Facing the midday sun, Lucien led Kallen up Taixu Mountain.
Panting heavily, he scanned the several collapsed and ruined residential houses before him, raising his hand intending to wipe the sweat floating on his forehead.
Just at this moment, Kallen casually dropped the purple box, her lotus steps shifting lightly as she moved to his side.
Yet her plain hands pinched a handkerchief, carefully and meticulously dabbing away all the sweat for him.
It really looked like she was performing maintenance work on a priceless antique.
Lucien lightly inhaled the lingering fragrance belonging solely to his own grown girl winding around the edges of his nose, momentarily dazed.
He looked at Kallen’s serious expression, grinning to reveal a brilliant smile, “You’ve grown up, you’ve grown up.
Our family’s little Lotus can even take care of people now.”
Facing Lucien’s teasing praise, Kallen unexpectedly didn’t show too much emotion, only giving a soft “Mn” and then putting away the handkerchief.
[What a long period of time it was, so long that both Otto and Kallen had grown into this current appearance of seemingly being able to shoulder some things.]
[What a short period of time it was, so short that you hadn’t even clearly seen their growth properly.]
[You were very gratified.]
[You were very reluctant to part.]
[Therefore, you became even more firm!]
[Using these hands that would soon no longer be able to grasp anything, pry open a bright path for Otto and Kallen.]
[Using these shoulders that would soon no longer be able to shoulder anything, prop up an ideal sky for Otto and Kallen.]
[This is what you must do.]
[This is what you can do.]
[You were prepared long ago.]
“How about, how about we just bury the purple box here, bury it deeper, no one will find it even without sealing, okay?” Kallen gently pinched the corner of Lucien’s sleeve, pleading.
Hearing this, Lucien blinked, but immediately raised his unconstrained hand to summon a stream of golden light, wrapping around the purple box on the ground.
“The two of us walked all the way, and have walked all the way here.
If we went back on it now, wouldn’t it be such a pity?
Besides, this purple box is no ordinary object; it still needs to be properly handled.” Until the purple box completely turned into a golden box, he explained to Kallen.
After saying this, he added another sentence:
“Kallen, don’t give up, keep moving forward.
I am right by your side.”
Hearing this, Kallen’s delicate brows furrowed slightly, as if her eyes were stinging for a moment.
After quite a while, she gently nodded.
[Regarding this, you feel quite helpless.]
[Your physical condition is right here; even with the world’s most exquisite deception, you’re afraid you wouldn’t be able to hide it.]
[You suddenly feel very glad about your decision to accompany Kallen to Taixu Mountain.]
[Because Otto is too smart and would definitely discover your problem.]
[You do not want to tell Otto and Kallen about your physical condition.]
[On one hand, you don’t want them to directly glimpse your predicament, which would make you deeply feel your own incompetence.]
[On the other hand, if you let them know, you would no longer have the same determination as before to abandon yourself and pave the way for them.]
[This is something you do not wish to see.]
[Your fading away is an inevitable result; if you had a choice, you would certainly hope that Otto and Kallen could be a bit happier in the future.]
[Now, Kallen has seen through your physical condition in advance.]
[This directly disrupts all the assumptions in your heart, yet it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing either.]
[For them to suddenly accept your departure is still too cruel.]
[Just like that, laden with heavy thoughts, you sealed the purple box containing erosion tightly.]
[Besides that, you casually carved a stone tombstone for the Red Kite Immortal and built a fake grave.]
[Her voice and expression still linger, her smiles and appearance remain.]
[When she wakes up again, you should already be long gone from this world; hopefully, she can see the “surprise” left behind by someone who has lived out his life.]
[After everything ended, you prepared yourself mentally, quietly awaiting Kallen’s inquiry or release of emotions.]
[However…]
[You waited for nothing; Kallen didn’t seem to intend to break the matter open here.]
[And just as you heaved a sigh of relief because of this, Kallen spoke words you hadn’t expected.]
Under the setting sun, Taixu Mountain was a complete mess.
The young girl grasped the man’s broad shoulders, her azure pupils, clear like the sky after rain, gazing upward, meeting the nocturnal eyes looking down.
Kallen took in all of Lucien’s surprise, her clear voice saying:
“Let’s, let’s not go back to Europe…”
“Go on.” Seeing Kallen still hesitating, Lucien encouraged.
“I think this Divine State is wonderful everywhere; we might as well just live here, whatever days we live, whatever we do.”
As the last trembling tail-sound fell, Kallen’s eyes were brimming with entreaty.
Compared to Kallen’s agitation at this moment, Lucien was incomparably calm.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of death; he was very afraid.
Just a dozen years ago when the simulation first started, he actually spent every day in anxiety.
I will die, right?
Am I afraid?
I am afraid, right?
That was truly a gloomy and decadent past that no one would want to recall again.
But right after that, he accidentally received a piece of candy, a snow globe.
How should I put it?
Ever since then, his life has to be viewed in two halves, before and after.
He found a “thing” more precious than life itself that needed cherishing.
Lucien pulled Kallen into his arms, soothingly stroking her soft white hair as he said gently:
“If we don’t go back to Europe, what about Otto?
I really can’t bear for him to be all alone.”
“Otto,” Kallen’s voice was muffled, as if wrapped in a layer of gray, misty fog, “we have both taken things too much for granted; at least, I have taken things too much for granted.”
Lucien did not agree with Kallen’s statement, “When I was young, I wasn’t very reliable actually, and I’ve done a lot of jerk moves.
Want to know why I am so reliable in front of Otto and you?”
Hearing this, the young girl slowly raised her head.
Coming into view was the man’s incomparably proud smile, blocking the light of day.
“Because I must make you feel at ease.
If I could only make you spend your days in constant panic, then I would be very, very incompetent.”
“Actually, even I have always been amazed that I could reach this extent, not bad right?”
[Kallen silently gazes at your smile.]
[Kallen Kaslana silently gazes at your smile.]
[In the end, she couldn’t bear to let you make a choice between her and Otto.]
[At the same time, she swore to herself that she must do something.]
[…]
[Years later, when the Saint holding the crimson banner puts all her ideals into reality, she will still recall this distant afternoon.]
[Though immature, though very hasty.]
[Yet this is still the “first step” she took in the true sense.]
[Likewise, this is also the last step she took under your gaze.]
[In every night where she couldn’t dream of you, she would always think about recounting everything she had done to you in detail.]
[Yet when she truly dreamed of you, she would forget everything, and the words could never be spoken aloud.]