Kafka’s words were like a transparent silk screen, an invisible spider’s web, that effortlessly ensnared the boy, making his heart tremble.
Perhaps she herself had no such intention.
But Zao Wu couldn’t help but fall into a daze.
“Is it… really okay?” When he came back to his senses, he realized he had mumbled his self-doubting thoughts aloud.
Kafka smiled faintly.
Mortified, Zao Wu tried to flee.
He couldn’t understand how he could be so greedy!
He, who had nothing and had lost his memories, was not only taken in by Sister Kafka, but everything he had—food, clothing, shelter, and daily necessities—was a gift from her.
He might never be able to repay Sister Kafka’s kindness!
How could he dare to hope for more… “S-Sorry!” “I suddenly remembered Sister Silver Wolf wants me to practice swordsmanship with her, I’ll be going now…” “Pfft!” Kafka suddenly laughed.
This child was so adorable; he couldn’t even lie properly.
His words were so jumbled.
To make her believe Silver Wolf would willingly practice with a sword would be like saying Blade enjoyed embroidery—assuming swordplay didn’t count.
If they were to travel the stars in the future, who would believe he was a child she had raised?
Could a woman like a devil raise a boy like an angel?
Forget others, even Kafka herself was growing curious.
She reached out and clasped Zao Wu’s wrist.
“I’m so tired.
Don’t make me say any more than I have to, alright?” “Zao Wu, stay.” “Stay with me.” “…” Zao Wu’s body felt as if it had been frozen solid, only to gradually thaw back to its original warmth under the heat of the woman’s touch.
He understood then that he had no room to refuse.
Just as he didn’t understand how he could ever bear to refuse.
“Yes, my…” The word lingered on the tip of his tongue before he quietly swallowed it back down.
In the time that followed, he helped Kafka change into her nightgown, gave her a massage, and prepared a cup of warm milk for her before bed.
He did everything the most outstanding butler should do.
Except for… sleeping with her.
However, rather than sleeping with her, it was more like Kafka was holding Zao Wu in her arms like a large doll.
And after a brief period of blushing, Zao Wu gradually sank into that soft, blissful warmth.
The result was that the affection-starved boy fell asleep faster and more deeply than Kafka did.
It was hard to tell just who was keeping whom company.
He clung to the woman’s embrace as if there were no tomorrow.
Tears fell in his sleep.
A murmur, as fragile as shattering porcelain, escaped his lips.
“Don’t… throw me away…” Kafka’s cherry-pink pupils flickered, almost imperceptibly.
They reflected the boy’s face, like that of a suffering, pure-white angel.
A strange impulse made her close her eyes and press a kiss to the boy’s forehead.
When she opened them again, a coldness like the glint of a bullet’s arc flashed through her gaze.
“I won’t throw you away.” “Whoever it was that threw you away, we will make them…” “Regret it for the rest of their life.” —o— It felt like a very warm and happy dream.
And the dream was long because Zao Wu was unwilling to wake up.
In the dream, Kafka had hugged him.
That was all.
If not for his body, which required material sustenance, protesting, Zao Wu’s consciousness, which had not yet deliberately cultivated self-control, would probably have chosen to remain lost in it forever.
He opened his eyes to the dazzling, incandescent white sunlight.
The boy’s long eyelashes were already like snow, and at this moment, they looked even more hazy and dreamlike.
“Angel.” It was indeed a word that suited him well.
As he woke, memories of last night flooded back.
Zao Wu sat up on Kafka’s bed, dazed for a long, long time.
“You’re awake.” From a nearby red silk noble’s chair, Kafka, wearing only a white shirt and slim-fit trousers with a woman’s tie loosely draped around her collar, glanced back lazily.
In her hand, she held a cup of exceedingly bitter coffee, yet Kafka sipped it slowly and methodically, without the slightest hint of discomfort.
At least it tasted much better than what that woman brewed.
Zao Wu felt a little embarrassed, blushing as he averted his gaze.
“Sister Kafka… have you been waiting long for me?” Kafka shook her head.
“I have been waiting for a long time, but not for you to wake up.” “In fact, Zao Wu looks very well-behaved when he’s sound asleep.
I like it very much~” “…” Even though he guessed Kafka was teasing him, Zao Wu couldn’t help but feel shy, and it was impossible for him to feel any displeasure.
“Then what were you waiting for, Sister Kafka?” He had caught the key point in the woman’s words.
With a wave of her hand, Kafka summoned an image of the vast sea of stars before Zao Wu.
Before Zao Wu could even marvel at it, he was captivated by a golden route that seemed to pierce through the cosmos, stretching toward an unreachable shore.
Kafka’s gaze, however, was fixed on an exquisitely crafted pocket watch in her hand, watching as its hands slowly pointed to twelve.
At the very instant the hand perfectly aligned with the mark.
A point on the golden route suddenly burst forth with an incomparably bright, shimmering starlight.
In Zao Wu’s ears, it was as if he could hear a steam whistle from a distant, ancient era.
Today, at this very moment, it resounded once more throughout the galactic sea.
“That is the path known as ‘The Trailblaze’.” The so-called “Trailblaze” was the Path presided over by the legendary Aeon, Akivili.
Sister Silver Wolf had told Zao Wu stories about Him while playing related games.
Akivili left the isolated world of Pegana to continuously explore the unknown boundaries of the universe, attempting to find the endpoint of the Tree of Existence.
But His fate was cut short by an accident.
Even so, the Path of “The Trailblaze” never ended.
To this day, there is still a group of brave and fearless Trailblazers who, riding a special vehicle, follow the route the Aeon once traveled, vowing to reconnect the stars.
Its name—the Astral Express.
“Someone has already set off.” “We Stellaron Hunters can’t fall too far behind.” Kafka put away her pocket watch and closed the star chart.
She cast a “follow me” glance at Zao Wu.
Zao Wu understood.
Not long after, in the Stellaron Hunters’ meeting room.
The main and vice-chair seats were empty.
Silver Wolf and Blade sat in their respective member seats.
The former was furiously tapping away at a mobile game.
The latter was feigning sleep while clutching Shard Sword.
It was only when the door was suddenly pushed open.
And the “tap, tap” of high heels on the floor echoed through the room.
Did the two of them finally muster some energy?
“What took you so long, Kaf—Huh!
Zao Wu, why are you here too!” “Wait!
Why did you two come in together!” “No wonder I couldn’t find Zao Wu all morning.
Could it be…” “He’s already been eaten by the bad woman!!!” Silver Wolf let out a devastated cry, the half-finished game in her hands losing all its appeal.
—o—