Si Mingjing did not respond.
At that moment, the King of Gendaya's eyes snapped open, and he cried out, "Ci En…"
"Father." Qu Liushang took two steps forward.
The King of Gendaya's gaze was unfocused. Though awake, his consciousness lingered in a dream, not yet fully clear. In the dream, he had been confessing to Ci En. He spoke of how, for over twenty years, sleep had evaded him; the moment he closed his eyes, her resolute gaze from before her death would appear. In the dream, Ci En resented him for killing the man she loved most, yet she had also accepted his repentance. Her choice, however, remained to follow her lover in death, only now devoid of the harsh bitterness of her final moments. In the dream, Ci En had said before dying, "Qu Jingyang, let me go, and I shall let you go as well…" Then, Ci En had closed her eyes for good, her life slipping away in his arms, like the fading fragrance of a flower or the shattering of jade.
