His Demoness

35 ⚔️The Invitation

The fevers stopped recurring.

Xiaoyu was a confusing human. During the time when she should have been concerned about her own death sentence, she was worried about Zhijian's life instead and decided to dedicate what was left of her remaining time just to save him.

As much as he was moved by her selfless action, he was angry. Angry at the fact that she didn't give him a chance to have a say in any of this. 

She was the first woman who made him this mad and infuriatingly confused. The image of her – especially her wide, soulful eyes –  was embossed in his mind day and night. Often, he would question himself what her existence meant to him.

In his eyes, was she still just a girl whom he was bonded to without a choice?

It was futile thinking about her now, when everything was too late. He would never be able to speak to her again, not in this lifetime or the next. She had severed their connection. She was beyond his reach now, and her absence left an emptiness in his chest.

This was what it felt like to have a soulmate, wasn't it? Losing his soulmate was like losing a part of himself, and he didn't know if this void could ever be filled up again.

Days passed into weeks, and weeks into a month. Instead of dwelling over Xiaoyu's death, he devoted his time to take up as many missions as possible. There were demons that were wreaking havoc on a few villages nearby and he thought that by venting his frustrations on them instead, it might help take his mind off the unhappy things.

Time flew by so quickly that it felt like meeting his soulmate had all been a dream.

Along with a few other Eradicators, they annihilated the headless ghouls that were terrorising the village they were currently in. They wrapped up the mission quickly and by the time they returned to the clan residence, it was already the following evening. The first person that ambushed him was his best friend, Jinlong.

An arm was thrown around his shoulders. "Welcome back, Zhijian!" Jinlong grinned. "I supposed everything went well for your mission?"

When Zhijian nodded, Jinlong's grin grew wider. "Arrogant as always, aren't you?"

Zhijian swatted his arm away and ducked behind him, wrapping an arm around Jinlong's neck in a playful headlock. "What about you? Have you been wasting your time idling around the place or going for drinks at the Qingpeng Tavern?"

"Oof–hey! I wasn't drinking!" The boy struggled for a while before breaking free. Standing a few feet away, he placed his hands on his hips with a roguish grin. "Trust me, I've been pretty productive recently. I tried to replicate the rune to summon my soulmate, but it's not working! I suspect that I might have drawn it wrongly and have decided to consult you instead. Please tell me you remember what the rune looks like?"

Almost immediately, Zhijian narrowed his eyes darkly. "No, I don't remember. Besides, you shouldn't be summoning a soulmate simply for fun."

Unless you want to end up like me, he thought.

"Oooh..." A knowing smile appeared on Jinlong's face. "You're getting pretty riled up right now. Why is that so?"

Zhijian snorted and rolled his eyes. "Am I? You're just imagining things."

Jinlong crossed his arms and his finger tapped against his chin thoughtfully. "You're thinking about your soulmate again, right? Whenever I ask if you miss her, you would deny. Honestly, do you think you can lie to me when those wistful eyes of yours are betraying you?"