Ereshkigal is also very beautiful

What is a miracle?

To Xu Xi, it was likely the repetition of mundane days—plain and uneventful, devoid of thrilling accidents or sudden upheavals.

Seemingly insignificant.

Yet, over time, it would settle.

Revealing a unique charm.

Xu Xi was content with his current life.

On the way back to the courtyard with Ailei, Xu Xi tilted his head slightly, watching as the wind peeled back a corner of the clouds in the clear sky, revealing birds diving and weaving between the buildings.

"How nice things are now..."

Beside him stood his loyal mechanical maid.

At home, his sister, the witch, and the princess awaited him.

Though he had suffered quite a bit in the simulations, even meeting a sacrificial end five times, Xu Xi genuinely loved the real world.

He cherished the peaceful beauty he had created with his own hands.

Heart full, mind at ease.

This was Xu Xi’s state of being.

"I just wonder how Servia is doing now," he mused. The helpless and pitiful undead girl always left him uneasy.

Xu Xi waited for their reunion in the distant future.

"Master..."

The summer stillness was broken by Ailei’s voice, pulling Xu Xi from his wandering thoughts.

In the sweltering heat, the girl’s fingers tightened around Xu Xi’s, yet her calm gaze remained fixed on a roadside fountain.

Ordinary, commonplace.

Just a clear stream of water, the kind found everywhere in the city.

"Master, may I... use that?" Her pale fingertip pointed at the fountain.

Ailei’s words were vague, her expression blank as she waited for Xu Xi’s response, but he understood.

Long ago.

During the sixth satellite city in the fourth simulation.

Ailei had once "played with water."

The emotionless mechanical maid had, for the first time, glimpsed beauty in the refraction of light through water and became entranced by its brilliance.

"Of course, Ailei."

Xu Xi’s expression softened as he reached out, gently stroking the top of her head.

Her black-and-gold hair had a delicate texture.

Like light made tangible.

Silk-like strands slipped through his palm.

"This is your freedom. Go ahead—I’ll wait for you," he said, his voice warmer than the sun above, giving the mechanical maid the courage to act.

"Thank you, Master."

After a polite bow, Ailei, clad in her maid’s attire, approached the fountain.

Blinking, her expression serious, she extended both hands.

As if conducting a sacred and precise experiment, she cupped the cool, clear water in her palms.

"..."

The water was so transparent.

Yet, under the sunlight, the pooled liquid in her hands began to shimmer with dazzling hues.

First, a pure, blazing white.

Then, a kaleidoscope of colors.

Splash—

Her hands parted, and the water cascaded back into the fountain, the dreamlike glow vanishing—but droplets lingered between her fingers.

"Beautiful."

Tilting her head, Ailei raised her hands to the sky.

With a childlike grace, she flexed and spread them, turning her palms and the backs of her hands back and forth.

It was a scene of innocent wonder, a naive heart chasing after the radiant beauty in the light.

"Master, it’s beautiful."

Kneeling by the fountain, Ailei stretched her hands toward Xu Xi.

Displaying her "achievement."

Her slender, jade-white fingers glistened with droplets.

"Yes, I see. It’s beautiful," Xu Xi replied, crouching beside her. Under the gaze of her dazed silver-blue eyes, he ruffled her hair again.

Water splashed, droplets pattering.

Amid the summer’s quietude.

Xu Xi, with gentle reassurance, affirmed the girl’s discovery.

"Ailei, you really love water."

"Because it’s beautiful..."

The mechanical maid dipped a single finger into the stream, stirring the iridescent glow into a more chaotic, dazzling display.

It was the collision of water and light.

The meeting of cold spring and scorching sun.

A fleeting dream painted at her fingertips.

Back in the sixth satellite city, Ailei had done the same but couldn’t comprehend the feeling.

Now.

With a human body.

She could finally grasp the aesthetics of that radiance.

"Master, am I... closer to being a real human now?" Ailei suddenly asked under the bright sun, her expression calm but tinged with quiet joy.

Closer to being human.

Meant closer to Xu Xi.

That thought pleased her. Her silver-blue eyes reflected Xu Xi’s figure and the prismatic dance of light.

Xu Xi ran his fingers through her black-and-gold hair.

"You already are, Ailei. And... the you now is beautiful."

"As beautiful as the light?"

"No, the Ailei I see is more beautiful than light."

Light was the epitome of beauty in the mechanical maid’s eyes.

But in Xu Xi’s eyes.

She outshone it infinitely.

"You mean... me?" Her voice wavered slightly. Ailei felt she didn’t deserve such praise.

After all, she was the one who had killed her master.

Unable to protect Xu Xi or save his life.

In the past, she could only watch as he died in agony.

Yet Xu Xi affirmed her.

Meeting her gaze.

"Of course. My Ailei is beautiful, isn’t she?"

Ah...

She couldn’t answer. Didn’t know how.

Her mind went blank.

Her cheeks burned under the sun.

Dazed, her body moved on its own as Xu Xi led her back to the courtyard.

Only after a long while did her thoughts return.

In a blind spot where Xu Xi couldn’t see, Ailei quietly pulled out a small booklet.

On its cover: Thirty-Six Stratagems for Love.

Flipping to the last page.

Skipping the dense tactics.

She found a single line in black ink.

The 37th Stratagem: Being Loved.

Those who are loved need not follow the previous thirty-six stratagems to possess love.

Is that so...

Ailei stared at those words for a long, long time.

Once, she had treated this little book as scripture, studying its strategies to earn Xu Xi’s "love."

But now.

She realized.

She didn’t need to.

Whoosh—

Ailei closed the booklet and, with a flicker of flame, reduced the treasured scripture to ashes.

"Ailei," Xu Xi called from ahead. "What are you burning?"

"Pay it no mind, Master. I’m just... bidding farewell to the past."

The past?

What did that mean?

Xu Xi was curious but didn’t press further.

Ailei was her own person.

Privacy was natural.

Though she addressed him as "Master," Xu Xi had always treated her as an equal. He wouldn’t intrude.

"How strange..."

"Even though it’s still summer, my back feels cold."