[CN] MLQC Lucien’s Because of Love MQ translation(4/4)
⚠️ SPOILER ALERT!! ⚠️
This post contains a detailed spoiler for a date that has not been released in EN yet! Feel free to notify me if there are any mistakes in the translation~
✧ Because of Love | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
We run on the grass like two children, holding onto the string, tugging and pulling it together—
The kite finally soars into the sky.
Translation under the cut!
[Video-Turn On CC-Part 5 start from 57:00]
[Video-Turn On CC!]
YouTube link in case the embed doesn't work [Link]
If you haven't listened to the dubbing yet, please, PLEASE do this time! The words themselves are beautiful, but the voices and bgm bring them to life in a way that makes your chest tighten and your heart ache sob sob.
Previous Part=> [Click Here]
—[Chapter 5]—
The sky is seamless and blue, as if it has been washed clean, with a few wisps of cloud fluff floating by. Tender shoots of green grass brush the back of my neck and the rims of my ears, bringing a warm, ticklish sensation.
Sunlight spills down, blooming into a rainbow halo in my vision; I can't help but lazily lift a hand to shade my eyes.
Lucien and I lie head-to-head on the grass, the earth beneath us sending up faint tremors, as if enfolding us within the world's breathing.
Following my example, Lucien also stretches out his arm. His fingertips gently hook mine, and his low voice tickles in close, spilling out a trace of amusement.
Lucien: Is this now the second step of our kite-flying lesson?
MC: ...This student, please refrain from questioning your teacher.
MC: Proper rest and adjustment are indeed an essential step in the learning process!
Lucien: Hm, Teacher is right.
MC: [the way his expression suddenly turns cunning as she cluelessly says this LOL🤣] But why is it the second step?
Before the words have even left my lips, the man beside me rises and leans in, those long, narrow eyes glinting with triumph.
The next moment, a warmth wrapped in the scent of fresh grass falls upon my lips.
His loosened bangs brush against my eyelids, lightly tickling, yet I can't bear to close them.
After pulling back slightly, I mutter with feigned sternness.
MC: Student, you're sneakily switching concepts!
Lucien: Is that so? I thought it was called 'applying what I learned to master it'.
MC: Your eagerness to learn is really strong right now, isn't it.
Lucien: After all, you've already taught me so much in this course. It's only right that I work harder.
He speaks frankly, and there's indeed an air of humble eagerness to learn in his demeanor.
I roll onto my side to face him, resting my head on my arm as I gaze at him earnestly.
Sunshine falls behind him, framing the kite he still cradles in his hands in a soft halo of light.
It clearly hasn't moved, but it seems as if it has already taken flight.
I have imagined this very scene so many times and daydreamed about the us of now. It feels different, yet somehow not so different.
I can't help reaching out to lay my hand over his chest, as if this simple act alone could touch that heart laid open to me.
MC: Do you know what we’re learning right now?
Lucien shakes his head.
MC: We're learning to get accustomed and to wait.
He doesn't say a word, only looks at me deeply.
MC: When it started raining early this morning... I did feel a little disheartened. But strangely enough, I wasn't really surprised.
MC: Perhaps it's because when it comes to flying a kite, all kinds of unexpected things always come with it, like a test left to us by fate.
MC: Or perhaps it's that we both hope the day this promise is fulfilled will be special enough, so we never bring it up lightly.
MC: I wonder if we have bestowed far too much upon it, so much so that it grows heavier and heavier.
MC: As time passes, I seem to have grown accustomed to its 'postponement', yet remain utterly certain it will arrive in the end, and so waiting has become second nature.
His gaze on me wavers ever so slightly, and I vaguely sense the pulsation beneath my fingertips unintentionally quicken.
Lucien: Why didn't you bring this up before?
His voice is soft, yet it makes me fall briefly silent.
Yeah. Why didn't I take the initiative to bring this up before?
It was clearly a promise belonging to both of us. Clearly, either of us could have taken the first step.
Maybe it is because it's too special.
In that stretch of bittersweet memory, I don't know whether I should solemnly take it up or naturally hold it tight just then.
Should my tone be calm and even, or should I reveal an expression of wholehearted joy?
So whenever I think of this matter, I always feel a bit hesitant. It's because it is too deeply treasured that it's approached so cautiously.
And so, just like that, year after year, it follows us forward, watching us change and grow.
Like a shadow that accompanies us, it becomes part of us.
Even now, I find no fitting reason to explain it.
Lucien: Because I used to be afraid.³⁰
Lucien suddenly speaks, answering the very question he asked me.
He lifts his hand and catches my fingertips, gently tightening his hold.
Lucien: When I'm far away from you, the deeper my love for you grows. The closer I am to you, the more I feel I'm still not enough.³¹
Lucien: Not honest enough, not courageous enough…
Lucien: Not real enough.³⁰
He says while raising that kite.
The snow-white paper surface is now stained with a slight muddiness; the pink ribbons bound to it flutter as if whispering something.
When I saw it placed with care in the entryway before we left, I knew then that this was not a hastily prepared kite.
Yet I had absolutely no idea when it had already been in our home.
As if he has seen through my heart, Lucien's gaze also falls toward the kite.
Lucien: I probably prepared it a long time ago and recorded many moments.
Lucien: Every time I felt I was one step closer to completing this, I would tie a knot on this kite.³²
As he speaks, the ribbons happen to flutter up, their refracted colors streaming into my eyes, making them grow slightly warm.
Lucien: They are both my honesty and courage, and also my hesitation and wavering.
Lucien: It's like an unsolved equation. Before a new answer emerges, it reappears time and again, compelling me to explore it over and over.
Lucien: It makes me confront it all the time and reflect on it again and again.
Lucien: But MC, I've never forgotten this promise.
His eyes unhurriedly settle back on me.
Lucien: In fact, there were many moments in the past when I would often think of it.
Lucien: And whenever I think of it, I distinctly feel a kind of change.
Lucien: One that feels like roots taking hold and buds sprouting.
Lucien: It spreads bit by bit, until it fills my entire heart, until it bursts forth in vigorous growth.³³
My fingertips, guided by him, wander across his chest, as if sketching the scene he described.
Scorching pulses pass through his skin into mine, and my heart resonates in response.
For the moment, I don’t know what to say; I can only try hard to slow my breathing, afraid that the scene before my eyes will become blurry in the blink of an eye.
Lucien: This feeling makes me happy and satisfied, yet I greedily want to keep it all to myself.
Lucien: So it turns out I'm this much of a cowardly and selfish person.
The world becomes a hazy wash of brilliant colors. I lean in, eyes shut, and press a kiss against his eyes.
MC: Fool.
MC: You've already come to be completely certain that, no matter how cruelly you dissect yourself, I can accept all of it.³⁴
MC: How can you still call yourself cowardly when you're so certain and confident?
MC: Obviously it's me who doesn't know what to do with you.
Lucien: Then just always worry about me.³⁵
Lucien: Before you teach me more, I hope I can become the subject you will forever study and explore.
The soft pads of his fingers brush affectionately past the corner of my eye, then cradle my face with utmost care.
At this very moment, my heart and eyes are wholly filled with him. In his gaze, I can distinctly see my complete self, the vast sky, and the swaying flowers, grasses, and trees.
I suddenly realize something and immediately pull Lucien to a sitting position.
MC: Lucien—
Lucien: The wind is rising.³⁶
We run on the grass like two children, holding onto the string, tugging and pulling it together—
The kite finally soars into the sky.
It rides the wind, passing through my countless imaginings and anticipations, glides past light and shadow, and comes to rest in the azure sky.
Its edges are both vague and clear. It appears so simple, yet also seems so surreal.
I feel as if I’m also being gently lifted, like that tiny kite, but I can only see with blurry vision.
When the kite flies up into the sky, Lucien feels that he has seen such a scene before.
Through the long years after the promise was sealed with a pinky swear, he has seen it in his dreams.
But the teardrop that slips unbidden from the corner of the girl's eye, rolling onto his fingertips as she smiles, is something he has never seen in those dreams.
Scalding and profoundly heavy, it seeps its way into his heart, filling him with a sense of fulfilled wholeness and making him feel at peace.
Lucien: ...Don't cry.
His warm fingertip brushes over my eyes, letting them trace his outline again and again.
Lucien: MC, the weather is very good today— even if it isn't spring, it's still very good.
Lucien: And I... have walked step by step until I arrived before you.
Lucien: Our kite has flown up.
It is as if he, too, is now struggling for words, no longer able to find any phrasing that can fully articulate or thoroughly explain this distant and drawn-out road.
So he can only tighten his arms. His kiss replaces his fingertips, replaces words, replaces everything.
This kiss is far too tender and reverent. I close my eyes, yet it’s as if I see his countless countenances.
Gentle, indifferent, sad, aggrieved, smiling… until at last, they all merge into the face of the person before me.
Just like his kiss, obviously so endearingly moving, yet in the moment of my instinctual retreat, it assertively pulls me back to his side.³⁷
I’m deeply entangled in him—no longer able to escape, unable to leave.
I open my eyes and fall into those serene, profound pupils, seeing all the solemn sincerity and love within them.
MC: I…..
Lucien: I love you, MC.
Lucien: I love you.
He draws closer to me; there is no longer any hesitation or doubt in him.
Lucien: [kisses] Even if I still haven't understood the full meaning of love, even if I am such a slow student of yours.
Lucien: But in this moment, I know… I love you.
He repeats tirelessly, yet each utterance is so different.
Love is such a simple and yet complex feeling. At this moment, I realize it cannot be assisted or replaced by any words.
Whenever it is mentioned, I can see Lucien and myself on this long, long road.
MC: Then do you know my answer?
Lucien: I know.
Lucien: Because... I've felt love.
He gently lifts the corners of his mouth and simply gazes at me quietly, as if gazing upward in reverence.
I cup his face in my hands, trying to see him more clearly.
MC: Lucien, I love you.
We don't let such beautiful and gentle weather go to waste.
————FIN———–
—📝[Translation Notes and Insights]
It’s just perfect how the kite string loops around the ring finger of his left hand once their promise is finally fulfilled... because that's exactly where a wedding ring is traditionally worn by the groom;-; Coincidental, as if the world itself is acknowledging his commitment; with MC is the one holding the string, the one tethering him, grounding him, but also letting him fly—she becomes both his restraint and his freedom.
³⁰: Remember what I said in the date guide about the 7th anniversary being full of Chekhov's guns? Here's another one firing! In the 7th anniversary story, Lucien teasingly asks the MC if she wants to hear him say "I'm afraid" (害怕 / hàipà), and she shoots back, asking if there was anything else he didn't dare do. Now he finally says it in earnest: "因为我曾经害怕" (Yīnwèi wǒ céngjīng hàipà / "Because I used to be afraid"). And some of those fears, the things he never dared to do before… this whole story becomes his answer ;-;
7th Anniversary - Day 2
³¹: When he's far from you, the deeper his love for you grows; yet when he draws close, he's afraid he's not enough to show just how deeply he loves you. It’s not that his love is not enough or falls short, but that he doubts his own ability to love and even himself. Afraid that he's not honest enough, not brave enough, not… real enough. That last line with its use of 真实 (zhēn shí, genuine, not fake (authentic), and also factually consistent with reality (real/existing)) is striking because on one level it’s a callback to the 7th anniversary when he confessed that she’s what makes him real and be his authentic self, allowing him to continue 'existing'. But it can also be read as him breaking the fourth wall, feeling afraid that he's not real enough for us.
7th Anniversary - Day 4 and Final Day
³²: This is our eighth year together, and if you see the full art of the pre-evolve CG, there are exactly eight ribbons tied to the kite in the CG… Has it really been here all this time, ever since he made that promise? Even after everything that happened at the end of Chapter 13, did he still choose to immediately buy it, holding on to the hope that they’ll really fly one someday? I can’t help but wonder, when Lucien bought the new kite again in Season 2, did he quietly add the ribbons from his Season 1 memories after getting his memories back? Turns out this kite has been silently accompanying them through all the years, bearing witness as their love quietly grew for eight long years….
Perhaps buying a kite is easy; what's difficult is finding the courage to fulfill that promise, the courage to choose to love someone even when you know it won't be perfect or 'fitting', when love is complicated and can be nearly impossible to express in its entirety. Maybe that’s why the old kite itself is so precious. Each ribbon marks a step in his long, hesitant journey toward being ready and certain to love; it records and treasures the messy process, showing that it’s precisely this imperfect, human becoming that makes love real.
³³: Lucien and MC's narrative progression with the plant-growth metaphor is honestly a stroke of genius🥹—what begins as a seed (the heart-throbbing/infatuation, bringing instinctive joy and happiness, fulfill their desires) gradually grows and bears flowers (love itself, something more profound and more enduring than fleeting happiness or a fluttering heart, where the beloved’s happiness becomes more important than satisfying one's own desires), and from there, love also gives rise to other human emotions intertwined with it (pain, fear, greed, hesitation, but also satisfaction, courage, persistence and tenderness) ultimately taking root and sprouting buds (signifying both vitality and anchoring, something that continually renews itself and turn their bond to be a lifelong one). So love for them isn't just something fleeting, but about love evolving through stages, becoming more complex, fertile, and enduring over time.
From The Heart/Heartfelt Love Date
Devotion/Deepening Love Date
Also! The recurring theme of words is inadequate when it comes to expressing the depths of love. Instead, feelings are conveyed through the body, through touch, through heartbeat. For someone who usually relies on intellect and speech, Lucien's choice to abandon words and let his heart speak reveals both vulnerability, growth, and the rawness of his emotions. It shows his recognition that the heart can express truth more honestly than any rhetoric ever could.
On Fire/Wild Fire UR MQ + 7th Anniversary
³⁴: 你已经完全确认,无论你对自己进行多么残忍的剖析,我都能接受了 (You’ve already come to be completely certain/fully confirmed that, no matter how cruelly you dissect yourself, I can accept all of it.) is an echo of the 7th Anniversary, where he does become certain that no matter how ruthlessly he analyzes himself, or what choices he makes, she will always choose to walk toward him and embrace everything that he is. She isn’t trying to fix him, nor is she afraid of the darker or more complicated parts of who he is. Instead, she shows a mature, steady kind of love—the kind that fully sees someone, flaws and all, and stays anyway.
7th Anniversary - Day 4
³⁵: I translated it as worry, but in a romantic context, 烦恼 (fán nǎo) implies a deeper, more persistent state of thoughtful preoccupation and tender concern. It's not the usual "I'm scared something bad will happen" kind of worry (that would be 担心 dān xīn) as it’s more of a kind of soft, constant emotional entanglement where someone lives in your head and in your heart rent-free. That line as a whole is a vulnerable and slightly possessive confession, like he's asking her to never stop caring, overthinking, loving, and being tenderly troubled by him and his complexities.
³⁶: 起风了 (The wind is rising) is the same line from their VERY FIRST date, firefly date. The contrast in how Lucien feels each time he says it, as well as the progression of their relationship, is just so ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽. The repetition of 'The wind is rising' bridges the beginning of their story to this moment, showing just how far Lucien has grown through his connection with her. In the Firefly date, he uses the line to reference the French poem "The Graveyard by the Sea" by Paul Valéry. Back then, seeing the weak fireflies made him think they won’t live long because survival of the fittest is all he’s ever known. But earlier in this MQ, when he sees the fireflies glowing around them, he doesn’t see survival – he sees wonder, through her smile and joy, through the fireflies' glow in her eyes. From once viewing the world through a detached, almost fatalistic lens, to now holding onto beauty and learning how to cherish it, he’s no longer just surviving and observing life. He's living it. Because of her. Because of love.
Fireflies Date
³⁷: 惹人爱怜 (rě rén ài lián) literally means 'causes people to feel pity and love/affection.' It describes someone/something so endearing that you can't help but want to love and protect them. I like how this phrase is used in this context; it highlights the tender, vulnerable quality of his kiss while contrasting with the firm assertiveness that keeps her from retreating. It also reminds me of his prison AU number 0525 (ling wǔ èr wǔ), which can be read as "怜我爱我" (lián wǒ ài wǒ), literally meaning 'pity me, love me'.
—✨[Lux's afterthoughts]
Seven years is a long time. Long enough that I started to wonder if maybe they'd never fly that kite. That perhaps it was something meant to stay unfinished until they reach their happy ending at the end of the game. But looking back now, I think it was just a matter of waiting for spring to arrive. Just like he once said back in Season 2 Chapter 13, "Spring isn't necessarily just a fixed time.", maybe it's not spring as in the season but the spring in his heart. It took him years to reach this point. Through the seventh anniversary, when he revealed the black-and-white world and the colors she brought to it, when he confessed how love had brought him fear and courage, pain and comfort, and ultimately, a sense of being real. Through Because of Love, when he finally let go of hesitation and bared his entire heart without any reservation. Only after all of that could the kite finally rise.
And maybe it's perfect that it happens in summer, because it's a season full of rainy days, where on some days they have to chase after the miracle of a 20% chance of sunshine, just like the kite, something they'd been trying to fly for years, always held back by timing, circumstance, and its heavy meaning. It emphasizes the struggle and the long road they took to finally make it fly, making the moment it soars feel like something far more than a simple scene. It's the culmination of everything he had endured: his insecurity, his fear, his yearning, his pain. He had to walk a long and difficult path before he could finally stand before her with frankness, look into her eyes, and say, "I love you. My heart chooses to love you." (Because of Love after-evolve karma's line)
Of course, even after he found the courage to ask her to fly one, actually flying the kite wasn't easy. When it wouldn't rise, he kept running back and forth, as if sheer effort could replace the missing wind. She called out directions, and he followed, but you could still see that he was trying to shoulder everything by himself, continually adjusting the kite experimentally. Watching this genius fumble so earnestly, my tears wouldn't stop. Such a fool, unwilling to give up, reluctant to lean on anyone. It wasn't until she signaled him to rest that he lay back in the grass, the string falling loosely around him like a soft embrace, and whispered, "Teacher, I am a slow student." And that was the moment he turned to her. Not just about the kite, but about the two of them. Admitting his vulnerability, letting her in, allowing himself to be guided… because only when you show all of yourself can you be thoroughly cherished and loved, right? And she answered with the same sentence he said years ago: "But I can't do it alone."
And that's it, isn't it? Love isn't a solo endeavor. Neither is fulfilling a promise to fly a kite. Honestly, the kite is such a brilliant metaphor for love itself: it needs effort, patience, timing, a little luck, and the delicate balance between restraint and freedom.
And one of the things I love most about XMMC's love is that it's a bond built from nothing, where looking back, you can trace every step as they grow together. Maybe the yearning was light at first, just curiosity toward someone who could have remained a stranger. But over the years, it grew heavier because their bond was something they had to choose and rebuild again and again, despite fear, hesitation, and obstacles. Their whole story is a reminder of how fragile and miraculous love can be. Luck gave them the chance to meet, but it was their choices that kept it alive. The yearning never ends because every moment of happiness carries the awareness that it all could have slipped away, and the only way to honor that miracle is to hold on tightly and protect it with everything you are.
Once they opened their hearts to each other again and stopped hiding, revealing the reason why it took so long to fulfill this promise, the wind began to blow. The kite soared as they held the string together. Beneath it, he said "Don't cry" with such gentleness (which actually makes me cry even harder ༼;' ༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽), kissing again and again, repeatedly whispering "I love you" under the sky we all had waited years for. Because in the end, there were no other words that could capture this long, arduous journey better than love. That day wasn't just a sunny day. It was a day filled with all the love they had fought so hard to understand. Seven years of waiting. Seven years of growth. And finally, this promise was fulfilled.
From kites to fireflies, from red ribbons to red threads and even kite threads, from luck and miracles to love that's like a seed—love that makes people greedy, love that makes people afraid—so many things about this date instantly make me think of the long road we’ve walked together. I could go on forever, but I'll stop here. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading. This story means the world to me, and I can't put into words how much it means to finally see this moment come true after everything.
Lucien, happy summer spring. Our kite has flown 🪁
