I'll also work hard to conquer the dungeon today.

Chapter 453, 1.27-31: A Bouquet of Blessings

The dim night was filled with only a full moon hanging high in the sky. There were no stars. A gentle breeze stirred the clouds in the sky, which vaguely shrouded the full moon and obscured its bright light.

The bare, smooth feet rustled crisply as they walked on the desolate path, the surrounding scenery consisting only of withered tree trunks devoid of branches and leaves, and...

An owl hooting "coo coo coo," and bats hanging upside down from branches.

Clouds drifted past the full moon, casting its bright light down and illuminating a dark patch of ground.

Her long, soft, misty gray curls shimmered with a faint silver light under the moonlight, and a gentle breeze ruffled the translucent strands. Her cool, silver eyes gazed silently at the scenery before her, as still and deep as an ancient pool, reflecting nothing in its depths.

Passing through the desolate, barren forest, one is greeted by a seemingly endless cemetery, tinged with a sense of melancholy...

Mu Yegui silently glanced at the tombstones, then continued walking forward.

"What are you doing here?" Annie's voice came from beside her, but compared to her previous energetic self, she was now lifeless and listless.

"If I don't see you here, who else could I see?" She glanced at the little girl who had appeared in front of her at some point with her cool silver eyes and said slowly.

"You!" Annie gritted her teeth, finding this guy's words incredibly annoying no matter what!
“It looks much better now than before.” Mu Yegui walked past her and sat down in front of a large rock.

"Hey! This is my home! Don't you have any sense of being a guest?" Annie turned around and glared angrily at Mu Yegui, shouting.

"I have some questions I'd like to ask you. Is Afra a reflection of your own will, or perhaps the version of yourself before you became what you are now? Then why did you do that in the Ruins Garden?"

Even her dream was just a copy and paste of the original dungeon map, with at most some other unnecessary decorations added. It couldn't completely change the entire dungeon map. Of course, it's also possible that the dungeon itself suppressed the map, and that Annie's presence interfered with the result.

After all, it was her first time using the privileges of the crown prince, so she was quite unfamiliar with them.

Annie paused slightly, a hint of desolation appearing in her pink-gold eyes. "Because that place was a place of no return, I thought that if I died like that, Shia would be very moved, and she wouldn't forget me. But alas..." That wasn't Shia.

No matter how many times, she will never forget, and no matter how many times, she will go to find Shia. This is no longer just atonement, or perhaps it is that she loved Shia from the very beginning, but ruined her because of jealousy.

She loved that person but ruined him; in the end, her stubbornness caused everyone's family to be destroyed.

Her life was truly ironic.

But she never managed to find the lover she had lost, and she had to repeat the sins she had committed over and over again, not knowing when it would end.

Sometimes, death is the only relief.

She doesn't even have the right to be freed.

To gain something, you must inevitably lose something else.

However, unreasonable desires are bound to be accompanied by despair.

Her prayers for the witch to bring back the missing Shia were nothing but self-deception.

Therefore, this irrational hope ultimately led to unpredictable disasters and despair for everyone.

Later, as she watched one 'Shia' after another appear, her heart wavered, and she made the same mistake again.

She trapped everyone in a cycle of endless death, and she herself was constantly reminded of just how terrible the sins she had committed were, and how selfish she had been.

Do miracles really exist?
Why did she pay an equal price in exchange, yet still receive only despair?
Is it because she is never satisfied?
Or is it because... what she wanted had already been abandoned by her long ago?

"Are you and Shia on good terms?" Mu Yegui asked again.

“What do you mean? Of course Shia and I are best friends!” Annie said without hesitation.

Actually, she was the one who was disliked. After all, she was so selfish and arrogant back then, it was only natural that Shia didn't want to play with her. But even so, she would never admit to outsiders that her relationship with Shia wasn't actually good.

"Really? I thought your relationship was bad. After all, only regret makes people want to do anything to make amends, and only then do they become the culprits who caused everything. If they were best friends, they would definitely be able to understand each other's feelings and remember her, instead of adding layer upon layer of sin to her."

Mu Yegui seemed lost in thought, his cool silver eyes never leaving Annie, observing the subconscious expressions that surfaced in her.

Upon hearing Mu Yegui's words, Annie's expression suddenly changed, becoming extremely ugly.

"How could that be! Shia and I are best friends!!" Annie retorted loudly, repeating the same words over and over, whether because she couldn't find any other words or was just deceiving herself.

Mu Yegui withdrew her probing gaze, jumped off the large rock, and walked to the lonely, wordless tombstone to the side.

“I don’t know much about your situation, so I won’t comment. But after all, it all started because of her. Even if you were the executioner, the blame ultimately falls on her. You were just an accomplice. If this is what you did for your friend, then I can only say that as your friend, Shia is truly pitiful.”

She stared intently at the blank tombstone before her, and softly shared her thoughts.

Of course, these are just fallacies, but once Shia is involved, Annie will definitely believe them.

"What did you say?!" Annie's face was extremely pale, clearly not expecting this.

“You keep repeating your own cycle of reincarnation, and her sins will gradually increase because of your repetition. This is the so-called cause and effect. If you want her to be freed, you can only stop this so-called cycle of reincarnation.”

Mu Yegui turned his head slightly, his cool silver eyes glancing sideways at Aini, a faint smile curving his lips.

"Will stopping free Shia?" Annie murmured, her lips moving slightly.

Mu Yegui turned around gently, her skirt swaying slightly. She walked up to Annie, bent down slightly, and whispered in her ear, "Do you want her to continue committing these meaningless sins? In essence, she does everything, but she's just innocently implicated by you, a sinner."

Annie's pupils contracted sharply, and her pink-gold eyes gradually darkened, slowly being filled with despair.

"You know what you should do, right? After all, as Shia's good friend, it's only right that you can't let her continue to be involved with you."

“I know…I know…” Annie murmured to herself, her voice trembling with disbelief.

"Good girl." Mu Yegui reached out and touched her hair, straightened up, and then walked past her toward the withered grove of trees.

A gentle breeze stirred the clouds, obscuring the only light.

The ground was plunged into complete darkness.

Do you understand? Mu Yegui is deliberately leading her to choose death.

After all, this dungeon could never end if Annie didn't die.

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(End of this chapter)