If Long Xingyu had even a shred of affection for her, he would never have been the one to send her to the stake.
As the prospect of seeing Long Xingyu again loomed, Bai Yue’s heart was far from calm. She struggled to mask the fury and hatred in her eyes, fearing that the moment she saw his face, she would be unable to stop herself from killing this unfaithful man.
"A-Yue?" Long Xingyu pushed the door open, his tone tinged with accusation. "The auspicious hour is almost here. Why aren't you dressed yet? And why did you chase away the people I sent to help you?"
Bai Yue stood up from the vanity, turned, and whipped the white silk veil from her head, throwing it directly into Long Xingyu’s face.
Her expression was cold. She stated flatly, "Because I don’t want to marry you anymore. I, Bai Yue, am calling off the wedding!"
"Bai Yue, do you know what you’re saying?" Long Xingyu stepped forward and grabbed her arm, knitting his brows as he struggled to suppress his surging anger.
He gripped her so hard that his fingers left bruises on her jade-white skin.
Bai Yue let out a self-deprecating laugh. So, the chauvinism buried deep within Long Xingyu had been there all along; she had simply been blinded by love and had never truly seen his true nature until now.
"Let go, Long Xingyu. You’re hurting me," Bai Yue said, her brow furrowed.
Instead of letting go, Long Xingyu tightened his grip even further.
"Bai Yue, who do you think I am? Do you think you can just call off the wedding whenever you like? If you didn't love me, you shouldn't have provoked me in the first place!"
"Since you have already provoked me, don't ever think about escaping me for the rest of your life!"
His voice was calm—no hysteria, no madness—yet it sent a chill down Bai Yue’s spine, leaving her terrified.
She felt a pang of regret; she shouldn't have been so rash as to demand a breakup. After having lived through the events of the next twenty years, she had actually harbored a shred of fantasy about the Long Xingyu of twenty years ago, foolishly believing they might still have had genuine feelings during their infatuation.
It seemed that since brute force wouldn't work, she would have to resort to softness. In any case, according to how things unfolded in her past life, the wedding would never actually take place. Before the ceremony could be completed, the Demon race would launch a massive assault on Zhennanguan. Long Xingyu would be forced to head out to battle, and by the time he returned, she would have long since been taken away by her father, the Emperor.
"Xingyu, I don’t want to break it off either, but marrying me will hurt your career," she said, her eyes brimming with tears, putting on a look of forced helplessness. "You are a Divine Knight with a brilliant future, the Hall Master of the Knight Temple, while I am merely a penniless orphan with no cultivation. Most importantly, I am a human-demon hybrid with impure blood—born unable to cultivate. The priests at the Priest Temple all say that with my constitution, any child I bear will likely inherit it, remaining unable to cultivate, or having an Innate Internal Spiritual Power no higher than ten."
Long Xingyu looked at her, pulled a handkerchief from his waist, and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"A-Yue, you don't need to worry about any of that. You are my wife. I want to marry you, and no one can stop me," he said with deep affection.
Bai Yue endured the nausea, forced a smile, and leaned gently against his shoulder. "Brother Long, I just feel I’m not good enough for you. That is what everyone says."
Long Xingyu laughed heartily, holding her protectively. "A-Yue, you don't need to feel inferior. Trust me, I will protect you for the rest of your life and never let you come to harm."
*A man’s mouth is a deceiving devil,* she thought. *Protect me? In my past life, it was you who personally sent me to the stake and watched me burn to death.*
Bai Yue felt stifled. *Why haven't the war drums for the Demon race’s invasion sounded yet?* She could no longer keep up this act; if she stayed a moment longer, she would truly be sick to her stomach.
*Dong, dong, dong—*
*Dong, dong, dong—*
*Dong, dong, dong—*
Nine consecutive war drums echoed, causing Long Xingyu’s sturdy frame to shudder. He realized these were the drums signaling a powerful enemy invading Zhennanguan. Nine beats represented the highest level of alert—the enemy was formidable, likely at least one of the top ten Demon Gods.
Sensing the urgency, Long Xingyu had to make temporary arrangements. "A-Yue, stay home and wait for me. A powerful enemy has arrived and Zhennanguan is in danger; I must go to support the defense. We will finish the ceremony when I return."
After he left, he felt uneasy, recalling Bai Yue's strange behavior today. To be safe, he ordered his trusted subordinate—a Seventh Step Mithril Base Knight—to guard her in secret. It was partly to protect her, and partly to ensure she didn't seize the chance to slip away.
Once he was gone, Bai Yue let out a long breath, clutching her chest to calm her heart. She had truly been wearing such thick "love-struck" filters in the past that she had failed to realize his character flaws, mistakenly believing him to be a man to whom she could entrust her life.
Bai Yue waited for a long while until that silhouette finally appeared before her.
A young man with handsome features, wearing purple gold-patterned robes that drifted despite the lack of wind, looked at her with a slight frown. Fengxiu could sense his own blood flowing within this young girl. He had never had any entanglements with anyone other than Bai Lingxuan, so she had to be his and Lingxuan's daughter.
Certain of this, Fengxiu opened his mouth, then closed it again, fearing that words spoken in his impulsiveness might frighten the child.
"I am your father..." Fengxiu finally said after a long hesitation. "Child, I know you must resent me, but can you give me a chance to make up for the grievances you’ve suffered all these years?"
Bai Yue looked at her father with tear-filled eyes, unable to stop her sobbing.
Fengxiu walked up clumsily and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the tears from her face. "Yue'er, don't cry..."
Bai Yue looked at Fengxiu, who was at a loss because of her tears, and burst into a tearful laugh, throwing her arms around him. "Father, you're alive! That's wonderful!"
Having risen to the position of Demon God Emperor amidst the brutal competition of the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon clan, Fengxiu was incredibly sharp. The implications of Bai Yue’s words were profound.
"Yue'er, what do you mean by that?"
Bai Yue had no intention of hiding anything, but they were in the territory of the Temple Alliance; with walls having ears, it was not the place to explain her rebirth. "Father, I will explain in detail later. This is no place to stay—Long Xingyu could return at any moment. Let’s leave first! I don't want to have any more contact with that scumbag."
She grabbed Fengxiu’s arm and shook it naturally. Such an intimate, spoiled gesture made the corners of Fengxiu’s usually expressionless mouth curl upward.
*My daughter is acting spoiled with me! Truly, a little cotton-padded jacket is far more heartwarming than those stinky boys!*
Thinking of A Bao in the Demon God Emperor Palace, Fengxiu decided: Yue'er is much better; the boy only knows how to make him angry.
Finding Bai Yue brought Fengxiu a sense of joy he had never expected. He had never imagined that he and Bai Lingxuan had also had a daughter. Though he already had A Bao in the palace, and another concubine was nearing her due date, Bai Yue meant something entirely different to him—she was the crystallization of the love he shared with his one true love.