Stardust Remembrance

Chapter 33: This Is Me (2)

Loran stood in the doorway of the fitness room, her eyes sweeping over the various fitness equipment, imagining the image of Qian Xu working out here every day after work.

Suddenly, she saw a palm-sized black box on the floor in the corner. Loran felt inexplicably familiar and immediately walked in.

She picked up the black box and saw a blue flower inlaid at the bottom of the box.

It should be a real flower that was made into a specimen using a special process and then inlaid onto the box to become a decoration.

Loran thought the blue flower looked familiar, but she couldn't recall where she had seen it before. She opened her terminal, scanned the image of the flower, and searched StarNet's database.

After a few seconds, a text introduction appeared, "The Mystic Flower, an endemic species of the planet Alicata, the flower comes in two colors, blue and red. The blue flower is small and the red flower is large, the same flower blooms in different colors every year, it is possible that this year it will be blue and next year it will be red, leading to speculation, so it is called a muse."

Loran instantly remembered that she had seen this flower in the Ural Mountains. When Chisoku took her to Adventurer's Paradise, she even casually picked a small, inconspicuous blue flower from the roadside and gave it to Chisoku.

Although there was no evidence that it was the same flower she had given him, Loran's intuition told her that it was the same flower.

Loran's heart suddenly beat very fast.

She gently rubbed the aged black box, naturally, as if she had done it countless times before, and pressed a hidden button, and a melodious and pleasant song resounded through the room.

Where the wind comes from

Blowing, blowing

Blowing out the starlight, blowing away the future

The mountains and rivers are turned into hopelessness

............

A very, very old song, so old that it only exists in ancient legends.

Loran sat on the floor and listened quietly.

Countless lonely nights, Chisoku should have been right here, listening to the song and working out at the same time.

When she blankly asked herself what lay ahead, had Chisoku long ago given up questioning?

She knew that Chisoku was an orphan who grew up and entered the military. Because of his excellent performance, he became a special combat soldier in a starfighter. Later, he got sick and had to end his service early, transferring to the base to engage in civilian work in starship tactics research.

Perhaps, a person's life trajectory could be said in two or three sentences, but a person's experiences and emotions could never be said in a few words.

What exactly had Qian Xu experienced that made his heart so pale and barren? Not even a bit of hope was given to himself!

Loran did not know.

However, there are some things that she should know by speculation.

Qian Xu was an orphan with no family, and no matter how painful it was, there would be no relatives to give him care and support.

Once, he was the best warrior in the Federation, but he was forced to interrupt it due to illness, just like an eagle whose wings were chopped off and couldn't soar in the blue sky anymore, he must have been painfully bewildered and didn't know where the road ahead was.

He was trapped in his room, looking at the stars.

Time passes day by day, the hope of healing becomes less and less, and maybe one day after the mutation, he will never be able to wake up again.

When she regarded Qian Xu as warmth and reliance, she never thought about whether he also needed warmth and reliance.

The friendship she thought was reciprocal wasn't as reciprocal as she thought it was at all, it could even be said that it was just a one-sided solicitation on her part.

When she encountered problems, he answered questions and solved puzzles.

When she was lonely, he accompanied her and chatted with her.

When she is strange and afraid of Arikata, he accompanies her to recognize and understand ......

Everything she needs.

Because of the heart to keep secrets, she dares not confess her place, so she dares not ask his place; dares not confess his past, so she dares not ask his past; dares not confess his present, so she dares not ask his present ......

Just like that, she still boasted that her friendship was deep and extraordinary.

It turned out that it was really like what Tatsusa said, nothing could exist above the quicksand.

Amidst the ancient melodious singing, Qian Xu walked into the house.

It was the time when the sun was setting, and the sun's afterglow poured in through the windows.

Loran was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, her eyes closed and her cheeks streaked with undried tears. A thin halo of orange light enveloped her, making her look like an old, fragile, and beautiful painting in a museum.

His heart throbbed and he settled down before walking over to her with deliberately heavy steps.

Loraine opened her eyes.

The wind was coming from somewhere.

It blew and blew.

Blowing down the flowers, blowing away the waiting

The ocean turned to moss

............

Four eyes facing each other, like a sobbing song into the ears, he unexpectedly did not dare to look directly at her, bent down, and turned off the player.

Luo Lan softly called, "Qian Xu."

Qian Xu takes a few steps back and pulls away from the two of them.

"Still mad at me?" Loran asked.

"No, you have a special identity, it's normal to hide it from the outside world."

Loran smiled bitterly, "I wish you would say angry. It's normal to hide it externally, but what about internally?"

Qian Xu said lightly, "Don't get carried away, I completely accept your concealment."

Loran picks up the black box that plays music and shows him the bottom side, "Is this blue flower the one I gave you?"

"No." Chisoku didn't hesitate for a second.

"You lie! If this flower has nothing to do with that flower, why did you know what I was talking about as soon as I asked, shouldn't you have been surprised and asked 'When did you give me flowers'?"

"My memory has always been good." Qian Xu still denied it cleanly.

Loran sighs softly and asks solemnly, "I want to tell you a story, will you have ears through the walls here?"

"What story?"

Qian Xu didn't say no and didn't have to worry about the fae's powers. Loran patted the floor, signaling him to sit.

Chisoku remained standing, conveying detached rejection.

Loran smiled bitterly, sliding his fingers slowly over the top of the black box, "I've never seen this before in my memory. I checked StarNet and it said that it was an old antique that had been eliminated long ago. But as soon as I saw it, I knew how to use it, and knew that it held many, many old songs. I just listened to it, and I can still sing some of the songs."

Confusion flashed in Chisoku's eyes.

Loran tapped the black box in her hand and smiled, spitting out her tongue, "I don't remember a lot of things, but now and then something pops up again. Sometimes I feel quite miserable, and sometimes I feel quite funny. These hidden skills are like eggs buried in life, coldly giving me a little surprise, I hope I don't suddenly realize one day that there are still bombs buried."

Qian Xu listened in confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Luo Lan lifted her head and looked straight at Qian Xu, "I'm not lying to you, I'm Luo Xun."

Qian Xu frowned.

"I told you that I immigrated to Planet Alicata from another planet, and it was also true. I just didn't tell you that I used someone else's identity to immigrate from the Al Empire to Planet Alicata."

"What ...... does that mean?"

"I'm not the real Princess Loran, I'm an impostor and a fake princess. I lost all my memories and didn't know who I was, so I named myself Luo Xun."

Luo Lan risked her life to tell her deep secret.

She didn't know how Qian Xu would react, but she knew that hearts could only be exchanged for hearts. She had already hidden her heart while keeping her secret.

A hidden heart could never be truly close to another heart, just like a pair of covered eyes could never see clearly into another pair of eyes.

Since the deceptive quicksand can not support anything, then all the quicksand will be eradicated, as for the quicksand under the end is the vast earth that allows everything to grow, or is it the ten thousand abyss that destroys everything, it can only be gambled with your own life.

"You said, you used someone else's identity, you are not really ...... a princess?" Qian Xu was unexpectedly rational and restrained, and seemed to accept the truth in a short moment, his expression and tone were calm.

"Uh-huh." Loran nodded.

"Where's the real princess? Is she dead?" Qian Xu stared at her, his eyes as sharp as a sheathed sword, as if he wanted to pierce into her heart to confirm whether her words were true or not.

Loran felt strange, but then again, Qian Xu should also feel strange to her at this moment. It wasn't that the two had changed, it was just that they had finally torn off the masks that wrapped themselves.

"No, we are trading peacefully, no blood, no fraud. The princess already has a boyfriend she loves dearly, and she doesn't want to marry into the Odin Federation, I'm a death row inmate who somehow committed a capital offense, the princess gives me a chance to live, I marry into Odin in her place, and the two of them get what they want to strike a deal ......"

Loran recounts his deal with the princess from beginning to end.

Qian Xu asked, "You don't know where the princess went?"

"I don't know, I just know that she must be with Dr. Mu and should be happy."

"They want you to be Princess Loran forever?"

"Well, Dr. Mu said that as long as no one suspects, I can be Princess Loran forever."

"It's been ten years, and you've managed to fool everyone, why ...... do you want to say it?" The storm clouds within Qian Xu's deep eyes shifted as if something was churning and rushing inside, wanting to rush out regardless.

Yes, had fooled everyone!

Although the identity was fake, every day for ten years was real, all the dedication and hard work was real, and everything she had gotten in Alicata did not belong to Princess Loran, it only belonged to her.

"Because ......" Loran sat on her knees and looked up at Qian Xu.

The afterglow of the setting sun has already dispersed, and in the gradually darkening sky, he is standing alone and full of desolation, like standing in the four fields of the empty wilderness, not knowing where he came from, and not knowing where he is going.

Luo Lan slowly stood up and slowly walked to Qian Xu.

Qian Xu did not deliberately retreat again, his body was tense and rigid, and his dark eyes were as deep as the endless night color.

Luo Lan's eyes are clear and bright, as if cutting through the night's bright starlight: "Because I don't want to deceive you anymore, because I want to understand you, because ......"