The Burden of Gratitude

Xie Shenai never imagined that with her nation on the verge of collapse, the Sakura Nation would still send people to pursue her.

Even more unfathomable was that, to ensure her safety given her immobility, her brother had placed her in the heavily guarded Qilin City.

Yet, the Sakura Nation chose to abandon defenses elsewhere, massing nearly all their forces. They even deployed the three national guardian dolls, launching a relentless assault on Qilin City, regardless of losses—all to capture her.

To the world, this battle appeared to be a failed sneak attack by the Sakura Nation. The kingdom’s army, having swiftly redeployed troops for defense, achieved a resounding victory.

However, what no one realized was that the Sakura Nation had not truly failed.

While all the city’s soldiers were preoccupied with fending off the siege, three Battle Lord-tier dolls eliminated all the guards in a secluded courtyard and abducted Xie Shenai.

Just as Xie Shenai was on the verge of despair, Xie Shenhong pursued them.

He was struck down before her very eyes. Not long after, Xie Shenhong, transformed into Xie Haizhu, arrived and resolved everything.

They utterly annihilated the Sakura Nation.

Everything that could potentially threaten her was thoroughly destroyed.

But before Xie Shenai could even feel relief, she realized something profound.

“What do you take human lives for?”

To save her.

Xie Shenhong had lost everything.

His subordinates, his friends, his power… he had even lost his memories.

“Don’t come closer… Who are you?”

Observing her brother, who had lost all his memories, become a stranger, and even feigned false expressions, Xie Shenai instinctively felt a surge of fear.

But as a flicker of guilt crossed her brother’s eyes, Xie Shenai realized her mistake.

She was the one who had begged to become his sister. Her misfortune was what had dragged him down, bringing him so much trouble. Yet, she had adopted such an attitude.

How despicable, how shameless she had been.

And so, Xie Shenai resolved to change.

Even if her heart was afraid, she would mend her relationship with Xie Shenhong. No, that wasn’t quite right.

She recalled how the old Xie Shenhong had always considered her needs so thoroughly.

She worked hard to forgive.

She made an effort to think.

‘To my brother now, I’m a stranger, aren’t I? I can’t just drop my guard and naturally resume our relationship.’

Of course, if Xie Shenhong didn’t want to get along with her, she should actively try to approach him. There were also possibilities like him disliking her.

Xie Shenai pondered many, many things.

She considered countless terrible possibilities.

But in the end, she discovered she had been overthinking.

Aside from the initial, theoretically best-case scenario, all her other worries were superfluous.

Even having lost his memories, Xie Shenhong was still the brother who cared for her.

However, Xie Shenhong’s current reasonable actions were structured around his amnesia. Simply put, Xie Shenhong didn’t believe he was truly her brother.

Thus, his behavior seemed more cautious, more polite.

Yet, they were never truly siblings.

They had no blood relation whatsoever.

So… maintaining their current relationship was sufficient.

Become even closer?

At the thought of her vanished sister, and the expression she had worn when saving her that day, along with the tragic deaths of her brother’s subordinates who had died for her sake… Xie Shenai decided to cast that idea aside.

His current state was all her fault.

Indeed, it could even be said that her very birth was a mistake.

That was why she had caused so many people such misery.

Perhaps when her brother regained his memories, he would regret adopting her. Someone like her didn’t deserve to live in this world.

But she couldn’t just die like this.

“Although she told us not to mention the past, if you stay by her side, she might see things that stir old memories and recall everything,” Dongfang Qinglong had said.

“Her wish is for you to become an ordinary girl. Even if it’s only to repay her kindness, I hope you live well,” Duanmu Yun had said.

“If one day Shenhong is willing to remember everything, knowing you were always by his side, he will surely be very happy,” Nangong Yan had said.

She still had a ‘duty’ to fulfill.

Her duty as Xie Shenhong’s sister.

Even if she couldn’t be a true sister, even if it was just an act.

She had to continue down this path.

“How to be a satisfactory sister?”

So, she began searching online, in books, and asking classmates for advice on how to do things properly.

She then summarized the key points as being obedient, sensible, and considerate, striving to embody a sister who wouldn’t trouble her brother much.

However, this endeavor was doomed to fail from the start.

Despite the Sakura Nation’s demise and the Shogun’s execution, the curse on her legs remained.

For her convenience, her brother had chosen a spacious villa.

To ensure his kindness wasn’t wasted, she gratefully accepted it.

Fearing she might be bullied due to her leg issues, and worried that attending a subpar school would hinder her future, her brother chose the Royal Magic Academy for her, a prestigious institution ranked second and highly selective about backgrounds.

To give her an air of authority, she was accompanied by numerous bodyguards and chauffeured in luxury cars to and from school.

To make her happy, her brother, who had become reclusive and stopped attending school, would still go out to buy her gifts.

To ensure she ate as nutritiously as possible, her brother prepared all three meals for her every day—including her school bentos.

For her…

For her…

Her brother had done far too much for her.

But could silently accepting everything truly make her a satisfactory sister?

Duanmu Yun and Nangong Yan said yes.

She couldn’t accept it.

“She is just that kind of person,” Dongfang Qinglong said.

She still couldn’t accept it.

But she was too weak and incompetent.

Her magic talent was only decent, barely enough to live independently through magic in the future. Beyond that, she had no other talents.

At home, all she could do was help with some cleaning.

Even then, she initially bothered her brother, making him watch worriedly.

And shamefully, she messed up many times due to her nervousness.

“It’s okay, Shenai. Just do it with a calm mind.”

She even troubled her brother to encourage her.

She was truly useless.

She had genuinely wanted to give up then and there.

To abandon everything she had.

To tell her brother that she had made the wrong choice.

She didn’t deserve to be his family.

But now, she could no longer do that.

She couldn’t utter such selfish words after receiving so much kindness from him.

She could only suppress these feelings within her heart.

Silently, she waited for the day her brother would regain his memories, and for the day she could live independently, no longer troubling him.

Just like that, five years passed in a flash.

Xie Shenai was overjoyed to discover that her brother showed signs of regaining his memories and could even transform into her sister.

However, to avoid disturbing him, she suppressed the excitement and impulse in her heart. Following Mu Yun and the others’ instructions, she pretended not to know, pretended not to notice, and obediently stayed at home.

Waiting for everything to unfold.

Yet, perhaps she had suppressed it for too long.

Perhaps excessive anticipation had led to an uncontrollable joy.

Not long after, she made a mistake.

“Ah, Brother Tianming, long time no see.”

The moment she saw Li Tianming.

She thought her brother had remembered things about Li Tianming.

“Brother, will Brother Tianming be visiting later too?”

But turning to see her brother’s forced smile, her heart completely sank.

She immediately understood that she had made an irreparable mistake.

Most despairingly, this was merely the beginning of a series of mistakes to come.