suddenly fell quiet, but it was filled with a faint warmth. Cynthia drank a few sips of nectar, her eyes darting to Olivia a few times. The information she had heard from the elves about the Guardian was on her mind. She asked tentatively, “I heard Her Majesty the Queen’s Twin Flower has bloomed. Would I be fortunate enough to see it?”

Hearing the words “Twin Flower” from Cynthia’s lips, Olivia’s hand tightened around her cup. She looked up slightly, but after her gaze met those smiling golden eyes, she awkwardly looked away again, using annoyance to mask her nervousness. “Who told you that?” she asked.

“I heard an elf mention it today while I was touring the territory with Hanni.” Cynthia observed Olivia’s expression and asked nonchalantly, “Is it that only the Guardian can see the Queen’s Twin Flower?”

Seeing that she even knew about the Guardian, Olivia’s hand unconsciously loosened and tightened on her cup, her brow furrowed. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

The Twin Flower… how could she casually show it to someone? Besides, where would she even have a Guardian right now?

“An elf told me the Twin Flower is very beautiful after it blooms, so I was a little curious.” After Cynthia spoke, she keenly noticed Olivia’s expression suddenly turn strange. She paused, then asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

“An elf invited you to see their Twin Flower?” Olivia stared into Cynthia’s eyes and asked expressionlessly.

Cynthia paused for a moment, then denied it. “…No, I overheard it.”

Olivia snorted coldly, turning her head away. “The Twin Flower may be beautiful, but its fragrance can cause one to fall into a state of confusion,” she warned in a low voice. “If you don’t want to attract trouble, you’d best stay far away from the Twin Flower’s territory.”

Cynthia was puzzled. “Fall into a state of confusion?”

Olivia’s expression was a little unnatural. She wanted to explain it properly, but the words got stuck in her throat, too embarrassing to say. Just as she was hesitating over how to explain it more tactfully, a clamor of footsteps came from outside. Hanni’s energetic voice pierced through the cabin door. “Cynthia, do you really like the Elf Queen?”

As her words fell, the cabin door was thrown open with a bang. Hanni burst in like a whirlwind and immediately saw Olivia sitting at the table. Her steps froze abruptly, and her perked-up wolf ears instantly flattened.

Cynthia: “…”

The smile on Cynthia’s lips, who had been leaning leisurely against the table, faded slightly. She discreetly turned her head to see Olivia’s reaction.

“Hanni.” Olivia’s hand on the table trembled. She felt the heat rising in her face and forcibly suppressed it. She stared at Hanni and said with a frown, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

Hanni shrank back and said weakly, “It wasn’t me, it was Avira.”

“Avira?” Olivia’s expression grew even colder. “You’re still in contact with her?”

Hanni didn’t dare to speak.

Olivia rose from the table, her gaze fixed straight ahead, never once looking at Cynthia. “If I find out you’re with Avira again, I’ll have your mother come and get you.” With that, she strode away, her figure quickly disappearing from sight.

Hanni turned and cautiously watched Olivia’s retreating back for a moment, then turned to Cynthia and sighed, “Looks like Her Majesty the Queen doesn’t like you, Cynthia.”

Cynthia: “…”

She also wanted Joanna to come and get this silly wolf.