"I can't confirm whether your theory is correct or not, but I do agree that it's rather likely. And I thank you for warning me about the potential threat I might be exposed to here", Hua Cheng said eventually, once YanLi seemed like she had calmed down a bit.
However, apart from concerns regarding his safety in this place, Hua Cheng now had a lot more questions than he already had previously.
"I understand that it's not within your abilities to confirm my theory, but my instincts have never failed me before, and I won't start doubting them now. Would you indulge me and- and tell me... if you've led a happy life up until now?", she asked hesitantly.
While Hua Cheng had no feelings of attachment to his parents, it was obviously very different for YanLi. It was the perfect opportunity to test how certain information affected people like her.
Hua Cheng gave her a sharp smirk before he answered.
"I spent most of my childhood being a street rat, but I managed to get into the army and eventually pulled off a coup d'état from inside the military rather successfully. I've been reigning WuYong since then and a few years ago I married my mate and we have two children. I guess he'll be rather surprised when he finds out I grew horns since the last time we saw each other", he said, and waited for the reaction.
In all fairness, it should have sounded like he was spouting utter nonsense to anyone who didn't know him. Depending on her reaction, it was easy to say he was just joking, and then proceed to tell a more believable lie. It was also why he hadn't stopped smirking yet.
YanLi's face had gone through a variety of expressions while Hua Cheng had been talking, though he had some trouble identifying what they meant, which he blamed on her being a huli jing.
It was quiet for a long while after Hua Cheng had finished talking, but eventually, YanLi did give him a verbal reaction.
"I know you're not lying, but this is a lot to take in", she said, and let out a heavy sigh.
Hearing this, Hua Cheng's eyebrows shot up high on his forehead.
"How do you know I'm not lying?", he asked, because he knew for a fact that he was a very skilled actor when he wanted to be.
YanLi gave him a disturbingly mysterious smile, but didn't answer his question.
"I can tell. I'm just glad to know that your life turned around, and that you already found your mate at such a young age. Though I have to admit I'm surprised you managed to find another demon living so far outside the barrier. That's amazing", she smiled, and looked genuinely happy for him.
However, Hua Cheng felt extremely incensed at the implication that his gege was anything but human, and he couldn't quite suppress his snarl.
"He's human", he clarified forcefully. Nobody should ever be allowed to think of his gege as anything less than that!
Hearing that Hua Cheng's mate was human, YanLi covered her mouth with both of her hands, and her eyes widened to a worrisome degree. She looked shell-shocked, as if the mere idea of such a thing had never even crossed her mind.
"B-but that shouldn't be possible", she mumbled to herself, before she looked back at a properly enraged Hua Cheng again.
"Please don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure he's human? I've never heard of any human that managed to survive after coming into contact with your poison", she said quickly, and looked incredibly worried.
"Poison?", Hua Cheng asked, even though he still had the very strong urge to defend his gege's dignity some more.
"You don- of course, you couldn't possibly know. I- I'm going to assume that MeiLi was somehow able to seal even your internal, non-human attributes. If you're sure that your mate is human, he should have died after the first kiss from you. High-ranking demons are incredibly poisonous to humans. Everything about them, their saliva, their sweat, even their tears and blood, every single liquid that is produced within the demon's body will kill any human that comes into contact with it after four days", she explained the devastating news to him.
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The King's Mate - Part 2: Yaoshi
Fanfic--- Arc 2/3 --- Hua Cheng had just left Guishi behind and was on the journey back home to his palace in Banyue. He'd already been excited to finally see his gege and their two children again, after having been separated for a few weeks because of hi...
