That evening, Sylvia slept with Firefly in the guest room of the house.
After all, the master bedroom was where Acheron usually slept. Though Sylvia had a feeling that with Acheron's personality, she probably wouldn't mind such things.
Still, Sylvia didn't go so far as to quietly let someone else sleep in her bed without a word.
The two of them fell asleep fairly quickly.
Only, well before dawn, Firefly woke up early.
"...What time is it?"
Rubbing her eyes and smoothing the hair at her temples, she reached over, picked up the phone by her pillow, and lit up the screen to check.
Two hours still until sunrise.
As for Sylvia, she was still fast asleep, showing not the slightest sign of waking up anytime soon.
Holding her phone, Firefly used its faint glow to look at Sylvia, who was lying on her side.
Sylvia seemed to be dreaming about something. She mumbled a couple of syllables, then made soft, smacking sounds with her lips.
'So this is what you look like when you're asleep. Hehe~ I wonder what kind of dream you're having.'
Firefly let out a quiet laugh, gazing at Sylvia's face with a touch of envy.
What must it feel like to dream?
Propping herself up on the pillow, Firefly sat up in bed, her tied-up long hair cascading down her side.
Looking at the still-sleeping Sylvia, she reached out a finger and gently poked her cheek.
No reaction at all.
If it were Firefly herself, such physical contact—forget a couple of pokes, even someone just getting close—would startle her awake.
Even with someone she trusted like Sylvia, she couldn't imagine being touched and having no reaction whatsoever.
But Sylvia really did seem completely defenseless.
For a moment, Firefly wasn't sure how to process that.
'Ah... come to think of it...'
Staring at Sylvia's face, as if remembering something, Firefly lit up her phone screen again and opened the camera app.
'Hmm, is this how it works?'
Having never used a phone's camera function before, Firefly fumbled a bit adjusting the settings.
She even had to use a search engine to figure out how to take a picture before she finally got the effect she wanted.
Once the phone was ready, she held it up, framing both her own face and Sylvia's sleeping expression within the screen.
Seeing the preview, Firefly's free hand hovered awkwardly for a while, unsure what pose to strike.
She briefly considered switching apps again to ask the all-knowing netizens for help, but remembering how long it had just taken to get the camera set up, she didn't want to close the app now.
After hesitating for a good while, Firefly simply let her hand drop, resting it beside her, and pressed the shutter button.
Click—
The crisp sound was especially loud in the quiet room.
Firefly herself jumped, startled. Never having used a camera before, she'd obviously forgotten to mute the sound.
Yet Sylvia remained as if dead to the world—not just undisturbed, but not even a twitch.
Firefly stared at the still-raised phone. In the frame, her own nervous face contrasted with Sylvia's peaceful sleep, which struck her as kind of funny.
'Looking at it now, Sylvia really is quite beautiful.'
Pressing her lips together to stifle a giggle, Firefly put the phone away, carefully climbed out of bed, and quietly left the room.
She changed out of the pajamas Sylvia had lent her.
After putting on her own clothes, she neatly folded the pajamas and placed them on the coffee table.
Firefly thought for a moment.
Then she rummaged around in the coffee table drawer, finding a brand new notepad and pen.
So, after leaving Sylvia a short note, she finally opened a portal by herself and left the house.
--+--
The sun was already high in the sky.
When Sylvia woke up, there was no one else beside her.
"...Already gone back?"
Pushing herself up to sit on the bed, Sylvia looked at the slightly messy sheets and felt a faint pang of loneliness.
But the feeling came and went quickly. Sylvia rolled out of bed, washed up, and came to the living room, where she spotted the pajamas Firefly had left, along with the note tucked underneath them.
Such a retro way of leaving a message made Sylvia chuckle.
Walking over to look, she muttered to herself, "Couldn't she have just left a message on my phone? She really went through the trouble of finding paper and pen."
When Sylvia had moved in, she hadn't done any writing herself. Many of the household items and furniture had been handled by delegating to a professional team.
She hadn't even known there were pens and notepads in the house.
Picking up the note, she saw it didn't say much.
"I woke up early and didn't want to disturb your rest, so I headed back first. I had a lot of fun last night. Thank you, Sylvia."
At the very bottom, there was a simple little flower doodle. Sylvia had no idea where she'd learned to draw that.
"Haahm—"
Sitting back on the sofa, Sylvia let out a yawn.
Just as she was starting to think about what to do today, her phone chimed.
Picking it up, she saw a message from Robin.
Sylvia thought it might be about catching up on her lessons.
After all, she'd played games with Firefly last night instead of practicing vocals with Robin.
But opening it, she found it was about an invitation.
The invitations for the Charmony Festival had been sent out and were now in Robin's hands.
After mentioning that, Robin started talking about recent events on Penacony.
[Robin: Sylvia, do you know about Penacony's history? Not sure if you've heard of the figure called the Watchmaker.]
[Sylvia: I've heard a little. It's said they were instrumental in shaping modern Penacony. What about them?]
Replying, Sylvia recalled the bits of Penacony's storyline she remembered. Though not described in detail, that Watchmaker sure seemed like a former Nameless.
On the other end of the phone, Robin was somewhat surprised.
Much of Penacony's true history was now concealed, with many events being parts of the past that The Family preferred not to discuss.
How did Sylvia seem to already have some understanding of Penacony's history?
But surprise aside, she had to continue with what needed to be said.
[Robin: Actually, someone has issued a rather unusual set of invitations in the Watchmaker's name to various major factions.]
[Robin: Oh, and please keep this confidential for me.]
[Robin: Inviting various forces to search for the Watchmaker's Legacy. I'm wondering if the one sending these invitations might be that 'dissonant note'.]
Sylvia hadn't expected Robin to share this with her. Logically, it should be considered a secret.
[Sylvia: Hard to say. I recall the Watchmaker wasn't part of The Family, right? Might need to investigate more carefully.]
Sylvia genuinely didn't know much, but relying on some memories, she at least knew which events or people might hold key information.
That information could be her chance to stay a step ahead later on in Penacony.
[Robin: You're right. We shouldn't jump to conclusions without evidence. I'll be setting off to return to Penacony soon. Sylvia, would you like to come together then?]
[Sylvia: Sure. Send me the specific time, and I'll meet up with you then.]
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.