A Wish for Your Lasting Joy - Chapter 5

The air fell silent the moment he finished speaking.

I stood rigid in Xu Changhuan’s arms, bewildered. Something about this situation was wrong. Wasn’t this supposed to be a sweet, healing romance? Since when had it become a story about tormenting the heroine?

Before I could puzzle it out, the hands holding me abruptly shoved me away. I landed hard on my backside.

I sucked in a breath through the pain and looked up at him furiously—then froze.

Jiang Hua was gone. In the watery moonlight, black energy swirled around Xu Changhuan. His loose black robes and long hair stirred without a breeze. His eyes, the blue unique to merfolk, slowly turned blood red.

My heart sank. That only happened to someone who had fallen to the demonic path later in life. Xu Changhuan had…

Only now did I realize how wrong things were. When I pushed him off the cliff, I’d deliberately arranged for someone to draw the party from Mount Yuexuan there. The news I’d received afterward was that Jiang Hua had saved him.

It had been a roundabout process, but at least I’d managed to complete the plot point where the leads met.

They should have begun their romance, just as they did in the book. Why were they acting like enemies now?

“What happened between you and Jiang Hua?”

What had happened during those ten years after he fell?

At my question, a crack appeared in his indifferent expression. He stood quietly, looking down at me. Behind him hung that unchanging full moon above an endless stretch of palaces.

Backlit, the smile on his face looked both mocking and desolate.

“Shouldn’t Your Highness know better than anyone? Changhuan was born lowly, and every part of him is a treasure. What do you suppose she would do?”

Only what you did to me.

I knew what he meant. I opened my mouth, but there was nothing I could say in my defense.

I remembered a Mid-Autumn night in the palace of Jiang, the moon high overhead. I’d written a few words on Xu Changhuan’s sky lantern, then handed it to him with a smile.

“May you know lasting joy, and peace year after year.”

Yet all these years, fate had carried him ever farther from that blessing.

With the demonic energy in his body turning against him and disturbing his mind, Xu Changhuan returned to his bedroom. I stood outside the door, watching him meditate. After hesitating, I turned and left.

This was my best chance to steal the moonlight grass.

The Three Thousand Realms had seven palaces and twelve halls. Guixu Valley, where moonlight grass grew, lay in the Seventh Palace’s territory.

I crossed through moonlight that flowed like water and reached the valley. One step inside, I was swallowed by miasma. As far as I could see were withered branches, broken trees, and animal remains.

I frowned at the desolation. Just as the rumors said, Guixu Valley devoured every living thing except moonlight grass.

The silence around me was terrifying. I took every step with care, knowing there were things in this valley far more vicious than wild beasts.

The souls of those it had devoured, trapped here forever.

Dark shapes occasionally flashed through the miasma. Every time one appeared, I froze, held my breath, and repeated silently: You can’t see me. You can’t see me.

Strangely enough, several shadows slid right past me without attacking.

After walking for who knew how long, I finally saw moonlight grass glowing through the haze.

Delighted, I hurried over, pulled it from the crack in the rock roots and all, carefully protected it with magic, and tucked it into my robe.

As I turned to leave, something like a breeze brushed past me. A man’s voice spoke beside my ear.

“So this is what you were looking for.”

“Well, obviously. What else is there in this place?” Still caught up in my delight, I said it before realizing anything was wrong. Instinctively, I spun and lashed out with my whip.

By the time I turned, he was gone. Silver ornaments chimed behind me. I spun again and saw a figure emerging faintly from the miasma ahead, his head tilted as he examined something in his hand.

I glanced at the moonlight grass he was holding, then reached into my robe. Empty, just as I’d feared.

“Give it back,” I said grimly.

The man lowered the grass and scoffed.

“You trespass on my land, take my things, and then demand I give them back?”

He walked forward through the fog and appeared before me.

Strange patterns covered his clothes. Silver ornaments hung at his forehead and ears, chiming with every step.

When I saw that wickedly smiling face, my heart went cold.

Cui Xingfeng, lord of the Seventh Palace. Wasn’t he supposed to be in the mortal world? Why was he here?

He looked me up and down, then said casually, “With a face like that, you must belong to the Hall of Rapture.”

“Didn’t Xu Changhuan tell you what happens to trespassers here?”

I swallowed. “What happens?”

Cui Xingfeng watched me, his hands clasped before him. His lips curled, and he slowly uttered a single word.

“Death.”

The instant he finished, the unnaturally silent valley filled with shrieks. I clapped my hands over my ears, which felt ready to burst, and sank painfully to one knee.

But that was only the beginning. The miasma began racing around me. As it cleared, I saw a skyful of dark shapes screaming toward me.