Chapter 80 - Even if my heart forgets, my soul will remember you

Years pass by like breezes. Things have changed drastically.

10 years ago, the empress was found hanging in her chamber after Wu Yixing revealed the truth. Her son was ostracized and removed from the position of the crown prince. The emperor asked Wu Yixing to retake the position of the crown prince. Wu Yixing rejected the emperor's offer to live his peaceful life with his wife who was now pregnant.

Li Jun comes back after the war. He visits Wu Yixing first. Wu Yixing welcomes his old friend with happiness. Wu Yixing's place is no longer the same. Her two daughters are born with special abilities like their mother. His 9 years old daughter can talk to plants while his 6 years old daughter can make it rain anytime she wants. Both are taught to hide their abilities by Yoori. Luckily, none of them have the ability of time-traveling.

"Did she...?" Li Jun asks Yoori with a low voice.

Yoori smiles at him. "She didn't come to see me."

Over the years, Li Jun couldn't forget that witch once. If he says that he doesn't know the reason, he is only fooling himself. He's breathing, but there is no life. He can see the sunlight, but there is no light in his eyes.

The emptiness grows like a demon and whispers to him every day, 'It's your fault. You shouldn't have left her that day. You should have held her in your arms and tell her how much you need her to live.'

"Li Jun, I believe that she's fine wherever she is," Yoori tells him with blind faith. "I believe in her abilities. She will do fine. I am sure that she wanted you to live happily. You should stop looking for her."

The words are vain and ineffective. Li Jun leaves Wu Yixing's house quietly.

At night, Wu Yixing sits beside his wife. She is writing something in her diary. He can't understand the language. His wife hasn't revealed anything about her origin. Sometimes, he wonders if she will also disappear like Mo Wei.

He wraps his arm around her waist. "Qian'er, will you tell me your real name?"

Her hand pauses on the paper. She looks at him, frowning. "I didn't tell you yet?"

He looks at her with disbelief. "When did you tell me?"

She scratches her head foolishly. "Did I do it in a dream?"

He shakes his head at her. Sometimes, his wife acts like an idiot. "You never told me. I was going to use a truth potion on you."

She scowls at him darkly. "I would use my third ability on you and find out your every indecent act that you did before our marriage."

She never lets go of his past. He puts his palms together. He can't offend this woman. "I apologize. If I had known that I was going to marry you, I would have never done it."

Yoori takes a long glance at him with a stern face. Her temper simmers down when she sees him smiling at her like a little kid. She has spent 10 years with this man. He manages to melt her heart like this.

Her time-traveling ability is also returning. If she wants, she can leave him. If she travels far in the future, she will be in the burned-out state again. Returning to him will be difficult.

"If I had known that I was going to be your wife, I would have found you sooner," She chuckles lowly. Her niece knew that she would find happiness with Wu Yixing. "I will trust her to inform my mother about my decision."

Wu Yixing raises his brow. "Where is my mother-in-law?"

"You really want to know?" She looks into his eyes. "I will tell you then."

Yoori tells him everything. Her real name. The time-traveling. The mess that she created. Mo Wei's real identity. The only thing that she doesn't reveal is that Li Jun is a host of an anchored timekeeper.

Wu Yixing listens to everything quietly. He has known that she is not an average woman. Their children aren't average either. Wu Yixing believes that his wife is his fortune.

"If you had not appeared in my life, I would have died as a misfortunate man." Wu Yixing kisses her softly. "Will you hate me if I say that I am happy because you had to leave your time and escape here?"

He's also happy that Kyuri gave him a hint before she left. Because of Kyuri and Li Jun, he met his wife.

"You are the type who will be happy when others are misfortunate." She pretends to be angry at him.

Wu Yixing moves away from the strands of her hair from her face. He looks into her sparkling eyes. "Yoori, did I ever mention that I love you?"

Yoori laughs. "I am sure that you said that to me in your dreams."

Their two daughters return from the garden after a small fight. They see their parents laughing together. The daughters run to their parents to complain about each other. Yoori and Wu Yixing look at their little treasures and share a smile, realizing that this moment is possibly one of the happiest moments of their lives.

Wu Qiuyue has been looking forward to Li Jun's return. She keeps waiting for him. After that night, she never entered his chamber again. She is always afraid that he meant his words. She would be thrown out. She will lose everything including whatever left of her pride. After Li Jun's return, she hopes that he has changed.

Nothing has changed. Li Jun never looks at her. He doesn't talk to her. The relationship between him and Li Hua also turn sour because of Li Jun's treatment of Wu Qiuyue. The small thorn between father and son grows into a giant unbreakable wall. Wu Qiuyue becomes depressed when she sees this. She has Li Hua, but Li Jun has no one. That man would never let her come to his side.

She suffers every day to see him in pain. She tries her best to mend the relationship between Li Hua and Li Jun, but it never works. The mental anguish and pain take a toll on her body. At the age of 33, she dies with Li Hua crying beside her. Li Jun didn't come to see her one last time.

Neither alive nor dead, Li Jun quietly lives his life. Sometimes, he gazes afar and hopes to see a certain familiar and yet unfamiliar figure. Perhaps, their paths would miraculously cross. Maybe, she would change her mind and come to him.

He wonders if he should have said yes when she asked him to abandon everything for her. He wonders if she would accept if he was never married.

There are only questions, but she's not here to answer him.

Will she keep her promise?

Years later, he is lying alone on the bed. He is too old and weak to get up. His son hasn't come to see him once. There is no one beside him.

The destined child who has contributed greatly to the nation. The man who changed history. The war hero.

All the titles and achievements are dust when one is lying on his deathbed.

He hopefully looks at the door, hoping desperately that a figure will probably materialize in his blurry vision.

"The day is over," He whispers as the last ray of sunlight is gone from the sky. "You didn't keep your promise, Witch."

He hears a short laugh. "The birthday boy is angry."

The same laugh that he heard a long time ago. A memory that seems like a dream now. A distant memory from a life that he would have lived if she hadn't changed the past.

"Kyuri..." The long-forgotten familiar name comes out of his lips. He remembers now who she is.

She lights the lamp beside his bed. The soft light falls on her face. She looks the same. Before the time turn and after the time turn, Li Jun realizes that she has been the only woman that he has loved.

"You remember me." She holds his hand and smiles. "Is it because you are going to leave me soon?"

"You left me first." Li Jun doesn't want to blink. He can't tell whether this is a dream or a reality. The distance between his life and death is closing. If he blinks, she might disappear. "I will find you again."

"I will wait for you." She lays down beside him. She could hear the sound of his slowing heartbeat.

"Liar." Li Jun chuckles hoarsely. "You didn't wait for me that day."

A traitorous tear escapes her eye. Li Jun places his bony palm on her cheek. He kisses her one last time on her forehead.

He tells her as his voice becomes faint with each word, "I won't say goodbye. I know that I will meet you again someday. Even if my heart forgets, my soul will remember you."

There is a content smile frozen on his face. His eyes didn't leave her face once.

Kyuri presses her face to his ċhėst and breaks into sobs.

When the sunlight breaks into the sky, Li Jun is found on the bed alone with a warm smile on his lips as if he's asleep and dreaming of something sweet and intangible.