8 八

Ro sorts out the food and there are hardtacks, cumin powder, honey, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea leaves, rice, and a spicy salted duck...

He didn't realize the advantage of food in his space storage until now.

The stove fire is small and slow and they put a big pot on a rack on it.

The warm, moist aroma of congee is filling the kitchen.

It is just a regular rice congee. The corners of Kyas' mouth reflect the light and she soon swallows her saliva as she realizes it.

Ro's body is too small to cook all the food. Kyas is also doing the cook's job as Ro is giving her instruction.

This little princess is watching and taking care of an egg in a pan. The egg white is turning opaque white and jelly like. Then it gets a little yellow and golden. The aroma is becoming more overwhelming.

Ro sprinkles some salt on the egg and tells Kyas to flip the egg.

The egg yellow is poked a little bit and a few specks of yellow leak out. Kyas is nervous and distressed as she sees that and takes a deep inhale.

'You did well.'

Kyas blushes.

The first fried egg comes out.

Then the second one and the third are done also.

They lie on a plate like three tiny Suns shining under the kitchen lights.

Next, Ro orders Kyas to stir new eggs in a bowl and then dip bread pieces in it. They are going to fry the bread pieces soaked with egg.

There are no other ingredients so they can only make this.

The good thing is that the bread is not too sweet and that adding the egg flavor to it does not make it weird.

Ro still feels uncomfortable about these bread pieces that he only asks Kyas to make two and stop.

The rest of the eggs are going to be made into egg roll.

Ro sprinkles some pepper and salt on the pan. Then he asks Kyas to pour a thin sheet of egg from the bowl to the pan. When the upper layer is cooked, he asks Kyas to roll it to the side of the pan and just repeat the process over and over.

They cut the final egg roll into small morsels on a plate with some ketchup besides it. Perfect.

Kyas picks one up and eats it. She squints and smiles.

Feather also helps a little and she is eating as well.

She takes an egg roll which is much larger than her tiny body.

In order to eat the egg roll better and faster, Feather finally masters how to fly so that she can fly around the egg roll and bite it. Previously, she couldn't fly and Ro always carries her.

Kyas and Feather finish a plate of egg rolls and the fried eggs.

They drink milk and hiccup together.

'God bless me. This is the best afternoon tea I have ever had.'

Kyas is sitting, limp on a white wicker chair like a resting kitten.

Feather and Ro are on another wicker chair and they are enjoying sunbathing.

In order to make them feel comfortable, Kyas puts a soft handkerchief on them.

At dinner, Kyas finishes three bowls of rice congee along with the spicy salted duck. After knowing that this spicy salted duck was given by Ro to her for free, Kyas gives Ro her favorite pearl necklace. Every pearl on it is round and white and as big as half of Ro.

Kyas notices that this necklace is too big for them and promises that they will return to their human size after they get out.

At night, Feather is telling fairy tales to Kyas, but this little princess doesn't want to sleep at all.

She cares about Feather's health and closes her eyes when the day light comes out.

Before she falls asleep, she begs Feather to tell her more stories after she wakes up.

The sleeping Kyasdoesn't look different from other normal girls. In fact, Kyas looks normal most of the time.

Ro watches them falling asleep and waits for the sun to rise.

The sun has been out there for hours. Kyas is still sleeping.

Feather wakes up, and Kyas is still sleeping.

Thick smoke is rising outside the castle. The crying of fairies is coming from the garden. It is fire.

Ro and Feather fly to the window and see that the whole of Kyas' Magic Castle is on fire.

The lake is also boiling and this doesn't help.

Kyas is still sleeping in the castle.

The fire has reached her bedroom door.

'Kyas is having a nightmare again.'

'She dreams of the day when she was burned to death.'

'She will not wake up.'

'Usually at this time, the castle is closed in the amusement park to avoid any entry.'

'You guys are really unlucky.'

'This fire will not stop.'

The tea pots, carpets, walls are coming alive in the castle and complain.

'Oh, my shoes...'

'Damn, when can I wake up next time in the castle?'

'Sir...' Feather grasps Ro's sleeve. The bedroom is all black smoke. Kyas' bed is burning as well.

'What do we do?'

Maybe Kyas will not die, but she is shrinking herself and she looks miserable.

Are we going to just watch her being burned to death?

'She is dead already.'

Ro says that, but he still returns back to his human size and grabs Kyas and Feather, rushing out of the castle.

The roses are forced to show their true face as a result of burning. Their fragile petals have become a bloody mouth. Their faces on the stems are ferocious.

Some fairies died in the fire. Some are wandering near the lake.

Ro puts Kyas and Feather on the sandy land in the center of the lake uncovered due to the lakes evaporation.

'Sir, where are you going?'

'Kyas' dream.'

Feather's wing has a hole burned out by the tongue of flames. It hurts.

She lies on her front on Ro's palm, lovely.

'Sorry sir. I brought troubles.'

Feather apologizes.

'Wait for me here.'

'I will be here waiting.'

Ro carefully places Feather next to Kyas and walks into the fire alone.

Feather worries and sighs deeply.

Mr. Clown will be back.

It is a very backward age. The royal family is sensitive about their reputation and does everything with a proper reason.

The royal castle is already large enough. In order to make it larger, they realize that Kyas will need another castle to live in so they build another castle.

It is a time and labor consuming project. In order to finish this new castle before Kyas was born, many have died.

A haunted witch curses the queen that their child will be not be a prince.

The queen is mad and thinks the curse works and turns her prince to a princess.

The witch is burned to death.

Her shrilling curse reverberates in the castle for a long time after her death.

'The daughter of the King and the Queen will have rosy lips. Her skin will be whiter than snow. Her hair will be as shiny as the Sun. Her eyes will be as blue as the lake. Her laugh will be as pleasant as a lark's chirp. Her mind will be more evil than the demons in hell. She will bring an end to this kingdom.'

Although the King and the Queen were looking forward to have Kyas, the witch's curse leaves a shadow on their expectation.

When this angelic-looking girl brings a pair of broken butterfly wings to the Queen, her scream spreads across the whole castle.

Kyasdoesn't understand why her mother doesn't appreciate her gift.

What she gets is more ladies' curses.

When the Queen sees a pair of red rabbit eyeballs on her plate, she faints.

That is a gift from Kyas. The Queen needs the rabbit fur to decorate her dress and Kyas likes the red rabbit eyeballs. Their interests are not conflicting.

The Queen doesn't understand.

The difference between a human and a beast is that a human has sympathy for weaker beings. They will feel bad for unfortunate people and they will feel glad when there is a lucky thing happening.

Kyas is different from other people because she doesn't have such empathy.

She is always happy and innocent.

She doesn't feel bad for the dead and doesn't feel scared by the blood on her hands.

Kyas' cat is sick and dies.

The maids are going to bury it.

Kyas doesn't want it to rot underground.

It would be great if the cat could have been flying like a bird in the air.

It was not happy when it lived in the castle.

The cat doesn't have wings to fly.

Kyas hangs it on a tree and hopes its soul can fly.

The Queen sees that and faints again.

No one agrees with Kyas' actions.

The kingdom is in a war and is going to lose.

The King and the Queen are fleeing.

They leave Kyas in the castle as a sacrifice to pacify the citizens' rage.

Kyas is tied to the bell tower at the top of the castle.

Bushes of thorns are around her.

A torch is thrown at her. Flames rise high.

Kyas is looking at the King and the Queen confusedly.

Their eyes are full of hatred and wrath.

'This demon, who tookthe princess' body, shall go back to hell!'

'She brought us war and disaster!'

Kyasdoesn't understand.

The flames reach her dress.

A clap of thunder brings clouds and heavy rain, putting out the flames on Kyas.

This must be the sign of demons coming out.

The alarmed and scared citizens and the royal family begin to pour oil on Kyas and on the whole castle.

Flames rise high again.

'I don't get it...'

Kyas murmurs as her body is burned black, badly mutilated, and too horrible to look at.

'Why?'

'Why did they teach me to be kind, quiet, and polite...'

'I don't get it...'

She looks down at the horrified crowd.

'Kindness is respecting all lives. Not talking is quiet. Behave well is polite...'

'I am already learning...Why don't they like me?'

She looks at her parents.

They avoid her eye contact.

Her burned and twisted body makes her look like a real devil.

The flesh and skin on her face burst out.

Her whole body breaks into pieces and falls onto the ground like overheated porcelain.

'I don't get it—'

'No one likes me.'

'No one!—'

Ear-piercing screams rise up from all directions.

The cry of despair and hate is a combination of pain and exhaustion.

'Your highness, my name is No One.'

Ro is in a black robe. His face is also covered by the hood. A mysterious man.

He picks up Kyas' body parts from the ground and pieces them together in a box.

'Let us go back home.'

'We shall never come here again.'

'Home?'

The angry soul of Kyas gawks at Ro.

'Yes, let's go.'

Ro picks up her hand and walks on the path when he walked into the dream.

The weakness of an angry soul like Kyas is obvious.

Once you hit her at the right point, she will no longer be harmful.

The only trouble is going in and out of her dream.

It took Ro a long time to find Kyas and it almost drained all Ro's power.

'Why didn't you get better after thousands of years here?'

Ro holds her hand and scolds.

'What have you done? Dumb and silly.'

'The rest of your life is still long. Why are you still mad at those who have already died for many years?'

'I sense that you have great potential and the meeting of us is fatal. Let me give you these sacred magic books. Once you have mastered these, you will have the magic ability to let everyone love you.'

Ro places some thick books in Kyas' hands.

If Kyas knew Chinese characters, she would be able to tell that these are –

"18 Ways to Make Soups""How to Make Homemade Food""Hot Pot""10k Desserts""30 Minutes a Dish ""365 Ways of Food Medicines"...

Unfortunately, Kyas doesn't know Chinese.

She puts away the books carefully and with respect.

'Thank you, sir.'

'You need to stay calm during your cultivation and kill less.'

Then, Ro recalls that a cook will always have to deal with ingredients from vegetables to animals...

'You may not be able to avoid killing during the cultivation process. You will need to control your killing. Amitabha, and also Hallelujah.'

Ro pushes her out of the dream and places the box in her hands as well, although Kyas is still confused.

That was the last concern of Kyas in the dream.

From now on, she will not have this nightmare again.

Ro takes off his robe quickly.

This robe was from a packed custom present in his space storage. He picked this out in order to create himself as a mysterious man.

He puts his mask back on and exits the tunnel, as if nothing had happened after he left Kyas and Feather.

These sacred magic books came from the author. They are temporary stowaways from the real world to Ro's space storage.