The Necromancer and the Priestess (31)

With a flash, a small group of people appeared. Included amongst them were El and Rosella.

"Celes!" El said, rushing over to check on Yin Mei. He hugged her, really hard, as if they had been separated for ten years and not just a few months.

Yin Mei felt slightly flustered, to be honest.

A nearby demon laughed heartily as they slowly walked closer. "Actually, this guy was upset this entire time. Some idiot laughed about raping humans, so-"

"Shut up," El said with a chilly gaze, and the demon stopped in place, mouth snapped shut and hands raised in surrender.

Yin Mei didn't really know what he was trying to say, but she thought that a fretful El like this was also good. She hugged back, feeling slightly satisfied inside. What had she been worrying about in the first place?

Unlike what Yin Mei had initially thought though, El had not in fact become demon king yet - actually, that should have been obvious, seeing has she had not received the familiar notification from the system.

In other words, he would be leaving soon. Yin Mei really wanted to go with him, but if she left the valley, it would only further extend her treatment time.

"The general has basically finished though. The only thing left is to find the escaped heir... It's a little concerning, since the prince is a pretty capable person. But he's nothing compared to the general." A talkative demon told her, and Yin Mei nodded.

Because she had only been occasionally checking up on El with the surveillance system over this time, she had not known much about the progress of their coup d'etat. She hadn't checked in more, partly due to being so anxious that she didn't want to look at all, and partly still being upset with El.

"The prince, huh?" Yin Mei said thoughtfully. But then she shook her head. With how she was now, she was probably too useless. She couldn't use magic, and El would never let her leave the valley. It was probably better to just leave it to him and his army to hunt down the prince. They had already started calming down the people. When the prince is killed, there would be no cause left for rebellion against them, and El could peacefully be crowned king.

Actually, he could be crowned king now, but El would rather tie up any loose ends first before doing so.

Yin Mei agreed.

When it came down to it, Yin Mei knew that El was more capable than her. In every life, he was always the more capable one. The only thing was that Yin Mei knew the future, and he didn't.

Although they would only be here for a few days, Yin Mei decided to make the best of that time. She resolved that she would firmly declare El as hers! She didn't know when she would get another chance!

She had on a resolute expression as she thought of all manner of ways to go about doing so.

El and his group were still situated in the same rooms as from before when they stayed here, meaning El was in the room right next to hers.

When she walked into the room, El had already settled in and was sitting on the bed, reading a book.

For some reason, she was wrenched straight back into her memories.

The zombie emperor really like to read, along with Yao Heyan. But, the two of them were somewhat different, like seemingly all of the demon king's reincarnations. The zombie emperor always had on an emotionless and stiff expression, still like a puddle of stale water. Yao Heyan on the other hand, had a dignity and elegance that came from being a well bred kid of a rich and noble family, while also having a warmth to him that could not be emulated by someone who was undead.

And then, the both of them were also different from the demon king. The demon king was also elegant, somehow, despite being so lazy and languid looking all the time. It was an elegance that came from deep within the bones, and a laziness that seemed right. He was beautiful in every way, and his laziness only made him seem more so.

They were all similar, but all different.

Was it because he was not born with his memories? That he didn't remember? The result of having the same soul, but different experiences?

But right now, if before he only seemed to resemble the demon king by seven, or even only just six parts, his current languid appearance bumped it straight up to nine parts. His calm and slightly sleepy looking eyes as they scanned over the pages of the book in his hand were especially beautiful, like glistening jewels.

The one thought that went through Yin Mei's head at this sight, with a serious face, was that she really wanted to f*ck him.

Excusing the language, but in all frustration, El had not done anything lovey dovey in all the time that she was in this world. In other words, it had been years!

And even longer since she had seen him looking like this...

But when she blinked, that mysterious aura that the demon king had always had disappeared from El as he looked up, blinking.

"..." Yin Mei was silent, walking over.

"Celes? What is it?" El asked, slightly concerned. He had talked to the doctor who was in charge of Yin Mei's treatment earlier, and according to her, everything was alright, so it shouldn't have anything to do with that, right?

Yin Mei grabbed El's book from his hand, closing it and setting it on the bedstead as she pushed him down so that he was laying face up on the bed. She then sat on top of him.

"???" El was slightly confused, not sure what was going on.

It wasn't that he was the innocent type - it was his belief that Celestina was the innocent type.

"I'm gonna be the one to eat you up this time." Yin Mei said, her small tongue licking her lip ever so slightly.

(A/N: This is El secretly but not really: ... O_O)

The next morning, for the first time, Yin Mei was up earlier than El, and feeling very energetic. Maybe it was because she was the one to take the initiative? Normally she would be stuck in bed at this time, sulking and waiting for Yao Heyan to bring back sweets and breakfast to satisfy her, but actually being the one to bring breakfast for her partner in bed wasn't too bad of a feeling. She could understand that guy's smug expression now.

She wandered around, taking in the beautiful scenery of the dragon valley and the pale morning sunlight.

She was in such a good mood. Until she happened upon Kai and Eve. Holding hands. In the middle of a flower meadow??

She paused. Blinked. Turned away and then turned back, as if confirming this sight. No matter how you looked at it, there were definitely romantic hints there. When in the world had they gotten this close? No, wait, it was definitely during these several months when she had been holed up in her room, leaving these two to their own devices.

"Ah, Celestina..." Kai said out, noticing Yin Mei. He had on a slightly embarrassed expression.

Eve turned around and her expression brightened. She had returned to her original appearance during these last few months while the people who knew her as the princess had left, but with El's return, had gone back to emulating the disguise that Yin Mei had when she was with the guild.

"You two are..." Yin Mei walked up to them saying, as she trailed off, her expression odd.

But the two didn't notice.

Kai coughed to cover up his embarrassment. "Well, as you can see, we're together, with the intent of marriage... At least, when we get back to the empire."

Yin Mei's expression grew stranger and stranger.

He was getting together with, of all people, Eve? Not Rosella?

This fate, wasn't it too easily destroyed? Wasn't it supposed to be stronger than that?

But now that she thought about it, hadn't it always been like that? Now that she thought about it, the demon king and Yao Heyan - both of them had been fated to fall in love with the female lead, hadn't they? But Yin Mei had so easily destroyed that fate.

In the first world, though it was still a mystery to her, the female lead had died off very quickly. And in the last world, Yao Heyan had married her.

In fact, wasn't Yin Mei's purpose this whole time to change fate? For some reason, perhaps because of the last world where Wen Hua's fate remained the same despite Yin Mei's actions, she had had it in her head that fate was not so easy to change. But in fact, it was very easy to change, wasn't it? The death of the male and female leads, the changing of alliances and friendships.

... Well, what was the point of thinking this sort of thing anyways?

If fate was so easy to change, then she would change it. She would continue to change it.

It's not like there was anyone else like her, going around messing up the plot lines, right? So what was she worrying about? All she needed to do was to make El fall in love with her every single time.

Who cared about true love!

Yin Mei didn't know how she reached her room, but she did. She got dressed, and grabbed her sword, hanging it on her hip. She walked out and quickly reached the cave where the teleportation array to the castle was.

"Big Sister, where are you going?" A cute voice asked, and Yin Mei turned to see Azurite behind her.

It had taken a while, but she had gotten Azurite to call her big sister, causing her endless satisfaction. Maybe it was because it reminded her of those kids from a long time ago. It was already a lifetime away.

She could only barely recall their faces now.

"I'm going to end some unfinished business." Yin Mei answered. She reached out a hand. "Do you want to come with me? I'm going outside."

Azurite furrowed her brow. "But isn't it bad for you to go outside?" She tilted her head. She wasn't an ordinary child who couldn't understand complicated matters. She knew that Yin Mei was receiving treatment here, and wasn't allowed outside as it would prolong the treatment.

"Yes, but I still have to go." Yin Mei said. Why was she going? She didn't know why either. She just knew that she couldn't drag this on any longer. What was the point in sitting here, allowing fate to run its course?

After all, she needed to take matters into her own hands.

El could be angry all he wanted. She needed to do this.

It was her mission.

Anyways... it wasn't like he would remember in the next life, right?

Azurite pondered for a moment. Since it didn't look like Yin Mei would stop, then it was probably better if Azurite went with her, right? She also had to admit she really wanted to see the outside world. In the end, Azurite grabbed her hand, transforming to her dragon form and crawling up to sit on Yin Mei's shoulders.

Yin Mei walked into the cave. Immediately, the grandpa dragon raised his head up from where it was lying on the ground, looking in the direction of the teleportation array from his cave. What was the human and his granddaughter doing in that place?

He could feel the activation of the array. He didn't stop it. He knew it was bad for Yin Mei if she went out, but he wouldn't stop her from doing so - it was her choice, and he couldn't prevent that.

Though why the hell was she taking his granddaughter with her?

He puffed out smoke, not sure how to feel. In the end, he decided to go call upon El and their group to inform them that Yin Mei had run off to the outside world. He wouldn't restrict her actions, but from what he could tell, that human girl listened to the silver haired demon.

Meanwhile, Yin Mei had reappeared in an empty room with stone walls, unlit torches hanging on the walls.

She tilted her head. What should she do next? Although she had no magic, she still had her sword. And a dragon on her shoulders.

First off, she should probably get out of the castle, or El would be able to quickly find her.

Haha, this time she was the one running away and El would be the one to suffer! Actually, that was a terrible thing to think of. She didn't really want El to suffer. She just... wasn't satisfied with the situation as it was right now.

El, who had just suffered from a one night stand: Shouldn't I be the dissatisfied one!??