The Witch Is a Bad Girl

Diya felt that she was a very, very bad girl. The moment she learned that Yaxiu temporarily could not circulate his sorcery mana, her first reaction was not worry, not grief, and not indignation at her own helplessness, but... heartfelt delight. She had even been forced to let Lisi, who genuinely worried about Yaxiu, take control of the body, otherwise neither of them would be able to conceal the smiles dancing in their eyes. Diya could hardly believe she could be so wicked, but seeing Yaxiu truly reduced to an invalid made her realize she had actually been waiting for this day for a very long time... It was as though a colossal iceberg had collapsed with a roar, and the dark torrent hidden within had swallowed the entire world... Those evil notions she had never dared entertain, those devilish thoughts she had never dared touch, had disguised themselves as dazzling, iridescent bubbles, gurgling and bursting in her mind until they tainted her pure soul with twisted hues. The codename "Witch" had been bestowed upon her by Yaxiu. Though Diya did not dislike it, she had never thought it suited her very well; after all, she bore no malice toward anyone. But she had been wrong. It was not that she lacked malice; she had simply lacked the opportunity. Do you hear the sound of bursting bubbles? That is the witches rejoicing. She had been waiting all along for the day the dynamic between her and Yaxiu would be reversed. Yes, even though she was the Yisu Empress, wielded the Gospel God, held both the secular throne and divine authority on earth, and could set the state apparatus in motion with a single command—whenever she was with Yaxiu, it was always Yaxiu lecturing her, always her following Yaxiu's wishes, always her own needs being overlooked. Yaxiu was the knight guarding the princess, and she was the princess who commanded his loyalty; yet in their romantic relationship, she was a humble empress bowing to him, and he was the supreme sovereign and father figure who dominated everything about her. For Diya knew all too well that Yaxiu could not let go of Sword Princess, could not let go of Silver Lantern, and was not even willing to let go of Vichy, but he could let go of Diya—because before becoming lovers, Yaxiu had first become family with her. He could accept reverting to their prior familial bond with the Witch, but Diya could not accept receiving nothing more than his familial affection. The one who falls in love first always loses; the one who desires more is always the humbler. Because of that, Diya had never dared entertain stray thoughts. She had to give even more than the others and tread far more cautiously just to preserve her current status as his lover. Sword Princess could throw tantrums, Silver Lantern could step over the line, and Vichy could make outrageous jokes; Diya could do none of those things, terrified that Yaxiu, in the process of caring for her, would treat her as a child once more... But she was no longer a child. She was an adult who had learned to conceal hatred and malice. "I can feel your curse wound." Diya's soul body pressed flush against Yaxiu's contours, her slender fingers tracing a small circle upon him as she spoke tenderly, "It hurts, doesn't it? Just brushing against it back then hurt so much I wanted to cry." "I'm used to it, so it's fine," Yaxiu replied calmly. "If someone has to bear it, I'm the best choice. As the team captain, I should shoulder the greatest responsibility." "So, Witch, you win." He sighed. "Just let me go first. Tonight really isn't suitable. Can we do this another day? I'm not rejecting you; I just want to pick a different time, and this posture is far too awkward—" "No." Diya kissed Yaxiu, her hands wandering unrestrained across his body all the way down to the hottest zone. Her ten fingers drummed in rhythm, every pluck striking Yaxiu's most sensitive chord. Sensing that he was about to succumb once again, Yaxiu marshaled the last shreds of his sanity to muster a hollow, blustering anger: "If you keep misbehaving, I'm truly going to get angry!" Yet far from shrinking back, Diya demanded even more greedily of him, no longer restricting herself to his lips as she launched an all-out conquest across every part of him. When Yaxiu was on the verge of total surrender, she kissed the corner of his mouth, her hands never stopping as she murmured softly, "Did you know? While I can't heal your curse, I can widen your wound." "What... do you mean?" "I mean, as long as I want to," the Witch said, lightly nibbling Yaxiu's earlobe, "I can turn you into a complete invalid." "Unable to circulate sorcery mana forever, left with no choice but to let me bully you forever." Yaxiu struggled to steady his breathing and shook his head. "You wouldn't do that." "Why?" "Because I know you. You're a—" "A good girl?" Diya tilted her head, letting out a soft laugh. "Do you truly know me? Then do you know that I hate you?" Yaxiu froze. "I hate you, Yaxiu. However much I love you is how much I hate you." She gently rubbed against his cheek. "I'm not joking. I genuinely considered whether I should completely cripple you. From the day you could no longer circulate sorcery mana, I kept thinking about bullying you like this... I was actually a little worried you'd be angry, but now I've discovered that the angrier you get, the more excited I become." "This helpless fury of yours, unable to resist and unable to flee—I really... love it so much." "Because I hate you, Yaxiu. Just like everyone else wants to remain teammates with you to improve the team's overall battle strength, I'm the only one trying every conceivable means to be your Witch. Everyone surely hopes you will step into the supreme pinnacle, but only I long to see you plunge entirely into the dust, weak and pitiable like a Lalafell." "I don't care about you becoming some supreme sorcerer. All I want is a Yaxiu who's bullied by me forever. A knight who has no power and can't even protect himself—doesn't he have no choice but to become the Empress's personal plaything?" Diya looked down at Yaxiu from above, her black-and-white hair brushing against his face. "If you're completely crippled, won't you be tied to my bed forever?" "The Witch isn't some good girl," she murmured, caressing his cheek with the back of her hand. "She's actually a very vicious, very bad girl, you know." Yaxiu fell silent for a moment, then let out a long sigh. "I've wronged you, Witch." Diya felt a buzz explode in her head, and an inexplicable rage suddenly flared up from deep within her belly, instantly tossing the revenge plan she had contemplated for days to the wind. Clasping the back of Yaxiu's head, she kissed down upon him, wanting only to vent all her grievances, biting and licking him in a frantic mess. By the time she came to her senses, tears were streaming down her face, and her lips tasted of nothing but salt. Right now, Yaxiu was the one tied up, yet she was still the one crying. She had fully believed she could overturn the hierarchy tonight, but the one who yielded would always yield, and the one who was favored would always hold all the cards without fear. "You know... You actually know... You know everything!" Diya's voice carried a hint of a sob. "Then why do I always have to force you whenever I want to be intimate with you? Why can't you take the initiative for once? Don't you know I want to kiss and hug you too? "You take the initiative with Sword Princess, with Silver Lantern, with Vichy—I suspect you'd even take the initiative with Felix! But you're never willing to take the initiative with me! I'm a girl too! I want to be reserved, and I want to have a sweet romance with my lover! "Yes, yes, I know, I understand—you don't want to be a bad influence on Lisi! But why? Why is it that just because you care about Lisi, I can't have anything they have? Why is it that just because we became family first, you can treat me like I'm not your lover? "I really, really hate you..." She gently bit Yaxiu's lip, sniffling. "When Sword Princess is in a bad mood, you go comfort her. When Silver Lantern teases you, you respond to her. You don't even shy away from intimate contact with Vichy... Only I am different! If I don't force you, you won't respond to anything! "Sword Princess isn't the only one who feels wronged, who gets jealous, who gets envious." Diya let out a hiccup from crying. "These past few days, I've felt wronged to the bursting point too. "Sometimes I'm so sad I have no words, no emotion, no expression. I just sit alone in a daze, and suddenly my nose stings and my eyes tear up, feeling like I haven't done anything right, wondering if it's all my fault." Yaxiu said softly, "None of it is your fault. It's all my fault." Diya's tears splashed heavily onto Yaxiu's face as she sobbed and scolded, "So you're the one who forced me to become a vicious empress, you're the one who forced me to hate you, and you're the one who forced me to use such despicable methods! If I truly end up crippling you, that'll be your fault too! It's all your fault! "I don't feel safe at all..." The Witch lay collapsed against Yaxiu's chest, sobbing under her breath. "You don't cherish me in the slightest..." At some point, Yaxiu's bound hands had quietly come loose. Wrapping his arms around the Witch's waist, he said softly, "The person I cherish most is you, Lisidiya Yisu." "I don't believe you. You won't even be intimate with me..." "It's just like how I'd give anything for you, but if you wanted ice cream, I still wouldn't allow it." "But I'm not a child anymore." Diya looked up, gazing at Yaxiu through tear-filled eyes. "Ordinary ice cream can no longer satisfy me. "Only scalding-hot ice cream can appease Her Majesty the Empress's wrath." Wiping away her tears, she held Yaxiu, issuing a haughty command: "If it isn't delicious enough, I really might cripple you." "As you command," Yaxiu said softly, holding her slender waist, "my Empress." At this point, Yaxiu could not bring himself to say a single word of refusal. Even if Sword Princess were to chop him to death the very next second, he could not let the Witch down. Yet the moment Diya's emotions calmed slightly, she leaned in to nibble Yaxiu's ear, whispering, "Actually, I also came tonight to report some progress to you." "Report progress?" "I made a huge breakthrough in my sorcery cultivation recently," she bragged smugly. "I constructed a new wonder: 'Witch Domain.' It's a Heaven-tier wonder built upon the Fairy Tale God. Inside the domain, I can conjure corporeal sister avatars to fight alongside me." "My Witch is the most incredible." Yaxiu was delighted too. "The even more incredible part comes next." Diya's voice turned slightly shy. "The briefing ends here. Next is demonstration time." "Demonstration?" Yaxiu blinked in surprise, then suddenly shuddered all over as an abrupt sensation shattered his mental defenses. "The Witch Domain already covers this bed. I'm limited by the environment and unable to make too much noise, so I can only conjure one sister at most," Diya lightly bit her lower lip, speaking in a gentle murmur. "Still, that's fine. We can pair up in groups of two and demonstrate by turns. "First up is me and Black Butler."