226: Chapter 226 Fragments of Memory

In the eyes of everyone in the Jiang Family, Jiang Fengyu was the prodigy they had poured countless resources into, raised to be their successor, and groomed as the hope for the family's future.

As for Jiang Luoli, although she was also a direct descendant, she was ultimately a woman and would sooner or later be married off.

All along, even though Jiang Luoli had displayed astonishing martial arts talent, one that was not in the least bit inferior to Jiang Fengyu, she had always been intentionally or unintentionally marginalized by the family.

Within the family, almost all the high-quality resources were poured into Jiang Fengyu, in the hope that he could lead the Jiang Family back to glory.

But now... Jiang Fengyu had died in the Heroic Spirit Contract Ceremony.

What made her feel even more chilled was that Su Chen, who had gone with her and whom she, Jiang Luoli, had personally brought into the world of martial arts, had become the primary suspect for the massacre at the Heroic Spirit Contract Ceremony.

Almost everyone in the family was convinced that even if Su Chen was a complete scumbag, she, Jiang Luoli, must also be complicit.

It was she who was jealous of her brother and colluded with an outsider, that boy named Su Chen, which ultimately led to the death of Jiang Fengyu.

Even though she repeatedly explained that Su Chen had no idea Jiang Fengyu would be attending the ceremony when they went together, even though she emphasized that the ceremony was fraught with danger where life and death were matters of fate, and even though she insisted that Su Chen's character was such that he would never do such a thing—and that he had even personally saved an entire plane full of people—no one would listen, and no one would believe her.

After all, nobody cared about the process.

All they wanted was a result.

Now that their prodigy had fallen, the fact that she had been in the company of the suspected culprit and had returned unscathed was, in itself, an original sin.

Consequently, her mother had confiscated her communication device, grounded her, and locked her within these narrow confines.

At first, she was angry, resentful, and tried to argue.

But as time passed, a deeper sense of exhaustion and an inexplicable grief quietly overwhelmed her like a tide.

She thought of Su Chen.

When the past-life memories of Su Chen and those contracted Heroic Spirits appeared before everyone, the person present who was the most heartbroken was Jiang Luoli.

Watching everything he had experienced with them, seeing them so compatible and well-matched, and seeing the three Transcendent Heroic Spirits, whose strength far exceeded her own, looking at him with such intense and possessive gazes, Jiang Luoli knew that she had already lost.

Could it be... that her "investment" in her junior schoolmate could already be declared a failure?

What was somewhat laughable was that although she had been slightly attracted to Su Chen at the beginning, she was more motivated by the idea of utilizing his talent to soar to success herself.

Her mindset had been entirely that of a ruthless businesswoman.

But now, only when Su Chen had left her did she suddenly feel as if a piece of her heart were missing.

She, Jiang Luoli, could no longer live without him.

But... was there truly even the slightest possibility that Su Chen could belong to her?

Perhaps Su Chen had never been attracted to her, and might not even be aware of her feelings, regarding her merely as a senior with a nice personality.

As her sorrow deepened day by day, the anger in Jiang Luoli's heart gradually subsided, replaced by emptiness and grief.

She began to frequently space out, and bizarre, surreal images would appear before her eyes without any warning.

Sometimes, she could see a vast river shrouded in mist.

She was riding a magnificent multi-story boat, slowly sailing toward a high platform on the opposite bank, where banners fluttered in the wind and soldiers in armor stood like a forest.

Sometimes, she saw the long, silent nights of a deep palace, with a lone lamp flickering like a bean, illuminating the winding dragon patterns on the cold palace pillars.

Sometimes, she saw flames rising into the sky, with scorching waves of heat rushing toward her, accompanied by the crackling sound of wood bursting.

Gradually, these images appeared more and more frequently.

Jiang Luoli even suspected that someone had used some kind of psychic superpower on her.

These images were both strange and familiar.

They were strange because all of them seemed to belong to an ancient queen who had lived who knows how long ago.

Jiang Luoli was not an actress, and it was even less possible that she had been to ancient times; these certainly were not her own memories.

They were familiar because these images felt as if they were innate, always surging up whenever her mind was most relaxed.

In more extreme instances, when she saw these images, a sharp pain would shoot through her mind, and she would feel an inexplicable urge to cry, as if the queen in the images, who loved but could not be with her beloved, were her, or as if she had some connection to her.

This situation had been getting worse every day during the few days she had been imprisoned.

Whenever the night was deep and quiet and she managed to fall asleep, those images would converge into more complete and clear dreams.

In the dreams, she would continue to take on the role of that queen, always dressed in a phoenix-patterned robe, standing on a high platform or in a deep palace, looking in a certain direction with a gaze that was sorrowful yet resolute.

She could not see her own face in the dream, nor could she see the appearance of the person she was looking at.

Only that bone-deep loneliness and longing were so real, so heavy, and so unforgettable that it made her unable to breathe.

Thinking and thinking, she didn't know when, but Jiang Luoli drifted off to sleep again, leaning dizzily against the bedpost.

Tonight seemed exceptionally different.

Almost the moment she fell asleep, the dream, like a violent torrent, suddenly engulfed her.

What she saw tonight was no longer fragments, but a complete, coherent life, as if she had experienced it herself.

In the first memory, the Luo River was surging, and early spring was slightly chilly.

She sat in the jolting cabin, her heart in turmoil.

She secretly lifted the curtain.

On the high platform on the opposite bank, a young king was overlooking the river.

The spring breeze stirred the flowing beads on his crown, blurring his face.

Only a pair of calm, deep eyes, separated by the vast, misty waves, met her panicked, peeking gaze from afar.

That one fleeting glance was enough to make the mountains and rivers lose their color.

After several years in the deep palace, with only lone lamps and cold moonlight, she was the rightful Queen, yet she and her King treated each other with the formal respect of strangers.

She watched him maneuver through the imperial court, watched him lay out his plans in secret, and watched him frown over the suffering of the common people.

She also watched as a woman of peerless beauty and natural charm appeared by his side: Su Daji.

While the King "favored" Su Daji, she neither fought nor grabbed for attention.

She silently kept to her duty as the "Queen."

Out of his sight, she fended off open attacks and secret plots for him, exhausted her heart and energy to extend his life, and kept her overflowing love firmly suppressed beneath a dignified and graceful exterior.

At the top of the Star-Plucking Tower, red candles wept blood.

Driven by some strange impulse, she followed them up and witnessed a simple yet poignant wedding.

Her heart was gnawed by jealousy and bitterness.

When she heard that the nuptial wine had been drugged, she made a decision that she herself could hardly believe.

Shedding her clothes, amidst the swaying red curtains and the chaos of intertwined figures, she replaced the bride who was dazed by the drug's effects, bearing all of the King's heat and madness.

That night, there were tears and pain.

There was a desperate seeking that humbled her to the dust, and there was a resolution like a moth flying into a flame.

With Zhaoge on the verge of collapse and the night as dark as ink, he was exhausted and his hair had turned white, yet he calmly arranged a way out for everyone.

After entrusting the seeds of civilization and the families of loyal subjects to her, he chose the most tragic end for himself: burning in a raging fire.

With his reputation tarnished and his body destroyed, he fulfilled the cultivation of another woman and secured a path of survival for the soldiers and civilians of the entire city.

(Bounty extra chapter progress 55 / 99!!)