Strange sounds intertwined in her mind, the illusions before her eyes were ethereal. Her face contorted as if being torn apart, her pupils shifting from black to red. The knife in her hand was drawn and retracted in agony, the ringing sound piercing her nerves like demonic music.
"Ah—"
She screamed mournfully, her body curling up.
Tantai Ye desperately grabbed her hand and acupunctured her.
Those sinister eyes suddenly turned back, filled with scarlet blood.
An暗器 shot out from his sleeve, embedding itself deeply into the man playing the bell. The latter stiffened, blood gushing from his mouth as he fell from the high platform.
The ringing stopped abruptly.
Lan Murou spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed into Tantai Ye's arms.
Her face was extremely pale, warm blood trickling down her jaw, blooming like a flower.
Tantai Ye looked at the person in his arms, his eyes bloodshot, his voice hoarse.
"Don't sleep, don't sleep, wake up, wake up—"
Familiar hoarse calls filled her ears.
Lan Murou weakly opened her eyes, her clear black and white gaze struggling to look at the man before her.
"Rou'er."
She was awake, she was truly awake.
It wasn't a dream.
This was not a dream!
He sobbed, holding her tightly, with a force that seemed to want to meld her into his bones and blood, a low, suppressed mournful sound emanating from his throat.
Lan Murou, her face pale, held in his embrace, immediately saw his head full of white hair, and tears flowed from his desolate eyes.
A cold wind blew, and bright red flowers mixed with raindrops fell upon them.
Her complexion was terrifyingly pale and weak, her eyes fixed on him.
She remembered much of the past, the humiliation within his family, the child she had killed with her own hands, many, many past events, those bone-chilling, bloodthirsty pains should have died with her.
But why hadn't she died? Why couldn't even the blade kill her? Why did heaven itself have to deceive her?
Why did those illusory, absurd past events still torment her flesh and blood like knives?
"Tantai—Ye—"
She weakly called his name, blood seeping from the corners of her mouth, her clear and gentle small face devoid of any color.
Tantai Ye, his eyes crimson, held her, his head buried in the crook of her neck, his voice hoarse and torn, like a lost, bewildered beast.
"Rou'er, you're awake, you're finally awake, don't leave me, don't."
Lan Murou felt cold tears slide into her collar. A faint, bitter smile touched her cold, frost-like face.
Torrential rain beat down on them. She was in a red wedding gown, her hair disheveled, her jewelry scattered, her beautiful, soft face filled with sorrow.
"I was wrong, you can punish me however you want, it was my fault, don't leave me, please don't leave me."
Tantai Ye held her, covered in blood. The rain soaked his cold military attire, a vivid, tragic red.
For so many nights, he had been jolted awake time and again. The image of that blood-drenched white figure resolutely facing death tormented him like bone-gouging and marrow-crushing pain, and he could only hold that cold body, indulging in the illusion of growing old together.
But now, she was awake, truly awake.
"Rou'er, Rou'er—"
Lan Murou gazed at him, a bone-gnawing pain coursing through her body, unbearable.
"Tantai Ye, why? Why didn't I die?"
Her voice sounded very calm. The swirling flowers mixed with raindrops fell onto her face, full of desolation.
"Why didn't you kill me? Why do you make me live such a painful life?"
Tantai Ye's eyes were filled with panic, a hint of unconcealable despair.
He called her name again and again, blood seeping from his lips, flowing down his jawline onto her face.
The roaring rain seemed like his heart being torn apart, bloody.
"Don't be like this, don't—"
Lan Murou looked at him, quietly watching him.
After a moment, she extended her slender fingers, trembling as she reached for his cheek.
"I killed our child with my own hands. I don't deserve to live. I shouldn't be alive."
She deserved to die.
She should have died in the heavy rain of Jiangzhou, died amidst the humiliating past in Shangjing.
Why had she died only to be brought back to life? Why was she made to face that tragic past again?
Tantai Ye listened to her words, as if being carved by knives.
His body was covered in blood, a腥甜 surged in his throat, and the intense pain made it impossible for him to speak complete sentences.
He shook his head desperately, holding her tightly, his face etched with numb pain.
"What you gave me was all humiliation. Tantai Ye, even in the underworld, you won't let me go?"
She struggled to open her eyes to look at him, her clear eyes filled with tears.
Even the torrential rain could not hide the redness in her eyes.
Tantai Ye felt only pain, excruciating pain.
Ten thousand arrows piercing his heart would not hurt as much as these few words from her.
He cried.
He actually cried!
Lan Murou tilted her face slightly, her exquisite features covered in tears, fragile and heart-wrenching.
In all the years she had been by his side, she had never seen him cry.
Her heart felt as if it were being torn by knives.
Silent tears quietly slid down her cheeks.
The entire world seemed to grieve and weep for them.
Lan Murou's face and body were covered in rainwater. She looked at him, constantly looking at him. At some point, her tear-blurred vision could no longer make out his form; before her eyes, there was only a sea of red.
"Tantai Ye, you killed the me of the past with your own hands. What are you crying for?"
Yes, it was his fault.
It was he who, unscrupulously, basely, and forcefully brought her back to Shangjing, causing her to be separated from her family and suffer the hardships of displacement.
It was all his fault!
"Rou'er, it's my fault. If you want to kill me, I'll give you my life. Don't die, please don't die—"
Lan Murou looked at his pathetic state, her heart contracting in pain. Tears flowed down her cheeks, all sorts of emotions swirled in her heart, the pain so intense she couldn't breathe.
During those years in Shangjing, she had also been this pathetic.
She had loved him pathetically, carefully hiding her true feelings, but he had personally fed her love flowers and shattered the light in her heart.
Yes, he had once been her light.
"I love you. As long as you live, I'll die. I'll set you free."
He loved her, and after waiting for so many years, he had finally received this absurd love.
A desolate smile graced Lan Murou's lips. "When I loved you, you discarded me like a worn-out shoe. Now that I don't love you, your love is worthless."
"Tantai Ye, no one will wait for you forever."
Tantai Ye could no longer feel the pain, his eyes filled with numb self-mockery.
"Yes, I am not worthy!"
She used the harshest words to pierce his heart, but why, why wasn't she happy at all?
Lan Murou lightly licked the blood from the corner of her lips, looking at his head of white hair. After a moment, she suddenly spoke.
"Tantai Ye, I hate Shangjing. I want to go home."
Her voice softened.
Tantai Ye, his eyes bloodshot, had blood gushing from his mouth.
"I'll take you back, I'll take you back to Gusu, and we'll never go to Shangjing again."
He picked her up, covered in blood.
"I'll take you away."
Torrential rain pounded the forbidden ground.
He stood in his military attire, holding the bride in his arms. The hem of her red skirt, lifted by the cold wind, rustled on the ground.