Chapter 13

The Pig Demon Emperor had turned into a peerless beauty. No one could be expected to adjust in an instant.

Murong Su frowned slightly, then set down his brush and rested his chin in his hand with a soft laugh. “What is it? Do I look different to you?”

That smile made my heart pound.

I clutched my chest.

Had he infuriated me into a heart attack?

I studied him closely. Every line of his bones, every feature, was beautiful. He looked nothing like the person whose features had all been squashed together before.

All I could say was that demonic magic was formidable.

He quietly stood and walked toward me.

I couldn’t help edging back.

A face like Wei Jie’s, temples like Pan An’s, a walk like a jade mountain on the verge of tipping: a graceful gentleman in a sullied world, a handsome youth as debonair as Zongzhi.

Was this really the lazy, greedy, pale, plump little emperor I knew?

Crossing both arms defensively before my chest, I declared, “I don’t care who you are. Get out of Murong Su right now, or I’ll call an exorcist to capture you!”

His smile never faded. He sat lightly beside me, tilted his head, and deliberately asked, “Am I handsome?”

I needed a moment.

This was no longer a matter of whether he was handsome.

It had become a serious question of which of us needed an exorcism.

But he wouldn’t let it go. He seemed easygoing, yet he was always relentless. He leaned closer, his eyes so tender they seemed about to melt me, and asked in a soft murmur, “What do I look like to you now? Do you like it?”

We were too close. That jade-like face had no flaw. How could I survive such a test? Heat crept into my cheeks. “Y-you, you… Don’t come any closer.”

Perhaps because I so rarely lost my nerve, he laughed aloud. Leaning leisurely against my soft cushion, he gave me a sidelong glance. “I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.”

He stopped advancing. I let out a breath, but the strange feeling inside me wouldn’t go away. “Don’t tell me you’ve always looked like this.”

“I always have. I’ve never changed.” He turned on his side. Somehow his robe had fallen open, exposing a pale, muscular chest. “Do I still look like a pig demon?”

No wonder the insults hadn’t hurt him.

Any rich man would laugh off being called penniless.

I covered my face, refusing to be seduced by a man.

“…You look like a fox demon.”

I still missed the ugly, chubby Pig Demon Emperor, who had seemed so especially kind.

Now that Murong Su was handsome, even his intelligence seemed to have risen several levels.

I asked, “You knew I saw you… saw you as a pig demon, and you weren’t angry?”

He shook his head. “No. You thought I was a pig demon, yet you still wanted to play with me, run with me, eat wilted vegetables with me. Every time, you gave me the tastiest things. That sort of sincerity is already rare enough.”

…Those were weight-loss meals, you bumpkin.

I couldn’t be bothered arguing. I picked up my scripture. “Fine, fine. Go to sleep. I’ll read to you. You sleep first.”

He paused. “Aren’t you… aren’t you coming up here with me?”

“What are you thinking? I don’t want to. I don’t care whether you’re a pig demon or a fox demon!”

I was a woman of principle.

What I hadn’t expected was that Murong Su had none.

The candles flickered. Gauze curtains hung softly. He gazed at me.

His black hair fell across his pale chest. His thin, faintly pink lips parted as he lay smiling on his side by the edge of the bed, listening to my recitation.

For a moment, he truly seemed a beautiful male fox tempting a nun before the Buddha. I could recite a hundred scriptures and know that form was emptiness, yet my body, mind, and soul still yearned helplessly for all the colors of the mortal world.

With such beauty before me, how could my thoughts not wander?

“My beloved consort.” His voice was as seductive as a fox demon’s.

I paused.

He sat up, took the scripture from my hands, and placed his own hand where it had been.

His palm was warm. I was flustered and uneasy, but I didn’t want to pull away.

His robe had slipped halfway off. From his shoulders to his arms to the line of his waist… I couldn’t look away.

Something blazed inside me.

He lifted me onto the bed and said slowly, “Let me serve you.”

Cradling my face, he rubbed the tip of his nose gently against my cheek. In a tender murmur, he asked, “You’re blushing so hard. May I kiss you?”

I was going mad.

How could I say no?

The gauze curtains fell around the bed. In that little world, the air grew hot and our breaths tangled. His kiss left my lips and settled on my neck, my chest.

His low, intimate breaths brushed my ear. My face burned. For no particular reason, a thought came to me:

Oh no. A demon had caught me after all.