The Shackles of Lifespan
After a long while, Aemeath slowly raised her head from Lu Yan's embrace.
Aemeath's eyes were red-rimmed, with tiny teardrops clinging to her eyelashes, but her golden eyes shone with an unprecedented light.
"A-Yan, you don't know..." Aemeath sniffed, her voice still trembling with fear, "What I feared most was your lifespan."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yan froze.
Aemeath looked at him, tears finally streaming down her cheeks, but a smile played on her lips, "Time means nothing to me anymore."
"But what about the you before? You would get sick, grow old, and slowly die as time went by."
Aemeath reached out and gently stroked Lu Yan's cheek. "Even if I possess immense power, I cannot reverse death."
"I'm afraid every day, afraid that years from now, when your hair turns gray, when your breath stops, when you're no longer in this world... what will I do then?"
At this point, Aemeath's voice was almost broken:
"I have experienced too much loneliness. If you are not in these long years, then immortality is the cruelest curse for me."
Every word she said was like a heavy hammer blow to Lu Yan's heart.
Lu Yan felt as if his heart was being gripped by an invisible hand, the pain causing his heart to pound wildly.
He looked at Aemeath's shoulders trembling with fear, and his eyes welled up with tears.
Only at this moment did he truly understand the deepest, most hidden fear within Aemeath was usually domineering, charming, and omnipotent.
She planted flowers in this small courtyard, desperately trying to capture the essence of life, all because she was so afraid of losing this warmth.
"But I'm not afraid anymore!" Aemeath's voice gradually became lighter, and the light in her eyes grew brighter.
She stared intently into Lu Yan's golden eyes. "Now, I have nothing to fear anymore!"
Looking at Aemeath's tearful joy, Lu Yan felt a surge of complex emotions that were hard to describe.
He took a deep breath, forcing back the tears welling in his eyes.
He grasped Aemeath's hand that was stroking his cheek, brought it to his lips, and reverently placed a kiss on it.
Lu Yan looked into her eyes, his voice low and husky, filled with a deep affection that struck straight to the soul. "Actually... before I discovered this change, before we became one, I was also afraid of this."
Aemeath was stunned. "You're afraid too?"
"Of course I'm afraid." Lu Yan gave a wry smile. "How could I not have thought of these things?"
"Every time I think of you as someone who resonates with me, I can't help but imagine what I'll be like when I'm sixty, seventy, or eighty."
He reached out his other hand and tucked a stray strand of hair behind Aemeath's ear, stroking her earlobe with affection.
I'm afraid I'll get too old to walk and won't be able to hold you anymore. I'm afraid my eyesight will blur and I won't be able to see you clearly anymore. But what I fear most... is what will happen after I'm gone.
Lu Yan's voice trembled slightly, and his newly formed golden eyes were filled with the deepest heartache for his beloved:
I'm afraid that after I'm gone, I'll leave you all alone in this world.
"I fear you will return to loneliness. The thought of you walking alone for so many years because of my departure... that feeling terrifies me more than death itself."
"That's the fundamental reason why I pushed you away in the first place."
"Since we're destined to part ways, it's better to have never let anything happen in the first place."
This was the first time Lu Yan had so frankly told her about his deepest fears.
Aemeath listened to his words, tears streamed down her face once more.
But this time, it wasn't out of fear, but out of the happiness of being completely enveloped in love.
This big fool, even the things he's afraid of are things he's afraid of because of her.
"Don't say things like that!"
Suddenly, Aemeath broke free from Lu Yan 'Lu Yan hand and slapped his cheeks with both hands, making his handsome face and lips look slightly pouty and comical.
"Hmm..." Lu Yan was taken aback by her patting him, and looked at her innocently.
Aemeath, her eyes red and lips pouting, commanded in a fierce yet soft voice, "Listen to me! You're not allowed to say such unlucky things as 'gone' again!"
Aemeath met his golden eyes, their noses pressed together, and their breaths mingled once more.
"I never allowed you to leave before, only Frequency special occasions."
"Now that you're stamped with my personal seal, you can forget about running away!"
Aemeath's starry eyes shimmered with dazzling light, proclaiming the most domineering vow:
"We'll be together forever. Planting flowers in spring, playing in the water in summer, sweeping fallen leaves in autumn, and building snowmen in winter."
"Throughout these endless years, you, Lu Yan, will always be my Aemeath!"
Lu Yan Aemeath's domineering CEO-like behavior of forcibly taking a man from the common people.
All the heaviness, fear, and worry vanished in that moment, under the gaze of those identical golden eyes.
Lu Yan's eyes crinkled into a smile, his expression gentle and indulgent. "Okay. For all eternity, I'll be yours. We'll be together forever."
He took the opportunity to hold the back of her head, turned his head, and kissed her soft red lips deeply.
Outside the window, the first rays of dawn finally pierced the darkness of the night sky, shining on the bluestone slabs of the courtyard and illuminating the seeds that were quietly sprouting in the soil.
In the fan group and on QQ, at 4:56 AM on August 9th, I used 88 Tacet Discord and lost 21 Echo.