Ailiya stood still, holding her forehead, watching that thin yet stubborn back, and was silent for a long time.
She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
The Battle Qi light on her body faded from her skin, and that pair of crimson light wings also retracted a bit.
She lowered her head, looking at her own fist that she had clenched just now, and slowly opened it.
“Alright, alright.”
Her voice lowered, no longer carrying that fiery temper from before.
“Don’t walk away anymore.”
Seraphina’s footsteps paused, but she did not turn around.
“Come back.”
Ailiya’s tone softened, but it no longer had that aggressive edge from before.
“I promise you, I won’t argue with you anymore.”
A few seconds of silence passed. Seraphina slowly turned around.
Tears were still on her face, her golden eyes swollen like peaches, but that hysterical energy had passed.
Neither of them spoke first. After a while, Ailiya spoke first.
“I’m anxious too.”
Her voice was very soft, as if squeezed out through her teeth.
“Do you think I’m not anxious?”
“That little silver dragon…”
Seraphina just looked at her without saying a word.
“Although she is extremely annoying, after all…”
She didn’t finish her sentence. Ailiya turned her head away, avoiding her eyes.
“Forget it, forget it.”
“Let’s not talk about this.”
She walked to the place where the magic traces had disappeared, crouched down, pressed her palm to the ground, and closed her eyes.
Seraphina supported herself on the stone pillar and slowly moved over.
“What are you doing?”
“Sensing.”
Ailiya did not open her eyes. “Battle Qi is not good at tracking, but if the magic power left here is strong enough, I can still feel something.”
After more than ten seconds, Ailiya opened her eyes.
Her frown was even tighter than before.
“There’s nothing.”
“It’s as if something here was erased from this world.”
Seraphina’s fingers tightened slightly.
Ailiya stood up, turned to look at her, and there was a new gravity in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“But have you ever thought about one thing?”
“What?”
“This whole thing—the little silver dragon being cursed, the death knight appearing in the Borderland, you being ambushed by those magic beasts, and her being captured—don’t you think it’s all too coincidental?”
Seraphina’s body stiffened slightly.
“What are you trying to say?”
Ailiya didn’t answer immediately.
She walked to the edge of the scorched ruins, her back to Seraphina.
“What I’m trying to say is, that death knight mentioned a master.”
Her voice was low but exceptionally clear.
“Someone who can command a diamond-rank undead and platinum-rank magic beasts, and can hide that little silver dragon without a trace under your holy light protection.”
“Do you know anyone like that in your memory?”
Seraphina said nothing.
Her face was slowly turning pale.
“And—”
Ailiya turned around, her crimson eyes staring straight at her.
“He knew you would go to save her, so he sent that death knight to intercept you halfway.”
“That person knows the relationship between you and that little brat very well.”
“He knew you would set up a defense line in the Borderland, so he ambushed all those high-rank magic beasts there in advance.”
She paused.
“He even knew exactly when and where those magic beasts would corner you.”
Seraphina’s breathing became rapid.
“What are you trying to say!”
“What I’m trying to say is—”
Ailiya said each word deliberately.
“Someone close to you has betrayed you.”
“And that person’s position is very high.”
The wind suddenly stopped.
The entire valley fell into a suffocating silence.
Seraphina leaned against the stone pillar, her fingers digging into the stone gap, her knuckles white from the force.
Her lips trembled, her eyes reddened again.
But she did not cry.
“You mean…”
“The Temple Master.”
Ailiya said nothing.
She just looked at her quietly.
“That’s impossible…”
Seraphina’s voice was very soft, as if afraid to wake something that shouldn’t be woken.
“He is my teacher.”
“He raised me from childhood.”
“He—”
“He sent you to die alone.”
Ailiya interrupted her.
“Where are his reinforcements?”
“Where is his support?”
“Besides telling you to stay in place, what else did he do?”
Seraphina was speechless.
“Do you know what bothered me the most?”
Ailiya’s voice lowered.
“Before I killed that death knight, it said, ‘I almost completed my mission.’”
“Its mission wasn’t to kill you, but to transform you.”
She looked into Seraphina’s eyes.
Seraphina’s body began to tremble violently.
Not because she was cold.
It was a trembling that seeped from her bones, unstoppable.
“I don’t believe it…”
She muttered to herself, as if trying to convince herself.
“I don’t believe it…”
“Why would he do this?”
“He has absolutely no reason to do this!”
“Reason?”
Ailiya gave a cold laugh, but there was no mockery in it, only a heavy, indescribable sadness.
“Setting aside the Dragon God’s bloodline in that little silver dragon.”
“That curse—you said it was the Curse of the Love God. Who told you that?”
In that instant, Seraphina’s pupils sharply contracted.
“He did.”
Her voice sounded as if it was drifting from very far away.
Ailiya didn’t continue. She just stood there, silently watching the world in Seraphina’s eyes collapse piece by piece.
After a long time.
So long that the wind began to blow again.
Seraphina’s voice drifted through the wind, hoarse, broken, with a self-mocking tone after despair.
“I always thought…”
“He was the only person in this world who would never lie to me.”
She closed her eyes.
“Turns out, from beginning to end, it was all fake.”
Ailiya didn’t comfort her.
She just walked over, pulled Seraphina away from the pillar, and let her lean on her shoulder.
“Let’s find that little brat first.”
Her voice regained its usual calm with a hint of roguishness.
“Let’s find that little brat first.”
“Come on, come on.”
“I’ll go with you to ask him clearly.”
Seraphina didn’t speak. She just buried her face in the hollow of Ailiya’s shoulder.
Her shoulders trembled slightly.
In the valley, there was only the wind.
And the sound of two women’s footsteps, one after another, walking deeper into the ruins.