She rushed toward Wu Xin, who was stunned by her behavior, which would have seemed reckless if not for…
If not for what she did next, more embarrassing for both of them.
She lunged at him and nearly ...
But Wu Xin pushed her away harshly. She fell to the ground, along with her dignity.
She began to scream, tears streaming bitterly:
"Wu Xin, I—"
But he didn't move.
Yet his breathing… slowed.
One blink, longer than usual.
Then he said, without averting his gaze:
"No."
One word. It fell like a stone into a deep well. Mei heard it hit the bottom of her chest.
Her fingers trembled. She felt the world constrict around her, the walls closing in. But she didn't back down.
"You didn't even let me—"
He cut her off, quietly but harshly this time. He stood and walked toward the window. His back was to her now—as if to say he wasn't afraid of her words, but he didn't want to see her pain.
"Don't turn what's between us… into something I cannot give back to you."
Mei began to laugh. A hysterical laugh, as mad as her soul. Then she fell silent. Calmed.
"Do you remember your first day in our kingdom? When you stood at the edge of the River of Oblivion… at death's door? That day, I saved you. That day, I gave you a new life."
Wu Xin closed his eyes. As if he didn't want to remember—or perhaps he truly didn't.
Mei continued, her voice growing softer:
"Back then, I was the reason you lived… and I found a reason to live for."
His features hardened. Perhaps he felt shame—or regret that he had lived at all thanks to another.
He stammered:
"I never wanted to be indebted to anyone… so… I think what I did was enough."
Mei lowered her head shyly, remembering his courage during the last attack on their kingdom.
"You saved my parents… but you didn't save me. So how are we even? Don't you remember when I saved you from that whirlpool that tried to poison you? Have you forgotten?"
He didn't answer. For if he wished, he could mention dozens of times he had been her support, saved her from death repeatedly. But he didn't. Because he was her friend. Her teacher.
She approached him and took his hand when she noticed that look—the tender look of a friend.
"Would you have loved me… if you hadn't met her?"
He gently withdrew his hand. In his eyes, Huo feng's image shimmered as an answer. He patted her head, then moved away—without wounding her with his refusal.
But despite that, a deep crack split her heart.
A wound followed by determination.
She felt something freeze inside her—not surrender. A decision.
She raised her head. Her eyes glinted with something between pain and defiance:
"Then choose any other woman…"
She paused, as if swallowing fire.
"…except her."
Wu Xin's gaze changed. Not anger… but a silent warning. He turned to face her, his expression sharper this time.
But Mei continued, as if propelling herself toward the abyss. She stepped closer, then another. Her voice rose gradually, laced with years of bitterness:
"Her past is unknown… and her future carries everyone's ruin. You don't truly know her. You don't know where she came from, or what she hides. How can you marry a woman—"
Wu xin fell silent.
He said nothing. Just looked at her.
In that moment, Mei realized her words would not reach him. That his wall was too strong to tear down. She felt something die inside her—perhaps hope. Or perhaps what remained of her humanity.
She slowly extended her hand.
Opened her palm.
There it was… a small pill.
But it was not ordinary. Its surface was dark, as if absorbing light rather than reflecting it. From it rose thin threads of a black aura… twisting slowly, like living smoke. As if it breathed. As if it… watched.
Mei said, in a deliberately low voice:
"This… is the proof."
She moved closer, more dangerously close than before, until she could see the tense pulse of a vein in his neck.
"She gave it to me… you saw me take it."
Then she added, in a feigned, broken tone:
"I wanted to turn over a new leaf with her… but this was her gift."
She lifted her gaze to him, her eyes a mixture of pain, betrayal, and plea:
"Or perhaps… a curse she wanted to make me drink."
Wu Xin remained silent, staring at the pill—not with suspicion, but with bewilderment. Then he raised his eyes to her:
"I don't believe you."
He said it with cruelty, with absolute certainty. It made her heart tighten for a moment before she smiled:
"Good."
She pushed the pill closer to him, until it nearly touched his lips.
"If you believe her… then you can easily prove me wrong."
She paused for a moment, then whispered in a soft voice:
"Swallow it."
Everything between them froze.
Wu Xin looked at the pill, then at her eyes, then back at the pill. At that moment, he felt something strange. As if an inner voice were warning him. Even the magical thread in his chest pulsed strongly for an instant. But the pulse was swift, fading before he could grasp it:
"Why would I doubt her?"
He thought:
"If she's innocent, nothing will happen. And if she's… no. It can't be."
He reached out and took it.
He hesitated for a brief moment, a moment as long as all his memories with her, with Huo Feng. He remembered her laughter, her innocence, that look in her eyes, and he remembered the thread that bound them. Then he placed the pill in his mouth and swallowed.
A moment passed, then another… nothing.
Wu Xin looked at Mei, who was watching him with intense focus, as if waiting for a signal.
Then the pain began. It wasn't physical. It was another kind. As if an invisible hand had plunged inside his soul and begun to pull out a living thread. A sharp thread, slowly extracted, tearing everything in its path.
His body suddenly convulsed, even his breath became disordered. He staggered back a step, then another, clutching his chest—not to stop the pain, but to stop the bleeding of memories seeping from his soul.
He saw images… scenes, happy and unhappy memories fading away. He saw Huo Feng laughing… he saw her crying… he saw her looking at him with her wide eyes. Then the images vanished, one after another. He tried to hold onto one… any one, but he failed. As if someone had erased them with an eraser from his soul. It wasn't just the images that disappeared, but also the feelings attached to them. That warmth in his chest when he thought of her vanished, the fear for her dissipated. And that love… in the blink of an eye, it was gone.
He bent over slightly, gasping from both pain and realization:
"Huo Feng… don't leave… don't…"
Her name came out, broken for the first time, then finally choked off. And so, slowly, cruelly, and without mercy, what was between them disappeared. He raised his head, his eyes appearing empty. No, rather, they were drowned in a thick, featureless fog.
He looked around and saw the room, the books, Mei standing before him. He felt as if he were floating inside himself. For a moment, he felt panic.
As for Mei, she watched him without moving, without pity. She waited a little while until she was sure of her victory; his eyes were truly empty. No love, no hate, no memory. She stood there for a moment, listening to his silence; he didn't cry or scream… he was just silent. She smiled a victorious smile as she whispered, leaving:
"This is what your heart has reaped… and I am not sorry at all."
Inside the room, Wu Xin remained alone, sitting among the shadows. His breath gradually returned, but his chest remained light—without pain, without joy, without sorrow… without anything.