"Mistress, why must you do this?" Hong Mei shook her head slowly, her voice soft and full of worry. She looked simple and almost a bit cute in her confusion, like someone who had never quite understood the complicated ways of the world. Naive as always.
"You haven't been good, and to think I even prepared a surprise for you." Wu Qin's smile was complex, carrying layers of disappointment and something darker underneath. He handed the others over to Hong Mei without another word and brought Xiao Qingyue back to the Main Hall himself, his grip firm but not rough.
Xiao Qingyue's heart felt like dead ashes inside her chest, heavy and cold. Her eyes became dazed and hollow, staring at nothing as the truth settled in. It turned out everything had been within his control from the very start. He really had been testing her all along. As expected, he was still that beast, that heartless bastard she had feared. This feeling of not seeing a single ray of light, of being trapped with no way out, was utterly despairing.
In the grand and imposing Main Hall, the space felt even larger than usual with only the two of them standing there. Tall pillars rose high toward the ceiling, and faint light filtered through the windows, casting long shadows across the polished floor. The air was still and heavy.
"Xiao Yue Liang, you've been naughty again. How should I punish you?" Wu Qin's tone was relaxed and teasing, almost like a bit of flirtation between lovers who shared a secret joke. But to Xiao Qingyue, every word landed like ice.
She felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, her delicate body trembling uncontrollably no matter how hard she tried to stop it. Her hands clenched at her sides, and a chill ran down her spine.
"If you're disobedient, you must be served with family discipline. Don't you agree?" The corners of Wu Qin's mouth curled up, and his eyes revealed a morbid excitement that made her stomach twist. His hostility value continued to soar. Fifteen days had passed, and it had reached one hundred and ninety points. It was only ten points away from being full.
"No... I've had enough..." Xiao Qingyue stared at him with reddened eyes, her gaze filled with deep resentment as she cried out in emotional collapse. Her voice broke halfway through, cracking under the weight of everything she had held inside. "I don't want to stay here anymore... I hate you! Wu Qin, you are heartless! Why do you keep me locked up here? Why do you keep torturing me? I haven't done anything wrong to you..."
She hated him? She was determined to leave? Wu Qin's heart gave a sudden, sharp twist of pain, like something inside him had been yanked hard. But a surge of violent rage quickly took over his body and mind, pushing everything else aside. Hostility value: 220 points! It was already overflowing.
He felt an overwhelming irritability as a violent power rampaged through his body. The whites of his eyes turned black, and his pupils glowed with a crimson light that burned bright. He needed to vent, right now, or the pressure would tear him apart.
"Then where do you want to go? This is your home!" Wu Qin growled, trying his best to suppress himself even as his hands shook slightly at his sides.
"It's not!" Xiao Qingyue glared at him, yet she was so frightened that her red lips trembled violently as she said with a sob, "My home is gone..."
"Kneel!"
"I won't!" Xiao Qingyue could no longer see any hope and decided to resist him one more time. Perhaps death was the only release left for her now.
"Heh heh..." Wu Qin chuckled twice, low and cold, and took out a Magic Treasure from his sleeve. It gleamed faintly in the dim light of the hall.
Xiao Qingyue wanted to stand her ground for once, but it was futile. The moment the treasure activated, pain exploded through her. It was heart-wrenching and incredibly shrill, the kind of cry that would make anyone who heard it weep in sorrow. If it were merely physical pain, she would never have broken like this, but the power within was targeted straight at the Divine Soul, tearing at the deepest parts of her being.
Xiao Qingyue clutched her head tightly, rolling around on the cold floor as waves of agony crashed over her again and again. She didn't dare act like before. That would only make him double his efforts and drag it out longer. Wu Qin emitted a chilling, sinister hostility that made one's heart skip a beat, filling the entire hall with its dark pressure.
His voice came out low and steady now. "You actually don't need to do anything, just stay by my side..."
"Xiao Yue Liang, in this world, only I love you, only I need you..."
"You can only exist for me!"
"Do you know your mistake?"
Xiao Qingyue couldn't speak at first. It took her a full forty-five minutes to recover enough to even form words, her body still shaking from the aftereffects. Her eyes were bloodshot and filled with fear. Where was there any trace of her old cold and aloof Fairy demeanor? It had been completely stripped away.
"I was wrong..." she whispered at last, her voice small and broken.
Her long, pale swan-like neck and exquisite face flushed with a seductive rose-red from the strain and exhaustion.
"What was your mistake?"
"I was wrong..."
"You shouldn't have tried to leave secretly behind my back. If I couldn't find you... I would go mad..." Wu Qin gently stroked her head, smoothing out her messy black hair with surprising care, his fingers moving slowly through the strands.
"Xiao Yue Liang, never leave me, do you understand?"
Xiao Qingyue's lips were purple from biting them so hard. "I was wrong..."
What should she do? What could she do! Keep staying here like this? But would this nightmare ever end? She couldn't escape at all, no matter how many times she tried or planned. What was the point of holding out any longer when every attempt only brought more pain?
At this moment, Xiao Qingyue was truly helpless. It was the total despair of someone who had lost all hope and could see no path forward. Before her, there seemed to be only one path left: submission.
"Maybe I should just give in to him? Obey him. That way, at least I'll suffer less pain." A sense of desolation filled Xiao Qingyue's heart as this thought arose, heavy and final.
It seemed this was the only way... but as soon as the thought took root, she secretly swore to herself, deep down where he could never reach: "Everything now is just endurance, waiting for an opportunity..." In the future, she would definitely take revenge on him, paying him back a thousand, ten thousand times over for everything he had done.
After a while, Wu Qin's reason fully returned, the dark light fading from his eyes. He gently pulled her into his arms, nuzzling against her with unexpected softness. "Xiao Yue Liang... I'm sorry..."
Feeling his hot breath against her skin and the strong, steady heartbeat in his chest, Xiao Qingyue couldn't help but say humbly, her voice barely above a whisper, "Can I... go outside? When exactly will you be willing to let me go?"
"Those words are truly disheartening. I don't want to hear them again." Wu Qin pinched the soft flesh of her cheek lightly at first, then a bit firmer, gazing into her beautiful starry eyes as he said seriously, "We will be together forever. You can only be mine, do you understand?"
Xiao Qingyue felt bitter, as if her heart were being twisted by a knife that would not stop turning. Who would want to be with such a Demon for even a single day, let alone forever?
"Answer me!"
Xiao Qingyue was startled. "Ugh... it hurts..."
Wu Qin pinched her cheek until it turned red, then loosened his grip slightly. "From now on, you must respond to every word I say, do you understand?"
"Mm..."
"No 'mm'!"
"Uh... okay..."
"That's a good girl."
Looking at his smile, Xiao Qingyue felt inexplicably nervous, her stomach tightening all over again. Now, whenever she saw that handsome face, her soul couldn't help but tremble with fear, worried that this Demon would do something horrific to her in the next moment without any warning.
"Xiao Yue Liang, I have a gift for you." Wu Qin gripped her pointed chin gently and slowly leaned in, kissing Fairy Xiao's vermilion lips with a tenderness that felt completely out of place.
"Mmph..." Xiao Qingyue's eyes widened in shock. She instinctively struggled for a moment, then immediately stopped, terrified of provoking him further. Her first kiss, kept for over three hundred years, was gone in that instant.
Wu Qin moved his arms to wrap around her slender willow waist, holding her close. Her red lips were soft yet elastic, carrying a hint of coolness that surprised him. Like soft, sweet ice cream on a hot day. The most delicious thing in the world, bar none. It left him completely immersed, lost in the moment.
Outside the hall, Hong Mei pursed her lips, her eyes filled with curiosity as she peeked through the slight opening in the door. What kind of feeling was this? That even the Sovereign was so entranced? She tilted her head slightly, wondering quietly to herself.