Seeing
Looking at Nie Li lying there so still and silent, Ye Ziyun felt a tangled mess of emotions churning within her.
"Ning'er likes you so much—why do you have to keep pursuing me instead?" A faint thread of sorrow wound through Ye Ziyun's heart. Nie Li had barged into her life in the most brazen, inexplicable way possible, stirring up tiny ripples in what had been a perfectly calm existence.
It was only when Nie Li had asked her to take
So Nie Li had already found his way into her heart too.
But what was she supposed to do now?
Nie Li, who had been lying peacefully in sleep, suddenly began thrashing in apparent agony, his brow knotted tight. Xiao Ning'er tensed with alarm.
"Nie Li must be having a nightmare?" she said, her voice tight with worry.
"Ziyun..." In his dreams, Nie Li's face was contorted with pain, and he cried out the name as though his heart were being torn apart. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
Whatever he was dreaming about, that single cry of "Ziyun" slashed through Xiao Ning'er's heart like a blade. She bit back her tears. From the very beginning, when Nie Li had first told her that the one he loved was Ye Ziyun, Xiao Ning'er had known—and yet she had fallen for him all the same, without a shred of regret.
That cry had pushed the already strained atmosphere between the two young women to its breaking point.
Ye Ziyun could not understand it either. Why would Nie Li dream of her—and with such anguish, to the point of weeping? She even had the fleeting impression that the Ziyun he was calling out to was not her at all. She simply could not fathom why he cared for her so deeply that even in his dreams, her name was the one on his lips. A faint warmth stirred in her chest, mingled with guilt toward Xiao Ning'er.
The silence between them grew heavy.
"Ning'er, I..." Ye Ziyun did not know what to say. She knew Xiao Ning'er loved Nie Li with all her heart, and yet she had unwittingly taken away the person Xiao Ning'er cherished most.
Xiao Ning'er's shoulders trembled ever so slightly. She forced the tears back, lowered her gaze to Nie Li's face, pulled the blanket back over him where he had thrown it off, and then straightened up. In that moment, her expression shifted back to the cold, proud mask she normally wore.
"Ye Ziyun, truth be told, I've envied you for as long as I can remember. You're the City Lord's daughter—no one can force you into anything. All you have to do is reach out, and everything beautiful in this world will be placed in your hands. But for me, I've had to fight for everything on my own. To resist the betrothal arranged with the Sacred Family, I was even willing to risk my life."
"In this world, finding someone truly worth loving with your whole heart is impossibly difficult. Nie Li showed me what it means to live. In my eyes, Nie Li is that irreplaceable person."
"I don't know what happened between you and Nie Li, or what kind of bond you share that he treasures so deeply he dreams of you." Xiao Ning'er's voice paused, a flicker of sorrow crossing her eyes before hardening into resolve. "But none of that matters."
"I, Xiao Ning'er, am not the type to give up so easily. No matter what happens, I will stay by Nie Li's side. Even if he never notices me, I'm willing to be his shadow. He may love you, and even if you two end up together in the end, I still won't give up."
Xiao Ning'er stood there in silence. Pale moonlight streamed through the window and fell upon her. Clad in her fitted leather garments, she looked like a flawless goddess sculpted from porcelain. She gazed down at the sleeping Nie Li, and a trace of tenderness softened her eyes.
In that moment, Ye Ziyun had no idea how to respond. Perhaps the knot between her and Xiao Ning'er could never be untied. And she could not bring herself to offer to give Nie Li up—that would be disrespectful to Xiao Ning'er, and disrespectful to Nie Li as well.
Perhaps, deep down, Ye Ziyun simply could not bear to let him go? Her thoughts were in complete disarray.
Unlike Xiao Ning'er, Ye Ziyun's nature was gentle and non-confrontational. She had always lived in a quiet, undisturbed world, and if Nie Li had not crashed into it so suddenly, she might never have had to deal with these feelings at all. But he had, and now everything was different.
In that small room, both young women were lost in their own emotions, and for a long while, neither knew what to say.
Three full days passed, and Nie Li still had not awakened. The two young women tacitly took turns watching over him with quiet devotion. Nie Yu practiced in the room, dozing off at the table whenever she grew tired.
During those days, the various buildings in the
If the Myriad Demon Spirit Formation had been completed earlier, would the
The City Lord's Mansion—council hall.