CHAPTER 1086: 1163: YOU FORGOT TOO, DON’T BE STUBBORN ANYMORE.

Yi Ran turned his back to her, and only after a long time did he slowly turn around. "Game over, everything, everything, is too late."

He let out a bitter laugh, "I’m no longer who I used to be; what’s happened cannot be changed. Perhaps Shi Yi is not entirely innocent, but being in Yuan Palace, the only ones I cared about were just two people. One is you, the other is Shi Yi."

"Between you and me stands a human life, it is Shi Yi’s life. The ruthlessness you showed back then is still vivid in my memory. A wounded heart can never be whole again, and this fissure will never disappear. Besides, I don’t believe you love me, nor do I believe what you’ve done is truly out of affection for me."

He smiled sadly, "Perhaps, you’re just lonely, unwilling to be alone, and I, who treated you with all my heart, was the kind of person you needed by your side, but not me, in essence."

Yi Ran saw through it all, gently caressing her face. He had loved this face for a long time, but what he loved was merely the illusion she deliberately created. Everything was illusory, the tenderness he thought was real, the elegance he thought she possessed, and even those acts of kindness she showed him in childhood, they were all impure. Yet foolishly, he fell for them.

Thinking back now, this person was not only good to him; she was good to many people, at least on the surface. Was it innate hypocrisy? Perhaps.

And he himself, perhaps lacking love, having someone care for him, be good to him, even if it was fake, he dove straight in.

"The incident with Xiao Shiyi back then gave me a huge blow. I used witchcraft to harm others for you, staining myself with blood; my conscience couldn’t find peace. It was because of you that I swore never to touch witchcraft again in this life. But now, I want to make an exception."

The Seventh Princess was momentarily stunned. Yi Ran’s slender fingertip sliced her brow, taking a drop of blood. Then, clutching a yellow talisman in his hand, he smiled quietly, but the meaning of that smile was indescribable.

"A beginning and an end, the feelings I once gave you, I take them all back. You should forget them too, don’t be persistent."

The yellow talisman burned in the flames, its ashes seeming to have life, invading her mouth and nose.

"No..." she had a foreboding, and that premonition came true.

Her head grew dizzier, her eyelids heavier.

"Ah Ran..."

He smiled, "From now on, you will not remember me, your life will no longer have Ah Ran. And I will no longer be Ah Ran, just Yi Ran, only Yi Ran."

He thought, perhaps his heart was, after all, a little too soft. The woman he once loved, who once cared for him, who was once good to him, had left a trace of warmth in his youthful life. He couldn’t do it; he couldn’t bring himself to be so ruthless, not for the sake of love, but because those fake tendernesses had indeed warmed him.

Shi Yi, I’m sorry...

***

Bixue Garden suffered a bloody massacre, and no one knew who the perpetrator was. The trusted aides of the Seventh Princess were all dead, and the Seventh Princess herself was missing.

The Blue mansion received the news immediately. When Yi Ran returned from outside, he saw Dong Huiying, Liang Zhichen, Liang Shuyu, Lan Gu, and William gathered together. Even Elder Sun and Yu Xiu were present.

When the crowd saw Yi Ran, Zhichen remained composed, Shuyu looked indifferent, Dong Huiying wore a faint smile, while Lan Gu and William seemed somewhat unsettled when looking at Yi Ran, lost in thought.