Shi Sheng hadn’t expected Fei Qi to come knocking at her door so soon.
He was followed by Ai Wei and several other Princes, appearing none too friendly.
Shi Sheng noticed that Ai Wei now looked at her with a slight tinge of hatred. But, as a stepmother author, she didn’t care.
She blocked off the door, having no intention of letting them in.
“Your Majesty, have you forgotten basic hospitality?” Ke Er tried to urge her in the right direction, but Shi Sheng was unmoving.“There’s no need to entertain uninvited guests.”
‘They clearly know I don’t welcome them, yet they come knocking anyways? Aren’t they just seeking death?’
Ke Er didn’t say any more and silently stood behind her. Although he was Mi Nai’s godfather, she was first and foremost his Queen.
Fei Qi’s expression worsened, but he didn’t make a scene and performed an obligatory bow. “Your Majesty, I wished to discuss something with you.”
“Spit it out[1].”
Fei Qi, “...” ‘Just what does Xi Yin see in this woman?! She is not only crude, but also unspeakably arrogant to boot!’
He took a deep breath and inwardly cautioned himself to keep his temper in check before continuing, “As things stand, Ai Wei was appointed by the prophecy, after all. Regardless of the veracity of the prophecy, it was left behind by our predecessors. After some discussion between the elders, we’ve decided that giving Ai Wei the position of Holy Maiden would be for the best. That way, even if the prophecy was true, there wouldn’t be any conflict. What do you think, Your Majesty?”‘Holy Maiden...what’re these old fogeys planning on now?’
The Holy Maiden of the vampires was almost of equal standing to their ruling monarch. As a result, for someone to be bestowed the title, they had to have contributed greatly to the vampire race.
“Sure thing.”
Fei Qi had been prepared for an uphill struggle to persuade her. But he had so easily received her agreement, causing him to be stunned. ‘She agreed so easily?’
“If that’s all, you guys can scram now.”
Shi Sheng’s rudeness had put Fei Qi in an awkward position that he didn’t know how to extricate himself from.
But having already achieved his goals, Fei Qi decided not to quibble with Shi Sheng and left with his entourage. Once they’d left, Ke Er stepped forward with a heavy expression. “Your Majesty, why did you agree to their request?”
“If they want it, then I’ll just give it to them.” Shi Sheng didn’t care at all. She then asked him in turn, “Godfather, do you care about the throne?”
“I’ve long grown tired after a lifetime of struggling for power.” A hint of nostalgia appeared on Ke Er’s face. “Our kind wasn’t always like this... Now, I don’t want to bother about them anymore.”
“Then how about you leave this place with Rui Yi? You can go check out the human world.”
Ke Er furrowed his brow slightly but didn’t ask anything upon seeing Shi Sheng’s smiling countenance.
She was no longer the little girl who’d just lost her parents and held to him sobbing her heart out. She’d grown up...
“Very well.”
Having been in the vampiric territories for most of his life, he’d never gotten the chance to see the outside world himself.
When Rui Yi heard they could leave the territories, he tossed any thoughts of his most precious little princess to the back of his mind and happily followed Ke Er out.
......
The vampires discovered their new Queen wasn’t really up for actually ruling; whenever they had something they needed her judgement on, they could almost never find her.
And even when they could, she always told them to go find someone else with an impatient expression. She didn’t take back the authority held in the hands of the Princes, nor did she issue any new decrees. It was just like when they’d been without a monarch.
Well, that wasn’t strictly true... The new Queen had appointed a Holy Maiden.
Because they were originally going to accept this Holy Maiden as their Queen, they accepted her rather quickly.
And since Shi Sheng couldn’t be bothered with management, all the authority gradually fell into Ai Wei’s hands, leaving Shi Sheng more like a Queen in name only.
Though, not that she minded—she spent all her time idly enjoying life with Xi Yin.
“Xi Yin, I’ve just remembered something.” Shi Sheng pushed the door to the bathroom open, revealing the vaguely outlined muscled form of a man standing beneath the gushing showerhead.
Xi Yin was feeling a bit embarrassed as he hurriedly took a towel over to try and cover himself up with.
“Please, where haven’t I seen already? What’s the point of covering up?” Shi Sheng expressed her disdain for his behaviour.
Xi Yin’s movements paused. In the end, he didn’t cover himself up. His ears were red as he turned off the water. “What is it?”
Shi Sheng leaned against the bathroom door. “How did you get that injury the night I brought you in?”
Xi Yin had been about to dry himself but paused upon hearing her question, his eyes slightly dark.
Shi Sheng walked over and took the towel from him, helping him to wipe his body dry. “Can’t tell me? That’s okay then. I was just asking.”
“No.” Xi Yin co-operated with Shi Sheng as she helped him get dressed. “I just don’t know how to phrase it.”
Shi Sheng pushed him out of the bathroom and made him sit on the bed. She then took out a hairdryer to help dry his damp hair.
Because the hairdryer was so loud, the two didn’t continue their conversation.
After drying off off his hair, she shut off the hairdryer and asked, “Thought of what to say yet?”
Xi Yin looked at Shi Sheng before suddenly drawing closer and suckling lightly at her lips. After he was done, his low voice spoke, “Do you remember Sikong Sa from the Academy?”
“En?”
Because the sections of the plot involving Xi Yin had been deleted, she only knew that fellow wasn’t a good person. He had eventually ended up being destroyed by the leads. However, she didn’t know any details.
‘But what does that fellow have to do with Xi Yin?’
“He’s a vampire too. And he’s always been trying to resurrect someone.”
“Resurrection?” ‘You kidding me? Even in cultivation worlds, the price for resurrecting someone is huge—let alone in a non-cultivation world!’
Xi Yin nodded. “He seems to want something from me, but I don’t know what it is.”
When he’d first met Shi Sheng, he’d only just woken up from his slumber, so his body was still a bit weak. He would never have expected that Sikong Sa would be able to take advantage of this.
“Ha...looks like that woman was sent by Sikong Sa.”
‘First she impersonates me, then she gets close to Ke Er to look for something...’
Shi Sheng was in the midst of giving her barely used brain a workout, and was reaching the crux of the issue, when she suddenly felt the warmth from her clothes disappearing.
Xi Yin had, at some point, pressed her down on the bed and stripped her bare.
Shi Sheng, “...”
‘Didn’t you just act all shy? What’s with the sudden initiative? I knew your body was more honest than that mouth of yours!’
......
Xi Yin fell fast asleep, perhaps due to Shi Sheng’s over-enthusiasm.
She was currently standing in front of the room’s window with her jacket on.
As the cool breeze caressed her cheek, it brought with it a somewhat overbearing fragrance of flowers that tickled at her nose.
She relaxed her mind and pondered idly.
‘Sikong Sa... Ai Wei... What is his purpose behind getting close to Ai Wei?
Looking for things... to resurrect...’
“Nai-Nai, you have to protect this painting, okay? You mustn’t let anyone else take it; it’s your life, understand?”
A sudden memory floated to the surface of Shi Sheng’s consciousness, causing her to snap wide awake.
‘Those memories weren’t originally there in Mi Nai’s mind. Someone wiped them out.
Painting... Were they referring to the one hanging on my wall?
I never found out how Mi Nai obtained the painting from her memories. But what if...her parents gave it to her before wiping her memory?
And Xi Yin said that painting wasn’t whole...
It has to be very important—even more so than Mi Nai’s life. What secrets does it hold? The method to resurrecting someone?’
Shi Sheng shot over to Xi Yin’s side and was about to wake him but paused upon seeing his peaceful features that still had a faint blush.
‘I guess it’s not urgent. It can wait for tomorrow.’
Shi Sheng climbed into bed and curled up into Xi Yin’s arms. He subconsciously hugged her close. The two snuggled intimately together as they slept.
[1] In the raws, it was closer to “you may fart”. I just thought it was a funny bit that some of you might be interested in.
