Chapter 124 Chapter 124·Cerie "Lanta,...
The decoration inside the door is very obvious.
Luxurious, exquisite and full of European style.
Tall carvings took up the entire wall.
A huge crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling, and the light reflects through the crystal, shining brightly in every corner of the room.
Heavy curtains hung from the ceiling to the floor, the fabric embroidered with intricate golden patterns.
Like golden fire.
In the center of the room was a snow-white carpet, soft and thick. His Majesty Attalan stood on the carpet with an upright posture, his golden hair shining softly under the light.
He turned around and looked directly at Xirui with his light golden eyes, with a bit of scrutiny and inquiry in his eyes.
"His name is Cerie."
His Majesty Atalan seemed to be stating a fact, but he was clearly carrying an emotion that he could hardly suppress.
Even just mentioning this name... I feel a dull pain.
——Cerie.
Xirui smiled, but felt very uncomfortable: "Yeah, I know."
Upon hearing this, His Majesty Atalan raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes:
"You know? You didn't say you were an orphan."
"Yes, I am an orphan,"
Xirui said, step by step onto the snow-colored carpet, approaching Atalan,
"But I do know about Cerie, Lanta, and the war in the thirty-seven galaxies."
The male insect's voice was low and firm, and his eyes were looking directly at His Majesty Atalan with an almost offensive look. As he approached, the atmosphere in the room became more and more subtle.
Frowning slightly, His Majesty Atalan seemed about to say something, but he forcibly held it back. His gaze lingered on Xirui's face for a moment, and his voice was low and cold:
"Who are you? How do you know about Ranta? Did Cerie tell you?"
Xirui was already approaching, completely close to Atalan.
He met Atalan's gaze without hesitation, and even reached out to hold Atalan's hand, stroking it gently and ambiguously through his snow-white gloves.
Atalan's hands are very beautiful, with distinct joints and a slender shape. Even through the gloves, one can feel the texture of the jade bamboo.
Xirui's movements were gentle and slow, as if silently expressing some profound meaning.
However,
The next second,
The bony wings behind Atalan suddenly lifted up the gorgeous imperial robe, and the sharp tips pointed directly at Xirui's wrist like a blade.
The edges of the wings were so sharp that they could break hair, and with just a little force, Xirui's hand could be easily cut off.
"presumptuous!"
His Majesty Atalan shouted coldly, with unquestionable majesty in his voice.
"Stay away!"
The tips of the wings trembled slightly, as if warning Xirui not to act rashly.
Seeing this, Xirui curled his lips and smiled, without any fear in his eyes.
His eyes were still fixed on His Majesty Atalan's face, and he asked:
"Ranta, why don't you want to recognize me?"
"We are so familiar with each other. Every word, every action, every gesture, even just one look from you, and I know what you are going to do."
The male insect's voice was low and gentle, as if it was telling some distant memory.
His fingers were still gently stroking Atalan's gloves, his movements carrying an unconscious ambiguity and determination.
"How could you not recognize me, Ranta?"
There was a sense of loss in Xirui's voice.
"Huh? Why don't you want to acknowledge me?"
In an instant, His Majesty Atalan's pupils shrank slightly, and the coldness and alienation in his eyes seemed to be shattered by something, as if something had completely collapsed.
His sharp wings were still pointing at Xirui's wrist, but the tips were trembling slightly, as if struggling with something.
The past that has been buried by time may be forced to be revealed tonight.
His Majesty Atalan's voice was subdued, unable to conceal his emotions:
"Twenty-five years have passed. If you really are Cerie, how could your appearance remain unchanged?"
His voice was low and hoarse, unable to hide his fatigue and doubt.
"Don't try this trick. It's meaningless."
But even after saying this, His Majesty Atalan's gaze was still fixed on Xirui's face, with a complex expression flashing in his light golden eyes.
The tip of the wing was still pointing at Xirui's wrist, but the movement was no longer as firm.
"If you were Cerie's child,"
There was a softness in His Majesty Atalan's voice, as if he was trying to convince himself.
"Cerie is my... best friend. I will raise you and take care of you on his behalf."
Xirui looked at him, her eyes gentle but firm: "Lanta, I am Cerie."
His voice was low and calm, as if he was stating a simple fact. He looked directly at Atalan, his eyes showing no evasion, only deep conviction.
His Majesty Atalan was silent for a moment, then slowly closed his eyes, and the tips of his wings gradually retracted and disappeared under the imperial robe again.
His expression revealed a bit of fatigue and helplessness. At this moment, all his calmness and rationality were broken.
The routine was broken, but Atalan actually felt happy.
He smiled bitterly: "How is it possible..."
Xirui took a deep breath, his eyes firm and deep: "It's really me, Lanta. I'm back."
The light in the room shone on the two of them, as if giving them a faint halo.
Just like back then.
Atalan raised his eyes with a complicated look in his eyes, and whispered:
"If you really are Cerie, how can you prove it?"
The answer to this question is right in front of us.
Xirui looked at him, exerted force on his hands, and took off Atalan's snow-white gloves, revealing the mottled scar on the palm of Atalan's right hand:
"Ranta, do you still remember this scar?"
"At that time, one of your wings was broken. It was the injury you sustained while carrying a seriously injured me on your back while climbing the Fifth Gorge Wall."
Xirui stroked Atalan's sad scar.
"We climbed 95 meters with our bare hands. When the military doctor saw us, he was so anxious that he almost cried."
Xirui touched the scar on Atalan's fingertips again.
“And here.”
"I was buried in the ruined building. You desperately dug through the collapsed rubble with your hands. How long did it take? Do you know?"
"At that time, I was still conscious. I knew you would come to save me. I knew you would not give up on me, just like I would never give up on you."
The many scars on Atalan's body are proof that Cerie existed twenty-five years ago.
Atalan stood there blankly, with a real and rare confusion in his eyes that did not belong to the king but to Atalan.
There was a glint in the golden eyes, and hot tears suddenly flowed down.
The monarch didn't even realize that he was crying.
Back then, when all the evidence showed that Cerie had defected to the enemy, he did not cry. But now that Cerie has returned after 25 years, Atalan suddenly burst into tears.
It was suppressed for twenty-five years.
I waited for twenty-five years.
Even if it is the Zerg, how many twenty-five years can we wait?
It only took Atalan two years to fall in love with Cerie. This love, which was clearly known to everyone but never expressed out loud, determined Atalan's life for the next twenty-five years.
Love, resentment, hatred.
The pain is unbearable.
It hurts so much.
The fingertips held by Xirui trembled slightly. Atalan gritted his teeth and spoke stubbornly. The king lost his composure and was actually full of hatred:
"Okay, since it's you, then I want to ask you, why did you leave back then? And since you left, why do you want to come back now?"
"Have you betrayed me?"
"Lanta, do you believe I will betray you?" Xirui asked softly, as if afraid of disturbing her.
The male insect's fingers tightened slightly, and the warmth of his fingertips came through his skin, as if trying to soothe Atalan's inner turmoil.
At this moment, Atalan is like an ice-covered lake, but undercurrents are surging underneath.
Atalan looked at Xirui, crying stubbornly and silently. For a king, even tears were a luxury, so how could he show his vulnerability in front of others?
"I didn't believe it, but when I arrived, only ruins remained. All the witnesses said that you betrayed me and the rebels..."
"Do you know how much I hate you?"
Do you know how scared I am...
"you do not know!"
Atalan's voice suddenly rose, and the hatred and anger in his eyes, filled with tears, almost burst out.
His collapse,
Twenty-five years late.
The dull pain in his nerves almost cut Atalan apart.
When one can no longer bear the pain, the soul will collapse before the spirit, and something will be missing.
The dried golden iris, with dead branches and rotten leaves, waited for twenty-five years.
Atalan's gaze lingered on Xirui's face for a long, long time, as if he wanted to see through those familiar eyes and see into his heart.
"You once filled my bones,"
Atalan's voice was low and hoarse, like a sigh squeezed out from deep in his chest.
"And after you left, you took them all away."
There was an indescribable pain in his words, as if every word weighed a thousand pounds, weighing him down and making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
The king's gaze still lingered on Xirui's face, but it seemed as if he was looking through him to his more distant past self.
"After you left, I became incomplete again."
Atalan's voice trembled slightly, like a candle swaying in the wind, which could go out at any time.
His fingers were grasped by Xirui and curled up unconsciously, and the fingertips exposed to the air turned slightly white.
"Once, I thought I knew you,"
His voice was low, with a hint of self-mockery.
"But after you left, I realized that I didn't know you."
A trace of pain flashed in Xirui's eyes, and his fingers tightened slightly, as if he wanted to convey a little comfort to Atalan through the warmth of his fingertips.
However, Atalan's gaze was like the surface of a frozen lake, shattering layer by layer.
"Cerie,"
Atalan smiled almost painfully, with a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"Why did you come back this time?"
This expression, like a broken mirror, reflects his inner struggle and pain.
The king looked straight at Xirui, as if waiting for an answer, but afraid to hear that answer.
"What are you going to take from me?"
Atalan's voice was low, with a calmness that bordered on despair.
The tear marks on the pale cheeks silently accuse Xirui of leaving and returning.
He waited for Xirui for twenty-five years.
Now I am forty-seven years old.
It was natural that when he cried, he felt awkward and undignified, not as good as he had been twenty-five years before - Atalan knew all this.
But he was too tired.
He was really too tired.
The past and the future mercilessly pulled at Atalan's exhausted spirit.
He is the king of all peoples, the leader of the rebel army, and the sun of the empire that must be firm at all times.
But Atalan almost forgot that he once had the name "Lanta".
Xirui was silent for a moment, with complex emotions emerging in his dark eyes.
That emotion was like an undercurrent in a deep pool, calm on the surface, but with indescribable emotions surging underneath.
The male insect's gaze fell on Atalan's face. He stretched out his other hand and carefully traced the familiar face. The king who was so heavy in the banquet hall just now was now trembling slightly in his palm, like a candle swaying in the wind, which could go out at any time.
The golden iris trembles with tears.
There is nothing pitiful.
Atalan's fingers were cold, as if all the warmth had been lost in the long wait and pain.
Xirui's heart tightened slightly, as if it was grasped by an invisible force. With a slight force on his hands, Xirui pulled the king in noble imperial clothes into his arms.
“!”
Atalan's body stiffened slightly, as if he wanted to break free, but then he gave up and lost all resistance.
The king's forehead rested weakly on Xirui's shoulder, his breathing heavy and disordered, as if the emotions that had been suppressed for too long had finally found an outlet.
The scent of ebony and agarwood filled the nostrils in an instant.
The fragrance is deep and heavy, as if it is flowing slowly from a distant time, carrying the precipitation of years and the warmth of memory.
It diffuses silently, like an invisible silk thread, entwined between breaths and penetrating into every inch of skin.
Atalan's body stiffened slightly - it was the male insect's pheromone - it silently enveloped Atalan, as if bringing him back to the past that was once full of trust and dependence.
The male insect's arms were still tightly wrapped around him, and the pheromones of ebony and agarwood emanated from his body, intertwining with Atalan's breath.
"Because you're here,"
Xirui's voice was low and firm, as solemn as an oath, and every word fell heavily on Atalan's heart.
"So, I'm back. No matter what, I will definitely come back."
The male insect's arms tightly wrapped around Atalan's back, as if to transfer all the warmth and strength to him.
“…”
Atalan's fingers unconsciously grabbed Xirui's collar, and his fingertips tried hard to tear Xirui's dress coat, as if he had grabbed the last straw.
This is a very ambiguous statement.
Just like during the two years when Atalan fell in love with Cerie uncontrollably, he imagined more than once what Cerie would say to him when peace truly came.
——Will he break the boundaries of close friendship and accept his well-known love?
——Zerg law allows the king to monopolize male Zergs. Will Cerie be willing to become that male Zerg?
later,
There is no need to think about anything.
After the war, Atalan, as expected by everyone, wore the crown and sat on the throne, ruling over thirty-seven star systems, wearing a golden and white imperial robe.
And Ranta lost Cerie for twenty-five years.
Fate separated them.
Eventually they were destined to meet again.
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