Though the tree wished for stillness, the wind would not cease.
Some things could not be avoided just because one wished to hide from them.
Some people could not be forgotten just because one wished to forget them.
By Cloud Dream Lake, everything was a vast expanse of white, and the little courtyard by the shore was nowhere to be seen.
The place where people had once lived was now nothing but a boundless desolation.
With the sun high in the sky, sunlight blanketed the entirety of Sunset City.
In the Du Residence garden, within a pavilion.
The Succubus, dressed in embroidered brocade and with her long black hair flowing freely, leaned against the railing. She lounged lazily like a satiated cat. The embroidery on her brocade shimmered faintly beneath the sunlight, as though it were alive.
A corpse burned quietly on the ground.
Naturally, it was Xuanyuan Que's steward. The flames had already consumed more than half of him, crackling and hissing as a scorched stench filled the air.
Xuanyuan Que had used a teleportation scroll to flee for his life, yet abandoned his steward, who had died from an arrow wound. When disaster struck, he ran first—who cared whether it was a brother or a spouse?
A mocking curve formed at the Succubus's lips.
The expression on the half of her face visible beneath the purple-gold eyepatch was unreadable. The purple-gold patterns on the eyepatch glimmered in the sunlight, echoing the embroidery on her brocade and making her seem both bewitching and magnificent.
Autumn sunlight filtered down through the branches, illuminating the Succubus's purple-gold eyepatch and making her appear particularly enchanting. Amid the shifting light and shadows, her face flickered between brightness and darkness, like that of a visitor from another world.
Yet the Succubus could not help