I Want to Live

"What are you going out for?" Theresa did not dare stay in the room alone and followed behind Han Jiang. "We can't just wander around."

Han Jiang did not answer and kept beckoning Yae Rin to follow.

After leaving the room, Yae Rin stopped after only a few steps.

"You intend to...?" Yae Rin stopped, looking in the direction Han Jiang was heading.

Han Jiang nodded. "Let's give it a try. Didn't I say it? I'll make sure both of you survive."

Yae Rin shook her head. "No, it won't work. I've tried countless times already. My sister... and Father will cut my tendons. It'll be useless."

"This time is different. The circumstances are different from before," Han Jiang argued.

For five hundred years, Yae Sakura had continuously relived her painful memories, while Hiyori had been trying every moment to resurrect.

Yae Rin, who still possessed a soul, naturally wanted to save her sister. Yet every time, it ended the same way: she was sacrificed, while her sister was left alone in loneliness and pain.

"As long as I get close to my body, this fragment of my soul will merge into it. By then, I won't even be able to stop the evil god."

Yae Rin spoke quietly. "I'm not afraid of dying. But after merging, I'll become that frail, sickly girl again. All I can do is watch helplessly. I won't even be able to throw my life away."

"Trust me." Han Jiang looked into Yae Rin's eyes and spoke solemnly.

Perhaps it was Han Jiang's sincerity, or perhaps something else. After considering it, Yae Rin nodded. "All right. I trust you. But you have to promise me that you'll save my sister."

Han Jiang nodded. "Not only will I save your sister, I want to save you too."

How many living bodies had Otto, the leader of Schicksal, created for his beloved? The only domain he could not touch was the soul.

Now that Yae Rin had a soul, creating another body for her would be easy.

Otto simply did not know that Hiyori desperately needed a body. With Otto's temperament, as long as he had a way to control a Herrscher, making a body capable of housing Hiyori would be effortless.

The difficult part now was how to preserve Yae Rin's soul. That depended on whether Hiyori would cooperate.

Han Jiang had not crossed into this world with a system just to personally experience its history unfold. He was here to change this world with his own power.

The two people and one soul soon arrived outside Yae Rin's room.

Inside, Yae Sakura held a bowl of medicine and fed her frail younger sister one spoonful at a time.

"Rin needs to get better soon. Then next year, we can go see the cherry blossoms on the back mountain together."

At those words, Yae Rin's soul outside the room trembled.

It was a wish so simple it could not have been simpler. The two people inside might not have known that the cherry blossoms of next year were an unattainable dream they would pursue forever.

At that moment, Yae Sakura believed she could save her sister and make her father abandon the idea of sacrifice.

Her sister also believed in her, imagining the sight of cherry blossoms blooming in the coming spring.

"I'm... going in." Yae Rin glanced at Han Jiang before slowly walking into the room.

After waiting for a moment, Han Jiang and Theresa entered the room. Yae Sakura was wiping the medicine left on her sister's chin with a handkerchief.

"Mr. Han Jiang, Miss Theresa." The half-reclining Yae Rin spoke first.

Yae Sakura was startled and looked back and forth between them. "You already know each other?"

Theresa was not good at hiding what she was thinking. She clutched the corner of Han Jiang's clothes and remained silent.

Han Jiang smiled and nodded. "Yes. We met the day before yesterday, when Miss Rin's condition improved."

"Miss Yae Sakura, how likely do you think it is that Miss Rin can avoid being sacrificed?" Han Jiang asked directly.

Having already merged with the soul fragment, Yae Rin was not surprised. Though she already knew the outcome, she still awaited her sister's answer.

"I'll protect Rin with everything I have!" Yae Sakura instinctively picked up the Tachi Sakura Blizzard beside her.

"Our Inari has become an evil god. Even if I can't defeat him, I can still take my sister and flee this place." Yae Sakura voiced the thoughts in her heart.

Rin smiled through her tears. Having lived here for five hundred years, she knew every detail of her sister's memories.

Three months into the village's drought, she would be sacrificed. At that time, her sister would want to take her away overnight.

It had only been two months now. It seemed her sister had long entertained that thought. Unfortunately...

"Then why don't we leave now?" Han Jiang suggested.

Theresa let out a startled cry. "Han Jiang, what are you saying?"

"Listen to me first." Han Jiang cut off Theresa before she could continue. "Miss Yae Sakura, as the village's shrine maiden, you know its customs and rules. Can you really stop the villagers from sacrificing your sister to the evil god?"

Yae Sakura fell silent and shook her head. It was not as though no one chosen by the village had wanted to leave, but their hand and leg tendons would be severed beforehand, leaving them unable to care for themselves in the future.

"Then let's leave now. Miss Rin's illness can be treated in our homeland. Her body will certainly recover soon." Han Jiang began promising Yae Sakura a future.

"Then Miss Rin can attend school where we live. She can enter a classroom and learn like a normal child, play and laugh with friends her own age."

"She won't be like she is now, steeped in medicine day after day, with the days she can walk outside countable on one's fingers. And if her illness worsens, then..."

Han Jiang did not need to say the rest. Everyone understood. This was precisely the argument the village used to bind the Shrine Master's thoughts.

"But the village..." Yae Sakura still hesitated.

For her, fleeing was still too early. Yae Sakura thought of others at every turn; her gentleness had been misplaced.

As long as the villagers had not forced the Shrine Master to begin the ritual, Yae Sakura would never try to flee. She wanted to protect this village forever.

But once the villagers began to pressure them, and even the Shrine Master could no longer withstand it, it would be too late to leave.

Han Jiang gave Yae Rin a look. Yae Rin nodded subtly, then said to her sister, "Sister, I'll listen to you."

Rather than saying something like, "Sister must become an outstanding shrine maiden," she clearly expressed to Yae Sakura that she wanted to live.

To Rin, this place was a memory cursed by an evil god.

Whether it rained or not did not matter. All that mattered was that her sister could be freed.

To Han Jiang, this was Stigmata Space. He only wanted the Yae sisters to survive, no matter what it took.

Of the four people present, everyone except Yae Sakura knew this was not the real world.

"But... after we leave, if the village doesn't get rain... and Father..." Yae Sakura was still thinking about those villagers, who only knew how to take and never how to give.

"There's still time. Let's wait a little longer. If we wait, it will definitely rain. Father won't agree to sacrifice you to the god either." Yae Sakura still hesitated.

Rin did not mind her sister's words. She had already tried countless times.

Her sister was too gentle. Unless she was pushed to the brink, she would always think of the majority.

The villagers needed rain, and Father, as the Shrine Master, was under immense pressure.

While her sister wanted to protect her, she was also thinking of how to make the god bring rain.

But how could there be anything in this world that went so perfectly?