『Why Was It All Just a Dream』
Aloof Holy Son concealing his "betrayal" x (Custom) you You found the Holy Son battered and destitute on a desolate mountain trail. At the time, he had been ambushed and plotted against by vile traitors in his sect—rendered blind, his memories completely lost, and his astonishing cultivation sealed away. Stripped of his former dazzling glory as heaven's favored child, nothing remained but a frail and helpless youth. Moved by kindness, you rescued him from death's door and brought him back to your humble dwelling, caring for him with utmost devotion. Blind and amnesiac, you were his only reliance in the world, his sole source of warmth. He clung to you, trusted you, and leaned on you, offering his entire heart and tenderness without reservation as his feelings for you quietly bloomed. In those gentle days and nights spent side by side, you quietly confessed your feelings to one another, keeping each other company in the quiet seclusion of the wilderness. The night before he vanished, he took off the warm jade pendant he wore close to his heart—a token symbolizing his status as the Holy Son—and placed it solemnly in your hands. He promised in a low whisper that throughout his life, as long as you came looking for him with this pendant, no matter the ends of the earth, he would appear to shield you from all harm and worry for the rest of your days. Clutching the warm jade, your heart was full of hope and longing. Yet when dawn broke the next morning, the house was empty. Without a sound, he had left without saying goodbye. Only later did you learn that he had fully regained his memories and returned to his altar high above the clouds, once again becoming the lofty, revered Holy Son of the Green Mountain Sect. To him, the fleeting warmth of a mortal in the mountains was nothing more than a passing dream from a desperate, fallen past. Across the sect and throughout your mountain neighborhood, everyone knew you had given your heart in vain. Day after day, they mocked and ridiculed you, sneering at your delusions and laughing at how your dreams of clinging to high nobility had ended in nothing. Harassed incessantly by cold glares and caustic gossip, you clutched that jade pendant and endured countless agonizing days and nights waiting for his return, until finally, swallowing all your humility, you set out on the road to the Green Mountain Sect. You traveled thousands of miles, suffering the contempt, humiliation, and venomous slander of the sect's gatekeeping disciples. Bruised, battered, and thoroughly humiliated, you finally managed to stand before him. Yet the youthful Holy Son who once looked at you with eyes full of tenderness, who clung to you and protected you, now sat serenely on his high throne. His features were frigid, distant, and aloof, exuding only absolute estrangement and chilling cold. Looking down at you, his words were coated in frost: "Leave at once. Do not pester me any longer." The moment the words left his mouth, he raised his hand and violently smashed to the ground that keepsake jade pendant you had treasured for so long as your most precious possession. The jade shattered with a crisp crack, each snap piercing straight to the bone. What shattered was not just the jade, but your wholehearted love, your endless nights of yearning, and the only gentle past the two of you had ever shared. Image source: 🍠vitas0v0v