His Demoness

16 ⚔️ A Glimpse Into Her Past

In the still of the night, a piercing scream shattered the deafening silence.

Zhijian found himself standing in the middle of a field, staring at the bloody scene before his eyes. Bodies of dead men, women and children were strewn everywhere around him. The raw stench of death hung thick in the air and the wind carried the strong smell of fresh blood, which made his stomach turn.

It wasn't his first time seeing death, but this was too much. Countless people had been mercilessly slaughtered and their bodies were left to rot.

Did a war happen?

There was no recollection of how he came here. Why was he here? None of the bodies belonged to members of the Xu clan.

Zhijian let his eyes scan across the field, until he felt that he wasn't alone.

Amidst the bloody mess stood a dark, forlorn figure several feet away from him, unmoving. When rays of lunar light from the moon irradiated the silhouette, he instantly recognised her.

The Demoness.

An invincible mass blew and ruffled her long, dishevelled hair that cascaded down her shoulders. Her porcelain skin was so pale, like glacial ice, under the moon. There were traces of crimson blood splattered across her white hanfu, giving her a beautiful, yet deadly appearance.

But her battered appearance wasn't the reason why Zhijian found his breath caught in his throat.

Her eyes.

They were full of despair and anguish.

She didn't seem to notice Zhijian's presence and realisation slowly dawned upon him.

This wasn't his dream; it was the Demoness's dream. Somehow, he had ended up here and was, quite possibly, glimpsing a small piece of her past.

Was this the work of the soulmate bond?

The Demoness gazed blankly into the distance, and he could feel the raw, turbulent emotions surging through her. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably and her eyes slowly awash with tears. Drops of blood belonging to the deceased trickled down her cold hands.

"—My fault."

Zhijian stilled immediately, searching around. Someone had definitely said something, but it wasn't him. And there were only two alive people standing in this field, which could only mean–

"They're dead because of me. It's all my fault."

–that he was hearing the Demoness's voice in his head!

She sounded torn and heartbroken, a sight that even made his heart clenched tightly. Perhaps because they were soulmates, her thoughts were being transmitted to him when she was in her most vulnerable state. He could also feel the intense, emotional pain that she was experiencing at the moment.

A tear slipped off her cheek, followed by another. Tears that represented what he heart wished to say.

Regardless of his dislike for the Demoness, he was still a human with feelings and it was a heart-wrenching sight for him to see the girl's face full of self-reproach. No matter how hard he tried to deny the obvious, he knew that things didn't quite add up to those rumours about her.

He would consider himself as a damfool if he thought that she was putting up a show for him again. There was no way in hell she would have planned this, for he was seeing her most painful memory of her past - one that she desperately tried so hard to hide away.