Meanwhile, in Aurum Alley, at a small food stall filled with the aroma of freshly prepared snacks, Stelle and March were still secretly discussing their plans.
"If Mommy Himeko doesn't make up with my godfather, then I guess I'll just have to find another mom..."
Stelle muttered with a pout, resting her chin in her hand as though she were seriously contemplating the matter.
However, the instant her words left her mouth, a sudden chill ran down her spine, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. An inexplicable sense of danger washed over her, and she instinctively felt a cold sensation around her backside, as though some terrifying presence had silently appeared behind her.
In the very next moment, Himeko's gentle yet terrifyingly calm voice drifted into her ear from behind.
"My dear Stelle, exactly how many moms are you planning to find?"
In an instant, the lively atmosphere surrounding Aurum Alley's food stalls abruptly fell into an awkward, almost suffocating silence.
Stelle stiffly turned to look at Himeko, whose aura felt completely different from what it had been just ten minutes earlier, and found herself utterly bewildered.
"No, I'm not looking for another godmother! Why would I wanna have another mom? Mom, you know me."
Without even stopping to think, Stelle hurriedly tried to salvage the situation before it spiraled completely out of control.
If she accidentally made Himeko storm off because of a single careless sentence, who knew whether her godfather would skin her alive afterward?
March blinked her big eyes before turning to look at Himeko as well, feeling that Himeko definitely seemed somewhat different than before. It was as if Himeko had simply taken a short nap, only to wake up with the maturity and presence of someone ten years older.
"Stelle, remember this. From now on, I'm your real mother," Himeko said earnestly as she looked straight into Stelle's eyes. "If you ever find any other godmothers, make sure you tell me."
"???"
March blinked several more times, her mind still struggling to process the astonishing declaration she had just heard.
"My real mother?" Stelle quietly repeated those words to herself before cautiously asking, "Wait, then who's my real father? We don't even look alike."
"Silly child, your father is obviously Lucian."
As she spoke, Himeko gently reached out and stroked Stelle's head with a warm, affectionate smile, her movements carrying all the tenderness of a loving mother.
""???""
Himeko's declaration completely baffled both Stelle and March, leaving the two of them staring at her in stunned silence.
It was only natural.
Wasn't Himeko upset just a few moments ago?
Only several minutes earlier, she had been insisting that she was practically allergic to Lucian and repeatedly telling Stelle not to call her 'Mom' so casually.
Given that, how had her attitude undergone such a dramatic transformation after nothing more than a short nap?
More importantly, being a godmother was apparently no longer enough—she now wanted to become Stelle's real mother outright?
Himeko's sudden and almost unbelievable change left both of them utterly unable to keep up with her train of thought.
"Hey, March, did we miss part of the story?" Stelle whispered in disbelief. "No matter how I look at it, this transition just doesn't make any sense."
"Uhh, there you go again with your nonsense... what story?"
March replied with a puzzled expression, clearly unable to follow Stelle's train of thought.
"Could my joke about finding a new mom have triggered her?" Stelle whispered again, sounding anxious this time. "But she changed way too fast!"
Meanwhile, although the two deliberately lowered their voices, every word of their quiet conversation reached Himeko's ears with perfect clarity.
Triggered?
Of course, she was triggered.
Himeko now possessed a second set of memories—memories spanning nearly ten years spent together with Lucian.
Every single moment was engraved vividly into her mind, as though she had truly lived through every one of them herself. From their days as teacher and student in university, to becoming companions on their journey, then lovers, and finally husband and wife, every stage of their relationship remained incomparably clear.
Even Himeko herself had never imagined that she would experience something so unbelievable.
Even now, she could still clearly remember Lucian telling her within that dream that everything she had experienced had merely been a dream. Yet no matter how hard she tried, she simply could not convince herself that those memories had never been real.
'I will figure it out.'
A resolute expression gradually appeared on Himeko's face.
'For now, there's no point in overthinking things. I need to ask Lucian directly and get a clear answer later...'
Just as that thought crossed her mind...
*Buzz!*
A vast golden ripple of energy suddenly erupted from Himeko's body!
It carried freedom, boundless curiosity, and an endless desire to explore, as though the very concept of Trailblaze itself had descended upon Aurum Alley.
Even though it lasted for only an instant, the overwhelming pressure and the pure, unshakable will of Trailblaze made the hairs on both Stelle's and March's bodies stand on end.
"Waaah! Himeko's glowing gold!"
March screamed at the top of her lungs.
"What the heck?! Did Mommy Himeko just become enlightened or something?!"
Stelle's eyes widened as she cried out in disbelief.
At the same time, the canvas roof of a nearby food stall billowed and fluttered violently beneath the invisible force, causing the vendor to nearly drop the ladle in his hand. Around the area, startled passersby instinctively froze in their tracks before quickly turning toward the source of the sudden disturbance, their faces filled with confusion and alarm.
Thankfully, the outburst lasted for only a brief moment before Himeko immediately restrained her aura, causing the terrifying pressure that had blanketed the area to dissipate as quickly as it had appeared.
In the next second, the oppressive atmosphere vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the lingering unease in the hearts of those who had experienced it.
Even so, the shock in Himeko's own eyes was no less than that of everyone else.
'No way... this power... the power of the Emanator of Trailblaze I got in that dream... it actually existed in reality!'
As soon as she realized what had happened to her, Himeko could no longer convince herself that the so-called dream had merely been a dream.
At this moment, the tangible proof brought by the power of Trailblaze completely shattered the last trace of doubt lingering in her heart, making the bizarre, sweet, and unsettling dream instantly become ninety-nine percent real in her mind.
"I'm going home to find my husband."
Himeko could no longer suppress the emotions surging within her, nor could she remain standing here for even another second.
In the very next moment, without bothering to offer any explanation, she turned around and briskly strode out of Aurum Alley, her pace carrying an unmistakable sense of urgency.
Her destination was already crystal clear in her mind—Fyxestroll Garden, Lucian's home.
Meanwhile, watching Himeko suddenly leave in such a hurry without another word, Stelle and March could only stare blankly at each other, completely caught off guard by her abrupt departure.
"Did she just go 'Biu!' and release some kinda golden aura?"
Stelle asked, her eyes still wide with astonishment.
"Uh-huh... It was golden..."
March nodded blankly, her face still filled with confusion as she struggled to process what had just happened.
"And she said she's going home to find her husband?" Stelle rubbed her chin as she fell into deep thought. "But who's her husband? Other than my godfather, I can't think of anyone else... When did they get married? In a dream?"
A full three seconds passed as Stelle racked her brain with all her might until she suddenly froze.
'Wait! Something isn't right with this script!'
According to the normal sequence of events in Stelle's mind, Himeko should have remained angry, giving her the perfect opportunity to quietly sneak away and extort some benefits from her godfather.
After that, her godfather would naturally come over to coax Himeko, allowing Stelle to step in as the mediator between the two of them and earn herself a little profit in the process.
But now, from what she could see, how had the plot skipped straight to the ending?
"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and catch up! Himeko's already way ahead!"
March suddenly grabbed Stelle by the wrist and broke into a run, dragging her along as they hurried after Himeko.
Yet they quickly discovered that no matter how hard they chased after her, they simply could not catch up.
"Himeko's cheating! She's totally cheating!"
March's indignant scream echoed throughout Aurum Alley, startling nearby pedestrians into turning their heads once more.
Unfortunately, no matter how loudly she protested, Himeko's figure continued to disappear into the distance, leaving the two of them no choice but to grit their teeth and continue the hopeless pursuit.
===
Meanwhile, aboard the Astral Express, Welt had just stepped out of the bathroom after washing up.
A faint trace of grogginess from his recent nap still lingered on his face as he happened to encounter Dan Heng, who had just left the archive room dressed in his training clothes, seemingly on his way to continue his daily practice.
As soon as he saw Dan Heng, Welt hesitated for a brief moment before finally calling out to him.
"Dan Heng, wait a moment."
Dan Heng immediately stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him.
"Mr. Yang, is something wrong?"
"Well..."
Welt quietly organized his thoughts, his expression becoming somewhat strange, as though he himself found what he was about to say difficult to believe.
"I know this might sound a little odd, but when I took a short nap earlier, I seemed to have had an extremely... realistic dream..."
Dan Heng remained silent, calmly watching him while signaling for him to continue.
Adjusting his glasses out of habit, Welt carefully tried to recall every detail that still remained in his memory.
"I dreamed that none of us had boarded the Astral Express. It seemed like we were at Herta Space Station. I was working there as a security guard, and you..."
Welt paused for a moment.
"You seemed to be the captain of security..."
No matter how much he thought about it, that dream was simply too absurd.
How could the former Sovereign of Anti-Entropy and current Nameless of the Astral Express have somehow become nothing more than a mere security guard in a dream?
However, what unsettled him the most was not the absurdity of the dream itself, but the overwhelming sense of realism that had accompanied every moment within it.
Upon hearing Welt's account, a subtle trace of surprise finally flashed across Dan Heng's normally expressionless face.
"What a coincidence. I had a similar dream. Even though most of it was blurry, there were indeed fragments involving Herta Space Station and security work."
Honestly, protecting something did not seem like a bad job, but why had he become a captain of security?
And more importantly, why did his dream seem to connect so perfectly with Welt's?
Dan Heng and Welt exchanged glances, each able to see confusion, bewilderment, and an indescribable sense of unease reflected in the other's eyes.
"Could it have been something like a prophetic dream?" Welt frowned thoughtfully. "Or perhaps some kind of resonance related to the Path of Trailblaze?"
"No... perhaps it's just a coincidence."
Dan Heng slowly shook his head, unwilling to jump to conclusions based on nothing more than a dream.
Just like that, a strange sense of loss quietly lingered in both of their hearts, as though they had forgotten something profoundly important. Yet no matter how hard they searched their memories, they could not grasp even the slightest clue, leaving behind nothing but a vague emptiness that neither of them could explain.
===
At his residence in Fyxestroll Garden on the Xianzhou Luofu, Lucian stood quietly at the entrance gate, leaning against the wooden wall with his arms crossed as he leisurely enjoyed the gentle breeze drifting through the courtyard.
If Himeko had truly regained her script memories, she would undoubtedly come to find him immediately. Because of that, he simply waited there in silence, curious to see what would happen.
Just as he had expected, it wasn't long before a familiar figure appeared in the distance.
Himeko.
At this moment, she stopped several meters away, breathing lightly as she tried to steady herself. Her fair cheeks were faintly flushed from rushing all the way there, while her beautiful crimson hair had become slightly disheveled by the wind.
More importantly, she gazed at Lucian with burning eyes, and beneath that unwavering stare, countless emotions churned within them.
Excitement.
Confusion.
Longing.
Disbelief.
And countless other emotions that words alone could hardly describe.
"Lucian!"
Himeko called out before quickly walking toward him, but after taking only a few hurried steps, she suddenly slowed to a stop.
For the first time, uncertainty filled her heart as she found herself worrying that Lucian might not know anything about the situation.
What if he had never experienced that dream?
What if everything she remembered existed only in her own mind?
What if he truly knew nothing and no longer acknowledged her?
As Himeko stood there, caught between anticipation and hesitation—
"What's wrong, my dear student?"
Lucian looked at Himeko with the same gentle smile she remembered so well, deliberately testing whether she had inherited the memories from the dream.
As soon as she heard him call her 'my dear student' and saw that familiar, gentle smile, Himeko immediately understood.
He remembered.
He had experienced everything that had happened in the dream alongside her.
In an instant, the anxiety that had been weighing on her heart completely melted away, replaced by an overwhelming sense of relief.
"So, after waking up, you weren't immediately looking for me? You wouldn't acknowledge me?"
At the same time, however, Himeko could not help but pout slightly as she spoke with a hint of grievance in her voice.
Hearing her words, Lucian immediately confirmed that Himeko had indeed inherited the memories from the script. In other words, the red-haired beauty standing before him was no longer merely the Astral Express's navigator but also his wife.
"Why wouldn't I acknowledge such a beautiful wife?"
Lucian smiled softly before taking the initiative to pull Himeko into his embrace, his movements gentle and unhurried, as though afraid that even the slightest force might shatter the fragile moment between them.
Himeko neither resisted nor struggled.
Instead, she quietly leaned against his chest, naturally wrapping her arms around his waist as though she had done so countless times before. Her grip gradually tightened ever so slightly, as if reassuring herself that the person standing before her was truly real and not another fleeting illusion.
The familiar warmth.
The familiar scent.
The familiar sense of security.
Everything felt exactly as it had in the dream, from the steady rhythm of his heartbeat to the comforting warmth that surrounded her. It caused her to slowly close her eyes as the last traces of tension quietly melted away, allowing her to become completely immersed in the embrace she had been longing for ever since she woke up.
"You told me before it was all just a dream... that everything was just a dream..."
"But why did it feel so... real? Every little detail, every conversation, every emotion..."
"More importantly, I gained power... the power of an Emanator of Trailblaze. No matter how I look at it, it couldn't have been just a dream..."
"Lucian... I really can't tell the difference anymore..."
Himeko's voice gradually softened until it was barely above a whisper, filled with confusion and uncertainty as she struggled to distinguish dream from reality.
"For both of us, that dream was real."
Lucian explained gently, his voice calm and steady.
"Long story short, I kinda selfishly reached into your past through a dream and let you experience another life."
"So yeah, both lives you've lived are real—neither one was fake or made up. They're both a part of your own experiences, and every memory, every feeling, and everything you went through really happened to you."
"Now that you know the truth... are you mad at me?"
As he asked that final question, Lucian quietly watched Himeko's expression, carefully observing every subtle change in her eyes and every faint shift in her features as he patiently waited for her answer.
"Mad at you? At this point, how could I possibly bring myself to be mad at you?"
Himeko let out a soft, almost inaudible complaint while comfortably resting in his arms, making no attempt to pull away as she continued to enjoy the warmth and reassurance of his embrace.
"In fact, I truly cherished the days we spent together and am grateful that you appeared in my past..."
"Lucian, thank you for coming into my life..."
Hearing those heartfelt words, Lucian blinked briefly, clearly caught off guard by her sincere confession, before a gentle smile gradually spread across his face.
"Hey, thanking me with words isn't enough. You gotta show it with actions."
At those words, a faint blush immediately spread across Himeko's beautiful face, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she slowly leaned closer to him, her golden eyes never leaving his as the distance between them steadily closed.
As their emotions quietly deepened, their gazes remained locked together without either of them looking away, the distance between them gradually disappearing until their warm breaths gently brushed against each other's faces as silence quietly enveloped them.
At this point, not sharing a kiss would have felt unnatural, so in the next moment, as though they had silently reached the same understanding, they slowly closed the remaining distance between them until...
*Chu—*
Setting aside everything that had happened within the script world, this was Himeko's very first kiss in reality, and her body was experiencing such intimacy for the first time.
Yet because she had already lived through those memories so vividly, every movement felt strangely natural, as though she had already experienced it countless times before.
*Chu—*
*Chu—*
*Chu—*
As Lucian and Himeko lost themselves completely in their own world, kissing each other with unrestrained passion as though nothing else around them existed, March and Stelle finally managed to catch up after chasing Himeko the entire way.
Both of them were breathing heavily from the exhausting pursuit, having barely managed to keep pace with Himeko's frantic dash.
"Huff... Huff... Himeko, slow down a bit—AAAAAHHH! MY EYES—!!!"
March called out between ragged breaths, only for her eyes to widen dramatically the instant she caught sight of the breathtaking spectacle before her.
In an instant, her exhausted expression froze completely, then twisted into one of utter shock as she reflexively threw her hands over her eyes in a futile attempt to shield them.
===
[A bonus chapter for reaching 300 Power Stones]
[Support and get early access to upcoming chapters at: patreon.com/VALRRR]