“How sneaky! Yelu’s doing something so tempting right in front of me!”
Yelu wiped her swollen, reddened lips with her hand.
Her little face was flushed, and the lingering effects hadn’t faded.
She clung to the man’s arm, her voice soft and languid.
“Th-There’s nothing I can do… People have to eat, you know?”
Yelu’s eyes were red as she glanced at Weilan walking beside them and bit her lip.
“Here, Lord Weilan, he’s the only Celestial Demon we can find right now, and you don’t even like him.”
“It’s not that I don’t like him, I-I…”
Keke ran over, fuming, grabbed one of Yelu’s arms where it rested against the man’s chest, and forcibly pulled her along.
“But I’m all about pure love…”
“If you don’t eat for a week, you’ll die. In a few more days, Lord Weilan won’t have any chance at all.”
“No! I only want him. Other than him… no one else is right for me.”
“Th-That right?”
“You know… that…”
“I see. You even made a Password for it?”
“Yelu’s so mean!”
Yelu was playing around with Keke, her guard down, when suddenly the hammer strikes rang out from above again.
Keke was so startled that she clung tightly to Yelu.
Yelu, meanwhile, was cradled in the man’s arms, tears in her eyes.
“I’m… I’m scared… Boohoo…”
She wrapped her arms tightly around the man’s neck.
‘Heh…’
Unlike Yelu, Keke was frozen in place, helplessly looking toward Weilan.
But Yelu was a professional at acting pitiful.
Only at times like this did the warmth from her own Prince mean so much that she had no time to play along with Keke.
Keke didn’t believe Yelu was pretending.
She was genuinely scared, so in the end she crouched down, curled into a ball, and tried to calm herself.
Poor thing…
Yelu thought for a moment, then tightened her arms around the man’s neck until his warm breath brushed her little face and her heart nearly melted.
She looked at his face and watched helplessly as he kissed her again.
“Your kisses are so sweet.”
“W-What kind of mushy thing is that to say, Prince? I… I remember you weren’t like this.”
“Then… they’re not sweet?”
“I guess sweet is better.”
She’d barely fallen into that hazy, sweet mood when the aftershocks still hadn’t faded and the second hammer strike came right after the first, making her shiver.
The man seemed to sense her fear.
He covered her ears with his large hands and tightened his arm around her, drawing her closer to his chest.
“Miss Yelu, you’re so plump. Soft and warm.”
“Boohoo… Don’t hate me.”
“Hey, is that what I’m doing?”
The hammering continued for a long time.
The people in Town seemed to have gotten used to it already.
They all poked their heads out to stare up at the sky, their eyes filled with the same look: the world was about to end.
“That’s the third strike, and nobody’s gone to deal with it yet,” Weilan said worriedly. “Prince, who’s on duty today?”
“I am.”
The Prince lowered his head slightly, his cheek resting against Yelu’s tousled hair.
His words showed how much he cherished her fragility.
He didn’t seem very concerned about what was happening outside.
“What did you say?”
“I am,” he repeated.
Weilan seemed not to have processed it yet.
It took her a while to react.
“What!”
“It’s you?”
“You mean… you didn’t give us any warning?”
“Hey, say something!”
From the sound of it, even Yelu, safe in his arms, couldn’t relax.
She tried to wriggle free and say something, but a large hand pressed against her lips.
“Boohoo…”
With an even firmer touch, he held her in place.
When Yelu went limp, he lovingly rubbed her head and gave her a reassuring look.
“I’m Half Sky of Tianmo. If I went and brought it up in person, they’d probably put me under house arrest on the spot. Instead… it’d be better for them to notice it themselves. Ideally… they’d wake the Demon King and have him come deal with it himself.”
His tone was perfectly calm.
“That absolutely won’t work!” Weilan was on the verge of tears. “Hurry, hurry! Go hold it off first. I’ll go notify them now, and I promise I’ll be back in half an hour!”
The Prince shook his head, his eyes quiet.
“Why? But I don’t want to die yet.”
“I’m the only one who handles it every time I’m on duty. Don’t you think that’s unfair?”
“There’s something I want to do in this world.”
“I just don’t want to cross their line and make this a bigger deal than it is. I don’t care about saving them, either. This happens all the time…”
“Miss Yelu, what do you think? If your favorite Prince died, Miss Yelu would be crying again, wouldn’t she?”
Yelu gave a quiet hum.
She didn’t dare say much.
If she did, that very masculine, bubbly voice might reach her ears.
“Prince, could you ask my Dad and Mother to help protect everyone?”
“Of course. Miss Yelu’s Dad and Mother are my Dad and Mother, too.”
Amid the tense atmosphere, Keke muttered to herself:
“Xiaobai probably won’t kill me, right…”
This time, no one stopped them.
The iron hammer kept crashing down again and again, with no sign it would stop.
She was tucked against the man’s chest, warm, with her ears covered, but the piercing sounds still frightened her.
‘Is the Glass Breaking?’
‘No, it must be the Barrier.’
‘So the world really is going to end. Maybe I should ask the Prince to bring all my friends and family along later. Keke, Beibei, Xiao Ye, the people I’m close to…’
‘No… that doesn’t seem realistic. They can fend for themselves. They’re all strong anyway.’
“Oh, damn! This is bad. Is the sky going to break apart?”
“Looks like it. We’re all going to die.”
“Hurry, I have to hurry! Before I die, I need to have one last moment with my wife at home…”
“Aah~~!! Hurry and beg me, darling!”
Some people ran, some complained, and some made a fuss.
The four of them remained in the middle of the stone road, neither crying nor making a sound.
“I… I’m going back.”
Weilan couldn’t take it anymore and flew off early.
Judging by the direction she went, she’d probably gone to notify them.
Yelu breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Yelu counted sheep in her mind.
One, two… one hundred… one hundred and five.
But she wasn’t scared.
Her little hand rested against the man’s chest, where she could feel his heartbeat.
The thunderous hammering stopped, and the sound of Glass Breaking that followed it stopped too.
“What are you doing!!”
Someone shouted.
Then, the next second, her waist took the hardest blow she’d ever felt.
Pain hit, so intense she couldn’t breathe.
Her body went weightless, her head spun, and she was torn from his arms, flying a long way before crashing into someone’s signboard and coming to a stop.
She couldn’t breathe, and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
“Cough, cough…”
She was confused, hurt, and helpless.
She endured the pain, her dirty face pressed to the ground, and barely managed to make out the man who’d attacked her.
Zai’e?
The Prince’s dad.
Knowing who he was made Yelu feel even more wronged.
It felt like the whole world had fallen apart.
He seemed to blame her for everything.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Zai’e was apologizing.
But when she turned around and blinked, she saw him get kicked to the ground by her man.
He summoned lots of tiny, fierce pets—fire dragons, three-headed giant dragons, and the like—and pinned Zai’e down, beating him mercilessly…
In the end, Zai’e was beaten half to death.
Looks like he couldn’t beat the Prince.
Zai’e got up and spat out several mouthfuls of blood, but before he flew away, he took Keke with him.
“Miss Yelu!”
The Prince shouted.
Boohoo… He finally came, Prince…
Then he gently gave her a thorough scolding.
Yelu was hurt and wouldn’t let go of his hand.
Lying against his broad chest, she held one of the man’s hands and cried.
Fortunately, his comforting words were gentle, and Yelu soon felt better.
“The injury was on your stomach, wasn’t it?”
“Mm… Boohoo, it hurts. I’m sorry, Prince. The baby might die.”
“That doesn’t matter, Miss Yelu. We can just have another one, right?”
At a time like this, wasn’t he supposed to say, “You’re the only one I see”?
The sound of rain filled the Bamboo Forest.
Once her treatment was mostly done, he brought Yelu here.
‘Where is this, anyway? And there’s a little house here, too. Is this the Prince’s Secret Base?’
Her eyes were bright, and he gently set her soft, catlike body down on the ground.
She looked around at the deserted surroundings.
Could this be… Elopement?
Or would it be better to call it going into seclusion?
Her legs were still trembling.
She’d just gotten to her feet when her vision spun, and he picked her up again and carried her into the bamboo house.
“Whose house is this?” she asked dully from his arms.
“I don’t know.”
‘Breaking and entering! That’s a serious crime!!’