【Interstellar Contract Magician】Ruyuanke

Chapter 441 [Empire] I Have a Lover

"Nightingale, I. I have a lover." I lowered my head, relaxed my eyes, and let my vision unfocus.

As the words slipped out of my mouth, they seemed to carry a sense of relief, but the heaviness of them was stronger than any impulsive decision.

The nightingale fell silent. The air suddenly became still, as if everything was frozen in that moment. My heartbeat seemed to slow, and a subtle tension hung in the air.

I lowered my head, not daring to meet his eyes. The unprecedented silence made me uneasy, yet it also felt like a way out. The nightingale's elusive presence was no longer before my eyes, but a completely different me. It was as if, in his presence, I had finally found my true voice.

"Are you sure?" he finally spoke, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper. There was no question in his tone, only a faint tentativeness and a slight emotional fluctuation that bordered on helplessness.

I nodded, still not looking up. "Yes. I think now is the time to tell you."

He was speechless, seemingly lost in thought. Silence fell upon us once more. I could feel him moving closer, so close I could almost hear his own breathing. I didn't dare look up at him, perhaps because I was afraid of witnessing such a complex display of emotions, afraid I'd lose what little composure I had left.

I relaxed again, trying not to think about his potential reaction. The dish before me had already cooled, and the taste no longer seemed important. The long-buried urge within me finally found an outlet.

"Is he important to you?" Nightingale's voice sounded again. This time his tone was much calmer, no longer carrying the fluctuations from before.

I couldn't help but sigh softly. "He's very important to me. More important than I even thought."

Nightingale was silent for a while, and I felt that he seemed to be weighing something. Finally, he sighed and tapped the table with his fingers, making a regular sound.

"If he's important to you, that's fine," he said, his voice low. "But, you know, I don't like hearing you say that."

I looked up and finally met his eyes. They were deep, as if filled with countless emotions and elusive stories. I didn't say anything, just looked at him quietly, sensing the complexity in his eyes.

He suddenly laughed, a laugh so easy and yet so ironic: "But I think you already know everything I think of you."

"Really?" I didn't try to avoid the underlying meaning. Instead, I responded directly. Although my tone was calm, a subtle shift had already occurred within me. "You knew this a long time ago, didn't you?"

He didn't answer immediately, but simply raised his hand to straighten his cuffs, as if sorting out some unfinished detail. I knew that every move he made was filled with a desire for control, as if he was always in control of the rhythm of everything.

"Maybe," he said, "but it doesn't matter."

At that moment, I actually smiled. Not a suppressed smile, but a smile that emerged from the depths of my heart, a smile of ease and relief. It was as if I had instantly let go of all the complicated emotions that had been accumulating inside me. I couldn't believe I could feel so relaxed.

Nightingale looked at me with a hint of surprise. Perhaps he hadn't expected such a reaction from me, perhaps even thinking I should be even sadder, or more conflicted. However, my smile was beyond his expectations.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows slightly and deliberately brought the subject back to the topic. "Do you think I'll be sad?"

Nightingale seemed stunned, his expression becoming somewhat complicated. He was silent for a moment, as if considering my words, and then smiled faintly: "Maybe. However, I really didn't expect you to be like this."

"Then what do you think I should do?" I asked him in a somewhat relaxed tone, but a hint of curiosity arose in my heart, wanting to know what he was thinking.

He didn't answer immediately, but just shook his head: "You are a very difficult person to understand."

I smiled slightly: "You just found out?"

"Yes." A faint smile appeared on Nightingale's lips. "You have always been hard to figure out."

His words suddenly threw me off balance, a complex feeling welling up inside me. Was I really so mysterious, even incomprehensible, in his eyes? Over the years, almost every encounter between us had been shrouded in mystery, and I had gradually lost myself in it.

However, at this moment, I don't want to look back at the puzzles of the past. Instead, I want to ask myself why I feel so relaxed at this moment, as if all the confusion and entanglement have disappeared?

I lowered my head and took a sip of water: "Don't look at my expression anymore, I have made my decision."

Nightingale's gaze fell on me, a little deep, but he didn't seem to want to ask any further questions. He sighed softly. "Really? That's good." His tone still carried a hint of unpredictable indifference. "However, your decision has nothing to do with me anymore."

I raised my head and met his eyes, feeling a deep gap between us, as if no matter what choice I made, there would always be an invisible wall between him and me.

But I no longer felt depressed. In fact, I felt somewhat relieved. My decision was my own, and I didn't need anyone else's approval or validation.

"Yeah." I nodded slightly, a smile curling up at the corner of my mouth. "So, don't look at me as 'elusive' anymore. I know the way to go."

Nightingale was silent for a while, her eyes slightly complicated, but in the end she just smiled softly and shook her head: "You are always so cheerful."

"Yes," I replied, "because I know what I want."

He looked at me, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just lowered his head and said softly, "That's good. I wish you a safe journey."

"Thank you." I smiled faintly, my heart no longer filled with the uneasiness and confusion. It seemed I could finally say goodbye to Nightingale. I didn't need his company any longer, even though our relationship had been complicated and tangled.

I stood up and patted my clothes lightly: "Okay, I have to go."

He didn't stop me or say anything, he just watched me leave silently.

Leave this place and find a new world that belongs to me.

I stood at the restaurant door, watching the sudden downpour of rain and hail outside, my heart ached. The once peaceful street suddenly became like an overturned bucket, the rain rapidly overflowing, creating ripples on the ground and even bits of broken ice. The crisp sound of hail hitting the windowpane made me shiver.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered to myself. I hadn't expected the city's environmental simulation system to take such a sudden turn for the worse. The once clear sky suddenly turned to a torrential downpour. Even more frustrating was the fact that just after the Spring Festival, when temperatures were supposedly just beginning to rise, the city's environmental simulation system had suddenly switched out of winter mode.

I frowned and turned to look inside. The warm lights in the restaurant and the hot soup on the table suddenly seemed extremely tempting, while the torrential rain outside made me feel a little disoriented.

"Looks like I can't go out today," I murmured to myself, feeling inexplicably uneasy. The arrival of the storm gave me a sudden sense of oppression, as if something was quietly approaching.

I took a deep breath, trying to put these anxieties out of my mind, and decided to go back to the restaurant to take shelter. Just as I turned around, I suddenly heard a low laugh behind me.

"I didn't expect that you would be trapped by the weather." Nightingale's voice sounded, with his usual lazy and indifferent tone.

I looked back and saw him standing at the restaurant door, one hand on the doorframe, the other casually tucked into his trouser pocket, his eyes fixed on me. At that moment, his eyes were different from his usual playful expression, with something more profound in them.

"What's the problem?" I glared at him. "Don't you care about the change in the weather? It's even hailstorming."

Nightingale curled the corners of his mouth, revealing an ambiguous smile: "What, are you scared?" He leaned against the door frame, as if waiting for my reaction.

"Who's scared?" I couldn't help but retort. "I just think it's ridiculous. How can the weather in the city change so quickly?"

Nightingale looked at me with a slightly stern look in her eyes, and suddenly changed the subject: "Do you feel that this rain is meant to make you stay?"

I was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "You think a lot."

He didn't say anything more, just smiled and pointed to the seats in the restaurant: "Since it's raining so hard, how about staying here and having a drink?"

I looked at him, and the hesitation in my heart returned at that moment. The rain outside seemed to be getting more violent, but here, it was a warm haven.

"Okay, let's have a drink." I finally nodded and walked back into the restaurant.