Zayden walked until he reached the flat ground where he could finally see his house...
Or what was left of it.
His house, which was full of memories with Aria, had already fallen into ruins.
From the rubble, it was obvious that the house had been burned.
Zayden felt an ache in his heart as he saw one of the places he treasured most destroyed.
He approached the house and then "entered" his home.
He was now inside what had once been the entrance room.
Everyone who visited the house would always meet in this room, which was the first thing they saw when they entered the house through the main entrance.
This was the place where Aria would always greet him whenever he came back home.
But it had already become rubble, leaving only some of its foundation.
He then walked further "inside" the house.
He remembered all the house’s staff who would always amicably greet him whenever they met him.
"Good morning, my lord. Do you want your tea to be brought to your room?"
"Good afternoon, my lord. It’s really a good day, isn’t it?"
"My lord, you should spend more time with Lady Aria later. She has been preparing the cake all day just for you."
"My lord, what do you want to eat today? I will make anything you want. And you will find that you’ll never want to eat food from outside again."
Zayden stopped in his tracks and took a deep breath.
It truly felt painful.
All those people close to him, the ones whom he and Aria had already considered their own family...
Were no more.
’Ira, Elis, Rowan, Feris.’
Zayden called each of their names in his mind.
He took a deep breath once again before continuing to walk toward where his bedroom was supposed to be.
He finally reached it not long after.
But there was nothing left that could make him recognize his bedroom.
Zayden sighed again.
He spread his spiritual sense across the house and its surroundings to see if there was anything he could save from amongst the rubble.
As he spread his spiritual sense, he suddenly picked up something buried beneath one of the dead plum blossoms.
The moment he sensed it, he almost facepalmed himself.
’How could I almost forget the thing buried there? That is one of the most important things for me and Aria.’
He quickly walked toward the plum blossom, and after reaching it, he looked at the ground right beside the plum blossom’s trunk.
If anyone saw this part of the ground, there was nothing strange about it. People would assume that it was just normal ground.
But Zayden got down on one knee and then started digging more than thirty centimeters into the ground.
He finally saw what he was looking for.
It was a large box.
He pulled it out, and after brushing the dirt off the top of it, he quickly opened the box.
A small smile finally appeared on his face again.
This box was Aria’s idea.
The idea was born from her habit of collecting many things related to him.
Inside the box were various things, and all of them belonged to him and Aria.
There were dresses, his clothes, many of their pictures together, and some other things.
These things were mementos of everything that had happened in his relationship with Aria until their wedding.
Whenever there was an event that they thought was important to their relationship, they would keep something that reminded them of that event.
There was the dress and his suit that he and Aria had worn when they first met at the banquet.
There was a picture of them when they went on their first date.
There was a copper coin that he had received as change when he first bought her a bun.
There were many pictures of their firsts together.
And many others.
Why had Aria come up with this idea?
"We will bury them, and we can take them out when we grow old. Wouldn’t that moment be touching and romantic?"
That was what Aria had told him.
Zayden’s tears fell again.
He picked up a picture.
This one was a picture of their first adventure together.
Her face looked so happy in it.
He then took another picture of their wedding.
Her face was radiant and so beautiful.
But soon, his gaze fell upon something that made him confused.
It was a small, pentagon-shaped crystal with a rune on it.
’Since when was there a fourth recording crystal?’
A recording crystal was an artifact used by cultivators to record various kinds of information, whether through writing or recording an event.
He remembered clearly that there had only been three recording crystals when he and Aria buried the box.
The three crystals that contained many of his memories with Aria.
But in front of him, there was this fourth crystal.
Zayden blinked a few times.
He took the new recording crystal and closed the box.
He then sat beside the box and leaned against the tree trunk.
He thought for a moment before deciding to see the contents of the crystal.
He injected his energy into the crystal, and at that moment, a projection appeared above it.
The projection showed a beautiful face.
Zayden’s eyes and lips trembled. His chest tightened. The hand he used to hold the crystal tightened around it.
What he saw was Aria’s face.
However, her beautiful face showed sadness.
"Zayden, my love, when you see this recording, I may have already left this world," she said, and then she bitterly chuckled.
"To be honest, I don’t even know if you’ll ever come back here and find this recording crystal. But I still decided to make this recording."
Her expression then turned confused.
"At this moment, I’m truly confused. I heard that the imperial family has declared you a traitor because you wanted to give the Heavenly Sword to the Relguis Empire. They said that you escaped there."
"But I know you are not such a person. I know what kind of person you are. All the time we spent together, I knew how loyal you were, not only to me, but also to your family and to this empire."
"That’s why I think there is a misunderstanding somewhere between you and the imperial family. But the imperial family seems to really believe that you are a traitor. I heard that they already caught Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, and all of your family."
Aria fell silent for a moment before she continued.
She was really trying to appear strong.
"I also heard that they are already on their way to our home here, so I think I will have to prepare. Well, you know... if the imperial family really insists that you are a traitor, then what kind of punishment will I get as well?"
She showed a bitter smile.
"I already tried to contact my family, but it seemed they did not want to help me."
She sighed, but then she showed her beautiful, warm smile.
"Anyway, I already evacuated our baby with Selena and Raymond. I ordered them to leave the empire. Initially, they did not want to leave me. But for the first time, I showed my anger to them. They were the hope for our child to continue her life."
"They finally agreed to leave. But as for Ira, Elis, Rowan, and Feris, they insisted on staying with me even though I already scolded them. I truly did not know what to do with them."
She sighed again.
She then fell silent for a moment. She lowered her head, and Zayden could see her body slightly trembling.
And then...
He could see her tears fall.
She was crying.
Zayden rarely saw Aria cry.
Seeing her cry felt like being pierced by countless swords.
His heart felt crushed, and his chest tightened.
He really wanted to jump into the recording, to go back to the moment she recorded this and hug her.
To soothe her.
"Zayden, I know that I might not be able to see you or our child again. So please hear this, my last message to you." Aria’s voice trembled.
She then lifted her head, showing her teary eyes. She tried to keep herself looking strong despite the tears that kept falling.
"Keep living on, Zayden. Also, please search for our daughter and take care of her. As her father, I hope you can be the person who guides her. The one who gives her protection. The one who gives her all the love of a parent."
Her tears flowed even more profusely. But then she smiled.
A smile full of resignation.
"You can forget about me. If you want, you can look for a new woman to replace me. I don’t want you to be trapped in the past, my love. I want you to keep moving forward."
Then her smile turned into a cheerful one despite the tears continuing to stain her cheeks.
"I love you, Zayden. I love you so much. I really love you."
"Live on, Zayden. You have to keep living."
"Keep moving forward. Don’t look back."
There was a moment of silence as Aria continued to smile through her tears before the projection from the recording crystal disappeared.
Zayden did not move after the projection disappeared.
However, his tears had already begun to fall again.
The last image of her smiling face with tears remained embedded in Zayden’s memories.
After a few moments of silence, Zayden lifted his head, looking at the night sky.
"How can I forget you?" he said.
"There is no way I can forget you."