Once the two found the intimate rhythm that suited them best, Yaxiu felt their souls begin to melt like ice cream, blending into each other like two soft dollops of cream, fusing together until no boundary remained, completely intertwining.
No wonder no one traded soul fragments... In this state, whichever party possessed a stronger, higher soul realm held absolute dominance. If the other person harbored even a shred of malice, they could effortlessly alter one's thoughts, implanting warped ideas—it was equivalent to handing one's life over to the other to toy with as they pleased!
Yet Yaxiu wasn't afraid at all. Perhaps it was because the Ruby Chains bound Vichy's actions, preventing her from harming him even if she bore ill will. Or perhaps... he actually was afraid, yet didn't dislike the feeling.
Their bodies took from one another, their souls merged and blended, making them each other's most intimate presence in both body and soul. Yet deep inside Yaxiu's heart, he still loathed Vichy's cruel, violent nature, still feared her potential betrayal, still felt uneasy about what other schemes she might be concealing.
Loving her like a lover, wary of her like an evil fiend.
Affection and repulsion, intimacy and fear, peace of mind and unease—all manner of intricate, even diametrically opposed feelings coexisted within Yaxiu's heart. There was no relationship more twisted and bizarre than this... These interwoven, contradictory emotions peaked with every mutual demand, gradually eroding Yaxiu's sensibility and reason.
Like a trap laid by a demon, like a mire conjured by an evil fiend, he sank bit by bit into an impasse, drowning little by little in tenderness.
Yaxiu wondered whether he had broken... He had clearly resolved that as long as Vichy refused to change her brutal ways, he would give up on her completely, severing the future just as he had cast aside the past, relinquishing those inexplicable feelings, heeding the advice of Sword Princess and the others, and becoming the sternest warden to suppress this inhuman prisoner.
Vichy had not disappointed him. She had maintained her dignity as the Spectre Prophet; though she could have been treated as an equal with just a bit of docility, she stubbornly bared her fangs, as if shouting to the world that there could only be a humiliated demon maid, never a subjugated Spectre Prophet!
She could humble herself to the utmost, but to her very bones, she had always been exceedingly conceited!
Yet only after Yaxiu had given up, thoroughly acknowledging that Vichy was a demon he loathed from the bottom of his heart, did she offer this bargain that could curb her fangs... She could have brought it up much sooner!
If Vichy had proposed exchanging soul fragments for her restraint earlier, Yaxiu wouldn't have pressed her to the point of a falling-out, let alone felt utter disappointment. And since Vichy needed soul fragments so badly, she should have proposed this deal long ago!
Yet she hadn't.
It was as though she had deliberately waited for Yaxiu's interrogation, seizing the opportunity to shatter his unrealistic illusions once and for all, forcing him to see the twisted roots of cruelty hidden beneath her blatant savagery. Then, when Yaxiu was thoroughly disillusioned, she produced the bargain for soul fragments, flaunting her delicate blossoms and emerald leaves before him...
Yaxiu faintly realized he was being played. Vichy had intentionally made him utterly despise her, only to then make him fall for the Spectre Prophet he despised most... She simply wanted to watch him squirm in this tangled, agonizing web of mixed feelings.
*Truly worthy of the Spectre Prophet; this was high-level manipulation I could never have conceived even if I racked my brains to pieces...* Yaxiu realized with sorrow that he was powerless to escape Vichy's schemes, so he could only demand fierce compensation from her body.
Vichy seemed to sense the shift in Yaxiu's mood. For the first time, she did not seize back the initiative, allowing herself to be plundered by him at will, like a prisoner meekly accommodating the warden's lash.
By the time their lips parted, a translucent thread of saliva stretched between them. Vichy looked almost ready to melt into a puddle, leaning limply against Yaxiu. Clinging to each other, they seemed to be recovering their strength in a brief intermission, their breathing shallow and rapid, bodies burning hot, even their skin flushed with an ambiguous peach glow.
"Is that enough?" Yaxiu suddenly asked.
"Not enough," Vichy replied languidly. "I must reach into the deepest depths of your soul before I can scavenge the very last fragments."
"Then how do I let you reach the deepest depths?"
"Just love me properly; that is the crucial step," Vichy whispered softly in his ear. "If I haven't been able to penetrate deep into your soul, reflect on yourself carefully. You definitely haven't disguised yourself with feelings of deep love for me."
Yaxiu pondered for a moment, then looked at her and asked, "And what about you?"
"Hm?"
"While you reach into my soul, I am also reaching into yours," Yaxiu said. "If the prerequisite for surrendering one's soul is pure love, then are you also...?"
"That's right, I like you too," Vichy laughed. "You're the only member of the opposite sex I've ever liked in my long life... What a pity you're not an elf. It seems the bloodline of the Everdusk elves is doomed to extinction after all."
Yaxiu started, disbelief showing in his eyes. "Really?"
"Of course it's real. I am the last Everdusk elf; if I mate with a human, our offspring definitely won't maintain the pure Everdusk lineage—"
Yaxiu felt somewhat helpless. "You know that's not what I was asking."
"You're asking if I like you? Why, of course that's true." Vichy stared right at him, her bewitching fragrance puffing softly against his face. "I truly can... feign feelings of liking you."
Seeing Yaxiu's stunned expression, Vichy couldn't help but burst into laughter, shaking with mirth so hard that her curled pink twintails swayed. Wrapping her arms around Yaxiu, her eyes were filled with mocking laughter. "What else did you expect? I am the thousand-year demigod, the Spectre Prophet! How could I ever genuinely fall in love with anyone? What about someone like you could possibly win my heart?
"Still, to advance to God-Leader, I can disguise my feelings, and feigning love for you is no trouble at all." She leaned closer to Yaxiu with a wicked smile, arching her brow provocatively. "And you? Don't tell me my false affections actually made your heart flutter? You don't actually like me for real, do you?"
Yaxiu pressed his lips together, remaining silent for a moment before shaking his head. "Of course not. I only put on a show of liking you to prevent you from harming lives... You are the villainous Spectre Prophet. How could I ever like an evil sorcerer like you?"
"That's more like it."
In Yaxiu's eyes, Vichy saw a familiar shade—a desire laced with evasion and guilt. Rationally, he knew he shouldn't do this, yet emotionally, he kept inventing excuses for his wrongful actions... She had finally brought Yaxiu down to the exact same state as her.
Yaxiu had guessed correctly: Vichy had done it on purpose.
Mutual affection was no different from a curse to her. She had no wish to gain an unneeded weakness out of nowhere, let alone surrender her heart to another... If she ended up like Sword Princess or Silver Lantern, she would rather kill herself and wash away her memories.
But if it was feigned, there was no problem.
If it was an illicit indulgence born of pure self-interest, it made complete sense.
This was not only her wish; it was Yaxiu's wish, and even... the wish of Sword Princess and the others.
"The Spectre Prophet doesn't want to like you, and you don't want to like the Spectre Prophet." Vichy pressed against Yaxiu's lips, alluring charm rippling across her brow as she unabashedly displayed sweet tenderness, whispering softly, "We have no choice but to hold each other like this, wrapped in false affection."
Chapter 1082