I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Gu Yan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly explained.

"That girl with glasses is my junior from school, a girl I met in Jinghai."

"We had arranged to meet today, but I didn't expect Lin Yan to suddenly show up."

"I never expected that he would possess such a calamity-inducing artifact."

Cecilia frowned slightly, her voice calm but firm.

"Someone gave it to him; the Lamp Demon doesn't belong to the Great Xia."

"A calamity artifact of that level is not something someone like Lin Yan could obtain on his own."

Gu Yan said two words in a deep voice.

"Yi Luo".

Upon hearing those two words, Cecilia's fingers tightened slightly on her knees.

Gu Yan's mind raced through the chapters about the Chen family in the Book of the World.

The ancient European family in the original book, a terrifying lineage that has been entrenched in Italy for hundreds of years.

At first, they looked down on Chen Sinian, thinking that an Eastern merchant family was nothing more than nouveau riche.

Cecilia's mental potential was only revealed on the day she was born.

It caused the oldest members of that family to open their eyes.

Even Cecilia's mother's death is vaguely connected to that family in the original work.

So, Lin Yan's return this time wasn't due to a change of heart at all, but rather because that family was pushing things behind the scenes.

They used Lin Yan as a pawn, ordering him to take Cecilia back to Italy.

In the original story, Cecilia did indeed go back.

Cecilia looked at his suddenly serious expression.

She reached out and gently grasped his wrist.

Her long, slender, fair fingers rested on the skin beneath his sleeve, her palms warm.

There was a very faint hint of unease in his voice.

"What's wrong? Did something come to mind?"

Gu Yan remained silent for a while, the plot about Cecilia returning to Iroha from the Book of Worlds flashing through her mind.

He looked up at her, his voice very soft.

"If you had the chance, would you go back to Italy?"

Cecilia shook her head gently without hesitation.

Her white hair slid down her shoulders with this movement, the ends brushing against the back of her hand.

"No. My father doesn't want me to go back, and my deceased mother certainly doesn't want me to either."

A faint glint of light flashed in her icy blue eyes when she mentioned her mother.

The light was very faint and shallow, like a star flashing in the far, far distance.

Gu Yan nodded and did not press Yi Luo further.

He changed the subject, his voice tinged with a hint of probing.

"Let's put that aside for now. Isn't getting engaged a bit too soon?"

Cecilia looked up at him, her tone as calm as if stating a fact that had been confirmed many times before.

"Not fast."

After thinking for a moment, Gu Yan decided to use her father as a shield.

"Does Uncle Chen agree?"

Cecilia tilted her head slightly, the curve of her lips barely visible.

But everyone can understand the meaning hidden in that curve.

What do you think?

Gu Yan didn't speak.

He really didn't have much to say; how could that old fox Chen Sinian possibly disagree?

From the first day he stepped into the Chen family's gate, that old fox wished he could stick a label of the Chen family's wealth on his forehead.

He could even imagine Chen Sinian's expression when he heard the news.

He must have been holding a teacup, smiling, and saying, "It should have been done long ago."

Seeing that he didn't speak, Cecilia continued talking on her own.

Her voice remained calm, as if she were telling a story that had nothing to do with her.

But every word was spoken very steadily and firmly.

"It was my father who persuaded me that made me make up my mind."

He said life is too short, and some things can't be delayed.

He said his mother suddenly passed away during those years when we were hesitating, and he still regrets it to this day.

He asked me, "Do you want to end up like your mother, with nothing to say at the very end?"

Her fingers gently caressed the hem of her nightgown on her knees as she lowered her eyes.

Her white hair covered half of her face, obscuring the expression in her eyes.

"I have indeed reached that age."

"If my mother is watching from heaven, she would be happy to see that I have finally made this decision."

Upon hearing this, Gu Yan felt a slight jolt in her heart.

He knew that Cecilia's mother had died when she was very young.

I also know that she never mentions this to others.

The fact that she can say it so calmly now is not because she doesn't care.

It's not that she cares about it to the point that she herself doesn't dare to touch it.

Using one's mother's last wish to justify one's decision is too much of a justification.

It was so heavy that he didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Cecilia looked up at him, the light from the table lamp reflected in her icy blue eyes.

The light was warm, but her eyes were still bright.

It was as bright as a frozen lake in winter.

She looked into his eyes, her tone soft and even, as if reciting a poem she had written long ago.

"You asked me last time if I liked you. I do."

"That day you left with Lin Jinyu on your own initiative, and I sat alone in the yard for a long time, feeling very sad."

"I never knew sadness felt like this."

"It feels like someone is slowly grinding your bones with a dull knife. It doesn't hurt, but the soreness makes you unable to do anything."

"People only realize what they care about when they are about to lose it."

So I'm not going to wait any longer. Do you like me?

Gu Yan looked at her, feeling as if something was stuck in her throat.

As for whether or not I like Cecilia, that goes without saying; who wouldn't like such a beautiful woman?

Her white hair was as white as snow, and her icy blue eyes seemed to hold the entire winter sky.

Sitting quietly in her wheelchair, she looked like a painting.

Although she has a somewhat cold personality, she is always gentle with him.

They were both men, and he didn't want to pretend anything.

but.

He genuinely didn't want to get engaged to the female lead. It wasn't that he didn't like her, it was that he was afraid to.

He had less than a year left to live, and he didn't even know how long he would live.

Moreover, he was aware of the heights Cecilia could reach in the original book.

If her engagement to him changes the course of events, will she still be able to reach that point?

He cannot disrupt her entire life trajectory because of his own selfish desires.

She should stand at the top of the entire superhuman world in the original book's trajectory.

Instead of staying by the side of a short-lived person who is about to die.

"I--"

He opened his mouth, but Cecilia interrupted him before he could finish speaking.

"I will definitely cure you, don't worry."

Her voice was firm, and she looked directly at him.

There was not a trace of hesitation in those icy blue eyes.

Her fingers gripped the hem of her skirt, her knuckles turning slightly white, but her tone remained steady.

"I can give you anything."

Gu Yan was completely stunned when she heard this.

All the logical chains in my mind broke at the same time.

He stood up abruptly, his movement so fast he almost tipped over the chair next to him.

The chair legs made a screeching sound as they scraped against the floor.

"I just remembered that Aunt Tian wanted to see me. You should rest first."

He didn't dare look at her for even a second, and turned to walk towards the door.

His footsteps were so fast it felt like a dog was chasing him.