Let's Make Up for All the Sweetness Missing from the Past

Just then, the ring hidden beneath her glove suddenly flashed. A moment later, sweet juice and pulp burst with rich flavor between her lips and teeth.

After just one bite, Acheron froze where she stood.

"It's so sweet. What kind of peach is this? What variety is it? Which planet sells them? I want to buy more in the future."

Lin Shuang's voice rang beside her, but to Acheron, it felt as though it were separated by a barrier. She gave no response at all.

She stared blankly at the peach she had bitten into, while her white hair began to gradually spread downward.

Just then, Lin Shuang, having received no answer, looked up. The smile on her face instantly froze.

"Acheron? Acheron, what's wrong?!"

"Hm?"

The white strands receded. As if she had just come back to herself, Acheron looked at Lin Shuang in confusion, then at the peach in her hand.

"What does your peach taste like?"

Lin Shuang looked at Acheron, her expression growing tense. She moved to Acheron's side, sat down close beside her, and took hold of the hand tightly gripping the sword sheath.

"It just tastes like a really sweet peach. What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Should we go back to the camp and rest first?"

Lin Shuang still remembered that Acheron was most likely walking the path of The Nihility, and the path of The Nihility led people toward nothingness and self-annihilation.

Seeing Acheron like this, Lin Shuang worried that it was The Nihility's influence. If it truly was The Nihility, she had no idea how to help her.

"..."

Yet Acheron did not answer Lin Shuang's question. She merely lowered her head and took another hard bite of the peach.

"It's so sweet... This taste is just as I remember it."

She closed her eyes and savored it carefully, as if unwilling to let even the slightest trace of the flavor escape.

The power of The Nihility had taken away her sense of taste. This was not something that could be brushed aside with a coincidence or miracle.

What sort of power could resist The Nihility, even restoring the sense of taste that The Nihility had stolen from Acheron?

The sweetness on her tongue continued to spread, while Acheron's thoughts grew ever more chaotic.

Why?

Why could something taken by The Nihility return?

This did not fit Acheron's understanding of The Nihility...

After a long while.

Acheron, her thoughts in turmoil, opened her eyes and met Lin Shuang's worried gaze, as well as the hand that had not loosened for even a moment.

Acheron looked directly into Lin Shuang's eyes, then lowered her gaze. Lin Shuang's lips, stained with sweet juice, reflected the sunlight and looked crystalline and translucent.

Maybe... they would be sweet.

For some reason, she thought of the taste of peaches.

"Yours... may I have a taste?"

"Hm? Sure, go ahead."

As she handed over the peach, Lin Shuang found it hard to describe the Acheron before her. That complicated gaze was something Lin Shuang had never seen from her over the past two days.

Why were her emotions fluctuating so intensely? Wasn't Acheron a reserved person, so reserved that she seemed cold?

Lin Shuang carefully considered Acheron's words, then suddenly realized something.

Had Acheron just tasted something?

As an Envoy of The Nihility, was Acheron missing more than just memories? Had she lost her sense of taste as well?

And just now, had her dormant taste buds come back to life?

Lin Shuang watched Acheron lower her head and bite into her peach. From her higher vantage point, Acheron's beauty became even more moving.

But looking at Acheron like this made Lin Shuang a little irritated. The version update was only a few days away, so why not wait until Acheron went live before sending her over?

She barely understood Acheron's situation. So annoying.

"Yours is sweet too. Thank you."

Acheron raised her head. Perhaps she had not been careful enough while eating just now, so she lifted a hand and gently wiped the corner of her mouth.

She could feel her heart leaping with joy over having tasted the sweetness of peaches.

She was shocked, unable to understand it, yet delighted and afraid at the same time.

So much so that Acheron anxiously wanted to taste the second flavor that still remained in her memories.

And at that moment, Acheron's gaze followed the peach and returned to Lin Shuang's lips once more.

"It's fine. So you like peaches that much, Acheron."

Lin Shuang smiled in response. She did not voice what she was thinking, merely took a big bite of peach flesh and wanted to savor its flavor together with Acheron.

At that moment, Acheron suddenly released the sword in her hand and grabbed Lin Shuang by the shoulders.

Accompanied by the sweet fragrance of peaches, she bit down, heedless of Lin Shuang's shocked expression.

Making Up for All the Sweetness Lost in the Past.

Lin Shuang's eyes widened.

By the time she came back to her senses, she could no longer move.

A tangible force bound Lin Shuang, while sweet fruit pulp mixed with juice was continuously taken away.

The suppressed desire and longing in the eyes so close to hers stunned Lin Shuang.

It also made her realize that this was not a kiss. Acheron was greedily seeking the memories of the past.

Having understood that, Lin Shuang stopped struggling. Her right hand, which had been gripping Acheron's wrist, loosened and braced itself behind her, bearing Acheron's weight.

She could not imagine what Acheron was feeling at this moment.

Filled with savagery and aggression, even an Acheron as calm as this seemed to have fallen into madness amid this sudden accident.

Until the scent of peaches had completely faded away.

Acheron still did not stop. She held down the back of Lin Shuang's head, lowered herself slightly, and bit into Lin Shuang's flesh with a little force.

"Hiss..."

The sudden pain made Lin Shuang struggle instinctively, but she could not contend with Acheron's strength.

A rusty taste spread through her mouth, and Acheron's pupils trembled.

The familiar taste of blood had never been so clear.

It was even mixed with a faint hint of peach sweetness.

Acheron's frenzy gradually receded, but her eyes still could not return to their usual calm.

Seeming to realize what she had done, Acheron released Lin Shuang's shoulders. Her tongue swept over the wound one last time, taking away the final drop of blood.

"Ha... ha..."

Lin Shuang panted as she looked at Acheron, whose blood-stained lips made her seem strangely bewitching, and at the guilt-filled look in her eyes. Then she laughed.

She raised a hand and gently wiped away the blood at the corner of Acheron's mouth.

"Feeling better?"

As she spoke, a drop of blood slid down from the corner of her mouth and landed on the unfinished peach, splashing a conspicuous streak of red.

"..."

Acheron looked at her, and even her eyes seemed more alive than before.

"Sorry. I am skilled with a blade, but not with healing."

"It's fine. Compared to your training, this probably does not even count as an injury. What is there to apologize for?"

Lin Shuang wiped the corner of her mouth. In that short time, the bleeding had already stopped.

She continued.

"What happened to you just now? You didn't seem like yourself."

Knowing that Lin Shuang had deliberately skipped over what had just happened, Acheron nodded and continued along with her.

"For certain reasons, I have nearly lost my sense of taste, and my memories are fragmented. The sweetness of peaches is one of the few flavors I still remember."

"Just now, I tasted the sweetness from my memories after so long. For me, that should have been impossible. I desperately wanted to confirm it, to taste more, even to taste the second flavor I can still remember..."

As Acheron spoke, her eyes lowered to the drop of blood on Lin Shuang's peach, diffused by the juice.

Lin Shuang nodded thoughtfully.

"The taste of blood, right?"

"Yes."

Acheron nodded faintly.

Strictly speaking, what she remembered was the taste of death, and blood was merely one part of it.

But Acheron had no intention of telling Lin Shuang that.

What relieved Acheron was that Lin Shuang did not press further.

Instead, she smiled.

"If that's the case, then in the future, you have to go to more places and taste more wonderful things. Make blood no longer a flavor you need to remember. Make up for all the sweetness you lost in the past."

"..."

It had been a very, very long time since Acheron had been moved by someone else's words.

Or perhaps she had been before, but had already forgotten.

For the first time, Acheron wanted to etch this moment into her memory forever.

"Lin Shuang, may I take a photo?"

"Huh?"

Lin Shuang did not react for a moment, since the topic had changed rather abruptly.

But Acheron had already taken out the phone she carried with her. Seeing that, Lin Shuang naturally found it hard to refuse.

Then, with a click.

The girl's smile, facing the sunlight, was captured in the image.

On the ring finger of her left hand, which held the unfinished peach, the silver ring shone brilliantly.

After taking the photo, Acheron tapped at the screen and fiddled with it for a while before showing it to Lin Shuang.

"Does it look good?"

Despite her calm tone, Lin Shuang somehow felt there was a trace of showing off within it.

Showing off what?

Lin Shuang felt that perhaps she was becoming a little self-indulgent because of that ambiguous "kiss" just now.

She smiled at herself and carefully looked at the line of text in the photo.

Then she could no longer smile.

"Why did you write down what I just said too...?"

"Because I think it's good. I like those words. Is that not okay?"

Anyone would lose their composure if something they had said casually was recorded so solemnly.

Lin Shuang could even feel her cheeks growing hot.

But with an older-sister type like Acheron sitting before you, asking so carefully whether she could keep this photo.

Who could possibly resist that...

"Fine, fine, keep it. I can't see it anyway, so I'll just pretend I don't know."

"Yes. Thank you."