Dawn Breaks (TGCF FF)

Salted Biscuits

CONTENT WARNING: disturbing content ahead; gore, violence, character death. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK :)

As Xie Lian spoke, he never lifted his gaze away from the unconscious Hua Cheng while also brushing his disheveled hair with his fingers. He thought back to the days when he opened the door and being greeted by the twins, the early morning when he found out the truth of Hua Cheng's which later on he realized that was partially made up, the night of Halloween and the regular days they strolled the market and cleaned the entire mansion.

Living with a vampire, he had expected that he would experience the greatest suffering in his life. Contrary to this, Hua Cheng did not even put a single scratch on his skin nor did he drain his blood every single day. Instead, he was treated with utmost care. Hua Cheng made him happy and provided him his needs.

In short, he never regretted surrendering himself to him.

Xie Lian could even say that meeting Hua Cheng was the greatest thing that happened in his life.

Xie Lian finally looked up again, meeting Lord Masque's confused eyes, "I do not expect you to understand what I just said. You are heartless anyway."

Lord Masque still had his confused look, "Xie Lian, you've changed. You were not like this before."

The corner of Xie Lian's lips curled up, "I know. You should thank him for that."

Lord Masque was about to open his mouth again to speak when he suddenly started to cough violently. He coughed and cough until he needed support to stand with his scythe.

After a long while of coughing, Lord Masque spat out a large amount of black blood. The blood splattered on the ground and his lips were also dyed black.

Lord Masque caught his breath, "...What?"

Xie Lian who was only watching from the side with full interest, simply said, "Oh, it actually worked."

Lord Masque was greatly alarmed by this. He couldn't maintain his composure any longer. "You! What did you do?!"

Xie Lian did not immediately answer. He took his time to fix the messy strand of Hua Cheng's hair before gently lifting him up and letting him comfortably lie flat on the ground so that he could stand up. He even bothered to wipe away the cold sweat on Hua Cheng's forehead along the process.

Xie Lian walked a few steps towards Lord Masque, confidently. "Lord Masque, how can you be so smart and dumb at the same time? You are strong and capable yet you are too confident and proud of yourself, thinking that you will always gain the upperhand. You do not think through things carefully, don't you? Well, that actually unexpected of you. You rely on experts but mistakenly took those that are the same as you: You see what you only saw as facts. You sensed what you sensed and considered it as what's right.

"You are full of yourself that you do not bother to focus on trivial matters and only focused on gaining power, wealth and territory. I could say that it is already wonderful of you to stay lowkey and maintain a good impression from the audience without exposing what you are truly are. You really are worth of my praise."

Xie Lian clapped his hands, completely insincere.

Lord Masque coughed out another mouthful of black blood before speaking, "Haha. But even if you do this to me, it's no use. I will not die."