When Hastur's figure appeared in the bar once again, Leonard stood up and walked toward him. Seraphina also cast a curious glance his way.
"Hastur, I didn't expect you to come tonight. I hope you're not angry about what I did just now. I think you should be able to understand my situation at the time."
There was an apologetic look on Leonard's face. He genuinely felt sorry toward the Hastur before him.
After all, his original intention for coming to this bar was to treat Hastur to a drink, yet now Hastur had arrived, and he himself had been chatting with a beauty off to the side.
Putting himself in Hastur's shoes, Leonard felt that he was really being inhuman.
"Of course, I understand you."
Hastur wore a smile on his face, while inwardly he was grumbling: I understand that dating a witch is a very interesting thing. You could even just pretend I don't exist.
Leonard said happily, "Hastur, I'm definitely making you my friend!"
"Go on, don't keep her waiting over there."
"I wanted to introduce you to Seraphina. After all, you're a friend I'm very proud of."
"That wouldn't be appropriate. Tonight, this bar is the stage for the two of you. There shouldn't be a third person intruding," Hastur said with a smile as he declined Leonard's invitation.
He had no intention of having heart-to-heart talks or making friends with a witch. As for what witches were like… he'd leave that for Leonard to experience on his own.
"Alright then. If I have time in the future, I'll treat you to a drink."
Leonard didn't insist. After chatting with Hastur for a few more sentences, he returned to his seat, while Hastur continued to sit at the edge of the bar counter.
"Your friend seems quite special?" Seraphina said, looking at Hastur sitting alone at the edge drinking. There seemed to be a different kind of light flowing in her eyes.
"He really is a very special friend. He's very considerate of my current situation."
"Let's go have a drink with him together. The more friends, the better, right?"
Leonard refused. "He likes solitude and enjoys being alone. Let's not disturb him. Besides, tonight belongs only to the two of us. That same feeling of jealousy, I don't want to taste it a second time."
Seraphina didn't bring up Hastur again and instead continued chatting with Leonard, her eyes fixed on Leonard's star-like pupils.
After about half an hour, Seraphina said with great reluctance in her eyes, "It's about time. I should go back."
"Go back where?"
"To a family I don't really want to return to."
"If that family brings you pain, then I hope I can help you break free from that trouble."
"Pain is the nourishment of life. Only by experiencing pain can I better rush toward happiness."
"Seraphina, if only I had met you earlier."
"It's not too late now." Seraphina gave Leonard a look full of affection.
Leonard escorted Seraphina to the door, then watched as she gradually disappeared into the sea of people.
"Seraphina…" Leonard murmured absentmindedly. After quite a while, he returned to the bar in a daze.
He came to the empty seat beside Hastur, sat down, and drank two large glasses of Southville beer on his own before sighing and saying, "Hastur, I've really fallen into the whirlpool of love."
"For you, that seems like something worth being happy about."
'Of course, it's also something that makes me feel very happy.'
Hastur's expression was calm, but inside he was already holding back laughter.
"Yes, it really is something very happy and blissful, but it also brings me pain. When I part from her, the pain that arises is no less than the happiness we feel when we're together."
Leonard said with deep emotion, "Pain and happiness seem to be a pair of twins. Neither can exist without the other. With pain as nourishment, happiness can truly be called happiness."
Hastur looked deeply at Leonard and lampooned inwardly.
Young man, this way of thinking of yours is very dangerous! Learning to savor pain, this is the doctrine of the witch cult.
You're a believer of the Evernight Goddess, yet you want to fall in love with a witch, and you've even had your cognition and judgment influenced by her. Aren't you afraid the Goddess will strike you dead with a bolt of lightning? Oh, the Evernight Goddess doesn't seem to be good at summoning thunder.
"Happiness is not born from pain. True happiness doesn't need the participation of pain. Pain is simply suffering, and its existence only brings misfortune to people."
Hastur still offered a slight reminder to Leonard, who was deeply trapped in love.
"But I'm tasting pain right now."
Hastur thought for a moment and said, "You could marry her and bring her home. If you see her every day, wouldn't there be no pain?"
"Marry her?" Leonard's eyes went blank for a moment, then gradually brightened, only to dim again.
With a dejected expression, he said, "I've always seen myself as a wandering poet. I've never thought about marrying and having children. To me, that would be a burden, something that would only hinder my steps forward."
"I can't help you make a choice. You can only rely on yourself," Hastur said, indicating that he was powerless to help.
A drifting vagabond choosing to stop his wandering steps because of true love, that sounds like a very interesting story.
Unfortunately, there was no true love here, only Leonard's one-sided infatuation.
"So painful…" Leonard downed another large mug of beer with a heavy gulp.
In response, Hastur simply drank his small glass of liquor in silence.
Feeling pain already, what about later?
Wouldn't it turn into crying, making a scene, and threatening to hang himself?
Though it was a bit immoral, Hastur really wanted to see what kind of reaction Leonard would have when he learned that the woman he liked was actually a witch, and an ageless witch at that.
The old man inside Leonard's body was probably also looking forward to that day.
Of course, this was also a rare growth experience.
Hastur believed he shouldn't interfere with Leonard's growth and should just quietly remain a spectator eating popcorn.
"Hastur, if it were you, what kind of choice would you make?" Leonard looked at Hastur with hopeful eyes.
Hastur took a sip of his drink before saying seriously, "Leonard, no matter what advice I give you, you'll regret it in the future."
"Why?"
"Because it would be a choice you made under someone else's influence, not purely out of your own will. You're a smart person. You should know that some decisions can only be made by yourself, things that others can never decide for you."
Leonard fell silent. In the end, he downed another large mug of beer, his gaze lost as he stared at the entire wall of liquor behind the bar.
"Another glass of Golden Wine."
Hastur ordered another cocktail. It tasted a bit sweet and sour, apparently mixed with quite a bit of orange juice.
Sweet and sour… is this what love feels like?
Hastur glanced at Leonard, then looked toward the wall of liquor and picked out a pitch-black bottle.
Black Abyss, what a nice name.
He originally wanted to order one for Leonard, who was drinking in silence, but didn't want to hint too obviously, lest Leonard's old man notice that he was anything but ordinary.
....
Around midnight, Hastur watched the slightly drunk Leonard get into a carriage and leave.
He himself also prepared to hail a carriage back.
But after waiting half an hour, not a single second carriage appeared on the street.
This situation was not common. Hastur had come to the Braveheart Bar many times before, usually, a carriage would pass by the entrance within ten or so minutes.
Hastur patiently waited another half hour. Still no carriage passed by. This was a bit abnormal.
He chose not to keep waiting and instead returned to the Braveheart Bar to ask old man Kaspars to arrange a vehicle for him.
Kaspars told him not to worry and said he would arrange one soon.
With nothing to do, Hastur tried ordering a glass of Black Abyss to taste it. After just the first sip, he frowned, so bitter.
It was even more bitter than black coffee without sugar, to the point where his tongue almost went numb.
"This drink can only be finished by a true hero," Kaspars said when he saw this, his tone light and a smile creeping onto his face.
"Give me a sweet iced tea."
"This is a bar, not a cafe."
"Tsk, you don't even have something like sweet iced tea. How are you supposed to meet customers' diverse needs? Who says you have to drink alcohol when you come to a bar?"
After chatting with Kaspars for a bit, Hastur switched to a glass of iced water.
He waited another ten or so minutes. Still no carriage, but a familiar figure walked up to the entrance of the bar.
It was the ageless witch who had returned, Seraphina!
Hastur forcibly suppressed the urge to curse and pretended not to see her, continuing to sip his iced water.
Worthy of the Black Abyss, he had only just taken a sip, and something this despair-inducing already happened.
This ageless witch was clearly here for him. She dismissed the patrons who tried to strike up a conversation and walked straight over to sit beside Hastur.
"Just now, I really misjudged you." Her tone no longer carried the youthful, crisp innocence from before. Instead, it was filled with laziness and a lofty, queen-like air.
"It's late at night. It's not good to be out alone." Since he couldn't avoid it, Hastur no longer held back.
Since Will had promised him, he would naturally be keeping an eye on this ageless witch's movements.
It was probably just his twisted sense of humor, intentionally not using fate's guidance to lead the ageless witch away, letting him encounter her tonight.
"It really isn't very safe. Are you willing to escort me home?"
"Do I have the option to refuse?"
"Why would you want that option? What are you afraid of?"
"I don't want my friend to misunderstand."
"Then shouldn't you be even more eager to escort me home, to prevent any accidents?"
Seraphina's gaze fell on Hastur's face, and she couldn't help but sigh. "You really were born with a good-looking face."
"Thank you for the compliment. Let's go, I'll escort you home."
Hastur had no choice left. Most likely, the fact that no carriages passed by tonight was also this ageless witch's doing.
She was probably waiting for him to walk home so she could stage an 'accidental' encounter. Unfortunately for her, he didn't give her that chance.
Hastur stood up and walked out of the bar. Seraphina followed behind him with graceful, small steps.