Tian stared at Jing He, his expression still not changing despite everything. Finally, he slowly walked over until he stopped right in front of him.

Jing He only felt apprehension. He tightly held An Xin, afraid of what Tian would do next. Strike him down for daring to make requests of him at this point in time?

He didn’t have the time to make up further guesses as Tian already spoke up. “You do remember that the ideal candidate in my mind would be a demon, right?”

Jing He nodded stiffly. “Yes.”

“And you are indeed alright with carrying the child of a demon?”

Jing He lowered his eyelids, his eyes dull. What was he supposed to say? Of course, he did mind. But … “If it isn’t Qiu Ling, then what does it matter? I would have happily borne his child, more than one even. If it can’t be him though, then I won’t care too much. Whether it’s a god or a demon, it hardly makes a difference. I won’t love them anyway.”

In fact, the thought of doing this filled him with dread. To have another man touch his body, maybe even more than once, and make him conceive his child … How could he bear it? But he wanted Qiu Ling to have the life he deserved.

The happiness he couldn’t give him, he wanted him to create it with somebody else. Of course, he could have a child with someone without loving them but … he deserved more than that, didn’t he? Yes, Qiu Ling should be able to turn his love for him into hatred, to slowly get over it, and then fall in love anew. He should build that relationship, get married, and finally have that family he desired.

The best of it was that next time, Qiu Ling certainly wouldn’t fall for someone who had such a complicated identity. It wouldn’t be someone from the Heavenly Family who was cursed to never have more than one child survive at a time. Most likely, it would not even be a god since he would likely stay far away from the Nine Heavens in the future.

This … was the ideal outcome, wasn’t it?

His father would be satisfied that he had followed his wishes. His mother and his uncle might feel surprised at first but they would come to understand and wouldn’t mind as long as he was willing to do this. Qiu Ling would only suffer for a while and soon put this behind him, finding the happiness he deserved. Tian would still be able to see his child reincarnated and his lover wake up, fulfilling the fate of this couple that had been severed by the Heavenly Empress of their time.

The only one who would not be happy was he himself and that was nothing to think too much about. This was what he deserved. For every wrong step he had taken in the past, he should suffer a year or maybe a century in the future to make up for it. One day, he might have atoned for every sin of his and could leave all of it behind. Until then, he should do what he had to.

Tian kept quiet but finally hummed. “Then so be it. I will lift the curse from his soul so he may fall in love again. Be warned though that this is no guarantee for him to find happiness. The dragons can’t fall in love a second time but even if they could, it wouldn’t mean that everyone will find another person.”

Jing He nodded. He knew it might be a long shot. Qiu Ling had lived for more than ten millennia but had somehow never fallen in love before meeting him. For a man as excellent as him that seemed quite odd. After they broke up, who knew how long it would take for Qiu Ling to be interested in somebody else?

But it didn’t matter. What he wanted for Qiu Ling was that chance to find happiness again. Of course, he hoped that it would work out but he couldn’t influence that. He could only do this much. Everything else would depend on Qiu Ling and the people close to him.

Thinking of this, he felt glad that Qiu Ling had found his family again and that his relationship with his advisers seemed to have become closer as well. With this, there were definitely people around who had Qiu Ling’s best interests at heart and would do anything to help him find love again and have the family he desired. He didn’t have to worry about this. He just had to make sure that this time, he did as Tian expected of him. Then, Qiu Ling could live the life he deserved.

Jing He focused on Qiu Ling’s side of things and slowly calmed down. He didn’t dare to think of what had to happen on his side. Even though he was willing to do this for Qiu Ling’s sake, that didn’t mean he liked the prospect of it. No, on the contrary, when the thought of what he would have to do crossed his mind, his hands couldn’t help but tremble and he felt nauseous at once.

Back when he prepared for his trial, he had even mutilated his own soul to ensure he wouldn’t be with any man other than Qiu Ling. Now, the trial had ended but the marriage between them had become impossible and what he had imagined and wanted to give to Qiu Ling … it would now be given to another man.

Of course, he felt horrible about that. It went against everything he believed in and he knew he might never get over it. But just like when it came to the choice between Qiu Ling and his father, sometimes there just was no perfect way. Sometimes, you had to accept the ugly truth and go forward no matter how much your heart and mind told you that you had to be wrong. This … was just the same.