The Sleepless Black Panther

Altair did not refuse this special gift; after thinking for a few seconds, she gladly accepted it as a birthday present.

After receiving the goods, she felt no emotional turmoil, no sense of condemnation or resistance—not even the urge to take action to end this trade or dismantle the trafficking rings—she even found it perfectly normal.

She began to scrutinize and examine the nine maids, concluding that Vivian understood her very well and that the maids she had given perfectly matched her aesthetic preferences.

Perhaps it's because the longer she's been with Lucius, the more her thoughts and ways of thinking have changed, from resistance to acceptance, then to taking it for granted, and now to the idea that it's their honor.

It's also possible that she's always been this kind of person; she just didn't have the opportunity before.

After the maids finished their final washing, Altair woke up at the opportune moment. As she rose from the bathtub, her entire body stood gracefully in the center of the pool, like Phoebe emerging from the water. Her movements stirred up ripples on the surface of the water. Water droplets flowed slowly along her graceful figure and undulating curves, as if greedily tracing every inch of her lines.

The maids standing to the side picked up the soft, warm cotton cloths that had been prepared beforehand and began to gently press them on her shoulders and back—their movements were slow and meticulous.

After the cotton cloth absorbs the water droplets from the skin, it leaves only a dry, warm feeling. Their touch is so gentle that you can hardly feel the force, as if a feather is gently brushing against you.

The maids gently combed her long hair with a small piece of cotton cloth, their movements as tender as if they were handling a rare treasure. Under the cloth, the hair gradually became dry and soft, emitting a faint fragrance.

The entire process proceeded quietly and orderly. The maids kept their eyes lowered, not daring to overstep their bounds in the slightest, while Altair closed his eyes, enjoying the comfortable process.

Once the last piece of cotton cloth was laid down, Altair's skin was completely dry and had a soft glow, and the maids then dressed her in a light silk nightgown.

After leaving the bathroom, Altair returned to his bedroom and lay down on the sofa, enjoying the maid's manicure service.

Not long after the trimming, the bedroom door was "opened from the outside, but it wasn't a person who walked in; it was her pet Black Panther, Pansera."

"Pansera" was a name she had chosen for the Black Panther not long ago after researching the topic.

Actually, she hadn't initially thought about naming the Black Panther, because she was terrible at it; her pets before transmigrating were usually named Little Black or Little Yellow.

So after receiving this gift, she kept calling it Black Panther Black Panther, without any intention of naming it.

It wasn't until recently, as she had cared for it longer and it grew bigger, that she realized it was no longer appropriate to call it Black Panther Black Panther.

So she did some research and took the Latin name Panthera (the genus Panthera in the cat family), which means "beast that hunts all" in Greek, and combined it with Pan (meaning all) and Thera (meaning to protect and hunt), to get the name "Pansera".

The name means "the hunter and Guardian rules all the Evernight," and it sounds both classical and coldly wild, as well as fitting for the elegance of nobility and the mystery of the Evernight.

When Altair saw that it was the Black Panther Pansera who had entered, she waved to her pet panther, signaling it to come over.

Playing with its enormous head, Altair couldn't help but exclaim, "Pansera, you've grown so much lately! Did Vera secretly give you extra food again?"

But Altair did not respond to Pansera's question, because at this time, Altair had not yet taken the Potion, and its intelligence was still like that of a 4- or 5-year-old child.

Altair's petting only elicited its feline instincts, causing its stomach to purr softly.

Altair wasn't annoyed by its reaction, because it was just a boring question to kill time.

Looking at Pansera's current state, Altair couldn't help but think, "I didn't expect you to enter adolescence so quickly, and you're developing quite well. I'll give you the Potion in a bit."

"Evernight leopard versus Evernight wolf, just thinking about it is exciting—we'll see who's stronger then."

While Altair was still lost in thought, the sound of a chaotic commotion coming upstairs came from the open door.

She continued shouting until someone reminded her where the item she was looking for was, and then she stopped shouting.

Not long after, Vera, the personal maid, appeared at Altair's door with her head down. After slowly walking in, she glared fiercely at Pansera as if she was dissatisfied.

Seeing Vera's expression, Altair smiled and said, "Pansera just ran away while you were away. Why are you making such a fuss? Luckily, Butler Hahn hasn't returned yet, otherwise, you'd be in big trouble for your behavior."

Upon hearing this, Vera lowered her head even further, as if she had been wronged, and explained in a soft voice, "Count Altair, Pansera is so untrustworthy! I clearly agreed with it that it should stay where it was after I left, even though it was only for a short while."

"I also promised to share my spare time with it."

"But who knew, I only left for 5 minutes, and it disappeared in the blink of an eye."

"Vera, you should explain what you did that made even Pansera want to avoid you," Altair said with a smile, stroking Pansera's skin.

Vera looked up and explained to Altair, "I went to see my sister. While I was playing with Pansera downstairs, I saw several people lift her down. I thought she was sick and wanted to ask her why and what medicine she needed—"

With Vera's explanation, Altair understood why she had abandoned her post. He never imagined that she was the one who caused all of this.

"Alright, I understand." Altair quickly interrupted Vera, adding, "You don't need to keep a close eye on Pansera anymore. The new people at the manor have been here for almost half a month; it should have gotten to know them all by now."

"Go and clean the lab now, I'll need it in a bit."

After the maid finished trimming his nails, Altair stood up, patted the Black Panther's head, and said to it, "Pansera, let's go. You should join the journey of evolution too."

After saying that, Altair walked ahead, saying, "Go to the Potion- making laboratory first—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she froze, then turned and said, "You go find Vera first, I'll come find you later."

Watching Pansera head towards the laboratory, Altair couldn't help but laugh out loud. She had forgotten that Pansera probably didn't even know what a laboratory was at this moment.

After shaking his head, Altair went to the materials vault and retrieved the materials needed for the Darkness Pathway and the Sequence Nine Sleepless.

Upon arriving at the laboratory, Altair put down the materials he was holding and began to prepare the Potion.

Sequence 9: The Sleepless Main Ingredients: One Midnight Beauty Flower, a pair of six-legged owl eyes.

Additional ingredients: 80 ml of spirits, 10 drops of Night Fragrant Grass essential oil, 3 leaves of night-blooming jasmine, and one serving of coffee beans or tea leaves.

After placing the main ingredients and most of the auxiliary ingredients into the beaker, Altair remembered that felines cannot eat coffee or drink large amounts of tea, so for the last auxiliary ingredient, she added a tiny bit of tea leaves as a symbolic gesture.

Then they received a cup of foul-smelling black liquid.

After tasting the liquid in the beaker, Altair nearly jumped out of his skin. Vera, who was observing from the side, couldn't help but ask, "Count Altair, is this the Sleepless Potion that the Church of Evernight possesses?"

"The smell is awful, like stagnant water from a stinking ditch... The Sleepless of the Church of Evernight are so pitiful, having to drink this kind of Potion every time they advance."

Altair nodded, acknowledging her statement, and felt fortunate that he wasn't half a Sleepless.

Suppressing the nausea, Altair poured the liquid from the beaker into the prepared dish and said to Pansera, "Remember the precautions after taking the Potion: clear your mind, stay true to yourself, and firmly accept the Potion— "

"Drink it, drink it sooner, end the Affliction sooner."

After hearing Altair's words, Pansera looked at the liquid in the plate and immediately and eagerly began to lick it.

After the Potion was licked up, Pansera's Spirituality surged instantly, but subsided within seconds, as if nothing had happened.

Then he looked at Vera with an innocent expression, and the two stared at each other.

Looking at the situation before him, Altair couldn't help but sigh, "Humans really can't be compared to animals. Not to mention that they were able to stabilize so quickly after taking the Potion, their sense of smell is also quite good; at least they aren't affected by the smell of the Potion."