"Lucian..."
As soon as Fu Xuan saw Lucian's face, the memories inside the script began to return, and before long, as they fully came back, the last thing she remembered was sitting alone at the dining table, waiting for him to return.
Now, as she looked at him, her gaze carried a mixture of emotions—resentment, relief, and longing.
Who said one gaze couldn't hold three feelings at once?
However, in that moment, Jingliu suddenly stepped between Lucian and Fu Xuan.
"What's with that look in your eyes, Master Diviner?"
Jingliu gazed at Fu Xuan and threw out a sharp question, her face completely emotionless.
As Jingliu's sharp, red-cold eyes fixed on Fu Xuan, they were filled with scrutiny, along with a hint of wariness so faint it was almost unnoticeable.
Tall and poised, Jingliu stood squarely between Fu Xuan and Lucian like an invisible wall of ice, cutting off the too-complicated exchange of glances between them.
Fu Xuan froze, stunned by Jingliu's sudden question and abrupt action.
Because the memories from that three-hundred-year dream—especially the unforgettable wedding night—surged through her mind like a crashing tide, they washed away the boundary between reality and dream.
Lucian's breath, warmth, and embrace—everything had felt so real that it made her heart tremble and question reality.
Now, yanked back into the cold reality by Jingliu's piercing gaze and sharp question, her face suddenly flushed hotter than the candlelight on that wedding night.
"W-What look did you mean by that?" Fu Xuan retorted instinctively, her voice husky and still soft from sleep.
If one looked carefully, one would notice that she tried to straighten her back, forcing herself into the dignified posture of a Master Diviner, but her eyes strangely kept wandering toward Lucian behind Jingliu, carrying both a trace of fluster at being caught off guard and a lingering attachment she couldn't hide.
As she kept glancing at Lucian, there wasn't a shred left of the commanding presence of the Master Diviner who presided over the Divination Commission of the Xianzhou Luofu in Fu Xuan, because now she looked more like a little wife who had just been dragged out of bed by her husband.
Baiheng glanced between the two women, her fox ears twitching as they caught the faint, ambiguous tension in the air. She then blinked her big eyes curiously, looking from Fu Xuan's flushed ears to Lucian's slightly helpless face.
"Master Diviner, why is your face super red?"
Baiheng's innocent question hit the most awkward spot possible.
"I-I merely overexerted myself during a divination just now, so my blood surged a bit too strongly..."
Fu Xuan, feeling helpless, quickly made an excuse on the spot.
Not only had she not even sorted out the situation yet, but she also still remembered the vow she had sworn right in front of these two women earlier.
What if her life with Lucian was actually just her imagination?
Wouldn't that be utterly humiliating?
For this reason, she absolutely couldn't admit anything now—otherwise, she would look like a shameless woman.
Upon hearing Fu Xuan's perfectly reasonable excuse, Jingliu and Baiheng didn't press the matter any further.
Lucian, too, decided that since Fu Xuan chose to hide their relationship, he might as well help her keep their secret for now, or else she would only end up embarrassed by her own vow.
"Lucian... I have something to tell you... privately..." Fu Xuan said softly, giving Lucian a meaningful look. "Let's find a quiet place to talk."
"Alright, come to my room. No one will disturb us there." Lucian, instantly understanding her intention, nodded, then turned to Jingliu and Baiheng. "Well, you two can do as you please. I'll have a private chat with the Master Diviner for a while."
Hearing this, both women nodded without hesitation.
Now that their man had spoken, there was no reason to object.
"In that case, we'll take a walk outside~" Baiheng said cheerfully, hooking her arm around Jingliu's and pulling her toward the exit.
However, just as they stepped out of the front yard, both of them stopped.
"Hey, Jingliu, looks like we're thinking the same thing..." Baiheng said meaningfully, grinning slyly.
"Birds of a feather, aren't we?" Jingliu smiled faintly.
In the next moment, the two of them turned back simultaneously, clearly intending to eavesdrop on the conversation between Lucian and Fu Xuan.
It couldn't be helped.
Anyone could see that Fu Xuan's earlier behavior was extremely odd, odd enough that it practically demanded observation.
Just like that, both women quietly crept back, ready to make a surprise return at any moment.
===
Meanwhile, inside a spacious bedroom, Lucian and Fu Xuan stood, facing each other.
Sunlight streamed through the carved lattice window, scattering into fragments of gold, and the air was filled with tiny motes of dust drifting lazily.
Now that no one else was around, the closeness forged in that dream—bone-deep and intoxicating—quickly spread between them like a seal being undone.
"Have you... ever had a dream... about us..." Fu Xuan asked slowly, carefully trying to test the waters.
At this point, she couldn't even be sure whether the second set of memories that came from that dream was real or not.
If it were real, then reality didn't match the dream.
If it was fake, then why did her feelings for Lucian feel so genuine, so uncontrollable?
Just now, at the very moment she saw him, she only wanted to embrace him again, as the sweetness of that wedding night still lingered in her mind, lingering vividly, impossible to forget.
"I'm sorry..." Lucian said softly, then sighed. "Leaving after our wedding night wasn't my choice, but look—I'm here now, standing before you again."
Seeing the now fragile-looking Fu Xuan, his heart couldn't help but soften, so without hesitation, he admitted it and then drew her into his arms in one smooth motion, pressing her small frame firmly against his broad chest while his chin came to rest lightly atop her head.
"Little Xuan, that wasn't just a dream."
As Lucian spoke the familiar nickname, Fu Xuan's composure instantly shattered.
All the calm she had forced herself to maintain in front of the others broke apart at once, as the sweetness of that wedding night and the bitterness of that long period of waiting for his return crashed together, leaving her heart in turmoil.
"You jerk, stupid, idiot..." Fu Xuan muttered a complaint, pretending to scold him, but didn't move away, letting him hold her close. "What did you do to me..."
Three hundred years of avoidance had finally lost to three hundred years of companionship.
If she were to choose, she truly preferred the second life in that dream.
Everything within it had been beautiful.
Not only had her original master, Jingtian, not died because of her, but the Third Abundance War had also ended in a grand victory.
Needless to say, in that second life, she had managed to change her fate toward a far better outcome.
"Well... simply put, I have a special ability where I can randomly take part in someone's life and change their fate..." Lucian explained tenderly while gently patting Fu Xuan's back. "To you, it might've been a dream, but to me, it was reality. If you don't want to accept what we had, then just think of it as if nothing ever happened."
Of course, given the fact that the script had already been completed and Fu Xuan was now listed as his follower, he already knew what she would choose.
Lucian released Fu Xuan and stepped back.
It was a calculated retreat—one step backward, then two steps forward.
"You think you can brush me off?" Fu Xuan frowned and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Lucian's waist. "I suppose Jingliu and Baiheng are the same? You changed their fates, too, which is why Baiheng is alive, while Jingliu returns to the Alliance... All this must be real... My memories, my emotions—they're all in my head. How could I possibly deny them?"
Burying her face in Lucian's chest, she spoke as she inhaled his comforting scent, listening closely to his steady, unhurried heartbeat.
Now, all her grievances slowly melted away, dissolving into a quiet, bittersweet warmth.
"Liar master, naughty husband..." Fu Xuan murmured, wrapping her arms tighter around Lucian's waist.
Just as her words fell, her lower abdomen suddenly began to glow without warning.
Soon after, a surge of vitality unique to the Abundance blossomed from within, and in that moment, she felt something strange happening in her body—an unfamiliar vitality so powerful, stirring deep in her belly.
"Is this... the blessing of Abundance?"
Fu Xuan froze, confused as to why she was suddenly carrying a new and extremely powerful blessing of Abundance, one that could only be granted by an Emanator or the Aeon THEMSELF.
As far as she could remember, she hadn't come into contact with any Emanator of Abundance, nor the Aeon of Abundance.
"It's me..." Lucian admitted directly, not planning to hide his true identity. "Actually, I'm an Emanator of Abundance."
Upon hearing this, Fu Xuan's eyes widened, her lips parting in shock.
It couldn't be helped.
An Emanator of Abundance?
Had she fallen in love with an Emanator of Abundance?
What kind of absurd fate was this?
Seeing Fu Xuan standing there, completely stunned, Lucian spoke again.
"So... what do you think now? Do you regret it?"
Hearing Lucian's question, Fu Xuan snapped out of her shock, then met his gaze, recalling the time they had shared for centuries in her second life.
Moments later, she let out a long breath before smiling faintly.
"Well, what else can I do? If I've married a chicken, I'll follow the chicken. If I've married a dog, I'll follow the dog—there's no regret in my dictionary."
Even if their identities were at odds, she couldn't deny the kindness Lucian had shown her—that much, she knew perfectly well.
"Who're you calling a chicken?" Lucian chuckled, pinching her cheek. "And who's a dog? Me?"
Once these words were out, everything between them became easy and harmonious again.
Now that Fu Xuan had accepted the truth, their relationship returned to what it had been in the script—intimate and inseparable husband and wife.
"By the way, I want a giant cup of milk tea." Fu Xuan said, sitting on Lucian's lap like a spoiled newlywed. "Think of it as compensation for suddenly abandoning me."
"Call me 'husband' first." Lucian said with a smirk.
Fu Xuan paused, then lowered her head.
"Hu-Hu-Husband..." Fu Xuan murmured shyly.
"Good wife." Lucian chuckled and gently patted her head. "Alright, I'll make it two giant cups. Wait for me."
A good wife deserved to be spoiled, after all.
Just like that, Lucian immediately headed to the Exalting Sanctum to buy milk tea, while Fu Xuan stayed behind, waiting for his return.
===
A while later, the door to Lucian's room creaked open.
*Creak—*
"Husband, you—"
Hearing the door creak open, Fu Xuan, who had been gazing silently at the sky through the window, turned and instinctively called out, but before she could finish her words, she froze.
In the doorway, Jingliu and Baiheng stood side by side, both staring at Fu Xuan—one expressionless, the other looking surprised.
In Fu Xuan's widened eyes, their faces were perfectly reflected.
"Husband? Who exactly are you calling 'husband' in his room?"
Jingliu did not beat around the bush and asked directly, her voice cold and sharp.
===
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