"Cluck ~"
Zi Ji's gorgeous face was a mask of delight. She immediately saw through Subei's reluctant sighs, her smile sinking deeper into teasing charm.
"My lovely Lord King…" she whispered.
"Alas…" Subei groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Without hesitation, the violet dragoness hoisted him into her lap with ease. Her palms cupped his face, thumbs tugging at his cheeks playfully.
"Hold me tightly," she commanded softly.
"Wait!" Subei's body stiffened, indignation flashing over his features. "Presumptuous! Do you forget who I am? I'm the King of Soul Beasts!"
But Zi Ji's cold touch on his neck stole the bite from his words. Her hands were startling—not hot with passion, but chilling, serpentine, scales carrying the cool of shadows.
"My King," Zi Ji murmured, "from this moment forward, you are mine. I am Zi Ji's alone… and Zi Ji is your woman."
Her bright violet eyes shimmered with hunger, like twin flames that promised obsession. She lifted his body easily, as if cradling a child, letting him hang from her embrace.
"Though the Lord may have declared you her husband before all the beasts…" she smiled faintly, "none of them will support it in truth. A King that weak? A child, barely grown?" She licked her lips provocatively. "I care nothing for their voices. By the time the Lord awakens, I will have emptied you, claimed you fully. And then—even if she takes you back, none can erase the marks I leave."
Her words dripped heat. Her tongue swept across her lips again, a predator savoring prey.
"Tell me, King, did you deliberately give me this chance? Hm? By leaving yourself so vulnerable?"
Subei's head throbbed. If seduction were a weapon, Zi Ji wielded it like a greatsword. Again with this game…!
"What do you want now?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"What do I want?" Zi Ji repeated, her smile soft yet wicked. She leaned in so close their breaths tangled, eyes aglow. "I want everything. Until you can't see anything but me."
"…"
Subei's heart drummed painfully in his chest. This dragoness truly wants to eat me alive. If I stay like this, I'll lose control one day.
He exhaled. "One day, Zi Ji… one day, I'll grow up. And then you'll see the difference."
Her head tilted, amusement glittering. "Good. I'll wait. You've four years before your human adulthood rites. I'll bide my time happily."
She dragged her claws lightly along his sleeve. "And when that day comes, we'll flee to a paradise of blood and mountains, humans far from reach. We'll have our own brood of dragon children. Just you and me."
Her tone softened, almost dreamlike, imagining the eternity.
The heat of her breath washed his skin. Subei's mind reeled. Four years? Will I even survive the week with her looking at me like this?
He tried to break free with reason. "…Aren't you afraid? If the Lord learns of this betrayal, she will order you hunted to extinction. Neither beast, nor woman, nor dragon will be left of you."
Zi Ji's gaze burned hotter, her smile terrifying in its devotion.
"As long as it means keeping you, even if all of Star Dou and the Lord herself hunt me—I will die without regret. For you, I'll be the enemy of the world."
"..."
The boy's chest shivered. He had faced Bibi Dong's murderous aura, Tang Hao's Haotian hammer, Emperor Tian's oppressive might—but this vow chilled him most. To make a dragoness love me enough to betray the Lord… terrifying. My face really is a calamity.
Zi Ji pressed further. "You always call her 'the Lord,' never 'wife', never anything intimate. That means your feelings aren't deep. It's all her wishful thinking. Which means…" Zi Ji smirked. "…my chances are great."
The King's stunned silence amused her.
But Subei shook his head and countered without hesitation: "No. You're wrong. I love Na'er."
Zi Ji's brows lifted sharply.
"You still rush back to the human world, to that hundred-thousand-year soft rabbit. Tell me that isn't hatred toward the Lord? Tell me that isn't sign of your rejection?"
Subei was stunned. Zi Ji… knows everything. She's been watching me this closely? Even my every move in Spirit Hall, every glance toward Xiao Wu… this is too much!
"This is an invasion of privacy!" he burst.
Zi Ji only smiled faintly, amused by his backlash.
Subei rallied, dignity tugging him upright. "No. I am merciful to the lost ones blinded by the gaudy human world. That's all. As for the Lord, she remains grievously injured. I don't disturb her peace. That is all."
Zi Ji chuckled low, like velvet rubbing marble.
"Funny," she purred. "Then what of the many women you hold in your arms, one after another? Isn't it because you do not dare show your loyalty to the Lord… so you 'comfort' yourself elsewhere?"
Her words plunged directly into his chest.
Subei's face soured—but his lips curved bitterly into that maddeningly sincere smile.
"Zi Ji… you do know me."
He spread his palms helplessly. "It isn't that I chase any of them. They chase me. I'm passive. They cannot sleep unless I lie with them. They say only my arms bring safety to their dreams. What can I do but pity them?"
His sigh seemed almost holy.
"I wanted to be scum. But… scum requires effort. Yet here I am. Beauty, passivity, and a cursed face that draws them all. I'm not scum, Zi Ji. I'm… a victim."
Zi Ji laughed until the cave walls echoed with her music. Her crimson tongue licked her lips again as her eyes burned with desire.
"A victim? Perhaps. But you're mine now, little victim. And no Lord or Pope will take you from me."
Her words hummed like a vow.
And Subei, for the first time, felt the chill certainty of what it meant to be too beautiful for the world.
--
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