No. 018 Sucker

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Chapter 18

Wen Yan still looked like a harmless, adorable little snow-white fox, but his fur was a mess, streaked with blood. He looked pitiful, and when he gazed at Mingxi, his round, jade-green eyes brimmed with grievance.

Pitiful, really.

[Pfft, why is he acting so wronged?]

Ming Xi smiled as she spoke. "Who are you?"

Her tone was exactly like the emperor's when he had scoffed at the eldest princess: "Who's Minglan?"

Wen Que burst into shrieking laughter. Ming Xi was starting to worry that being pulled in two directions like this might drive Wen Que out of her mind.

Wen Yan, too, was wounded by Mingxi's emotionless, chilly words. If his hurt had been an act before, there was something much more genuine about it now.

"Sister Mingxi! It's me, Wen Yan! Your little Wen Yan!"

Wen Que: [Ew!]

Ming Xi shuddered too. Honestly, she hadn't realized she used to be like this. Only when those intimate, suggestive words came out of the little snow-white fox's mouth did she see how embarrassingly mushy she had been.

Maybe Wen Que's impression of her wasn't entirely baseless?

Ming Xi refused to admit it.

"Oh, so it's the little prince of the Demon Race. I've heard so much about you."

Wen Yan: "..."

How long had it been since they'd last met? The Mingxi who had eyes only for him, who doted on him so much she would have plucked the moon from the sky for him, seemed to have vanished. The woman before him was still as proud and haughty as ever, but she would no longer bend down to speak to him with gentle affection.

A hollow space suddenly opened in Wen Yan's heart, as though he had lost something precious without even knowing it.

"Sister Mingxi, don't be like this..."

Wen Que thought Wen Yan looked as if he really was about to cry.

[Where was all this before? You didn't treasure her when you had her, and now you've lost her, you finally see it. A little late for that!]

[Our little junior sister isn't one to graze on old grass!]

[Besides, there are so many handsome, adorable, considerate young men in the world. It's not like little junior sister has to hang herself from this one tree.]

Ming Xi: Fair point, but that was really unnecessary.

She hadn't been planning to hang herself anywhere! There was no need to go that far.

"Your Highness should stop addressing me so intimately. We're hardly close." Mingxi suddenly realized just how much mockery Wen Que had packed into every "little prince of the Demon Race."

Especially when she saw the way Wen Yan's furry fox face contorted. Words made pretty good weapons too.

"How are we not close?" Wen Yan shrieked. "You were so good to me before! Why don't you want me anymore?"

"Ohhh," Mingxi drawled. "So you do know how good I was to you!"

Wen Que chimed in. "Exactly! But little junior sister, you must be careful. You saved his life, but some people—oh, not people—might not remember being saved. They might even repay kindness with betrayal. And besides, plenty of people have saved him. One after another! Even if he pledged himself to each of them, he'd never keep up!"

Honestly, Mingxi liked Wen Que's barbed remarks. She would have liked them even more if Wen Que didn't keep slipping in digs at her.

Wen Yan: "Shut uuuup!"

He knew it! Nothing good ever came out of this third senior sister's mouth! He remembered now! Everything between him and Mingxi had been fine before. Everything had been fine until this woman, this third senior sister, appeared. Then it had all gone wrong!

And the things she had said, the things she had done, even the Echo Stone she had brought out—they had all been straws that broke Wen Yan's back.

Just as Wen Yan's words burst out, Mingxi formed a hand seal and summoned a gust of wind, flinging the little snow-white fox away. He barely managed to steady himself, looking thoroughly bedraggled.

"Watch your mouth!" Ming Xi's expression turned icy in an instant.

"Luo Mingxi!" Wen Yan sounded as if he might burst into tears at any moment.

[Little junior sister is so fierce. If it were me, as a furry fan... Well, there are good and bad little floofs. Wen Yan's the kind I couldn't handle. He'd be the death of me.]

Ming Xi: Furry... fan? Little... floofs?

What on earth did any of that mean?

"You've got one thing wrong, Your Highness. I'm not Luo Mingxi. My surname isn't Luo." At that, Ming Xi looked up at He Xueyi, who had just tidied herself up and once again looked dazzlingly elegant. Ming Xi smiled. "The one behind you is a Luo!"

He Xueyi: "..."

She shouldn't have come over.

"Fellow Daoist Ming, you jest."

"I'm not joking." Ming Xi looked at He Xueyi with a half-smile. "What, don't you want the surname? Your mother would be heartbroken."

He Xueyi: "..."

What was wrong with the name He Xueyi? Why did she have to be called Luo Minglan? They said the name had been prepared especially for her, that it belonged to her, but all she could see in it were traces of Mingxi.

The title Quiet Grace Commandery Princess was the same.

Picking through someone else's leftovers.

But He Xueyi also knew that Mingxi and the eldest prin