Magical Journey: The Other Shore Blooms on the Other Shore

The slightly overweight village chief then realized that guests had arrived at his home.

The moment he looked at Elena, a look of amazement flashed in his eyes, but then his gaze fell on the brooch on her chest and the silent zither standing outside, and he suppressed the wicked thoughts in his heart.

Tsk, she's quite pretty, but it's a pity she's a witch, and it seems she has a bodyguard too.

"Guests from afar are welcome. Please have a seat," the village chief said, welcoming Elena and Qin.

Putting the harp aside for now, Elena is a genuine witch, and such a person cannot be underestimated. The time-reversal magic she just performed was already stunning enough.

“Nino, I want a super-sized deluxe dinner tonight,” Emil said.

"Okay...okay..." Nino said hesitantly.

"And I have a gift for you after dinner."

"A gift..." Upon hearing this word, Nino became anxious again, her gaze instinctively shifting to the village chief who was entertaining guests. "I can't accept it, the village chief will be unhappy..."

"I will talk to my dad."

"Do not……"

“What if this is my order?” Emil said.

Upon hearing the word "command," Nino's terrified eyes suddenly filled with confusion, and then she suddenly burst into a silly, half-mad laugh: "Nino will obey your commands."

"That's right."

Meanwhile, Elena was chatting idly with the village chief, but her attention was entirely focused on the two people in the kitchen. The relationships in this family... were truly somewhat abnormal.

As conversations with the village chief became increasingly tedious, Elena gradually grew dissatisfied with the idle fellow beside her.

Every time I need to communicate with someone, it's like this: eyes closed, face blank, looking like someone owes him money. I'm practically becoming this jerk's personal vocal organ.

No, I'll have to talk to him about the extra money later.

At this time, it would be good if you could help deal with this village chief who can't talk about anything related to nutrition, all he does is close his eyes and rest all day.

"Is Nino Japanese?" Elena steered the conversation toward Nino.

"Yes, she's a slave I bought from Japan," the village chief said. "I bought her because she was pretty."

"Like This……"

Slaves...

Although this seemed similar to being a servant, Elena knew that slaves had absolutely no human rights.

Did Emil know that Nino was actually a slave? What would his father think if he fell for someone like that?

No wonder Emil wanted to collect happiness for Nino so she could cheer up. Elena had figured many things out, and then quietly waited for dinner to begin.

A lavish dinner was served, with a large table laden with food, showing that a lot of effort had been put into making a good impression on Elena.

Although for Emil, he simply wanted to repay Elena for helping Nino out of that predicament—even though Nino cooked the dinner and it had nothing to do with him.

Qin looked at the dazzling array of farm-style dishes and sighed softly, "Excuse me, I'll stay here."

He then went outside and leaned against the doorway, watching the setting sun gradually sink on the horizon. The dining table was less than ten meters from the door, so it was relatively safe and wouldn't detonate the Yin-Yang Sphere.

Seeing Qin walk away so rudely.

Both the village chief and Emil were displeased.

The village chief thought he had given him so much face and that even the witch hadn't complained about the food, yet he was complaining about it. He was ungrateful.

Emil was upset because these were all meals that Nino had worked so hard to prepare, yet Jean just walked away dismissively without even taking a bite.

In fact, even Elena harbored some dissatisfaction.

Although she knew that Qin hardly ever ate, this meal didn't cost her a penny, so even just a few bites would be fine.

Qin chose the least emotionally intelligent approach and left without offering any explanation.

Nino was probably the calmest person there.

Because of Elena's status as a witch, no one at the table reacted, but anyone could tell that the originally sumptuous meal was being eaten in a very unpleasant way.

……

Happiness in a bottle...

Qin stared blankly at the hazy moonlight, quietly enjoying the passage of time.

In Beatrice, he could also see such a full moon. At these times, it meant he could finally come out of the basement for some fresh air—a very, very precious moment for him.

He reached out as if to grab something, but unfortunately, he couldn't grab anything.

A cold corpse.

A demonic fire he brewed.

A solitary grave covered in blooming spider lilies.

Scenes flashed by like movie clips. Qin suppressed the possibility of his reason escalating, trying his best not to recall them, but the more he tried to avoid remembering, the more the pain would unconsciously wash over his mind like a tidal wave.

He escaped that hell... or so it seems...

But he had a vague feeling that he had never escaped... like a caged bird, a person in a painting.

He is still on a stage created by humans, executing a script that was already written.

He had long ago become afraid of experiencing the taste of happiness, fearing that he might become addicted to it.

Once he tastes happiness, can he still bear the pain? If he were to return to that hell again, would he still have the courage to live on?

Many times, he truly envied those who dared to fly like moths to a flame.

He envied the child in the peaceful country who dared to charge at him; ignorance is bliss.

He envied the man who perished in a sea of ​​flowers but eventually found his sister; death was also a form of happiness.

It is only after experiencing suffering and knowing the tragic end that life loses its meaning; this is the greatest pain.

Therefore, he was afraid of the happiness in the bottle.

Soon, a wave of pain spread throughout my body as expected. My body often does this; shortly after dusk, the old injuries caused by human experiments on my body would erupt from time to time like a geyser.

This pain penetrates deep into the bone marrow, like having your heart ripped out.

But Qin had already gotten used to it.

He forgot what he could forget, and got used to what he couldn't forget; that's how he got through life.

He closed his eyes tightly, gritted his teeth, and endured the excruciating pain that most people could not bear. Large beads of sweat covered his entire body.

She didn't know how much time had passed before the pain gradually subsided, and Qin opened her eyes again, weakly continuing to admire this world that didn't belong to her.

"What happened to you just now?"

Qin then noticed that Elena was nearby, leaning against the door like him, looking at the starry sky.

Normally, his senses would immediately detect Elena's approach.

But he had just experienced a sensory disturbance.

"It's nothing," Qin replied.

“Really?” Elena sighed. “Then can you answer what happened at dinner tonight? What you did made me feel very awkward.”

"I'm sorry," Qin said truthfully.

“I don’t mean to blame you. I think you must have your own reasons for not wanting to eat dinner. Could you tell me those reasons?” Elena said.

She was just talking nonsense; her original intention was to come and hold her accountable.

But seeing Qin trembling in pain and looking like she could die at any moment, even the harshest accusations softened a bit.

"You don't want to know why," Qin said with a wry smile, but his wry smile only made his smile look ugly.

"How do you know if I'll want to know if you don't tell me?"

"Because of the curse..."

"curse?"

"See? Hearing that word makes you want to get away from me, but you can't get away from me now. Isn't this just adding to your troubles?" Qin said self-deprecatingly. "Sometimes, not knowing is the greatest happiness."