The Librarian and the Fox Princess: a Donghua Dijun and Bai Fengjiu story, V.I

Chapter 148 - Sticks and Stones

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She sat quietly and observed his face. Besides the widening of his eyes, she couldn't tell by his face what he would do next. He was completely unpredictable.

Dong Hua then waved his hand towards the animal, and made its droppings and the urine stains on the tree branch disappear.

The almighty god lounged back quietly and stared off into space without making eye contact with the red panda whose beady eyes were darting nervously from the little fox princess and then back to her mate.

She sat there waiting for him to say something but he remained silent.

Finally, she sighed and surveyed the scene. During the blast, the pillows and blankets had been thrown off the bed or were completely disintegrated.

"I ruined our nest," she said with a forlorn expression on her face.

Dong Hua immediately sat up and cupped the side of her small face in his hand. He leisurely rubbed the pad of his thumb over her chin before grazing her quivering bottom lip.

"You didn't ruin anything. It was me. I'll make it better," he whispered. "You will always have a nest with me, little fox."

He immediately conjured the bed to its original luxurious state, complete with white mulberry silk sheets, soft violet and lavender blankets, and gold brocade pillows all around the bed.

He watched her intently, still caressing her face as her eyes sparkled as she took in every detail of the lavish and plush bedding around her.

Her small hands clasped around his wrist and she smiled brightly before kissing his thumb several times as she sweetly batted her long lashes at him.

Dong Hua had never met a more pure, devoted, and affectionate being than her. Whatever the hot springs had awakened within him, no matter how possessive or provocative those urges were, it could not eclipse his simple yet ever-present desire to make her happy. It pre-dated the need to claim, mark her, or make her his. From the day they met in the Fang Xu Realm, the need to spend time with her, to keep her safe, and to see her smile transcended base instincts.

Their friendship and love had bloomed into a vibrant and beautiful garden. The interplay of choices within all their moments together had planted the seeds and watered the soil. Discernment allowed them to know how much water and sun was needed. Sometimes they got it right, other times they didn't. Needs evolved as did their ability to adapt to those needs. Even during the harsh winter of his seclusion, their love never stopped growing, it ran deep underground, fortifying the roots.

A heavy sinking feeling in his gut was somehow able to tug at the corner of his eyes. He realized that of course he was the one to bring the stark freezing winter upon them. His iceberg heart tore through the hull of their ship.

Anything could be strong as steel when laced with arrogance.

Arrogance could also forge anything into a weapon. Even the softest and the most well-meaning could be brutally carved into serrated edges.

We hurt the ones we love the most.

"Such truth," he murmured quietly to himself as he gazed into her dark doe-like eyes.

He thought back to his decision to go into seclusion while keeping her in the dark. His desire to keep her safe had instead become an ice-storm for the both of them because he was arrogant enough to think that he alone knew how to keep her safe.

And thinking that there was only one way. There is never just one way.

He flashed upon a memory long ago that he had not revisited in many years.