The Witch Is Afraid

"We'll definitely go back to Gospel," Yaxiu said with certainty, "but it might not be the next stop, and we might not stay long." Diya was not convinced. "Why! In Gospel I could definitely protect you two!" "Because you can protect us, that's exactly why." Yaxiu crouched down and ruffled the witch's little head. "Sword Princess and the others definitely wouldn't want to live inside your sphere of influence, and they don't need your protection either... Besides, the moment Fanxing notices your little moves, I don't think she'll spare Gospel's countless millions." "But—" "I know. I understand." Yaxiu reached out and pulled her into a hug. "You don't care about the Gospel Realm. You only wanted to use it to please me... And you succeeded. I'm glad you and Annan have been steadily pushing social reform. You're already a worthy Empress." Diya was pleased and puzzled at once. "How do you know Annan's the one handling the reforms? Did I tell you that before?" "Must have." Yaxiu skimmed past that detail. "Gospel is already yours, so I don't want to ruin it for my own sake. Don't be in such a hurry, Witch. I only want to tell you... Gospel is my home too." "Wouldn't it be better for us to hide in other realms first, and settle in Gospel once everything has calmed down? By then I won't even want to lift a finger—I'll just let Empress Lisi Diya keep me." Diya eyed him suspiciously. "I keep feeling you're fobbing me off." Strange. That used to work on her... Yaxiu blinked his sincere eyes. "But I really do mean it." "But that can't count as compensation. Who even knows when it'll happen. I want something else." "Fine. What?" Dong~! With a faint, distant bell toll, Yaxiu felt the person in his arms grow rapidly, swelling in an instant to a size that could pin him down onto the carpet. The witch, her hair a tousled mess, crawled over his body like a snake and looked down at him with a grin. "Lisi just ate her fill and went to sleep~" "You spent the whole day on a date with Sword Princess. I watched the two of you through the Gospel God and nearly died of rage." She bit her lower lip lightly and pinched his cheeks with both hands. "If you don't compensate me properly, I really am going to blow up, you know." "How should I compensate you?" Yaxiu raised an eyebrow. "Like in your dream?" "What dream?" Diya played dumb, acting cute. "I don't know anything about that~ But you could try it and see?" Smack! The witch jerked upright, back straight, rubbing her bottom, tears welling in her eyes as Yaxiu stood up. "Stop messing around," he said, exasperated. "Never mind that everyone's here—if Lisi wakes up, I'm a dead man. Be good. Tell you what: from now on, even if you kick me out of bed, I won't hold it against you. Consider that your compensation." He went back to rummaging through the wardrobe, then his eyes suddenly lit up. "I think it was this outfit..." Diya blushed to the roots of her ears, glaring at his back in a huff. First you tell me to stop, then you get me all stirred up—you know perfectly well how sensitive I am there. And Lisi's the one who kicks you, not me. What kind of compensation is that! "I'm going to change clothes, Witch, so—" Swish! Silk threads pierced Yaxiu's spine with effortless ease. The Domination Miracle spread along his nerve pathways through his whole body, seizing complete control of his soul body. Diya reached out and took the clothes from his hands. "Now I remember," she said airily. "In the memories you showed us, didn't Igola help you get dressed? If you're changing clothes, then I should be the one to do it." Since everyone had been unhappy that only Weixi had seen Yaxiu's memories, they had ended up holding a private Yaxiu film screening, watching half his life together. It hadn't bothered him when only Weixi watched, but seeing it with everyone else filled him with such intense shame that he wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it. Yaxiu thought back: Igola really had helped him dress. Felix's garments were rather troublesome to get into, after all. "But why are you controlling my body?" "Because you play favorites with Sword Princess, so I'm going to take a bite out of you. I'll hold you still first so you can't flail around." Diya pulled off his coat, unbuttoning him as she looked up at him. "If you dare resist, I'll really be angry." Fine. If this calms her down... No, wait! Yaxiu looked down. "I swear Igola never helped me take off my pants!" "You're so annoying. I'm not going to do anything. I just want to find a suitable spot." The witch was as good as her word—she immediately helped him into a new pair of trousers, fastening his belt first, then catching the zipper gently between her white teeth and pulling it up with a zip. Then the witch put a new shirt on him and went on using her tongue and teeth to slowly do up his buttons. Yaxiu had always found it hard to tell Diya, the White Queen, the Black Butler and the Red Apostle apart—they were constantly swapping places, even merging with each other—but he was absolutely certain that the Black Butler was the dominant personality right now! The whole time, the witch stayed pressed close against him, soft fabric rustling faintly, her shapely soul body pressing its curves into his. And when she bit down on the topmost button, she got exactly what she wanted: Yaxiu with his lips pressed thin and his face slightly flushed. "You hit me first." The witch nibbled softly on his earlobe, her warm breath washing over his ear. "So don't blame me for biting you." You got me all worked up, so I'll leave you hanging too! Click. At the sound of a key turning in the lock behind her, Diya instantly retreated to the side and withdrew her thread miracle, her heart pounding as she looked toward Sword Princess pushing open the door. I'm done for! Of all people, the most troublesome one, Sword Princess, had to be the one to catch her breaking the rules! Yes—though it had never been written down anywhere, after a week of feeling each other out, the four of them had quietly settled into an unwritten rule: when everyone was present, no one was to step out of bounds. Ordinary contact was fine, but kissing or anything beyond was not allowed. For one, competing for favor was simply too humiliating. Even if they liked Yaxiu, it was by no means the reverence owed to a supreme sovereign—and apart from giving that bastard Yaxiu the advantage, it did nothing to expand their own standing. For another, fighting for favor escalated far too easily and set off conflicts. When Yaxiu first returned from the Cage of All Stars, he had kissed Sword Princess the very first moment. Even though the witch understood it perfectly, a hundred times over, she was still so frustrated she wanted to string Sword Princess up and make her watch as she got intimate with Yaxiu. Only then had Diya realized: her earlier talk about being willing to share Yaxiu with Sword Princess had been nothing but fear that Yaxiu would see through her pretense and reject her. So once she had his promise, she immediately wanted to push her luck—we witches already have plenty of members, we don't need new sisters, not even Sword Princess! Damn it. The whole thing had started because Yaxiu played favorites with Sword Princess, and yet now that Sword Princess had caught her with her hand in the cookie jar, she was the one in the wrong... "So here you two are." Sonia glanced at them, then picked up the hand cream from the dressing table nearby. "Did you find any traces?" "Not yet. I was reenacting a scene from the past." Yaxiu hurriedly pulled his coat on. "Ran out of hand cream?" "Mm. I came to get Felix's." Diya blinked. Could she actually get away with this? "Witch," Sonia said suddenly, "you're in your maiden form right now. What were you two doing just now?" "I-I-I-I—" Diya shrank back in fright into her little-girl form. "I was just helping-helping-helping—" "Were you helping Yaxiu reenact the scene?" Sonia glanced at Yaxiu's clothes and smiled faintly. "That's the outfit you wore half a year ago, before our date, isn't it." "Y-yes!" Diya's breath caught, and she nodded cautiously. "I was just helping Yaxiu get dressed. This way it matches the details in his memory better..." "Then I won't disturb you." Sonia drifted out, leaving the two of them in the room. "Good thing Sword Princess didn't misunderstand." Yaxiu let out a breath of relief, then shooed Diya out. "Compensation's done. From now on you're not allowed to bring up me playing favorites with Sword Princess again!" But Diya didn't care that Yaxiu had chased her out. She stood frozen in front of the door, an expression of utter disbelief on her face, as if she had witnessed something stranger than the shattering of the starry sky. Sword Princess had just... been reasonable? What was she doing! Why hadn't she blown up, made snide remarks, or even chased me off? Why could she calmly analyze the situation, not caring at all that I might have stepped out of bounds? Terrifying! Diya paced back and forth in front of the door, her little legs beginning to tremble. In the end she couldn't hold back the panic and trotted downstairs to the first floor. She found Sword Princess sitting on the sofa, snacking and watching a drama. The witch hurriedly squeezed in beside her. Sonia glanced at the little girl and asked calmly, "Done with Yaxiu's business?" "Who cares about him!" Diya declared her position at once, then affectionately took Sonia's arm and whined, "Sword Princess, can we sleep together tonight?" "Aren't you sleeping with Yaxiu?" "He sleeps terribly. He kicks me out of bed all the time." Diya shook Sonia's hand. "What I like best is still you, Sword Princess. You're the only companion I acknowledge. Back on the Time Continent, thank goodness you were there to look after me." Sonia rubbed her little head. "I miss those days too, when we ran wild across the Time Continent... But wasn't Yaxiu looking after you in reality back then as well?" "No way. He can't even take care of himself—really, I was the one taking care of him." Diya said confidently, "Tonight I'll tell you all about his embarrassing past!" "All right." The corners of Sonia's lips curved up slightly. She took a gummy candy from the bag and held it up to Diya's lips. "Ahh~" Diya opened her mouth. "Ahh—" Sonia's finger slid into the witch's mouth, swift as lightning, pushing the candy almost down the witch's throat. The witch didn't dare move. Only after Sonia withdrew her finger did she swallow the gummy outright. Diya stared at Sonia, shivering, but Sonia was no longer looking at her, absorbed in the joys and sorrows playing out on the screen. After a moment's hesitation, the witch burrowed into Sword Princess's arms of her own accord. Once Sword Princess gently held her, the heavy stone in her heart finally settled, and she obediently kept her company, whiling away the time.