"Those are your words. You mustn't forget about them."
"How could I?"
An unattainable fantasy even within the cultivation world, love everlasting eluded many dreamers. Though their lifespans outpaced mortals' by enormous margins, though their youths could stretch across centuries and even millennia, ultimately all feelings waned, dragging alongside them crumbling pledges.
In the same fashion, although this Partnership of Equals forever bound them, it held no weight on their hearts. If the bound remained, but the feelings withered, what was the point?
However, Iliana could sense that Konrad's emotions for her weren't love. Appreciation, trust, care, desire, passion, possessiveness, all shone within his eyes. All except "love."
Perhaps because of that, he could remain consistent across the countless years to come. But for that very same reason, she would never hear the three magic words. The thought pricked her heart.