Quand je reviendrai avec toi

Chapitre 72

Jia Ye watched quietly, her eyes, which could not be closed, were veiled with tears, reflecting utter despair for the world. After a long while, she reached out and gently closed her eyes, which refused to close.

"...How ugly, is this even considered Seven Killings...? You were stronger than me before... all for one..."

The words were spoken softly, but Xie Yunshu felt a chill in his heart, and an uncontrollable fear rose within him. He suddenly regretted calling Jia Ye over.

"Jia Ye." He couldn't help but step forward and whisper, carefully observing her face, "Let's... go out first and find a quiet place."

His gaze was somewhat blank, and he remained silent as Fei Qin was pulled away from him.

"Jia Ye!" Xie Yunshu stared at her worriedly, gently shaking her fragrant shoulders. She remained unresponsive, as if her soul had vanished, leaving only an empty shell.

"Third brother." Xie Quheng frowned and stopped him, secretly annoyed by his younger brother's loss of composure. Qinglan quietly tugged at her older brother's sleeve.

"Jia Ye!" Overwhelmed by unease, he began to panic, ignoring those around him who were touching her face. "You are not her, I swear you are not her."

After a long while, she blinked, pulled her hand away from his, and approached the boy who had never spoken.

What's your name?

The boy shed no tears, watching his mother from birth to death without uttering a sound. Jia Ye's question made him turn his gaze back, and he suddenly kowtowed several times heavily.

"I have no name, please give me one, young lady."

A precocious face held a chilling resolve, and a child's words drew everyone's attention.

"Who...who is your father?" Jia Ye braced his left hand on the ground bricks, trying his best to steady his words. The anger in his heart was surging uncontrollably, and he desperately wanted to find an outlet.

"The girl wants to kill him?" It was as if she wasn't talking about her own biological father.

"Um."

Xie Quheng, listening from the side, was displeased; these words were completely inappropriate to say to a child. Xie Jingze sighed inwardly, but the Four Wings felt it was perfectly reasonable. They had little concept of kinship and bloodline, only a clear distinction between gratitude and enmity.

The child kowtowed again, blood seeping from his forehead. "Please teach me martial arts, young lady, and I will go back to you myself in ten years."

"What nonsense are you talking about, child? He is still your father." Xie Quheng couldn't help but step forward and scold, "Incest and patricide are heinous crimes, even the teeth are cursed."

"He doesn't deserve it, I'll kill him with my own hands." The child's eyes were filled with deep hatred, and his words were like a curse.

The intense hatred was as hard as iron, leaving Xie Quheng speechless. The four wings, however, showed a degree of appreciation.

Bi Jun nodded. "Good, you still have some ambition."

As she listened to the exchange, Jia Ye felt a sharp pain in her forehead, as if a delicate string in the depths of her heart had snapped. Unable to control herself any longer, her body swayed slightly, and the blue brick beneath her palm cracked softly, suddenly shattering into several irregular fragments. Xie Yunshu sensed that her aura was extremely chaotic and was horrified.

"Gaye!"

She got up to leave, but he stepped in front of her and reached out to grab her shoulder.

"Get out of the way!" A sharp shout startled everyone.

Xie Yunshu did not back down an inch, nor did he stop reaching out his hand.

Her dark eyes were devoid of reason, filled only with murderous intent. With a flick of her wrist, she unleashed her full power.

Several soft sounds rang out in quick succession, and seven or eight moves were exchanged in an instant. All of them were extremely fierce killing moves, without any fancy tricks. Each move was enough to kill, and if one was not careful, blood would be splattered on the spot, which was shocking to the onlookers.

"Has she gone mad?" Xie Quheng stared in disbelief, wanting to step forward and pull her away but not knowing where to begin. Seeing his third brother only defending and not attacking, the situation was becoming increasingly urgent, and he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

Qinglan was at a loss, not knowing what to do. "Heavens... why are they fighting?"

"Our lord really didn't hold back." The blue owl was also frightened.

"What exactly happened?" Bi Jun was sweating profusely as he watched, only relieved that his opponent wasn't himself.

Silver Swan didn't speak, but swallowed hard, equally nervous.

Yu Sui's face turned pale, and the hand hidden in his sleeve twitched and then clenched again. The attack was too fierce; he wasn't confident he could separate the two intact.

Parrying became increasingly difficult, gradually suffocating him. The cold, indifferent eyes seemed to be fixed on a strange enemy, filled only with chilling killing intent. Continuing like this would only result in mutual destruction. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, but he couldn't find a suitable way to break the deadlock. With a sudden, desperate act, he abandoned all defense, watching helplessly as slender fingers pointed towards him. The delicate, pale fingertips, like the blade of death, pierced his heart with chilling force. He didn't dodge, letting out a final cry with all his might.

"Gaye!"

"Third Brother!" "Third Brother!" "Eldest Brother!"

Several different exclamations rang out simultaneously.

His fingertips sank into his chest, and blood gradually seeped out.

Xie Yunshu did not lower his head, but stared straight at the person in front of him, his voice hoarse.

“Gaye…I am not the enemy, wake up.”

Her dark eyes were blank and chaotic, her fingertips warm to the touch. Blood slowly seeped out, as if ice water had cooled her boiling heart. His voice pierced her chaotic mind at the last moment. She stopped struggling; the wound wasn't deep, but… it was his blood…

It rolled down the hem of my clothes and onto the ground, extremely... glaring, making everything in front of me look blood red.

He gently tightened his grip on her chest, then wrapped his arm around her slender waist. "...It's alright, you're just too tired. Don't think about anything, don't think about anything..." With those soft words, his fingertips brushed against her pressure point, and she unknowingly drifted into a sweet darkness.

Author's Note: You guys are all so amazing! You guessed it was Fei Qin right away, I'm so impressed! I thought she'd been forgotten long ago *^_^*

Thank you all for your updates and valuable feedback. Many of your comments were very insightful and made me really eager to share my thoughts...

I anticipate some revisions to the later plot to make the story more logical, so the pace will slow down a bit. It won't drag on, and I promise I won't abandon the story. Please understand.

Please don't be angry, everyone... (Someone crawled by, trembling...) —_—

Dilemma

I had a very long dream in a hazy state.

Strange faces appeared haphazardly, and an indistinct crimson stain covered her path, the stench suffocating her. The person she longed to see was absent from her dream; instead, it was filled with vile curses and accusations, each voice a veil of reproach. No matter how she swung her sword, the curses haunted her like ghosts, driving her to the brink of madness.

She kept walking forward, unable to escape the blood-red swamp, only the mocking shadows following her. Her legs grew heavy, unable to move, and all she could see was the suffocating darkness of red. Exhausted, she dared not stop; each step would cause her to slowly sink into the blood. There was nowhere to rest. The road stretched endlessly, and she didn't know where she was going. In her numb trudging, her foot suddenly kicked something. Picking it up, she saw it was Xie Yunshu's head. Horrified, she threw it aside. The head fell to the ground, surrounded by limbs, among which were her mother's and Huaiyi's faces…

Suddenly opening his eyes, the blood and severed limbs disappeared, leaving only a quiet room.

The dimly lit room was familiar with its furnishings. He was lying on Xia Chuyuan's bed, covered with a thin blanket. A wisp of calming incense was slowly rising from the incense burner, and he could faintly hear the sound of lotus leaves being turned by the wind.

Heavy breathing came from my nose, my wildly beating heart gradually calmed down; it was just a dream…

She didn't kill him... He won't die like his mother and Huaiyi...

The door opened, and the people scattered in the dream were unharmed. They quickly approached the bedside and smiled at her as usual.

"You're awake. Are you thirsty? Would you like something to eat?"

Her voice was gentle, and she was still in a daze. Her slender fingers climbed onto his hand, their fingers intertwined, and she could only confirm his reality through his warmth.

"Did you have a nightmare?" He gently wiped the sweat from her forehead, his care and tenderness just like any other day.

"I dreamt that..." Her throat felt dry, and she didn't know how long she had slept.

"What?" He went over and poured her a glass of water, carefully feeding it to her.

"without…………"

“You’re just too tired and need to rest. I’ve asked the kitchen to make you some snacks.”

She nestled against his chest, munching on a snack unconsciously. Although she had just woken up from sleep, she was still incredibly tired, her mind a complete blank, unable to think of anything.

He murmured about trivial matters, coaxing her to eat more. Not used to being fed repeatedly, she tried to take the food, but stopped when her hand reached her eyes.

Her fingers were slender and white, seemingly the same as usual, but there was something on her middle finger: a dark red line embedded in her nail. She felt no pain; it looked like congealed blood.

He didn't let her look any longer, pulled her hand down and continued to coax her gently. The person in his arms froze, and suddenly began to tremble violently, more so than someone wearing only a single layer of clothing in the dead of winter. He put down the snacks and hugged her tightly.

“Gaye”.

She didn't answer, struggling to break free from his embrace and starting to tear at his clothes, stubbornly trying to tear away the layers of covering to confirm the deepest fear in her heart.

Unable to hide it any longer, he stopped stopping her, letting her tear open her clothes to reveal the bandages underneath. Because of the rubbing against his chest earlier, the snow-white bandages were now stained with blood again.

She stared blankly, her long eyelashes motionless. After a long while, she reached out and gently touched the blood-red spot with her finger, biting her lip tightly.

"It's none of your business, don't worry about it."

"I almost... killed you."

"You won't kill me." He covered himself with his clothes, gently lifted her chin, and looked into her dark eyes. "I know you won't. It's my fault for letting you go through all this."

"Why am I..." She felt her mind getting more and more chaotic, fragments flashing by rapidly, blurring into a jumbled mess.

Warm kisses landed on his eyes, cheeks, and then lightly touched his lips.

There was no □, just simple comfort.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have insisted on bringing you back to the Xie family. We encountered many things that made you feel bad." The details reported by Mo Yao made him know more, and it made him feel even more heartache and guilt.

Shen Huaiyang, Bai Fengge, Fei Qin's death, and that child who insisted on killing his own father...

He made another mistake, and too many unexpected events stirred up the nightmares hidden deep in her heart, forcing her to repeatedly recall the past. No one could bear such pain, which exceeded the limit of endurance.

"I must be going crazy..." she bit her lip, sounding very much like a sob.

"No, you're just too tired. I'm sorry for making you feel so bad, it's all my fault..." he murmured softly, gently embracing her and cupping her cold, slender fingers in his palm.

In the quiet room, only his continuous comforting words helped her stop trembling. After a long while, her hands remained cold.

A soft peck came from the window. "Third Brother."

It was Qinglan calling softly.

He hesitated for a moment, then loosened his grip on her slightly.

"You lie down for a while, I'll talk to him for a bit and then come back."

Jia Ye lay down quietly, letting him cover her with the silk quilt, unusually obedient.

"Third Brother, Father is furious and orders you to go back immediately." Qinglan looked anxious. This time, her father's anger was unprecedented, and she was terrified just looking at him.

"I can't leave now."

"No, you have to go back. Your older brother had a big argument with you and told Dad everything. When Dad heard that you almost lost your life, he was so angry that he smashed the table. If you don't go back, Dad might come in person, and things will be even worse then."

"Tell Father I'll be fine. Right now she's not feeling well and needs someone to take care of her. I'll explain things to Father in a few days."

Qinglan advised with a bitter face, "Third brother, you know Father's temper better than I do, you should be aware of the consequences of doing this."

"I can't worry about that now." His mouth felt dry. Torn between two options, he could only protect what was most important. "Father, please forgive my filial impiety. Just pretend I'm not your son for now."

"Third Brother!" Qinglan became anxious when she heard this. "Don't do anything foolish. Go back and apologize to Father. You'll get a scolding, but we can deal with it slowly. She's not going to run away."

“She will.” Xie Yunshu sighed helplessly, revealing the truth to her younger brother for the first time. “As soon as I leave, she will definitely leave. She doesn’t want to drag me into this, especially after… accidentally hurting me.”