Chapter 3: Bye.

I couldn't blame her, but that didn't mean that I was going to console her.

Au contraire, getting near her to console her would only make it seem like I had been acting since the beginning to get into her pants, which wasn't my objective in the least.

I was a gentleman, and if I wanted to get into someone's pants, emotional manipulation wasn't even on the list of possible methods. I wasn't scum.

So I just stood there, looking at the crying girl with an impassive face, until she finally calmed down a couple minutes later.

"Have you calmed down?" I asked, to which she nodded, prompting me to continue, "In that case, if you don't have any objection, we'll go with my plan, but I'll have to ask for your collaboration; would you be able to do that?"

She stifled another sniff and finally got herself together. "What do you need?"

I smiled, feeling the drive in the girl's voice. "Good, do you know of a way to get away from this place without being seen? I'd rather people not be alerted before it's too late."

"Yes," she replied, "there is a secret tunnel to escape; it's not far, and you should be able to get there without being seen."

Fantastic, "Great, second thing, if that's the case, then we are good for the escape, but I'd need things for after my escape."

"Things?" She asked skeptically.

"Yes, things," I replied. "If I need to escape this city to never be seen again, then I need to run as far away as possible. For that, I'd need food, water, money, obviously, and maybe a map to a nearby city. Could you get those things for me?"

"How would I give them to you? We don't have that much time." She replied, bringing up her doubts.

"I'll get back to the tunnel's exit tonight; I want you, or someone you trust, to bring the things then, and make sure to not alarm anyone; I wouldn't want to deal with your angry brother." I replied jokingly, trying to bring a bit of humor into the conversation.

It worked apparently, as she chuckled, "You shouldn't worry about that; sometimes I think Yuanba loves you more than he does me; he will be devastated to find out you won't become real brothers in law."

What kind of name was Yuanba?

It was so weird that I was pretty sure I would remember it until I became an old man, or until I found someone with a weirder name, whatever happened first.

"Great, if you don't have any objections, it seems like we have a plan. Guide me to this tunnel of yours before the people outside get suspicious." I said, liking where this conversation had brought me.

"There is a lake some distance north of the exit; we'll meet there." She said, to which I briefly nodded.

It was fruitful, and she seemed like a good girl. It was unfortunate for her to be born into a family where they didn't care for what she thought, but she would have to become strong if she wanted to free herself from restrictive societal norms.

I know; I've done so, and it required real strength.

On your own against the world, that's what it means to be different from all others; that's the only way to really change things.

Allies would naturally form around you, and if you were right, your side would become the majority. That's how the world worked.

I managed to reach the emergency exit without a single problem, and soon enough I was outside the city.

This went easier than I would have thought—no dramatic escape, no discovery at the last moment, nothing.

All that mattered now was hoping that the girl would manage to keep her part of the deal; otherwise, I would have to hunt my own food.

So I found the most comfortable place I could manage to find and waited.

And waited.

This wait was agony.

Only now could I really think about this whole messed-up, bloody situation.

What happened to my old body?

If I was here, then it meant that she might also be here. I hoped she was alright.

I knew we hadn't been together for long—just two years—but she was a great person, and I wasn't afraid to shout to the whole world that I loved her.

And now she was gone, as was everything else that I had fought tooth and nail for.

Unknowingly, tears began flowing from my eyes. My expression was unchanging, but my eyes reddened as my tear ducts refused to stay closed.

I would find a way back—that much I could swear, no matter what.

Hours passed, but the silence was unbearable, so I started singing, to the best of my ability, some of my favorite songs in the hopes that I would remember them all. Thankfully, this body's voice wasn't bad; it was pretty adaptable to high and low notes.

I waited by the lake, as we had agreed.

And waited.

"I'm lost in these memories, living behind my own illusion.

"I lost all my dignity, living inside my own confusion." Then I heard steps behind me.

So I looked directly at the source, uncaring that it could have been anyone else except the person I was waiting for.

Thankfully, I was exactly the girl that I had met earlier this day; her scarlet red dress was no more; she now wore a more normal dress, one useful for most occasions.

For example, a rendezvous with a runaway husband-to-be

"Greetings, I trust you've been well." I greeted her, not standing from the rock I had been sitting on.

"Better than ever, now that you're gone." She replied with a brilliant smile that showed all of her beauty.

I chuckled in amusement; she certainly didn't hide her feelings for me anymore. "I bet; have you brought the things?"

"Indeed, I also brought a few changes of clothing; I figured you would attract too much unwanted attention if you kept the ceremonial robe."

"Smart girl, thank you." I replied, accepting the bag with all the stuff I had asked for and ignoring the vague reddish hue the girl's checks had assumed at my compliment.

She didn't make any motion to leave, so I figured she had something to talk about: "Would you like to sit on my rock?"

"This is still my family's territory; it is my rock." She chuckled jokingly.

Her personality had really changed now that she was no longer made to marry me, but then again, maybe this is her usual personality that I wasn't qualified to see.

"Well, I'm sitting on it right now, so it's my rock." I replied.

The rock was big enough for people to sit on comfortably without being too close, so she just accepted my invitation: "Ask away, princess, what do you need?"

"That song was really good." She said this after hesitating a bit.

"Oh yeah, I know; it's one of my favorites, and I'm happy that my bad singing hasn't butchered its charm." I replied, happy that I could share my music even in different worlds.

I was as happy as I could possibly be after being thrown into an unknown world away from everything I knew anyway.

"It is good indeed, but the singing is unlike anything I ever heard; where does it come from?" She asked curiously.

"From far away, the singer is a legend, one of the greatest to have ever lived." I replied, thinking back to all the happy and sad times I had spent listening to that music.

It simply resonated with me on a deeper level, giving me the chills every time I heard my favorite ones.

"What's their name?" She asked.

"You wouldn't know; I'm probably the only one who knows about him anyway; no need to bother yourself about it." I replied, looking in the distance.

For a moment, we just sat there as accomplices relaxing after a successful escape, until I heard her voice again.

"You know, it is unbecoming for a man to cry; what would other people think if the man who ran away from me was seen crying at my side?"

Was I still crying?

Oh well.

"That I had regretted it, no doubt, but do you know what the most manly thing possible is, princess?" I asked.

She remained silent, obviously waiting for my reply: "It is to not care about what strangers think; what do opinions count if those who hold them mean nothing to me?"

She just hummed, neither denying nor accepting my words, but honestly, I didn't care.

"That's a dangerous mindset to live by." She stated.

"Maybe, but it's mine, and you're a stranger too, princess." I chuckled.

I heard a sniff, so I looked in her direction, seeing her with her hands covering her face and her body bent forward.

"Woah, there, are you alright?" I asked, making no actual motion to get near her.

"You know, I had resigned to marry you... Because your father saved my life, I am the reason he died all those years ago, and now here I am, causing my savior's son to run away from the city he rightfully lived in all his life," she said, in-between sniffles.

I raised an eyebrow in curiosity and asked, "So you wanted to marry me just because of my father?"

She nodded, barely holding herself back from crying again.

"Then that's an even stupider reason than I thought." I fell into a full-blown laugh, causing her to throw me a pebble in outrage.

"What do you mean, stupid? I'll have you know, I'm a genius; I wouldn't be my master's apprentice otherwise!" She shouted, uncaring of the possibility of being heard by any passerby.

"Yeah, sure. "It's still pretty stupid to me." I chuckled.

"Why would that be? I was taught that this was my duty, a life for a life." She said it righteously.

I just looked at her weirdly and said, "A life for a life, then isn't that the same as both you and my father having died that day instead of just him alone? Why should you throw your life away for a dead person when you should make the best of it to honor his memory?"

She stayed silent. I didn't know whether anything I had said was what she needed to hear, but ultimately, I was going to leave.

"And I guess that this is where we part ways." I said, stretching a bit before stepping down from my rock and turning it into her rock.

"Wait!" She shouted, stopping me in my tracks.

I turned around and raised an eyebrow. The sky was dark, and the both of us were mostly covered by darkness. "The road is dangerous for someone without any cultivation; take this."

She threw me a pendant—a very pretty pendant, but still a pendant—and I looked back at her.

And seemingly sensing my inquisitiveness, she continued, "My master gave it to me; it's made to stop most attacks below the Nascent Profound realm; you shouldn't have problems if you keep to the main road; I hope it will be useful for you."

I had no idea what that meant, but I guessed that it confirmed my first guess: this was a magical world.

It didn't invalidate that this might be a fever dream, but nothing could invalidate that hypothesis, so I'll just ignore the possibility.

"Than you then?" I then ruffled through the bag the girl had given me and started looking through the map inside, determined the direction in which I should go, and departed, saying, "Goodbye girl, may we meet again in better circumstances."

"Goodbye." Her voice reached my ears, carried by the wind.

I smiled and began my journey in this likely very dangerous world in which I knew nothing.

In the place I left behind, however, that girl was currently looking in the direction I had left.

"Qingyue, do you wish to return to Frozen Cloud Asgard with me?"

The beautiful, gentle voice was as misty as a cloud and as gentle as a breeze, or so some might describe it; it was enough to make even the world's coldest heart completely melt.

"Yes, Master," she responded to the woman with a respect she didn't reserve for even her own parents.

The woman, far older than her looks betrayed, nodded and said, "Let us depart then."

Xia Qingyue stood up, but before departing with her master, she asked one final question: "Master, is it really impossible to repair his profound vein?"

And the answer came without delay: "There are no such things as absolutes in this world... but at least to me, it seems to not be possible. I really cannot help you with this issue."