"Was it really that exhausting?"
Seeing Yao Wan's reaction, Xiao Yan, seated at the stone table in the courtyard, could not help but ask with a smile.
"No, not physically. It was just that I felt somewhat mentally tired. After all, no matter what you have done, once it is over, there is inevitably that sense of inertia after everything ends. It is only natural to feel empty for a while."
Crossing her legs and lifting the tip of one foot, Yao Wan raised her slender arm and leaned against the stone table. She then let out a soft breath, idly fiddled with her pale nails, and said,
"But now that you mention it, it really is true..."
Looking at Yao Wan, who appeared especially relaxed in both manner and spirit at the moment, Xiao Yan unconsciously murmured softly.
"It really is...? What exactly is true?"
Hearing Xiao Yan's murmur, Yao Wan lowered her eyes slightly, then could not help reaching out to gently poke the hand he had placed on the table. "Why are you suddenly saying such strange things again?"
"...I meant Wan'er's state. Isn't it obvious at a glance?"
Looking at those slender fingertips lightly poking his hand, the corners of Xiao Yan's lips unconsciously curved upward a little as he spoke.
"Back in the Great Thousand World, Wan'er always seemed as though there was a string pulled tight inside her. She was terribly tense."
"Tch... was, was I?"
The lovely figure before Xiao Yan stiffened. Yao Wan instinctively resisted this sort of dredging up old matters, but she could not exactly flare up on the spot, so she could only force herself to answer.
"Of course you were... Otherwise, you would not have gotten so moody before."
Xiao Yan answered as though it were only natural.