He falls silent, his hand lowering slowly.

Squints at him, finger still raised.

“Drunk? I am… perfectly… fine…”

He sways, cheeks flushed, pointing his forefinger at Lucifer.

“Y-you…”

Shakes head.

“No wine for kids.”

“Hey! That’s mine!”

He sways slightly, pouting.

His gaze remained on the floor.

“I didn’t want you to wait for me… to cling to hope if I never returned from the Timeless Space.”

— a burden or a curse to us. Yanluo and I chose to stand by your side willingly. We wanted to be part of your lives, and we don’t regret it.”

— finger over Yichen’s chest.

“This exists for a reason. Feeling deeply doesn’t make you weak or wrong, it just makes you alive. Don’t blame yourself for loving those who are important to you.”

Gives his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“As for this talk of curses… don’t ever think your family is —

He watches him in silence for a moment, then exhales before speaking.

“Listen to me, Yichen…” the tone of voice is gentle, “Your father’s rules don’t erase the fact that you have a heart. You’re allowed to care. You’re allowed to worry, to hurt, and to love.”

He reaches out and lightly taps a —

— kindest thing I could do for you...”

“…Everything,” his gaze stays fixed on the floor. “Every memory you had that involved me. Our meetings, our conversations… every feeling your heart held for me. I took all of it away from you.”

A small pause before he continues.

“Before I left for the timeless space, I believed that was the —

“The reason you’re like this… is because I erased your memories.” He forces the words out at last, unable to look at Michael in the eyes.

Realization finally dawns, sharp and heavy.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵…

His chest tightens with guilt. This was his doing. He’s the one who caused Michael pain.

He glances at the fallen carving, muttering, “I’m sorry, Jialei… It’s because of me you’re like this…”