He and It Chapter 99: Dark Sky Sanctuary (34)

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Chapter 99: Dark Sky Sanctuary (34)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

A week later, Yu Mengzhou was lying on a tree in the garden, resting his eyes.

This was his new favorite place, full of lush red leaves like fire, as gorgeous as the maple trees in autumn. When he wanted to get away for a while, he would climb up the tree in the garden and take a nap.

Speaking of which, the centaurs were almost finished with their important business there, and when he got to Earth, there would be plenty of problems for him to worry about.

…Alas, no matter. The ship arrived at the bridge naturally straight. Even though death was over, he was still afraid of other problems.

Just as Yu Mengzhou was about to relax his body and take a small nap, he unexpectedly heard voices from under the tree.

He poked his head out a little, and found that there were a few palace maids standing in the flower forest not far away, as they poured blood on the beautiful, rose-like flowers while they chatted in soft voices.

It must be due to Falchion’s influence that most of the attendants in the palace were silent. Yu Mengzhou had never seen the guards open their mouths, while the palace maids wore pale veils over their eyes, and came and went as if they were wandering ghosts.

This was the first time he had heard the maids speak in private; their voices seemed to come out of a deep valley, and every word was like smoke in the air.

“…It’s a shame we can’t make it to the wedding,” Servant A sighed regretfully. “I wish they’d leave a little later so we’d have time to acclimate to the new Regent.”

Who? Was she talking about the centaurs?

Yu Mengzhou perked up his ears self-consciously. Whose wedding was it again?

“What does the change of dynasty have to do with us?” Servant B’s voice, curled up and rose from the wind. “It’s just…You’re right. It’s a shame we can’t attend the wedding.”

So whose wedding was it anyway?

Already curious, Yu Mengzhou quietly leaned his head to try and hear more.

“I have yet to hear what happened to each of the royal consorts, from when the Adversary King was alive.” A continuous laughter rolled out of Servant C’s throat. “His weddings were filled with mayhem, bloodshed, murder, and lechery in the past. It was truly a feast after feast, and the guests who went there would never forget the pleasures they enjoyed for at least a thousand years.”

The Adversary King…They were talking about Angola?

Yu Mengzhou was completely confused. Angola had died long ago, so what did this have to do with him?

From a long distance away, Yu Mengzhou seemed to see Servant A slicking her lips.

“Could it be that you really believe that our Emperor would organize such a musical feast for his Empress?” she asked rhetorically. “Impossible. For their wedding, the spectacle will surely be proper and frightening. They’d take vows, sign a contract of souls, exchange rings and such tokens with each other…”

Yu Mengzhou understood, but didn’t seem to understand.

Oh, oh. So they’re talking about Falchion’s wedding…Falchion is getting married to someone? Why don’t I know?

“Blood on the floor,” Servant C breathlessly waved a long, golden-handled spoon to nourish those horribly beautiful flowers with fishy red blood. “You’re right. It makes me itch to hear it, and you guys are actually feeling sorry for yourselves?”

“After all, I’ve never seen a wedding feast like that,” Servant A said.

“Neither have I,” Servant B shrugged. “Besides, the other protagonist is still innocent. Think about it. How many humans get to be the Empress of the Demon Realm?”

“… That’s because the Demon Realm, collectively, only gave birth to one Emperor,” Servant C coldly spat. “Whoever becomes the Empress is the herd’s first.”

-Wow!

Yu Mengzhou leaned back and managed not to fall out of the tree. Luckily the tree was full of branches and leaves, so it had support points everywhere.

Wait, wait, wait. Friends, you can eat nonsense, but you can’t talk nonsense! Why am I getting married and becoming Falchion’s Empress?

At that moment, Yu Mengzhou’s fear of marriage almost kicked in, but when he remembered that the other protagonist of the gossip was Falchion, he miraculously supported himself and even had the courage to argue.

Let’s hear what they have to say again, he thought ferociously, and when he’d heard just about everything, he would jump down to dispel the rumors!

“Anyway,” said Servant A. “You can’t deny that the interaction between them is sweet.”

“That’s right,” Servant B sighed softly. “Their mode of getting along always reminds me of my last lover…Before he died of poisoning, we were gazing at each other with smiling eyes.”

After a few moments of stiffening up, Servant C had to soften as well and admitted, “Well, that’s true! I also saw the Emperor kissing the human’s finger…He looks so happy, even his tail was about to melt.”

No! Yu Mengzhou retorted violently in his mind. You have no idea what a horse looks like when it’s close to a human! They’re always so pampered!

“The other day, wasn’t there also news that came out that the ministers had offended the Emperor in the hall of books, but were actually not executed on the spot…? I think, with a high probability, it’s because his human was around.”

“Haha! Once I even saw the Emperor kissing him on the cheek…It was a sneaky kiss…I pretended I didn’t see anything.”

“Actually, I saw it too.”

“Me too!”

Yu Mengzhou gradually fell into a state of panic. How did the incident in the study get out?

I didn’t say anything, and Falchion surely wouldn’t say anything either. As for those demons who fled for their lives…would they run away and still proclaim their disgraceful deeds? Unless…Unless it was the guards who said so!

Good, ah. They really couldn’t see. Usually they were all boring and gourd-like, but in private, they could actually speak the top boss gossip to please their fellow pretty girls!

As for stealing kisses…Stealing a kiss? Could you call it stealing a kiss when a horse and rider are intimate? Though Falchion licked my hands and face; kissed my hands and face; carried me around…And at night when I sleep with him in the same bed, I roll and crawl on him, plus I bit his collarbones, his wrists, his fingers and his ears…But for you to suspect me of marrying him on the basis of all these is just…!

Yu Mengzhou’s exasperated gasps suddenly stopped, and he sat up straight as his entire body lurched.

This was really…

His pupils began to vibrate minutely.

When he thought back on it, he had always felt something was wrong before, and now it was like a layer of windowpaper had been broken by a hailstorm, and caused everything to become clear but unrecognizable.

You guys…actually based on these…suspect that I want to marry him. This is really…

…It’s too reasonable.

Is Falchion a horse?

Yes, of course he is.

When I first met him, he was in the form of a tall Demon Horse, and even though he’d taken on the appearance of a human at the moment, he was still a centaur.

Is Falchion a demon?

Yes, he is also a demon.

Once upon a time, Falchion said to him – “Demons are the best at disguises. As long as they like you, they can disguise themselves with whatever appearance attracts your attention the most. This is the nature of demons that cannot be changed.”

Yu Mengzhou had made a serious mistake.

He only thought of Falchion as a horse, a horse that needed to be cared for and loved, but Falchion was more of a demon, a demon that was smarter than a human, and more cunning than a human.

It had never occurred to him before. He had treated their interactions as nothing more than commonplace fun, and he had subconsciously defended the legitimacy of such behavior even when the truth was pointed out to him!

Yu Mengzhou let out a frantic yelp as he tumbled down and fell out of the tree.

He lay face down on the grass for half a day. Those few attendants in the distance had long been stunned, as they stood in a daze and didn’t dare to move.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Yu Mengzhou jumped up violently and rushed towards the three maids.

He ran over furiously, glared at the maids while his lips trembled for a long time, then suddenly asked loudly, “…Why do you guys call Falchion the Emperor and not address him with a title like Your Majesty?!”

Servant A said fearfully, “Because the Emperor…His Majesty, doesn’t like us calling him that…”

Yu Mengzhou gasped and shouted, “You guys are right! I don’t like it either!”

He inexplicably finished his question, then just as inexplicably ran wildly away, leaving behind three maids who looked at each other in disbelief.

He’d relied on an impulse to run over there, but Yu Mengzhou, however, didn’t know what he should ask the bystanders about. Since he already had the answer in his heart, it would be useless for others to say too much more.

He wanted to grab Falchion by the collar. Never mind that he couldn’t reach the centaur’s collar himself. Anyway, he wanted to drag Falchion out and ask him about it, but his remaining reasoning told him that it wouldn’t look good to do so in public, so he should at least give the other some privacy.

Instead, Yu Mengzhou rushed to their chambers in one breath…Blah, blah, blah, blah. Their chambers, Falchion’s chambers! On the way, he bumped into Deathstar and Crusade.

“What happened?” Crusade looked at him worriedly. “Why do you look so pale?”

“What happened to Falchion?” Yu Mengzhou asked. “Did you know?”

Crusade’s heart thumped.

Even though he already had a premonition and understood what Yu Mengzhou was talking about, he had learned his lesson. When facing the human, no matter what, first say he didn’t know and take himself out of the picture.

He shook his head innocently. His snowy white hair brushed against his shoulders. “The chief? What’s happened to him?”

Yu Mengzhou gritted his teeth. “I just want to know, is he lying to me?”

Oh yo, the premonition came true.

Crusade and Deathstar exchanged glances, and Deathstar immediately said, “I’ll call Falchion over.”

Crusade said, “I’ll go with you.”

He turned to Yu Mengzhou and said apologetically, “You go ahead and wait for him at the chief’s room, okay? At this time, I should accompany you, but I feel that if the chief did something bad, you’ll feel angry even if we’re hanging around in front of your eyes…”

Yu Mengzhou’s anger subsided a little. He was upset and whispered in a small voice, “I won’t be angry with you.”

Looks like he was really pissed off.

Crusade grumbled at Falchion, and decided that if the other really couldn’t coax the human, then he would lurk in the herd and take advantage of the chaos to kick him in the hoof.

The two Princes hurriedly rushed to summon the greatly troubled Emperor, while Yu Mengzhou paced anxiously in his bedchamber. Not long after that, not only did Falchion come running over, he was followed by twelve jostling and probing horses, just as they had been in the cave back then.

“Close the door,” Yu Mengzhou said.

Without a word, Falchion obediently closed the door.

“You.” Yu Mengzhou faced him straight on, opening the conversation without ambiguity.

“Did you tamper with my perception?”

Falchion was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

“I did not.”

“Is it a subjective no, or an objective no?” Yu Mengzhou asked again.

Falchion hesitated and whispered, “Subjective. None.”

“That is to say,” Yu Mengzhou gazed at him. “Even though you didn’t intend to do so, the actual result has already been produced? Is it because I absorbed your magic?”

Falchion didn’t answer, which was basically tantamount to acquiescence.

Yu Mengzhou snapped, “I don’t understand, I really don’t understand! You made me think that it was normal…Oh my god, we’re sleeping in the same bed! You kissed me, hugged me, and…and with your tongue…”

“Licking,” Falchion reminded him helpfully.

“Lick!” Yu Mengzhou said viciously. “And licking! But I actually thought it was all normal! I actually defended you in my mind! I said to myself, ah it’s all about the love between a horse and rider. It’s not weird at all, it’s not strange…damn it!”

Falchion gazed at him with dark, complicated eyes.

He spoke suddenly, “In that case, I have one more thing to confess to you.”

“…What?”

“Touching the horns is not the establishment of a master-servant contract,” Falchion said. “But rather a symbol of intense courtship, or serious provocation. You touched me twice, which is the equivalent of courting me twice.”

“…What?!”

Yu Mengzhou was on the verge of fainting as he waved his hand desperately. He wanted so badly to wave himself into a big butterfly right now and fly out the window, never to come to the ground again.

“But, but you told me…”

“I lied to you,” Falchion confessed. “I didn’t want you to touch the other Demon Horses’ horns, and I also wanted you to not feel embarrassed while you kept touching mine, so I lied to you.”

The heavy door to the chambers was suddenly kicked heavily several times.

Yu Mengzhou incredulously shouted, “Why are you…? Quiet outside first! Why are you doing this? If I hadn’t found out and gotten alerted by others, how long were you going to keep me in the dark? Until the rice was cooked and I slept with you? Or even if I slept with you, were you still going to continue to twist my psyche so that I would tell myself that it was perfectly normal for my ass to blossom?!”

Falchion whispered, “Because I love you.”

“Just because you love…” Yu Mengzhou’s mouth choked on the word “love,” as his lips opened and closed several times before they suddenly jammed.

“I told you. I told you the first day you came back.” Underneath Falchion’s calm demeanor, it seemed as if palpitating waves of unease lurked. “I love you, and you are my most beloved.”

Yu Mengzhou’s expression went blank.

He gestured and stammered, “You’re not…Radiant Angel said that you’re not…”

“Family and friends?” Falchion smiled slightly, but his eyes were all but mirthless. “No. Definitely not. I’ve coveted your soul a thousand times, ten thousand times, and in the hardest times, when I hear your name, I have visions before my eyes; thinking your face and voice makes my heart so anxious and thirsty that it’s about to explode. Actually…you know what? I’ve thought about it many times,” he murmured, as he reached out with long, slender fingers and traced from his chest to his lower abdomen, all the way down to the horse’s belly between his legs.

“If I were to have you again,” he said. “I should cut this body open, from here to there, and swallow you whole. Wrapped up in me. That way…I wouldn’t have lost you.”

Yu Mengzhou was too stunned to speak as he looked at Falchion’s eyes, deep and dark and blank with desperate love.

“Is this the way to look at family and friends?” the Emperor of Hell laughed. “If you say it is, then of course I will not veto it. I have never disagreed with you.”

“You…You can absolutely explain it to me clearly…” Yu Mengzhou said numbly.

“Explain how?” Falchion asked. “You are so, so, stubborn, my love. When you determine something, then you must do it. Just like when you determined that you were a killing weapon against Angola. Even if you burned out everything mortal, you would have him go down in flames. Just like when you promised in that neverending dream that you would bring us back to Earth together, so that even if you vetoed your own memories, you had to rejoin the Demon Realm, and return to the herd. The ones you made the promise to. “

Yu Mengzhou averted his eyes and weakly argued, “You can’t call me that. It’s not like I promised you…”

“Then will you promise?” Falchion asked. “Now that everything is out of the way, and even if I lied to you a thousand times, my love is still the most honest.”

Yu Mengzhou bounded back a few steps and fell onto the bed.

Just the night before, they had snuggled intimately in that huge round nest. He was a restless sleeper, and every now and then he rolled into the middle of Falchion’s horse’s belly, which was so soft from relaxation for that most of the night, Falchion had to wake up a number of times and tug him into his arms because it was too easy to kick him…

Did he like Falchion?

–Like? Definitely. After all those years of love, every second with the centaur was the most fantastical, most magnificent adventure of his life.

What about love? Did he love Falchion?

Yu Mengzhou was confused. To be honest, he had never felt anything close to “love” for the opposite sex or the same sex. However, he was willing to live with Falchion, to laugh with him, to sleep in bed with him, to sit next to him when he was working, to subconsciously lean on him, to share with him the beautiful scenery of the world. To love him, to give him freedom, and to give up his life without any regret…

He’d shed tears of pain for Falchion, and Falchion had done the same for him, even more than he had.

“They say we’re going to have a wedding,” he said without a thought. “We’re not going to have a wedding, are we? Weddings are too scary.”

“Definitely not,” Falchion agreed out of habit. “We’re not having a wedding.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized what Yu Mengzhou was talking about.

Falchion’s eyes widened as he stared blankly at his human. His serpentine tail twitched with excitement.

“First things first.” Yu Mengzhou looked left and right, but wouldn’t look at him. “I haven’t gotten over the fact that you blindsided me, and I won’t be forgiving you anytime soon! So I’m going to sleep by myself for the next few days. I’m not going to be with you.”

Before his smile of joy could fully break out, Falchion’s expression froze on his face.

There was a restless noise from outside the door, and Yu Mengzhou raised his voice, in emphasis, “I said I’ll sleep alone! Won’t be with any horse! Go away!”

 

Now, the door was also quiet.