He Holds a Rose from the Abyss

When Chi Lang learned that this semester’s final assessment was the seat of the Prophecy Department, he was shocked. Then he was also assigned a task and had to join the final assessment of the Prophecy Department.

He had always thought that this was a metaphysical science, and now he was going to use it to test others.

Winter has arrived, Chi Lang reached out and caught a snowflake while walking on the road.

The snowflakes quickly turned into water in his hands and dissipated in the cold wind. Chi Lang tugged at Sheffield’s sleeve: “Look, it’s snowing.”

Sheffield looked up at the sky, the tiny snowflakes barely visible in the wind. Chi Lang took advantage of this time and quickly kissed Sheffield’s face.

Sheffield looked at him, they smiled at each other again, and continued on their way.

The snowflakes got bigger and bigger, rustling down on their hair. Chi Lang raised his head and felt the cold touch of the snowflakes on his face.

Sheffield opened the umbrella, and the black umbrella blocked the falling snow.

Chi Lang looked at Sheffield and the snowflakes on his head: “…you seem to have dandruff all over your head.”

Sheffield squinted and used a cleansing technique to remove the snow from his hair.

Chi Lang laughed twice: “Don’t react so much, even if you have so much dandruff… I won’t dislike it… No, I will still dislike it.”

They left the dormitory very early, which was the result of Chi Lang’s forcible insistence on getting up early and not degenerating. When school had just started, he had gotten up late every morning, and then he had ordered Sheffield to wake him up the next morning.

“I’m a little sleepy,” Chi Lang said.

Sheffield smiled helplessly: “You have to do it so late at night and get up early in the morning, it is always difficult to balance.”

“…so?”

“Choose one of two, do you want late at night or early in the morning?” Sheffield raised his eyebrows.

Chi Lang shook his head and said, “No, no, all of them.” He put his finger on Sheffield’s lips. “Don’t smile like this… It’s not because of you that it’s so late, you look like… like a vixen! “

Sheffield: “Vixen?”

“It’s a creature that has only crooked things in its head all day long.”

Sheffield made an “oh”, turned sideways, and kissed Chi Lang’s mouth naturally. There was a chill in his face, but the kiss was hot.

And Chi Lang’s mind crackled with a burst of fireworks. He was already a little sleepy, not very awake, and even less awake at this time.

He heard Sheffield say with a smile, “According to your explanation, you use ‘vixen’ to describe me… In fact, I think it is quite appropriate.”

The umbrella was greatly skewed, and a few snowflakes hit Chi Lang on the face.

Sheffield’s hand brushed his face, wiped away the snowflakes, and asked with a smile, “Why are you not responding? Have you become numb with cold?”

Chi Lang shook his head as if suddenly realized, “I’m not cold… I’m still a little hot.”

Sheffield wanted to say something, but there were two coughs beside them. Sheffield stood in front of Chi Lang almost immediately and looked towards the place where the sound came from.

– It’s Luth.

Luth’s expression was very strange, staring at them for a long time: “…Young people, you got up so early, just to kiss here?”

Chi Lang: “No…” This was only an occasional situation, and most of the time, he and Sheffield were still not too close in front of people.

Luth’s entire face seemed to be wrinkled, and the snowflakes on his head didn’t create the texture of dandruff, simply because Luth had no hair. He said, “I don’t understand you, young people, very well. You can just kiss in the dormitory but you still come out to kiss here, it’s cold and icy, and it’s windy and rainy…I don’t understand very well.”

Luth walked the other way with a tangled face.

Luth knew about the two of them a month ago. After learning about their relationship, he didn’t show any surprise, except that he criticized Chi Lang for spending less and less time in the laboratory.

He just said impatiently: “…Hey, you still have to tell me about this kind of love? I thought you had an interracial love with an elf or dwarf. Although I don’t know much about interracial love, it’s still possible to give you some advice.”

Chi Lang was surprised: “It sounds like you are very experienced. In interracial love, did you fall in love with an elf or…”

Luth pulled out his book, which read “Magic Studies xxx” on the cover: “This is my love, and it’s kind of interracial. All in all, I need to read it over every day, always trusting the contents, adding notes now and then, not letting the love wane.”

Luth’s expression was very sad, although his mouth was talking about his love for this book, but his eyes were not bright.

Chi Lang handed over a few pieces of paper: “…you were really once in love with an elf? Would you like to wipe them?”

Luth: “Love as best you can…in limited years.”

In limited years.

Chi Lang repeated it in his heart. He looked at Luth, he had no way of knowing Luth’s past, but he suddenly felt the same kind of sadness.

When Chi Lang and Sheffield arrived in the classroom, there were not many people in the classroom. They found their usual seat, which was by the window.

Chi Lang lay on the table and yawned: “Call me again after class, I’m a little sleepier than usual today.” He lay down for a while, and felt that the table was too hard and too cold, and slowly leaned towards Sheffield again.

Chi Lang’s thoughts have changed dramatically since he heard Luth’s words. This is a place where even interracial love is allowed, so their love for each other is not a big deal, right?

Chi Lang looked out the window, snowflakes fell on the window one after another, but as soon as the sun came out, the fine snowflakes melted.

He felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

“Are you going to participate in the assessment of the Prophecy Department?” Sheffield asked him.

“Yes, I don’t even know how I’m going to test others, and I feel sure I won’t get a merit when I get there.”

“It’s okay, I’ll teach you some knowledge of prophecy magic.”

Then they practiced prophecy-based magic with dumplings.

Chi Lang had an inexplicable nostalgia for modern food, especially now that the end of the semester was approaching, and after the final exam was the New Year here.

Thinking of the New Year, Chi Lang got the dumpling wrappers out of the Magic Research Society.

He and Sheffield made some crumpled dumplings, and although they were ugly, Chi Lang happily cooked them.

He cooked dumplings stuffed with leeks in one pot, and dumplings stuffed with cabbage in the other.

Then he put the leek on the right plate and the cabbage on the left plate, and asked, “Come on, do you know which plate is stuffed with cabbage?”

Sheffield only smiled and pointed to the left.

Chi Lang: “You’re not guessing? Is it really prophesy magic?”

“Yes, a type of detection magic in the Prophecy Department.”

Chi Lang lowered his head: “I still can’t figure out how I’m going to test the students from other departments. Or, I’ll just let you all pass, sacrificing my score alone to make all of your scores perfect.”

“Sounds like I’m almost touched myself.” Chi Lang moved the leek-filled dumplings in front of him and said with a smile, “I eat this plate, you eat that plate.”

Sheffield had never eaten this kind of food, plus he hadn’t learned how to use chopsticks yet, so he could only eat slowly with a spoon.

Only Chi Lang kept observing him eating the dumplings, his eyes staring straight.

Sheffield: “Do you want to eat the stuffed cabbage too?”

Chi Lang shook his head quickly, holding his plate: “No, no, no, you eat… I just want to watch you eat.”

Sheffield faced Chi Lang’s gaze and still ate slowly, but when he ate a round dumpling, he noticed a strong bitter taste as soon as he took a bite, he frowned a little.

Chi Lang laughed, “Did you eat that very bitter dumpling, I purposely added a little bit of ingredients to that, so it was very bitter.”

“You can’t blame me,” Chi Lang began to eat his own dumplings. “Look, we each have half dumplings, and there is a one-half chance of you hitting it. It can only be said that it is fate.”

“Prophecy magic didn’t tell you?”

Sheffield: “It can’t foresee these. The scope of the most profound prophecy magic is also very narrow. It can only estimate the result of one thing, and the episodes in it cannot be predicted.”

Chi Lang said vaguely: “You will be very lucky. Dumplings are for celebrating the New Year. You have eaten all the bitterness of next year, so you will be very lucky next year.”

Sheffield, of course, saw that Chi Lang did it on purpose. His heart had softened for this person countless times, and he didn’t know how to describe his feelings.

It was snowing heavily outside the window, and the fire in the fireplace inside was flickering.

Chi Lang finished his dumplings, burped contentedly, and said, “wait for me to brush my teeth before we can kiss… brushing my teeth doesn’t seem to work…”

Chi Lang said regretfully, “Don’t kiss tonight. My mouth smells like leeks now, and I’m afraid you will leave a psychological shadow.” But after he finished speaking, he also felt that his statement was a bit disgusting. He didn’t know why it made him laugh, he giggled for a while, and then got up to wash the dishes.

“I always feel unclean when you use the cleansing technique, I’d better wash it…” Chi Lang said as he walked out.

Sheffield looked at his figure and listened to the sound of the wind and snow.

‘I’ve been very lucky,’ he thought.

Chi Lang later pulled him to stand by the window and watched the snow slowly fall outside the window.

“How long does it take for the snow to melt?”

Sheffield: “All of it? About three months later.”

Chi Lang’s expression was a little wistful. Sheffield thought he was afraid of the cold, and smiled to comfort him: “I can always use fire magic, and you won’t feel cold in these three months.”

“No, I just think the time is so short.” Chi Lang looked at Sheffield. “How long is the life of a demon lord? What if I can’t live that long? So, are you going to use necromancy magic? What is the body of the undead like ah, will it still feel cold…”

Sheffield instantly understood what Chi Lang meant. He stretched out his hand and hugged Chi Lang very hard, as if he wanted to convey some unspeakable thoughts through this hug.

“I will use magic to grow old with you, and then die with you,” Sheffield said. “The undead are also creatures that time has abandoned… I used it on Dana because she still had unfulfilled wishes and obsessions.

“The undead will also dissipate one day. I can’t bear to make you endure the pain of a second… time.

“However, I will help you achieve all your wishes. There is no way I can change the end, but until that day comes, I hope you have no regrets in your life.”

Chi Lang: “…What about you?”

“I have no more regrets in my life.”

Sheffield looked into Chi Lang’s eyes and said, “Don’t be afraid of the future. I’m by your side.”

He leaned down and kissed his rose on this stormy night, hoping that at least the warmth of this kiss would last throughout this life.