Chapter 14: The Jar of Paranoia (2)

The two came out from her room, and they saw the secret passage that was once blocked with a wall has been opened widely. The wall has completely gone without a trace.

"Who the hell is dare enough to oppose me just like this!?"

"Let's find it out!"

Both of them running through the passage that more like a corridor, but their steps are blocked by some flame balls before reaching the backyard. Behind those flame balls, the path is blurry.

"Ha! What kind of cheap trick is this!?", Xin Suan is very angry.

'SWOOSH!', Just in one wave of his hand, the flames vanished within air. The barrier that was set by that mysterious man is now destroyed. They can continue their way.

"Ha, judging by the spell, that must be the fire ghost's doing!', Yin Ling is scanning the remnant of the barrier magic spell that still left in the air.

"That's not even a barrier, that's just a joke! And who the fuck is the fire ghost anyway!?", Xin Suan is suck at remembering his own minions, so it's obvious that he had no clue after hearing the name.

"Ah, of course you forget him, he is no one special though... Don't worry, you'll meet him later.", He understands his master's weakness very much.

"Bah, I don't give a shit about him! Let's move, you are too much talking!", Xin Suan leaves Yin Ling behind.

"... What a sorehead.", Yin Ling lowers his voice.

In the middle of the burning room, Ai Lie is being cornered to the wall. Her foot is wounded, she couldn't stand or walk. But the pyschotic unknown man keeps torturing her.

"AI LIE!!"

"D-D-Dad!?", She widened her eyes. She couldn't believe what she saw.

"YOU ARE SICK! YOU HAVE TO DRINK YOUR MEDICINE!", Her father approaches her, and forcing her to open her mouth. He brought a pill in one of his hand.

"N-no!!! I'm not sick!!", She refused to open her mouth. Who knows what would happened if she swallows it.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!", He throws the pills away, and stands up. He releases his belt from his trousers, and bends it. He grabs it with one hand powerfully.

"YOU ARE STUPID! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS JUST TO DRINK YOUR FUCKING MEDICINE!! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU SHITTY BRAT!", Ai Lie father shouts at her.

"N-no, dad, I'm sorry!! I'm really really sorry, I promise I will be a good girl! P-please don't do this!", She kneels at him. Her eyes are bursting with tears. She plead desperately.

In the other hand, Xin Suan and Yin Ling have arrived at the backyard. They can smell the smoke from one of the room's vent. Without a doubt, Xin Suan immediately kicks the door of the room where the smell was coming from. Both of them were stunned when they saw the condition inside.

"The fuck just happened!?", Yin Ling widened his eyes.

"Ai Lie!", Xin Suan rushingly passes through the ocean of fire with no hesitation.

'CTAAR!', Ai Lie's father swings his belt on his hand powerfuly, directed to where Ai Lie is. The belt hits on her left shoulder, her upper chest, her right lower arm hardly. Small bloods are appeared all over the way where the belt landed on.

"AHHH!", She falls to the ground. Her body is in a great pain, but she has no energy left to cry. She began to lose her consciousness.

"AI LIE!!!", The first thing Xin Suan saw after passing through the fire was that scene.

"W-WHAT!? HOW CAN YOU ENTER THIS ROOM!?", That masked man is shocked. He couldn't sense Xin Suan's presence before.

"You...", His eyes are glowing red.

"URGH!", That masked man thrown away to the burning ceilings, and somehow he felt his neck is being chocked by something he couldn't see or even touch. He started to lose his breath. But he still try to counter Xin Suan's invisible attack by throwing a fireball directed to Xin Suan.

"Your Majesty!", Yin Ling immediately jumps in front of his master and blocks the fire with his sword.

'Snap!', With one snap of Xin Suan's fingers, everything back to normal. The liquid poured back to the jar, as well as the imitation of Ai Lie's father. The ocean of flames that was covering the whole room has vanished.

"You really think you are stronger than me?", Xin Suan throws a death glare to that masked man

"N-NO, YOUR MAJESTY, P-PLEASE SPARE MY LIFE! URGH!!", His neck is being strangled stronger than before. A thick black blood dripping below his demon mask, running down to his neck and his shabby robe.

"Spare your life? I could easily popped off your head from your body, you lowly trash. It's your biggest mistake to mess with my patience.", He pointed his finger to that masked man and said, "scram."

'Swoosh!', a black mist covering the masked man as he disappears along with the mist.

Xin Suan runs towards Ai Lie who is laying on the ground. Her wounds have been fully healed. She wasn't really wounded at the first place, once again, it's just an illusion created by the mystical power of that jar's liquid, but she still could feel the pain all over her body, incredibly hurting her until she is numb.

"Ai Lie...", He carries her body up.

"Y-your... Majesty... Is that you?", She tried to open her eyes.

"Yes."

Her tears made her hard to see. She blinked for a few times to see his face clearer. His handsome face is lit by the crimson moonlight that went in through the opened door, represents his ruthless behind his calm expression. No matter how much she had met him before, she's always amazed by the beauty of his face.

"Finally... You are here.", She closed her eyes as her tears rolling down slowly. She is fainted.

"...", Xin Suan staring at her face deeply, feeling guilty.

"Yin Ling, I've sent that garbage to the prison. Check him for me. Make sure that he isn't die yet."

"Why should we keep him alive? he doesn't deserve that."

"I'll send him to death by myself.", He replies in a cold voice.

"Understood.", He bows at him as he vanished from his view.

Xin Suan carried the fainted Ai Lie back to her room. Her clothes is already dirty, full of dirt and ashes. He laid Ai Lie's body on the bed, and put a blanket to make her warm. He wiped her tears that still left on her face.

"I'm sorry... I'm so useless. I always failed to protect you. Not only before, but even right now. If only I was stronger...", He holds her hand tightly.

But if he said he is not strong enough, what about the others? Even Ai Lie, the girl that he sworn to protect, is the weakest in this mythical dangerous realm. It's just her bad luck, not his fault.

He pulled a chair, and sat beside her. He was waiting for her to wakes up. An hour has passed but Ai Lie's still sleeping.Two hours, even three hours, and finally Xin Suan fell asleep. The sun has raised, and finally she opened her eyes.

"H-hmm...", She gets up slowly. Her whole body is aching.

She turned her head and found Xin Suan is asleep on his chair. She removed her blanket to check on her wounds, but her whole body was perfectly fine, only a few small scratches at her elbow that were inflicted when she hit the ground. She thought that Xin Suan's the one who healed her, she didn't know that he doesn't have that kind of spell. What he has is just a destructive power.

"Your Majesty...", She pokes his face.

"Hmm?", He opens his eyes, "Oh! You are finally awaken!", He immediately sits on her bed.

"W-where... Ahem... Where have you been?", Her voice is hoarse.

"I went to my palace. I have some matters to be done there."

"How do you feel? Is there any part that still hurts?", He is checking every inch of her, making sure there is no fatal wound.

"...", She didn't give any reply. The tormenting last night's moments are still haunting her mind. How she had to kill so many bugs that she hates. How her ankle was being grabbed by a rotten hand tightly. How she had to defend herself from a group of zombies, but she failed and her calf leg was badly injured. And when the imitation of her father hit her with his belt. All of the painful memories that she could never erased from her mind, especially the last one.

"...There is."

"Where?", Xin Suan double checks her body.

"... My heart.", Her face darkened.

"It hurts... It hurts me a lot.", Her eyes starts to shed a tear.

"I'm sorry... I'm so late.", He pressed her head to his chest.

She starts to cry inside his embrace. She couldn't hide her true feelings anymore, she is still terrified and wish for his protection. She has never been in such tense situation, where her life and her death is at stake.

"Forgive me, Ai...", He strokes her head softly, but she cries harder. Afraid if he will noticed her ugliness, she covers her face with both of her palms.

She has been crying for 10 minutes without a pause, Xin Suan became worried and distrubed at the same time. 'What should I do to calm her? What should I say? What if I don't pick the correct words and make her crying louder? I need Yin Ling's advice for situation like this!', He doesn't know how to deal with women, especially when they are crying. Just like right now, he doesn't know how to comfort her.

"Ai Lie, uhh...", He is still choosing his words, "I-it's okay... You are safe now. J-just stay by my side.", He hopes those could satisfy her.

"Just stay by your side!? But it was you who left me!! You are the one who went away for two weeks without saying a word!!", She pushed his chest away.

"Hik.. Hik...", She still sobbing but she gets calmer. She wipes her tears from her face.

'Shit I'm suck at this!', He is silently crying, "R-right! It's my fault... I admit it, so please don't cry."

"How dare you telling me not to cry!! Do you know what I've been through last night!?", She become angrier.

'I will never understand a woman's heart.', He has no clue what to say, whatever he does it will only makes her angry.

"Y-you're right! How could I not know that? I'm so stupid! Forgive me, Ai...", He is stuck. Even the strongest man has his own weaknesses.

"Pfft.. Yes you are! Hahaha...", She chuckles but her tears are still rolling down.

'Now she laughs when I called myself stupid. Yup, I will never understand a woman's heart.', He said that silently.

"Are you feeling better?", He helps her to wipe her tears with his thumb.

"To be honest, I still feel scared... I thought no one would save me. I thought I will ended up being eaten."

"Hmm... What should I do to make you feel better?", He strokes her cheek softly.

"I don't know... I can't erase my feelings, or my memories. I'm sorry but... Let my cry for a while, it will help me to release my pain."

"But I hate to see you crying."

"Hmph!!", He cupped her cheeks and pressed his cold lips to hers.

Ai Lie is very surprised by his attack. She widened her eyes and didn't dare to blink at all. Gratefuly, her lips are tightly shutted. No one has ever done this to her before. She never had a romantic affair in her previous life, or even a boyfriend. She is confused what to do, she tried to push his chest away but he kept pressing his lips. Feeling unsatisfied, he took a short break.

"...", She is stunned, and her face is boiling red. She can feel her body become warmer than before.

"Open your mouth."

"W-Wha- Hmph!", She haven't even finished her words.

He attacked her lips once more, but right now her mouth is opened. She could feel that her lips became more moist and wet, and she knew very well the cause. She punched his chest a few times trying to stop him, but he could easily block her attacks with one grip. He put one of his palm behind her head, and pushed it forward. Now, Ai Lie had nowhere to run. She surrendered, so she closed her eyes, waiting for Xin Suan to end this.

Somehow, her mind became hazy, it feels like her emotions are being sucked out. The pain and fear that were weighing in her heart became lighter. She felt calmer than before, and she gradually got carried away by Xin Suan's deep kiss. She choose to forget all of those tormenting moments last night, and concentrating with the kiss.

But her concentration's broke when his tongue stroked hers. The tension of his kiss became hotter than before. He pressed his mouth tighter than before, as his tongue kept playing inside her mouth. She had no idea what to do. Her mouth became wetter and wetter because they kept exchanging liquids. She started to feel uncomfortable, but she couldn't fight back.

After a long battle of tongues, finally Xin Suan released his lips. He opened his eyes and take a look at the girl in front of him, as he released his embrace. Ai Lie didn't dare to open her eyes. Her face, her neck, her ears, her arms, all of them are already red. Her body became hot, as if she had a fever. She couldn't believe what was happened.

"Hey, are you feeling better now?", Xin Suan talks to her casually, as if nothing happened.

She finally opens her eyes, "W-W-W-WHA...", Her lips are numb, she can't speak freely.

"Sorry, I was draining out your negative energy.", He pats her head.

'WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE IS THAT!?', Ai Lie's screaming in silent.

"Are you still sad? Don't cry anymore, okay?", He is smiling at her.

"Y-Y-Y-YOU!!", She is collecting her energy to yell as her face grows redder than before.

"Huh?"

"YOU PERVERT!!!!!! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!!!", She drags him, opens the door, and throws him outside.

"Huh??? B-but-"

'SLAM!', She shuts the door powerfully.