Inside the high-class bedroom of the East Tower of the Trandy Family.
A suffocating dead silence filled the luxurious room.
Xue Lei leaned against the soft headboard, her pure black eyes completely unfocused, like a bottomless pool of still water, staring fixedly at the faintly glowing crystal jade pendant in her hand.
Two people stood by the bed.
One was the beast-eared loli Antonella, still carrying her great axe with a face full of vigilance;
The other was the family’s Inner Affairs Steward, whose expression was extremely complicated.
The steward stepped forward respectfully, presenting an exquisite ring embedded with a spatial magic stone with both hands before Xue Lei.
“Second Miss… this ring was something the Elder Sister had arranged with me to give you on next month’s salary day.”
The steward’s voice trembled slightly, “But… since such an accident has already happened in the Forbidden Area, there’s no need to wait any longer. I’ll hand it to you now.”
Xue Lei’s hollow eyes turned with extreme slowness, gazing blankly at the ring.
The steward sighed inwardly.
He now finally understood completely why the always arrogant Miss had arranged all her affairs so clearly before the abyss ritual began.
The Miss had long guessed that she would die in the furnace saving her sister!
That was why she had transferred everything she owned to this bullied younger sister in advance…
The steward gently placed the ring in Xue Lei’s ice-cold palm and said in a low voice: “Three days ago, the Miss suddenly came to the Inner Affairs Hall, saying she wanted to audit the accounts.”
“But in reality, she used extremely forceful means, flew into a terrible rage, and even threatened my life to make me process the transfer procedures, moving all her magic crystals, territory shares, high-grade magic herbs, and cultivation techniques into your name…”
“Inside this ring is the Miss’s life’s fortune…”
The steward recounted in full detail how Annabell had flown into a rage in the Inner Affairs Hall that day, even threatening his life to force him to process the transfer.
Xue Lei remained expressionless.
Only the grief and emptiness in her eyes seemed to grow even deeper.
Antonella held a cup of high-calcium beast milk, her gaze shifting back and forth between the cup and Xue Lei.
After experiencing extreme reluctance, the little loli gritted her teeth and offered her beloved cup over: “Sister Xue Lei, drink some milk. It’ll make you feel less sad.”
“It’s not real… right?”
An extremely suppressed, hoarse voice spilled from Xue Lei’s cracked lips, carrying a hint of almost morbid hope.
Antonella tilted her head in confusion: “Sister Xue Lei, what are you saying?”
Xue Lei seemed trapped in some kind of obsession, muttering to herself: “It can’t be. She wouldn’t do all this for me. It’s all fake, all of it… She hates me so much…”
Antonella puffed out her cheeks in anger and rebutted in a muffled voice: “Antonella never lies! The Elder Sister said it with her own mouth—both me and Sister Xue Lei are her very, very important people! That’s why the Elder Sister went to smash that broken sword!”
In her mind, the Elder Sister was invincible. She would definitely destroy the holy relic and then make a glorious return. The innocent Antonella had never once doubted Annabell’s words.
And in the steward’s heart, Annabell had definitely sacrificed her life to save her sister, having long been prepared for certain death…
The steward was silent for a moment, then decided to reveal everything he knew: “Second Miss, actually… the other day when the Miss flew into a rage at the Martial Arts Field and cruelly crippled the magic circuits of those three Collateral Family Members, it was also for your sake.”
“According to investigators, those three bastards bought a ‘dream demon barrier’ and ‘Bone-Eating Corrosion Powder’ from the Black Market, planning to harm you in the Dungeon.”
“When the Miss found out, she was absolutely furious. If the Training Elder hadn’t risked his life to hold her back, those three would have been corpses on the spot.”
“Since returning from the academy, although the Miss still appears cold on the surface, she has been trying her best to… make amends to you.”
The steward risked revealing the truth because he simply couldn’t bear it.
Everyone feared the Villainess’s cruelty, but no one knew the tenderness hidden beneath her extreme malice.
If the Miss died like this and the Second Miss never knew her feelings, that would be too tragic.
“Actually, the Miss has always cared very deeply…”
“Get out.”
Xue Lei suddenly spoke from the bed, her voice as cold as if it came from the depths of the Abyss.
The steward froze: “Second Miss, I…”
“GET OUT!!!”
Xue Lei suddenly let out an extremely shrill scream, nearly crushing the crystal jade pendant in her hand.
The steward had no choice but to sigh and retreat from the room.
Outside the room, out in the corridor, Antonella still couldn’t understand why the atmosphere had made their expressions so sad.
The bewildered Antonella was also half-coaxed, half-pulled into the corridor by a maid.
Her head was full of confusion, as if the Elder Sister really wasn’t coming back.
Inside the room, the door was tightly shut.
No longer able to deceive herself, Xue Lei curled up on the bed like a shrimp, desperately covering her mouth.
Tears burst forth like a dam breaking, and she frantically suppressed the wailing that threatened to tear her soul apart.
The steward’s words and Antonella’s innocent retelling replayed endlessly in her mind, finally freezing on the image of Annabell’s bittersweet, gentle smile as she threw her out of the barrier at the very end.
She hadn’t forgotten the promise.
In the final moment of her life, she fulfilled that childhood vow in the most resolute way possible.
At the cost of her own life, she protected her.
She didn’t hate me. On the contrary, she loved me so, so much…
And I—I was the one who drove that abyss-cursed dagger through her chest with my own hands!
No longer able to suppress the grief and regret in her heart, Xue Lei completely broke down and wailed.
“Ahhhh—sister… wuwuwu…”
She finally parted the fog and touched the tenderness Annabell had hidden beneath the ice…
Her sister remembered the promise, left her all the inheritance, remade the jade pendant from her childhood, and crippled those scumbags who had tormented her all along…
The most humble, most insignificant wish in her heart had actually come true.
But even though the wish had come true, she couldn’t feel even the slightest hint of joy.
Because this tenderness had been bought with Annabell’s life!
So she had always possessed this love, yet she had been blinded by hatred and never seen it.
Because she was afraid that a wish would remain just a wish.
When she finally gave up completely on the promise and decided to destroy everything alongside the ritual, she discovered with cruel clarity that the wish had been real all along.
But by the time she realized it, everything was too late.
She had lost the only person in this world willing to protect her with everything they had.
Lost the only family who truly loved her…
“Wuwuwu…”
Xue Lei cried with a heart-wrenching anguish.
Every physical and mental wound she had suffered in the Dungeon since childhood paled in comparison to the grief and regret crushing her heart right now!
“It hurts! It hurts so much right here!”
Xue Lei pounded her chest desperately.
“I was wrong… I forgive you, so come back, please!”
“Didn’t you promise to protect me for life and stay together forever?!”
“Ahhh!”
“You can come back and hit me, scold me, whip me like before—I don’t care! Just come back, please!”
Xue Lei tumbled off the bed, her fingernails digging into the floor, gouging out ten bloody streaks.
Having cried out every last tear, she tore her throat raw and let out the most despairing plea:
“I’m begging you, come back!!”
If she had known this would be the ending, she would rather have been kicked into the furnace by Annabell, becoming one with the holy relic as a Weapon Spirit.
That way, at least her soul could be with her sister forever, and she wouldn’t have to endure this living death of heartbreak.
Out in the corridor.
The steward turned away. For some reason, this middle-aged man who had seen all the coldness of the family couldn’t stop his shoulders from trembling slightly.
And Antonella, completely at a loss, kept crying.
The little loli didn’t know why, but she also wanted to cry very badly, so she just kept letting tears fall along with Xue Lei’s sobs from inside the room.
Tears kept dripping into her milk cup, and she would cry, pause, then drink again, mixing in the salty taste.
***
Outside the courtyard, an extremely cold fluctuation of mana rippled outward.
A withered, icy figure appeared before the two of them without a sound.
When the steward saw who it was, a flash of terror appeared in his reddened eyes.
He immediately dropped to one knee in salute: “This subordinate greets the Third Elder!”
Antonella immediately threw away her milk cup and raised the enormous magic axe, her chubby face instantly filling with ferocity and vigilance.
The Third Elder glanced coldly at the two, her gaze passing directly through the thick door and landing inside the room.
“Nana’s soulfire is still burning.”
An extremely dry, emotionless voice echoed through the corridor.
The steward’s head snapped up, crying out in shock: “The Miss is alive?!”
A loud thud of something hitting the ground suddenly sounded from inside the room.
The next second, the door was wrenched open.
A figure—haggard beyond measure, hair disheveled, eyes swollen and blood-red—stumbled out, collapsing to her knees and grabbing the doorframe for support.
Xue Lei stared blankly at her.
The Third Elder looked at Xue Lei expressionlessly and said coldly: “Nana’s soulfire hasn’t gone out completely, but it’s already extremely dim.”
“Inside the Sword Furnace wrapped in abyss black flame, she won’t last much longer.”
An incredibly fierce light burst into Xue Lei’s eyes.
Even if there was only a sliver of hope, she would cling to it with everything she had even in death!
Her legs weak, Xue Lei knelt directly before the Third Elder, her voice hoarse:
“Save… save her. I beg you, save her!!”
The Third Elder turned away, leaving her with an extremely cold back:
“The only person in this world who can save her…”
“Is your mother’s elder sister, Grand Duke Kami of the Trandy Family…”