https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-811-Lan-Qi-s-Pain-is-Unbearable-/12934334/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-813-Lan-Qi-Takes-His-Ancestors-Out/12934336/
Chapter 812: Sisters in the Midst of Tribulations
Chapter 812: Sisters in the Midst of Tribulations
In the dining room of Saint Crethine Academy, Lanchi leaned back in his chair, seemingly fast asleep.
He might have genuinely dozed off. After spending a prolonged period without rest in the eighth-tier Shadow World, he had returned to the real world and Brillada's home, where fatigue had accumulated. Now, given the opportunity to pretend to sleep, he could easily drift off without realizing it.
"It's good that we fed him well," Talia remarked, glancing at the slumbering Lanchi.
Earlier, during their contest with Sidda, they had barely eaten, focusing on feeding Lanchi instead.
"Let's move him to his room to rest after we're done here," Sigrid suggested quietly to Tata as she continued eating.
She was also careful not to disturb Lanchi's sleep.
"Alright," Talia nodded. "By the way, I'll help you tidy up the first-floor room later. You can stay here, and I'll take care of the meals. It would be great if you could occasionally help with buying some things."
Talia spoke to Sigrid, considering that according to Sidda, her luggage was still stored on the second floor of the Brillada Opera House in the Dimensional Branch and would be delivered later.
The Dimensional Branch had sent the person first, so the luggage was secondary.
"No problem," Sigrid agreed, recalling her journey through the Shadow World to Beast City, where Kaliyera had taken care of her meals and daily needs, allowing her to symbolically contribute by doing things like buying groceries.
Now, it felt like she was reliving her time living with Kaliyera.
"Wait, where does Lanchi live?" Sigrid suddenly realized a problem.
"The master bedroom at the end of the second floor," Talia pouted, reluctantly answering.
"Then where do you live?" Sigrid pressed Talia further.
"The second bedroom, closer to the master bedroom," Talia truthfully replied.
The rest of the rooms were guest rooms.
"That's not fair. We should let him live in the middle room, and we should live in the rooms on either side. That's more reasonable," Sigrid argued.
She had almost fallen into Tata's trap.
"In that case, all three of us would have to change rooms," Talia began to ponder.
Theoretically, this arrangement was feasible.
However, from now on, she would have to worry about the room next to the next room, fearing that Sigrid might sneak into Lanchi's room.
Every room in this house had been arranged by her and Lanchi, and the soundproofing was excellent.
She might not be able to sleep well every night.
"Or we could live together, and that would be fair," Sigrid proposed.
She obviously had the same concerns and understood what Tata was struggling with.
By following her suggestion, everyone's requests would be met.
"Are you willing to share a bed with me?" Talia herself didn't mind, but she had only ever shared a bed with Xiubao. The woman before her was not the real Xiugrey but a stranger she had just met today. Talia had never considered having a roommate.
However, this was indeed a solution. By personally keeping an eye on Sigrid, she wouldn't have to worry about her sneaking off to Lanchi's room.
"How is your sleep behavior?" Sigrid hesitated for a moment and asked cautiously.
The Xiubeilian she remembered most vividly had a terrible sleep behavior, often rolling over and pinning her down during sleep, leaving psychological scars on young Sigrid. If possible, she didn't want to share a bed with someone like Xiubeilian who tended to kick and steal blankets in her sleep.
"It's fine. How about you?" Talia's eyes flickered at the mention of sleep behavior.
She was confident that she slept well and believed she had a high tolerance for sleep behavior.
The only thing she couldn't accept was Xiubeilian occasionally sucking on her body in the middle of the night, causing her to jump out of bed, hugging her chest.
So, she had to ask.
"I'm quite quiet. I might turn over and hug a pillow or blanket at most," Sigrid said, resting her index finger on her chin as she thought.
She hadn't brought her black and green pillow from the Northern Continent, and sometimes she would wake up hugging it.
"Okay, let's move our luggage to the second floor later, and we'll share a room," Talia eventually agreed with Sigrid's suggestion.
Being roommates would prevent sneaking around, and they would be equidistant from Lanchi's room, making it a decent solution.
"To be honest, I don't dislike you, and I even think you're a pretty good person. Everything I said when we first met was sincere," Sigrid confessed with relief.
Even now, she felt exceptionally natural with her, as if they had lived together before.
Talia was stunned by her words.
She never expected the other woman to praise her.
Such straightforwardness was identical to the child in her memories.
"If we had met under different circumstances, we probably would have gotten along well. I don't deny that," Talia muttered with lowered eyes, not understanding why the other woman's thoughts were so similar to hers.
Unfortunately, no matter how familiar they became, they were still strangers.
Their only connection was Lanchi.
And Lanchi was the target they were competing for.
The dining table regained its previous tranquility, with only the occasional soft clink of cutlery against porcelain plates echoing in the room.
They ate quietly, not engaging in much conversation.
Talia was the type to take her time getting to know people and opening up to them. Initially, she would mostly listen to others, gauging whether they were suitable as friends.
Sigrid, on the other hand, had an outgoing personality and didn't have any issues with being herself around new acquaintances. But when she realized the food on the table was disappearing quickly, she decided to focus on eating her lunch.
She occasionally glanced at Talia in surprise.
Sigrid couldn't understand how Talia managed to eat so elegantly while making the food disappear at such a rapid pace.
"Is this Kaliyera from the later years?" she wondered. Even their eating manners were identical.
"A big appetite, no need to swallow too much."
"Why are you staring at me?" Talia asked, tilting her head towards Sigrid, noticing her gaze.
"Are you using disguise magic now?" Sigrid asked, her eyes fixed on Talia, not showing any signs of panic despite being caught.
"If you want to admire a beauty, do it openly."
"Of course, you're using it too, right?" Talia replied, chewing on a forkful of roasted potato balls.
After openly appearing in the capital city of Brillada, she would use the identity provided by Nigel, her superior from Bosen Kingdom, to alter her appearance.
She could sense that Sidda was incredibly strong, perhaps even a genius like her own sister, Sigrea, but Sidda was far too young.
"I'm curious about your original appearance."
Sigrid felt that this gray-haired woman's looks didn't quite match her exceptional demeanor, as if she had intentionally disguised herself to downplay her beauty.
"Hmm, I can be the woman you most want to see." Talia chuckled.
Not to mention, with Kaliyera's magic, she could also possess the enchanting visage of the latter.
"You seem pretty confident, but the woman I most want to see is unparalleled by anyone else." Sigrid could tell from Tata's attitude that the real Tata would be stunning.
"Who is it?" Talia didn't sense any disdain in Sidda's words; instead, she felt a sense of belief and approval. However, the woman Sidda spoke of held irreplaceable significance to her.
"My mother. She's the most beautiful and the best woman in the world." Sigrid asserted.
"Oh, so you're a good child." Talia nodded in understanding upon hearing Sidda's words.
As a princess of the Demon Clan, she was naturally competitive, but she knew that for a human child like Sidda, the weight of a mother's presence in her heart was immense.
"Aren't you going to argue? You seemed pretty confident just now." Sigrid was surprised by Tata's reaction.
She had expected Tata to be provoked and show her directly.
"No matter how confident I am, I can't compare to the mother in your heart." Talia shook her head lightly, speaking with a serene mindset.
She acknowledged Sidda as a filial daughter, and filial daughters couldn't be bad people.
"Hmm... How old are you really? Should I call you sister or little sister?" Sigrid asked, touching the corner of Lanqi's chair back as another question came to mind, leaning in closer to Tata.
Seeing Tata's mature and dignified response, she unconsciously closed the distance between them a bit.
If they were going to pretend to be Lanqi's fake fiancee, they might as well call each other sisters when they were out helping Lanqi with his act.
Tata fell silent.
She couldn't very well say she was 800 years old.
"I'm 25 in Hutton Kingdom." Talia finally stated the age on her identity card in Hutton Kingdom.
She had added a qualifier, so it wasn't a lie, and her conscience was clear.
"What? You're even younger than me?" Sigrid exclaimed, looking at Talia in surprise.
The mature aura and overflowing maternal instinct emanating from Talia had subconsciously led Sigrid to view her as an older woman, assuming she was at least a bit older than herself. She hadn't expected Talia to be just 25.
"Huh? You're not 25?" Talia was also taken aback.
In her imagination, the youthful energy exuded by Sidda, even if not on par with Xiubao's age, should have been similar to Sigrea's, in her early twenties.
"This..." Sigrid felt embarrassed.
She had initially planned to call Talia 'sister.'
But now, it turned out that she, herself, was the older sister.
"Tata, are you sure you're 25?" Sigrid asked again, probing to see if Tata wanted to change her earlier statement.
"I... I didn't lie! I'll show you my ID later!" Talia insisted, her face slightly red.
"Okay, okay, I believe you." Sigrid readily agreed.
"Then outside, I'll call you 'Tata Little Sister,' and you call me 'Sidda Big Sister.' Is that okay?" Sigrid felt it was a bit strange no matter how she thought about it. In her mind, she instinctively imagined Talia to be similar to Kaliyera's mother, yet she had to call her 'little sister.'
Their current identities in the Kreitine Empire were a bit of a mouthful, so it would be less suspicious if they just called each other by their nicknames. It would also be more natural.
"No, no problem!" Talia reluctantly agreed, her face slightly flushed.
The grandfather clock in the dining room ticked away, and time slowly passed as Cat Boss continuously brought cooked dishes and empty plates back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room.
The steam rising from the coffee on the table slowed, and in the midst of winter, time seemed to crawl.
As the Cat Boss served the Demon World Dessert, Black Chocolate Creme Brulee Souffle, the fluffy and warm chocolate custard topped with a crystal-like custard sauce, created a contrast of hot and cold, rich yet light. This lunch was almost coming to an end.
Lanqi caught a whiff of the familiar dessert scent and, sniffing the air, slowly opened his eyes.
He thought he had dreamed of his Infernal Corridor Academy again.
"Lanqi, are you feeling better?"
"Lanqi, are you hungry?"
The two women on either side of him looked at him simultaneously and asked in softer tones than before.
Lanqi didn't need to rely on the tone of their voices to tell who was asking which question.
"Not really," Lanqi replied, shaking his head and silently staring at the plate of Demon World Black Chocolate Creme Brulee Souffle on the table, gradually waking up from his brief nap.
"We'll feed you then."
Both Talia and Sigrid noticed that Lanqi might be craving something sweet to supply sugar to his overworked brain.
This time, Talia and Sigrid glanced at each other before speaking.
They didn't need to compete; they could simply take care of Lanqi together, each contributing their efforts for a more efficient recovery.
"I'm fine!"
Lanqi immediately became alert.
He sat up straight as if in response to a stimulus, his eyes clearing as he replied to them.
"..."
The two slowly put down their utensils.
They hadn't expected Lanqi to dislike being fed so much.
"What was I about to say just now..."
Lanqi furrowed his brows.
Every time he woke up, not only did he forget his dreams, but he also tended to forget what he was thinking about before falling asleep.
He remembered that when he saw Sigrid, he had thought of something very important, but the sudden encounter with love at the corner had been so shocking that he had to deal with the urgent matter first.
"Right! Sigrid, can I have some of your blood?"
Lanqi remembered and excitedly turned to grab Sigrid's shoulder, asking her.
"What do you need my blood for?"
Sigrid remembered that in the Shadow World, when they parted, Lanqi had also asked for some of her blood, and she had given it to him without asking why.
She didn't even know what Lanqi had done with her blood.
Seeing Lanqi affectionately holding onto Sidda's shoulder, Talia felt a pang of jealousy and crossed her arms, pouting.
She and Sidda had agreed not to compete, and since Lanqi had initiated the contact, she had no reason to interfere.
"It's like this. I have a friend who went to the Blood Moon City in the Present World under the Kreithine Empire. Although she managed to return alive, she was infected with the Fire Poison from the Blood Palace. Now, she is burned by the Blood King Divine Flame every day, and once she leaves the Barrier Field, there's a high probability that she'll be located by the Vampires using the Blood King Divine Flame. Only your Wolf Blood with its Feral Vitality can cure her. Can you help me save her? She'll become a reliable companion for us."
Lanqi explained to Sigrid.
Since he was worried that Ifatiya would call him 'brother' upon meeting, he temporarily didn't tell Sigrid that his friend was actually Xiubeilian's mother.
"Of course, it's no problem."
Sigrid readily agreed.
Lanqi heard a clatter behind him.
"Wait, she, Sidda, is a Wolf?"
Talia asked in astonishment, her face paling as she stood up, her emotions in turmoil.
"Yeah," Lanqi turned back and nodded to Talia.
"She's the reliable companion from the Northern Continent that I mentioned to the Cat Boss. We didn't expect her to find us in Brillada so quickly."
He added an explanation.
Toriato, who seemed unreliable, was actually thinking of ways to save his fellow Ifatiya.
"..."
Talia clenched her fists, her lips pressed tightly together, and she looked at Sigrid with a complex expression for a long time. Her Golden Eyes were filled with relief, gratitude, and closeness.
She had originally thought that her plan to obtain high-level Wolf Blood to save her sister was full of uncertainty and danger, as the Sixth Divine General, Water Sapphire Viola, was not someone to be trifled with. She never imagined that this seemingly distant dream would come true even faster than the gentle fall of a gentle country.
"Thank you, Miss Sidda."
Talia bowed in gratitude.
"Wh-what? Why are you suddenly thanking me?"
Sigrid was also puzzled.
"Actually, you're saving Tata's sister. She's been constantly thinking about her sister, who is suffering from the burning torment every day, and wants to cure her as soon as possible."
Lanqi replied on behalf of Talia.
"I see."
Sigrid understood the situation and her expression relaxed.
She stood up, smiled, and walked over to Tata, who was bowing her head.
"Your sister is my sister now. We're good sisters, so don't be so formal. I'll be counting on you for future care."
Sigrid hooked her arm around Talia's shoulder and said to her.
"No, wait, she's not my sister..."
Lanqi suddenly realized something was wrong.
How did Sigrid also consider Ifatiya as her sister?
"Wow, Sister Sidda."
But Talia and Sigrid paid no attention to his words as they embraced and wept.
Only Lanqi was left, feeling that all was lost.
Tata's call of 'Sister Sidda' was about to fry his brain. What was going on?!
(End of Chapter)
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