Chapter 61: Beautiful Dream

"...it's been hard, hasn't it?" Xin Yu crouched down. After a moment of bewilderment, he remembered that the mental state of the miko before him was extremely poor. She seemed to have endured a long period of time, experiencing many exhausting events without any respite, causing her will and spirit to be on the verge of collapse. Perhaps it was because of this exhaustion that she sought death. When Yae Sakura heard these words, her previously serious expression immediately began to crumble. "I don't know what happened to you, but I can see you're exhausted. You look like you haven't had a good sleep in a very long time. I'm not sure why you're seeking eternal rest, but at least before you fall into eternal slumber, why not allow yourself a brief sleep first?" "Let your spirit relax, let your consciousness rest well in the realm of dreams for a moment." "With me here, there won't be any problems." Listening to the soft whispers in her ears, Yae Sakura felt her eyelids growing heavier. The tension that had been constantly straining within her completely snapped under the gentle guidance of the young man before her. Her entire being began to sink into extreme drowsiness, and finally, unable to support herself any longer, she fell forward. In her final moments of consciousness, Yae Sakura felt herself fall into an extremely warm embrace. It felt like when she was still young, being held by her mother who had not yet passed away. This embrace was full of warmth and security, as if as long as she remained in it, the storms outside would no longer disturb her... Xin Yu carried Yae Sakura into a nearby building. He sat on a sofa with Yae Sakura lying beside him, her head resting on his knee, her face peaceful in sleep. But this peace didn't last long. Yae Sakura seemed to dream of something unpleasant, her brows tightly furrowed, her face showing a ferocious and pained expression. Xin Yu reached out to smooth her furrowed brows, softly humming a song. "The dark sky hangs low~ Bright stars accompany~ Insect fly~ Insect fly~ Who are you missing~" As the nursery rhyme played, Yae Sakura's previously pained expression gradually relaxed. In her original dream, she had seen burning villages, her dead sister, Kallen riddled with wounds, and herself covered in fresh blood. But as the song played, everything dissipated like smoke. Finally, in her dream, she saw herself and her sister leaning against a cherry blossom tree. Her sister's illness seemed to have improved, her voice sounding very healthy and clear as she happily smiled at her. Yae Sakura embraced her sister as they leaned against the cherry blossom tree together, enjoying the faint fragrance carried by the falling cherry blossoms, enjoying the sensation of the gentle breeze caressing her cheeks, enjoying this peaceful beauty. Meanwhile, Higokumaru, suppressed deep within her consciousness, now had pupils that trembled violently. Before her appeared a woman who looked extremely similar to Yae Sakura, but somewhat different, with an even colder temperament. "Rin, sister has come to pick you up." "...Sister! Wah! Sister!" The demonic fire fox ran forward, and as she ran, all the fur on her body fell away. She transformed into an ordinary girl who threw herself into the embrace of the woman who closely resembled Yae Sakura, crying loudly as if wanting to release all the grievances she had suffered in the past. "Why? Why? I didn't do anything wrong, so why did I have to endure such treatment? I never wanted to hurt anyone, so why didn't anyone believe me! Why was everyone afraid of me!" The woman gently stroked the girl's head, just as in the past, when the girl was still a child and similarly suffered grievances, her sister would stroke her the same way. Even though she clearly knew that everything before her was fantasy, all false, all an illusion created by that monster outside to deceive her and make her sink into it, just as she had once used the same methods to deceive Yae Sakura outside. But she couldn't resist! Everything was too real! Her sister's smile, her sister's voice, the warmth transmitted through her sister's embrace were all so real, all so indistinguishable from her memories! She could even hear her sister's beating heart within her chest. This embrace was so warm, so warm that it could make her forget all the coldness she had felt from being imprisoned and suspected in the past. She didn't want to think about anything anymore. After all, even if she could hold out, Yae Sakura would definitely be swallowed by this beautiful illusion that had been created. This way she couldn't escape death either, so she might as well sink into it permanently. Destroying humanity, hatred, pain—she didn't want to think about any of it anymore. She only wanted this warm embrace; she didn't want anything else. She didn't want to leave anymore, she didn't want to feel the cold reality of the outside world again! I, already, don't want, to leave. "That won't do." No... "Rin, you must live on." No. "Sister, you still have things you need to finish, right?" No! "Rin, I'm sorry." No!! "Goodbye sister, I was very happy during this brief reunion." No!!! "Don't let me leave!" "Don't let me wake up!" "Sister!" "Sister!" Yae Sakura suddenly opened her eyes. She was breathing heavily, her face even covered in sweat. A hand appeared before her eyes, holding a towel, wiping the sweat from her face. "I'm very sorry I disturbed your beautiful dream. Earlier, because I wanted you to have a good sleep, I used some special methods that would give you a pleasant dream. But I didn't expect that you would rather die than emerge from that beautiful dream, so I had to wake you up." Xin Yu hadn't anticipated that her spirit had become so hollow to that degree, that she would immediately sink into the beautiful illusion created by the void. Fortunately, this world wasn't directly connected to the void, and he had pulled her back from the edge of the void in time. Otherwise, her spirit and flesh would likely have sunk into the void, directly merging into his body, being consumed by him. Yae Sakura looked at Xin Yu with somewhat lifeless eyes. She reached out and grabbed Xin Yu's clothes, her face filled with helplessness, fragility, confusion, and pleading. "Please! Let me go back to that dream! I'll do anything you want, whatever you wish. Please, please!!!" "I don't want to wake up! Please! I no longer have any reason to continue living." The miko begged desperately, and not just her—at this moment, Higokumaru, who had been in conflict with her for 500 years, was also begging. Both of them only wanted to sink forever into that beautiful dream, to eternally slumber in that warm embrace. This was the greatest happiness.