CHAPTER 394: 0336 TURNING BACK IS NOT AN EASY PATH (PART 3)_1

*Was this... Senior Emma’s mother’s voice?*

After feeling the surge of Emma’s inner pain through their tightly clasped hands, Leon gently reminded her,

"Senior Emma, whatever you heard, it’s not real. There’s no family of yours behind us, only by moving forward can we find your daughter."

"I... um..."

After hearing Leon’s reminder, a pale Emma nodded slightly. Then, following the pull of the hand, she stepped into Leon’s memory for the third time, and saw a little girl, covered in dirt with arms scratched and bleeding from branches, yet happily offering a nest of bird eggs for her to see.

A warmth penetrated right into her heart, gently infusing Emma’s heart through Melanie’s mischievous smile. Though it couldn’t melt the remorse surging in her heart, it did calm her down somewhat.

The cries behind her, like weeping blood, still wrenched Emma’s heart each time. But as her feet repeatedly trod on the white tiles, Leon’s family’s poor yet warm memories became a gentle hand. It not only cradled her heart softly but continuously tightened the strands of reason that were about to snap, giving her the courage to take steps forward.

In contrast, Leon, who held her hand, heard through their connected souls the lamenting sobs and many angry reprimands constantly coming from behind Emma.

"Sister Emma, I liked you so much, why did you harm me?"

"You are the Bauhinia Family’s sinner! If it weren’t for your leaked information, would we have died?"

"Traitor! How dare you still live?"

"I am disappointed to have a daughter like you."

"If you still know what shame is, turn back and see how we truly died!"

"Go away, don’t come back to disgust us!"

"The last Bauhinia, fine, live on with this shame!"

"Emma, it’s been six years, won’t you just turn back and let me see you one more time, okay?"

Even with Emma’s soul serving as a barrier and only hearing bits of the content faintly, the resentment and grievances in these voices were still more piercing than countless sharp knives.

And those soft sighs full of disappointment from Emma’s direct relatives, mixed among the scoldings and accusations, chilled Leon’s heart time and again.

After learning about the term "the last Bauhinia" for Senior Emma, Leon had deliberately checked some old newspapers, vaguely finding out some conditions from over six years ago.

Six years ago was the national war phase when the Bauhinia Family launched a coup seemingly allied with the invading Ice Plains Nation Ashito. There was even a claim that the invasion of the Ice Plains Nation was somehow related to the Bauhinia Family.

It was precisely because this information was leaked prematurely that the Bauhinia Family was forced to launch a hasty coup. The royal family, perceiving the crisis, had to retaliate with the harshest execution to stabilize its position, leading to Bauhinia Alman, once on par with Lionheart Lyon, dying with only Senior Emma and her daughter left.

And if the leak was truly related to Senior Emma, then with her character, she must have been tormented by guilt without end for these six years. Hearing the curses from her clan and the sighs of her family, it would be hard to resist turning back.

Furthermore, the conflict that had just erupted between the director and her seemed to have some other meaning.

Although neither of them explicitly said it, from what they were implying, it seemed Senior Emma was preparing to do something, which the director did not want her to do. She wanted to make her abandon it by forcing her to "walk the No Return Path."

Then, what could be the thing Senior Emma was driven to do by guilt or regret, and the director was trying so hard to stop her from doing?

...

"Leon?"

When Emma detected Leon’s increasingly chaotic thoughts through their tightly clasped hands, her heart gave a slight tremble, and a deep sense of guilt surged up.

She only needed to wait for Leon to step on a white tile, then pass safely across this bridge of memories under the protection of his beautiful memories. Leon, however, had to face his own pain again and again.

When repeatedly encountering black tiles, he had to constantly retreat and try again until a safe white tile was found for her to step on.

And it seemed, perhaps due to not-so-good luck, as they continued forward, the number of times Leon needed to probe increased. He sometimes had to step on three or four black tiles in succession to find another white tile.

Since the two stepped onto the bridge, Emma had walked over sixty steps, whereas the number of black tiles Leon stepped on had exceeded a hundred, indicating he had relived painful memories more than a hundred times.

At such times, it should have been she, the senior, standing ahead, shielding him from wind and rain. Yet, due to her weakness and hesitation, she could only let him stand out and bear it all, reliving those painful experiences in his life repeatedly. *This is truly unworthy.*

"Let’s move together."

Gently tugging Leon’s hand, having witnessed almost all of Leon’s wonderful life, Emma suggested with a voice as gentle as water,

"Leon, you don’t have to pave the way for me anymore. I should be able to now..."

"No way!"

Hearing those still piercing words in his ear, Leon refused without hesitation,

"Don’t push yourself! I can feel the state of your soul. You’re only slightly stable now. If those memories get stimulated, I don’t think you can hold up!"

*You tell me not to push myself, but aren’t you doing the same?*

Gently biting her lip, Emma softly proposed,

"How about you keep stepping on the tiles for me and share your memories with me, but don’t specifically seek the white ones anymore, let me step on the black ones too!

Since these tiles are the ones you step on, the memories I see are mostly yours. Only some scenes from my memories will appear, I should be able to endure!"

"Alright..."

After feeling Senior Emma’s soul and confirming she wasn’t just pushing herself but genuinely had confidence, looking at the Black and White Bridge already at its end, Leon nodded slightly and moved his foot, revealing a corner of the black tile beneath his foot.

Noticing Leon’s action, Emma took a quiet breath and then lifted her foot, stepping onto Leon’s painful memory.

"Brother."

The familiar thin girl appeared in front of Emma again, but this time, the look on Anna’s face was not the gentle and happy expression she had when looking at "herself" in the past. It was calm and with a hint of subtle regret.

After a moment of silence, the girl, white as paper on the hospital bed, slightly turned her head away and, with a voice as weak and stubborn as if it could dissipate with her at any moment, quietly suggested,

"How about just not worrying about me?"