The young man carried Sang Luo along a secluded and quiet palace path.
Irrelevant disturbances gradually receded until they disappeared completely. Various flowers and lush greenery intertwined, resembling a meticulously maintained flower forest. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the branches and leaves, scattering dappled and fragmented shadows on the ground, while a rich floral fragrance wafted through the air.
The two passed through a large rose garden enclosed by wooden fences and arrived at a white palace. It wasn't very large, just a small temporary palace.
There were no servants in the palace, but it was kept very clean, without a speck of dust in the corners.
The young man was clearly the owner of this palace, and he presented a proper meal to welcome his guest.
Smoked black cod, pickled oysters, grilled mackerel slices, chicken pot pie... and a pot of freshly heated flower tea, along with a plate of peeled and sliced fruit.
Sang Luo looked at the table full of delicacies, feeling a little overwhelmed by the favor. Heaven knows that in the past half-month at the Holy Temple, apart from the first day when the food was decent, she had hardly eaten anything good. She had been gnawing on jerky every day, and her mouth was about to taste like a bird's nest.
She tasted a slice of the fish, which was cooked to medium-well. The outside was fragrant from being smoked with special spices, and the meat was full of juice, making it very tender and delicious.
Sang Luo ate slowly while glancing at the young man across from her.
She couldn't see his expression, nor could she guess his thoughts.
—Was he planning to hand her over, feeling guilty, and bringing her here for a last meal?
The meat in her mouth suddenly became difficult to swallow.
She held up the silver fork, unsure whether to continue eating.
The young man saw through her thoughts, and the corners of his moist lips curved slightly. "Don't worry, I won't hand you over."
Sang Luo swallowed the bite of fish with difficulty. "Really?"
"If I really wanted to hand you over, I would have done so when the guards chased after us. There's no need to bring trouble upon myself." The young man used a knife and fork to cut a piece of steak. His fingers were well-defined, and even such a small movement was exceptionally pleasing to the eye.
That was true.
Sang Luo felt a little relieved and continued eating.
The doubts in her heart about the young man grew even larger. How could a small guard have the guts to harbor a criminal, let alone have an exclusive palace... It seemed she had guessed wrong from the beginning. This person was not a patrolling guard, but at least a figure of some importance within the Holy Temple.
She had run into him so many times, always at critical moments, which could be considered fate.
"What's your name?" They had met many times, but she still didn't know the other person's name.
"Minos."
"Is that your full name?"
"Noble female can also call me Minos Iyar Limitless."
"...I'll just call you Minos." Sang Luo blinked her eyes lightly. The name seemed a little familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before, but the names of beastmen in the Western Continent were too long, and Sang Luo never remembered them.
"Mm." The young man nodded, not minding, and poured her a cup of hot flower tea. "Noble female, try it and see if it's palatable? There's also lemon tea and sweet black tea."
Sang Luo held the warm teacup and drank. The entrance was a very sweet floral fragrance, not overly cloying. She liked it very much. "My name is..."
She was considering whether to say her real name.
Minos interjected, "Sang Luo."
"You, how do you know?" Sang Luo's almond-shaped eyes widened.
She had never told anyone here her real name. She felt a sense of panic, like she had come to an unfamiliar place and didn't know anything, and her identity had been exposed.
"The Holy Son's future bride, everyone in the Holy Temple knows."
"..." Sang Luo shook her head quickly. "You're flattering me! I'm just a candidate. The Holy Son doesn't fancy foreign females."
"The Holy Son's wishes are not known to anyone other than himself."
"That's a well-known fact. The Holy Son is a supreme angel and will only choose a female from the angel race as his partner."
"Generally speaking, pure-blooded angels rarely choose foreign races as partners, but now most of the angels are mixed-blood angels."
Sang Luo had no words to refute, but she didn't take it to heart, only thinking that the young man was comforting her.
Minos saw that she was eating with great relish, as if she hadn't eaten such delicious food in a long time, and pushed the sliced meat in front of her again. After thinking for a moment, he asked softly, "Why does noble female always want to run away? Isn't it good to stay in the Holy Temple? It has the best breeding environment and will give you the most considerate care."
Sang Luo shook her head. "It's not good! The Holy Temple grabbed me to this place without a word and even imprisoned me, afraid that I would escape. They specially caught two strong males to guard me."
"It's fine to lock me up, but they also sent a jealous female to serve me, even skimping on my meals. The food they brought later was all sour. I've been in the Holy Temple for so long, and I've only had a full meal on the first day."
"If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it good grass. If the Holy Son really intends to have children with me, he wouldn't let me go hungry... It's enough to see that this male is very unreliable. I don't want to stay here."
The young man didn't speak for a long time. After she had vented all her complaints, he said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, this is indeed a dereliction of duty by the Holy Temple."
"What do you have to apologize for?" Sang Luo took another big bite of jam bread, her cheeks bulging like a little hamster, and said somewhat vaguely, "You're the best person to me since I came to the Holy Temple."
"Then do you like the Holy Son?"
"I don't like him!" Sang Luo swallowed the bread in one gulp, decisively. "I haven't even seen him, how can I talk about liking him? These people have been holding me here for so long, and I haven't even seen the Holy Son's face... Hmph, maybe he's so ugly that he doesn't dare to let people see him, afraid that the bride will elope in advance."
She looked at Minos again, saying with certainty, "I'd rather have you than have children with that Holy Son."
"What does noble female think of me?" He asked seriously.
Sang Luo had always been curious as to why he covered his eyes with a white cloth. Could he be blind?
But it didn't seem like it.
His behavior was no different from a normal person, and he could even catch her from a high altitude... But it was true that some beastmen had special talents and abilities that didn't require eyesight to observe all things.
"I don't know what you look like." The most important criteria for Sang Luo to choose a beastman husband was his face.
Sang Luo moved closer little by little with the stool, carefully looking at his face, mouth, nose, ears... Everything she could see was like the creator's most perfect masterpiece, without a single flaw. She thought he must be a beauty, but she didn't like disabilities.
Minos felt her warm breath scattering on his neck, causing a tingling sensation. "You can take off the eye cloth."
"Really? Aren't you blind?"
He smiled, "No."
"Then... are your eyes or face injured?"
She didn't like to uncover other people's scars.
"No, it's just that I often see a lot of boring things, so I cover my eyes."
Sang Luo blinked her moist eyes in confusion, just joking around and not really rashly doing anything, but unexpectedly the young man grabbed her hand and took off the eye cloth.
