Chapter 323 - 317: How Could She Blame Him

Chapter 323: Chapter 317: How Could She Blame Him

Gazing at the dreamlike seascape outside, Shen Yue felt a sense of unreality.

She couldn’t help but softly ask Si Muye, who was beside her:

"Tell me, what’s more important: protecting the one you cherish, or protecting everyone in the world?"

The moment the question left her lips, Shen Yue herself found it absurd.

She had transmigrated from the modern world, someone who had only ever watched protagonists on a screen grapple with this very dilemma...

’Has the day finally come when I’m the one standing at this crossroad, asking such an ancient, heavy question?’

The dilemma she had once scoffed at was now a real weight on her heart, pressing down so hard she could barely breathe.

Si Muye’s heart skipped a beat, and his fingertips suddenly clenched the smooth coral stone beneath him.

He stared intently at the soft contours of Shen Yue’s profile, which hid a thousand worries. His Adam’s apple bobbed with difficulty.

A storm raged in his heart...

Then, his voice came out low and firm, as if stating the answer that lay in his own heart:

"A Yue, I don’t really understand the question, but I know this... the person you cherish would never put you in a difficult position."

Her reflection was etched deeply in his eyes as he said:

"And if the fate of the world is truly at stake, then I believe the one you cherish would be willing to protect everyone in the world for you."

Hearing this, Shen Yue whipped her head around to look at him, her eyes swirling with astonishment and suspicion.

She stared intently into Si Muye’s eyes, trying to glean even the slightest hint from their clear depths...

’Does he know the truth about the Black Sea and the prophecy?’

Her heart raced... Just as she was about to speak...

But Si Muye simply curved his lips into a gentle smile, as soft as light spreading across the seabed, and subtly changed the subject.

"I didn’t realize the sea anemones here change color with the current. Look, it was light blue a moment ago, and now it’s tinged with pinkish-purple."

His deliberate evasion only deepened the cloud of doubt in Shen Yue’s heart, yet she couldn’t press him any further.

Just then, a gentle current rippled beside the viewing platform as a completely translucent sea beast slowly swam toward them.

It had a pair of transparent, fan-like fins as thin as a cicada’s wings, the edges adorned with tiny, glowing specks.

As it swam, its fan-like fins quivered gently, making it look as if the entire starry sky had been crushed and scattered in the water. Its beauty was otherworldly.

A smile appeared on Si Muye’s bright, handsome face.

"A Yue, what kind of sea beast is this? It’s beautiful!"

Shen Yue saw his clear eyes were completely captivated by the approaching sea beast, seemingly devoid of any other emotion...

She relaxed a little.

’Am I just being too suspicious?’

She also glanced at the sea beast, which had now swum up and stopped docilely in front of her...

Its nose gently nuzzled her fingertips dangling in the water, leaving a faintly cool sensation.

She said, "This is a Sea Butterfly Beast, also known as a Sea Fairy. It’s one of the few creatures in this sea area that is beautiful, gentle, and friendly."

Listening to her, Si Muye looked like a young man seeing the world for the first time...

His handsome face broke into a sunny smile, and his whole being seemed to glow.

"So this is a Sea Fairy. I never thought I’d see one in person. The creatures and sea beasts under the sea really are beautiful..."

Shen Yue watched him, finding herself a little mesmerized.

In that moment, Si Muye seemed to have let go of his inhibitions, his shy side completely gone.

’He’s revealing his purest, most sincere self... He’s just impossibly handsome...’

As he spoke, he reached out and touched the Sea Butterfly Beast’s smooth dorsal fin.

"So well-behaved. You see, A Yue? Our Beast World still has so many beautiful and wonderful things..."

"If something so beautiful and docile were to suddenly disappear one day, what a shame that would be..."

Just then, the Sea Butterfly Beast swam back to Shen Yue and nuzzled her hand with its nose...

This sudden, gentle touch eased some of the tension in Shen Yue’s heart.

Listening to Si Muye’s words, she lifted her fingers and gently touched the sea beast’s translucent fins.

The sea beast, seeming to possess a human-like intelligence, let out a soft, faint cry. It circled them slowly once before flicking its fan-like fins and leisurely disappearing into the crevices of the rainbow-colored coral.

His words echoed in Shen Yue’s mind. ’Such a beautiful thing... if one day it disappeared...’

’Yes... in the future, I’m afraid this entire Beast World is going to disappear...’

Just then, Si Muye looked at her, the way a man looks directly at the woman he deeply loves, his gaze so tender it could melt hearts.

His eyes overflowed with a cherish and heartache he himself hadn’t fully realized. The words he had hidden in his heart for so long, words he never intended to speak, now spilled gently from his lips.

"A Yue, from the very first day I met you, I knew you were my destiny, the person I was meant to guard and protect."

"You might not know this, but way back when we were living in that cramped cave on Wilderness Mountain, I secretly swore to protect you and the children completely. The children didn’t have a father? I would be their father. No one to raise them? I would raise them. No one to protect them? I would protect them. You had no one to care for you and cherish you? I would care for you and cherish you. I wanted to be your pillar of support, to be your man."

As Shen Yue listened, her eyes began to burn, and a stinging sensation filled her nose as tears welled up.

She gazed back at him...

Si Muye’s eyes shone with happiness:

"But I broke my promise. I left Wilderness Mountain on my own, leaving you behind without a word. Do you know? When I heard from the others what you went through during that time, I wished I could kneel before you... It was me. I’m the one who almost got you hurt. It was me who asked Gremu to go to Wilderness Mountain to find you... I just wanted him to bring you and the children to Barbaric City to be looked after while I was away... but I had no idea my actions would nearly get you killed..."

As she listened, Shen Yue finally understood everything.

’So, the reason Gremu appeared on Wilderness Mountain the night the men in black attacked the bamboo house... was because of Si Muye...’

’Si Muye asked Gremu to take her and the children back to Barbaric City?’

’But he didn’t know that his good intentions had backfired so horribly...’

’No wonder I never understood why Gremu suddenly showed up and almost got Si Bao killed...’

’If Gu Fangqi hadn’t happened to pass by and save Si Bao...’

Si Muye looked at her and continued,

"It’s something that has filled me with incredible guilt in the dead of night, something I can’t forgive myself for..."

"I can’t bear to imagine how scared you must have been, how you must have lived each day on edge... And I dare not think... if Gremu had actually hurt you and the children back then, how could I have possibly gone on living..."

Shen Yue looked at his guilt-ridden expression, and her heart ached for him.

’I never imagined... The reason Si Muye has been so silent and withdrawn lately, making himself practically invisible every day, was because he felt so guilty and was blaming himself...’

’So it wasn’t just me who had something weighing on my mind. He did, too...’

She opened her mouth, her voice as gentle as she could make it.

"Si Muye, this isn’t your fault. You didn’t know that Gremu had a feud with the Blood Wolf Clan. You just did what you thought was the right thing to do at the time..."

’His only intention was to protect me and the children, to find us a safe haven...’

’How could I possibly blame him for that...?’