Chapter Four: Because I Miss You
Leia had a very long dream, in which she swallowed the little pill she had long yearned for. The taste was not as bitter as she had imagined, and it was even a bit sweet.
After swallowing the pill, there was not much pain; she just closed her eyes and opened them again to see the gentle face she had been thinking about.
She was still as gentle and beautiful as ever. In her dream, she had a hearty meal that she hadn’t eaten in a long time and wore warm, soft, beautiful clothes for the first time.
For ordinary people, this would be the most mundane thing, but for Leia, it became one of her few moments of happiness.
But dreams always have to end, and as Leia’s consciousness gradually awakened, the gentle face of Yifu that she longed for started to blur.
She instinctively wanted to stop it, muttering a few nonsensical words, even calling out “mother.”
Because she felt so helpless, she desperately wanted to see her…
To others, Yifu was a wicked witch. But in Leia’s eyes, Yifu was the only family she had in this world.
Humans are always afraid of witches, saying they are evil beings that must be exterminated upon discovery.
Leia had never felt how evil witches could be; even the evil witch who was subjected to hanging had taken care of her meticulously.
Not only Leia, but Yifu’s gentleness and kindness were almost well-known…
In contrast, those self-righteous humans, including the high-ranking members of the church, had never lowered themselves to take a look at Leia.
When Leia went hungry and cold, they turned a blind eye. When she was subjected to humiliation at the Church Academy, they ignored it. In their eyes, Leia was dispensable; even without family, background, or any value worth exploiting, her death would not be surprising.
Yet in this world where everyone saw her as a weed, there was once a person who treated her like treasure…
“Are you awake? Come eat something. Conditions are limited, so you’ll have to make do for now. Let’s fill your belly first.”
A gentle voice urged Leia to struggle to open her eyes a crack. She realized that her eyes had been blurred with tears, making everything hazy.
Perhaps it was because of the dream she just had?
Using her blurred vision, she curiously looked around, unable to distinguish whether this was a dream or reality.
Her memory only lingered on the moment she pried open Yifu’s coffin; after that, everything was blank.
She vaguely remembered seeing something incredible…
But she couldn’t recall what exactly it was; now she was only frustrated that she was still in reality.
How great would it be if she could always live in the dream, where at least someone could love her?
“Come, open your mouth.”
A spoonful of warm soup was delivered to Leia’s mouth, instantly driving away most of the cold from her body.
The familiar taste made Leia feel as if she had come back to life, yet the taste of the soup felt increasingly strange.
Suddenly, as if she had realized something, she opened her eyes wide.
When she wiped away the layer of tears in front of her eyes, she finally saw clearly the person before her.
“Yifu… Mother? No, wait, Miss Yifu? You… you’re still alive? Or am I dreaming?”
Leia looked at Yifu with trembling, pale lips, unable to believe that the Yifu, who had been gone for nearly two years, was now right in front of her.
She was still as beautiful and gentle as ever.
“Of course I’m still alive. Rather, I should thank you for saving me. So shouldn’t you tell me what this means?”
Yifu took out the sealed box of pills and shook it in front of Leia.
Seeing the box of poison, Leia instinctively furrowed her brow, lowering her head like a child who had done something wrong, not daring to speak.
“I… because I missed you. I really thought you were dead; I wanted to see you, and this was the only ticket I had to meet you…”
The little one clenched her fists nervously, her delicate, gaunt face drooping.
Looking at the pitiful little Leia in front of her, Yifu’s feelings were mixed.
To be honest, the scene unfolding before her had pretty much aligned with the original plot Yifu had read.
But the person who should save Leia was not the marginalized tool Yifu, who had already died, but the protagonist Long Aotian from the original story.
A fallen beauty ostracized by others, yet powerful and with a bright future… This kind of character was most suitable to be the first target of Long Aotian’s conquest.
