After Forgetting Two Exes - Chapter 44

After pouring out their hearts to each other, the two remained sitting on the roof, talking.

As Ji Xunyue listened to Xuan Huai recount his past, she learned that his parents had passed away during an internal rebellion years ago. Although he was protected by kin, he lived alone most of the time, which caused his personality to become indifferent and detached.

Yet, his core remained gentle; otherwise, during their very first encounter, he wouldn’t have followed her to protect her.

However, he was ultimately unskilled in interpersonal relationships, so when they first met in the mortal realm, he truly hadn’t known how to deal with her.

Having heard only a fraction of the past, Ji Xunyue drifted into a peaceful sleep in his arms. Xuan Huai, however, found himself wide awake, his mind stirred by the memories.

He hadn’t been exaggerating. Back then, he was a man of few words and was unaccustomed to being approached by others, yet he hadn’t felt any rejection toward her barging into his life.

Xuan Huai remembered knocking a man-eating demon unconscious and tossing him into the Demon Realm’s transportation array. Just then, a mortal woman who had been saved by the act called out to him.

She had been captured and had twisted her leg during the struggle, making it difficult for her to walk. she hoped he would take her down the mountain. Her messy long hair and the dirt on her face could not hide her brilliant beauty. Her eyes, bright as stars, gazed at him intensely, awaiting his response.

Seeing that he ignored her and turned to leave, the woman endured the pain, stood up, and grabbed his sleeve. She actually wasn’t afraid of him at all.

He spoke coldly, hoping to make her back off. “I am a demon as well. Are you not afraid I will kill you?”

She shook her head and smiled. “You are handsome and very strong. You won’t kill me.”

Xuan Huai saw no logic in her statement, but he truly had no interest in mortal lives—he was, in fact, indifferent. He pulled his sleeve back without a word. Just as her face began to show disappointment, he gave her a talisman for a quick descent and left.

That was the first meeting between him and Ji Xunyue in the mortal realm. He couldn’t explain why he helped her, and for a long time afterward, that became their pattern of interaction.

To capture the remaining demons, Xuan Huai stayed in the village where she lived for a while. Her rescue had been a byproduct of him subduing a threat, not his primary intent, yet she treated him as her savior. Every time he sensed a demon and moved out, she would somehow hear of it and follow, even taking the initiative to draw the hidden demons out.

No matter how weak those demons were, killing a mortal was effortless for them. The only reason she escaped time and again was that he struck just in time.

He finally couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you following me?”

She replied as if it were obvious, “To be your bait and repay my debt of gratitude, of course.”

“Are you not afraid to die?”

She countered with a question, “Are you truly unable to protect even me?”

Xuan Huai didn’t understand how she could place her life in someone else’s hands so easily. Had he been even slightly more cold-hearted, she would have died a hundred times over. But she was certain he would come to save her. Even during the first few times when he intentionally delayed to test her motives, she never grew suspicious. She believed that just like the first time, he would always protect her.

In fact, he did exactly that.

During their downtime, she would proactively chat with him. He didn’t refuse, nor did he respond, but he wasn’t annoyed either. Gradually, he grew accustomed to her presence.

He often missed those times when he would be reading a book and she would be sitting beside him, rambling about the village gossip regardless of whether he replied. In truth, he listened to everything she said; he simply didn’t know how to respond. Had she paid closer attention, she would have noticed he hadn’t turned a single page of his book the entire time.

He hadn’t minded being alone, but once he grew used to companionship, solitude became unbearable. When he finally tried to respond to her words, even he was surprised by his own change. Her smile at that moment reached deep into his heart.

He no longer let her put herself in danger. He couldn’t bear to see her suffer even a minor injury; even if he could heal her, he couldn’t stand the thought of it.

He asked about her past. She couldn’t remember much. She had wandered around and finally settled in this village after being taken in by kind people. Thus, after the demon troubles nearby were quelled, they left that place and traveled to many others. He gradually lost track of whether he was on a mission or simply enjoying the world with her.

To him, only this mortal named Ye Jinyue was special.

But this was also their greatest point of contention. Even for people she didn’t know, she would help without hesitation. He, however, only dealt with demon affairs and looked upon the world’s troubles with cold indifference. This was partly due to demon regulations—though few followed them anymore—and partly due to his innate apathy toward the joys and sorrows of others.

Ye Jinyue only half-understood his stance, so she wouldn’t trouble him with things she could solve herself. But there were times when her strength fell short.

She finally couldn’t help but question him: “You clearly could have helped them. Why didn’t you act?”

At that moment, he finally understood they were destined for different paths. He said calmly, “Now you understand. It is because I am a demon.”

Yet she didn’t leave. She continued to follow him, stubbornly trying to change his mind, hoping she could convince him to help mortals. She even risked her own life to protect strangers, and he finally could no longer hold back from intervening.

She said with a smile, “Huai Lin, I knew you would come to save me.”

Faced with the gratitude of strangers, he couldn’t say he hated it—because she looked so happy. She could always make him compromise, and he did so willingly. Xuan Huai realized that he truly had been changed by Ye Jinyue.

Their relationship grew closer and closer. An emotion that was on the verge of crossing the line lingered in his heart, waiting for a catalyst to break the silence.

The turning point came when they reached a town and heard of a Tiger Demon nearby that liked to devour the souls of young women, specifically abducting brides during weddings to maximize the suffering of others. Ye Jinyue made some noise and found a family willing to help, staging a fake wedding to lure the Tiger Demon out.

Once the demon was subdued, she intentionally fell into his arms, speaking of her lingering fear to seek his comfort. Xuan Huai knew it was a performance; she was always emboldened by his presence. Yet, he followed her lead, comforting her to make her happy. However, he himself was left unsettled by this “fake” wedding.

The thought stuck in his throat until he finally said, “Don’t do this ever again.”

She was still wearing the bridal veil, her expression hidden. Her tone was confused. “Why not? Don’t you claim not to care about mortal customs?”

He knew she was asking on purpose, yet he willingly took the bait. He lifted her veil, meeting her expectant gaze, and said seriously, “Because I care about you.”

Her eyes sparkled, reflecting his own flushed face. He couldn’t care about anything else; seeing her in the red bridal gown, looking so vibrant and moving, it felt as if she were truly his bride. He couldn’t resist pulling her into his arms.

“Is there nothing else you want to say?” She pushed him back with a smile, seemingly waiting for a promise.

Bewitched by her smile, or perhaps having intended to say it all along, he spoke solemnly, “Ye Jinyue, I like you.”

The difference between demon and mortal, the span of their lifespans—none of it mattered to him anymore. She beamed and leaned in to kiss the corner of his lips. “Huai Lin, I like you too.”

From meeting to falling in love, it took them a full year. The relationship seemed to follow a natural course, but Xuan Huai knew it was Ye Jinyue’s repeated initiatives that had rewritten the trajectory of his life.

When they weren’t yet familiar, he wasn’t good at talking; he could end a conversation in a few words and had no idea how to coax someone. When she was in a bad mood, he would just stand aside and watch with a frown.

She asked, “Why don’t you comfort me?”

“I don’t know how.”

“Then I’ll teach you. I’ll teach you how to comfort me.”

She gave him a long list, analyzing her own heart—how when she said she was “fine” she meant she wasn’t, how when she said “it doesn’t matter” there was actually a problem, and how when she doubted herself he should argue against her. He listened for a long time but didn’t really understand; he just thought she was complicated.

Still, he followed her “prescription.” When she was sad, he tried to give her the right remedy. Sometimes he got it wrong, and she would laugh through her tears, calling him stupid for not knowing how to handle girls. He just listened silently, thinking about how to understand her better next time.

He only learned later that comforting someone doesn’t need to be studied. As long as you truly love someone, your words will naturally align with her. As he grew to love her more, he became a master without a teacher, only speaking what she wanted to hear, wanting only to make her happy. When your heart and eyes are full of one person, her joys and sorrows become your everything; the world only has color because of her.

After falling in love with Ye Jinyue, Xuan Huai often regretted the harsh words he had spoken to her in the past. He craved her devotion and returned it with equal treasure, but with it came the fear of losing her. A mortal’s lifespan is short; even a hundred years is but a blink of an eye compared to his long life. She comforted him, saying mortals have reincarnation, and he could just find her in her next life. He agreed, but he was still afraid. What if he couldn’t find her? What if she didn’t love him? Why were there so many obstacles between them?

So he gave her his demon power. Even though she couldn’t use it, it allowed her to age more slowly than an average person so she could stay with him a little longer. He promised himself he would find a way for them to be together forever.

But his greatest fear came true. The sudden outbreak of the Great War caught Xuan Huai off guard. He was urgently summoned back to the Demon Realm to discuss strategy. He was gone for only three days, but upon his return, he found that Ye Jinyue had disappeared.

No one knew where she had gone. He searched the entire country but found no trace. That was the first time he understood how painful loss truly was. But the urgency of the war left him no time to search further. He returned to the Demon Realm dejected. Even as he fought through the exhaustion of war, he never stopped missing her. Demons do not have reincarnation; to keep his promise, he had to survive. But he was also afraid that if he never found her, his remaining life would be unbearably lonely.

Just as he was losing hope, she returned to his sight so easily, but she no longer belonged to him. He could only address her as “Young Master,” and when that familiar face looked at her, it held only politeness and coldness. She no longer had the joy she had in the mortal realm; the conflict between her parents’ factions left her exhausted. He felt he shouldn’t disturb her or give her more to worry about.

But he truly couldn’t stand being treated as a stranger. He finally couldn’t help but speak.

“Has the Young Master ever been to the mortal realm?”

“Never.”

“Have you ever seen me?”

“Never.”

And you have never loved me? Xuan Huai didn’t ask that final question. The answer was already obvious. Ji Xunyue didn’t just fail to recognize him; she had completely forgotten their past.

He asked the guards of the Demon Realm and learned that she had once left her body on a whim to travel to the mortal realm. After the war broke out, the Demon Lord had sent people to bring her back. As for why she couldn’t remember her time in the mortal realm, no one knew the reason.

A guard thought about it. “Perhaps the memory just wasn’t inherited when the soul returned to the original body?”

Such a casual sentence was a heavy blow to Xuan Huai. She had changed him into the person she liked, only to forget him in the end.

But he was also thankful she hadn’t left. They still had a long future, and this time, it would be his turn to take the initiative. Yet, for some reason, they always seemed to circle between disappointment and hope.

He saved her, but his life was at its end. Fortunately, he was saved by Yu Qianchan, allowing him to embark on the path of immortality. Once his injuries were healed, he heard she was defending a cultivator named Shi Yuan. He knew she was kind and thought it was just another act of assistance, but he didn’t expect her to grow closer and closer to Shi Yuan until they became engaged. Only then did he snap out of it, realizing she had embraced a brand-new future while only he remained in the past.

Later, her mother passed away, and she broke off her engagement with Shi Yuan. From then on, she stayed in her corner of the world, rarely leaving the Demon Realm, seemingly cutting ties with the past. He respected her choice and didn’t disturb her again.

After many years, Shi Yuan had brought up the past again, pulling the three of them back into this entanglement. The turmoil of it all had naturally left Xuan Huai despondent.

But the ending was finally perfect.

When Ji Xunyue woke up, it was broad daylight. She opened her sleepy eyes and instinctively squinted, waiting to adjust to the piercing sunlight. She tried to move her stiff limbs and realized she had slept in Xuan Huai’s arms all night.

Sensing her movement, Xuan Huai let go of her so she could sit up. Seeing his awake and alert expression, she asked in confusion, “Did you not sleep all night?”

Xuan Huai smiled and shook his head. “I just woke up early.” In truth, by the time he finished reminiscing about the past, it was already dawn.

Ji Xunyue sighed. “Alright, now I am Ye Jinyue. I haven’t been acting for a few days; I’ve almost lost the feeling.”

Xuan Huai brushed a messy strand of hair away from her face. “You can wait a little longer, because we must go to the God Realm first.”

At the mention of business, she blinked and couldn’t help but smile. Looking at her familiar smile, Xuan Huai’s heart felt completely soft.