Xi stirred from a fogged dream as a blade of light cut her eyes. She blinked. Morning had already unfurled like a pale silk banner.

Rain had rinsed the forest clean; the air tasted of moss and wet bark. Sunlight dappled through leaves, coins of gold falling on the ground.

A sizzle-sizzle rose, quick and sharp, like fat whispering on fire. A savory scent curled through the cave, a hook snagging her empty stomach.

Oh no. Panic swelled first, then thought stumbled after. Am I on a spit? That hiss sounds like grease dripping. But—no pain. My body’s all numb.

“By the damned God of Light, you didn’t kick it!” Ouyang’s voice sauntered in like smoke. “I thought you wouldn’t last the night. Lucky you. Genius saved you.”

He spoke as if last night’s contract lightning, the bolts she’d called down on him, were gossip carried by wind.

“Saved me?” Xi blinked through pins and needles, awareness limping back to bound limbs. “You mean dead meat spoils and tastes bad? So you kept me fresh. Like livestock.”

“Eat? I don’t eat people,” Ouyang said, chewing a beast leg like a wolf at ease. “Is this how you treat a savior? Has the Glachidor Clan forgotten basic manners?”

“You tied me up. That’s your idea of saving?” Rage blossomed first, then breath came sharp. If she stayed talking, she’d die of fury, not blades.

Ouyang bit the roast and waved it like a scepter. “If genius hadn’t found a method, your brain would’ve cooked. Worse case, you’d have died.”

He wore entitlement like armor. Xi decided normal logic didn’t map onto the Demon King’s world. The sky has its own laws; monsters have theirs.

“Anyway, thanks for saving me.” She ground each word like grit under teeth. Gratitude was a stone, but it was still true. “Now, put me down.”

She still hung from vines lashed to the cave’s roof. Below, a heap of burned wood lay like black bones, the embers long gone cold.

“Oh, that? If you’re cured, suspension therapy’s useless,” Ouyang said, casual as a breeze. “You should’ve said so sooner. I thought you enjoyed hanging.”

She would’ve blown up, once. Now she held her calm like a lake. Demon Kings were all odd birds; abnormal was normal. Breathe. Breathe.

Thud.

Ouyang yanked the vine and then let go. Xi dropped like a stone into the charcoal pile, ash blooming around her like dark petals.

“I… take back what I just thought.”

Her mutter drifted like a feather. Ouyang didn’t care. He gripped the vine and tore. The other strands cinched tight, cruel as thorns.

“Ow—hey! Can you, I don’t know, not?” Pain flared like hot iron. The vine bit ribs and arms, each line a firebrand.

Freedom finally slipped in like cool water. Xi stared at her hand. Black. Mud smeared with soot, skin stained by smoke’s shadow.

“No way…” Memory sparked. She bolted out of the cave, feet splashing toward a rain-made pool. Water shivered like a mirror under wind.

“Ah!!!”

A girl’s pride cracked. The reflection showed a charcoal ghost, face streaked and hair a bramble. She looked like a chimney spirit crawled from a hearth.

“Ouyang! You bastard!”

Her grievance burst and spilled, tears like rain after storm. Ouyang only shook his head, the beast leg a pendulum. “Just bathe. Kids these days.”

“Save the cold jokes. Find me a place to wash. Or else…” Her threat landed like a drawn blade. Red lightning stalked into life around him.

If he said no, those bolts would leap like hunting hounds. Ouyang wasn’t scared of contract’s blue lightning. Red lightning meant death playing for keeps.

“Fine, fine. This grudge goes on the ledger,” Ouyang muttered, flipping the sky a rude finger. Clouds rolled like bruises above green crowns.

A red bolt punched down like a spear. It nailed him. He jerked, then sprawled. The thunder came late, a drumbeat rolling off the hills.

Xi stared, baffled. She hadn’t moved a finger. She’d only threatened. Why did the heavens take it literally? “Ouyang, I—I didn’t mean it! I wasn’t going to.”

She nudged him, then set her fingers under his nose. Warm breath brushed her skin, faint as a moth’s wing. He lived. Relief loosened her shoulders.

He’s a Demon King. He won’t die that easy. What am I even worrying about? Xi snorted at herself, then hauled him by the arm.

He was heavy, a boulder wrapped in trouble. Every step felt like dragging nightfall. “Why did I ever bring this Demon King along?”

She panted through leaves. At last, a lake opened like polished jade. Her frown smoothed; she dropped him on grass and dove with a splash.

Lightning had flattened him. He’d be out for a while. That thought slid in like a cat. Xi undressed and sank into the cool, silk-silver water.

After a quick scrub, the lake gave her face back. Pride rose like sun on a ridge. The girl in the glass was hers again.

“Tch…” She touched the welts striping her skin, marks left by relentless vines. Each press hurt, needles under snow. “Scum,” she hissed at the sky.

She rinsed her ragged dress, river-blue swirls hugging fabric. No one around, only wind combing leaves. She hung the clothes across a low branch to dry.

She forgot the unconscious Demon King like a rock forgotten by the stream. Water sang. Xi hummed and stepped onto the grass, sun warm as wine.

“The clothes should be dry.” She reached up toward the branch. Ouyang sat up, head rising to a very inconvenient height.

He blinked, eyes hazy, mind wading through fog. “Uh… I did save you. But isn’t this moving a bit… fast?”

Red lightning peeled out of the air like coiled serpents. It cracked him again. Xi’s face burned; she stammered as she wrestled into her torn dress.

He woke again at noon, sun pounding like a drum on leaves. Heat shimmered. Xi’s eyes narrowed, her voice velvet over a blade.

“Did you see?”

Ouyang had zero self-preservation. “Of course I saw everything. My memory isn’t for show. Want me to draw it? I’m the most artistic Demon King.”

Xi went stiff. The word draw had killing power. Her mind pictured paper turning rumor into wildfire, her figure spreading through a kingdom like a scandal.

“No!” She clenched both fists, knuckles white as pearls. “Forget it. Erase it. Wipe that image clean.”

“No,” he said, righteous as a judge and twice as ridiculous. “First time seeing a girl’s body. I won’t forget. First times matter.”

Her cheeks reddened like sunset. She couldn’t outmuscle a Demon King, and she couldn’t outargue this shameless one. Trouble roosted like crows.

“Try using lightning on me again,” Ouyang crowed, sly as a fox. “I’ll publish a little artbook. We’ll see it sweep the continent. Wahahaha.”

Xi didn’t know what his “artbook” meant. She could guess. He’d sketch those moments, bind them, and sell them until rivers carried the news.

The more she imagined, the worse it got. Shame fluttered, a trapped sparrow. Fear pricked like thorns.

“You, a dignified Demon King, threatening me with filth? Where’s your grandeur?”

“Spare me.” He waved a hand, boredom like dust. “I ran with problem children so long, my morals went beyond zero. Negative infinity, baby.”

He stepped in. Xi thought he’d strike. She backed away, feet skimming grass. A tree rose behind her like a wall.

“Don’t come closer. Or I’ll drag you down with me.”

Ouyang kept coming. Xi shut her eyes, braced for pain. A light touch lifted on her scalp. She opened them to a green flicker.

“You had a leaf stuck on your head,” he said, pinching the leaf like a trophy.

Xi froze. He’d walked over just to pluck a leaf. Her chest eased, embarrassment softening like wax in sun.

“Th—thanks.”

Ouyang shrugged, all nonchalance. “Remember. Use lightning on me again, and your precious artbook goes on tour.”

The last ember of goodwill died with a hiss. Ash held her tongue.

Gurrrrrrgle.

Her stomach spoke like a drum in a hollow cave. Ouyang’s eyes widened with fake surprise. He leaned close, curiosity bright as a cat’s.

“Are you… pregnant? Wow. I only did it while you slept last night. Didn’t expect same-day results!”

“What?” Hunger vanished, replaced by white fire. Xi’s breath quaked. Her name was a blade. “Ouyang! I’ll fight you. Give me back my honor!”

“Hey, hey—don’t! Call off the lightning. I was joking! Ah—”

The heavens didn’t laugh. Red lightning dropped again, swift as a hawk. It slammed Ouyang flat, smoke curling like ink from the grass.