A stretch of fertile soil was covered with lush, verdant grass. A clear stream rushed toward a distant forest, and birds chirped as they flew overhead. Not far away, at the foot of a hillside, snow-white Cecilia flowers bloomed across the entire slope.
The place looked vibrant and full of life, yet it seemed as though no human had ever set foot there.
Sitting on this vast wildland, feeling drowsy under the sun's warmth, she thought to herself: I should just sleep.
She lay amidst the blooming flowers in the wilderness, falling asleep in a simple white dress. Vaguely, she could hear the sound of someone panting. Opening her eyes slightly, she saw a blue-haired girl holding a bouquet of fresh flowers in her arms.
“Look what I found!” she heard a voice say. “A huge field of Cecilia flowers!”
A small hand grabbed her arm, leading her as they ran across the grass. The girl's figure was bathed in sunlight, appearing both holy and lively. From this sensation, she could faintly smell the scent of love, though she didn't know from whose heart it originated.
Time, please slow down, just a little slower. Let it stop at this moment...
The lights in the room flickered, and Li Yue suddenly snapped awake from the darkness. Looking at the deathly silence of the pitch-black surroundings, she stood up and pulled open the curtains. Outside was a vast expanse of deathly silence and pale white snow.
She pulled the curtains shut and curled back into the sofa, covering herself with a thin blanket. She felt incredibly exhausted. Her memories were stained with blood, and everything she did felt futile. Occasionally, dreamlike memories would flash through her mind, but once she surrendered to them, she would realize none of it was real.
The only things that felt real and were deeply etched into her memory were the acts of killing over and over, and dying over and over.
She slowly closed her eyes.
Why did I dream of Clo holding me again, and that kiss... Am I really this lonely?
“Knock, knock, knock.” There was a soft tapping at the door. Li Yue reflexively picked up a steak knife, but after a moment's thought, she set it back on the table. She threw on a garment that wasn't particularly thick and went to open the door.
A girl dressed in clean but very old clothes stood at the doorway. She was covered in snow and held a basket in her hand, looking somewhat awkward and nervous.
Who was this again? Li Yue searched her mind for the person.
“Um, he... hello.” The girl bowed. Her fingertips constantly fidgeted with her buttons. She stole a cautious glance at the disheveled Li Yue. Through the gap in her collar, she could see Li Yue’s snowy shoulders and the fair skin of her chest.
Lowering her head, she saw the pale legs left uncovered by the bottom of the nightgown, exposed to the air. Li Yue wasn't even wearing shoes; she had apparently kicked her slippers under the sofa and had been too lazy to retrieve them before walking over.
The girl's face turned as red as a ripe apple. Li Yue was still rapidly searching her memories. The faces of the living were mostly blurred; she remembered the faces of dead soldiers much better—the expressions they wore at the moment their lives slipped away.
“You are... oh, Diana.” Li Yue stepped aside, signaling for the girl to enter.
“Thank you...” Diana timidly walked into the room. Waves of warmth spread from the outside in; Li Yue’s home seemed much warmer than she had imagined.
Li Yue helped hang her coat on the rack and walked across the floor with a pitter-patter of bare feet.
“Have a seat. It's warmer over by the sofa.” Li Yue was in the kitchen making cocoa. When she walked out, she saw the girl sitting on the edge of the sofa with a bright red face.
Was she frozen for too long? She didn't walk all the way here, did she?
“Sit on the sofa.” Li Yue leaned over, tucking her hair back with one hand while taking the girl's hand with the other to pull her onto the cushions. She handed her a cup of hot cocoa, completely indifferent to her own inadvertent exposure.
“Why did you come to see me?” Li Yue took a small sip of the hot cocoa and exhaled a puff of steam, lying sideways on the adjacent sofa.
“You saved me that day, and you even returned the commission money to my mother. I’ve been wanting to find a chance to thank you.” The girl took a sip of the hot cocoa awkwardly. The warm liquid flowed into her body, washing away her original fear and tension.
She carefully stole a glance at the girl before her. She was dressed casually, lying sideways on the sofa without any makeup, yet she still possessed the most beautiful face Diana had ever seen. Only the faint dark circles under her eyes and the exhaustion and deep pain within them made her look slightly sickly.
“There's nothing to thank me for. The association gave me four silver coins as well.” Li Yue set down her cup and exhaled. “In the end, I was just doing a job for money. There's no fundamental difference between me and those soldiers who were guarding you.”
“No! That's not true...” The girl protested with a blush, though her voice quickly trailed off.
The two were silent for a while, each drinking their hot cocoa. After a bit, Li Yue seemed to have finished hers. She placed her cup on the small table in front of her, and the ring on her ring finger flashed with a faint light.
“My lady, that ring is...?”
“Just call me Noah. It was a gift from a friend; she told me to wear it on the ring finger of my left hand.” Li Yue scanned the interior of the ring's storage space and was surprised to find a Cecilia flower and a letter in the farthest corner.
“She must be someone very important to you,” Diana asked cautiously, a trace of a smile appearing on her face.
Li Yue froze for a moment, inexplicably thinking of that fertile land in her dream and that deep kiss against the wall. Her face couldn't help but redden slightly.
“She's... I can't quite say...” Li Yue turned her head away.
She really is a lover, how wonderful, Diana thought with a small smile. Suddenly, she felt that Miss Noah was also a person of flesh and blood, someone who could feel shy and nervous. In this brief interaction, she felt much closer to her.
“I bought some fresh vegetables. I wanted to bring them to you. If you don't mind, I can cook them for you too.” Diana opened the basket, which contained fresh vegetables: tomatoes, white radishes, potatoes...
Li Yue thought about it and finally nodded.
“There's some meat in the freezer in the kitchen. Let's eat together once it's done, if you're not in a hurry to get back.” Li Yue curled into the sofa and set the Cecilia flower aside. Its faint fragrance was fresh and carried a sense of familiarity.
Diana tied on an apron and went into the kitchen to start working.
Li Yue opened the letter and began to read it word by word.
Dear Miss Li Yue,
In your recent letters, you always emphasize that you're in a good mood. But I am a Great Mage with heart-reading magic, hmph! Don't keep deceiving me just because you're afraid I'll worry.
I'm sorry... life must have been hard for you lately (Clo drew an emoticon of two fingers poking each other here). I really want to care for you, but it's so hard to cross such a long distance to see you.
Do you still have the roses from last time? I originally thought you might like red flowers, but I thought about it for a long time and finally decided to send a Cecilia flower. I picked this one myself, though not from that particular flower field.
In a few days, I'll go find some more and weave a flower crown for you. I hope it brings you some comfort during your painful days.
Love, Clo.
A faint fragrance drifted from the flower beside her. Li Yue carefully put it away, then placed the letter together with the previous ones. Clo's letter made her feel a bit better. However, broken fragments still flashed before her eyes, telling stories of her killing others or being killed herself.
Deep inside me, something seems to be changing. I can only accept it passively. Maybe I should find a place for treatment. A clinic, or maybe... an asylum?
She lay back on the sofa, her brow furrowed tightly as if she were having a nightmare, even as she drifted into a heavy, drowsy sleep.
The ingredients in the pot in the kitchen were bubbling away. Diana stepped out of the room and saw that Li Yue had already fallen peacefully asleep. She found a blanket in the bedroom to spread over her, then began to tidy up the messy-looking bedroom, where it seemed many things had been knocked over and then haphazardly picked up by the owner.
She could occasionally hear Li Yue’s low, soft whimpers. Amidst the blurred sounds, she could barely make out the pronunciations of “ke” and “luo.” She thought that this must be Miss Noah’s lover.
She stole a cautious glance at the sleeping Li Yue. The girl felt completely different today than she had at their first meeting. If the first meeting showed a decisive, cold-blooded, and cool hero, she now seemed more like a pained, sad, and depressed patient.
She was somewhat confused but felt powerless to help. Outside the window, the snow continued to fall with its usual deathly and heavy silence, but this time, there was a bit more warmth within the girl's home.
Rate on N.U.
