By evening, they had both changed.
Eunecia had spent most of the afternoon searching for something worthy of the festival and eventually returned in a Chinese-style outfit. The fabric was elegant cleanly tailored. When she finally reached Veneri again, he looked at her once and nodded in approval without making a big deal out of it.
He had also changed.
He reduced his height to two and a half meters for her sake. Even then, Veneri still stood out immediately. His white Chinese outfit was immaculate. His posture was straight and his build was strong enough to be visible in the outfit. Even the sapphire fan in his hand, the black faceless mask, the long curly white hair tied back in a messy ponytail and the calm personality made him stand out too much.
Men looked. Women looked. A few people looked long enough to become obvious about it. Veneri noticed all of it, of course, but he behaved as though it were the most natural thing in the world. He didn't tense up under attention. He didn't show off either.
Eunecia ended up watching him more than the festival at first. It was hard not to.
He never raised or lowered his voice for effect. He never seemed rushed or bored. When he spoke, it always came out in that same low, husky tone that somehow made ordinary conversation feel more important than it should have. Even casual remarks sounded deliberate when he said them. Women nearby were clearly catching on to that because more than once Eunecia saw a passerby glance his way, freeze for half a second, then look away too late to hide the reaction.
They walked through the lantern festival together as the city began to glow at night.
Shenlu Cheng had transformed the streets into something almost dreamlike. Red and gold lanterns hung in long lines above the roads. Each one was lit from within and drifting in the evening breeze. Stalls lined the avenues selling sweet buns, skewered meats, sticky rice parcels, tea cakes, candied fruit and little folded pastries made in the shapes of birds, fish and flowers.
In the Immortal Anchor, food existed unlike the Mortal Anchor and they could enjoy it. They still consumed Archivist Stones though but not in high demand like the Mortals.
Musicians played softly from corners and raised platforms. Paper ribbons fluttered from balconies. Vendors called out their wares in cheerful voices. The air carried the scent of sugar, tea, incense and warm dough.
Veneri bought street food. He tasted things, gave brief opinions and never made a scene. Eunecia found herself walking a little closer to him as the crowd thickened not because she needed protection exactly, but because he had that amazing charm. One moment he was passing her a skewer of something savory. The next he was politely moving a child out of a fast-moving lane. The next he was pausing to look at a lantern seller's hand-painted designs with the kind of focus that made the seller straighten up like he was being evaluated by royalty.
At one point, a little girl with tear-streaked cheeks got separated from her mother in the crowd.
The child was crying quietly and people around her were too busy moving to notice at first. Eunecia was about to step in when Veneri crouched slightly to the child's height and asked her a few gentle questions in that same steady voice. His tone never changed. He asked about her mother's clothes, where she had last seen her, whether there was anyone else with them and what the mother had said before they got split apart. The child sniffled through her tears and answered in halting pieces.
Veneri listened carefully, then stood and pointed across the crowd.
"Oh hey, your mother's over there. Blue sleeves and her hair pinned high. She's looking left of the bridge stall. Go that way."
The girl hesitated, then ran.
A minute later, the child was sobbing into her mother's arms. The woman turned in a rush, saw Veneri and thanked him with obvious relief. But even she, for one brief, embarrassing second, looked at him like she had been struck by some sort of charm. He only gave a small nod and moved on.
Eunecia, meanwhile, was trying very hard not to stare. It was not working.
The longer she walked with him, the more she saw how complete he was as a presence. His white robe garments moved beautifully when he walked. His fan opened and shut whenever he idly adjusted his grip. His long curly hair, tied into a messy ponytail, gave him that strange contradiction of being refined and untamed at once. Even the way he stood waiting for her at food stalls made people glance twice.
By the time they reached the lantern stalls, Eunecia had fully stopped pretending she was unaffected.
They bought their lanterns in silence first. The festival vendors were clearly used to couples, friends and families selecting lanterns together, but the pairing of a tall masked man in white and a beautiful woman in a festival dress had clearly caught the interest of more than one observer. Still, neither of them acknowledged it. Veneri chose a lantern with deep blue and gold script, while Eunecia chose one with softer tones and delicate gold script along the paper panels.
When they finished, they started walking towards the river.
The lantern path was lined with more lights now. The crowd naturally got a little thinner near the riverbanks. Eunecia held her lantern carefully and glanced at Veneri beside he.
"This festival used to be different. The version people tell tourists is the easy one. A lantern celebration with good luck, wishes. Family and new beginnings. That's the surface story, but Shenlu Cheng's version is older than that. Before the city became what it is now, this festival was a way to guide lost souls through the fog that used to rise over the river district at night. The first forgers here believed the lanterns could carry intention into places where ordinary sight failed. They said if someone's memory was forgotten by the world, a lantern could remind the river where to carry them."
Veneri's gaze turned to the glowing water.
"Of course, that got mixed with local belief over time. Some people say the lanterns are for good fortune. Some say they're for the dead. Some say they're for lovers who can't remain together. The truth is probably all of those things. But in Shenlu Cheng, there's another part too. They say the lanterns were once used to call back inspiration from forgotten crafters, especially the ones whose works vanished before they could be recorded properly. The city likes to think craft, memory and spirit are all connected."
Eunecia smiled a little and lowered her voice.
"There's also a superstition that if you launch a lantern while thinking of something you lost, the river shows you whether you've really lost it or whether it's just waiting for you somewhere else."
That made Veneri glance at her for a second. She felt it and looked away. She was a little embarrassed but she kept speaking.
"Since this is a forgotten world, the story's changed over time. People say the lanterns don't just carry wishes anymore. They carry little pieces of memory from the world before it was named this way. Some even believe the festival was first created by people who had almost remembered Earth and wanted to honor something they couldn't fully describe."
Veneri's fingers tightened around the handle of his lantern. The city was built on a world that had once been Earth out of memory and hope. Ahead of them, the river opened into a broad ceremonial stretch where dozens of lanterns were already floating on the current. The water carried them slowly, each one a small flame of color moving away into the dark.
Eunecia slowed down. beside him. The crowd around them were a little silent as more people prepared to release their own lanterns. She held hers in both hands and looked down at the paper glow, then back at the water.
"It's funny. A place like this should feel ordinary by now but it never does."
Veneri looked at the lantern in his own hands and gave the faintest tilt of his head.
"That's because it still matters to you."
Eunecia turned to him but he did not elaborate. He just stepped closer to the river with his lantern and waited for the moment when the crowd around them would let their lights go and send them drifting into the night together.
They released their lanterns together and watched them drift down the river. Once the crowd around them went to check the fireworks Veneri and Eunecia sat down at the riverbank. For a while neither of them spoke.
"Do you want to hear my story?"
"If it's about the two women in the art museum, then yes."
That made her laugh but there was no real amusement in it. She looked down at the river and began to talk.
The taller woman, she said, had been Vivian, a siren. Years ago, Eunecia had made a deal with her. Cornvelia Ocean was full of sea monsters and the ship needed protection. In exchange for that protection, the sirens were allowed to come aboard and make love to passengers they encountered. At first, it had seemed like a simple arrangement. It was a grim but practical trade. The ship stayed safe, the sirens got what they wanted and everyone involved kept moving.
But the more time passed, the more Eunecia wondered why the sirens kept focusing on women.
That was when she learned the truth. They weren't just seeking pleasure. They needed Soul Energy and the way they took it was through something far more intense than ordinary bodily intimacy.
"Soul pleasure."
She said it in a low voice, like the words themselves still felt strange in her mouth. In the Timeless Realm, where luxuries were rare and comfort was needed, that kind of experience was almost addictive.
The Mortal Anchor was a place of near-constant deprivation. There was no real food or water. The land was bare in too many places. People there spent their lives struggling just to survive, consuming Archivist Stones so they could avoid Decay long enough to keep existing.
The Immortal Anchor was better in some ways. There was food, drink, entertainment, travel, pleasure districts and things to enjoy. However, there was no real freedom. Everyone had a role. Every immortal had to belong to a faction or risk being discarded. Archivist Stones were hoarded by those factions and without membership, survival became impossible.
That was why the pleasure districts mattered so much. They offered something that the rest of the Timeless Realm almost never did.
Relief.
Eunecia admitted that she had asked Vivian to let her experience it once. Vivian had agreed. It was the most addictive thing she had ever felt. She wanted more. She wanted to see Vivian again and again. She wanted the feeling back. Somewhere along the way, she convinced herself that what she was feeling was love.
It didn't go well. Vivian never returned the feeling. Worse, she already had a lover in Shenlu Cheng. Eunecia looked down at her hands while she said that.
"So I asked myself what I should do."
Veneri listened without interrupting. He then asked the question that mattered.
"Was it love, or was it lust?"
Eunecia frowned immediately.
"I loved her."
"That's not what I asked."
She looked offended, which told him enough already.
"If it was love, you wouldn't have spent the whole afternoon and evening staring at me. You know I'm good-looking and I was wearing a mask the whole time. Yet you kept looking anyway. You didn't hide that part. That's not love but desire."
Eunecia opened her mouth but he kept going before she could defend herself.
"Intimacy can lead to love, sure. But at the end of the day, it's still just an activity. It doesn't prove commitment. It doesn't prove depth. It doesn't prove you know the person you want. Did you do anything with Vivian outside of intimacy?"
Eunecia didn't answer. Veneri nodded faintly, as if he had already expected it.
"You already know what that means."
"That isn't fair."
She looked away from him and for a second he could see the strain in her expression.
"You're not in love with Vivian. You want to experience soul pleasure again. That's what you're chasing. That's why you keep circling her."
Eunecia's shoulders went rigid.
"No. You're lying."
"Would you say yes if I offered you soul pleasure?"
That stopped her completely. Her answer did not come. She hesitated just long enough for the truth to rise to the surface before she could push it back under. Veneri saw it immediately.
He stood up as rain started to fall, sending ripples across the surface of the river and dimming the glow of the lanterns. Veneri opened Fool's Copy and took out two umbrellas. Hw kept one for himself and he gave the other to Eunecia. She took it slowly.
"You need time to think."
Eunecia looked up at him as rain starting to gather on the edges of her hair and dress. He held the umbrella above himself with one hand and kept his other relaxed at his side.
"If you really believe this is love, then go tell Vivian. At least then you'll know. Even if she rejects you, you'll have peace of mind. If it's not love, then don't ruin someone's relationship because you're chasing a feeling that's not really hers."
He looked toward the river one last time, where the lanterns were still drifting away into the dark.
"Goodnight, Miss Eunecia."
He turned and left. His figure was gradually swallowed by the festival lights and the wet crowd beyond the riverbank. Eunecia stayed where she was, holding the umbrella, listening to the rain and staring at the water long after he was gone.
°°°°°°
Eunecia found Vivian standing alone in the rain as she was leaving the festival.
People hurried under awnings and umbrellas, but Vivian stood in the open. Vivian turned when she sensed her approach. Eunecia stopped in front of her as the rain kept soaking the edges of her own clothes.
"Vivian."
"Eunecia."
She swallowed, then nodded towards.the woman Vivian had been with earlier who was talking with some fancy people, probably buyers of her art.
"The woman you were with. Who is she?"
Vivian answered without hesitation.
"My wife."
The words struck Eunecia like a slap.
For a second she could only stare. The rain kept sliding down her cheeks and making it impossible to tell what was wet from the sky and what was not. Her mouth parted and closed.
"Your... wife?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you let me sleep with you?"
Vivian's expression did not change. "Because my wife knows who I am."
"That's not an answer."
"It is. She accepts that I'm a siren. She knows what we are. As long as it isn't a man, she doesn't care who I sleep with. And I love her too much not to do it with other men or women. You were one of the... exceptions."
Eunecia stared at her. The words didn't even feel real at first, because they were too blunt to belong to someone she had once trusted with something as vulnerable as desire. Her face twisted before she could stop it.
"So I was nothing to you? I was just an exception?"
Vivian looked at her for seconds before answering.
"You were someone who wanted to feel something I could give. That's all it was."
Eunecia flinched. Her voice trembled now. Her anger finally broke through the emotional pain.
"I loved you. I loved you, and you knew it. You played with my feelings like they meant nothing. You let me believe there was something there, and you were already married—"
"That was your mistake."
Eunecia froze.
"I never promised you love. I never promised you more than what I gave. You wanted the feeling to become a story because you didn't want to admit what it was. That's not on me."
"How can you say that?"
"Because it's true."
"Because you used me!"
"I let you come close. You confuse pleasure with possession, Eunecia. That's on you, not me."
Eunecia stared at her like she'd been gutted.
"You wanted me to be something I wasn't but I don't belong to anyone like that. I'm a siren. We take what we are given. We don't apologize for our nature just because someone wanted a sweeter ending. I can't survive on one person's Soul Energy. If I do, I'll die. I exist on Archivist Stones and Soul Energy. That's why my wife agreed."
Eunecia's hands clenched at her sides.
"That's disgusting."
"It is for you. You're human so of course you wouldn't understand."
That made Eunecia's eyes sting harder. She had no clean reply to that. Vivian had given her the harsh truth of what they were. Veneri was right all along and Eunecia knew it.
"You were addicted to what I made you feel, Eunecia. If you really loved me, you would have gone beyond our shared intimacy but you didn't. And even if having more than one partner is allowed, I can't have you in my life. You would never love me back. You'd only be interested in pleasure."
Eunecia went rigid.
Vivian had reached inside the fantasy and crushed it without even lifting her voice. She left no room for hope or room for explanations and excuses.
Eunecia stood there in the rain, shaking, the umbrella hanging uselessly at her side. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something back but nothing came. The truth had already taken too much out of her.
Vivian turned away first.
"Goodbye forever, Eunecia. The deal is off. All the siren have been told to return to the oceans. Our deal is off."
Eunecia was left standing in the middle of the wet lantern festival. She looked up at the sky and gave a sad smile.
"You really are a mysterious man, Mr Veneri. You already knew that I would find her after what you told me, didn't you?"
No answer came.
"I guess I got my answer then."