Chapter 72: Shadow

A Different Kind of Pain

The betrayal from Yu Li felt entirely different from Ye Sheng’s. In that moment, Fu Qingyue’s heart ached so deeply she never wanted to feel it again.

“Why… ask that?”

She didn’t understand why the shadow brought it up. Even if she admitted she liked Yu Li, what could it change?

“Even after being treated like that, you still like her, don’t you?” Instead of answering, the shadow countered with another question.

“…” After a moment of silence, Fu Qingyue nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“Then why do we need to figure out Li Bao’s motives?”

“…?”

Fu Qingyue didn’t grasp the shadow’s meaning and stayed silent, waiting for an explanation.

“No matter what she’s trying to do, what we need to do hasn’t changed, has it?” the shadow said calmly.

Her words froze Fu Qingyue in place. Her eyelashes trembled as if something clicked, and she looked up at the shadow, her heart quietly accepting its perspective.

The reasons… she’d figure them out eventually.

Though sadness lingered, the shadow’s words gave Fu Qingyue the courage to pull herself together.

Reclaiming Resolve

“Hmph, before we met that Ye Sheng, we were always like this, weren’t we?” The shadow seemed to hold a grudge against Ye Sheng, a mocking smirk tugging at its lips as if recalling something.

“What you want…”

“You have to take it yourself,” Fu Qingyue finished the sentence.

She didn’t know when she had become this way, but… A girl who survived the brutal, cutthroat environment of a great family could never truly be so timid.

Fu Qingyue gradually regained her calm, able to think more clearly.

She looked at the shadow and voiced her doubt. “Why… can you appear in my dream?”

If the shadow was truly the part of her that had been stripped away, it shouldn’t have returned so easily.

Though it claimed to know only what she knew, Fu Qingyue felt it understood more.

“Because the shackles loosened.”

“Shackles…?” Fu Qingyue was puzzled.

“The moment you faced Li Bao in the arena, the shackles binding me loosened,” the shadow explained.

Fu Qingyue still didn’t fully understand and looked at it, waiting for more.

But the shadow shook its head.

“That’s all I know. I just seized the chance to return to you when I felt the shackles weaken. And as you can see, I succeeded.”

“And now, as your shadow, as a part of you, I’ll return to where I belong.” The shadow chuckled softly, as if it had waited for this moment for a long, long time.

A Merging of Self

Before Fu Qingyue could react, the shadow stepped forward and embraced her.

Leaning close to her ear, it whispered, “Don’t lose to that bad woman again and hide away crying. Next time, no one will be there to talk you through it.”

As soon as the words were spoken, Fu Qingyue felt the embrace empty. The shadow dissolved into specks of light, vanishing completely.

With its disappearance, Fu Qingyue felt… more whole than ever before.

The shadow was gone—or rather, it had never truly existed. There was only ever Fu Qingyue.

She could feel the shadow’s memories, identical to her own, yet slightly different in perspective.

For instance… her view of Ye Sheng.

The shadow seemed to despise him. Only in memories involving Ye Sheng did their perspectives diverge.

The scenes Fu Qingyue had seen on the screens were from the shadow’s point of view. From its perspective, Ye Sheng had approached her with ulterior motives.

If she had been whole from the start, she might never have felt anything for Ye Sheng. But to the current Fu Qingyue, that didn’t matter.

Because she had met Yu Li.

“Thank you… for everything,” Fu Qingyue said softly, a faint smile on her lips. Thanks to the shadow, she knew what to do now.

Awakening to Power

The dream collapsed, and Fu Qingyue, still in reality, jolted awake.

She pushed aside the heavy blankets, her body damp with sweat from being wrapped so tightly. But she paid it no mind, raising her hand to examine it closely.

A dark glow appeared in her palm—the shadow element, her true ability.

It had finally returned to her.

“It wasn’t a dream…” Feeling the dark element, Fu Qingyue realized everything in the dream had been real.

She clenched her fist, retracting the ability. Though her heart still ached, she wouldn’t remain stagnant any longer.

Fu Qingyue got out of bed and opened her door. She couldn’t let her only butler worry about her.

“Uncle Liang?”

Her call went unanswered, her voice tinged with confusion.

“Where did he go…?” She looked around, but Liang Bo’an was nowhere to be found in the house.

Ye Sheng’s Indifference

At the Ye household, Ye Sheng lounged on a sofa, legs crossed casually. Though he lost the match today, he didn’t care. It was Fu Qingyue who lost to a first-year, not him. After all, he had fought that monster to a draw.

Recalling Fu Qingyue’s broken expression, he frowned slightly.

He had wanted to stay by her side today, but her butler had turned him away. The thought irritated him. That butler had always been like this, obstructing his connection with Fu Qingyue.

If it weren’t for that butler, he and Fu Qingyue would’ve been together long ago. Why would he have been framed by Lan Yi in his past life?

The more he thought, the more he resented Fu Qingyue’s butler.

“Tch, once I’m officially with Qingyue, I’ll make her fire that butler.”

As he planned his future, he sent a message to Yu Zifei. The two flirted online, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Reading Yu Zifei’s suggestive messages, Ye Sheng grinned foolishly, showing no concern for Fu Qingyue’s spiritual energy outburst.

After all, her butler had rejected him. She couldn’t blame him for not caring, right?

Ye Sheng shook his head, dismissing the boring thoughts to focus on flirting with Yu Zifei.

But he didn’t notice his system activating on its own again—the second time today.

[Detected: Fu Qingyue’s affection level decreased… Fu??]

[Recalculating…]

[Fu?? Affection level: ???]

[Unable to detect…]

[Ability lost: Shadow]