CALID Chapter 41

Stealing a Kiss

When night fell, He Simu and Duan Xu settled in the best inn in Fujian City. In order to protect He Simu from evil spirits, Duan Xu stayed in the same room with her. Naturally, he slept on the floor while He Simu slept on the bed.

Duan Xu took off his veiled hat, finally revealing his true form in the human world. He spread a blanket on the floor and sighed, “You have no sense of touch. Isn’t it a pity to sleep on the bed?”

Lying on the bed, He Simu responded lazily, “With such courage, aren’t you wasting your human life?”

Duan Xu immediately grinned and fell silent. After tidying up, he returned to find He Simu already fast asleep, hugging a pillow tightly.

Originally, evil spirits neither slept nor dreamed. However, during the time when he exchanged senses with Duan Xu, He Simu fell asleep punctually every night.

Several times before, he had secretly come to watch her while she slept. He could always see her holding onto something, as if she couldn’t sleep peacefully without it, just like a child.

Duan Xu extinguished the lamp in the room, and the room was filled with the clear light of the moon. He sat on his “bed” and propped up his chin, looking at the sleeping He Simu. Her face was partially buried in the bedding, with a somewhat evasive yet comfortable posture.

She was indeed very fair, like white porcelain, making her features and her black hair appear even darker, like ink on white paper, mesmerizing.

She was so beautiful and had lived for so many years; she probably had many lovers. Would this Ghost King be like the emperor of the mortal realm, with three palaces and six courtyards?

Thinking of this, Duan Xu narrowed his eyes slightly. Mischievously, he reached out to pull the pillow from her embrace, shifting it left and right until he successfully took it away, placing it leisurely on his own bedding.

In her sleep, He Simu frowned, her hand searching on the bedding as if trying to find her pillow again. Duan Xu watched as her fingers moved slowly across the pristine white sheets, gradually approaching his arm and gently resting on it.

He didn’t avoid it.

Sure enough, her fingers touched his forearm wrapped in the blanket, mistaking it for her pillow. She grabbed his arm and pulled it over.

Bending down with her strength, Duan Xu saw her relax her brow, peacefully holding his arm in her embrace. Duan Xu thought to himself, if He Simu woke up and saw this scene, once she regained her powers, his arm might truly be in jeopardy.

But Duan Xu was clearly not someone to back down at a sight of potential danger.

He leaned over He Simu’s bed, watching her. Her recent movement revealed her face from the bedding, presenting herself completely in front of him.

“He Simu…” he called her name softly.

She naturally didn’t respond.

“He Simu…”

“He Simu…”

He called her name in different tones three times, yet she didn’t wake up from her slumber. He chuckled and said, “If I wanted to kiss you, you wouldn’t really kill me, would you?”

“Hmm, you don’t have your powers now, but if you settle the score in the future… then do I really only have eight days left to live?”

Duan Xu slowly approached He Simu, gazing at her sleeping face.

“Simu,” he called out slowly, each syllable deliberate.

It was unclear whether he was calling her name or expressing his own feelings.

This call of “Simu” caused He Simu to furrow her brow slightly. She slowly opened her eyes, as if just waking up from a dream, her gaze not quite clear as she looked at Duan Xu who was close by, seemingly unable to distinguish between reality and dream.

Moonlight outlined a glimmer in the depths of the person before her eyes. His eyes were round and slightly upturned at the corners, like bright and clear pieces of jade, giving the impression of an innocent and sincere youth.

He Simu muttered vaguely, “These eyes are really beautiful.”

“Thinking of collecting them again?”

“Eyes… are only beautiful when they’re alive.”

“…In that case, you have to let me live well.”

Duan Xu smiled, his bright eyes narrowing, and he leaned forward to kiss her. It was a very light and gentle kiss, carrying the fresh scent of him, like the blossoming flowers after spring rain, staining her lips from his.

He Simu blinked her eyes, momentarily stunned, before fully waking up from her dream, realizing what had happened.

Duan Xu was kissing her.

Duan the little fox… was kissing her!

This time, it wasn’t just a tease; it was a direct move!

She narrowed her eyes, about to react, but suddenly saw Duan Xu, the fearless fellow, opening his eyes, with a glint of alertness in them. Duan Xu moved away from her, draping his black coat over her and gesturing for silence.

Enveloped in the scent of his clothes, He Simu stared at him coldly. In just a moment, she noticed some suspicious figures outside the door, and after a faint sound, the door was pushed open silently.

It’s a group of people dressed in black, appearing to be ordinary assassins.

Duan Xu and He Simu exchanged a glance.

There are about twenty or so of these assassins. As soon as they saw that both Duan Xu and He Simu were awake, they immediately shifted from stealth to open attack, brandishing their weapons and rushing forward without a word.

Duan Xu sighed. “I actually don’t like killing without a clear reason.”

He maneuvered among the assassins, gracefully parrying several swords with his scabbard. His twin swords gleamed silver as they flashed from their sheaths, swiftly moving in a whirlwind of slashes, leaving all who approached him with their throats slit. Only one who attempted to attack He Simu from behind was impaled by Duan Xu from behind.

Blood spurted momentarily. This sudden assassination attempt lasted only a blink of an eye. Duan Xu wiped his sword and sheathed it.

Killing was always his forte.

As light rose from the room filled with corpses, it seemed like fireflies from decayed grass, shimmering with radiance disappearing into the night sky outside.

Duan Xu turned to look at He Simu, smiling. “With the rising light and the backward-moving meteor, this is death in the eyes of demons.”

However, He Simu didn’t smile. She got off the bed, wearing his black coat, and steadily walked towards him, the atmosphere tense and rigid.

Duan Xu stood his ground without flinching. When she stood in front of him, he casually remarked, “This room is too dirty now. It’s impossible to stay here.”

He Simu stared at him expressionlessly for a moment, then shifted her gaze towards the corridor. Duan Xu paused for a moment, then turned to ask her, “Where are you going?”

He Simu hesitated for a moment, but without turning back, she calmly said, “You said this room is impossible to stay in. We need to ask the innkeeper for another room.”

Duan Xu fell silent for a moment, then smiled and followed her. “There’s no reason for Your Highness to do this personally.”

In his imagination, she should be angry, threaten, or punish him, but she didn’t. She behaved as usual, as if the kiss just now was merely an illusion.

This seemingly indifferent attitude toward smoothing things over made it difficult to decipher her intentions. It didn’t seem like acquiescence. Could it be that she truly decided to settle the score with him in the future?

Would eight days later truly be his deadline?

He Simu told the innkeeper that she had been attacked by robbers, so they changed rooms that night. Surprisingly, the owner of the inn also came to check the situation the next morning.

The owner of the inn turned out to be Lord Yilier.

When the innkeeper came to He Simu’s room to report that Lord Yilier had arrived, He Simu was already setting up a table full of fragrant delicacies. Seeing the innkeeper, she smiled and said, “I’ve had enough of this smell, but I can’t eat it all. Take two plates for yourself.”

Duan Xu, who was wearing a hat to conceal his appearance, chuckled silently, thinking that she was quite generous with his money.

The innkeeper was too preoccupied to eat. He anxiously explained that Lord Yilier had learned about the robbery in the inn last night. As he spoke, Lord Yilier, accompanied by several servants, entered the room.

The innkeeper immediately knelt down and greeted, “My lord.”

He subtly gestured to He Simu, whispering, “This is Lord Yilier. Why aren’t you kneeling and paying respects?”

He Simu casually glanced at Yilier, not intending to leave her seat. She spoke in Huqi language, “Would you like to join us for a meal, sir?”

The innkeeper’s eyes twitched with frustration.

The bells on Yilier’s waist jingled softly as he glanced at He Simu, then at the demon beside her, whose face was concealed under a hat. The demon politely stood up from his seat and gestured for Yilier to take it.

Yilier was somewhat surprised. The demons he had encountered before were always aloof. This was the first time he had seen such a polite demon.

Yilier waved his hand, dismissing the innkeeper and his servants, then looked at the girl and the demon for a moment before taking a seat beside He Simu. He said, “It’s my fault that the inn didn’t take good care of you, miss. This table of food is nothing. If you like, I can have the best chef in the city prepare another table for you.”

Resting her chin on her hand, He Simu chuckled softly. “Not taken good care of? I think you took very good care of me. You even sent so many people to accompany me in the middle of the night, which was quite a surprise.”

Yilier stroked the gold buckle set with gemstones on his belt, showing no embarrassment at being caught. Instead, he smiled openly. “Traveling with a ghost, those people couldn’t possibly harm you.”

“Is that so, my lord? You must be thinking that if they couldn’t kill me, it would just be the death of an foreign civilian, and you wouldn’t worry about settling the matter. If they couldn’t kill me, you could also probe my background.”

“Hahaha, why do you have to put it in such harsh words, miss? I’m just curious. People have always supported little ghosts, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone support an adult-looking demon.”

As Yilier spoke, his gaze shifted to the man beside him, who seemed to chuckle softly.

Duan Xu thought it was an interesting scene, with the living being mistaken for a demon, and the demon being treated like a living being.

He Simu shook her head and said, “Who said I support him? I am the master, and he is the servant. I command him.”

Yilier looked surprised. Usually, in the relationship between a human and a demon, the demon was the master and the human the servant. It was unexpected to hear that the roles could be reversed. His gaze slightly darkened, but he smiled and asked, “In what way do you command the demon, miss? Would you be willing to transfer the demon you command to me?”

“You want my demon? I heard that you support is the Master of the Ghost Palace, one person can’t help more than one demon. I can’t let my demon snatch the person of the Ghost Palace Master,” He Simu said casually as she picked up her chopsticks and leisurely took a bite of the braised pork.

It smelled delicious, but it had no taste.

She continued, “What’s wrong? Is Lord Yilier also considering abandoning the Ghost Palace Master after hearing that he has committed a crime?” The author has something to say: Duan Xu: On the edge of death, repeatedly testing.