"I obsessively wanted everyone to revolve around me, as though only then could I truly feel my own existence, only then could I grasp even a shred of meager security."
"When I first entered the sect, I was the youngest junior sister. I had read countless storybooks, and in those stories, the youngest junior sister was always everyone's favorite—carefree, wanting for nothing."
At this point, Liu Qingqing let out a soft breath, a trace of bewildered relief lingering in her eyes.
"Master favored me, and all my senior brothers protected me in everything. No matter how willful or troublesome I was, they always stood on my side."
"Over time, I developed an unreal illusion—as if no matter what I did, no matter how much trouble I caused, someone would always clean up after me, and I would never be abandoned."
"I began testing their bottom lines again and again, acting wantonly and willfully time after time, while they always tolerated me, always favored me."
As her words fell, the corners of her lips curved into a faint smile. She slowly turned to look at Jiang Lu, her eyes shrouded in confusion and melancholy.
"But after coming here, these past few nights when I fell asleep, fragmented scenes kept surfacing in my dreams. Those scenes seemed to be from my past life, and every one of them hinted that I belonged here, that everything I have now has nothing to do with me."
As she spoke, her voice halted. Her fingers unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes, confusion rising in her eyes.
"Junior Sister Lu, do you think these people, including us, truly exist?"
Hearing this, Jiang Lu thought, Could this be what she experienced in her previous life? But she definitely could not say too much. What if Liu