Catastrophe Card King

Chapter 808: Chapter 257: When the Soul-Continuing Incense Burns Out, I Shall Leave

“Miss Anne… I’ve come to see you.”

Leonard Churchill had never felt a sentence weigh so heavily on him.

The old person lying in the chair by the window also trembled slightly.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Only then did she respond, “Mr. Leonard Churchill…”

That address felt somewhat unfamiliar,

yet as soon as she spoke, the feeling was just as it had been all those years ago.

Suddenly, Leonard Churchill seemed to see the silly girl from a hundred years ago, who had smiled as she greeted him, sitting in front of the window, waiting for him.

With myriad thoughts in disarray, he didn’t know what to say and stammered, “Miss Anne, it’s been a long time.”

The old person’s tone was much too composed, gently saying, “Yes, it has been a very, very long time.”

She had waited a full hundred years for this meeting.

And hearing that “it’s been a long time,” Leonard Churchill’s eyes unwillingly reddened.

He walked over.

These few short steps seemed to cross through time and space, taking an eternity.

The old person in the chair just waited quietly.

This brief span of time was neither long nor short.

In the grand scheme of her long life, it was not long.

But it was not short either.

It seemed to be an epitome of the lifetime of longing she had endured.

Like returning to the trepidation of her youthful days, she couldn’t help but ask one more question, “If you saw the ‘Miss Anne’ from the past turned into an old woman with grey hair, would you be disappointed?”

Leonard Churchill didn’t answer, nor did he stop.

Feeling that faint “air,” he felt as if even breathing was like his heart being wrung out in pain, and he could only murmur, “Silly girl, why did you wait for me for so many years?”

“I…”

The old person listened, a tender smile emerging on her aged face.

That call of “silly girl” made her feel as though the worth of waiting her entire life was no longer bitter.

She smiled in relief, “Because… you are Mr. Leonard Churchill, after all.”

She was still her.

And the man before her was still the Mr. Leonard Churchill from her memories.

The moment she heard that familiar voice from her memories, she, too, amidst the passing of years, remembered herself.

….

In the corner of the room, an incense burner was sending up tendrils of blue smoke.

A refreshing fragrance entered his nostrils.

Leonard Churchill walked softly to the window and saw the person in the blue dress lying in the chair.

Her silver hair was elegantly piled high.

She sat there quietly, as if untouched by time, already very beautiful.

The old person also heard the footsteps behind her; her eyes became increasingly tender, filled with a hint of anticipation.

Leonard Churchill walked to the front of the chair, turned around in an instant, and it seemed as if two different eras of time overlapped.

Their gazes met.

At first glance, he saw those familiar eyes.

There was a hint of unassuming elegance between her brows, and her clear eyes sparkled with specks of starlight.

Just like the familiar visage from his memory.

The old person looked at him; her eyes trembled slightly, and then gently rippled with a serene smile.

Her wish was fulfilled. Her life had no more regrets.

In that fleeting moment, Leonard Churchill felt as if he saw the bright and sprightly girl from his memories.

He couldn’t help but murmur, “Miss Anne, my name is Leonard Churchill. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The old person also joyfully uttered that sentence, “Mr. Leonard Churchill, my name is Vera Williams. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

It was just like how they were in tune with each other a hundred years ago.

Her once luscious black hair was now white but still meticulously arranged; her face bore the traces of time but was still dignified and elegant; her eyes were clear, now with added wisdom from the years…

This elegant lady, who had pined for her beloved her whole life, now seemed to gaze through the years at her vibrant, youthful self.

She had been preparing for this meeting for many years.

At the end of her journey, Vera Williams looked at the face before her that was identical to the one in photographs; even though she had long come to terms with everything, she couldn’t help but feel moved and let out a slight sigh, “You still look the same as before. Pity I’ve grown old.”

It seemed as if there was so much she wanted to say.

But after that sigh, she ultimately said only one thing, “The most romantic part of my life was meeting you at my most beautiful age. But the biggest regret is also having met you at my most beautiful age. If only… it had been a hundred years later.”

Leonard Churchill felt an inexplicable sadness engulf his heart as he listened to these words, and he said, “Miss Anne, why… why would you do such a foolish thing?”

Looking at Leonard Churchill’s reddened eyes, Vera Williams couldn’t help but offer comfort, “Leonard, don’t be so upset. At the end of life, you see, a lot of things become clear…”

It seemed that saying these words had exhausted much of her vitality.

After a pause, she continued, “Since the year I met you, I realized that death isn’t the end of life, but being frozen in time.”

…

At this moment, Leonard Churchill felt overwhelmed by an irrepressible sense of suffocation.

The tone was achingly familiar.

It was like when they parted a hundred years ago; as she comforted him.

The kind girl, despite feeling so distressed herself, thought of consoling others.

Never before had Leonard Churchill been more acutely aware of such intense pain.

It was an emotion more painful than death.

He keenly sensed that something very, very important in his life was about to slip away.

It was like holding a fistful of sand; the harder he held on, the more it slipped through his fingers.

Wasn’t this scene strikingly similar to that year?

They were both about to go to a “faraway place” unreachable by the other.

Unable to hold back.

He felt this way, so how helpless must the pure girl, like a white rose, have felt back then.

Vera Williams looked at him, empathizing with all the emotions he was enduring, her eyes glistening. She consoled him again, “We have met again, haven’t we? Fate has already been very kind to us.”