Yaxiu had plenty of reasons to hate Vichy, but telling the truth was not one of them.
In the past, he could have brushed it off with cliches like life's three great illusions, but that would no longer work. From Blood Moon to the Stars, from Silver to Legendary, Yaxiu had reached the Gold rank in the mind faction alone—how could he possibly fail to read the feelings of a young girl?
Even though Feili, little lamb that she was, had tried her best to conceal her true feelings, Yaxiu had already seen the burning passion when Annan forcibly kissed him, the tears of Silver Lantern when she bid him farewell, the bashfulness of the Sword Princess when she embraced and kissed him, and the clinging affection of the Witch when they reunited.
So when Yaxiu's eyes met Feili's, he could recognize that familiar, dazzling brilliance.
Even without a word spoken, love would still spill over from the eyes.
"...Why don't we go straight to her? She should be in swordsmanship class right now."
Vichy laughed. "You don't actually think she's learning swordsmanship just to better control your Observer Mode, do you? My Maid Mode is obviously far more useful and much less trouble for her. She just wants to have more in common with you... or perhaps more in common with the Sword Princess you talk about so often."
"Master, you don't need to do a thing. Leave everything to me. I'll make the sacrifice and work some overtime on my holiday. I'll book a room at the best Starry Sky Hotel in Jiashe right away, cover it in fresh flowers, light some scented candles, and shove the two of you inside. When the time comes, that little lamb won't be able to stop herself from throwing herself onto you. You can keep up that innocent little face of yours right until it's over."
"Though I was tempted to ask if I should join in, I'm really not in the mood to cater to you today. Besides, it's the little lamb's first time, after all. We should at least give her an immaculate dream..."
As Vichy rambled on, her collar was suddenly seized. She was hoisted up before Yaxiu, forced onto her tiptoes just to barely touch the ground. Yaxiu roughly dragged her into an alley off the pedestrian street and pinned her against the wall, staring down at her with cold eyes. The half of his face shadowed from the light seemed to harbor dark, churning undercurrents.
"Apologize."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Vichy wasn't the least bit frightened. "I'll apologize as many times as you want. I wouldn't even mind calling Feili to apologize for the 'scheme' I was still plotting."
"It's just..."
She reached out a finger, fresh with her subtle snowflake-galaxy nail art, and lightly brushed it across Yaxiu's cheek. "Are you angry at my lewd words, or..."
"...are you angry because I spoke the truth you have to face?"
Prying Yaxiu's fingers away, she smoothed her clothes and said, "Normally speaking, isn't Feili the dream lover for men like you? She worships you, adores you, and possesses indispensable practical value. Young, gorgeous, with a seductive figure and an innocent personality—she's practically the perfect plaything."
"You don't even have to worry about growing bored of her or taking responsibility, because she's merely a resident of an illusory realm, an illusion cast upon a mirror, a bubble destined to burst."
"Once you're tired of playing with her, once you're done using her, you can just throw her away."
Vichy reached out to straighten Yaxiu's collar. "You don't need to carry any moral burden. You wouldn't even need to use protection—after all, she's only a phantom, not an original body. Besides, childbirth in the Country of All Stars seems to correspond directly to the stars above."
"And for Feili, what a wonderful life that would be—adventuring alongside the person she loves, loving him deeply, and then coming to an abrupt halt at the peak of passion, where all eternal vows remain frozen in the fleeting moment when both sides can still keep them. It would be as dreamy as romance in a fairy tale."
Vichy stepped out of the alley, looked at the bustling crowds on the street, and said leisurely:
"Yet I've waited a whole month, and you still haven't devoured her. What surprises me even more is that Igola hasn't egged you on. Clearly, he's the deceiver in your gang responsible for the dirty work."
"What puzzles me even more is that on several occasions, I've noticed Igola deliberately pulling me, Harvey, and Rose away, quietly creating the right atmosphere for the two of you. In other words, the deceiver thinks the same way I do. But as your friend, he didn't push you; he only made things convenient for Feili."
"He offered you the answer, knowing full well you wouldn't choose it."
Yaxiu suddenly smiled softly. "No wonder he brings a gift for me and Feili every day."
"So, Master, are you truly that foolish?"
Vichy tilted her head to look at him, her expression blank:
"Have you truly taken a phantom for a real person?"
When Yaxiu was in college, he had two roommates: one loved video games, and the other loved anime. Back then, he couldn't quite understand why the former would feel dejected and heartbroken over the loves and grievances in a game, nor why the latter would burn through all the dorm's tissues over the life-or-death partings of 2D characters.
Why invest so much emotion into something that was fake from the start?
When Yaxiu first met Feili, he had viewed her as an important tool, a walking enhancer. And Feili's admiration for Dimier had felt to him like a preset storyline in a game or an anime's canon pairing, serving nicely to reinforce his sense of unreality.
He knew full well that Feili Lena was merely one of the virtual characters placed upon the stage of stars by the Divine Lord of Stars. Her personality, appearance, talents, and even her personal relationships were nothing more than projections of the Divine Lord's true self.
She was merely a shadow, one that had never possessed a destiny of her own.
Yaxiu didn't know when his perspective had changed.
Perhaps it was that day when Feili came running up to him, out of breath, telling him, "Senior Dimier and I will only ever be friends" and "I'm going to learn swordsmanship!", looking at Yaxiu with eyes yearning for praise.
Or perhaps it was during dinner every evening, when Igola and Harvey would return punctually to the villa like children getting out of kindergarten, Rose and Vichy would cook, and everyone would sit down to eat and chat. On the TV played sorcerer dramas transported over by Heath. Occasionally, Igola and Vichy would roast the plot points, and occasionally, Harvey would chime in with tidbits of corpse trivia that ruined everyone's appetite. This bunch of powerhouses, capable of flattening the mortal world, squandered their time like ordinary mortals. Whenever Yaxiu bickered with them, Feili would always listen along with a giggle, and if the conversation turned to her, she wouldn't dare retort, only blushing and lowering her head.
Such days were boring, mundane, and devoid of grand meaning, especially when Yaxiu's true goal was to return to reality. Yet he still looked forward to dinner each evening, and wished such dinners could go on repeating forever...
When you invest emotion into something, the fake becomes real.
"Yes."
Vichy looked at Yaxiu in shock.
Yaxiu said calmly, "Feili is my friend. You can add her to 'my friends list.' All rules regarding friends apply to her. Keep all your disgusting thoughts to yourself, and don't let another word slip out."
Vichy took a deep breath, trying hard to calm herself. "Aha, so my master actually takes a phantom as a friend—and a phantom destined to be destroyed at that. A..."
She couldn't hold back any longer. Dragging Yaxiu back into the alley, she shoved him against the wall. "What is wrong with you?!"
I think I said the exact same thing to my roommates in the past, Yaxiu thought to himself.
"Even Igola and Harvey can tell the difference! Why can't you? What is this, developing feelings for a disposable rag? You are truly the most immature Legendary I have ever seen!"
"None of your damn business."
"How is it none of my business? Our enemy is a Divine Lord who wields power capable of destroying heaven and earth, and you're turning your only tool into a friend? What happens if a situation arises where you have to break her from use? What will you do then?"
"Don't I still have you? When the crucial moment comes, I won't hesitate for a second to send you to your death."
Vichy pressed her lips together and glared at him. Only the sharp heave of her chest betrayed that this young girl's menstrual period was severely undermining the demigod's capacity for calm.
"Let's get our thoughts straight," she said slowly. "Even if you treat her as a friend, that doesn't prevent you from devouring her. And once you're tired of her, you'll naturally know how to treat a disposable rag."
"I don't want to hurt her."
"She's going to die, Yaxiu!" Vichy's voice grew louder and louder. "She's going to die very soon!"
"When the Angel Hunt ends, it will be impossible for the Divine Lord of Stars to keep sustaining the Country of All Stars. When the mirror shatters, the shadows will cease to exist. Feili, Rose, and all living beings in the Country of All Stars should never have existed in the first place, and they will inevitably return to nothingness."
"Not only can you not change this outcome, but your actions are actively accelerating its arrival! The faster the Angel Hunt ends, the sooner you reunite with the Sword Princess, and the closer Feili gets to her end!"
"Do you really think you're some kind of good person? You haven't told her at all that every ounce of effort she makes is accelerating the plunge of her priceless reality—the Country of All Stars that is so beneath our notice—straight into the abyss. Even if the Divine Lord of Stars is the mastermind behind it all, to the Country of All Stars, Feili truly is an outright 'demon'!"
"And her humble little wish is nothing more than to gain your approval, to receive your tenderness. She will pay a painful price beyond her imagination, yet you won't even grant her the chance to feel what love is like before she dies. And you dare claim you're her friend... To Feili, you are the real 'demon'!"
Facing Vichy's accusations, Yaxiu wasn't angry in the slightest. He gave a slight nod. "You're right. Can we go to the aquarium now?"
Watching Yaxiu's retreating back, Vichy felt a hint of confusion. Even if she was right, Yaxiu was hardly the type to meekly accept criticism—especially criticism from her.
Unless Yaxiu was hiding an even deeper, secret thought that he didn't want anyone to know.
When they arrived at the aquarium and saw a single guppy wandering away from its school, Vichy suddenly had a flash of realization, unearthing Yaxiu's deepest, most hidden thought—
"Rather than not wanting to hurt Feili, you actually don't want to hurt yourself. You're afraid that the deeper your feelings for Feili grow, the harder it will be to face the inevitable parting."
Yaxiu looked at the school of fish behind the glass wall and said:
"You've just given me one more reason to hate you."
Chapter 864