Chapter 249: Sleep Beside Me

Chapter 249: Chapter 249: Sleep Beside Me

She thought the memory would end there.

But it didn’t.

Instead of fading away like the others, the scene continued. Warm, soft light bathed the training grounds, and Liora saw Aeris—her younger self—still clumsily but stubbornly trailing after Xu Kai.

There was something different now. His steps slowed more often. He would glance sideways when she wasn’t looking. During sparring practice, he no longer ignored her completely. Once, when she tripped again, he caught her by the elbow before she hit the ground.

It was only for a moment. But he didn’t let go right away.

He just looked at her. And she looked at him.

Liora’s breath caught.

Their moments grew warmer each day—fewer words, more looks, unspoken things passed like threads of light between them. Aeris began to understand the rhythm of his silence. He began to tolerate her questions. And sometimes, just sometimes, she’d catch the tiniest quirk of his lips, like a secret smile he never wanted anyone to see.

She had melted something inside him.

The cold, unreachable Commander—he was thawing.

And Aeris, she began to smile more too. Not because everything was easy, but because she had something bright to hold on to. Her days grew smoother. Her rank rose. The other cadets finally started treating her as an equal. There were hard moments, of course, but she no longer carried them alone.

She was happy.



Until... strange things began to happen.

It started small—lights flickering around her at night when she was alone. Her vision would blur suddenly, her ears would ring as if someone whispered too close. And then, she’d wake up in places she didn’t remember walking to. One time, she found herself standing on the academy rooftop in the middle of a storm. She had no memory of getting there.

She began hearing voices. Too soft to understand. Too real to ignore.

Liora watched in horror as Aeris looked around, confused and afraid. Something wasn’t right. Her world, which had finally become stable, was slipping again.

She stepped closer in the memory space, trying to see more, trying to hear the voice Aeris kept reacting to—but the memory around her blurred.

Like static.

Like fog crawling in from the edges.

She tried to push through it. She wanted to know. She had to know what was happening to her.

But the more she tried, the more pain gripped her skull.

It was unbearable.

Liora felt as if a hand were pressing against her mind. The more she tried to see, the harder it became, and the pain grew unbearable. Soon, her vision went dark.

And then she was falling—out of the memory.

—

She woke up with a gasp.

Her chest heaved, her breath catching hard as if she had been suffocating. Her heart pounded so loud it echoed in her ears, and her vision spun. She felt the fabric beneath her, soft and rough—her bed. She was back in her hut.

The air was cool, but sweat clung to her skin. Her head throbbed. She raised a hand to her temple, struggling to steady her breathing. Her body was trembling. She didn’t even know why. The pain from that final moment still echoed in her skull like aftershocks from a storm.

She closed her eyes, trying to breathe in—slow, calm breaths.

But then a gentle voice broke through.

"Liora... are you alright?"

Without even thinking, she turned—and crashed into his arms.

Xu Kai. She knew it was him just by his voice.

He was sitting beside her bed, one knee up, his expression filled with concern. His hands instinctively caught her when she fell against him, and he went stiff for a moment, surprised. But he didn’t pull away.

He didn’t ask questions.

He simply wrapped his arms around her and held her as she trembled.

She didn’t know what he had seen while she was trapped in the memory. But she knew he must’ve noticed something. His senses were sharp—nothing escaped him. He must have heard her ragged breathing, the way she tossed or whimpered in her sleep. Maybe he had rushed here the moment it began. Maybe... he had never left at all.

She felt him shift slightly as if adjusting her in his arms, his hand slowly beginning to stroke her back in gentle circles.

It was warm.



It was grounding.

And for the first time in so long, she cried.

Tears rolled down her cheeks silently, soaking into his shoulder. She didn’t sob. She didn’t make a sound. But the pain spilled out anyway—pain she hadn’t even realized she still carried.

He didn’t speak.

He just held her tighter.

It was the first time she had ever cried in front of him.

After a while, when the shaking calmed and her tears finally slowed, she pulled away. Just a little. His arm stayed on her back, firm and steady.

She wiped her face and forced a smile. "Nothing serious," she whispered. "Just missed my family... I guess."

She tried to laugh lightly.

But she knew it was the worst kind of lie.

And from the way Xu Kai looked at her—his eyes dark and quiet—she knew he didn’t believe her for a second.

Still, he didn’t call her out on it.

Instead, he simply stroked her back once more and hummed low in his chest. "Hmm."

That was all.

Simple. Wordless.

She looked down at her hands. "I really made you worry, didn’t I?"

She glanced up at him again, and for a moment, she felt something shift between them.

He looked at her—not just with concern now—but with something deeper. Something she hadn’t seen clearly before.

A quiet warmth. A question in his eyes. A feeling neither of them could put into words.

She looked away quickly, embarrassed. "Actually... I’ve been feeling really lonely lately," she murmured.

Then she looked back at him, a little shyly. "Can you... maybe... sleep beside me tonight? Just for a little while. So I don’t feel so alone."

Xu Kai blinked.

Stunned.

She saw his throat move as he swallowed.

He didn’t answer right away. And she felt the awkwardness return like a cold breeze. She looked down again and quickly said, "Forget I asked. That was stupid. You don’t have to—"

"I’ll stay," he said with a soft velvety tone that made liora ear’s ring.

She stared at him. He looked almost like he regretted the words already. His ears were slightly pink. He probably expected to sit on the ground beside the bed or just watch from a distance.



But she scooted over and patted the space beside her.

He froze.

His eyes darted to the empty spot. Then to her.

Then back to the spot.

She grinned, even through her puffy eyes. "What are you afraid of?" she teased, voice still a little hoarse. "I don’t kick in my sleep."

She said it with a teasing smile, then immediately turned over, lying down on her side and closing her eyes as if to hide her embarrassment. Her back now faced him, and she tugged the thin blanket a little higher, pretending to get comfortable.

But inside, her heart thudded like a drum.

For a moment, there was only silence. She didn’t hear him move, and for a second, she wondered if he had changed his mind. Her fingers curled slightly over the edge of the blanket, her breath catching in her throat.

And then—soft rustling.

She heard the quiet slide of his boots being removed, the dipping of the grass bed as he shifted his weight, He didn’t say a word, and neither did she. But she felt the shift in the air. The warmth of his presence. The steady, quiet sound of his breathing so close now.

Even though there was still a small space between them, it was enough.

She smiled with cunningness. Just like Aeris had once done. When she cornered the cold, silent Commander day by day. When her stubborn heart had wormed its way into his quiet world.