The room was spacious, yet it felt anything but empty—
Two wedding dresses hung side by side in the glass wardrobe.
Several gifts, carefully unwrapped and then repackaged with equal tenderness, had been placed in a transparent cabinet, their wrappings preserved as precious treasures.
A few thin letters rested individually on wooden stands, each one handled with the utmost care.
Further along sat sundry items: scattered buttons, a scarf, and several black beads.
In a transparent cabinet set to smart storage mode, a carrot stood alone.
The Butterfly Necklace and the wedding ring engraved with a name…
Everything carried memories that belonged solely to them, pulling Ye Chengxing back to this world five years prior in an instant.
She stared at it all in a daze.
The memories crashed over her like a tidal wave.
…Of course. What could Li Jia possibly hide?
The room before her held no trace of her, and yet she was everywhere.
Li Jia had guarded these remnants of their shared past, living day after day for five years, with this room as her sole source of light.
Ye Chengxing felt rooted to the spot.
The memories swept her through the past, only to deposit her squarely in the present with the blink of an eye.
Warm liquid trickled down her cheeks. When Ye Chengxing looked up, she found Li Jia had turned around at some point, gazing at her. Li Jia’s lips parted, but no words came.
In that moment, Ye Chengxing suddenly recalled what Xi Yue and the others had said, and the image from her dream: the girl clutching white roses, her wedding dress soaked in blood.
And 999’s words about someone using a Wish Contract through the System to make her forget those memories.
The identity of that “someone” was now painfully clear.
She thought of the glaring bloodstains on that wedding dress, not daring for a second to dwell on how she had ultimately returned to her own world.
The World Will had detected her prolonged stay and automatically converted her energy, leaving 001 with none to spare.
That left only the mission she had chosen back then. 001’s voice still echoed in her ears—
“The plot hasn’t truly begun yet. You have two missions to choose from.
“One is to utterly destroy her before she can destroy the world. The other is to heal her, redeem her, transform her, so she no longer harbors any desire to end the world… The energy reward is the same for both.”
She had chosen the second path, and the mission had been completed.
So the energy that sent her home afterward could only have come from the first mission.
Ye Chengxing had always known Li Jia’s nature was deeply obsessive, her love for her all-consuming.
Someone like that should want her to remember her until death. Yet in the end, Li Jia had chosen to make her forget.
She had never imagined surviving. Her only thought had been to trade herself for Ye Chengxing’s return home. Once Ye Chengxing was back, the Wish Contract she had signed with the System would activate automatically. Barring the unexpected, Ye Chengxing would forget everything that had ever happened, erasing from her mind events like her visit to this world, the System, the missions…
And… her. She would forget Li Jia entirely, forget everything that had passed between them.
Even if she died for her, there would be no trace of “Li Jia” left in her memories.
Seeing the look on Ye Chengxing’s face, Li Jia knew she had remembered it all.
Before Ye Chengxing could speak, Li Jia forced a tearful smile. “Truth be told, I still don’t know how to love normally, even now. My possessiveness toward you is as fierce as ever. I envy every single thing your eyes have lingered on. I want you looking only at me… But I also want you to live a long, peaceful life, free from sorrow and worry.”
“Fate has never been kind to me, mocking me with pain and nightmares year after year. But you’re different. You were never meant to bear such burdens, so there’s no need for you to remember me.”
By this point, her smile faltered, tears streaming down in heavy drops. “But you couldn’t forget completely. You came back to this world, back to my side. And now I’m tempted again to keep you here forever. What should I do, sister? I truly can’t learn to love properly. I’ll always be like this, only bringing you disappointment and pain…”
Her words came in broken gasps, tears blurring her vision until she couldn’t bear to meet Ye Chengxing’s gaze.
She hadn’t meant to break down like this, hadn’t wanted to sway Ye Chengxing with pity. But the tears wouldn’t stop.
She had schemed and lied so much—professing to want her gone even as she plotted last night to draw closer, to savor one final intimacy.
Now that Ye Chengxing remembered everything, what must she think of her?
Ye Chengxing drew a deep breath, her heartache so profound it dulled into a numb ache.
She stepped forward and pulled Li Jia into a fierce embrace.
Ye Chengxing tried to steady her voice, but even after that breath, it trembled fiercely when she spoke.
“What even is ‘normal’ love? You don’t need to change. I’ve never found your love painful or disappointing.”
She eased back just enough to cup Li Jia’s face, kissing away her tears one by one. “Li Jia, I love you. I love your obsession, your possessiveness. I love all of you, and it brings me nothing but joy.”
The girl from her dream was real.
So much blood on that wedding dress—she must have hurt terribly. How could she not?
Someone with such severe self-destructive tendencies had endured five years without her, clinging to life alone.
“I’m sorry. I took too long to come back.” Ye Chengxing’s voice cracked despite her efforts, her heart aching beyond endurance. She could scarcely fathom how Li Jia had survived it.
From her awakening back home to gaining her abilities and meeting 999, she laid it all out clearly: how she had returned to this world. “And it’s not just me. Next time I go back, we can go together. We can come back together too. No more guarding these memories alone. We’ll never part again. The future won’t be you or me—it’s us.”
Her gaze fell on Li Jia’s tear-streaked face, her words misting with the dampness in her own eyes. “This moment isn’t ideal, and I’m completely unprepared, but I need to say it now. Li Jia, let’s get married. Will you say yes?”
Her eyes still rimmed red, Li Jia stared in stunned silence, never expecting those words.
Then she whirled, nearly stumbling as she retrieved the other ring from its glass prison.
“No preparations needed. Just this.” With trembling fingers, she slid the ring—empty of its owner for five years—onto Ye Chengxing’s finger.
Now, the ring had its owner back at last.
The moment it settled into place, Li Jia lowered her eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to her hand. “…My heart’s deepest wish.”
The one she loved stood before her at this very moment. This time, they would never part.
Her lashes fluttered like butterfly wings, her heart quaking, breath catching.
The instant Ye Chengxing heard her answer, she leaned in and claimed Li Jia’s lips.
Salty tears melted into their touching mouths.
Li Jia clasped Ye Chengxing’s hand with her own ringed one, fingers threading through gaps until their grip was seamless, ten fingers intertwined.
Starlight gleamed pure and bright outside the window, but the brightest star had already drifted in on the wind, settling forever in her heart.
With love as its cause.
—Main Story Complete—
