Faint light seeped in through the slit of the door curtain. Slow and gentle though it was, the tent flap was indisputably being pulled open, little by little!
Yaxiu and Sonia panicked in an instant. Whoever stepped inside would thoroughly ruin Sonia's plan for a secret tryst.
Setting aside the need to maintain the team's harmonious atmosphere, the main thing was that Sonia cared about her dignity!
Just earlier, she had put on the air of a resolute sword sorcerer severing romantic ties, convincing the others that she was determined to keep her distance from Yaxiu—only to crawl straight into his tent that very night... If she was discovered, Sonia could not even fathom how relentlessly they would mock her!
Furthermore, if she were caught, her current "tactical advantage" would vanish without a trace, and the delightful life she envisioned—meeting Yaxiu in secret while keeping everyone else in the dark—would end before it even began!
Therefore, she could not be caught under any circumstances!
Her mind made up, Sonia slipped into the tent's wardrobe without the slightest hesitation or sound. Though it was pitch-black, she knew the layout of Yaxiu's tent by heart; the only place large enough to conceal a person was the wardrobe piled high with clothes.
"Get rid of them quickly, and then we'll get back to celebrating your birthday," she whispered hurriedly.
Before Yaxiu could do anything, Sonia was already hidden inside the wardrobe. By now, the tent curtain had been drawn open just enough to form a narrow gap. Logically, a person shouldn't have been able to pass through such a tight space, but Yaxiu distinctly saw a dark shadow slip inside, followed by the zipper of the curtain being swiftly pulled shut.
The tent was dead silent. Yaxiu held his breath instinctively. From the subtle shift in airflow, he could clearly tell there was an extra person in the tent, but he had no idea who it was, nor where they were. The intruder seemed intent on moving silently as well, leaving the darkness undisturbed as they blended seamlessly into it.
Yaxiu's entire body grew stiff, his heart thumping like a war drum. Just as the atmosphere began to take on an eerie, paranormal edge, he felt something crawl into the quilt, and then—
"Mgh!"
The sudden quenching caused Yaxiu to clamp a hand over his mouth to stifle any strange noises. Remembering that Sonia was watching from the wardrobe, he hurriedly gasped, "Come out quickly... hiss!"
He drew in a sharp breath, feeling every bone in his body turn to jelly. Moments later, a shapely, delicate soul body emerged from beneath the quilt to wrap her arms around him, asking softly, "Is there any water?"
"Yes, on the nightstand. Let me turn on the light—"
"No need."
Glowing white threads pierced the murky darkness. In the hazy light, Yaxiu watched as the youthful Diya reached for the water cup and took a deep gulp, her sparkling eyes fixed on him the entire time. A dainty tongue darted out to lick her lips.
"That wasn't me just now, it was Black Butler," the Witch leaned close and asked with a grin. "She's quite confident in her technique. What's your review?"
Perhaps emboldened by the enclosed space and being alone together, the Witch was surprisingly daring and brazen. Seeing Yaxiu too embarrassed to respond, she poked her tongue out at him and started to duck back under the quilt. "I see. Experiencing it just once makes it impossible to give a fair evaluation—"
"It felt great," Yaxiu hastily held her tight, changing the subject. "What are you doing here so late?"
The Witch raised an eyebrow. "As soon as I slipped in, I caught a very potent scent, and you're up this late..."
Both Yaxiu and Sonia inside the wardrobe felt their hearts skip a beat.
"...I understand," the Witch said tenderly. "You've really been suffering these past few days. Seeing how hard it is on you breaks my heart too. I want to hold you to sleep every night..."
"But you don't have to endure it any longer," she tilted her head with a smile. "I finally found a loophole in the Gospel God. I can disrupt its prophecy ability for a short period, so no one will discover that I snuck over to see you."
Seeing that Yaxiu wanted to speak, Diya moved right in to seal his lips with a firm kiss. After several minutes of warm, tangled intimacy, Diya found herself straddling Yaxiu before she knew it, like an Empress visiting her knight. Yaxiu was rarely this intimate with Diya, yet he could keenly tell which witch was kissing him: the White Queen was poised and elegant, the Black Butler was surprisingly shy, the Red Dead Disciple liked to squirm, and Diya herself was the most passionate.
"Lisi is asleep," Diya murmured between kisses, knowing what Yaxiu cared about most. "Otherwise I wouldn't have waited this late to come... Besides, I don't want another sister who's in love with you."
Yaxiu couldn't resist asking, "Aren't you worried someone will find out? If anyone learns about this, the team's atmosphere—"
"Don't worry, no one will know I'm here—including your worst-tempered Sword Princess." Diya looped her arms around Yaxiu's neck. "Actually, they probably don't even care anymore. They've all realized they can live much better without romance. None of them want to be your lover; they just want to be your teammates."
"Only me," Diya pressed her forehead against Yaxiu's, her thighs clasping his waist. Their gazes locked, her eyes brimming with sultry affection. "I still want to be your exclusive Witch."
Although Diya could automatically conjure clothing when returning to her youthful form, she wore only a sheer lace camisole bandeau and a nightgown. In the flickering light, Yaxiu felt the defenses of his sanity battered by wave after wave.
"...I can't."
Yaxiu summoned nearly all his willpower to force the words out. "I actually planned to tell all of you that it's best for our team to stay like this. Compared to lovers, teammates fit our survival needs much better."
"Witch, go back," Yaxiu stroked Diya's cheek. "I understand how you feel, but there's no rush. And even if Lisi is asleep, I still can't get past my conscience... Once you separate Lisi from yourself, we can take things further, all right?"
While Yaxiu was indeed somewhat biased toward the Sword Princess, he truly wasn't applying a double standard between her and the Witch this time. Beyond all those high-minded principles, his main reason for rejecting the Witch was—the Sword Princess was watching from inside the wardrobe!
Yaxiu would have to be completely out of his mind to be intimate with the Witch under the Sword Princess's watchful eyes! That wasn't thrilling—it was practically stepping halfway past the veil of death! Yaxiu would rather rampage through Hell than test the outer limits of the Sword Princess's sanity!
The Witch looked at him calmly, and after a long silence, she finally gave a slow nod. "Happy birthday."
Yaxiu was taken aback, a wave of profound guilt washing over him for reasons he couldn't explain. He embraced the Witch tightly and said, "Thank you... When is your birthday?"
"I'll tell you when the time comes," Diya said softly. "I have a gift for you. Close your eyes first."
Yaxiu obeyed meekly. Soon, he felt his lips claimed by soft lips, and his hands were taken in a firm grip, their fingers interlacing. He gladly accepted this fleeting moment of bliss, eagerly returning the Witch's affection.
"All right, you can open your eyes now," Diya said. "Do you like these witch bracelets?"
Yaxiu startled, quickly realizing that his hands were bound to both sides of the bedhead by threads. While he wasn't completely immobilized, escaping was out of the question!
"W-Witch?" Yaxiu stared blankly. "What is this supposed to mean?"
"Yaxiu, did you forget?" Diya straddled him, lightly caressing his cheek. "You're a demigod who can't even circulate mana right now, completely powerless to resist. Ever since I met you, you've never been this weak."
"What makes you think you have the right to refuse me?" She tilted her head, giggling softly. "Right now, I'm not just your Witch—I'm your Empress, too."
"Of course, you could always make a huge fuss and let the entire camp know I'm having my secret taste of you. But if you do that, everyone will know I broke the rules, and the team atmosphere you're so desperate to protect will be ruined beyond repair."
The Witch tapped her lips in mock distress. "Actually, I've quite liked the atmosphere over the past few days. The Sword Princess set aside her possessiveness, the Silver Lantern dropped her scheming, and even Vichy became less annoying—if not for sharing the same lover, we might have become truly wonderful teammates."
"So..."
"Yaxiu, you wouldn't want the team to fall apart, would you?"
Chapter 1115