In the small room, a dim candlelight flickered.
This was a basement, nearly a hundred meters below ground.
On a wooden table, a black box sat quietly.
But on the rough floor, two people were lying.
A golden-haired man, and a gray-haired woman.
They lay on the floor, seemingly fast asleep.
Time trickled by slowly, and a pair of azure-blue eyes gradually opened.
Fu Hua opened her eyes and stared at the dark ceiling. She let out a yawn.
Then, she turned her head to the side, looking at the soundly sleeping blond man beside her.
A faint smile touched the corners of her lips.
She shifted her body across the floor, nestling into the man's embrace, then squinted her eyes to gaze at his handsome face.
Otto.
Fu Hua tilted her snow-white neck up, and her cherry-pink lips gently pressed against the man's.
Mwah.
A blissful smile appeared on Fu Hua's face, but then, she suddenly remembered something.
Her mouth felt a little... unclean.
But she didn't mind.
If she didn't mind his, then he couldn't mind hers.
Fu Hua curled up, shrinking into a ball in the man's arms like a child lacking a sense of security.
Even though her age had already surpassed that of most people in this world.
But in front of her Brother Otto, she would always have to bow her head.
Fu Hua hugged Otto, the man who had stayed by her side for over fifty thousand years.
According to her understanding, there was never a place for Brother Otto in the cryo-stasis project.
Therefore, it was very likely that Brother Otto had waited for her in the outside world for over fifty thousand years.
He had never abandoned her.
Fu Hua closed her eyes, preparing to sleep a little longer.
But, she was a bit conflicted.
Did she even have the ability to bear children?
There were rumors back then that Mobius had an illegitimate daughter. If such rumors existed, then MANTISes should be able to reproduce, right?
Ten days and ten nights... she should be having a child, right?
Chaoyu and the others were about to have a little junior brother or sister.
Suddenly, a name came to Fu Hua's mind.
Fu Shi.
She still remembered this name.
It was the name Otto had chosen for their child back then.
Fu Hua felt it was a good name, usable for either a boy or a girl.
Well, what if it was twins?
The Celestial Emissary, Chiyuan, was troubled, but she quickly gave up thinking about it.
She'd just let Brother Otto figure it out.
However, should she change how she addressed him now? Should she... call him... husband?
Ugh, it's a little hard to say.
Stop thinking, stop thinking. Fu Hua rubbed her face against Otto's chest.
It was better to just get some sleep.
After leaving Nagazora City, she was called over by him to deal with the Herrscher of Corruption. There was simply no chance to catch her breath.
No matter where they were, that Otto really knew how to order people around.
...
?
Fu Hua fell silent.
She froze.
Fu Hua looked around, taking in the bare walls surrounding her. This wasn't her room on Taixu Mountain at all.
This was...
The basement Otto had made!
The once-sealed memories awakened. Fu Hua's eyes flew wide open.
Two sets of memories overlapped.
I... I am Schicksal A-rank Valkyrie, Fu Hua.
I... I am the Celestial Emissary of Taixu Mountain, Chiyuan.
I... I am the Previous Era MANTIS, HUA.
I...
And in both sets of memories, a single figure appeared.
Otto!
Brother Otto!
Fu Hua remembered everything.
Otto, Otto, Otto, Otto.
With her original memories restored, Fu Hua now recalled just what kind of person the Schicksal Overseer was.
He was a man who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
Ruthless and cruel.
But, in her other set of memories, he was the man closest to her.
She had even...
Fu Hua slapped a hand over her mouth.
Possessing Fenghuang Down, she instantly realized that it had all been an illusion created by the Herrscher of Corruption, and both she and Otto had been trapped within it.
And in that illusion.
She and Otto had...
Ahhhhhhhh!
Fu Hua practically wanted to scream. She felt like she was experiencing a social death. Just how many unspeakable sides of herself had she shown Otto in that illusion?
Her vulnerability, her past, her everything—it had all been seen by this man.
And she had actually called him... Brother Otto!
Hundreds, thousands of times!
The 'me' in the illusion was so good at calling him that, why didn't she just go all the way and call him Daddy Otto!
Just thinking about it made goosebumps rise on her skin.
Wow, how did she even manage to say that out loud?
Her beautiful face instantly turned beet red. Even for someone as consistently serious and aloof as her, her mind was in complete chaos.
She covered her face. Not long ago, she had told Otto not to use his little tricks for dealing with young girls on her, that she wouldn't fall for that sort of thing.
But the slap in the face had come so suddenly and caught her completely off guard.
She had been played for a fool by Otto, even giving the most precious thing a girl has to this man.
She was even considering names for their future children.
No, no, no, that was an illusion! It doesn't count!
The one Otto slept with was the Celestial Emissary, Chiyuan! What does that have to do with me, Fu Hua?!
However, she suddenly realized she was still lying in Otto's arms. If Otto were to wake up now, things could get very awkward.
She had to get up quickly, and then pretend like nothing happened.
Fu Hua tried to get out of Otto's embrace, but an arm wrapped around her slender waist.
Her delicate body stiffened.
"My wife, Fu Hua, don't stir."
A sleepy mumble was heard.
Otto seemed to be talking in his sleep.
"Mm."
Fu Hua responded subconsciously.
The moment the meek reply left her lips, she realized—why was she acting like a docile little wife?
An-and what did he call me?!
W-Wife?
How could this man just say things like that?!
Does he have no sense of shame?!
We're not even married yet!
No, that's not right.
Fu Hua pressed her hands to her head. She was discovering that the fifty-thousand-plus years in the illusion had affected her quite a bit.
Far more than she could have ever imagined.
Like right now. Fu Hua found that she was actually craving Otto's embrace, as if his arms were her home.
Being held by Otto felt like coming home.
Get up, quick! My body isn't this weak!
It was just... Otto's embrace.
Fu Hua lowered her head.
Her forehead rested against Otto's chest.
Her left hand clutched the lapel of his clothes.
Otto was not that gentle "Brother Otto."
That was just an act he put on.
He definitely had other motives.
But... why couldn't she bring herself to get up?
Was it because of those fifty thousand years of companionship?
Fu Hua pressed a hand to her non-existent chest. Her heart was beating very fast.
If, back then, she really had an Otto like this by her side, would she have walked a different path?
At the very least, when she tried to protect the things she held dear, she would have had someone to protect them with her.
A hand came to rest on her back, stroking it gently.
Just like it had on countless days and nights in the illusion.
For over fifty thousand years, it had always been the same.
"Hey, Otto."
"The 'you' that I know... which one is the real you?"
Fu Hua's voice echoed in the room.
But no one answered.
Only the feigning-sleep Otto, stroking Fu Hua's back.
---o---