Chapter 259: Lovesickness Is an Illness, and It Must Be Cured.

Qi Yue had been struck by two arrows and blood was gushing from the wounds. Any normal person would have been in agony, yet Qi Yue merely wrinkled her brow.

Her body had been steeped in potions for years, making it far from ordinary. She had little sensitivity to pain.

All she felt was fury. "How dare you do this to me! I’ll make you pay!"

Xiao Yang leisurely nocked another arrow and retorted, "Then when you treated Mu Yunlian that way, why weren’t you afraid he’d make you pay?"

Qi Yue answered without a second thought, "He and I are friends. It was just a joke. It’s not like I was trying to kill him."

Xiao Yang’s tone was one of innocent malice. "Then I’m just playing a harmless little joke on you now, too. I’m not trying to take your life, either. Perfectly fair, isn’t it?"

Seeing Xiao Yang about to strike again, Qi Yue, though unafraid of pain, knew the physical damage was real. She looked desperately at Mu Yunlian, trying to find any sign of recognition in his eyes, but they held nothing but the coldness of a stranger.

"I can cure him."

Qi Yue stared intently at Mu Yunlian. For a rare moment, she felt a sliver of regret. It wasn’t for what she had done to him, but for not being the one to give him the antidote herself, which had allowed him to lose his memories and forget her.

Her gaze shifted to Xiao Yang. "Don’t you dare use his amnesia to twist the truth! If you have the guts, let me go. I can create the antidote and make him remember everything."

’Restore his memory? And for what? So he can admit they’re friends, and then Xiao Yang will just let her go?’

’How naive.’

Xiao Yang aimed her arrow at Qi Yue’s heart, her voice laced with a smile, like a phantom’s whisper. "I gave you a chance. It’s a pity you didn’t take it."

As she spoke, she loosed two arrows at once. One struck Qi Yue in the heart, the other, squarely between the brows.

However, the people of the Witch Clan were unnatural. Even after that, Qi Yue still wasn’t dead.

Xiao Yang was speechless, deeply shocked by the sheer vitality of the Witch Clan.

’To survive even that... she’s like a cockroach.’

’But even cockroaches burn.’

Xiao Yang pulled Meng Xuechen away. At a raised hand from Xiao Cheng, piles of firewood and charcoal were shoved into the pit.

Within the manor, a great fire raged, lighting up the sky.

Outside the manor, Xiao Yang gazed up at the moon hanging high in the sky.

Standing behind her, Meng Xuechen suddenly reached out and pulled her into an embrace.

Xiao Yang didn’t move. "I’m going to wipe out the Witch Clan," she said calmly.

"Alright," Meng Xuechen replied.

After a moment, Xiao Yang chuckled softly. "You don’t know anything. What’s so ’alright’ about it?"

"Whatever you say is alright, Ah Yang."

Xiao Yang said helplessly, "You’re completely love-struck. It’s a sickness that needs to be cured."

"A pity," Meng Xuechen said. "My sickness is terminal and incurable. Only you... you’re my only remedy."

"I never knew you were so good at sweet-talking," Xiao Yang remarked.

’He used to be so cool and aloof, a man of few words. What switch got flipped?’

Meng Xuechen moved to stand before her, lowering his head to rest his forehead against hers. "I have so much I want to tell you. Will you come back with me?"

"Now?"

Meng Xuechen nodded. "Now."

Xiao Yang glanced back at the manor. Xiao Cheng was just emerging from inside, and he gave her a slight nod.

Qi Yue was dead. She would be reduced to ash here, and no one would ever find her.

This was the grave Xiao Yang had chosen for Qi Yue.

Certain that the matter was settled, Xiao Yang swung herself onto her horse. "Let’s go."

The journey back was slower than their arrival. Fortunately, with the cold weather, the sun rose late. Had it been summer, it would have been broad daylight long before they reached the Capital City.

Meng Xuechen led Xiao Yang back to his residence. He held her hand the entire way, guiding her through the main gate, along a covered walkway, across a garden, and finally stopping before a room.

He took a fire-starter from beside the door and touched it to a candle. A single flame sparked to life, and in the next instant, it spread, igniting a chain of lights that snaked through the room.

It was a conservatory of sorts, filled with flowers that shouldn’t have been blooming at this time of year.

Countless glass pendants hung from the ceiling, reflecting the lights like a sky full of brilliant stars.

The roof itself was also made of glass, with Luminous Pearls inlaid to form a crescent moon that glowed with a soft, brilliant light.

In the center of the conservatory was a swing, entwined with fresh flowers and satin ribbons.

As Xiao Yang took in her surroundings, Meng Xuechen walked among the flowerbeds, carefully selecting blooms until he had gathered a beautiful bouquet.

He led Xiao Yang to the swing and, once she was seated, knelt on one knee before her, holding out the flowers.

"I’ve told you before about the conservatory in my grandmother’s castle. It was my favorite place when I was a child."

"I always wanted to take you there. I was planning to wait until your eighteenth birthday, to bring you to that place and confess my feelings."

But he could no longer return to that place, so over the past few days, he had prepared a new one.

He held up the bouquet, his eyes full of love. "Ah Yang," he said, "I, Meng Xuechen, have feelings for you. I was drawn to you from the first moment I saw you. I want to be close to you, to protect you, to walk with you and grow with you. I want to give you a future of laughter and happiness. I will never hurt you or betray you. Will you give me a chance to court you?"

It was a confession filled with anticipation. It had bridged life and death, spanned years he knew nothing of, and even crossed time and space. But no matter what, he had finally... finally confessed to her properly.

That pure, ardent love of his youth was like an arrow shot across the river of time, piercing deep into Xiao Yang’s heart.

It drew no blood, but the pain was soul-crushing.

In an instant, tears blurred her vision. She couldn’t see Meng Xuechen’s face clearly, but she remembered the boy who had died in her arms.

Now he was alive, and he had made his confession, but she felt like he was tearing her apart.

"Ah Yang, don’t cry, Ah Yang..."

Meng Xuechen hadn’t expected his confession to cause Xiao Yang to break down. At a complete loss, he tried to comfort her, finally resorting to kissing away each of her tears.

"I’s sorry, Ah Yang... Please don’t cry..."

Xiao Yang didn’t make a sound, but tears fell one after another like beads from a broken string, glinting brilliantly in the lamplight.

This woman, who had always been so strong and proud, now seemed on the verge of shattering as she wept in silence.

The sight of her was enough to make Meng Xuechen feel his own heart break.

Xiao Yang cried for a long time before she finally stopped. She couldn’t explain her emotions; she only knew that as she was now, she didn’t know how to face this innocent, seventeen-year-old version of Meng Xuechen.

Fate loved to play cruel tricks, and it seemed determined to shatter her already frozen heart before it was satisfied.

With trembling hands, Meng Xuechen slipped a blue gemstone ring onto Xiao Yang’s finger, then lowered his head to kiss her tear-reddened eyes.

"I was selfish," he whispered. "I’m going to disappear eventually, yet I still wanted to fulfill this one wish. I’m so sorry, so sorry!"

’He’d promised to be good to her, yet here he was, making her cry her eyes out.’

Xiao Yang wiped away her tears. "No, you don’t have to apologize. I’m fine..."

She laughed through her tears. "Meng Xuechen, I’m so, so happy to see you again... You’re a surprise gift from fate, and I like it very much."

She cupped his face in her hands. "Now I can answer you. I’m willing to let you court me."

In the height of that summer, when he was seventeen, Meng Xuechen didn’t die in that accident. Instead, he confessed to the girl he loved and received her affection in return.