The next day, Cecilia came to the wall again.
“Miss Lu Mo?” she called out timidly toward the other side.
5 seconds.
10 seconds.
Dozens of seconds passed, but there was no response from the other side of the wall.
The cowlick that Cecilia had been expectantly wagging suddenly stopped, gradually drooping down.
She turned around, ready to return to her long, boring life.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave — “
Just then, a voice called out to her.
Cecilia whipped her head back and saw Lu Mo sitting on top of the wall, looking down at her with a mischievous smile on her lips.
“I’m here, you dummy, Cecilia,” Lu Mo said to her.
The sunlight was intense. The girl sat before her, backlit by the harsh, scorching sun.
But when Cecilia squinted her eyes to look forward, the light in Lu Mo’s eyes was clearly more dazzling and eye-catching than the sun itself.
Lu Mo leaped down.
Then, she jumped right into Cecilia’s previously boring life.
Sometimes, the two would play games: rock, paper, scissors, hide-and-seek, and playing house.
The games were simple, and Lu Mo found them a bit dull, but Cecilia had a wonderful time. Her cowlick bobbed happily, and her eyes were full of little stars.
Sometimes, Lu Mo would tell Cecilia stories.
They were also stories of Bishops, Saintesses, and fighting against foreign enemies, but the content was completely different from the stories of Heroes and Saintesses that Cecilia had heard before.
At first, Cecilia was somewhat resistant to these stories.
Although the stories were fictional, the organization that closely resembled the Sanctuary seemed to have a dark side.
But as Lu Mo continued her narration, Cecilia gradually became mesmerized.
“Is Mr. Otto a bad person? But his story sounds so pitiful…”
“What happened to Lady Kallen in the end?”
Lu Mo would always stop at a cliffhanger, and Cecilia would always press her for what happened next.
“That’s going to be a very long story.”
Lu Mo would smile, stand up to bid Cecilia goodbye, and flip back over the wall.
Because of this, Cecilia looked forward to seeing Lu Mo more and more, her heart filled with anticipation.
Sometimes, Lu Mo would practice combat techniques in front of Cecilia.
Cecilia didn’t speak; she just stood quietly to the side, watching Lu Mo’s figure rise and fall.
Lu Mo didn’t pay any attention to her, focusing entirely on her training.
Yet, Cecilia didn’t feel bored at all.
It felt as though as long as she could sit by Lu Mo’s side, her life would never be uninteresting.
The wind shakes its leaves, and the grass sets its seeds. They stood there without speaking, and it was beautiful.
And at other times, Lu Mo would be late to the corner of the manor because she had matters to attend to.
“Miss Lu Mo.”
After calling out once, Cecilia would wait on her side of the wall.
Sometimes she would wait for half a day.
Cecilia would stare blankly at the wall.
“What are you doing?”
When Lu Mo’s voice finally rang out, Cecilia would snap back to her senses, look up, and see the girl sitting under the setting sun.
Then, she would give a silly smile.
“Waiting for you.”
Just as she was about to walk forward, her body swayed, and she nearly fell.
Fortunately, Lu Mo caught her in time.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing… I just stood for too long, and my legs went numb…”
Before Cecilia could finish, she let out a sudden cry of surprise.
Lu Mo had actually picked her up and started walking toward the tree.
“Dummy,” Lu Mo whispered.
Cecilia didn’t say a word.
She only felt a warm current flowing from her heart to her limbs.
The time spent with Miss Lu Mo was very interesting.
When Miss Lu Mo wasn’t there, it was very boring.
Whenever she watched Lu Mo’s silhouette disappear on the other side of the wall, Cecilia always felt as if her heart had suddenly become hollow.
She would stare at that low wall for a long while before finally leaving.
To her, that wall was the end of her world.
Lu Mo existed in a place beyond her world.
What was on the other side of the wall?
One day, such a thought suddenly sprouted in her mind.
Before this, she had never considered such a question.
She had always simply done what she was taught to do.
She had no opinions of her own, no thoughts of her own.
But even with the thought, when Cecilia walked toward the wall, she would ultimately stop right in front of it.
She couldn’t go any further.
It was as if the string behind her had been pulled tight, preventing her from moving even a fraction of an inch forward.
***
The low wall, at this moment, seemed to transform into an invisible cage.
She would never be able to cross that wall.
— At least until that day.
The sun was scorching, making it almost impossible to keep one’s eyes open.
The cicadas were buzzing, a sound that seemed like it would never stop.
Lu Mo sat on the wall and suddenly reached out her hand toward Cecilia.
“Do you want to cross this wall and come see my home?”
She extended an invitation to Cecilia.
“Eh?”
Cecilia’s footsteps came to a sudden halt.
She stared blankly at Lu Mo.
At that moment, she felt that tightened string behind her again.
“You shouldn’t cross that wall.”
“This is the end of your world.”
Vague voices echoed in her ears.
They were like commandments that had to be followed.
“I… I’d better not…”
Cecilia’s voice suddenly grew quiet. “Sister Lu Mo, I can’t climb over that wall. The other side is not a place where I should go…”
She shrank back.
Her heart began to tremble once more.
Just like the time she faced the girls who had pushed her down.
“Why not try?” Lu Mo spoke again.
She was still smiling, her hand still outstretched. “This time, I’ll be with you.”
The girl in front of her always made Cecilia forget the rules and regulations she was required to follow.
On that day, even Cecilia didn’t know what had come over her. In a moment of impulsiveness, she walked forward step by step.
Then, she firmly grasped Lu Mo’s hand.
— In the next instant, she felt herself being pulled up by the girl.
Suddenly, she was standing on top of that wall.
The sun was blinding, forcing her to squint.
But in that moment, she saw the towering buildings of the Kalis Family and the rolling mountains in the distance. She saw sights she had never seen before… she saw the vast, high sky.
Is this… the scenery outside the world?
Cecilia stared blankly at the scene before her.
Before she could even marvel at it, she felt her body lose balance.
“Cecilia, calm down, I’ll help you—”
“Waaaaah!”
“I’m falling! I’m falling!”
“Miss Lu Mo!”
This was Cecilia’s first time standing on the wall.
Lu Mo wanted Cecilia to calm down, but Cecilia’s brain had already short-circuited. She began to tumble toward the Kalis Family’s side of the wall.
‘What a dummy —’
Lu Mo let out a soft sigh. In the next second, she pulled Cecilia into her arms, spinning in the air to protect her as she landed back-first on the ground.
The two of them crashed to the ground with a loud thud.
“Eh?”
Cecilia opened her eyes. “It… doesn’t seem to hurt?”
But when she realized that she was currently pinning Lu Mo beneath her, she immediately became flustered.
“Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu…”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to squash you!”
“I’m fine — “
“Blood! It’s blood!”
As soon as Lu Mo spoke, Cecilia started screaming again.
Lu Mo looked at her finger. It seemed she had accidentally scratched it on a pebble when she fell, causing a bit of blood to trickle out.
In the next second, Cecilia did something that even surprised Lu Mo —
The girl actually grabbed her bleeding finger and sucked on it!
Lu Mo felt a bit dazed.
Because this scene…
It was exactly the same as what she had encountered during the day!
***
In the real world.
The night was deep and silent.
‘This morning, I seemed to do the same thing as that day — ‘
Cecilia lay on her large bed, reminiscing about the events of the morning.
‘After all these years, Lady Lu Mo has become so cute…’
As soon as she thought of Lu Mo’s accidental fall and the look on her face when she saw her, Cecilia hugged her pillow and rolled around on the bed.
‘She always calls me a dummy, but Lady Lu Mo, you never thought you’d become a dummy one day too, did you?’
‘No talent for cultivation, no motor skills, looking all dazed and silly, easy to bully…’
‘So, this time, I’ll be the one to protect you.’
Cecilia couldn’t help but recall that day.
Lu Mo had taken her hand and crossed that wall with her.
Lu Mo had told her during their subsequent long journey that when she emerged from the storm, she would no longer be the person who walked into it.
In fact, Cecilia had already changed on that day.
The moment she crossed that wall, she was no longer the person she used to be.