Inside the wardrobe, the punishment of the "Deceiver Silver Lantern" had reached a temporary intermission. The operators were listening intently to the conversation outside, exchanging wide-eyed glances.
"Vichy..." Diya said in sheer disbelief. "It's fake, right? She must be acting so cute just to fool Yaxiu, right?"
"It can't be real." Weise couldn't believe it either. "She's the Spectre Prophet, a slaughter-crazed demon, a deranged and ruthless demigod, a twice-reborn evil sorcerer. How could someone like her still be capable of loving anyone? How could she fall for someone?"
They had vaguely sensed that something was going on between Yaxiu and Vichy; otherwise, it was hard to explain why Yaxiu no longer treated Vichy as a prisoner, but instead allocated resources to her on equal footing. Yet in their imaginations, it was supposed to be Yaxiu finally succumbing to temptation, falling beneath Vichy's skirt, while Vichy seduced Yaxiu into corruption step by step, demanding whatever she wanted from him and taking whatever she pleased.
The reality wasn't far from what they had imagined—except the roles were completely reversed. Strange as it felt to use such a word for someone like her, they genuinely felt that Vichy had "fallen."
"I won't even mention the Witch," Sonia glanced at Weise, "but Silver Lantern, did you ever imagine you would fall in love with someone back then?"
Weise was taken aback. After a brief silence, she shook her head. "While I can't guarantee that I'll remain unswerving forever, I can guarantee that Vichy will have a change of heart sooner or later. Even if she's genuinely in love right now, she will genuinely betray him in the future... For someone like her, she would betray anything for power, even her own feelings."
"Still, if it's Yaxiu..." Diya murmured softly, "maybe miracles can happen..."
"There's no need to agonize over it here," Sonia said calmly. "Get ready. Remember not to hurt Yaxiu."
Diya and Weise immediately threw their arms around her. Weise pleaded in a hushed, frantic whisper, "We can't go out! If we expose ourselves now, won't Vichy laugh at us until we die? Endure it for now, and tomorrow we'll be able to laugh at Vichy... You don't want to lose face in front of Vichy either, do you?"
"It doesn't matter anymore." Sonia's voice suppressed bubbling fury. "And I'm not merely enduring it—I've been enduring the two of you for a long time!"
Weise was struck speechless.
Diya suddenly piped up, "Vichy will leave. Sword Princess, you don't need to rush."
Sonia glanced at her. "That's what I thought before I hid in here too."
"But Vichy isn't like us, and Yaxiu knows she isn't like us," Diya said. "If Yaxiu doesn't like her... even if Yaxiu does like her, he will definitely make her leave.
"Yaxiu understands that as long as Vichy doesn't have our acceptance, every step he takes toward Vichy is a step pushing her toward death."
Peering through the crack in the door, the Witch spoke in an extremely faint, hushed voice that made no attempt to conceal its chilling murderous intent:
"If the situation none of us wants to see really happens, I'll handle crowd control, and the Sword Princess will execute the lethal strike."
...
"So why did you come looking for me so late? Is something the matter?" Yaxiu asked.
Vichy gently bit her lower lip, giving Yaxiu an annoyed look as if he were asking what he already knew just to tease her. "A transaction! What else could there be between us? I promised not to slaughter the innocent, and in exchange, you have to give me your soul fragments."
"Right, it's a transaction." As if seizing upon a brilliant excuse, her eyes sparkled with excitement. "I definitely just felt the need for a transaction today and entered the transaction state ahead of time, which is why I missed you so much! After all, during our transactions, I have to pretend to like you... You didn't take it seriously, did you? I'm the Spectre Prophet—do you think I'd be like that bunch of love-struck fools, missing you so much I couldn't hold back?"
Holding her, Yaxiu shook his head. "I didn't take it seriously."
"Then let's get started."
Vichy closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him, only to be stopped by a finger.
"Except I don't want to make a transaction with you either."
Meeting Vichy's bewildered gaze, Yaxiu said, "Did you forget? You've already broken the rules. Right now is our abstinence period; we aren't allowed any intimacy.
"The kiss just now already crossed the line. We can't keep making mistakes on top of mistakes. As for the transaction, it can wait until the abstinence period is over; there's no rush... Don't tell me you can't wait?"
Vichy shook her head at once, averting her eyes and mumbling, "Of course I can wait. I just... just..."
The maid racked her brain. Suddenly, she sniffed the air, instantly perking up. With a wicked smile, she pressed down on Yaxiu. "Of course I can wait, but I don't think you can. The scent in this room is so strong—don't tell me it's been like this every night lately? Well, there's no helping it. Since I'm your maid, during the transaction I'll graciously do you a favor and help relieve you a bit."
Yaxiu's mouth twitched. In their minds, his image had evidently degenerated into a Four Pillar Gods-tier monster of lust.
He replied testily, "I don't need it."
Vichy glanced at him, shifting against him like a serpent. Her face flushed all the way to her ears, and with curving eyes, she scoffed, "Do you honestly think that sounds even a tiny bit convincing?"
"I can handle it myself!" Yaxiu said calmly. "In short, I won't let you keep breaking the rules, nor will I make a transaction with you. Leave at once."
Vichy froze. She realized Yaxiu didn't seem to be joking—he truly wanted to drive her away. For some reason, her heart ached as if clutched in a tight grip, her throat constricted so tightly she couldn't breathe, and a stinging ache welled up behind her eyes. Clinging to Yaxiu like an octopus, she said huffily, "Even if there's no transaction, I'm not leaving tonight!"
"Get out," Yaxiu said, seemingly oblivious to her feelings, hard and unyielding. "Are you going to force me to order you with the chains?"
"Why are you so insistent on making me leave?"
"Then why do you want to stay?" Yaxiu said. "You don't like me, and you don't want intimacy with me, so why are you holding me?"
Vichy's voice caught. She quickly retorted, "I've already entered the transaction state and am pretending to like you, so—"
"Didn't I say there's no transaction tonight? You don't have to pretend to like me anymore," Yaxiu said calmly. "Drop the insincere act and get out right now."
"I completely altered my soul to like you with all my heart! Dropping it takes a lot of time," Vichy turned her head away, pursing her lips tightly as she spoke. "Even if it's insincere, feelings don't just change in an instant."
Vichy made no effort to hide that she was talking sheer nonsense. Her voice sounded deeply aggrieved, anger mingled with a faint trace of pleading. Yet Yaxiu was like a merciless general refusing to accept her surrender: "I'm sorry. I've been disliking you a bit lately, so I can't pretend to like you, and I don't want to stay with you right now."
The maid froze, then shook her head with absolute conviction. "You're lying."
"I'm not lying to you." Yaxiu turned his head, avoiding her gaze. "On our first day in Senluo, I gave you an out. I asked you to apologize to Silver Lantern so that I could ride the momentum, vent some temper at you, and along with your contributions at Star Bridge Hall, that would have basically balanced out your abysmal reputation and allowed everyone to fully accept you into the team.
"You definitely understood my intentions, but you refused to admit fault. You refused to accept my kindness, refusing to even fake it. Because you are the Spectre Prophet. The Spectre Prophet doesn't regret, doesn't admit wrongdoing, and above all..." Yaxiu took a deep breath, "...won't change herself for anyone."
Vichy looked at him, parting her lips as if to speak. After a moment, she let out a soft chuckle laced with an indescribable bitterness. "Then what do you want me to do? Go apologize to Silver Lantern right now?"
"No, I just want to grant your wish." Yaxiu met her gaze. "Since you want to be the Spectre Prophet, I'll treat you as the Spectre Prophet.
"If it weren't for transactions, the Spectre Prophet and I would merely be a supervisor and a prisoner guarding against each other. The Spectre Prophet wouldn't like me, wouldn't visit me in the dead of night, and certainly wouldn't hold me. Because the Spectre Prophet has no weakness like 'someone she loves,' nor would she break rules completely unprepared, much less engage in intimacy with anyone."
Vichy bit her lower lip, her voice sounding frail and powerless. "Yaxiu..."
"Tell me," Yaxiu grasped her shoulders and asked seriously, "who am I to you? Supervisor, master, or... friend?"
"...Supervisor."
"If not for a transaction, would the Spectre Prophet genuinely fall in love with anyone?"
"...No."
"Was the kiss just now purely for the transaction?"
Vichy's lips moved, but in the end, she nodded. "Yes."
Looking at the stubborn elven maid, Yaxiu was not surprised in the least. He just felt as if a heavy stone were pressing against his chest, uncomfortable and exhausting. Moreover, he had been trying to warm this stone for quite some time, yet it refused to warm up at all.
"So go back tonight," Yaxiu said. "I'm in no mood for false pretenses and scheming mind games with you tonight. You are the Spectre Prophet; you have no reason to stay."
*At least I managed to talk one of them into leaving,* Yaxiu could only console himself. Now there were only two possibilities. The first was that Vichy couldn't abandon the pride of the Spectre Prophet and would obediently leave; the second was...
*Do I really want Vichy to obediently leave, or am I anticipating that other possibility?*
When he saw Vichy straighten her back and sit up, Yaxiu let out a quiet sigh in his heart. He closed his eyes, avoiding any eye contact, quietly waiting for her to depart. Yet after quite a while, Vichy remained sitting on top of him, showing no intention of leaving.
Yaxiu felt puzzled. Suddenly, he felt a droplet of dew fall onto his abdomen... Was the tent leaking?
*Drip, drip, drip, drip...*
Yaxiu vaguely realized something, but instead he squeezed his eyes shut even tighter, as though terrified that the moment he opened them, he would be bewitched by the demon. The demon neither obediently left nor discarded her demon's pride; instead, she slowly leaned down against Yaxiu's chest, as if placing the most venomous curse upon him.
"Don't push me like this, okay?"
From the darkness came a trembling, aggrieved voice, like a pebble dropped into a deep lake, stirring ripples that gradually swelled into waves, building into a surging tsunami that battered fortifications, shattered dikes, and submerged all hearts of stone.
Yaxiu opened his eyes to see the tearful woman before him in her maid outfit—soft all over, except for her stubborn pride. He let out a helpless sigh, reached out to pull her in, and kissed her. She immediately wrapped her arms around Yaxiu, clinging tight like chains and refusing to let go.
*I'm doomed,* Yaxiu sighed inwardly.
Only at this moment was he finally certain that he had truly, hopelessly fallen for this demon.
Chapter 1129