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

Chapter 458, 1.27-36: A Bouquet of Blessings

The plants in the flowerbed gradually withered and burned because of the flames, and only one yellow rose swayed in the wind amidst the flames.

Only this one yellow rose bloomed in the entire thicket.

Mu Yegui crouched down and looked down at it. Her sharp fingernails grazed the flower stem, and it suddenly fell, landing in a fair and soft palm.

Without a doubt, this yellow rose was born from the miracle seed; otherwise, it wouldn't have survived intact while all the other plants were burned.

The seed was originally found in Shia's place, so the first flower that it bloomed should rightfully belong to Shia.

Mu Yegui slowly stood up, holding the yellow rose in her palm, and turned to leave. Suddenly, she seemed to see something and was slightly taken aback.

Her cool, silver eyes gazed at the apple tree in the corner of the flowerbed, a rare hint of surprise in her expression.

This is the apple tree she saw in the illusion, and the golden apple on it, as dazzling as the sun, is the best proof of that.

Mu Yegui walked up without thinking and reached out to pick it.

Is this the golden apple that Adele was talking about?

Why does it appear here?
She tightened her grip on the golden apple slightly, her expression returning to its usual calm, and turned to walk towards the cemetery without hesitation.

The closer one gets to the cemetery, the further away one is from the flames, and the darker the sky becomes.

In the end, the noise vanished in an instant into a deathly silence. The owls that had been there seemed to have disappeared without making a sound, with only the rustling of leaves underfoot as they walked along the path.

The cool moonlight shines on the tombstones, the only light that belongs to them.

From afar, one could see that petite figure standing before a solitary, wordless tombstone, her back to the approaching person, her entire being radiating loneliness and despair.

"That day seemed to be a night like this too." She looked up at the bright full moon overhead and sighed as if reminiscing.

Mu Yegui paused slightly, her hands clasped behind her back, one holding a yellow rose and the other a golden apple. She silently watched Annie's retreating figure, saying nothing, as if she were merely a listener.

"It feels like so long, so long that I think I've forgotten my real name. Am I Annie? Or Afra? Which one is my real name? Does anyone still remember me?" She chuckled to herself, then added, "They probably hate me to death."

She reached out and removed the black wizard's hat, placing it over the blank tombstone beside her. Then she slowly turned to look at Mu Yegui, who was dressed in a black dress, like mourning clothes.

Her short, pink-gold hair was tied into two small braids with two black hairbands, each hanging simply over her shoulders. A few stray hairs on her left temple were gently clipped back with a black hair clip, leaving only a few stray hairs on the right side of her forehead to fall loosely.

“I stand guard over this cemetery, looking at the mistakes I have made, watching them die time and time again because of my mistakes. I want to repent, but my sins are unforgivable, and no one will forgive me for what I have done.”

"I searched for Shia, repeating the past step by step, only to find nothing. I can no longer tell what I really want, is it just someone I can never get back, or just that warmth or regret from my childhood?"

Annie's eyes were empty and sorrowful, and no more tears could flow.

"I really wanted a friend, someone to laugh with, cry with, and play with, but unfortunately, I destroyed all of that with my own hands." She looked down at her small hands and slowly closed her eyes.

This deformed body was all she could have left.

Even with the constant repetition, no one was willing to approach her. Whenever she appeared, she was treated as an outsider, feared, discriminated against, and rejected.

She was no longer a member of that town; in their eyes, she was nothing more than an evil witch who would harm them. But that was indeed the case. She wasn't a witch at first, yet she caused the deaths of all the townspeople. Later, she became a witch, trying to make amends, but she trapped them in an endless cycle of death, causing them endless torment.

Someone like her really deserves to go to hell.

"If we had met under different circumstances, would you have been willing to be my friend?" Annie looked up at Mu Yegui, her pink-gold eyes filled with hope.

Mu Yegui remained silent and did not answer.

The light in her eyes dimmed little by little. She lowered her head and whispered, "As expected, you didn't want to either..."

She staggered back a few steps and stood on the intricate magic circle drawn on the ground.

Annie gave a low, mocking laugh, her eyes filled with utter despair. "Someone like me can no longer be called human. I have no value whatsoever. Nobody cares about me..."

She looked up at the silvery full moon, leaned back slightly, and tried to reach out to touch it, but in the end she grasped nothing.

A flame erupted from the magic circle beneath her feet, burning her body.

"Shia... my only friend... I'm sorry..."

Mu Yegui remained silent, his cold, silver eyes watching her body burn bit by bit until it turned to dust and was scattered by the wind.

Under the cold moonlight, the tombstones gradually weathered away after the witch disappeared, and eventually all of them vanished.

Only the blank tombstone in front of her slowly revealed a name because of the witch's death—Afra.

The worn-out black wizard's hat on the tombstone swayed slightly in the breeze, then was blown away and drifted into the unknown distance.

Mu Yegui walked to the lonely tombstone, bent down slightly, and placed the golden apple and yellow rose in his hand on it.

With hands clasped together in prayer, the only sound in the silence was a soft, sweet, childlike voice saying, "Goodnight, sweet dreams."

As soon as the words were spoken, the golden apple in front of the tombstone turned into golden dust and was blown away, disappearing along with Afra's tombstone and the yellow rose.

“Giving hope to someone who is about to die is not salvation, but pushing her into deeper despair,” Mu Yegui said in a low voice. “No one has the right to save someone who wants to die, someone who is determined to die. From the moment she made the decision, she refused to be saved, so all we can do now is watch her go quietly.”

Afra was not worthy of redemption. After committing so many sins, she was destined to die. All she could do was give her a flower that belonged to Shia.

This was also the last blessing she could give.

Yellow Rose: An Eternal Smile.

Just like she once told her: I want to see your smile.

So leave with a smile; this time, no one will curse you.

I've gotten to the point, so please stop accusing me of misleading you with my title. That's not true at all. Isn't it incredibly heartwarming?

The next chapter will conclude the dungeon. I'll probably catch up on the three chapters I owe in the next day or two.

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(End of this chapter)