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

Along the way, Chiyomiya Hanyu recounted the origins of this secret realm.

The first priestess built the library, and the spirit mirror silently formed within it.

It wasn't created; it condensed on its own. It's like the spiritual power of the Chiyomiya family's priestesses was so concentrated and intense that it overflowed from their meridians and had nowhere to go. So it slowly settled in this mirror and condensed into another world.

Every chief priestess who knew her days were numbered would enter the Spirit Mirror alone and leave behind her life's spiritual insights there.

It's not words, not mnemonic rhymes, but something more direct.

When you go to a certain place and stand there, you can feel your ex's state of mind.

Most of the spiritual power of the priestesses throughout the ages was drawn away to reinforce the fissure in Mount Fuji.

But their loneliness and sorrow remain in this world, sleeping quietly.

Waiting to die is an extremely lonely thing, and they still have to give up their remaining lifespan to the sealing array.

"So everyone has regrets."

Gu Yan walked beside her, listening to what she was saying.

She didn't cry, and her tone remained as composed as ever, typical of the chief priestess of the Chiyomiya family.

But Gu Yan sensed something beneath that calm demeanor.

She is the orphan girl who clutched the key in front of her mother's spirit when she was young, the woman who walked alone into the spirit mirror to wait for death decades later, and the grievance that Chiyo-miya has never told anyone about for generations.

He reached out and grasped Yuzuru's fingers very, very lightly.

Her fingers were surprisingly cold, and they trembled slightly in his palm before slowly gripping his hand.

They reached the highest point of the hill and stopped under the ancient tree.

Under the tree was a chair naturally woven from vines, with translucent white flowers blooming all over its back.

Yuzuru sat down in the chair and patted the seat next to him. Gu Yan had just sat down when the vines on the back of the chair suddenly moved slightly.

He looked down and saw that several extremely thin vines had somehow wrapped around his wrists and ankles.

It wasn't the kind of rough binding, but rather a way of trying to keep him, as if they didn't want him to leave.

He tried to move, but found that his body was completely immobile.

"Yuzuru, this vine..."

Yuzuru did not answer.

She stood up from beside him, walked to him, and looked down at him against the backdrop of the silver light above her head.

Under the light and rain, those deep brown pupils finally lost all composure and restraint, revealing the reluctance that had been suppressed all night.

"Mr. Gu, I can handle this sealed secret realm by myself."

Her voice was soft and steady, as if she were stating a decision that had been rehearsed many times.

"The chief priestess of each generation has entered alone, without anyone to help her or accompany her."

"It's already a luxury to have you by my side to get this far today."

"But the process of reinforcing the seal will be very painful, even more painful than the outburst of spiritual energy."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on."

"So could you please just stay by my side and use your mental power to help relieve my pain?"

"May I."

Before Gu Yan could speak, she noticed that the vines on her wrist had come loose.

Not just my wrists, but my ankles are loose too.

He could move, but he couldn't stand up.

Because he saw Yuzuru take the pheasant sword off his waist and place it on the back of the chair after he finished speaking, and then turn around.

Next, she would have to bear all the pain of reinforcing the seal alone, while he could only sit here and watch her, using his spiritual power to share a little of her pain.

Yuzuru sat down in the chair again.

I didn't sit in the same spot as before; I sat next to him, very close.

He was so close that he could feel her body temperature through the thin, plain white kimono, and he could smell the very faint scent of cypress mixed with the sweet fragrance of dew in her hair.

He was so close that his heart skipped a beat for a moment.

"But before that."

She looked up at him.

His long, jet-black hair slipped down his shoulders, a few strands landing on the back of his hand, cool and ticklish.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and then she reached out and cupped his cheeks.

The hand that had wielded the sword to slay the two S-class calamities was now trembling very slightly, as if it were doing something it had wanted to do for a very long time but had never dared to.

"I want to ask Mr. Gu for something."

"It's not treatment, it's not spiritual energy conditioning."

"It's something only Mr. Gu can give."

Then she closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and kissed his lips.

Gu Yan's brain completely shut down for a moment.

Her lips were soft, and the temperature was slightly lower than that of the spring water.

That kiss was awkward.

It wasn't Cecilia's cautious yet possessive touch, nor was it Fu Shiwei's clumsy yet earnest probing while he was asleep.

Her kiss was a kiss in the style of Chiyomiya Hanyu.

Despite her trembling fingertips from nervousness, her movements remained composed and elegant.

It wasn't like she was kissing someone she'd only just met, but rather performing some kind of ritual she'd been preparing for a very long time.

She stepped back slightly and opened her eyes to look at him.

Those deep brown eyes no longer held composure or restraint; they held only the purest honesty of someone who had finally spoken their mind after more than a decade of hiding their desires.

"Mr. Gu, I've wanted to meet you since I was very young."

"When I saw you helping others with treatment on the news, I thought you were such a kind person."

"Later, when my spiritual energy went berserk and I couldn't sleep all night due to the pain, I also thought that it would be nice to be touched by these hands just once."

"Then Ya Song came, and she was the first person who dared to speak loudly in my room."

She said Mr. Gu was such an interesting person, saying that even though he was in such poor health, he still went around helping others get treatment.

"You could have just ignored everything, but you always like to play the hero."

She chuckled very softly as she spoke, her thumb lightly stroking Gu Yan's pale skin as it rested on his cheek.

"At that time, I thought to myself, if I could see Mr. Gu, I would live a good life."

"Keep the seal intact, stabilize the spiritual energy, and live to see the day we can meet again."

"Later, Mr. Gu really came. When he touched my back for the first time in the spiritual spring, I almost cried."

"It's not because it hurts, it's because I've been waiting for too long."

She lowered her head again, her forehead gently touching his.

Their breaths mingled, warm and sweet with the scent of dew.

"So, this might be the last time."

"After reinforcing the seal, most of my spiritual power will be depleted, and I may never wake up again."

"I don't want to regret it inside."

She straightened up.

Those deep brown pupils stared unblinkingly into his eyes, as if they were looking at the moon he had gazed at for over a decade on countless sleepless nights.

Mr. Gu.

Kiss me.