……Why would the Golden Iris be in Natasi's hands?
Has she already met the one who is unconscious in the rockery and obtained it from him? Or has something else happened in between?
In this moment, Liu Yu's mind is a chaotic mess, like a ball of yarn pulled apart by a cat, with countless conjectures rushing in.
And the character from the second dimension who has stepped into the third dimension for the first time reveals his true face before her.
Natasi has deep chestnut-colored hair, healthy tan skin, and a few freckles dotted on either side of her nose—
Her brown eyes blinked like a lively deer in the fields.
But when the deer met her gaze, it instantly became timid, paired with the drab cotton dress and dirty old leather shoes, looking incredibly pitiful.
"B-Beiliya sister, why are you down here?"
She quickly raised her head to glance at her, then lowered it again.
Liu Yu watched the girl's endearing posture and thought, if she were a man, she might also like such a delicate and timid flower.
"Natasi—" She dragged out the tone, making herself sound arrogant and rude, "You stole my iris flower."
"No, no, I didn't. I didn't steal it."
An unexpected accusation startled Natasi, and she frantically waved her hands, "Beiliya sister, I didn't steal it, I really didn't."
"If it wasn't you who stole it, then... where did this come from?"
The haughty girl stormed over like an angry cat, snatching the item from Natasi's hands and showing it to her. In the sunlight, the iris flower was meticulously carved, looking almost lifelike.
"The Golden Iris belongs only to the Fergus Family, to me, Beiliya Fergus. You, just a commoner, how dare you touch it?"
Yes, Natasi was just a commoner.
In this world, the power of bloodline was exceptionally strong.
It fundamentally determined whether you were a commoner to be trampled upon or a noble above the commoners—
True, Natasi's father was very wealthy, wealthy enough to win over the heart of a noble widow and successfully marry her: but he couldn't elevate himself or his daughter to noble status.
Commoners had no right to touch a noble's emblem.
"I-I found it here."
Natasi looked like she was about to cry, her eyes red like a rabbit's, "I don't know why Beiliya sister's iris flower was here..."
Liu Yu looked at her with suspicion. She had come down very quickly—
In such a short time, Natasi wouldn't have had enough time to deal with the bloodstains, let alone find water nearby.
So, did the iris flower emblem really fall around here?
But if that were the case, the Golden Iris in the hands of the Avatar of the God of Light... was it given to him by Natasi? And that's why the usually inefficient city guards could find the real culprit in less than half a day?
"Beiliya sister, I really didn't steal it, it really wasn't me..."
Natasi twisted her apron, tears falling like beads.
Faced with a crying face, Liu Yu was rarely hesitant—
After all, she had genuinely followed the story.
She roughly took the basket:
"What are you crying for? Hurry up and go!"
"…Okay."
Natasi seemed unsure if she was really letting her off so easily, glancing at her several times before wiping her tears and walking away, looking back every few steps. The grey dress wrapped around the slender and frail body of the girl, making her look like a drab, pitiful little mouse.
Liu Yu watched expressionlessly until the grey figure disappeared from sight, then waited a few more minutes to ensure no one would come before crouching down and slipping into the fiery thicket.
Following the twists and turns of the bushes, comparing them to the events in the book, it took nearly ten minutes to find the hidden rockery cave—
Called a cave, it was actually just a shallow recess.
The recess wasn't deep, with a dark interior and faint dripping sounds.
Liu Yu had just stepped in when she was tripped by something on the ground.
Cold, soft... no, hard...
Liu Yu realized something and swallowed her exclamation.
She reached out and finally found a "fire striker" from the basket that had fallen to the ground, a gelatinous substance that, when lightly squeezed, produced a cluster of ghostly blue flames.
The darkness receded like a tide.
In the flowing, fragmented light, the thing that had tripped her finally revealed its breathtaking, cruel charm.
It was an elven-like youth, the most outstanding and perfect existence she had ever seen in her life—
And likely ever would.
He was lying unconscious, pale and powerless in a pool of blood, Liu Yu's gaze traveling from his straight nose, thin lips, all the way down to his waist-length silver hair.
A sentence involuntarily floated in her mind:
Natasi had never seen anyone more perfect than this. She gazed foolishly, the boy's countenance like the purest snow on Mount Olympus, his nose resembling the tallest peak of the Andes, but what was most captivating was the silver hair, flowing like the Milky Way under the light. It seemed as if he had draped an entire galaxy over himself... Natasi fell in love with him at first sight. No prince, no duke, could compare to a single finger of his.
Ultimate beauty was akin to opium.
Liu Yu was certainly not an inexperienced girl, but she was still stunned by this unparalleled beauty—
She stared intently for a while before managing to pull her gaze away, casually thinking:
Why hasn't he woken up yet?
As soon as Cinderella arrived, he woke up.
The young man did not hear her thoughts and remained motionless, his face pale from excessive blood loss, looking like a corpse.
Liu Yu noticed that one hand was spread open, empty, while the other was clenched into a fist, resting at his side—
Now it needed to be determined whether there was another Golden Iris in that fist. If there was, it should be taken before he woke up.
The boy's eyelids fluttered, about to open.
"Oh, heavens, heavens, how could this be..." In a panic, Liu Yu screamed and threw herself forward, her body accurately landing on that arm, "You... are you alright?"
The boy groaned, his eyes fully opening.
Brown blood had coagulated on his pale eyelids, the two hollows where his eyes had been gouged out facing Liu Yu, terrifying and horrifying, yet also strangely alluring due to his stunningly beautiful features.
Liu Yu controlled her wandering thoughts and hurriedly "flusteredly" stood up, not steady, falling back down with a thump, this time directly onto his fist.
The fist loosened.
The boy's face turned even paler, as if he had accidentally died again.
"Sorry, sorry..."
She stood up insincerely, lifting her skirt, when a round crystal glass bead rolled out,
Its color was more pure and brilliant than the highest quality diamonds she had ever seen, but what Liu Yu noticed was that when it rolled through the blood on the ground, it didn't get even a trace on it, as if surrounded by a thin film, completely isolating it from all external filth.
There was no iris flower.
Instead, a glass bead appeared.
Liu Yu picked it up thoughtfully, the cold sensation traveling from her fingertips all the way up, almost freezing her heart.
She suddenly had a flash of insight, remembering that there indeed was such a bead in the book, though it appeared in the latter half, when Natasi revisited the place where she had saved Gaia and found the glass bead by chance, accidentally opening it.
Yes, it contained memories, the memories of the God of Light, Gaia.
"It's alright."
The boy used his hands to support himself and tried to sit up.
The sound of fabric rustling reached Liu Yu's ears, and she remembered the main task, stumbling over:
Sorry, I was too rude... Are you okay?
The girl's soft voice was filled with uncertainty and fear, she exclaimed:
"Oh, the God of Light be praised, who could be so cruel to you... your eyes..."
She seemed unable to continue, quietly sobbing.
A stream of hot tears fell on the boy, and he propped himself up in confusion, his nose seemingly catching a faint scent of rose.
"Who are you?"
He asked.
An elegant, uniquely rhythmic, more beautiful than any bard's voice sounded in Liu Yu's ears.
She stopped crying.
"Beiliya, I am Beiliya."
“Beiliya?”
“Mm, and you?”
“Gaia.” The boy paused for a long time before asking, “Beiliya, did you save me?”
“Yes, it was me.”
No, it was yourself.
Liu Yu thought to herself.
The God of Light wouldn’t shortchange himself; even a hastily created avatar would be far stronger than an ordinary person. If it were anyone else, they would have already gone to heaven to report.
Seeing him about to speak again, she put her finger to his lips and shushed him:
“Don’t talk, I’ll take you to see a doctor.”
Gaia obediently remained silent.
Liu Yu picked up the basket with one hand and supported Gaia with the other. The weight of the boy pressed heavily against her.
“Duck your head.”
As they exited the cave, Liu Yu couldn’t help but glance back. She quietly slipped the glass bead into her pocket—
She knew she had stolen the memories of a god.
But who cared?
The later Gaia regained his memories, the better.
“Did you see… a bead?”
Gaia suddenly asked.
“A bead?” Liu Yu replied innocently, “What bead?”
“…I can’t remember.”
The boy's voice was filled with confusion and melancholy, "I just feel like it was important."
“I didn’t see it.”
