His Demoness

46 ⚔️ The Beginning of Everything

For the first time, Xiaoyu was sharing the truth about her past.

A shadow haunted her face when she recounted the story to Zhijian. "My sister had accompanied our father to a small, neighbouring town to purchase rare materials for our clan's medical research. When he was busy scouring the place and meeting different herbalists, she was allowed to venture off and explore the marketplace on her own. And that was how she encountered him."

Him?

Curious, Zhijian asked her, "Who?"

Her eyelashes fluttered and she looked at him with an expressionless face.

"Jiang Yuhan."

The name struck a chord in Zhijian. Everybody knew about this boy. After all, his father was a reputable man, the late Leader Jiang.

And he had two sons that he terribly adored – Jiang Zhicheng and Jiang Yuhan.

When the old man passed away from an illness, Jiang Zhicheng succeeded the Jiang clan and now, he was the father of Jiang Yifeng. As for his younger brother, Jiang Yuhan, nobody had brought up the topic about him for several years.

After all, he was a dead man to the world.

People had once sung his praises for being a promising fighter, but after his death, they had called him the fallen one. At the slightest mention of his name, they would always connect his death back to the Demoness. Twenty years ago, he had travelled with his fellow clansmen during the expedition for the merger of the Jiang and Bai clans, but in the end, they were brutally murdered.

And yet back in the catacomb, Jiang Ziyi had told Zhijian a different story. That they had planned this from the beginning. That Xiaoyu's powers had always been their goal.

How did they find out about her existence and powers? Who had spilled the Bai clan's deepest secret to the outside world? And how did Jiang Yuhan play a part in this?

"My sister met him a few more times," Xiaoyu revealed. "And he began to fall for her. I don't blame him, my sister was beautiful and charming. Over time, she ended up having feelings for him too. She loved him and she didn't want to hide me from him."

"So one day, she brought him to see me."

Zhijian watched her draw in a shaky breath. He reached out to give a light, supporting squeeze to her hands. In return, she shot him back a small, grateful smile.

"You can probably guess what happened next. Jiang Yuhan was still young and naive then, so when he told his father that he wanted to marry my sister, he might have mentioned about me too. And that was how the Jiang clan started having an interest in me."

"That rascal," Zhijian muttered under his breath. "Damn him and his big, fat mouth."

Xiaoyu heard him cursing and she shook her head in brief amusement, but a bitter smile soon ghosted across her face.

"Regardless of what he did, I still feel bad for him and my sister. What had started from an innocent love ended in tragedy and it was all because of me. I only have myself to blame for that."

Zhijian frowned. "Don't say that. It's not your fault that he broke your sister's trust and couldn't keep a secret."

"But if only I was born a little more normal–"

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "No one gets to choose how they are born. It's never been your fault."

Xiaoyu lapsed into silence. He could only hope that his words could free herself from her self-reproach.

"So," he asked quietly, "Did you really kill him?"

"I don't know," Xiaoyu answered truthfully. A small shiver ran through her as unpleasant memories flashed through her mind. "I don't remember seeing him. All I recall was that the Jiang clansmen weren't happy when we refused to cooperate with them."

She surprised Zhijian when a hysterical laughter erupted from her. "It's true that the Bai clan is dead because of me," she revealed. "But I didn't kill them. The Jiang clan wanted me. My powers. But because my clan refused to hand me over to them, they had to pay the price with their lives. They started off with killing my parents, followed by the rest of us. When the screams started, everything went red."

Her lips twisted into a bitter smile. "I lost control of myself. I felt so much anger in me that I needed to let it all out. For the first time, I used my voice. I commanded the Jiang group to kill themselves. I'm as bad as them."

This was it. This was the truth that she had feared to let him know. There was enough blood on her hands that would stain the sea scarlet and they could never be washed away forever.

In her eyes, she was a monster.

Her hands clasped together nervously and the way she stared at him was one that he wouldn't forget. From her wide, wavering eyes to her lips clamped shut, he understood that look of hers clearly.

She was waiting for him to run away from her.

Without any warning, he pulled onto the reins and jerked the horse to a stop, catching Xiaoyu off guard. When he got off the horse, her confusion soon turned to fear when she realised that her worst nightmare was happening.

But unlike what she was expecting, Zhijian lifted her off the saddle and into his arms. As her hands grappled his shoulders for support, he pulled her face down to his and kissed her deeply. Her lips parted helplessly in a surprised gasp, and he took advantage of it by sweeping his tongue into her mouth.

There was no need for words. He just wanted her to know how he truly felt when she looked at him dead in the eye.

And every time he kissed her, she tasted sweeter, her scent more beguiling.

When they eventually parted, her cheeks were flushed and she was breathing hard.

"A warning..." she mumbled softly. "Can you give me one next time?"

He chuckled at her embarrassed face. "But there won't be any fun in doing that."

She gnawed on her bottom lip. Her fingers started playing with his hair as she watched him shyly. "Aren't you letting me down? I'm heavy."

"No. I want to hold you a little while longer."

Soaked in his warmth, her tense body gradually relaxed. She watched him with a quiet, thoughtful gaze. 

"I'm waiting," she admitted softly. "Waiting for the moment where you'll run away from me."

His resolute smile sent her fears away. "I'm not going anywhere," he said. "In my eyes, you're not a monster. You're a human being, one that shouldn't have been treated like a thing."

By the time he got to the end of his sentence, tears were lining her eyes. He couldn't stop himself from leaning in to kiss them away.

"Allow me to love you."