Don't You Hide!

Inside the wardrobe, Sonia's mood went through several ups and downs. At first, hearing Weise badmouth her hadn't bothered her at all; later, when Weise recounted her sacrifices and deep devotion to Yaxiu, on top of being bashful, Sonia felt a touch of secret satisfaction—like overhearing a passerby praise her talent and beauty. But when Weise proposed coming clean, she was stunned. After a moment, Sonia reached out, pinched Diya's cheek, and kept her voice low. "If only you had a little sense of shame like the Silver Lantern, I wouldn't bully you like this." "Don't be so quick to criticize me." The Witch twitched her nose as though catching a scent. "Can't you smell that aroma? It's just like before." Sonia sniffed, a little bewildered. "What scent?" "The scent of a scheming player." * "Come clean?" Yaxiu was taken aback as well. "Confess... what?" "What we're doing tonight, of course," Weise said. "Think about it. With your personality, you'll definitely give yourself away in front of everyone tomorrow. Tonight you're full of conflict and upset, but when you wake up tomorrow, you'll be radiant and thoroughly satisfied. Anyone will be able to tell you've been having an affair. "The Sword Princess is so sharp. If there's the slightest shift in how you look at me, she's bound to realize the one you were trysting with was me. Rather than waiting for her to find out—leaving her feeling wronged and stifled—we might as well take the initiative to come clean and admit our wrong. "I don't care about the Sword Princess's feelings," Weise said, "but I want to ease your guilt." The adorable, bespectacled god gazed at Yaxiu and murmured, "When the time comes, just pin it all on me. After all, it really was me charming you. I'll make the Sword Princess believe it's entirely my responsibility, that everything was my fault. I won't let her be angry with you." Yaxiu shook his head firmly. "Impossible! How could I pin it on you? If anyone's admitting fault, it should be me!" "But I charmed you, and you weren't willing to—" "I was willing." Weise blinked, her eyes curving into a smile as she looked at Yaxiu. Feeling embarrassed, Yaxiu shifted his gaze and muttered, "Even if you charmed me... still..." Taking a deep breath, he confessed his true feelings: "When we were punishing each other, Silver Lantern, I was happy. I even found myself liking you more. So if there's guilt to bear, it is our shared sin." "What a coincidence," Weise leaned into his ear, passionately responding to his confession. "I was very happy too, and I like you even more now. You've corrupted even a god, my dear sorcerer. "Then let's come clean together. But... you must mentally prepare yourself." Yaxiu drew a deep breath. "I'm already prepared for the worst." Ever since the Witch had entered the tent, he had already resolved himself for death. Though he didn't know why the wardrobe was still so quiet, he was treating every second as his last, and was no longer afraid to die. "You don't just need to be ready to face the Sword Princess's rage," Weise said. "You also need to be prepared for us having to keep our distance from now on." "Huh?" "Do you really think that after coming clean to the Sword Princess, we'll still be able to interact as usual?" Weise said. "That wouldn't be a confession; it would be blatant provocation. The Sword Princess would think you were testing her, and she would hate you for it. "Even if just to pacify her, you'll have to promise to cut off all casual interaction between us. Aside from official business, we won't be able to have any private contact, let alone be... intimate, like tonight. Right now, me exploiting loopholes to rendezvous with you is at most 'making a mistake.' But after confessing and making promises to the Sword Princess, if we dare repeat it, that will be an unforgivable 'betrayal.'" Yaxiu nodded repeatedly. Indeed, exploiting loopholes to cheat was one thing; confessing to cheating, writing a letter of repentance, and then daring to cheat again was something else entirely. The sentencing for a first-time offense and a repeat offense was completely different. Yet a small puzzle occurred to him: "Wait, by that logic, even if you can shield us from the Gospel God's monitoring, it doesn't really matter. As long as you came here tonight, we'd inevitably have to confess to the Sword Princess. Knowing that full well, why did you still—" "I didn't know," Weise shook her head and kissed Yaxiu's cheek, her eyes rippling with silvery light. "For the past few days, my mind was entirely consumed by how to bypass the Gospel God and kiss you. I had no room left to think about consequences. I am very clever, but because of you, I can become foolish too, willingly doing silly things." Yaxiu gently bit his lower lip, murmuring, "Stop charming me... and you still haven't let go..." "I'm not charming you." Weise still hadn't released her right hand, continuing to pluck at Yaxiu's sensitive heartstrings, a hint of coquetry playing across her brow. "Don't blame everything on me. Sometimes... it's because of you. "Still, this is the last time we'll ever share," she said. "Until you handle the Sword Princess, we'll probably have to keep our distance, which means that deadline... might be forever." Yaxiu opened his mouth, only to find it difficult to refute the Silver Lantern's assessment. "So," Weise gazed at Yaxiu with watery eyes, "tonight is our last night, Yaxiu. "This is the last night we will ever have." Her voice held an endearing magic. "After tonight, you will never be able to have me again. "Yaxiu, do you understand?" Yaxiu's heart pounded like a war drum. His breathing grew shallow and rapid, his breath turning hot, yet miraculously, his reason regained higher ground. He realized what the Silver Lantern wanted—it was the very line he had to hold, yet he found himself already unable to defend it. If the Witch took cities by digging tunnels and using trickery, the Silver Lantern used psychological warfare to erode the defenders' will bit by bit... With the Witch, Yaxiu could still argue that he had been defeated in battle, but with the Silver Lantern, all he could do was yield the fortress and surrender! "Since we both plan on confessing our wrong to the Sword Princess, and tonight is our last night..." Weise was ostensibly offering a suggestion, but her demeanor was like that of a chef who had backed a Lala into a corner, her fiery gaze threatening to ignite Yaxiu. "Then why don't we do everything we want to do?" "But—" "I know about your agreement with the Sword Princess, but so long as we don't speak of it, how would she ever know?" Weise murmured softly. "Confessing is your respect for the Sword Princess, but keeping the secret... is your mercy to me. "Besides, getting a bit more experience will do your wedding night with the Sword Princess good, won't it? Even if I can only watch from afar while the two of you embrace happiness, I still want you to have a perfect night." Almost every word from Weise struck Yaxiu right in his softest spot. He was utterly defenseless against this sort of casual self-pity. He couldn't voice a single word of resistance, able only to look at the Silver Lantern with a complicated expression. Yet Weise wasn't satisfied with this mere victory; she aimed for total annihilation. The bespectacled god straightened her body and sat astride the sorcerer, giving Yaxiu an unobstructed view of her contours while putting just a sliver of distance between them. "Even if it's the last night, do you still think we can't? Is it because... I'm not worthy?" When Yaxiu pulled her into a tight embrace, Weise knew she had won. If her earlier feeling that Yaxiu was her "instrument of salvation and torture" held at least a measure of genuine emotion, everything after she brought up the Sword Princess had been pure rhetoric meant to manipulate Yaxiu into falling for her trap. If she wanted to unlock the ultimate achievement, she had to make Yaxiu cross the bottom line established by the Sword Princess. Weise had chosen a roundabout strategy: first, use the promise of a confession to neutralize Yaxiu's guilt toward the Sword Princess, and then use the concept of a "last night" to evoke his guilt toward herself! Never mind whether they would actually go to the Sword Princess to confess; even if they really did, Weise was confident she could trick Yaxiu ten times a week. What "last night"? No such thing. That Yaxiu was so easy to deceive was not because he was ruled by lust, but precisely because he could resist desire. If he were merely an animal driven by lust, he would actually be much harder to seduce—because the desire for survival was the greatest desire of all. Anyone facing the Sword Princess's Blood Moon Shattered Lake would become as calm and still as water. Yet Yaxiu could resist desire, including the desire to survive; otherwise, he wouldn't risk his life so often. At his core, he was a hopeless romantic. So long as an atmosphere of "dying with no regrets" was created, it was child's play to make him fall... The key was not "dying," but "no regrets." In truth, Weise had only intended to be intimate with him tonight and call it a day; her initial plan didn't involve going all the way. After all, having an open falling-out with the Sword Princess was too risky, and standing in opposition to her offered too low a win rate... Compared to a showdown with the Sword Princess, Weise preferred to bide her time and keep a low profile, watching the Witch and the Sword Princess plot against each other from the sidelines. But Yaxiu had changed everything. Tonight, Yaxiu wasn't the only one who had fallen; so had she. There was one thing she hadn't lied about: she had foreseen the enormous risk of her actions, but she truly had no room left to consider the consequences. Her mind was entirely consumed by how to possess the lover before her... She had become foolish, willingly doing silly things. So, Sword Princess... sorry. Don't blame me for being shameless; blame Yaxiu for being too alluring tonight. And for some reason, Yaxiu seemed extraordinarily good at pleasing someone. Was it experience? But Yaxiu had always behaved himself in the Cage of All Stars, and since leaving, he had stayed with them the entire time. He shouldn't have had any chance to gain experience... It had to be talent, right? Even so, Weise felt a bit puzzled: why did Yaxiu's eyes hold, alongside rapturous affection, a feeling like someone facing death unflinchingly? Weise's skin flushed an alluring peach-pink. The god shifted atop the sorcerer like a serpent, and the temperature inside the tent rose sharply. Amidst their deep kiss, Weise suddenly bit down hard enough to break his lip. Yaxiu was startled, then immediately bit Weise's lip in turn. Rust, lemon, and sweet orange. Without need for words, this secret token of their love—known only to the two of them—ignited their souls more fiercely than any sweet nothings ever could. Just as Yaxiu was on the verge of surrendering completely and placing his life and death in fate's hands, the silver-light crystals in the eight corners of the tent flickered. Weise instantly snapped out of her daze, looking toward the tent flap with vigilance. "Someone is trying to break in here. The silver light domain is about to be breached." Someone else was intruding? Yaxiu stared blankly, then saw Weise turn her head toward the wardrobe nearby. Without hesitation, he clung tightly to the Silver Lantern, his voice bordering on pleading: "You promised we'd come clean. You don't need to hide, right?"