Chapter 374: I Lied [PART 2]
One hour later when she finished talking, she raised her eyes to meet Xiang Yu’s, who looked as though he had seen the end of the world.
"Husband?" she called out to him.
"Umm, well..." he stammered a bit.
He then looked at Li Yao’s expectant gaze and took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
"Do you feel like this even now?" he asked.
She covered her face in embarrassment.
"Husband, please don’t blame me. I can’t help it - these thoughts keep appearing in my mind," she said. "Do you think it’s mental demons?" she asked, her voice softening.
[Not a chance. This is all you bud,] the Empress cut her off quickly.
Xiang Yu looked at her with a strange expression. Seeing his expression, tears began forming in her eyes.
"Husband, you really have to trust me. Do you think I am that kind of person?" she asked, pressing her hand to her chest to show sincerity.
Xiang Yu nodded.
"You—" She then broke out crying. "No, I’m not this kind of person! You have to trust me," she said. "It’s your fault, husband. You make me have such strange feelings. If anything, I’m the real victim here," she said.
[-_-]
"It just happens every time I see husband. I can’t help it," she said. She then continued wailing.
"Hey, it’s okay, calm down," Xiang Yu tried to calm her down.
"No, it’s not okay! You don’t believe me," she said.
"Of course I don’t, you’re saying it’s all my fault," Xiang Yu thought, but he maintained his outward appearance. "Just calm down. It’s normal for people to have such thoughts. Isn’t that right, Empress?" Xiang Yu asked.
[Ah, well...] the Empress was startled by the question and couldn’t form a response.
"I knew it! You are both lying to me," Li Yao said. She then stopped her sobs and turned her attention to Xiang Yu. "Husband trusts me, right?" she asked. "Don’t look away. Answer me," she demanded.
Xiang Yu looked at her, then sighed.
"Actually, I don’t," he began, causing her to be taken aback. Even the Empress was surprised by this direct response.
"You’re the biggest red flag I’ve ever seen. You’re careless, you are unstable and have anger issues, you’re not that smart, you’re also dangerous. When in a room with you, I have to always be vigilant," he continued.
At the moment, Li Yao had her eyes to the ground.
"But..." he added, causing her to raise her eyes to meet him. "I don’t mind it. Just like you said, ’I might be trapped but I don’t wish to be saved.’ It’s the same for me. You have all these red flags, yet I’m here. Back then, I thought you were dangerous and wanted to grow strong and get away from you, but even after I’ve grown strong, I still chose to stay here. It might be a trap, but I’m actively choosing to fall for it. I make excuses to myself as to why I can’t leave, but in reality, I just don’t want to. I want to be with you forever. Wife, let’s be together forever," he said.
Li Yao’s eyes brightened, and the hands she had pressed on the barrier suddenly felt no more restriction. She fell into him. "Yes, let’s be together forever," she responded.
[What the fuck?]
...
Xiang Yu held Li Yao in his arms. "My deepest secret, huh?" he thought.
Internally, he thought to himself that although the system and reincarnation might be secrets, they weren’t quite his deepest secret. The truth was, he had always viewed Li Yao as the main heroine and wished to be as far from her as possible. But as she continuously expressed her love for him and as they grew and overcame challenges together, he had come to love her as well.
But in his mind, he always feared the consequences of being in a relationship with the main heroine, so he always convinced himself that he was just doing this for his own survival and was rather using her than actually loving her. But in reality, he really loved his junior sister. Although he had said it many times before whenever she asked, this time he wasn’t scheming and said his true feelings without convincing himself that he was doing it for other reasons.
He did it just for that simple reason - he loved her.
Li Yao looked directly at Xiang Yu with a smile.
"I’ve always known that senior brother had other reasons when he affirmed his love for me. I always knew it was just an illusion, but I loved senior brother so much that I let myself fall for it every time. And even if you didn’t give a genuine confession, I’d have been content with the false words," she said. "After all, I could always tie you up and have you be with me forever," she continued.
"But the stronger you got, the more my chances went down, and the more I felt that I would lose you forever," she said.
She then looked at him and smiled. "Senior brother... no, husband. You have made me the happiest woman in the world. It’s just like I thought, it feels better when it’s genuine... much, much better," she said.
"Wife..." Xiang Yu said, looking deeply into her eyes.
"Husband..." she responded, also not faltering her gaze.
They edged closer to each other, and then—
[Alright, we get it now. You love each other. Now tie the string before you run out of energy,] the Empress said.
"Ah, that’s right," Xiang Yu said.
He interlocked fingers with Li Yao, then at the same time, they summoned their understanding of fate.
In their hearts, they thought of intertwining their fates, and as if responding to their will, a beam shot up from both of them. From Xiang Yu, it was a red beam, and from Li Yao, it was a pure white beam. As the beams climbed higher and higher, they started coiling around each other. This continued until the two beams became completely inseparable, and on Xiang Yu and Li Yao’s ankles, a red string appeared just for a second before it disappeared.
"It’s done," Xiang Yu said.
"That’s right," Li Yao responded.
"Now let’s continue where we left off," she said, pushing him down. The scene went back to the real world where she loomed over him. "I want to test out a new method..." she said.
In the spiritual sea, the Empress shook her head. "How inappropriate," she thought.
As she thought of this, she noticed something strange. On her ankle, she noticed a red string appearing for a single second before disappearing.
"Hmm, that’s strange. Why would..."
...
Author’s Corner
Wanted this scene to feel more emotional and honestly, revealing the system or reincarnation wouldn’t cut it.