"I'm actually so worried about Mom. I want to go back and see her so much. I haven't seen her in almost a year... But I can't contact her, and I can't go back to see her. Having an incredible daughter she barely has any relationship with is what's best for her..."
"When I was little, I even told her I'd buy her a big house with servants to chop firewood and cook, because back where we lived, everyone cooked over wood fires. That way, she wouldn't have to cough from all the smoke. It wasn't until I grew up a bit that I learned people in cities don't use firewood at all. Pretty funny, isn't it?"
"I think it's adorable," Yaxiu said, stroking Sonia's head. "To be honest, I'm envious that you still have a mother you can repay... Aside from all of you, I have no other family left."
The wind and snow had quietly ceased. Yaxiu opened the terrace awning and lay with the Sword Princess on the latex sofa, holding her close. There were no stars in the night sky, but for enemies of the Divine Lord of Stars, a starless, pitch-black expanse was perhaps far more comforting.
"I didn't want you to meet my mom, either," Sonia said, snuggling against his chest like a cat as she sobbed softly. "She's just an ordinary middle-aged woman... I was afraid you'd look down on her... or that it would be awkward..."
Yaxiu thought about it seriously. "If that's what you want, then when we visit your mother in the future, I can just drop off the gifts and leave the two of you alone. Though I don't think interacting with her would be that hard. When the time comes, I'll just shower her daughter with praises and maybe listen to some embarrassing stories from your childhood."
Sonia managed a tearful smile, gave Yaxiu a gentle punch, and sniffled before continuing, "I'm not like you. Aside from my hometown, the farthest place I've ever been to is Jialesi... And during the tour with Daedalose, I stayed in hotels the whole time... Now that I have to leave the Stars with all of you, I... I'm really uneasy inside..."
"That's completely normal. I was terrified the first time I went to prison," Yaxiu said with a smile. "After doing it a few more times, I got used to it. Tell you what—if you're still scared then, come rest with me... Sleeping with me should make it easier to drift off, right?"
Sonia blinked, rubbing her slightly reddened eyes. "You pervert..."
"What are you imagining?" Yaxiu said, exasperated. "Do you think the Witch would ever let just the two of us sleep together? When the time comes, she'll give you a taste of the Witch Dropkick."
The tears Sonia had just held back began falling in large drops once more. She hit Yaxiu with a heavy thud, so hard he felt as if his ribs let out an unnatural creak; his demigod soul body had nearly buckled under the Sword Princess's casual strike.
"You're with me, yet you bring up other women on your own..." Sonia bit her lower lip, slumping over his chest as she sobbed, "Can't you let me forget about them for just a little while?!"
"I'm sorry."
"If apologies worked, why would I even bother practicing swordsmanship?!" Sonia looked at him through tear-filled eyes. "I've been fed up with you for the longest time... Back with the Witch, I couldn't do anything because we hadn't made things official yet. But we became a couple in the Distant Sky Realm—how could you still go and hook up with the Silver Lantern?!"
Yaxiu wanted to explain that he hadn't hooked up with the Silver Lantern, but the Sword Princess seemed to read his thoughts. Pouting, she said aggrievedly, "Being seduced by her doesn't excuse you either! Are you a trash can? Can anyone just walk into your heart?!"
"Now it's even worse—Felix, and Vichy..." Sonia whimpered. "You even mocked that friend of yours for having Veela blood... As far as I can tell, you're the shameless Veela! The moment my back is turned, you start fooling around!"
"And besides them, there's Freya, Annan, and Tamashi, who you kept claiming was a guy but turned out to be a girl—you little bastard, the more I think about it, the more outrageous you are..."
Yaxiu was speechless. He reached out to pull Sonia into his arms, leaning in for a kiss.
The red-haired girl blocked his face with her hand and said huffily, "You think you can always brush me off with this trick?!"
Half a minute later, Sonia had gone limp again, her breathing shallow and rapid, on the verge of melting into a puddle in Yaxiu's embrace. After resting for quite a while, she draped her arms around his neck and gazed at him with teary eyes. "Why can't you belong only to me?"
"How wonderful it would be if we could go back to our days in the Knowledge Sea..." She stroked Yaxiu's cheek. "It was just the two of us on that little boat. I was studying hard, you were striving to break out of prison, we both had bright futures, striving and growing together... and you had no chance to meet other women... Wait, you didn't meet other women in prison too, did you?" By the end, Sonia sounded distinctly unsure of herself.
Yaxiu hesitated for a moment, but confessed honestly, "Last time in the Dream Heaven, Xifulin—the one with Freya and the others—was Medic 222, whom I met in Shattered Lake Prison... But she was wearing a mask back then, and I only knew her as 222, so that doesn't really count as knowing her!"
Sonia gave him a casual thump, then buried her head against his neck.
"Not only are you infuriating, what's even more infuriating is that I'm not even surprised anymore..." Sonia bit his collarbone hard, leaving a clear set of tooth marks.
"Yaxiu, what on earth am I supposed to do?"
"Hmm?"
"I still can't accept you being with them too," Sonia said, letting out a hiccup from crying. Seeing Yaxiu actually smile, she grew even angrier and pinched his cheeks hard.
"Just thinking about you having dreams with them similar to the ones you had with me makes me feel terribly wronged.
"Every time I see the Witch acting cute with you, or the Silver Lantern deliberately or casually tempting you, or the maid telling you dirty jokes, I can't control my temper. But I really don't want to lose my temper, and I don't want to use you as a trash bin to dump all my negative emotions..."
She leaned in and nuzzled Yaxiu's cheek, like two kittens huddling together for warmth. "...When your burden is so much heavier than mine."
"It's all right," Yaxiu said, licking away her tear streaks with a smile. "I'm already prepared to be tormented by you. In the future, if you feel wronged, don't bottle it up—just take it out on me. I don't recall ever falling for some flawless Miss Sevier; the one I love is the Sword Princess—the one who throws tantrums, has a bit of a temper, is vain, and utterly adorable."
"I don't have that many flaws..." Sonia mumbled, but her entire body relaxed as she reclined lazily in Yaxiu's arms.
She had finally released all her pent-up emotions.
Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief, the heavy stone on his heart finally lifting. No one knew how terrified he had been when he saw the Sword Princess smoking. He had known that if he didn't do something, she truly would sprint headlong down the path toward Dead Frenzy. In his desperation, he had devised a plan: since the Sword Princess wanted to hold it in, he would push her past the point of endurance.
That was why he had kept teasing and pushing her, until she could no longer bear the grievance and the dam of negative emotions came crashing down. All the anxiety, resentment, and bitterness she had harbored for so long had been borne by Yaxiu alone. Although the risk had been enormous—his hair standing on end multiple times, constantly feeling as if his neck was about to be snapped—he was the one who had to bear her negative feelings. Only he could, and it was his responsibility.
Just like having his palm burned by her cigarette, he had it coming.
Yaxiu didn't know whether his efforts had worked. Perhaps her personality had been steered back, or perhaps this was an irreversible process and the Sword Princess was already tinged with the colors of Dead Frenzy... But at least she still found comfort resting in his arms.
Even if he were to be hacked into a thousand pieces in the future, he would not let the girl in his arms slip into the abyss.
"Did you realize you were being excluded?" Yaxiu asked suddenly.
"The Silver Lantern gave me a bit of an explanation earlier to get on my good side," Sonia gave a haughty humph. "Not that I care about their petty schemes."
"I didn't expect that before you even plotted against them, they would make the first move," Yaxiu murmured, studying the red-haired girl. "Could it be... you're actually the most naive and innocent among them? Come to think of it, you really are the youngest."
The Witch was a year older than the Sword Princess, the Silver Lantern was about Yaxiu's age, and Vichy wasn't even worth mentioning.
Sonia's expression brightened as a radiant smile spread across her face. "Who says I haven't schemed?"
"What kind of scheme did you pull?"
"Why should I tell you?" Sonia lifted her chin. "What gives you the right?"
Yaxiu blinked and proactively stuck out his tongue. Blushing, Sonia bit her lower lip, kissed him a few times, and then said, "It's not that complicated, actually... You're still saving your first time, right?"
Caught off guard by such a topic, Yaxiu felt a little bashful. "Yeah... if you mean in reality."
Sonia pouted, pinching and tugging his cheeks in utter displeasure, and asked, "Why are you still saving it? Even during this period, as long as you were willing, the Silver Lantern and Vichy would have given in at any moment."
"Because I promised I'd willingly save my first time for you," Yaxiu smiled. "Unless it was an unavoidable situation—though only our demigod promotion ceremony was that special—I've always hoped we could explore the unknowns of life just like ordinary couples."
Sonia let out a soft huff, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "At least you kept your word..."
"What does that have to do with scheming?"
Sonia said, "Because I know for a fact that once you unlock your first time with me, you bastard, your bottom line will instantly collapse, and then even more things will happen to make me furious...
"So as long as I don't sleep with you, you have to keep saving it for me, which naturally means you can't touch anyone else either. In other words, I control your access permissions for interacting with them!" She giggled softly. "No matter how they seduce you, you have no choice but to refuse!
"There is only one way to unlock your first time with me, and that is to hold a wedding with me." Sonia blinked. "And it has to be even better than the wedding in our dreams, or else I won't acknowledge it!
"So you either marry me as soon as possible, or keep rejecting them forever. Either way, it'll infuriate them to death!"
Seeing Sonia look so full of confidence, Yaxiu thought for a moment and said, "Assuming I follow the plan all along... what if an accident happens?"
"What kind of accident?"
"For example," Yaxiu hugged her tightly and asked with a grin, "if I want you right now, will you refuse?"
The red-haired girl froze, then her head turned foolishly side to side, as if desperately searching for an excuse to say no on the spot. After staying silent for quite a while, her tightly clamped thighs rubbed together unconsciously. Flushing crimson, she stared at Yaxiu and stammered, "C-Could we turn off the lights?"
Yaxiu felt his heart practically melt like ice cream. He kissed the Sword Princess fiercely on the cheek and said, "We're all sleeping together tonight."
"Huh?"
"Not just you—them too."
"WHAT?!!!"
"Because I want all of you," Yaxiu said calmly, "to watch me descend into Hell."
Chapter 1057