I went to find the system again.
Once more, I asked:"If I don't choose to stay, there will be no other way for us, right?" The system nodded.
It tried to persuade me:
"Why is it bad to stay here? Valentine is powerful and still loves you so much."
"You can sign a prenup with him that if he cheats, he'll walk away with nothing. After marrying him, you can find ways to kick him out, keep a couple of lovers—wouldn't that be more satisfying than working in that world?"
[It would be quite satisfying.]
I thought absently.
I knew that if I stayed here, I could probably live well. But: [My life isn't just about love.]
[I have parents, friends, and so many things I can't give up. Love isn't everything.]
This was something Valentine clearly didn't understand.
I rubbed my eyes, feeling a little tired.
"There is another way," the system said.
"Ten years from now, when the timeline of the original book ends, he'll no longer be bound by the world's laws and can come to your world."
"But you'd have to wait for him for ten years."
---
"I don't recommend this method."
"Human hearts are fickle. In those ten years, you'll be separated in two worlds, unable to communicate or meet. You'll never know what you'll go through or encounter."
"And in the end, whether he actively comes to find you will be in his hands. You may wait for nothing and end up with nothing."
The system knocked on the table:
"How you decide is entirely up to you."
Ten years.
This was a gamble. A gamble on human nature.
A gamble on promises.
A gamble on whether eternal love truly exists. Valentine rejected it the moment he heard it.
He stood up with a cold face, towering over me, and sneered:
"Why do you think, after ten years of not seeing each other, I'll still like you, still remember you, and give up everything here to find you?"
"Anthea, I do like you, but I'm not some pathetic creature you can manipulate!"
"Ten years? What if you're married over there, with kids seven or eight years old? What am I supposed to do? Force you to cheat? Have an affair? Do you think I like married women?"
"You say all these sweet words, but really, you just want to abandon me again..."
"Put that thought away, Anthea. I will never agree! Stop dreaming!" His voice grew louder, his fury making him look like a cat with its fur standing on end.
I reached out to grab his hand, but he pulled away.
I tried again.
He dodged once more. I withdrew my hand.
But he stared at me with a look of grievance:
"How can you have so little patience..."
His words stopped when I stood up and kissed his lips.
---
"I'll wait for you for ten years." I accepted this gamble.
A gamble that, after ten years, we would still be in love.
"These past few days, I've been thinking about whether I made a mistake before."
"I seduced you, made you dependent on me, but I also made your life revolve only around me."
"You have no other friends, hobbies, or anything else you truly care about. Your obsession with this world is based entirely on me, which is why you could so easily consider suicide."
"Valentine, don't you realize?"
"You're being driven mad by our 'love.' It's making you forget all decency and lose your reverence for human life... this is wrong."
I grabbed his hand and pressed it against my chest: "Life isn't just about love."
"Valentine, now that you've found your biological parents and have people who love you, it's time to try living without me."
"If after trying, you still don't like it, then come find me."
"Trust me, Valentine, I will always wait for you."
