The Empress Only Wants to Slay Her Husband for Enlightenment - Chapter 2

I was about to get up when the third prince suddenly rounded on me.

“What’s he doing here?

“Xiwei, are all you enchantress foxes this shameless?

“If I hadn’t come here today, you’d have made a fool of—”

He never finished.

The other man had already collapsed to the floor, coughing as though the world were ending.

“Brother, how could you accuse Sister of such a thing?

“I’m just a sickly, delicate phoenix crown prince, here to ask her for medicine.

“Ah, when I heard that Sister was gravely ill, my heart ached for her…

“But then, we phoenixes are only a little clan. We can’t begin to match the Azure Dragons’ reputation for throwing their weight around.

“Imagine walking in and demanding that your rightful wife cut off her tails to save your… Hmm. Has this Susu been given a proper position yet?

“What exactly should I call her?”

The third prince’s face darkened further.

The phoenixes and dragons had always been on friendly terms, though there was no shortage of rivalry and competition, either openly or behind the scenes.

Dragon magic was formidable, and their clan often produced gods of war.

Phoenixes, however, could be reborn through nirvana. They lived immensely long lives and had plenty of ancient ancestors backing them.

This particular phoenix crown prince had been both friend and rival to the dragon crown prince since childhood.

Almost every time, though, it was the dragon crown prince who ended up covered in lumps.

The third prince standing before me was even less of a match.

He could boss around a mere demon ruler like me.

But there was precious little he could say to the phoenix crown prince.

Fucking snob.

Seeing him go blue in the face with suppressed anger, the phoenix crown prince suddenly sagged weakly against me.

His low, husky voice came with a tickling wash of warm breath.

“Sister… There are other ways to ascend without a dragon scale.

“My tail feathers, for instance…

“They’d make a lovely betrothal gift.”

I gave this careful thought.

A phoenix’s tail feathers were precious indeed.

But I had dared ask for the third prince’s heart-guarding scale because he had wronged me first.

Besides, that engagement had been arranged because the Azure Dragon Clan owed my ancestress Daji a debt of gratitude.

They had hoped the marriage would protect the last surviving member of our nine-tailed bloodline.

Me.

Though we had been reduced to demons, with the dragons’ help, it would only be a matter of time before I ascended.

So we were still a suitable match.

The Phoenix Clan, on the other hand, had no such ties to me.

And…

So. Many. Ancestors!

So many fathers- and mothers-in-law to answer to!

No!

Absolutely not!

I was about to turn him down when he murmured again.

“Or… if you can’t bear to do that, Sister, have you ever heard of killing your husband to attain enlightenment?

“Whether it works or not, I’d be happy to be your second husband.

“You could sleep holding my tail feathers every night.

“They’re very soft, you know.”

When the alternative was something slippery and scaly, who could say no to a fluffy husband?

Perfectly understandable.

It definitely had nothing to do with the phoenix crown prince being better-looking than the third prince. Or having abs.

Or enough stamina to spare…

Don’t ask how I knew.

The third prince had been fucking his adopted daughter for a hundred years.

Was a fox as gorgeous as me supposed to stay chaste for him?

And this one was even willing to be my concubine!

Who could resist?

As long as I kept it quiet and didn’t go further than that bastard had, what was the problem?

Who could have guessed?

The third prince had barged into my bedchamber without so much as a warning.

The phoenix crown prince was a crafty one too.

He let the story get out.

Just like that, the engagement became a laughingstock.

Only it was the third prince everyone was laughing at.

They mocked him for throwing away a watermelon to pick up a sesame seed.

And praised me for my astonishing skill in bewitching the phoenix crown prince until he couldn’t tell north from south.

How interesting.

Since when had a person’s achievements been measured by who shared their bed?

Still, I was quite pleased with how things had turned out.

So I left well enough alone.

Until three days later, when the dragon clan leader arrived in person.

Behind him came the third prince, trussed up tight in a dragon-binding rope.

The moment they entered, the clan leader kicked him.

Thud. Down went the third prince onto his knees.

He wasn’t the brightest, though.

Even kneeling, he kept yelling.

“Father! How can you be so blind to right and wrong?

“Has this fox bewitched you too?

“Look at her decadent ways! How could she compare to Susu?

“I’d sooner die than marry her!”

The dragon clan leader trembled with rage, but merely sighed and turned to me.

“Xiwei, you’re a good girl.

“I’ve watched you grow up.

“Today I’ve brought my worthless son to make amends.

“Rest assured, the marriage will go ahead.

“I’ve decided that you shall marry my…”

The hands massaging my legs paused.

I pressed them back down.

“My engagement to Third Brother has already been broken. If I married Eldest Brother now, people would laugh.

“I’m only a little demon. I can’t even compare to a mortal.”

I put particular emphasis on “mortal.”

With a casual glance at the dragon clan leader, I gave him a dazzling smile.

“I’m afraid I’m not worthy of Eldest Brother.”

Before I had finished, the third prince started shouting again.

“At least you know your place!

“Reeking of fox like that—who knows how many people you’ve…

“Father, why are you pulling out my scales?”

The dragon clan leader was furious.

I wasn’t offended. I simply saw them out.

Just before they left, I remarked as though the thought had only just occurred to me, “I hear the third prince met his true love in the Mortal Realm… while listening to music in a brothel, wasn’t it?

“I’ve never been to one. It must be a very cultured place.”

Without waiting to see their eggplant-purple faces, I snapped the barrier around the Demon Realm shut.

Fuck off, you snobbish, hypocritical, brain-dead dragons.