“How are Father and the others?”
“Just unconscious, not seriously injured.”
Listening to Ge Rui En’s report, Man En nodded.
From the moment he returned to Matthews Territory, he immediately began handling the aftermath: calming the residents, and hosting the Holy Knight Order and the King’s Army, among other things.
Fortunately, the losses this time were not great, which could be considered a stroke of luck.
Anyway, the incident was over.
Ge Rui En bowed and once again paid her respects to Man En.
“Master Man En… you should rest too. If you trust me, leave the remaining work to me.”
’She also sees that I’m running away…’
Man En looked at Ge Rui En and sighed.
How could he not catch Ge Rui En’s implication? He knew very well, because he truly was running away.
He didn’t know how to face that girl, afraid he might hurt her again.
But running away forever wasn’t a solution either.
“Maybe… you’re right.”
Sophien bowed to him once again.
Man En didn’t say anything, just nodded and turned to leave.
He arrived in front of Mei’s room. Just as he was about to knock, his hand stopped in midair.
The girl’s expression reappeared in his mind, and a sharp pain struck his chest.
Those eyes that had lost their light—he didn’t dare look at them a second time.
“Is it really okay for me to show up now?…”
’Maybe I should give her some space, and leave some leeway for myself.’
His hand hovering over the door ultimately did not fall.
He just lowered his head and walked toward his own room, his back extremely forlorn.
“I… really need to rest properly…”
The moment Man En left, the door behind him silently opened a crack.
Mei silently watched him, tears unconsciously streaming down.
“I’m sorry… Master Man En…”
Ge Rui En’s words echoed repeatedly in her mind.
“Master Man En, for us and for the territory, paid a price you and I cannot imagine.”
“No one knows how much of his memory remains, and no one dares to ask.”
“Just treat him as usual.”
“Even if memories are lost, feelings can be rebuilt.”
“He’s already very tired. At least, we must not become a source of pressure for him.”
“…”
“You’re right, Master.”
’The one who should apologize is clearly me.’
Mei clenched her hands tightly and let out a long sigh.
As if she had made up her mind, she walked out of the room.
…
Man En returned to his room, feeling dazed. He threw himself onto the bed.
The moment he closed his eyes, it was as if he had fainted, his consciousness quickly flying far away.
He was just too tired.
He didn’t know how much time passed. In a daze, he only felt himself being embraced gently. This feeling was incredibly tender, yet also extremely familiar.
Sharing the bed with him was a girl whose face he couldn’t see, her whole body emitting a soft glow.
She guided his movements, embracing everything about him.
Man En was very familiar with everything about this girl, yet also extremely unfamiliar.
Relying on intuition, a name slipped out.
“Mei?”
“…”
But she neither denied nor answered. She pressed her body closer, and their body temperatures slowly rose, even their heartbeats began to synchronize.
A gentle touch came to his lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and the soft light gradually grew stronger, even somewhat dazzling.
After that, the girl’s movements were no longer gentle. As if she wanted to completely possess him, her love became so intense, so intense that it was hard to handle.
His own body responded actively, completely abandoning reason, fully accepting her, even forgetting who he was.
After a long time, the passion subsided.
The girl lay on his chest, her breath like orchid.
The two enjoyed this momentary tenderness together.
The girl lifted her head and gently bit down on Man En’s neck.
A trace of blood was sucked into her mouth. Man En held her gently, with no intention of stopping her.
After doing this, the girl sat up and gently stroked Man En’s cheek. As if saying something, warm droplets fell from her face onto Man En’s chest.
“Don’t… don’t go…”
As if realizing something, he tried to grab the girl’s hand, but everything was futile.
Her body gradually became ethereal, slowly dissipating along with the light.
“Goodbye…”
“Mei!”
Man En sat up with a start; it was already the next morning.
“Was it just a dream?”
Just as he felt a sense of loss, a familiar fragrance drifted into his nose—it was exactly the scent of the person in the dream.
“!”
He quickly got up and looked at his neck in the mirror. Two tiny wounds were quite obvious.
“It wasn’t a dream!”
Realizing this, he immediately rushed out and ran quickly toward Mei’s room.
Even without memories, his intuition told him that the person last night was Mei.
“Mei! Are you there? Answer me!”
Man En called out, but the room was utterly silent.
He gently pushed the door; a soft creak sounded. The door was only slightly ajar.
Stepping into the tidy room, the familiar scent appeared again.
But she was not in the room.
Man En became even more certain of the identity of the person in the dream, but at the same time, a bad feeling faintly emerged.
And that was indeed the case.
He searched for a long time but did not see the girl’s figure. Only on the clean desk did he find a letter.
“Master Man En, to be read:
By the time you read this letter, I will have already left.
I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to speak to you like that before.
Because I am a selfish person, I didn’t realize how heavy a burden you carry.
I once thought that as long as you were here, all problems would be easily solved.
But gradually, I stopped thinking that way.
Watching you get hurt every time, exhausted in body and mind, I wanted so much to share your burden, even if only a little…
But even more despairing than this is that I seem to have no right to do so.
The deeper my feelings for you, the stronger this feeling becomes.
And after you lost your memory this time, these pent-up emotions all burst out…
In the end, it’s just an excuse for my own inadequacy.
And someone like me no longer has the right to stay by your side.
I only hope that all the past can be treated as a great dream.
Forget me.
—Mei Colt”
The letter slipped from Man En’s hand, falling like a feather.
Recalling the scenes from the dream, for some reason, his chest grew heavier.
He staggered back a few steps and only managed to steady himself by supporting himself against the door frame.
“So this is what you meant by goodbye…”
Man En brought the letter to his eyes again, and two lines of tears unconsciously fell.
With a tearing sound, the complete letter was torn in two by him.
One half of the letter was neatly folded by him, while the other half was enveloped in a gentle glow and quickly burned up.
“I still have… many things to do…”
The door slowly closed.
Only that half of the letter remained burning, gradually turning to ashes.