Simulated Lives: The Sorrow of the Sword Maiden

Chapter 70 – Witch's tears, witch's smile

Parting is so heavy.

Like a boulder.

Like a mountain.

Pressing on one's chest, making it hard to breathe.

Only when faced with true parting do people realize that all the rehearsals they prepared are as light as a feather, not even a tenth of what they need.

Krisa was ready to be reprimanded.

As an object, she openly defied her master's decision.

This was something absolutely unforgivable.

The moment the words left her mouth, the witch's heart was filled with remorse and regret, but even so, she still had to refuse Xu Xi's request.

As if by refusing these requests, she could also refuse the parting.

To keep Xu Xi from leaving.

To let the warm sun continue to linger.

"Please..." Her delicate face, caressed by a withered hand, trembled as she spoke, "Don't say it anymore, I won't accept it."

The witch's refusal left Xu Xi momentarily stunned.

The expression on his face changed continuously, first surprise, then confusion, and finally a gentle relief, without a trace of the reprimand the witch had imagined.

"Hahaha... ahahaha..."

"Ha-cough... cough cough!"

Xu Xi laughed.

He seemed to be in a good mood, but his frail body caused him to cough violently as soon as he laughed, coughing urgently and fiercely.

His aged face showed a look of pain.

"Master!"

Krisa hurriedly cast Life Magic to help Xu Xi recover.

Every weak breath, every pained expression, turned into invisible blades, piercing deeply into the witch's heart, making her whole body tremble.

What should she do, how could she save him?

Krisa didn't know, she could only desperately use the highest level of Life Magic again and again to make Xu Xi feel a little better.

Soon, Xu Xi's coughing subsided.

"I'm fine, Krisa, I'm just... too happy."

Xu Xi's eyelids grew heavier.

He half-opened his weary eyes.

Gently holding the witch's hand, he shook his head to signal her to stop casting magic, and met her vacant eyes: "For the first time, this is the first time you've expressed opposition to me."

"Krisa, it's wonderful, you have your own thoughts..."

Objects have no self-will, nor do they express opposition. When the witch learned to oppose, it meant she had regained her self.

The witch, in the truest sense, became—

[Human]

Xu Xi's eyes were cloudy and blurred, he could barely see the world before him, and a wave of drowsiness surged, almost taking away the last clarity in his eyes.

"Krisa..."

On the bed, the dying old man softly announced, "You have graduated."

The world fell silent at this moment.

So silent, the witch couldn't comprehend it.

So silent, it filled her heart with fear, dreading the impending cruelty.

"But compared to you, I'm still far behind..." Krisa spoke with a trembling voice, her face still expressionless, but the suppressed sorrow seemed to break through her shell, echoing in the air.

"I still have so many things to learn from you."

"Without you, I can't do anything."

Krisa's voice gradually became hoarse, the immense sorrow like a fierce fire, burning her throat.

She couldn't understand.

She didn't comprehend.

She was an object belonging solely to Xu Xi, a witch despised by the world, an utterly useless thing that could be discarded at will, humble, ugly, and lowly, a shadow that would lose its meaning without light.

Therefore, the witch couldn't accept being acknowledged by Xu Xi as "graduated."

This meant she would leave Xu Xi's side.

She clumsily counted, repeatedly listing, magnifying her own flaws and shortcomings, to prove she wasn't yet at the level of graduation.

"......"

Xu Xi didn't interrupt Krisa's words, just looked at her gently, extending his withered, skeletal hand once more.

Gently placing it on Krisa's head.

Giving her the last warmth.

Gradually.

The witch stopped on her own, no longer speaking those self-deceiving lies.

The room was quiet, the outside was bright.

And the witch's heart was torn.

True despair is never a sudden disaster, but knowing the disaster is coming, yet powerless to stop the tragedy.

This helpless torment, this despair of watching the end unfold, made Krisa's black-gold eyes lose their former mystery and brilliance, leaving only hollow sorrow.

"Please... don't leave me."

"Or, allow me to leave with you."

Krisa sobbed, finally speaking the words buried deep in her heart, her voice devoid of any weeping, yet full of desolate sorrow.

Like a candle about to go out.

Like a bird with broken wings.

Helplessly pleading with Xu Xi.

The witch was ready to die with Xu Xi.

It didn't matter, nothing mattered, the world or becoming a god, in the witch's lonely heart, none of it weighed as much as Xu Xi.

Just as Xu Xi saved the witch, bringing her everything.

The witch was willing to give up everything, to accompany Xu Xi in silent death.

No reason needed.

No hesitation needed.

The witch was willing.

Responding to Krisa was a hand growing weaker in its caress, and Xu Xi's voice as light as a whisper.

"Krisa, you know, I won't agree to such a thing."

On the bed.

Xu Xi's breathing grew weaker, each breath like a final struggle, feeling his body gradually losing sensation in pain, in suffocation.

He showed the witch his last smile.

His aged, ugly face, under the sunlight, faintly reflected a shadow of his younger self.

"Please live well, Krisa."

"This is my request."

"Don't grieve for my departure, this is not a farewell forever, just a long separation."

"One day, we will meet again."

The powerless withered hand could no longer stroke the witch's hair, losing all strength, resting on the witch's head.

The spark of life was about to extinguish.

The shadow of death crept closer.

Xu Xi spoke his final words to the witch: "It's a pity, even now, I never made you truly smile."

Suddenly.

Xu Xi paused, his pupils slightly dilated, the sudden astonishment even delaying death by a few moments.

"Master..."

"Look..."

"This is my smile..."

In the golden midday sun, gray hair like a waterfall, Krisa sat quietly by the bed, trembling as she extended her hands.

All other fingers bent, leaving only the index fingers extended.

Two index fingers.

Hooking the corners of her mouth on either side.

Gently pulling, creating an artificial smile.

The smile was so stiff, and tears continuously welled up, sliding from her already brimming eyes, silently soaking her hands.

Rather than a smile, it was more like a cry.

"What a beautiful smile..."

Xu Xi murmured softly.

In the gentle sound of the wind, his breathing quietly ceased, closing his weary eyes.

This time, he would never wake again.

[You have died]

[Simulation ended]