Looking at the somewhat dejected young man standing before her, even when ignored and unnoticed, his deep-set eyes, all of his gaze, were fixed solely on the maiden high in the center of the banquet, like a blooming flower.
She was the one who first taught him how to communicate with others, the one who first helped him step out of his closed-off heart.
He felt, for the first time, that there truly was someone in the world gentle enough to embrace everything, willing to listen and confide in, even if it was mixed with complaints.
Vil-V clutched the collar of her shirt, suppressing a heart that was inexplicably uncomfortable and anxious, her soft face, unbeknownst to herself, turning pale.
Incomprehensible.
Unthinkable.
She just inexplicably felt a suffocating pain in her heart.
She suddenly recalled her first meeting with Aili Xiya, and her assessment of that maiden.
—She seemed like a flirtatious and fickle girl, capable of making anyone open up with enticing yet never excessive words, be it serious, robust men, shy, gentle maidens, naive, adorable children, or even weathered, slow elderly folk.
Ah… ah… ah… it was so dazzling it was almost blinding, difficult to look at directly; even if she were a flower, she would be one that radiated light as intensely as the sun.
Someone like her probably wasn't even worthy of standing before Aili Xiya.
But perhaps…—I can also help the young man with something?
The maiden's thoughts uncontrollably began to externalize, tearing at the exquisite collar she had displayed to the young man until it ripped, revealing her fair and soft skin.
—If I put in my full effort, perhaps someone like me could also reciprocate the young man's gentle willingness to embrace, communicate, and listen.
Perhaps… perhaps.
No matter how useless a person, how unwilling to take a step outside their world, they should still be able to blossom with some value of their own in this world.
I'll start by getting to know the young man better.
I'll quickly earn a Ph.D. in engineering in a month, make two drones with cameras, and observe Aili Xiya's daily interactions with the young man.
It's just to better help the young man… [At twenty, another birthday banquet ended, but the life you've lived is no different; in fact, your time has become even narrower, because the maiden didn't even personally make you a cake.]
[Your life is still exactly the same as before, but you always feel as if something is secretly watching you. Vil-V doesn't seem as withdrawn; she even discusses where you'll go on your next trip.]
[Strange.]
[You never told the maiden where you would go, did you?]
[Could Aili Xiya even share such travel destinations with others?]
[You don't really want to delve into these matters that might concern Aili Xiya; the time you spend on Vil-V has inadvertently increased.]
[This is something you didn't even realize until you belatedly discovered the truth after seeing your chat history.]
[The once inseparable Aili Xiya, if you disregard the necessary communication during your travels and only consider private conversations and understanding, now perhaps only shares equal footing with Vil-V.]
[There's nothing wrong with that.]
[At least you've done everything you can.]
[Everything that Jiang Cheng, as a person, can do.]
[Because the maiden always selflessly gives her time, her smiles, and her love to others, instead of using it for communication with you.]
[Although you vaguely feel someone watching you from behind when you chat with Vil-V, and when you turn around, you can see Aili Xiya humming a tune with her head tilted in a clumsy way that only appears in light novels.]
[You never, not even for a moment, believed that Aili Xiya was fixated on you.]
[After all, in the maiden's eyes, you might only exist in a not-disliked range. Although her attitude towards you appears extremely intimate, the time she actually allocates is about the same as for a stranger.]
[On the contrary, the more effort and sincerity she puts into treating you this way, the more you feel a strange, inexplicable sense of aversion.]
[This emotion is difficult to evaluate, yet exceptionally real.]
[It's also hard for you to understand why you have such a peculiar emotion?]
[It's as childish as a child getting angry.]
[But after all, no one wants their status in the heart of an important person to be merely like a toy, to be looked at when the maiden needs it, and then tossed aside when she doesn't.]
[Because some thoughts that you once found extremely annoying and repulsive, thoughts you would never have entertained, have now quietly appeared in your heart.]
[The concern for you that you once felt from Aili Xiya, and your importance in the maiden's heart, have also been re-evaluated as self-deception, merely fooling yourself into believing you held significant weight.]
[Perhaps…]
[Everyone receives such treatment from the maiden.]
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18. Your relationship with Vil-V gradually deepens.
[She is like an elf of Elysium, a goddess of the stars and moon, capable of loving everyone.]
[And you happen to be a very ordinary part of the time she allocates, only gaining more proportion through the closeness of traveling together.]
[You are not yet so resentful as to become angry like a scorned woman or immaturely try to make the maiden look at you for a longer time.]
[But humans always have various unchangeable problems; human nature cannot solve everything, but human nature can, in some sense, represent a lot.]
[When two people whose attitudes and levels of concern towards you are almost diametrically opposed occupy almost all of your day.]
[The disparity itself will make one party more inclined to endure and bear rather than live and enjoy.]
[After enduring for a full year, a year long enough to make anyone feel disappointed, sad, and find the neglect unacceptable.]
[Feeling this emotion inevitably causes the scales of your will to tip, no longer balanced, and you begin to anticipate communication with Vil-V.]
[At least you can feel some sense of interaction.]
[Even ignoring the fact that the maiden is always there whenever you speak, as if Vil-V has absolutely nothing to do every day except chat with you.]
[Even when chatting with her, even when acting as a sounding board for her confidences, you can feel a sense of human authenticity and warmth.]
[If there's anything negative, it's her extreme reluctance to ask for help.]
[Initially, when she encountered any difficulties, you, as her friend, almost had to coax information out of her. Even after chatting for a long time, she now only seeks your help with problems she considers absolutely unsolvable.]
[It seems that for Vil-V, helping you is natural, but asking for your help would consume your relationship.]
[This one thing always makes you feel very uncomfortable, perhaps because it feels somewhat familiar.]
[All emotions are not one-sided.]
[This also deepened your understanding.]
[Therefore, you hope even more to change Vil-V's inferiority complex. It's no longer about that past gift; in just two years, she has helped you dozens of times in various ways.]
[Many times, she seems to be able to catch and uncover small things you've buried in your heart, as if she's constantly watching you.]
[Even though Aili Xiya might not know about those things, and you never intended to say anything.]
[Regardless, this is also help.]
[Repaying kindness is not considered a virtue by some, completely unnecessary to follow, but striving to repay it is something everyone must do.]
[Since the maiden is willing to communicate with you and give you gifts, you also need to try and offer your help, things you can do.]
[In a sense, you might already be no different from the maiden. Vil-V is so withdrawn, almost completely ensconced in her own world.]
[Time and years leave the same pattern on her every day; she dreams of night during the day, and dreams of day during the night. The world is no different, time is no different, and there isn't the slightest variation.]
[Isn't your life the same?]
[Can you truly be as passionate about tomorrow's life as you once were, living each day differently, like you did as a child?]
[For a future that can be seen at a glance, a journey that will not change in the slightest, this world seems to have forever become irrelevant to you. The journey with the maiden, a world tour that should have been beautiful, has unknowingly become a predicament sustained entirely by your feelings for the maiden.]
[Every day you meet strangers; the key in your life is no longer the scenery of the journey.]
[Aside from the color of the sky, you can no longer distinguish day from night, just as you cannot distinguish today from yesterday, or tomorrow.]
[Rather than saying you want to save and help Vil-V, it's more accurate to say that the only way for both of you to step out of your own worlds is to communicate with each other.]
[It's no longer the old world around you, stagnant and unchanging, with no genuine actions, belonging only to memory.]
[Instead, it comes from a friend encountered like in a light novel, a friend who, in some sense, shares your plight and can understand each other.]
[The only pity is that even now, the maiden hasn't told him her birthday.]
[At twenty-one, you traveled for another year, and Aili Xiya has also celebrated her sixteenth birthday. Even in tightly controlled Shenzhou, she has reached the age where she can apply for her own bank card.]
[Your interactions with Aili Xiya remain unchanged; even those romantic sunsets are rarely seen.]
[Wind blowing through grass, waves rippling on the sea, the golden light of evening through the lake—these beautiful scenes have almost vanished from your life.]
[It was supposed to be a journey, but in reality, it seems more like an adventure to find others.]
[You merely accompany Aili Xiya to find one stranger after another, strangers you don't know and don't want to know.]
[You still remember the maiden's voice when she told you she wanted to travel alone, to find the eternal Elysium of fairy tales.]
[It was an indescribably beautiful voice filled with anticipation, as if she could truly achieve it, utterly convincing.]
[You still remember it very clearly.]
[That lovely maiden from your memory never disappeared, never even changed, but you no longer accept everything as you once did.]
[With several years of accumulation, you have realized that you and Vil-V have reached the level of very good, close friends.]
[At least, you feel that you are inseparable good friends.]
[This rate of progress is unprecedented, even perceptible.]
[It's hard to evaluate anything, and hard to find the true reason, yet as you felt it, a sentence inexplicably appeared in your heart, words you didn't even know when or where you heard or saw them.]
[I see you.]
[I see your life.]
[It's okay.]
[The answer to love is the desire to be seen. It is this shared wound that allows us to see each other.]
[A few more days passed, and as a date circled on the calendar finally arrived, another new banquet was held in a completely different city.]
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Image here, visible in updated version
Image here, visible in updated version
19. The maiden wants you to open the gift yourself.
[This birthday banquet was even more luxurious. Already exceptionally lavish in the following year, it reached a level of extravagance and participant numbers that even some top-tier tycoons and politicians couldn't achieve.]
[Aili Xiya was like a goddess descended from heaven; even the most brilliant geniuses would inevitably gaze upon the maiden.]
[Their generosity has now even extended to your birthday banquet.]
[Although they didn't do anything to you, the person traveling with the maiden—the greater possibility is that your external identity is Aili Xiya's older brother, and they have been thoroughly immersed in beauty and virtue.]
[In this sense, the maiden truly lives up to that flawless name, an eternal, perfect Elysium that brings beauty to the world.]
[This small gesture alone is enough to make your birthday banquet more akin to Aili Xiya's annual celebration.]
[So wonderful, so exquisite, it's as if the world has gained another holiday, a holiday worth countless people gathering to celebrate.]
[Free from all the stubborn ailments of conventional holidays, devoid of formalism and interpersonal intrigue.]
[A celebration gathered for one person, for pure beauty.]