The flames in the fireplace still danced tirelessly, giving off faint crackles.
But that warmth could do nothing to dispel the cold and deathly silence left in the wake of the storm over the affair.
Zenith sat there quietly, without a word.
Her tear-streaked face held no expression, no anger, no hysteria.
All that remained was a hollow exhaustion, as though everything inside her had burned away.
Zenith turned a complicated gaze toward Cui Ciyou.
This man had not used a child's innocence to hold her kindness hostage, as Rudeus had.
Nor had he stood over her like some self-righteous moralist, pronouncing who was right and who was wrong.
Cui Ciyou had simply... placed every choice back in Zenith's own hands.
After a moment, Zenith took a deep breath, suddenly stood up, and strode toward Cui Ciyou.
What's wrong? Is she... still angry, and coming to beat me up to vent?
Cui Ciyou felt a slight jolt of alarm, but his expression remained unchanged.
He had even braced himself to take a slap from Zenith without resisting.
Yet neither the reprimand nor the sharp slap he had expected came.
Zenith had looked rather intimidating just moments earlier.
But once she stood before Cui Ciyou, that presence she had forced herself to maintain vanished in an instant, like a punctured balloon.
As though using every last ounce of strength she possessed, Zenith spread her arms and hugged him tightly.
She buried her head against Cui Ciyou's shoulder, and the sobs she had held back for so long finally burst forth like a broken dam.
They became broken, anguished cries, filled with endless hurt:
"Thank you... sob... really... thank you... Ciyou!"
"Thank you! For letting me... letting me... make my own choice!"
"Waaah... I don't have to anymore... sob..."
Zenith's arms squeezed