Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 40: The Perfected

Myss pinched the Dragon Fae between two fingers. Its wings felt cool to the touch, quite different from what he had imagined.

The Dragon Fae was in terrible shape, nothing like before.

Held up by one wing in Myss’s hand, it hung limply with its arms and legs dangling. Its tiny hands were smeared with blood, as if it had chewed its nails far past the limit. The slyness had vanished from those green eyes, leaving behind only neurotic panic.

Cinnamon jumped onto Myss’s shoulder and curiously sniffed at the Dragon Fae. The little creature glanced weakly at the cat and let its paw pads pat at it without resistance.

“Back to the room first.”

Salaar glanced around, then hooked an arm around Myss and led him back to the residential area amid the chaos.

Considering the possibility that this thing was pretending to surrender, Salaar ruthlessly stacked five layers of protective magic on top of it, pinning the Dragon Fae firmly to the dining table.

Still, he politely left out hot tea and biscuits.

The Dragon Fae slumped on the tea cloth, looking like a delicate and fragile doll.

“Right, let’s continue,” Salaar said. “If you’re trying to cooperate with the people you were sent to murder, I assume you’ve prepared a sufficiently convincing explanation.”

The tiny Dragon Fae clutched its hair, looking extremely anxious. “My name is Tass Ga. I was hired by the Karns family.”

“Kendrick Karns, I want to make a deal with you. I’ll tell you everything I know about the Karns family’s side of things. In return, you won’t pursue the assassination attempt, and then we work together to escape.”

“That information doesn’t sound very valuable,” Myss remarked.

As if they cared what the Karns family was doing. Who cared what those human nobles were thinking?

Tass shuddered and started biting his fingers again, his eyes darting wildly in every direction.

Salaar tugged lightly on Myss’s sleeve and shook his head. Then he sat down by the table instead of looming over the Dragon Fae.

“Don’t be afraid. We won’t do anything to you.”

His voice was soothing, like a cool stream in midsummer. “…Your mental state doesn’t seem right. You switched sides this suddenly just because you can’t leave? Did anything else happen?”

Tass stopped biting his fingers. But he still didn’t look at Salaar. He lowered his head and picked at his bloody nails.

“Dragon Fae are born of magic. We can fuse with it by nature, like a drop of water blending into water.”

At the mention of magic, Myss leaned forward curiously. “Fuse?”

“Y-yes. We slip into the flow of magic.” Tass explained stiffly, “You follow it, confuse it, make it think you’re part of it… Then you can stir up the current from inside, or let the current overlook you and carry you through.”

Salaar tapped his fingers against the tabletop. “Gemstones are highly practical containers for magic. That’s why your kind is especially skilled at working with gems.”

Tass nodded weakly.

No wonder this creature could travel so freely through gemstones, Salaar thought, raising a brow.

That meant Tass had never brute-forced his way through Salaar’s protective magic. He had simply blended into it, becoming an impurity that induced cracks.

And when Myss used annihilation magic, Tass had redirected it into the gemstones, using those “magic containers” to weaken the effect, much like using copious amount of fresh water to wash off the poison from one’s body.

A very troublesome ability—one that, on the surface, appeared utterly flawless.

But now, it seemed to come with an unexpected cost…

“The magical environment here is different from outside.” Once he saw that they understood the premise, Tass continued miserably, “It’s actively assimilating me. I’m going to dissolve… I want to escape, but no matter what I do, I can’t leave…”

“You’re the only ones I can make a deal with. Please, get me out of here…”

Tass helplessly crushed biscuit crumbs in his hands. He was on the verge of breaking down, looking close to tears.

Myss lit up. “Hey, why don’t we stuff him into a lantern and walk in whatever direction makes him feel worse? That’ll definitely lead us to the Red Amber’s secret!”

He wore the same look of smug satisfaction once again—the look that seemed to say, “Aren’t I brilliant?”

“No—!”

Terrified, Tass burst into tears on the spot.

Salaar: “…”

Salaar sighed. “He’s still useful. For now, let’s see whether we can get out ourselves.”

“But aren’t we forbidden from leaving?”

“Let’s go find Mr. Anti. He’s been the exception once, so he can be the exception a second time.”

Myss clicked his tongue in displeasure but grudgingly agreed.

Knife and Fork wound tightly around Tass. Myss clenched him hard in his fist and shoved him deep into his pocket. Once he was sure the little thing couldn’t escape, the two of them stepped out again.

Under a servant’s guidance, they quickly found Mr. Anti.

Mr. Anti also had a private workshop.

The floor was paved with glossy white stone tiles. The cabinets and tables were all made of polished steel, their smooth surfaces gleaming coldly.

Bottles and jars were arranged with unnatural neatness. Their labels bore handwriting as precise as print. The air was thick with the bitter smell of medicinal reagents.

In the center of the room was a complex magic circle, and in the center of that stood a metal table. A human-shaped figure lay upon it beneath a white sheet… judging by the fit, muscular outline, it was probably Danton’s corpse.

It was hard to imagine that those vivid specimens, which seemed almost warm and alive, were produced in a room this lifeless.

“Good afternoon, Young Master Karns,” Mr. Anti said in that same old manner.

“We’re going out,” Salaar stated bluntly, throwing the sentence directly into his face.

“That’s not possible, Young Master Karns. You signed a contract with the Red Amber.”

“That contract has no magical binding force. Besides, when you came to receive me, didn’t you leave the Red Amber during your contract term too?” Salaar said. “The Karns family can just say they sent someone. Surely that serves as sufficient pretext, right?”

“No, it doesn’t, Young Master Karns. The Karns family’s messenger hasn’t yet arrived.”

At the same time, Tass stirred in Myss’s pocket as if shivering.

“Then I’ll find my own way out, and you’ll suffer for it too.” Salaar raised his voice. “Don’t complain when things get ugly. I gave you the chance to handle this gracefully.”

Anti shook his head helplessly and rose to his feet.

“Please come with me.”

He put on his top hat, whose butterfly wings glittered in the light.

Less than five minutes later, the group was standing by the employee-only entrance.

Mr. Anti gestured towards the door, offering a polite “After you.”

Salaar signaled for Myss to stay back, then stepped toward it first—

Bang!

He seemed to hit an invisible wall and nearly stumbled backward.

In disbelief, Salaar reached out and touched the “open” doorway. What he felt was the rough texture unique to canvas and paint.

It was a painting.

The dazzling, translucent sunlight outside, the lush green trees, all of it was painted on canvas.

It filled the entire doorframe, sealing the doorway shut. Painted carriages rolled slowly along the road. Birds made of brushstrokes hopped among the branches.

The painting was so breathtakingly lifelike that, at first glance, Salaar hadn’t even realized what it was.

Myss hurried forward and let his pupils dilate.

But he couldn’t see the “endpoint” of the magic with one look. This painting was only a tiny corner of some vast spell. It reminded him of the anomalous space in Rosha City… The fleshy membrane at the edge of that space carried the exact same aura.

Damn it.

Myss snatched up a decorative vase by the door and hurled it straight at the canvas.

The white vase instantly passed into the painting, becoming a few white brushstrokes on the lawn. But when Myss tried to push his hand through, the canvas bounced it back. His fingers throbbed from the impact.

Cinnamon was startled. It stepped one hind paw past the threshold and was mercilessly blocked by the canvas as well.

Myss: “…”

It wasn’t just the Dragon Fae Tass Ga who was trapped. He and Salaar were trapped too. Even the cats they had hired were trapped.

“You don’t yet have the qualifications to leave.”

Mr. Anti stepped easily over the threshold and stood outside the doorframe. His painted face turned toward them with a smile. “Only the Perfected are qualified to leave, Young Master Karns.”

Salaar pressed hard against the painted barrier blocking the doorway. It felt like canvas pasted onto solid rock, not giving an inch.

“‘The Perfected’? And who decides that?” he sneered. “There was nothing about that in the contract.”

Anti smiled on the other side of the threshold. The expression was perfectly proper, but the amusement never reached his eyes.

“You’ll understand, Young Master Karns.”

He said calmly, “You’ll understand very soon.”

While Anti’s attention was fully on Salaar, Myss stepped forward slightly and smeared a thread of black magic onto the canvas.

Yet his normally unstoppable power met it like a mirror, leaving no mark at all. At the instant the magic dissipated, he heard a faint laugh beside his ear.

Mr. Anti stepped back inside and straightened his hat.

The exquisite wooden door slowly closed behind him, blocking out the false sunlight.

“It’s working hours now, Young Master Karns,” he said. “You still have a Perfect Love waiting to be completed. I also have a corpse waiting to be processed.”

“Enough…”

There was a sudden squirm in Myss’s pocket as Tass struggled to poke his head out. “Enough, damn it, stop saying things like that…”

His tiny body trembled again. It was hard to say whether from rage or pain. “Antis, didn’t you always refuse to turn your own kind into specimens? You’ve gone mad…”

“Good afternoon, Lord Tass.”

Mr. Anti removed his hat in greeting. “What an unexpected pleasure.”

Tass took a deep breath. “Listen to me—I never signed any contract, and this damned place trapped me too! You told me that if I didn’t sign, nothing would happen!”

“I’m done. I’m done with this assassination. I want out!”

Still wrapped tightly in Knife and Fork, he could only stare desperately upward at the false blue sky like a man dying of thirst gazing at a mirage.

Whatever this place was doing to Tass Jia, it was clearly hurting him far more than he had let on.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

Anti tilted his head slightly, looking at the agonized Tass with detached puzzlement.

That response made Tass’s voice grow even sharper. “Stop acting, Antis!”

“You’re not some trusted retainer of the Karns family. No one from the Karns family is coming. You’ve been working with me all along just to help me assassinate Kendrick Karns!”

“This place is killing me. Let me go. Weren’t we friends?”

“We used to be friends.”

Mr. Anti’s voice turned especially gentlemanly. “We used to be friends, Lord Tass.”

Tass froze.

A long moment passed before he spoke again. “No… You’re not Antis.”

“The Antis I knew would never make specimens out of his own kind. He would never stand by and watch a friend suffer…”

“The Tass Jia I knew never failed an assignment and certainly would never cooperate with his assassination target.”

Anti replied evenly, “Clearly, we didn’t know each other well enough.”

“You—”

“Oh my, what’s all this arguing about?”

Iver walked out of the painting and crossed the doorway with ease. The instant he heard the voice, Myss shoved Tass back into his pocket.

“Let me see, are you trying to take your lover outside, Young Master Karns?” Iver’s champagne-gold eyes swept over the two of them. “So you’ve discovered the Red Amber’s wonderful qualities.”

“You mean ‘illegal imprisonment’ is wonderful?” Salaar said.

“The door is open. We come and go freely, and you cannot leave. How can that be called illegal imprisonment? You chose to stay here yourself.” Iver’s tone was light.

Myss still glowered at the door.

Suddenly, the badge beneath his clothes gave a faint twitch. It was Father Kalen signaling them.

To avoid drawing attention, they were supposed to contact him at night. If the priest was taking the risk of reaching out first, he had probably discovered something seriously wrong.

Salaar reacted at once. “Fine. I’m going to paint that damn picture now, just so I can leave this godforsaken place sooner.”

Then he seized Myss and turned away. Cinnamon trotted after them with its tail up, but before it had taken more than a few steps, Iver picked it up.

“Oh my, look at you, you ugly little thing.”

He stroked Cinnamon with a smile. The cat flattened its ears and froze in place.

Seeing the dispute settled, Mr. Anti left first, disappearing around the corner.

Even if the Dragon Fae had temporarily broken down, they still needed to keep the cat. With a displeased turn, Myss went back to snatch Cinnamon.

At that moment, they were standing where two corridors met at a corner.

“Oh, by the way, Mr. Karns.”

At the same time, Mr. Anti’s voice came from the far side of the corner. “There are a few things I need to clarify regarding what that Dragon Fae said to you.”

He was standing a little far away. Salaar instinctively took two steps forward, and the hem of his clothes vanished past the edge of the corner.

On the other side, Iver readily handed Cinnamon back to Myss. The moment Myss took the cat, a sudden emptiness opened in his chest.

He whipped his head around and couldn’t find Salaar in sight.

They had only been a few steps apart, yet that corner had silently split them into two different places.

“Sa— hey!”

Every hair on Myss’s body stood on end. He almost shouted Salaar’s name on the spot. Taking three long strides, he rushed around the corner and caught sight of Salaar’s back as he stood talking with Anti.

The corridor looked exactly the same as before. The wallpaper bore elegant patterns. The magical wall lamps glowed warm and bright. There wasn’t a single suspicious figure in sight.

Salaar’s stance looked unchanged too, his back straight, neither humble nor overbearing.

Thank goodness. Nothing had happened to Salaar.

Myss let out a breath and inwardly fumed for a few seconds. He had never been this jumpy before. This bizarre place had to be affecting him.

Father Kalen’s communication request was still ongoing. They would return to their room and deal with it as quickly as possible. He still had to interrogate Tass properly and find out what other secrets Mr. Anti was hiding…

Hm?

Why hadn’t Salaar turned around to look at him yet?

That chill returned, like the memory of a nightmare long forgotten.

Myss broke into a run, grabbed Salaar’s clothes, and forcefully yanked him around.

The moment he saw that face, Myss forgot how to breathe.

…He didn’t see the familiar lapis-lazuli blue.

The eyes that had accompanied him for more than three hundred years were gone, replaced by a field of blood-red.

For one awful instant, Myss thought Salaar’s eyeballs had been gouged out. But that illusion lasted only a heartbeat.

Set in Salaar’s eye sockets were two lumps of perfectly translucent blood amber. Under the bright lights, the twin pools of crimson seemed to flow slowly, impossible for anyone to ignore.

Without that familiar streak of blue, Salaar’s face looked terrifyingly unfamiliar.

“Ah, my dear Myss.”

Salaar nodded to him, eyes curving in a smile. His expression was exactly the same as the original Salaar’s.

“…Come along, Mr. Myss. Let’s go to the studio.”

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