Yaxiu was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"
"Huh?"
"Long before we signed the contract, you remembered that I was Yaxiu Heath, didn't you?" Yaxiu said. "Yet you signed it anyway."
"Th-That was because you were a vicious escaped convict!" Freya rubbed her eyes, avoiding Yaxiu's gaze. "How would I dare disobey you? Not to mention there was a sorcery spirit in it for me."
Yaxiu chuckled. "Don't forget, I was holding the sympathy sorcery spirit back then. I could feel your curiosity toward me, as well as... your pity."
Freya recalled that night five days ago. The moment she had paused before signing, she had seen anxiety, hesitation, fear, and a host of other emotions flash across the man's face. His eyes had darted instinctively toward the balcony, looking as though he were ready to plunge into the deep night at any second.
At that moment, she had suddenly remembered a completely unrelated scene—one day, when she was casually browsing a pet shop, she had spotted a Scottish Fold darting around inside. When the shop assistant caught it, the cat had looked toward the window, then back at Freya.
So she had bought Xiaoxian.
So she had signed the contract.
And so...
"My kindness to you didn't come from pity, but because I like you," Yaxiu said. "You were the first person I met outside prison. Even though you have many habits I don't understand, our values differ, and you carry the bloody reek native to the Blood Moon Country...
"The kindness deep in your heart made me feel that the world was still wonderful after all.
"It's also because of you that I didn't want to just stand by and watch coldly. Even if it's only you, I hope you can... find enough happiness to heal a lifetime."
Freya felt her face burning up. A proud Veela like her was actually blushing. "You're about to leave, so why say all this now...?"
"It's not as though we'll never see each other again," Yaxiu said. "I'll probably leave the Blood Moon Country, but I might come back in the future. Even if I don't, you'll become a sorcerer later on, and we might run into each other in the Void Realm—though, preferably, not with you stumbling upon my sorcerer legacy projection.
"We're sorcerers. We have to believe in miracles.
"Well then..."
Yaxiu stood up, patting the heads of both Freya and Xiaoxian. "Goodbye, Freya. The next time we meet, I hope you've already become a mind sorcerer. Goodbye, Xiaoxian. I hope your illness will be completely cured."
Freya bit her lip and looked at him. "Goodbye, Yaxiu. I hope... I hope you can be a good person."
"You make it sound like I'm a bad person right now..."
...
With the click of the door closing, the cult leader's silhouette melted completely into the night. Freya rubbed her eyes, carefully put away the fluorescent sphere and settled Xiaoxian, then returned to her desk, picking up her pen to continue her homework.
As she wrote, large, burning tears dropped onto the paper, blurring her vision and smudging the ink.
She slumped over the desk, her shoulders trembling softly as she broke into soundless sobs.
"I'm surprised he didn't take her with him."
Sitting where Yaxiu had just been, Sword Princess watched the weeping Freya with keen interest. "Even with so many changes to the prison break, Yaxiu still crossed paths with the 'Heart-Bewitching Maiden.' Rather than a coincidence, I'd rather call it fate—the Heart-Bewitching Maiden will always be a follower of the End Watcher."
"No, it has nothing to do with fate or coincidence. It is merely the result of precise calculation."
Leaning against the balcony railing, Watcher looked out at Yaxiu slipping away into the night and said calmly, "This is the apartment building closest to Kaimeng Comprehensive University. Freya's room was the only one on the third floor without a light on at the time. Yaxiu's choice was inevitable."
"Inevitable?" Sword Princess tilted her head upward. "Then was the Heart-Bewitching Maiden's devotion an accident?"
Watcher nodded. "Back then, I wasn't even a sorcerer after breaking out of prison. Freya's help saved me a great deal of trouble; using her was undoubtedly the most cost-effective choice. For Yaxiu, who is now a Two-Winged Sorcerer, Freya would only be a burden. Naturally, there was no need to take her along."
"This is the first time I've ever felt like standing up for Yaxiu." Sword Princess let out a furious laugh. "How dare you use your filthy mindset to second-guess and taint Yaxiu's good intentions?"
"He may mean well, but deep down, he has already weighed many considerations," Watcher said flatly. "It amounts to the same thing."
"If it 'amounts to the same thing,' why are you and I here?" Sword Princess asked coldly. "What we long for is a miracle that is different."
"...Say whatever you like."
"Watcher, is it just me, or do you seem in rather low spirits today? At any other time, you'd have already mocked me with all sorts of shameless, tasteless jokes."
Sword Princess turned to look at Freya. "Is it because you're seeing an old subordinate after so long? For you, it's been ages since you last saw her, hasn't it? How did the Heart-Bewitching Maiden die again? I only remember that it wasn't by my hand—"
Watcher glanced at her. "Sword Princess."
"I suddenly recall an old rumor." Sword Princess acted as if she hadn't noticed his tone. "The Heart-Bewitching Maiden followed you out of love back then, but you never indulged her. Until the day she died, she never seemed to receive your favor.
"Just to satisfy my curiosity, why don't you tell me the story between you and the Heart-Bewitching Maiden?"
Watcher stared at her coldly, and Sword Princess confronted his gaze without the slightest fear.
It was not until Freya hiccuped, breathless from crying, that Watcher finally spoke in a chilled voice. "Are you sticking up for your former enemy?"
"I'm sticking up for a woman who crossed paths with a scumbag," Sword Princess replied.
After a long silence, Watcher said, "...Do you know why her mind miracles had such high priority, such vast range, and such profound effects?"
"Because she's a Veela?"
"Because she was an abstinent Veela," Watcher said indifferently. "Veela who practice abstinence not only drastically increase the speed at which they learn mind sorcery, but also cause a qualitative leap in their mind miracles. This isn't a secret venom; it might even be known among the Veela, but few can ever pull it off—there must be an object of infatuation for a Veela to enter an abstinent state, and it can only be broken once they consummate their union with that person."
"So you used her like that just to secure the Heart-Bewitching Maiden as an asset?"
"I did it for her own good."
"The Blood Moon Sovereign created this paradise for the good of the pets living in it, too," Sword Princess sneered. "You disgust me, Watcher.
"Yaxiu might not end up as Freya's regret, but you were once the Heart-Bewitching Maiden's disaster."
Xiaoxian padded over to Watcher's feet and affectionately rubbed against his boots.
"When I go back, I'm telling the others about this. Now we finally have a reason to band together. How could anything ever work out with a piece of work like you..."
As Sword Princess spoke, she turned her head and found that Watcher had already vanished.
The Scottish Fold leapt onto the desk, burrowing firmly into Freya's embrace.
Freya looked up blankly. Seeing the cat affectionately licking away the tears on her face, her nose stung with grief, and she burst into loud sobs, holding Xiaoxian close.
Watching this quietly, Sword Princess curled the corners of her lips into a mocking smile.
"Trying to make amends only now... how truly pathetic."
Then, she shook her head with a self-deprecating scoff. "We're all just as pathetic."
Chapter 153