CH 48

xetis’s face turned pale. “you humans are terrifying!”

“xetis, come back with me quickly. it’s dangerous here!” prince harry said urgently, taking a step forward.

“no, don’t come closer!” xetis screamed and rushed forward, putting his neck against pei xia’s blade.

lucifer, still composed despite the chaos around, wiped his mouth with a napkin. “take it easy. what exactly happened?”

xetis sobbed, “the human world is too scary. i want to go back to the demon realm!”

he was just a little succubus who wanted an easy life using his charm. suddenly, he found himself in a terrible situation. “oh my god, why didn’t my mother warn me about this when she sent me to the mortal world?”

pei xia inquired, “what happened, exactly?”

xetis was too embarrassed to speak; he felt he had lost face and brought disgrace to the succubus race.

prince harry, more agitated than xetis, exclaimed, “xetis, how can you be so heartless? are you going to abandon me with our child?!”

xetis, emotionally charged, moved his neck closer to pei xia’s blade, “don’t come any closer, or i’ll kill myself!”

prince harry, nervous and concerned, said, “okay, calm down. i won’t come closer.”

pei xia, who had been strangely manipulated by xetis’s use of the sword as a threat, looked down and asked, “child? what child? aren’t you a succubus?”

xetis raised his head. he glared at pei xia in anger, “harry told me already. the fruit of life was taken from your people! your belly is so big now, and you still dare to play dumb? wait, why did all of you get so big so fast?”

pei xia suddenly realized that harry had stolen the fruit of life. he looked at xetis sympathetically and said, “because the babies in our bellies are fake.”

xetis: “…”

pei xia glared at prince harry in anger. “your highness, how could you steal?”

prince harry, feeling guilty, couldn’t meet their eyes. “oh my light god, i just wanted to save our love!”

pei xia: “…”

lucifer cleared his throat and asked, “alright, we can talk about the prince’s theft later. xetis, why did you dare to come to me?”

xetis sadly replied, “here, only you can resist harry, and i haven’t killed anyone so far.”

lucifer raised an eyebrow and asked, “oh?”

xetis cautiously glanced at him and stammered, “w-well, you’re not dead.”

lucifer smiled but didn’t say anything.

xetis wiped away tears and said, “please, send me back to the demon realm. i’ll never dare to come to the mortal world again!”

prince harry cried out in agony, “no, xetis, have you forgotten our love?!”

xetis: “get lost!”

lucifer smiled and said, “sending you back is not impossible.”

xetis nodded eagerly, “yes, yes, yes!”

“but there must be a price, right?” even when the holy son said this, he seemed particularly caring and gentle.

“what price?” xetis looked at him through teary eyes. at that moment, he saw a holy light within lucifer despite the tears.

apart from being jealous that this man was better looking than himself, everything else seemed fine, didn’t it?

lucifer raised a finger and tapped the table, saying, “when i send you back, i’ll retrieve it myself.”

“alright, send me back now! i don’t want to stay here for another moment,” xetis couldn’t wait to leave.

lucifer looked at the agonized prince harry and then smiled as he stood up.

the first thing he did was to use his powers to put prince harry and the soldiers into a deep sleep.

“will prince harry be okay like this, your grace?”

lucifer shook his head and said, “whether he’s okay or not has nothing to do with me.”

pei xia: “huh?”

lucifer: “i mean, we’re just doing what we have to do. as for the rest, we should trust them to handle it themselves.”

“your words are very philosophical, your grace!”

pei xia still had some hesitation, “are you sure you want to send him back? after all, he once wanted to harm you.”

lucifer raised a faint smile, looking amused. “he has a unique mixed bloodline. it won’t be easy for him in the demon realm.”

pei xia: “oh, i didn’t expect you to be so…”

lucifer immediately looked pained, “ah, thinking about that, i couldn’t help but worry for him. but since he wants it, i can only fulfill his wish.”

pei xia: “you’re still as soft-hearted and kind as ever!”

lucifer’s method for sending xetis back was simple. he extracted the necessary information from the captured dark mages to create a magic circle that would transport xetis back to the demon realm.

compared to coming from the demon realm to the mortal world, returning to the demon realm was simpler.

pei xia stood by lucifer’s side, curious. “didn’t you say he would have to pay a price?”

“i already got it,” lucifer chuckled. “it’s not anything valuable, just some little trinkets.”

pei xia seemed to understand, nodding, “prince harry and the others have already been sent back. you’ve been busy for a long time; you should rest now.”

“alright.”

—

back in the room, pei xia busily helped lucifer clean up. he tried to be as pleasing as possible. lucifer, dressed in his pajamas, leaned against the bed, watching him with a smile. he patted the space beside him.

“come here, pei xia.”

“oh.” pei xia didn’t doubt him and walked to the bedside, sitting down. “do you need me to recite the scripture of light for you?”

“yes.” lucifer slid down on the bed, propping his head with a smile. “go ahead.”

pei xia cleared his throat and began to recite the scripture of light. gradually, lucifer’s eyes closed. it was late at night, and pei xia wasn’t sure if lucifer had fallen asleep, so he continued to recite.

as he recited, pei xia felt drowsy, his eyelids heavy. unconsciously, he slumped over onto the bed and drifted into sleep.

in his dream, the world was hazy. pei xia found himself in the same room, sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling foolishly. lucifer sat with his hands folded, supporting his chin, and sighed lightly.

“pei xia, i did say i was going to punish you.”

pei xia chuckled in his dream, his reactions slightly delayed and blurry.

lucifer sat up, opened his arms, and pulled the drowsy pei xia into an embrace. he extended his long, elegant hand, with cool fingertips, gently caressing pei xia’s cheek. then, he ran his red tongue lightly over the knight’s earlobe.

lucifer seemed to be both smiling and somewhat distressed as he said, “i seem to be caring about you a bit too much.”

in his dream, pei xia, in his own logic, didn’t realize he was dreaming, nor did he fully follow real-life logic.

he clenched his fist, not sure what kind of scenario he had created for himself. “your grace, have you finally allowed our child to acknowledge me? it’s okay; i will definitely take responsibility if it’s you!”

lucifer said, “how fixated can one be on taking responsibility?”

pei xia appeared quite sad. “please don’t be sad over that scoundrel anymore. there are plenty of other fish in the sea. strong men and handsome guys are everywhere. if it doesn’t work out, we can pick a few from the knight’s group!”

lucifer raised his hand to pinch pei xia’s cheek and shook it. “nonsense. pei xia, what do you think of me?”

pei xia quietly looked up at him, not feeling anything inappropriate about being in his arms. but he was shy about his inner thoughts. “you are, of course, a very, very good person.”

“since i’m so good.” lucifer pinched his cheek and forced him to look into his eyes. “do you like me?”

pei xia: “i…”

“hmm?”

pei xia suddenly raised his hand to cover his face. “your servant dare not, your highness!”

lucifer: “…”

a bewildered expression crossed his excessively beautiful face. then, lucifer released his hold on pei xia’s face and raised an eyebrow slightly. “in that case, i might have to punish you.”

pei xia was a bit slow to respond. “ah…”

lucifer stared at him intently, feeling a strange emotion bubbling up in the depths of his heart. sometimes, this man could really infuriate him, but at other times, he made him want to keep him by his side forever.

he should give him an unforgettable punishment, just as he would with others. as long as it made him happy, everything else could be disregarded.

whether it was tearing apart his soul, instilling everlasting fear, applying physical punishment, or making him live a lifetime of bad luck, any of these options would be effortless for lucifer.

however, as he looked at him, a smile surfaced in his deep, mysterious eyes—a smile that delved into emotions he had never thoroughly explored.

lucifer snapped his fingers and said with a smile, “let’s make you have an unforgettable nightmare, the most terrifying one, or perhaps a slightly less severe version.”

with a snap, pei xia’s dream world completely transformed.

the mist dissipated, revealing a bright, sunny landscape with shady green trees. walls began to rise, doors and windows with peeling green paint appeared, followed by graffitied walls and small square tables and chairs.

finally, there were young boys and girls in matching, oversized blue and white uniforms. they sat at their desks one by one. at the front of the room, a large blackboard hung. two middle-aged men wearing glasses sat infront.

everyone’s faces were indistinct, not easy to see clearly, and the room was quiet except for the annoying sound of cicadas.

lucifer looked around curiously and then smiled at pei xia, who was also dressed in a blue and white uniform. this version of pei xia was young and fresh, just like the others, writing on white paper with black text. his furrowed brow revealed a touch of anxiety.

adapting to the surroundings, lucifer, too, sat behind a desk in the blue and white uniform. he sat close to pei xia and murmured, “let me see what you’re afraid of.”

it was a peculiar world with a different culture, and everything piqued lucifer’s curiosity. but most of all, he was curious about pei xia.

[answer: the range of values for ‘a’ is ‘呼,’]

“i’m finally done.” pei xia flashed a relaxed smile.

lucifer played with his long hair with his fingers, looking at pei xia with enthusiasm. in such a calm setting, in such a safe world, what could pei xia possibly fear here?

suddenly, a voice echoed out of nowhere:

“you have 15 minutes left until the end of the exam. please manage your time wisely.”

in an instant, the atmosphere in the room changed, filled with anxiety, tension, and unease.

pei xia, who had just shown a relaxed expression, abruptly turned to look at lucifer.

lucifer: “hmm?”

pei xia cautiously peeked at lucifer’s exam paper. his expression turned terrified as if he had seen a devil: “lu, uh, are you planning to turn in a blank paper? write quickly, come on!”

lucifer realized, a bit belatedly, that he had become a character in pei xia’s dream. he couldn’t help but point at himself and asked, “lu, what?”

pei xia’s expression had a momentary blank look, but then he said, “lu, uh, i can’t remember your name. you’re the class nerd i secretly had a crush on in high school, right? lu, you can’t turn in a blank paper like you used to back in school!”

pei xia was getting anxious. he even stomped his foot and urged lucifer, “hurry up and write. i can’t help you cheat! at the very least, write down an explanation!”

lucifer lowered his head and looked at the paper in front of him. in this dream world, he could understand the words on the paper through his connection with pei xia.

“the 201x national college entrance examination for science and mathematics.”

pei xia said, “you can’t be so dumb that you can’t even answer a single question, right?”

lucifer: “…”

finally, pei xia, overwhelmed by anxiety and fear, couldn’t take it anymore. he leaned in and forcefully shoved a pen into lucifer’s hand. his voice was firm, serious, and commanding:

“write! now!”