My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 863 - 864: Catching Up

"I’d like to claim this isn’t what it looks like, but that seems like a futile effort."

Closing his eyes, Damon kept his hands resting on Renata’s waist.

He could feel Sylvia’s murderous aura crawling across his skin like a physical weight.

‘Wait, why am I getting so defensive? I’m single. I don’t owe anyone an explanation,’ he thought, a frown creasing his brow.

Despite that thought, he sensed it was wiser to keep his mouth shut. There was no point in pouring oil on the fire.

He shifted his legs slightly, signaling for Renata to move, but she merely smiled the moment she spotted Lilith.

"Oh, my lord. It appears our secret tryst has been uncovered. I suppose we should have sought out a more secluded spot."

Sylvia’s killing intent reached a boiling point.

Damon let out a weary sigh. Renata was truly something else, throwing him under the carriage without a second thought.

Thud.

He pushed her off his lap.

That was her reward for making him look bad—or rather, for making a bad situation even worse.

Standing up, he walked toward the two newcomers.

Lilith looked exhausted, her face a flickering mask of disgust, resentment, jealousy, and irritation.

‘What is her problem?’

Sylvia, meanwhile, was beaming a cold, lethal stare in his direction.

"I want to say I’m happy to see you both, but the last time we met, the world was ending and you two were trying to kill one another. So, what’s the story now?"

Sylvia shot a glare at Renata and bit her lip. When her eyes returned to Damon, her demeanor shifted instantly.

She beamed and leaped into his arms, acting as though she hadn't been radiating bloodlust just seconds prior.

"Heheh."

A soft giggle escaped her.

"I missed you terribly. You have no idea how worried I’ve been."

Damon raised a hand to gently stroke her hair.

"Why be worried? I’m the last person who would die in a place like this."

It was clear to him that Sylvia was dodging his question.

He shifted his gaze to Lilith and offered a smile, but she didn't reciprocate. Instead, she watched him with a look of deep contemplation.

There was no warm reunion, no lecture, and no sign of relief.

She stared at him as if he might evaporate at any moment, her expression caught between happiness and agony, fury and heartbreak.

Lilith didn't say a word to Damon. She simply walked past him and came to a halt in front of Renata.

"Hm. So you’ve finally stopped the act."

Renata scoffed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"I assumed you already knew."

Lilith gave a slow nod.

"I wondered how long you’d continue making a fool of yourself, but I see you’ve returned to acting like a common slut."

Renata crossed her arms over her chest.

"I’m not the one who looks like she’s been dragged through the mud. What’s with that withered flower? Is that some new fashion statement?"

At those words, Lilith instinctively reached up to touch the nameless flower pinned in her hair.

Damon didn't miss the gesture.

He narrowed his eyes.

Since when did Lilith care for flowers? No, that was a gardenia.

That specific flower bloomed at the site where her nanny had passed away. Lilith always carried the faint scent of gardenias; it was the fragrance he always linked to her.

However, she had never actually worn one before.

Turning away from Sylvia, he pulled several chairs out of his shadow storage.

Lilith sat down silently, her posture stiff as if she were at a loss for words.

Damon stepped closer and gently tilted her chin up, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Hey. What are you thinking about? You’re not actually mad about Renata, are you?"

She managed a forced, small smile.

"No. I’m not. I’m just exhausted from the journey. That’s all. How have you been?"

Damon’s expression remained neutral, but he sensed something was wrong. Something was fundamentally broken.

It was as if the confidence of the proud Lilith Astranova had been stripped away bit by bit, leaving her spirit hollowed out.

Lilith caught his look.

She had convinced herself she was fine. She really believed she held the advantage in this timeline.

Things had shifted more drastically than before, yet it wasn't enough.

She could still see that same hollow look in his eyes.

Perhaps it was because she had failed to secure the elixir of pseudo-immortality from the Black Tower.

Perhaps it was because, throughout all her previous incarnations, she had fought Damon in hopes of preventing him from choosing his own destruction.

Seeing him now, all that history of failure and frustration came rushing back.

She wanted to grab her head and scream.

It was suffocating.

She was the only one who remembered.

Even worse, with every passing second, her memories of past regressions were beginning to blur together.

She was no longer certain which events were real.

"You look like you’ve been making life difficult for someone," she said softly.

She tried to project strength as she usually did, but inside, she just wanted to collapse and cry.

Damon smiled at her.

For a fleeting second, she saw that same smile again—the one he wore while laughing, covered in his own blood.

"Would you like some tea? You can fill me in on your journey and explain why you two were trying to kill each other."

He shifted the topic firmly.

Producing a teapot, he began pouring hot tea into a matching set of cups.

Renata looked at the rising steam.

"It seems you have just about everything hidden in there."

Damon let out a short laugh.

"I’ve killed many people. Some of them leave behind interesting loot. Like this teapot—it generates hot tea automatically."

He raised a hand to stop Sylvia as she prepared to speak.

"Don’t ask me how it functions. I have no idea."

He tilted the teapot slightly, revealing the faint runic symbols carved into its surface.

"Probably crafted by the unknown god, looking at the detail."

"I wonder if the supply is infinite," Sylvia remarked.

Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows. I’ve never bothered to check."

Sylvia smiled and nodded.

"You know what else I’m curious about?"

"What?"

He realized his mistake a moment too late.

Her voice turned ice-cold.

"What exactly were you doing with this bitch in the middle of the night?"

He sighed.

He really shouldn't have asked.

‘She used to be such a sweet girl. What happened to her?’