Can the sadness that magic cannot take away be offset by love?

The rabbit was being roasted tonight, and when Enil's men came over with the rabbit legs, they went straight towards Iris. St. Ferguson's men kicked him and drove him towards Ernest.

Enil's people were confused for a while, looked at Ernest, looked at Iris, and then looked at the new group of people. They didn't know what they associated with each other, and then they suddenly realized.

Oh, it’s a plan, right? It almost ruined the bosses’ plans. What a sin.

He trotted over to Ernest and handed him the rabbit leg.

On the other side, St. Ferguson's men timed themselves and put another rabbit leg into Iris's hands just as the rabbit leg was in Ernest's hands.

If you don’t know what to do, just bring some water first. It won’t go wrong.

Sophie's people have been paying attention to the movements here, but their faces show no thoughts. They eat the food they brought calmly.

They were the people farthest from the fire.

Iris dozed off after eating the rabbit leg, and when she lowered her head, her hair touched the flames. Ernest reached out and put out the flames in her hair, then patted her awake and asked her to sit back.

The whole scene was seen by the people led by Sophie.

In the dead of night, when the dew was heavy, crows circled in the night sky, making mournful cries, and the shadows of a few bats flashed by and quickly disappeared into the opposite tree.

Sophie's people haven't gone to bed yet, they are still chatting.

There was a blond boy telling a story to a group of people:

"Suddenly, a vampire in a black cloak appeared in the open space, with fangs bared and blood flashing in his eyes—"

Someone burst out laughing:

"It flashes. Hahahahahahahaha. How far apart are this vampire's two eyes?"

The storyteller raised his hand to slap him, but the other person dodged by rolling on the ground, and after getting up, he laughed at him.

"Two psychopaths... OK, let's continue."

Others said.

Before they knew it, St. Ferguson and Enil's men had also gotten through. A group of people calmly placed themselves in the circle of others and listened to their stories. Sophie's men glanced at them from time to time, but when they saw that they were not doing anything, they ignored them.

After a story was told, someone commented:

"In my opinion, vampires are the transformed forbidden mages. They can't stand the light and love to suck blood."

"It's possible. Have you read the report from the Mage Tower last year? Eighty percent of forbidden mages have blood thirst."

"I think it may be more than that. I have an uncle who was once captured by a forbidden wizard for a blood transfusion. He was found by his family after only a few milliliters of blood was transfused. He was immediately sent to the hospital and was rescued in time, so nothing happened. However, even with such a small amount of blood, he suffered from blood thirst. He stared at other people's blood vessels all day long and was locked up at home for half a year. People from the forbidden association often came to see him. Now, so many years have passed, and they still come to his house to deliver rice and oil during the holidays..."

"No way, such a small amount of blood can have an impact? That's too much."

"You can check the official website of the Anti-Japanese Association. There are many similar examples."

"Then don't the real forbidden mages stare at people's blood vessels like starving ghosts every day?"

"Some even keep a few people to suck their blood, just like real vampires."

"Well, do you know that there was a prince in Tangia? He was taken hostage by a forbidden wizard. He was given a transfusion of blood containing anemia. He was rescued and said to be cured. A few years later, it was discovered that all the servants in his room were anemic."

"What a joke from hell."

"What a joke. There's news about this. It seems to have happened in 1929. Go home and ask your parents. Maybe they still remember it."

"As for the prince, he was exiled to who knows where."

"It's embarrassing that something like this happened, but after all, they are victims."

"If you feel sorry for him, then go and suck his blood for those servants."

In the middle of the night, some people started fighting while chatting.

St. Ferguson and Enil's men quickly distanced themselves from the two men.

There's nothing wrong with them fighting among themselves, but what they're most afraid of is that outsiders like them will also be affected, and then things will be a mess.

Iris had fallen asleep at this time. Ernest had been listening to their chat. His fingers slowly stroked the wound on his face that was about to heal. He remembered some things from before and turned his head slightly to look at her with a strange expression.

She and her family had been involved in forbidden magic for a long time, so he was not surprised that she had a way to learn forbidden magic. Moreover, there were all kinds of shady ways in a place like a dungeon. She had been in it for a long time, and many things that could not be said openly could be done as long as she wanted.

But would she not think of the negative effects that forbidden magic would bring to her? No, she would understand those negative effects better than most people.

When she was weighing the pros and cons of forbidden magic, what was it that weighed the "pros" on her scale more heavily than the "cons" related to life and death?

That matter may also be related to life and death, or perhaps it has transcended life and death.

Ernest knew very little about her past in Lawrence, and only had information on paper, but he knew that the underground city was a place he often reminded himself to be careful when he went there. What was life like living there? Would it be the same as what he had experienced?

Even in the most difficult times, he did not dare to touch forbidden magic, because he knew that it was like drinking poison to quench thirst.

How could someone drink such poisonous wine in one gulp and still be alive today?

He had so many questions he was curious about, but he knew she would never tell him the answers.

What else can we do? This is the only way.

So be it.

During the day she stared at him without scruples, but now he looked at her sleeping face and fell into an unconscious trance.

Everyone gradually fell asleep, leaving only the crackling sound of the firewood.

Several night watchmen stood silently in the darkness.

The next morning, when everyone was doing their own things and no one was paying attention to them, Iris poked his sleeve with a dead branch on the ground and asked when he turned around:

"You were looking at me the whole time when they were talking last night. Don't you have anything to ask me?"

Ernest didn't expect that she had closed her eyes for so long last night. He paused for a moment before answering softly:

"I thought you wouldn't say anything."

"You're so weird."

He was so weird. This round, he acted totally unlike himself.

Some of his reactions intrigued her.

He glanced at Sophie again. She took out a notebook that looked very familiar to him. She had just shown him four classic sentences. He flipped to a page at random and fixed his eyes on one of the sentences. Just as he was about to speak, Ernest raised his hand and pressed down her book, blocking the sentence she was about to read:

"Shut up."

It's a noticeably colder tone.

Iris learned to smile 70% like him, and showed him the result of her learning:

"You're sure it's something shameful before you even hear it? That's right, the person who knows you best is of course yourself, right, sir?"

The last part of the speech was deliberately dragged out as he addressed her. Ernest's expression remained solemn throughout. He lifted his hand that was on the book and moved it aside steadily. He covered the cover of the book that was spread out and facing the floor. He pushed it upwards and closed the book with the help of Iris's support on the back of the book.

He read the words backwards and recognized the sentence:

You know what I am here for, and you know what you should do at this moment. You can understand this as a reminder, or as boring white noise in your sleep.

…In fact, he didn’t recognize the words word for word in just a few seconds, but after all, he said it himself, so he pieced it together based on his memory…

Iris has not forgotten this sentence and remembers it clearly.

That winter, he would go crazy and stand at her door every morning to urge her to get up early to practice.

She didn't know how many years it had been since she had been urged to get up like this.

Under other circumstances this statement would not be a big problem, but unfortunately for Ernest himself, it was indeed "shameful".

"There's no need to write this down, and you're still reading it out loud." He frowned, "If it happens again, I'll just burn it."

Iris was amused by him again. She casually grabbed the spine of the book and shook the whole book in front of him:

"Are you threatening me with this? Well, I'll remember to make a backup next time - now, can you guess whether this copy has a backup?"

It’s just a counter-threat, no big deal.

This incoherent and irrelevant state made him recall many bad things in the past - about her.

"I hope you won't go crazy again right now."

He said calmly as usual.

"Why do you think so?"

She tilted her head slightly, and the smile on her face was innocent and clear.

The notebook in her hand was lying flat on the palm of her hand. Ernest hooked the part of the book closer to him with his fingertips, and then pushed the book, which was gradually standing up, into her arms.

It seems that he strongly rejects this notebook.

"I don't want to see it again anyway."

His tone was subtly gloomy.

Iris laughed again, she was so happy.

With all this noise, it was hard for others not to notice their actions.

Bruce and Adelaide exchanged a look and huddled together to whisper again.

Both of them turned a blind eye to their behavior of "plotting loudly in front of each other".

Ernest unwrapped the bandage and bent down to change the dressing. Iris stood up and ate a pear while taking a walk to help digest her food.

She moved around the open space in a regular pattern.

When she passed the position closest to Sophie's camp and farthest from Ernest again, Adelaide jumped up and placed the dagger on her neck smoothly.

"Don't even move!"

Ernest tied the bandage on his left hand and slowly raised his head.

Iris blinked innocently at him.

The sudden change caught many people off guard. Those who had just paid the protection fee stared blankly at them and Iris under the dagger.

"It's been so long, you should have A-level props in your hands - even if not, Mr. Ernest has a rich family background, so he should have brought in a lot of good things.

"It shouldn't be a bad deal to trade some dead things for a living person who can continue to participate in the next game. What do you think, Ernest?"

Sophie and the others stood up, and Adelaide asked with a smile, not hiding the threat at all.

Ernest still sat lazily and began to remove the bandage on his right hand: "I think?"

The blood-stained snow-white bandage gradually spread out like snowflakes floating in the air on a winter night.

“I feel like it’s a big loss.”