Chapter 223: This Night (Part 2)

  The night wind stirred Talise's long hair, and even under the dim, hazy moonlight and starlight, a soft, golden hue could be seen. The light shining from the side illuminated her already well-defined face, making it look like a sculpture—a sculpture that could express a gentle beauty with its distinct, heroic lines.

  "I'm only just remembering, you seem to be a woman," Ethan said, already a bit muddled. The wind was blowing from her direction, and he could smell the scent coming from the ends of her hair.

  "Nonsense."

  Ethan half-raised his torso and slowly leaned his head toward Talise. Talise found it a bit strange, but she neither retreated nor blocked him. She could see his head was moving toward her ear, as if he were about to say something.

  But he said nothing, only burying the tip of his nose deep into the hairline behind her ear, taking a deep breath, and then gently kissing the back of her ear.

  Talise jumped up violently, like a leopard that had been stabbed. She covered her ear and face, her eyes opened to an unprecedented size, staring blankly at Ethan as if she had seen the strangest monster in the world undergo the most bizarre transformation.

  Her face first turned deathly pale, then the drained color flooded back with a thousandfold force and speed.

  "Really a woman, after all." Ethan licked his lips and murmured with a smile. The breath he had just inhaled permeated his chest and his senses. On his cheek, there was still the sensation from where their faces had lightly touched—delicate, soft, and warm...

  But this delicacy, softness, and warmth immediately became the searing pain of an axe chop or a fire. Smack. The sound of Talise's slap almost traveled throughout the entire Magic Academy.

  The strength in the female knight's hand was not comparable to that of an ordinary woman, or even an ordinary man. If she hadn't been acting purely out of agitation and excitement and hadn't used Battle Qi, Ethan's head likely would have been slapped clean off. Even so, half of his face instantly swelled up, and two streams of blood poured from his nose.

  "Hahahahahahaha..." Ethan laughed loudly. Even though he felt his cheekbone might have hairline fractures, that all the blood vessels on that half of his face had burst, and his ear was ringing constantly as if a firecracker had been stuffed inside and detonated, he still couldn't help but laugh.

  "Haha... cough... haha... cough..." Ethan's laughter was mixed with the sound of coughing. Talise, like a madwoman, fiercely kicked and stomped on his chest and abdomen. Fortunately, she wasn't wearing her usual fine-steel knight boots. Ethan didn't resist at all, merely protecting his head, face, and vital parts as he lay on the rooftop, laughing incessantly.

  Even he himself didn't know why he was laughing. He just wanted to laugh.

  After a flurry of wild kicks and blows, Talise, panting heavily, looked at Ethan, who was still laughing intermittently between coughs. Then she suddenly turned and ran. The sound of her chaotic footsteps rushed down below. The sound of things breaking also echoed all the way.

  It wasn't until the sound of her footsteps ran out through the main gate of the Magic Academy that Ethan slowly stopped his coughing and laughter. But he was still smiling, just a bitter smile. There was hardly a spot on his body that wasn't injured. His face, in particular, was so swollen it was misshapen; that one slap would have been absolutely fatal for an ordinary person.

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  Fortunately, these were all just minor flesh wounds, and they were mostly healed quickly under his healing magic. He wiped the blood from his face and sighed.

  Perhaps it was because of the beating, but the alcohol seemed to have worn off a little. Besides feeling a sense of cathartic release, he also felt a sense of inexplicable helplessness. To think he would end up like this over such a simple sentence—perhaps he was still drunk.

  But it was indeed satisfying, indeed relaxing. Recalling it now, he still found it rather funny.

  Another set of footsteps approached. When Ethan first noticed it, he thought the female knight had returned, but he immediately realized it wasn't her. This footsteps was very familiar to him; he had known it for a very long time, but suddenly, he couldn't recall who it belonged to. This thing, deeply imprinted in the deepest part of his memory, was something he subconsciously didn't want to touch, especially at this moment.

  He didn't turn back to look. It wasn't until this footsteps had reached the space behind him that he remembered who it was.

  "If I hadn't heard your laughter and seen her rush out of the Magic Academy, I really wouldn't have known where to find you," this person asked, sitting down beside him. "When did you learn to bully girls?"

  "I don't know. I forgot. Just now, I think..." Ethan turned his head to look at her, then paused slightly. She was actually dressed in an adventurer's attire.

  "Hehe, you've changed," she said with a smile.

  "Hehe. Who doesn't change," Ethan replied with a faint, bitter smile. He recognized this outfit of hers.

  "Yeah, who doesn't change? Everything changes..." she also sighed, and together with Ethan, she looked up at the starry sky above. This was the outfit she wore when she first encountered him in the marshes, and the thin, long sword was still at her waist. It was also the attire they wore when they traveled together in Oufu.

  When one wants not to change, it only proves that one has already felt the change.

  Neither of them spoke again. They both stared, dazed, at the sky full of stars above.

  The starlight in the sky was just as brilliant as ever. No matter how many years passed, it would not change.

  "I'm leaving tomorrow," Ethan said first, after an unknown amount of time had passed.

  "Where to? For how long? To do what?" she asked.

  "I don't know," Ethan sighed and answered honestly.

  She looked at Ethan and said no more. Ethan didn't speak either. The two of them looked at each other and fell silent again.

  This silence did not last for long. The two of them moved closer, drew together, and kissed. They embraced and kissed.

  They both held each other very tightly, very forcefully, and kissed very deeply. Slowly, their hands began to move and caress each other's bodies. Slowly, their breathing also became heavy. Ethan stood up, holding her horizontally in his arms, and leaped from the top of the Grand Cathedral. At the same time, they both used Feather Fall, slowly drifting into the dark night outside the Magic Academy.

  By this time, some priests in the Magic Academy, awakened by the earlier laughter and commotion, were already holding torches or glowing with Holy Light, searching around, but none of them noticed the two people slowly gliding away from high above.

  Only one person saw them. She stood in the shadows at the main gate of the Magic Academy, staring blankly at the two figures embracing and kissing on top of the Grand Cathedral.

  She watched them fly away like two conjoined birds. She nervously touched her own ear and cheek, then rubbed her still-numb palm. After running out, she had realized that her slap had even made her own hand hurt, so she had hurried back to check.

  When one deliberately tries to hold on, to embrace for warmth, it is precisely because one feels the chill of an imminent parting.

  Their bodies entangled with all their strength, rubbing, pressing, twisting, intertwining, wishing to twist themselves and the other into pieces, to merge into one, flesh and blood.

  No thought, no ideas, no words, and no reason. At this moment, only the most instinctual, most primal things of human beings were entangling, merging, breathing, resonating, and screaming with each other. Mutually giving life. Mutually dying.

  Only at this moment could souls, because of their fusion and resonance, briefly forget all sorrow and helplessness.

  Forget the loneliness that was originally impossible to forget.

  Precisely because one felt the parting, felt the loneliness, felt the cold, this brief collision of sparks and warmth became incomparably beautiful, precious, and irreplaceable.

  Unforgettable for this entire life.

  It was not until almost noon the next day that the two of them woke from their entanglement, slightly separating.

  After gazing at each other for another long while, Ethan held her and kissed her deeply, saying, "I love you. Do you know?"

  "Mm. I know, I've always known," she nodded and said softly. "I love you too, do you know?"

  "I know, I've always known too."

  After who knows how long, Ethan finally separated himself from her, looking at her carefully as if he wanted to brand every detail of her onto his eyes and into his soul. Then he said, "I'm leaving."

  Coming out from the Chancellor's residence, the streets at noon were bustling with activity. But in Ethan's heart, there was only tranquility. He started walking and headed out.

  "You're finally out." Someone walked over from across the street.

  "It's you?" Ethan looked over and was startled. "How did you know I was in there."

  "Didn't I tell you my master taught me tracking?" Talise's face was quite haggard; even the radiance and vitality that usually shone on her face were gone. "I've been waiting for you here."

  "Waiting...? Since last night?" Ethan looked at her dark circles and felt a strange sensation.

  "I told you, you can't run," the Temple Knight said, glaring at him resentfully. "I will keep following you."

  "Really... I'm sorry... for the trouble..." Ethan shook his head slightly and gave a bitter smile. He took another breath. "Well... let's go."