Chapter 12 part11
"Yaan has always been soft-hearted, you also know this. Although he did not accept my pursuit of him, he did not have the heart to look on with indifference as you beat me to death. Thus, he also blocked the attack for me the second time, thereby saving my life."
"You took away Dill, leaving the severely injured Yaan behind. It was I who took him home and tended to his wounds with great care. Didn’t you just ask him where he’s been all this time? The answer is of course my place!" Zhao Xihe looked at Selman’s increasingly ugly expression, naturally feeling particularly carefree, "Yaan’s love ended tragically and he did not wish to step between you and Dill. Ultimately, he decided to give up these hopeless feelings. If I didn’t seize the opportunity to squeeze in at this time, when else would I get the chance, ne?"
"We lived together all day and night and admired one another wholeheartedly. Like this, Yaan finally accepted me. Although I am indeed not as influential as you, don’t have a majestic appearance, nor have outstanding strength, I am single-mindedly devoted to Yaan. My fidelity is unwavering and I wish to dedicate my everything to him. It is far better than you, who enjoys the benefits of Yaan’s sacrifice but is always rarely concerned about him and even neglects him, right?"
What Selman regretted the most right now was how he had not realized Yaan’s feelings much earlier on. Instead, he gave someone else the opportunity to squeeze in. Thus, Zhao Xihe naturally stomped all over his sore spot without any mercy, absolute in the unrestrained display of his scorching feelings towards Sui Yuan, "Besides, you already have Dill, no? Yaan is so proud, how could he allow himself to get involved between you two? For you, he rushed about all over in order to repay your kindness. But aside from gratitude and years of friendship, he feels nothing else for you. You should also know his resolute and single-minded personality. Right now, the person he likes is me and only me. As for you, you’ve already been left in the past!"
"From the moment you accepted Dill, the possibility of you and Yaan being together could no longer be. Yaan could not stand frozen in one place waiting for you, so he left you and came to me!"
Compared to losing something the instant you gained it, it is even more bitter to know that you personally pushed something precious into the arms of someone else. Zhao Xihe’s gaze towards the pained Selman was full of malice. He actually wanted to go as far as to snatch away his person—even if you fundamentally had no chance to do so—then he certainly needed to be punished. He had to make Selman feel troubled over this matter for the rest of his life, and make it difficult for him to free himself of it.
"Right, I forgot to say. Didn’t you fall in love with Dill in the end because you loved the taste of his blood?" Zhao Xihe said proudly, preparing for the final attack against Selman, "Yaan also really likes my blood, same as how you like Dill’s. He completely can’t part from me. You should understand that kind of feeling, yeah?"
"This...is this true?" Emotionally, Selman could not accept this. However, Anson’s arguments were logical and coherent, making him unable to find any gaps. The most important thing was that the attractive force of blood made him unable to retort. As a person who has experienced it for himself, Selman was unable to rid himself of the enticement of Dill’s blood. In his eyes, Yaan also could not do so. Thus, he could only stare at Yaan with an imploring expression, hoping that he would deny Anson’s words.
Would Sui Yuan deny this? Of course not! Zhao Xihe had painstakingly helped him fill up the hole and get the protagonist gong to give up on him. Sui Yuan naturally would not screw up at such a critical moment. Although Selman looked extremely pitiful, he still nodded without mercy, without any hesitation, "Yes. I’m sorry, Selman. The one I like now is only Anson. You are my revered master, benefactor, and friend, but nothing more."
Zhao Xihe, who had successfully dealt the final strike on his rival-in-love, was immensely pleased with himself. Meanwhile, Selman, who came to realize his own mistakes, did not have the heart to take out his anger on Yaan. He was even ashamed to face Yaan because of all those years of neglect. Thus, all of Selman’s hostility was solely poured onto Zhao Xihe, "Don’t be so pleased with yourself. You won’t be able to be pleased for long," Selman sneered coldly, "You are but an ordinary human with a trifling 100-year lifespan. Meanwhile, I have much more time. I can change Yaan’s mind."
"If you can turn Dill into a blood kin, then why can’t I become one, too? I think that I, at least, am much more suitable to the blood kin lifestyle compared to Dill."
Zhao Xihe would not let go of any opportunity to jab at Selman.
"Turn into a vampire?" Selman snorted, "Will your Church permit you to do such a thing?"
"Just like how you were willing to make the entire blood kin race your enemy for the sake of making Dill your partner, why can’t I do the same? I am better than you—you who cares about Dill yet also wants to love Yaan! For Yaan, I am willing to risk it all and pay any cost!"
If Zhao Xihe was a true believer, he would probably suffer from the internal struggle of this statement. Unfortunately, he didn’t care at all. Thus, his smile was still that of a winner flaunting off his victory. He stooped down and sized up the bound Selman with disdain, muttering with contempt, "For Yaan, I can make the whole world my enemy, let alone you, this sorry excuse of a blood kin prince!"
Selman found it difficult to breathe when faced with the vigorous holy energy emanating from Zhao Xihe’s body. His body reflexively stretched taut as if meeting its natural enemy. He felt incredulous. He was unexpectedly suppressed by a human that he had looked down upon in the past. To be able to distinctly sense the danger coming from this human made his scalp go numb. This person—was he really the Anson that he knew?
Zhao Xihe stared at Selman’s erratically changing expressions and laughed lightly, cursing him with a gentle tone, "In short, I wish you a good sleep!"
After saying this, he turned to face the Council’s Elders and saluted, "We have wasted everyone’s time long enough. I am extremely sorry for inconveniencing everyone. Now, shall we start carrying out his sentence?"
The Grand Elder, who was just happily watching the two rivals-in-love fight it out, tit for tat, awkwardly coughed. He put on an act, stroking his beard as he raised his hand to indicate towards another Elder to deliver the wine that had long been prepared to Selman. Within the wine was a poison that would cause blood kin to fall into a deep sleep. As long as Selman drank it, then he will have accepted his punishment.
Selman did not resist and clasped the cup of wine in his hands. However, his unreconciled gaze was still locked on Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe. He wanted to engrave the two people into his heart. One, his beloved that he wanted to pursue upon waking up. The other, the enemy of his eternal life.
This time, he had lost. Next time, no one will be able to defeat him!
The cup fell to the ground, making a crisp ’clang’ sound. Selman, who was sitting tall on his chair, gradually entered a deep sleep. Until the very end, he looked towards Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe’s direction, extremely obstinate.
Everything had been sorted out. Everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. The Council ordered the blood kin to place Selman into the coffin and take him to the resting ground for blood kins in deep slumber. Meanwhile, Princess Lilith carefully walked towards Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe, forcing a smile as she pointed to her throat.
——Please let me off. QAQ
Sui Yuan’s scalp went numb at first, being watched attentively by Selman. Up until now, he was still in a bit of a panicked state. Zhao Xihe swept a glance at Princess Lilith, tone indifferent, "The effect will wear off five hours after you were first rendered speechless. A little lesson...you should understand. Next time, it won’t be as light."
The princess nodded at once. Not daring to dally any longer, she quickly turned and left, afraid that if her presence continued to displease the other, he’d inflict her with some other strange thing. The princess had never been more glad that she had only held some wicked intentions for the human and hadn’t actually made her move. Only...she seems to have flirted with that man’s lover, Yaan? Seeing how much he cared about Yaan, and how he was so petty as to seek revenge towards Selman for the smallest of grievances and went to settle scores at an opportune moment....
The princess was itching to chop off her hand that had touched Yaan before!
For the sake of expressing her apology, the princess specifically dispatched people to escort Zhao Xihe and Sui Yuan out of the blood kin territory. Although the two people were strong enough to protect themselves, the large majority of the blood kin did have a deeply-rooted hate and rejection of the Church after all. Since they could simplify matters, why go against it?
Seeing the two people accept her goodwill, the princess sighed in relief and decided to hide and bide her time smoothly and steadily after sending them out. Selman’s arrogant and unruly nature had brought about today’s consequences. She had also nearly offended people she should not offend. Thus, from now on, it would be safest to lie low for a while....
After Selman’s plot ended, what was left was for Anson and Dill to meet. Afterwards, they would live in seclusion together in human society. Zhao Xihe, naturally, had no intention of mixing together with the protagonist shou from here on out, so he decided that after meeting Dill, he would logically and thoroughly end his own scenes. Of course, what was more important was for him to make his relationship with ’Yaan’ clear.
According to the plot, after Dill was sent away by Selman, it took a period of time before he awoke. The first thing he did upon waking was probe for information regarding Selman.
When he heard that Selman had already fallen into a slumber, Dill became discouraged. Like a walking corpse, he revisited old haunts. When he arrived in the slums, he met with Anson. Only with his friend’s persuasion was he able to pull himself together and decide to wait for Selman, using the one thousand years to better himself, make himself stronger.
In order to meet up with Dill, Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe naturally returned to the slums and very successfully drew out the protagonist shou.
When Dill entered Anson’s home and saw Sui Yuan, there were no words to express his shock, "Anson—and Yaan daren? Why are you here?!"
Sui Yuan smiled gently at Dill. Meanwhile, Zhao Xihe quickly welcomed the protagonist shou, patted him on the shoulder with stirred emotions, "Heavens! Dill, where did you go?! We couldn’t find you all this time and were simply worried to death! We were afraid that you had done something stupid!"
"I..." Dill also did not know what had happened in the previous period of time. Selman’s departure made his mind blank. Passing over Zhao Xihe, he shifted his longing gaze to Sui Yuan, hoping that he would help him, help Selman, "Yaan daren, did you know? Selman, he unexpectedly—"
"He has fallen into a millenium-long slumber. Yes, I know," Sui Yuan sighed lightly, averting his gaze away in distress.
Dill froze in that instant and immediately understood that Yaan daren had no way of changing things. In the moment, he was at a loss for what to do.
"Actually, things aren’t too terrible. A thousand years is not all that long for vampires," Zhao Xihe discreetly blocked Sui Yuan from Dill’s line of sight and spoke in comfort, "Yaan already did his best. Selman had challenged the tradition and regulations of the blood kin. In addition, there was the pressure exerted by Princess Lilith and the Council’s evil intentions. A millennium-long sleep is already the lightest punishment. A thousand years later, you will be able to meet with him again, no?"
Dill’s eyes slowly came back into focus. He had not completely adapted to his new identity as a blood kin and had been frightened by how long a thousand years seemed to be from the viewpoint of a human, "This...is already the lightest punishment? It was the result of Yaan daren’s hard work?"
"Yes," Zhao Xihe nodded.
Dill sat down on a chair, disappointed. He supported his head weakly, "This is my fault. It’s because of me that Selman ended up like this. It is because I couldn’t help him in any way...."
"It is not your fault," Sui Yuan walked towards Dill’s side, ruffling his hair as he did in the past, "Selman was perfectly willing to do these things. Even at the very end, he had no regrets. Thus, you need not regret."
He watched as Dill raised his head, looking like a believer obediently listening to a priest’s admonishment, "As for the matter of helping...you need not blame yourself over that. We know how painful it is for humans to suddenly turn into blood kin. You relied on your own willpower to support yourself through it. That is already more than enough. Moreover, you are but a young blood kin. Your power is meager, nor do you have status. Even if you tried your best, you would not have been able to change things. Instead, you’d only worry Selman."
The depression within his heart was dispersed by the gentle words. Dill gradually relaxed, as if he had made his confession to God. He slowly revealed a smile, "Thank you, Yaan daren...."
"Then, what do you plan on doing next? During the next one thousand years that is," Zhao Xihe asked Dill, quickly moving towards Sui Yuan’s side and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
"I plan to travel everywhere, taking a look and gaining first hand knowledge of a variety of things and gain a better understanding of matters in this world. I want to work hard and improve my strength," Dill’s eyes were gentle and pure, carrying a warm yearning, "Then, I will wait for Selman to awaken. This time, I will not drag him down!"
"Not bad," Zhao Xihe nodded, not at all surprised.
"What about you? Do you want to go with me to—" Dill spoke but suddenly realized that the situation was a bit wrong. When did his childhood friend and Yaan daren become so familiar with each other that they were willing to have their arms around each other?" There was even...an odd feeling hovering between the two people...Dill felt rather incredulous, "You and Yaan daren...."
"We’re together," Zhao Xihe happily answered Dill who had wanted to speak but had been hesitant.
Dill:"!!!!"
——It wasn’t that he was looking down on his childhood friend but he still believed that Anson did not suit Yaan daren. One was like a cloud and the other was like mud. The two people had unexpectedly gotten together, it was simply like an April Fools’ Day joke!
"Yaan daren, don’t you like Selman?" Although it was ill-timed, Dill, who was extremely shocked, could not help but blurt it out. In his eyes, only Selman could suit Yaan, this kind of perfect person.
Sui Yuan, who had long since come up with a proper answer with Zhao Xihe, decisively repeated what he had said to Selman when faced with Dill’s question.
After hearing this, Dill felt like his spirit had left his body, but he still reluctantly accepted it in any case.
——Tsk, this terrible feeling of seeing a flower poked into a pile of manure ...his childhood friend was extremely lucky, ah! Even though Dill’s friendship with Anson was resolute and genuine, he couldn’t help but find it difficult to suppress admiration and jealousy!
"Right. There’s also a very important matter," Zhao Xihe, who was especially unhappy with the gaze Dill used to look at him, slightly raised an eyebrow and a malicious idea immediately popped out, "Before Selman woke up, he confessed to Yaan."
Dill:"!!!!"
——Another bolt from the blue! He was definitely dreaming, wasn’t he?! A second ago, he was bereaved with his lover’s departure. In the next second, he was told that the other was two-timing him. This kind of emotional rollercoaster made Dill completely clueless as to what kind of expression he should make.
"He said that he likes you and also likes Yaan. He also wanted Yaan to wait for him to wake up so that he could confess to him properly," Zhao Xihe sneered, "Thus, I’ll be troubling you to properly look after your family’s Selman, OK? Don’t let him come out as he pleases and wreck other people’s love!"
Although he thought that the personality of his family’s childhood friend had changed a bit, Dill even now could not pay attention to that issue just yet. He was completely stupefied. Why the heck did he feel surprised but also not at the same time?!
"Then, I leave it up to you, la!" Zhao Xihe, pleased and not feeling any guilt in the least, looked at the result of his machinations. He was just teaching the scum gong how to be loyal. He was just being considerate towards the protagonist CP, that’s all!
Dill raised a hand to facepalm. He had no idea how to face Yaan daren at this moment. He was disappointed with how fickle Selman was but also kind of understood why he liked Yaan. He was also rather jealous, but what he felt was not simply jealousy. Selman had already fallen into a deep slumber and prior to that, he had done his best to protect him, thus gaining much goodwill from Dill. This made him unable to feel bitter towards Selman. Dill was shrouded by this complicated emotion and asked, muddleheaded, "Then...what should I do?"
Right now, there was no use in overthinking things. After experiencing so many things, Dill was already unable to leave Selman, unable to free himself of his love for him. So, he could only do his best to prevent Selman from bothering Yaan in the future.
——Not only was it to safeguard the feelings between himself and Selman, but also to safeguard that between Yaan and his childhood friend. Dill suddenly felt that the burden on his back was heavy and the road, long.
"Cry. Selman is most afraid of seeing you cry. If he dares cheat, let him see you cry," Zhao Xihe shrugged, "Or, do your best to get stronger. If he dares womanize, beat him up. Beat him up until he’s learned his lesson. There are many ways!"
"I—I will try my best..." He had already pledged to get stronger when he found out that Selman had fallen into a slumber. Dill, who would no longer shed meaningless tears, naturally, chose the latter method. He firmly clenched his fists. In any case, this was consistent with his original intention of getting stronger....
Sui Yuan who had been spectating this entire time:"........................"
——Really want to light a candle for Selman, ah. Once he wakes up, he’ll discover that his family’s obedient, agreeable little white lotus has already turned into a violent overlord flower.
The consequences of provoking Zhao Xihe was indeed very frightening. One would simply fall into an abyss of suffering for the rest of their life....
5237:"..................Save me. QAQ"
The author has something to say:
The next world will definitely be a battle for succession within the ancient imperial courts. ZXH will be the father (not blood related). Little sisters who like younger gongs, please pardon me =333=
Wuxian: ooh boy, next world is Something Else.