Together Forever

Feeling Luo Wei's embrace, which was not broad or strong, but rather frail...

Ophelia instantly choked up.

"Why are you so foolish? Have you gone mad??"

She clung tightly to Luo Wei's body, wailing loudly.

"I've treated you so badly, yet you still foolishly came forward. Are you sick in the head?!"

Luo Wei struggled to lift his head, forcing a weak smile.

"I suppose I must be sick..."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have tried to change you, a..."

Yandere.

Every movement he made felt like needles piercing his skin.

The corrosive black mist was too potent, leaving not a single patch of healthy skin on his body. Even the smile he wore now was a struggle to maintain.

Seeing Luo Wei like this, Ophelia's heart ached more and more. She quickly cupped his cheeks.

"Does it hurt?"

Luo Wei managed to shake his head weakly.

"No! No!" Ophelia's voice grew frantic. "You're going to die like this! I'll take you to a doctor right now! Caroline! Caroline! Where are you all? Where have you gone?!"

She anxiously scanned the ruins of the manor, then looked into the distance.

After the explosion, the maids and shadow guards who had fled earlier reappeared in sight.

They were rushing toward Luo Wei and Ophelia's location.

"Don't worry..." Luo Wei smiled, trying to comfort her.

"I won't die. Didn't I tell you? I have nine lives..."

Before Ophelia could respond, Luo Wei began coughing violently, spitting out a mouthful of dark, thick blood.

"What kind of joke is this at a time like this?!" Ophelia hurriedly supported Luo Wei, who was on the verge of collapsing.

Luo Wei's condition was worsening by the minute. His body was severely burned, with festering, pus-filled wounds. It was likely that the black mist had also entered his lungs, contaminating them.

Seeing him grow weaker, Ophelia's voice trembled with desperation.

"Caroline! Hurry up! You're never this slow usually!!"

"If anything happens to Luo Wei, I won't forgive you!!"

Her trusted attendants, who were always prompt and efficient, were nowhere to be seen, making the wait feel like an eternity.

"Blaming them is pointless... It's not their fault I ended up like this..."

Luo Wei looked into Ophelia's blood-red eyes, his tone both resigned and reproachful.

"I know... I know..." Ophelia shook her head in self-reproach. "It's because of me... because of me that you're like this..."

"I must look... hideous and terrifying now, right?" Luo Wei forced a bitter smile.

"No! Not at all!"

Ophelia's tears fell onto Luo Wei's blackened, festering skin.

Luo Wei hissed in pain.

"No matter what you look like, no matter how ugly or hideous, I won't abandon you! I promise!" Ophelia kept wiping her tears.

"If you say so..." Luo Wei managed a strained smile. "Then I must really look awful now..."

Ophelia let out a tearful laugh. "What are you even saying at a time like this? Your only job now is to shut up and rest. Once I get you to the city, I'll find the best doctors to treat you..."

Luo Wei interrupted her, "What if they can't cure me? What if I die?"

"No! No!!" Ophelia's voice grew sharp and shrill, almost piercing.

"You won't die! How could you die? You won't die!!"

Luo Wei smiled faintly and shook his head. "I'm just an ordinary human. Death is a natural part of life for someone like me..."

"Absolutely not!" Ophelia's face darkened instantly.

"I'll bring in the best experts from the Royal Medical Association to diagnose you. I'll even summon the Archbishop of the Holy Church to pray for you all night!"

"And I'll round up all the black wizards and occultists in the country! No matter what, I'll make sure you survive! Otherwise, I'll kill them all!!"

Ophelia's eyes were shadowed with murderous intent, as if she truly meant every word.

Luo Wei's expression turned serious. "If I survive this time, if I manage to cling to life, then..."

He gazed into her eyes and continued, "Will you change? Will you stop doing things like this?"

Ophelia was momentarily stunned.

Finally, finally, he had brought it up...

As she looked at Luo Wei's solemn face, scenes from the dream world flashed through her mind.

The days they spent together, undisturbed by anyone, peaceful and happy.

But only for her.

Luo Wei's heart was not at peace. He hated being confined.

Like a bird repeatedly crashing into a wall, bloodied and battered, it was only now that Ophelia realized that if she continued down this path, she would only meet the same fate.

Thinking of Luo Wei braving the corrosive black mist, enduring the pain as he resolutely walked toward her, Ophelia suddenly realized that she had underestimated him all along—his will, his determination...

Ophelia lowered her head in desolation. She realized that she didn't know Luo Wei as well as she had thought.

His soul was far more resolute, cold, and stubborn than hers.

"I..." She shook her head in anguish, filled with hesitation and struggle.

"I don't know..."

The failures in the dream world, one after another... She had reflected on them before.

When Caroline had hinted at it earlier, she had sensed something, perhaps Luo Wei had indeed tampered with things.

But at the time, her paranoia and madness had made her deaf to any warnings...

Yet the crux of the matter wasn't there...

Slowly, she raised her head.

Looking into those bloodshot, weak, yet unwavering eyes fixed on her, Ophelia knew that this path was a dead end.

She slumped in despair, realizing that no matter what she did, she could no longer bind Luo Wei.

She had lost.

Completely and utterly.

Luo Wei watched as Ophelia seemed to crumble before his eyes.

He seemed to know what she was thinking.

Luo Wei smiled gently, trying to reach out and touch her pale cheek.

But his hand faltered, lacking the strength, and he had to let it drop.

"I promise you," he said softly.

Ophelia's head snapped up, her blood-red eyes locking onto his.

"What did you say?"

"I said, I promise you."

Ophelia's face was a mix of disbelief and hope. "You... you promise me what? Be clear! Don't be vague! Say it plainly!!"

Luo Wei chuckled weakly. "Of course, I promise to stay with you, never to part, and never to disappear without a word like I did four years ago..."

Ophelia trembled with emotion. She had waited far too long for these words.

"Never part? Never ever part? Do you know what that means?" She repeated loudly, afraid of any ambiguity in his words.

"I know," Luo Wei nodded. "I know that as someone who's lied so much, you might not easily believe me. But I truly mean it. Do you trust me?"

"I trust you! Of course, I trust you! You can't take it back! You can't leave me again!" Ophelia's voice was hoarse with emotion.

Just as she had begun to recover, her excitement caused her pupils to narrow into slits, her body sprouting fine scales and a long, barbed, whip-like tail.

Luo Wei glanced around. The persistent black corrosive mist had reappeared.

"Ophelia, could you... maybe tone down your powers a bit..."

He said helplessly.

But Ophelia was too lost in her own world of joy to hear him.

The sky darkened once more.

"Together forever, together forever, together forever..."

She murmured to herself like this until an inexplicable thought surfaced once more.

“Wait!!”

Her reptilian-like vertical pupils instantly locked onto Luo Wei’s eyes.

“No! You’re changing the subject! No, no!”

Her voice was piercingly sharp, “You belong to me, it’s only natural that we’re together! That’s not the answer I want!!”

Luo Wei was stunned.