The bright light emanating from Silvana remained in Adam's mind for a long time. It wasn't her beauty or anything else. Adam felt that it was her power, part of which obviously came from him.

Her power grew with him, and they needed to progress together. Adam didn't know yet what awaited him in the final stage of the K4-Level, but he knew that the Operator always stayed with the Phantom, because even Damien had an Operator.

'Hmm... Every Phantom has an Operator, not from the very beginning, but over time, everyone gets a partner. So, what about her?' Adam thought as he looked up.

"Are you thinking about something?" Silvana asked.

They had been sitting on the bench for a while, holding hands, when Adam suddenly looked up at the sky, which was soon to turn to sunset.

"Well, that light I saw from you made me think that every Phantom has an Operator, without exception, so... that applies to Queen Elisa too, right?"

After a few moments, Silvana nodded.

"Of course, I'm sure she had an Operator, but... most likely, their paths diverged long ago. If Queen Elisa protects us from the World Wipes, then she has been alive for over a thousand years. I don't know why she ended up in her situation, but I don't think her Operator is still alive."

"But..." Adam frowned as his eyes deepened. "The Phantom's power depends on the Operator as well. Could she have become so strong without her Operator? I mean, it takes enormous power to protect the First Ring from the World Wipe. From what I've learned recently, it's impossible to possess such power without an Operator."

Silvana thought as she touched her chin.

"So, you think her Operator is still alive? That he is somewhere in the Citadel or maybe at the Dead Lands?" Adam raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm, it's possible. But, to be honest, I have no idea who it could be. To become an Operator, you have to be a simple person to later receive power from a Phantom."

In fact, they were both right and wrong at the same time.

They didn't know that there were Phantoms like Gladius in the world, an Operator who was not a human. However, this was a rare case requiring unique circumstances.

After all, the Phantoms and Operators had a special bond that could arise in any situation, especially if it happened at a fairly high level.

"Well, is it even worth thinking about?" Adam scratched the back of his head.

Silvana tilted her head, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, if my goal is to stop the World Wipe, then Queen Elisa won't have to protect us anymore, right? What if she directed all her power toward stopping the First Star and Last Star instead of protecting us with a barrier?" Adam suggested.

"This..."

Silvana lowered her gaze.

"To be honest, I'm not sure that's possible. The Queen Elisa is still alive, but her state is complicated. Perhaps if she leaves the crystal, she will die immediately or lose most of her power."

She shook her head, squeezing Adam's hand tighter.

"I don't think that's something we should worry about right now. At the K4-Level, we don't have enough influence to find out more about it.

If we want to understand why Queen Elisa ended up in this situation and whether she has an Operator, we can only do so if we become stronger."

"Agh, yeah, you're probably right."

Soon, Silvana looked at the black box. She glanced at it from time to time, but her patience was running out. She wanted to know what was inside.

"So, are you going to tell me what it is, or are you going to keep teasing me?"

"Hah, this?" Adam chuckled. "I don't know what you're thinking, but there's nothing special here, just a little treat."

"Hmm?"

Adam couldn't delay any longer, so he pulled the ribbon, and the box opened. On the right was a small recess for two teaspoons, while in the center was an impressive dessert in the shape of a pink heart.

A light, cold shine covered the cake, like morning dew, while the surface was smooth enough to reflect their distorted faces.

Before jumping to conclusions, Silvana took a spoon, handed one to Adam, and asked:

"Are we going to keep looking at it or finally try it?"

"Hah, I hope you like it, really, this dessert turned out to be quite an adventure." Adam grinned.

Then, they simultaneously dipped their spoons into the pink heart from two different edges.

Inside, just beneath the pink surface, a thin layer of raspberry jelly awaited them, followed by a layer of dark chocolate, a dense sponge cake soaked in alcohol, and in the very center was a delicate, snow-white cream, as soft as a cloud floating across the sky.

Silvana raised an appreciative eyebrow as she looked at the trembling cream before taking her first bite.

Adam didn't refuse and tried it as well, but what he was really interested in was Silvana's reaction, not whether the cake was delicious or not.

Silvana's eyes widened for a moment as a multitude of flavors filled her mouth, from sweetness to a slight sourness and bitterness from the chocolate, until everything was absorbed by the delicate cream as the final touch.

"What do you think?" Adam grinned, his teaspoon trembling as he wanted to take another bite himself. He was impressed by the taste as well, but first he wanted to know Silvana's opinion. After all, it was all done for her.

Soon, Silvana raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes.

"Did you really make this cake yourself? At first I thought you ordered it from some private bakery, but now... I just have a feeling, consider it intuition."

"Well, making a cake like this from scratch would be an impossible task, but I made the cream."

Silvana's gaze became more serious.

"How many attempts did it take?"

"Eleven, I think, something like that."

As soon as she heard this, Silvana sighed and smiled contentedly. His efforts for something as simple as a cake were more valuable to her than any expensive gift.

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