172: Chapter 172: Please don't take him completely away from me, okay?

Her voice was very soft, yet carried a heartbreaking loneliness:

"He and I both came from ten thousand years in the future; I believe you are aware of this information. Here, I have no family, no clan, no friends who have known me since childhood. All my past, all my memories, all my sense of belonging are tied only to him. He is my everything, the only anchor I have in this strange era, my only... home."

"I cannot leave him, I really can't. Without him, I am like a kite with a broken string, not knowing where I will drift, nor knowing... what the meaning of living is anymore."

Her words were like the lightest feather, yet they carried the weight of a thousand pounds, striking Snow Empress's heart with every single word.

Snow Empress suddenly looked up, her ice-blue eyes filled with shock and deep heartache.

She had never heard Wang Donger reveal her inner heart so straightforwardly, so vulnerably.

So, it turned out that Wang Donger's reliance on Lu Jing, and her cherishing of this relationship, was far deeper than she had imagined, and even more... impossible to lose.

In fact, this was understandable, for as Wang Donger had said, both she and Lu Jing had come from ten thousand years in the future.

They had no one to rely on and no one they could trust in this World.

Especially for Wang Donger, because in terms of emotion and sensibility, women are generally stronger than men.

"So, Sister Snow!"

Wang Donger held Snow Empress's hand, applying a little pressure.

Those azure eyes, filled with watery light, stared unblinkingly at Snow Empress.

Her gaze was filled with an earnestness that bordered on pleading, and her voice carried an imperceptible tremor:

"You also like him, I know. I also know that he... has feelings for you too."

"I don't object, really. For someone as good as you, Sister Snow, to be able to like him is his good fortune."

"But... Sister Snow, I beg you..."

At this point, Wang Donger's voice began to choke up, and tears finally fell uncontrollably down her smooth cheeks, shimmering with a crystalline glow under the moonlight and lamplight:

"Please don't take him away from me completely, okay?"

"Let's live together... live together, accompany him together, can we?"

"I... I am really afraid, so afraid of being left all alone. I don't want to be lonely anymore..."

"Sister Snow, will you promise me, please?"

By the end, Wang Donger was almost sobbing uncontrollably.

She gripped Snow Empress's hand tightly, as if it were her last straw.

Tears blurred her vision and dampened her delicate cheeks.

That appearance of vulnerability, helplessness, yet suppressing her heartache, trying hard to share instead of monopolizing, would break anyone's heart who saw it.

Snow Empress stared blankly at Wang Donger, who was crying like a child before her, listening to her almost humble plea, feeling the trembling and coldness coming from her hand, and only felt her own heart being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, painful to the point of being unable to breathe.

So... this was what Wang Donger was feeling.

She was not angry, not uncaring.

On the contrary, she cared too much, she was too afraid of losing him.

Therefore, she would rather suppress her own grievances and heartache, would rather make the difficult decision to share, just to keep Lu Jing, to keep her only reliance and warmth in this World.

And she herself... because of an uncontrollable emotion, had made her so painful, so uneasy.

Immense guilt, pity, being moved, as well as an indescribable emotion mixed with bitterness and warmth, like a surging tide, instantly engulfed Snow Empress.

Her eyes also instantly reddened, and in her ice-blue eyes, crystalline tears could no longer be suppressed, rolling down like pearls from a broken string, forming a stark contrast with her stunningly beautiful, pale face.

"Wang Donger... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Snow Empress reached out and tightly grasped Wang Donger's hand, her voice choking, speaking incoherently: "It is my fault... I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have had such thoughts... making you so sad... I'm sorry..."

She did not know how to express her complex feelings at this moment.

There was heartache for Wang Donger, annoyance at herself, bewilderment at this sudden, permitted emotion, and also a kind of... strange, accepted warmth.

This was very different from when she was alone in the Far North.

"Don't apologize, Sister Snow."

Wang Donger was crying, but she shook her head vigorously.

She reached out, clumsily trying to wipe the tears from Snow Empress's face, and said softly: "You are not wrong, liking someone is not wrong. I just... just don't want to lose him, and I don't want to lose you either. You... are both important people to me."

Her words were like a warm current, pouring into Snow Empress's cold and flustered heart.

Two women, equally stunning, equally troubled by love, and equally crying vulnerably in the dead of night, just held hands tightly, crying across from each other.

Moonlight silently shone upon them, casting a layer of poignant and moving halo over this scene.

It is unknown how long they cried, but the tears seemed to have taken away some of the repression and unease.

Wang Donger sniffled, wiped her face messily with her sleeve, and revealed a smile that, though a bit disheveled after crying, was exceptionally genuine.

She looked at Snow Empress, whose eyes were also red and swollen, and asked softly again, carrying a hint of cautious anticipation:

"Sister Snow, will you promise me, please? Can we... be together?"

Snow Empress looked at Wang Donger's azure eyes, which were still filled with watery light but also full of anticipation.

Looking at her trying so hard to be strong, yet unable to hide her vulnerability, the last trace of hesitation and defense in her heart completely collapsed.

She nodded vigorously, tears falling again, her voice thick with nasal congestion, yet exceptionally clear and firm:

"Yes. I promise you, Wang Donger."

"We will be together."

"I will not... take him away. I... I just want to... be able to accompany him too, and also... be good to you."

"Let us... live together."

After speaking, she could no longer hold back, reached out her arms, and gently, yet with immense care, embraced Wang Donger, who was crying with red eyes, into her arms.

Wang Donger immediately hugged her back, burying her face in the crook of her neck, which emitted a faint, icy fragrance, and started sobbing silently again.

Only this time, the tears seemed to have less bitterness and more... relief and a strange sense of peace.

Two women, in the room in the dead of night, cried in each other's arms, and found warmth in each other's arms.

The moonlight silently witnessed all this, witnessing a complex and sincere emotion quietly reaching a subtle and precious balance amidst tears and honesty.

What the future holds, no one knows.

But at least at this moment, two hearts, lost and bewildered because of the same man, found a path they could walk side by side—perhaps one filled with thorns, but also full of possibilities—because of their honesty and concession to each other.