“Just now... what was that feeling...?” Li Yue was momentarily stunned. The sharp blade in her hand jabbed directly toward her finger, but fortunately, her skin was incredibly tough. The sharpened kitchen knife failed to slice through, only nicking a tiny bit of the outermost layer of skin.
Clack. The knife fell onto the cutting board. Li Yue glanced at her finger; the minor wound finished healing in an instant.
“Ugh... a bit disgusting.” Li Yue frowned and looked toward the clean, smooth wall, finding nothing. She let out a long breath and didn't pay much more attention to the sensation. After all, she was already used to such negative feelings. She gripped the kitchen knife again and continued preparing the dish in her hands.
“A Yue...” A pair of small hands wrapped around Li Yue’s waist from behind. Her heart trembled. Though her emotions were usually thin, she could hear a faint trace of sadness and insecurity in that single call.
“What’s wrong? It’ll be ready to eat soon, don't be in such a hurry.” Li Yue’s movements quickened slightly. She had been decorating the plate, and the slight tremor in her hand had caused a small flaw in the flower she was drawing with sauce.
“A Yue... don't leave me...” Clo’s voice carried a sense of grief that seemed to have been suppressed for a long time. It was as if she had been enduring this emotion, and today she finally found a reason to let it out.
“I’ve always felt... that you are always lying to me... always keeping things from me. You did it before, and you’re doing it now...” Clo leaned her head against Li Yue’s shoulder. Li Yue’s pupils constricted violently. Her breathing became uncharacteristically ragged for a moment before she quickly calmed herself.
“Before, you said it was for the world, for fate, and then you resolutely told me you were leaving...” Clo’s voice took on a sob. “I cried for so long before you chose my way... but now, it seems like nothing... nothing has changed...”
“There was no other way. Becoming the ‘God of Death’ is a fate I cannot escape...” Li Yue turned around and wiped away Clo’s tears, carefully pulling her into her embrace. Thinking back, she really had neglected the girl over the past few days. Clo had hesitated to speak several times, yet she hadn't noticed. Her heart must have been crushed by suspicion and insecurity.
“Are you lying to me... when you go out this time, will you really come back...?” Clo’s voice was choked with sobs, but Li Yue still heard her words clearly.
“I will spend my entire life staying by your side. That is my vow; how could I possibly break it so easily?” Li Yue smiled faintly and kissed Clo’s tear-streaked face. Amidst the slight saltiness, Li Yue somehow seemed to truly taste a hint of sorrow, and her own heart grew heavier.
“I’ve thought about it for a long time. Come to think of it, there really is no need to just walk away...” Li Yue stroked Clo’s head. She opened her mouth but didn't say the second half of the sentence. She had thought about it for a long time on the shore of the River of the Dead.
A human life is too long, yet a human life is also too short. What is long is the time of a lifetime—a hundred years, thirty thousand days and nights, witnessing countless rains and snows. It is just that life is bitter and long, yet sweet and short.
Between eternal gloom or witnessing a flash of sunlight before enduring even thicker darkness, Li Yue didn't know which one to choose. But the answer she chose was the latter. She didn't know why she chose it; perhaps she really had changed.
“I will... give you the whole world,” Li Yue whispered, holding Clo’s slightly trembling body. “Once I find my lost items, I will return. I promise.”
“Then... is it okay if I don't follow you?”
“I am an immortal deity, you can rest easy.”
Li Yue smiled gently. Compared to her memories, Clo’s life seemed much shorter. Even for a Calamity Warlock, the longest a life could last was around four hundred years; there would always come a moment when the lifespan reached its end.
She understood Clo perfectly. Clo was the vassal of the deity who governed the authority of “Time,” and she was that deity’s only vassal. They wanted to snatch her away, but because of her, they never had another chance.
Clo was a native of the Southern Continent. She had never seen her parents since birth and grew up in an orphanage under the Church. She showed no talent for faith-based magic, but by chance, she used “Time Slow” magic to save several children from a collapsing wall.
It was entirely self-taught, the mark of a true genius. It was as if she were born to master the magic of “Time.” In just fifteen years, she reached the threshold of a Calamity Warlock. She was the darling of magic, the vassal of the God of Time. The magic users of the Academy named her after the God of Time, and she herself had long forgotten the name she originally used.
Fate led her to travel the world in a daze, searching for the meaning of her existence, until she met the then-ignorant “God of Death.” A deity who governed the authority of “Death” had given her a goal and the motivation to live, as well as the love the world had never granted her.
And so, there were those hard but beautiful years, and now there is this story. Li Yue had already written the progression and the ending for this tale. No matter what happened in the future, she would face it calmly. She understood Clo, she understood fate, and she understood the price marked upon those so-called “gifts” and “blessings.”
But so what? She had already made the equivalent exchange. Next... just as she said, she would give Clo this world.
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