’Seriously...’

Qianye’s brows furrowed deeply as her words went on. Then he sighed audibly.

How could everything that had finally looked like it was going so well turn on its head so soon? He had only wanted to finally rest and wait in hope for his rewards.

There, Qianye stepped forwards, rippling the water, thus urging her head up to meet his eyes.

The light at her back had begun to die, and the gold of her eyes had dimmed into an aged, tame colour. All of the flush to her expression had been drained and she had bitten down on her lip. And he met her with a faint smile.

"Listen to me very well," Hs tone was soft, and deep, as his hand raised to her cheek once more, "I am not rejecting you because you are an elf. I do not care about your race. I do not hate you all like other humans. I admire elves. Do you understand me? "

Gradually, her bitten lip loosened, and her mouth part slightly. She had hesitated to speak in that moment, then her eyes quivered and her eyelids fell in a bewildered vulnerable softness.

And she muttered with a whisper, "Then..." her gaze averted and her arms raised to cross beneath her bosom, "is it that I am deficient in some way? Am I too tall for your liking? Is it the scars on my body or that I’m not attractive enough?

’...I certainly didn’t miss how unreasonable beautiful women could be. Has she seen herself?’ He thought, sighing to himself mentally.

"It’s none of that nonsense."

Suddenly, the water rippled and once more, her eyes widened. Qianye had pulled them both backwards, deeper into the water, laughing.

As the water carried them, he pulled his arm far behind himself, drawing her closer and slithering his arm around her waist.

"You are the most beautiful woman I’ve seen yet," her bosom pressed against him and their faces came hardly inches away from the other, a ray of moonlight shining between them, "and your scars do not take away from that."

Qianye’s foot landed in the mud beneath them, and despite himself, he pushed them deeper into the lake.

He watched as the moonlight shimmered in her enlivening eyes, and he smiled that little bit more. Qianye’s eyes drifted down to her lips and his voice fell to a whisper, "And I very much adore tall women with long hair."

His eyes drifted back up her face, noticing the returning blush to them. The both of them were slightly swaying their legs, swimming deeper and deeper into the lake, her arms draped over his shoulders. One of his was around his waist while the other had sunken into the water, helping them steer.

And in a deep, low voice, whispered, "Still, despite you being such an attractive woman to me, I still refuse. Do you think I don’t know the consequences of bedding an elf? Especially if she is telling me I will be deflowering her?"

Qianye’s eyes remained on her as her eyes gradually widened and her arms held around him tighter.

"Do you really think I would be happy with you sacrificing your potential for my benefit? How would I look myself in the face tomorrow morning knowing that for the sake of healing me, you sacrificed yourself by sleeping with a man who’s soul doesn’t resonate with yours?" His voice remained deep and hushed as he drew her in closer, bringing his head across the side of her face to whisper into her ear.

"I’ve spent so many years being desperate for solutions to my biggest problems. And I nearly died a second time tonight because I gave into that desperation."

Qianye drew himself back from her ear, stopping himself only inches away from her face that carried those widened, glistening eyes. And through the water and his chest, he could feel the drum of her heart.

"I will not let you make that same mistake, casting aside your future, when you have been such a faultless beginning to my second life."

Suddenly, the ethereal light at her back came to life once more. Qianye could feel a deep, soothing warmth through his arm that wasn’t even touching its source.

And as the pair floated in the lake, with the moon and her light illuminating between them, Qianye watched as trails of lucent tears graced down her countenance. They were so helplessly opalescent, shimmering in her dark blue, gold and dark silver colours.

[ You have graced an individual with Fated grade Destiny. Her perception of you has been shocked. You have gained 10 Fortuity from the impact you have had on her. ]

[ Your actions have significantly affected an unnamed being’s alignment towards you. Her esteem shimmers brighter at your acknowledgement. ]

[ You have graced an individual with Fated grade Destiny. Her perception of you has been shocked. You have gained 10 Fortuity from the impact you have had on her. ]

[ Your actions have significantly affected an unnamed being’s alignment towards you. Her esteem shimmers brighter at your acknowledgement. ]

His free hand brought itself up to her, caressing her face as he brushed the streak on one side away, muttering, "Should I be honoured that you are crying because of me, or feel horrible about myself for nearly making you do something so ruinous for yourself?"

"Both," She replied through a laugh that had choked down her snivel, and at the same time, one of her hands raised, wiping away her other tear.

’If any of those stuck-up alchemists heard I just wiped away an elf’s tears without preserving them, I would be cooked alive in a cauldron,’ Qianye amused himself with the thought.

The two of them, for several seconds, didn’t say anything, as she continued to wipe away at her tears, collecting herself.

"But," she began as she took a deep breath, and put her arm back over his shoulders, "you should feel horrible because you don’t understand that what will ruin me isn’t our intimacy. It is me never seeing you again."

They both stopped swimming themselves backwards, now floating in the centre of the lake, under the sea of stars and their moon.

"..." Qianye’s eyes widened slightly, and then his expression calmed, and he gave in the smile that she inspired and he said to her:

"Would you allow me to give you a name?"

Suddenly, her hold on him tightened as the movement of her feet beneath the water stopped briefly.

"Your soul nearly collapsed, you can’t—"

Qianye’s head had shaken as she spoke, and he interrupted her, holding her tighter to himself and drawing his face closer, "That is not what I asked you."

Her breath hesitated from continuing, and her mouth fell to a close and her face blushed a little more as the light to her back intensified.

"..."

Then her eyes averted his gaze and in a hushed, delicate voice she muttered:

"... Yes," she dragged her attention back to him, and she whispered on, "I would like a name from you."