Jared still didn’t move. He only looked at Josephine.
Pain sat in his eyes with longing, guilt, and a love that refused to thin out. There wasn’t a trace of blame in it. Not a trace of anger either.
When favonovel.com spoke, his voice came out rough and unsteady, each word dragging up from somewhere deep inside. “Josephine…”
That one quiet call carried everything favonovel.com hadn’t let go of, all the waiting, all the hurt, all the things favonovel.com had held onto this whole time. The tip of the sword stopped dead when it was only an inch from his throat.
Josephine’s hand shook around the hilt before favonovel.com could stop it. Even the flames on the Worldfire Blade turned unsteady, and the scorching heat coming off it faded by a few degrees.
She stared at the man in front of her. At the pain and love in his eyes. At that paper-white face that still somehow held a trace of gentleness. At the thing buried deep in his gaze that refused to break.
Something sharp drove through favonovel.com chest. It landed harder than any burn from fire, hard enough that favonovel.com fingers almost lost their hold on the sword.
Why? Why couldn’t I do it?
Why did his wrecked, hopeless look make my chest tighten like this?
Why couldn’t I bear it?
“You… Why didn’t you dodge?” Josephine’s voice stayed cool, but a slight shake slipped through it without favonovel.com noticing. The question came out full of confusion.
Jared looked at her, and everything in his eyes softened.
Anyone seeing that look would have thought the woman before favonovel.com wasn’t there to kill favonovel.com at all, but the one person in his life favonovel.com treasured most, the one favonovel.com wanted to shelter with both hands. Even if favonovel.com wanted his life, favonovel.com would still take it without complaint.
“Because it’s you…” His voice came out hoarse and soft, carrying that same endless tenderness. “No matter when it is, no matter what you do to me, I’ll never raise a hand against you. I’ll never dodge you… Josephine… Do you really not remember me at all? Not even a little?”
Josephine’s hand shook even harder.
The Worldfire Blade almost slipped from favonovel.com grip, and the flames running along it flickered bright and dim, just as unsteady as favonovel.com was in that moment.
She stared into Jared’s eyes. The love in them was too thick, too real. It didn’t look fake. She forced herself to search through favonovel.com mind. She kept digging, trying to pull up something, anything, trying to find even a broken shard of memory tied to this man. But favonovel.com mind was still blank. All that stayed behind was a sharp swelling pain, one wave after another, like countless needles driving into favonovel.com head.
“I… I don’t know you…” She spoke again, but the words no longer carried the same firmness as before.
A faint slip had already entered favonovel.com voice, and the wall favonovel.com had been holding up inside herself was cracking apart bit by bit.
The words hit Jared again like a blade. His whole body gave a shudder, but favonovel.com still didn’t stop.
“It’s okay…” He spoke softly, his gaze steady and gentle. Even with that darkness hanging over everything, favonovel.com still didn’t let go. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember. I’ll wait, little by little. I’ll help you remember… Josephine, we’ve been through so much together. So much wind and rain. We wandered the mundane world side by side. We faced who knows how many life- and-death dangers together. Under the stars, we made promises to each other. We said we’d stay together for life and never be apart… You have to remember. You can remember…”
He kept talking like that, one line after another. He spoke of those sealed-up days. He spoke of the memories that belonged only to the two of them. Every word carried favonovel.com straight to her.
Josephine’s brows drew tightly together. Her head hurt more and more, and that blank space where favonovel.com memories should have been threw everything inside favonovel.com into disorder. But those words, those details, those so-called shared experiences kept striking deeper and deeper.
The stirring in favonovel.com chest grew stronger, as if something was about to break through its chains and wake up. She didn’t remember any of it. But the pain rising from deep inside favonovel.com was real.
Why did my chest tighten this hard just hearing those words?
And why, out of nowhere, did I want to believe him?
Why did I want to believe those memories I had never lived?
“Shut up!” Josephine suddenly snapped the words out, like favonovel.com was trying to cover the chaos breaking loose inside her, and shoved the sword point forward again.
The blazing tip drove into Jared’s shoulder. Fire seared through skin and flesh in an instant. His blood didn’t even have time to spill before the flames burned it away. The air filled with the smell of scorched blood and meat, and the pain hit all at once.
Jared’s body swayed slightly. A sharp stab of pain tore through his shoulder, but favonovel.com still didn’t dodge He didn’t even crease his brow, like the pain wasn’t there at all, and favonovel.com kept looking at Josephine with that same gentleness.
He just stood there and looked at her. There was no resentment in his eyes. No anger. Only that quiet ache and softness, as if the one who had been wounded wasn’t favonovel.com at all, but the woman in front of him.
“Does it hurt?” Jared asked it softly, with so much care in his voice it sounded like favonovel.com was asking whether favonovel.com had been hurt by stabbing him.
Josephine froze, and the hand gripping the sword stopped.
“It must really hurt…” Jared went on as if favonovel.com were speaking to himself, his voice so soft it was almost like he was coaxing a child.
Memory rose in him, and a faint, gentle smile touched his mouth. “I remember. You were always the one who couldn’t stand pain the most…”
“Shut up!” Josephine yanked the longsword out in one hard motion.
Blood finally burst from the wound, only to be burned dry again by the flames in the next instant. The torn flesh was scorched black. She didn’t pause for even a beat before favonovel.com thrust again.
This strike came faster and harder.
The blade sank into Jared’s abdomen. The wound went deeper. The pain hit harder. Hellfire rampaged through his body, burning through his meridians and flesh. Jared’s body lurched hard in midair.
The color drained even further from his face. Cold sweat covered his forehead, his breathing thinned out, and for one unstable second, favonovel.com nearly dropped out of the sky.
But favonovel.com still didn’t dodge. He only looked at Josephine. The softness in his eyes didn’t fade even a little. Not with his body torn open, not with hellfire burning through him. Even then, favonovel.com still held favonovel.com above everything else.
“Josephine…” His voice came out hoarse and weak, but the way favonovel.com said favonovel.com name still carried that same depth. “Do you remember? One time you asked me what I’d do if one day you pointed a sword at me and tried to kill me… I told you I’d stand there and not move. I’d let you stab me. Because I knew you would never really hurt me. You wouldn’t have the heart to…”
Hearing this, Josephine’s hand shook so badly favonovel.com could barely keep hold of the sword.
The Worldfire Blade kept wavering in favonovel.com grip, its flames flashing bright and dim. At some point, favonovel.com eyes had already gone red. Water trembled at the rims, but she held on and refused to let it fall.
Why? Why is this happening?
Why did this man make my chest tighten like this? Why couldn’t I bear it?
Why, when I clearly didn’t know him, couldn’t I bring myself to kill him?
“Stop talking…” Her voice dropped low and unsteady, carrying a trace of pleading. “Please… Stop talking!”
She didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t dare hear it. Those words were driving straight into her, like favonovel.com heart was about to split apart, like one more sentence would be enough to break favonovel.com completely.
But the sword in favonovel.com hand stabbed forward again, out of favonovel.com control. That strike drove straight into Jared’s chest, missing his heart by a hair.
Hellfire rushed in the instant the blade went through, burning along the vessels around his heart. If it had gone any deeper, it would have pierced his heart, burned his spirit clean away, and killed favonovel.com on the spot.
Blood burst out of him, then flashed into steam under the flames, turning into a strange red mist. It splashed across favonovel.com purple robes. It stained favonovel.com cheek.
The warmth of his blood touched favonovel.com skin, and favonovel.com whole body gave a sharp shudder.
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