Taming the Protagonist

Volume 2

Chapter 104 : Mingfuluo’s Diary, Part Three

To keep clues clear, I’ll reset the time record.

I must be utterly thorough in all aspects to uncover the source of Anselm’s issue, confirm my suspicions, and understand his motives.

I have many goals to achieve.

Anselm may have grown beyond my perception in these three years, but I must succeed.

Mingfuluo, even if he expects no one’s salvation, you must reach out to him.

He’s your friend, the only one who makes you feel truly alive.

***

Day 1.

The outside me intercepted Anselm at the Imperial Capital’s teleportation array immediately.

Unless it’s an extremely precise spell or tool requiring a strong fourth- or fifth-tier transcendent, no one in the Empire… surpasses her dominance.

Under pressure, my talents were further unleashed, but even so, she’s far from my match now.

She first berated Anselm for ignoring her countless attempts to contact him, then probed Miss Hitana beside him, using the Contract Head as an entry point.

…Did Anselm notice?

Three years ago, he wouldn’t have.

Regardless, I can’t read him anymore; his smile… is far different from before.

It’s like he’s wearing a mask.

The outside me may not notice his change, but three years of pent-up anger and hatred taint her view of him, just as Anselm saw me three years ago.

Taking a floating cannon’s blast to the face unharmed… is that the strength of a Contract Head, or Miss Hitana’s own power?

Knowing Anselm, I lean toward the latter.

He wouldn’t choose someone reliant on Contract Head power to reach such heights; his chosen ones are destined for greatness, with Contract Head power merely a step further… like me.

Power… Why did Anselm first choose a Contract Head for raw power?

He shouldn’t need power.

Choosing me first shows he needs a Contract Head with comprehensive abilities.

His choice of Hitana wasn’t random or coincidental; it was part of his plan after me.

Does Anselm have… a specific reason to choose Hitana?

Regardless, her strength alone qualifies her as a violence-wielding Contract Head.

From just the data collected at their first meeting, her modeled strength is already staggering.

…Outside me went to see Anselm again?

Right, I forgot—she no longer cares about helping him, so she won’t analyze his reactions after this meeting… She sought him only for a deal.

She doesn’t care about Anselm anymore… Those missing memories were too crucial.

Without my understanding of Anselm, the outside me wouldn’t realize his importance to me or his… plight.

But this is the best scenario, the “Mingfuluo” in Anselm’s eyes.

Even so, she still holds a faint hope that Anselm hasn’t fully given up.

Even clouded by fate and missing memories, the outside me still hopes Anselm returns to her side.

…You need to take responsibility, Anselm.

Day 4.

Anselm announced he’d visit the Ether Academy; the outside me was furious.

It’s undoubtedly his trap, and she considered this, but she’s more genuinely suspicious… that Anselm is colluding with the Ether Academy.

As a victim of multiple assassination attempts by the Ether Academy over three years, she hates them far more than I, an observer, do.

Moreover, having lost those memories, she further suspects Anselm fully betrayed our ideals, siding with the Ether Academy.

Anselm used the memory gap well, but with prolonged contact, the outside me would surely notice the blur and gaps in her memories.

How does he plan to handle this?

…

How vicious, you wretched brat.

Using the Universal Ether Furnace, central to everything, to make the already suspicious me lose control and act rashly, then letting Solen, skilled in soul magic, trap her soul in this puppet.

This gives a perfect excuse for memory blurs and gaps—based on “soul damage.”

The outside me, unaware of the full picture, still hopes you’ll change your mind, but have you become this cruel?

No, I can’t think that way.

Three years ago, as per everything in Anselm’s eyes, I made him this cruel by ignoring our friendship, abandoning him in that final choice.

Back then, he was likely enduring pain I can’t imagine.

…Now that I think about it, was I also trapped in some obsession then?

Perhaps confessing to Anselm could’ve touched his remaining softness, just as I’d have helped him if he’d confessed to me.

But neither of us did, nor even considered it.

It’s indeed… that damned fate.

……

Anselm, you… you’re worse than fate itself, what are you doing?

The most obvious progress in these three years is this… this shameless flirting technique? Groping a puppet, shaping… shaping a channel? You really are…

Calm down, this should still be… considered a good thing.

Three years ago, he saw me as a friend, almost entirely ignorant in that regard, but now he harbors pure desire for me.

He wants me, which means he hasn’t completely placed me on his opposing side.

…If only I could’ve learned this in some other way.

Beyond that, the me outside, under Anselm’s design, has fallen into a predicament where he can toy with me at will.

He even directly told me about the bet… he’s grasped my psychology.

I’ll waver over that nonexistent person, my thoughts led astray to countless wrong places.

Thorough preparation, then pressure, then domination.

Anselm is now far stronger than me outside… I can no longer predict his next move.

Even if the current me were to switch places with her, I might not do any better.

But victory or defeat doesn’t matter.

All I want is answers.

Rather, only when that me completely fails will Anselm possibly… reveal the truth.

Day 12.

The mass production issue with the floating cannons was resolved.

The me outside suspects Anselm was sabotaging it before… I thought the same, believing Anselm was seeking further opportunities to make me fall.

But it’s too coincidental.

Because of the resolution of the mass production issue, I went to the Alchemical Association, met Ivora, and ended up incinerated… the whole process is too coincidental.

As an observer, I can see this is Anselm’s setup.

But I can't, because she’s blinded by that nonexistent person… She thinks Anselm plans to create mechanized armor at the Ether Academy, and that nonexistent person, to counter the armor, resolved the floating cannon issue. Seeing the mechanized armor workshop at the Ether Academy further confirmed this idea, making her believe such a person truly exists.

What a… chilling design. In three years, Anselm has grown this cunning.

If I weren’t an observer, even the current me would surely be unable to escape.

The final result: the me outside was incinerated by Ivora, her soul damaged a second time, further resolving the memory issue…

Just, Anselm, are you that obsessed with a puppet’s body?

Do you have to use this method… to manipulate my emotions?

It’s effective, sure, but it’s not likable. You really don’t have a trace of that boy left.

…Lascivious, vile things.

Day 27.

War… a war game?

Anselm, what are you trying to do?

If I could’ve changed you sooner, would you not have become this cruel?

The people of two territories, used merely to tame me outside, and this is just part of the process…

As expected, I was right.

If I had sided with Anselm back then, losing the chance I have now, the possibility of seeking the truth, I’d surely be unable to stop Anselm from falling further… into deeper cruelty and coldness.

Just as the me without Anselm is also sliding, step by step, toward that rational, indifferent, mechanical abyss.

He’ll destroy himself.

I must stop him.

This game… I hope Anselm still retains even a shred of kindness, sparing the innocent.

…

Nidhogg… this thing, this thing…

Creating some foundational unit to achieve the possibility of creating all things… This is imitating Lord Flamel’s creator authority, even incorporating parts of the Universal Ether Furnace concept.

Anselm is indeed a genius beyond his era!

The alchemical swarm, Nidhogg… its potential is limitless!

This might, just might, be the final piece of the third-stage mechanized armor!

Merely destroying alchemical constructs?

No, it has the ability to replace all alchemical constructs.

The me outside hasn’t yet realized its true value… she’s been blinded by this war that will destroy Babel Tower… she’s completely suppressed and dominated by Anselm.

Here, I lack the resources to experiment with or create Nidhogg.

I can only wait for me outside to wake up and recognize Nidhogg’s potential.

Could it become… the power I need most?

Day 41

The me outside has gone mad.

Ivora gave Babel Tower a chance… no, it should be at Anselm’s behest that Babel Tower was given a chance, but she refused, choosing to continue the war, just because she didn’t want to see Babel Tower disband.

Is this a choice I would make?

If I… if I had never met Anselm, if I had just buried myself in research from the time Grandpa died until now, always isolated, would I… become like her?

…I would.

I know clearly, I would become like that, because three years ago, I already showed faint signs of it, though far from this extent.

If not for Anselm, I would definitely have become that kind of… monster.

And Anselm must know that the me outside would make this choice, which is why he deliberately set this condition.

In his eyes, I’m just such a cold, rational monster.

Does Anselm now… think of saving me? Or does he still want to make me his possession?

No, don’t expect Anselm’s salvation, Mingfuluo.

He’s been struggling in pain for sixteen years.

In those sixteen years, no one ever reached out to him. Maintaining that fragile rationality is already immensely difficult—why should you expect him to save you?

It’s you who should save him.

Day 46.

This war must have been entirely under Anselm’s control.

Thankfully, no innocent civilians were harmed.

…No, from the results, Mirror Lake Territory even gained immense benefits, and Watson Territory seems to have as well?

As expected… deep down, you’re still the Anselm I know.

You never act out of pure malice or cruelty… that’s great, truly great.

I still have a chance to change all this.

But Babel Tower has now fallen into Anselm’s hands… so that was his goal.

I don’t know how he did it, but from effect to cause, this must be Anselm’s doing.

Has he grown to this extent?

This matter even involves the Empress.

If he didn’t make a prior agreement with her to take Babel Tower, then he treated even the Empress as a calculable target—and succeeded.

Three years… he’s become this dangerous. What will he become in a few more years?

To me outside, Babel Tower falling into Anselm’s hands is terrible news.

But in reality, there’s no better choice.

Babel Tower has gone from teetering to standing firm again… and that me has fallen deeper into Anselm’s trap.

He openly declared his next plan to me, to mold her into a completely dehumanized monster… an utterly transparent scheme.

Now, no matter what that me does, she’ll fall into doubt, hesitating and unable to move forward… Well done, Anselm.

She does need you to teach her a lesson, Anselm.

But… you—

Do you have to use these methods?

Is there no other way?

Binding me, using those drugs, holding your Contract Heads in front of me…

You really are…

I’ll get my revenge after I resolve your issues.

Day 47.

I witnessed Hitana’s duel with the current Contract Heads, Tyr Bistidos… Lord Flamel’s Head of Strength.

That oppressive aura, even observed through that me’s perspective, was almost unbearable.

But Hitana could pierce his heart with her fingers… remarkable.

This is the Contract Heads Anselm chose, her martial talent truly unmatched.

The me outside, during this meeting, spoke of things I had considered long ago.

The growing conflict between the Empress and Lord Flamel—if they truly go to war, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Anselm must be aware of this too. I’ve always thought… he’s likely prepared for it.

Because he clearly isn’t urgently seeking Contract Heads.

He could spend a year—no, four years—slowly taming me, showing he isn’t desperate to strengthen his power.

I don’t know how he plans to handle this, whether I can join in time, or if I can help him.

Day 50.

I began trying to influence the memories of me outside.

In three years, the soul fragment Lord Flamel used to create that I am about to dissipate.

Her memories will start uncontrollably synchronizing with me from three years ago.

Due to Lord Flamel’s impeccable creation… with enough soul fragments to compensate, that me is indeed me, a fully independent soul.

Even after studying many soul arcana these three years, influencing her without Anselm noticing requires this exact moment.

I succeeded… I can control the order of her memory awakening to some extent and even insert memories I fabricate.

Good, this ensures everything proceeds smoothly.

But something unexpected happened.

Sulun… She approached me, saying she knows the cause of Grandpa’s death, and in exchange, I must help her deal with Ivora.

Grandpa…

Anselm, ideals, Babel Tower, and Grandpa’s death… these might be the four things driving me to keep living.

…That I won't pass up this chance, because I wouldn’t either, but could this be Anselm’s trap?

…

That me confessed this to Anselm, the most rational and correct choice, but she remained highly cautious, not asking Anselm why Grandpa died, believing the cost of that information was too high.

Three years ago, I didn’t ask either… but now I see it’s because, living with Anselm, I let go of too many obsessions, focusing only on him and life, no longer haunted by past sorrows and pain.

Not because… seeking answers from Anselm required a huge price.

How absurd, yet so reasonable… me and Anselm have completely lost trust in each other.

Day 72.

Anselm has a maid… no, perhaps an attendant?

A secretary?

That girl named Marina, Hitana’s sister, gave me a hint.

She said Anselm has some kind of burden.

Of course I know that.

I know better than anyone in the world that Anselm must carry some burden, but… why would she tell this to me outside?

Marina said she learned this from Anselm’s mother, Lady Elnilisa.

But why would Lady Elnilisa tell this to an ordinary person?

Fate… are you meddling, deliberately pushing things forward?

Assuming this thing truly exists, I’ve noticed too many “deliberate” moments in these three years—moments imperceptible to those within but faintly discernible to me as an observer.

If fate is pushing me outside to be tamed by Anselm, deliberately advancing what both Anselm and I desire, then is it Anselm’s success in taming me that benefits fate, or my success… that benefits fate?

…It’s too difficult. Just thinking about it, I can feel Anselm’s pain.

Facing such a thing, who can he trust?

He can’t even trust himself.

The me outside, due to Marina’s words, has noticed the blurring and fracturing of her memories. She’s begun to further doubt the truth of the past, falling deeper into Anselm’s trap.

I don’t know what Anselm will do, nor what fate intends, but I must… must keep going.

Day 80.

I began investigating Grandpa’s death, and Anselm has inserted himself into it. Is this part of his plan? I don’t know.

…Layden, my father, actually visited Grandpa’s old residence.

He has no reason to be the culprit—neither motive nor capability—so… did he go to Grandpa’s residence to pay respects?

It’s been so long since I last saw him.

To me, Father is just a meaningless term.

Even now, I harbor resentment toward him, and that me’s dissatisfaction and hatred for him must be even greater.

That me… spoke with Father and Mother.

What’s going on?

I can feel them… they seem to have always cared for me.

That burden doesn’t seem fake, but their betrayal of Grandpa is real. What’s happening…

I never considered them, because they thought I was abnormal, but Grandpa saw me as the hope of the future… How could I still acknowledge them in that situation?

But how could they…

Anselm interrupted my conversation with Father and Mother. He wouldn’t do something meaningless.

Could Father and Mother truly care for me?

No, don’t be swayed by this.

If you want answers, face them after everything is over.

They can wait for me, but Anselm can’t wait for anyone else.

…He did that again.

The me outside, after just a few meetings with Anselm, is becoming more emotional.

Anselm is melting that me… just like three years ago.

With him, I truly live like a person.

Just… forget it.

……

Another puppet, what was he thinking? Why place that essence in a puppet? You have the ability—

…No, that won’t do either.

To be preempted by another me and only able to watch helplessly, I couldn’t accept that.

Day 81.

Anselm tested that on me again.

He used Hitana to make me waver… using Hitana’s current status and his care for her to shatter my increasingly fragile rationality.

Coupled with the help fate provided earlier, that me was already teetering on the edge.

His grasp of hearts and emotions was too perfect, and the plan itself was flawless.

Truly dangerous. The current me was no match for Anselm at all… I made the right choice.

If I hadn’t cleared my memories, I could never have deceived Anselm. If he, completely distrusting me, had noticed something… everything would have been for naught.

I’m sorry, Anselm. I was the one who turned you into what you are now.

Day 90.

Hitana’s birthday… Anselm deliberately invited me, probably to use Hitana’s loyalty to strike her further.

Not just that, but also Anselm’s kindness to Hitana, his affection for her, would make me sink into the beautiful memories of time spent with Anselm, only to be filled with regret afterward.

As expected, that girl’s pure loyalty and devotion to Anselm were something I could never achieve.

Even the current me couldn’t be that pure. What Anselm needed, what gave him security, was exactly a girl like her.

I would probably never become such a person in my lifetime.

Even if I stood by Anselm’s side, I would always argue with him, challenge his opinions, question his ideas… Thinking this way, a girl like Hitana was indeed more likable.

But I wouldn’t become a more likable person… nor did I need Anselm to like me.

I was only doing what I believed was right, as always.

But that me, now, couldn’t make such a resolution.

All she had was probably… regret.

Anselm, with that elusive attitude, with such contrasts and comparisons, left me with nowhere to escape.

Only from this observer’s perspective, fully aware of all changes, could I see through everything.

Otherwise, if I were in her place, it would just be another identical person being toyed with by Anselm.

But from this matter… I could confirm one thing.

Anselm was becoming more and more dangerous.

His feelings for Hitana were absolutely not fake.

He needed and relied on Hitana’s genuine love.

Yet even so, Anselm could still use Hitana’s birthday to scheme against me.

It had become his instinct. In some ways, he was even more… colder, more resolute than me.

Hitana was likely one of the most important people to him in this world, yet he could still use his feelings for her to calculate against me.

Stop going further, Anselm.

…

I met Lady Elnilisa.

Her words further confirmed my thoughts.

She told me Anselm had come to see sacrificing emotions as natural, an act akin to instinct.

I already knew this, but hearing it confirmed from her mouth still brought an… indescribable sadness.

In my conversation with her, I learned something even more significant.

Anselm’s disposition underwent a dramatic change in his childhood.

One day when he was ten, he suddenly became withdrawn, no longer willing to trust others.

My guess was that Anselm, by some chance, for some reason… discovered the existence of fate.

And based on this guess, it followed that… Anselm had been battling fate for a full six years. Six years.

Six years ago… he was only ten.

At ten years old, he had to face the schemes and malice of the entire world?

So… that’s why he didn’t trust me, never trusted me from the start. Living in that kind of hell, who could he trust?

…

That me attributed the root of Anselm becoming this way to the Empress’s oppression.

With incomplete information, that was indeed the only conclusion possible, especially since the decisive battle between the Empress and Lord Flamel was approaching.

Even if the Empress died, Anselm would still have to face the next Empress.

I, only through these three years, witnessing everything that I experienced, combined with all my prior guesses and understanding of Anselm, pieced together this unthinkable answer step by step.

Even now, I couldn’t be certain if it was correct.

…Lady Elnilisa’s appearance and her conversation with me were probably driven by fate as well.

That me had now sided with Anselm, wanting to create a weapon capable of killing gods for him… shallow, but that was all she could do, no different from what I thought.

—Without power, I couldn’t help Anselm.

But… something felt off.

By my estimation, the decisive battle between Lord Flamel and the Empress was only two to three years away, which should be quite urgent.

Yet Anselm showed no pressing need for power…

Why was that?

Day 102.

Anselm… What was he doing?

He actually made me call him father.

How absurd!

How could you… what gave you the right…

Calm down… I had to stay calm.

This was his way of taming me.

He wanted to shatter my dignity with this title, that must be it… but father, why specifically father?

There were many ways to break dignity, yet he chose this title. Was there some deeper meaning?

…

He tricked Ronggor into revealing the truth about Babel Tower.

In these three years, I had actually prepared myself, because unlike me, who buried herself solely in research, I could see so much more.

Hendrik and the others had stopped pursuing Grandpa’s ideals.

Deep down, I had vaguely prepared for this.

But as expected… it wasn’t easy to accept. When Ronggor said those words herself, I still lost composure, though only slightly better than me.

So that was it.

Anselm not only wanted to crush my dignity but also strip away everything around me?

That me… was starting to rely on Anselm more and more.

…I, too, somewhat wanted to rely on him.

I was tired, Anselm.

These truths… these truths, could I stop looking at them?

No… I couldn’t.

You had to keep going, Mingfuluo.

Even if Anselm was so cruel to you now, you had to continue.

…

Anselm took me to see Layden.

How did he end up in such a state?

So he left everything to me, everything—

Father… you and Mother, did you really care for me?

What exactly… What happened back then?

Why, why did it come to this?

From the elders around me to my blood kin, Anselm… did you want to replace everything in my life with yourself? Was that why you chose the title of father?

That me couldn’t accept it, and neither could I now, but she had no choice.

She had been thoroughly outmaneuvered by Anselm.

What was Anselm going to do next… I had a very bad feeling.

Grandpa’s death… could it be related to Anselm?

…

No, no… that’s not right.

That wasn’t it.

This was Anselm’s tactic to break me, to tame me.

My persistence and pursuit had to come from within, of course, of course…

How could I… be meaningless?

It took me a long, long time to calm down.

Anselm’s question… I couldn’t refute it.

I couldn’t refute why I was so obsessed with that ideal when I had never interacted with any commoners, never truly witnessed their lives.

But… but I was much better than that me outside, who had nothing but ideals.

In my heart, there was still Anselm.

I could more calmly… calmly face all this.

Perhaps Anselm was right.

I only wanted to change the world; I never truly cared about the commoners.

But the question was, where did these thoughts, this persistence, come from…

There was another key point: Anselm’s question could be applied to himself.

He said his pursuit of ideals was a lie, but I knew clearly, it absolutely wasn’t a lie.

So… where did Anselm’s sincere passion come from?

As a divine species, why was he so… unique?

Fate, Anselm who knew fate, Anselm who mastered knowledge beyond his era, whose personality and thinking were nothing like a divine species or a noble, so distinctly different.

And… Anselm, who seemed able to anchor the unknown, knew the development of so many things with perfect clarity.

I felt I was no longer far from the truth.

…

To further push that me’s submission, I was now trying my hardest to interfere with her recovering memories, making them only deepen her guilt toward Anselm.

And Anselm played a game with me…

Two territories, but not about war, a game that brought only benefits and no harm to both territories.

I thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out what Anselm could exploit in this game.

He set extremely strict rules: no interference from transcendents, and all competitive methods had to be legitimate.

If the game had no such restrictions, I could guess how Anselm might use it, but with these limits… wasn’t Anselm just purely doing good?

What was he trying to do?

I hoped this game would have a good outcome.

Day 117.

I lost completely.

My vision and Anselm’s vision… were never on the same level from the start.

This was a disaster, yet I foolishly thought it was a miracle.

From beginning to end, it was just a disaster.

So many sacrifices, so many costs, and in the end… all it amounted to was a single bottle of Water of Redemption?

The alchemical tools meant to benefit commoners with transcendence were traded by the greatest beneficiary for a chance to become transcendent.

They didn’t care about anything; they only wanted to become one of the transcendent.

Not only did my ideals feel hollow, but even with tangible tools in hand, even with Anselm removing so many obstacles for me, I… couldn’t do it.

Damn it… damn it! Damn it!

Anselm wanted… to destroy me.

He wanted to destroy this immature, foolish, empty me.

Even… even just observing, I felt that despair… the despair of being nothing, of my life having no value.

But I wouldn’t fall… I wouldn’t, I couldn’t.

Perhaps it wasn’t because I had to cling to that ideal, but because… Anselm was waiting for me.

Day 108.

That me tried to follow Anselm’s orders to retrieve the Soil Enhancement Potion from Ivora.

But she was severely injured by Ivora… this was an opportunity, a chance for the already faltering me to completely turn to Anselm.

Taking advantage of this injury, I needed to manipulate the memories she recalled, inserting a fabricated memory among the real ones, one strong enough to seal the deal.

So, I made Anselm appear angry in that memory, extremely angry, questioning me if all the emotions he invested were fake.

—This was what I originally imagined Anselm would say, but he didn’t actually say it… even at that moment, he didn’t want me to feel hurt.

This memory was enough to be the final winning move.

She was now completely emotionally dependent on Anselm, and with this… Anselm should be at ease, right?

…

Grandpa’s death… I didn’t want to record this part.

This diary was to ensure I could think clearly to help Anselm and to serve as proof for me, nothing more.

……

So, I didn’t want to record that kind of pain.

I could only note that I finally understood Anselm’s plan. He wanted to create a new me, a me whose life revolved solely around him, a me who saw him as absolute, supreme, everything.

Day 152.

It was time for me to leave, to finally see the light of day again.

After these days of calm, I had deduced Anselm’s next step.

He had shaped a “Mingfuluo” he needed, one completely dependent on him, and then… he wanted me to face off against that “Mingfuluo,” that is, Helen.

Only one of us, me or Helen, could exist.

By his understanding, I should be eager to destroy Helen now.

Perhaps I could show that I had awakened, no… Anselm might be expecting my “awakening,” but I couldn’t do that.

I lacked Helen’s absolute dependence.

No matter how much Anselm… favored me now, without that “absolute,” I might not get the truth.

He might tell me, but only… maybe.

I couldn’t let any accidents happen.

The next steps were simple: just wait until Helen gained Anselm’s complete trust.

***

This diary should end here; my task was complete.

These final words were for you, who will take up this diary… I didn’t know whether to call you Mingfuluo or Helen, but I believed that after reading this diary, you were surely me.

I could only… tell myself this, tell you, tell Mingfuluo, tell Helen.

You might be empty, and I… might indeed be empty too.

You and I, born from the same soul, our lives were designed, false, worthless.

But Anselm… could make it real and vibrant, could give it value.

He could inspire my creations, could point me in the direction forward, so it didn’t matter if I understood nothing.

Because he truly shared my vision, he truly… put in so much effort for that vision.

Anselm, you kept saying everything was a lie.

But who would go this far for a lie? Who would train their subordinates into such elites for a lie?

Who would shape Hydra’s domain into a land admired by all for a lie?

It was never a lie; it was clearly… your cry, a cry for help.

And I heard it, Anselm.

…But you might still be a bit disappointed.

After all, my help to you wasn’t entirely for your sake; it was still for myself.

Because as long as you were by my side, my life wouldn’t be empty.

You wouldn’t be my entire life, but you could be its meaning.