Casa laughed loudly, his silver hair wildly flying behind him, shining with an evil and domineering light. “You’ve long said I’m an ancient demon; ‘demon’ is just my alias. You better be good from now on. If I find out you’re still thinking about any man, I’ll make him walk the same path as Prince Mill.” Mill… Mill… the name that haunted her dreams… the handsome prince who vanished into dust… with those gentle, beautiful eyes… always looking at her with such affection… never to return… Mao An’an trembled violently. Casa leaned down, deeply inhaling the scent emanating from Mao An’an, “Adrenaline is too high, muscles tense, heartbeat quickens, sweating,” he glanced at Mao An’an’s thigh, not even as thick as his arm, “Such excitement will consume a lot of energy, you better calm down.” Mao An’an took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, striving to keep her voice steady, “Why?” Casa’s eyes turned to her, “You mean Mill?” Mao An’an bit her lip and nodded. “I like seeing you in tears,” Casa laughed wickedly, “Sometimes, I wish I could crush you in my hand, or make you into the most perfect specimen, so you could belong to me forever.” Mao An’an stood up from the corner, controlling her trembling muscles to move as far away from Casa as possible, “Casa, I hate your perverse possessiveness.” Casa laughed, “To you, I am the epitome of all derogatory terms.” Mao An’an looked up, forcing herself to meet Casa’s dark, brooding eyes, “And what about me? Am I the precious toy you’re so crazy about owning, that you’d destroy everything I care about just to move in? Casa?” Casa nodded in agreement, a smile that was almost imperceptible. “Never again, not since you detonated that nuclear bomb and destroyed his warship.”
In the main text, despite still lying in bed, even as she lay obediently in his arms, Casa could clearly feel her distance. She no longer propped herself up to comment on his age, nor did she cast those stunning looks at him, seemingly unintentionally admiring his beautiful silver hair, even though Emperor Casa was the most handsome and radiant in the entire Zelazny race.
“Speak.” No response.
“Eat.” She complied, sitting down to eat on her own but adamantly refusing the dishes Casa picked for her. Her non-violent non-cooperation pricked Casa’s eyes. He grew increasingly irritable, a feeling he had never experienced in his over ten thousand years of life. She was right there, yet always out of reach. He hugged her tightly, his fingers sinking into her soft skin, hearing the slight creaking of her bones, but there was no longer the warmth of closeness they once shared. Was he wrong? Emperor Casa had never admitted to being wrong about anything; even if he was, he would insist he was right.
Apart from resentment and dislike, Mao An’an hadn’t spoken a word to Casa, and his gaze toward her grew colder, losing patience. Sometimes Mao An’an thought that maybe when his fascination with her waned, she might be free. But if she escaped to a place where she still couldn’t find Mill, what then? Mao An’an curled up in the depths of the large bed, silently crying.
The entire Zelazny clan felt Emperor Casa’s anger. The empire hadn’t seen a sunny day since the war ended; dark clouds loomed over Zelazny’s sky, even though the war ended with Zelazny’s victory and Austin’s defeat.
“His Majesty seems displeased, perhaps because of her…”
“I heard, His Majesty went on this campaign to eliminate a rival in love.”
“A rival? Could it be the gentle and handsome Prince Mill of Austin?”
“How can that kid compare to His Majesty, whose beauty is unmatched in the entire universe!”
“But, isn’t there a saying, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’?”
“Who is Xi Shi, another rival?”
“Xi Shi is… never mind, explaining it to you is pointless. Anyway, His Majesty has truly encountered a difficult situation this time. For the first time in over ten thousand years, he’s encountered love, and the proud Emperor doesn’t know how to show it, only hurting her repeatedly…”
When feeding was refused again, Casa’s anger reached its peak; the table was overturned, bowls shattered, and Mao An’an was thrown onto the soft carpet like a disobedient kitten. Casa shrugged off his cumbersome robe and pounced, looking every bit like a demon from hell.
“Go back to the way things were, immediately!” Mao An’an struggled in terror, desperately pushing away Casa’s brutal kiss. “Casa, you despicable fool… let go… uh…”
The tighter he squeezed, the faster the sand slipped through his fingers. His silver hair was disheveled, his neck scratched, yet Casa seemed not to care, lost in the ecstasy of the forceful kiss, his fingers kneading her soft body, the sensation was too wonderful, driving him mad.
Until a fierce kick landed between his legs. Compared to a man of Casa’s build, Mao An’an’s kick was no more than a tickle, but in that critical spot with such force, even if it caused no physical harm, it still enraged Casa. His fingers tightened around her neck, slowly closing.
“The price of resisting me… is a ticket to hell…” She struggled, her face turning red, her nails scratching the back of his hand, her carefully chosen dress now a crumpled mess of fabric. Gradually, her struggles lessened, until they ceased. Casa released his grip, watching the person lying limply, a bloody look in his eyes.
She was finally quiet.
Sensing the unusual commotion in the room, the guards at the door reacted swiftly. Within seconds, Dr. Xile, the imperial physician, cautiously knocked, “Your Majesty, do you need the medical team?”
Casa snapped back to reality, realizing her face had lost its usual rosy glow, now covered with the grey of death, her once delicate white skin limp and lifeless, her limbs sprawled to the sides. The torn, messy dress, the girl whose heart had stopped beating.
“Bring them immediately.” Quickly untying the ribbon around her neck, Zelazny’s most skilled doctor, Casa, efficiently performed CPR and cardiac massage, anxiously monitoring her heart rate and pulse. Five minutes, ten minutes passed, and her heartbeat resumed.
The medical team quickly attached monitoring devices and administered sedatives. Casa stood to the side, watching coldly.
“Your Majesty, the examination is over,” Dr. Xilai reported. “Vital signs are normal, there’s a minor rib fracture. Please be more gentle in the future.”
“Fix her before she wakes up.”
“However, Earthlings are quite fragile mentally; they often get physically destroyed by seemingly small blows.”
“For example?”
“Uh, sadness, depression, fear, loneliness, etc… Of course, the worst might be a brush with death.”
Mao An’an had narrowly escaped death but developed a condition. Whenever she saw Kasa, she would have difficulty breathing and tremble all over, curling up like a frightened rabbit deep in the bed, refusing to come out. No amount of psychological counseling from the medical team had any effect, making Emperor Kasa even more irritated. He chased the medical team out and personally went to comfort the person trembling under the covers.
“Come here, darling, I won’t hurt you again.” Kasa had never felt such regret before. Perhaps it was the monotony of a life spanning ten thousand years that had suppressed his desires for too long; he could not be rejected or pushed away. Every time he saw her cold, distant eyes, he had an insane urge to kill her and preserve her in formaldehyde. Floating in a bottle, her long black hair drifting in the liquid, she would surely look even more beautiful and adorable, wouldn’t she? No… she’s adorable alive. Kasa shook his head vigorously; she was fragile, precious, and an irreplaceable life, unique. Forgive me, I will… try to cherish you. But the trembling under the covers intensified.
