Chapter 839: Chapter 656: Strange Events in the Night_4

The despairing death did not fall upon them as they had imagined.

Just when everyone thought the Demon Lord had gone mad, she walked barefoot through the white snow, her blood-red dress fluttering gently. Her pitch-black eyes remained calm, seemingly unaware of her crazed appearance. She nodded lightly to everyone, as if she had just returned from court: “You can all rise.”

The palace attendants’ legs were weak, none able to stand without support, each relying on the other to shakily give thanks and rise.

The Demon Lord continued, “You may all withdraw.”

A young palace attendant hesitated, “But the snow in the palace pathway hasn’t yet…”

The Female Demon Lord flicked her sleeve, and the thick snow vanished as if it had flown away, leaving the long stone steps as clear as if they had been washed with water. She repeated softly, “Withdraw.”

None dared to linger a moment longer and gathered their brooms, fleeing away like escaping fugitives.

The world-wind rose again, swirling the snow.

The Female Demon Lord walked down the stone steps and into the corner of a deserted palace passage, where she slowly crouched down, hugging her knees.

In the dimness of the corner, her dark pupils were as black as could be, contrasting starkly with her blood-red clothing. Her lips were void of any color, and her brow bones and cheeks appeared ghostly pale and haunting in the semi-light, a chillingly ghastly white.

The snow fell slantwise from the heavily concaved eaves, covering her thin shoulders, and soon accumulated into a thick layer, burying her into a little snowman.

Respected as the Demon Lord over a world, praised universally as His Majesty.

Yet at this moment, she seemed like a confused, lost child, curling up into a small ball, unable to find her way home.

The underlying hostility in her slowly got buried under the cold snow, until all the strong scent of bloodlust was washed away by the falling snow. Only then did she stand up, shaking off the snow flakes, her skin turned a frigid white from the cold.

The falling snowflakes carried away the blood and killing intent from her garments, turning the clothing into a thin, snow-white fabric that gently flutters in the wind, the cold wind under the eaves whipping her black hair into disarray.

A crow flapped its wings across the sky, its hoarse cries like dried curling sand leaves, distant and solitary.

Clap clap!

She slapped her cheeks hard, forcing herself to look more spirited, her expression softer.

After doing these, she looked up at the rising sun in the east, gradually aligning with the large crimson moon.

The Demon Lord sighed helplessly, thinking to herself this was something unavoidable, that she couldn’t hide from him forever.

Feeling compassionate towards herself, she tugged at her cheeks, pulling out a faint smile to make herself appear not much different from usual. Then she headed in the direction of the Netherworld Palace.

Crunch!

The heavy palace doors were gently pushed open.

The Demon Lord entered the palace without a trace of hostility or bloodthirst, the warm incense burning inside already warming the air with a delicate scent.

The pulse on her temple throbbed slightly, but she held it back, her eyes gliding over.

She saw the bath barrel covered with layers of thin gauzy robes, completely concealing the water surface, while Ning Feiyan, seemingly exhausted, was sunk into a deep sleep leaning against the inside wall of the bath. Her complexion was rosy and healthy, clearly having survived the four days of cold energy corrosion.

Her lingering gaze slipped over to Feiyan’s slender, snow-white neck, unable to move away after a long pause.

“Your Majesty, are you planning to strangle Ning the River Lord?” Baili An’s voice came from the side, causing the Female Demon Lord to shift her gaze and look toward the young man sitting behind the screen.

After completing his tiring ‘studies’, Baili An found his jade-coloured emerald on the bookshelf within the palace, where he had prepared clean change of clothes in advance. He drew a basin of fresh water to wash off the medicinal smell from his body and changed into a set of clean garments.

He did not seem inappropriate in front of the throne then.

The Female Demon Lord said, “Actually, you needn’t guard against me as if guarding against a thief. It was I who brought you back to the Netherworld Palace after the Heavenly Tribulation, and it was I who took off your clothes and carried you into the bath.”

Ha, this…

Are the women of the Demon World truly one more brazen and shameless than the next?

Baili An resisted the urge to assault, keeping calm as he replied, “In the early dawn last night, I seemed to hear some unusual noises outside the hall, like a beast gnawing on corpses.”

The Female Demon Lord’s eyebrows twitched, she said, “Last night, you were quite busy, all your strength should have been used on Ning Feiyan, how could you still be distracted to listen to these irrelevant noises.”

Her tone was laced with sourness and jealousy, the flat tone unable to mask the grinding of teeth.

Baili An was somewhat choked, and, slightly annoyed, said, “I am talking to you about serious matters. Last night there was an unusual cult-like aura, you…”

As he spoke, his words paused, and he stood up, frowning.

The Female Demon Lord was dumbfounded, “Me?”

Baili An walked over in two steps, looking down at her feet, “Why is Your Majesty not wearing shoes?”

The questioning tone was calm, even plain, showing no trace of concern, merely a question.

But outside the window, the heavy snow that shouldn’t belong to this season fell silently, and the crimson moon that rose with the initial sun gradually sank into the sky.

Tender green buds broke through the snow, growing between the cold eaves and green tiles, swaying shakily with vitality.

The Female Demon Lord’s empty heart, without a place or shelter, too seemed like the tender sprout on the green tile eaves, gaining a few leaps of vitality.

She raised her head, her gloomy and lifeless black pupils seemingly lit up with tiny stars, sparkling joyously.

Her barefoot small feet, stained with slightly dirty snow mud, anxiously stepped back into her garment’s hem, with one foot’s instep rubbing against the other foot’s back ankle, trying to rub off the dirty marks above.

Baili An was amused by her childlike behavior, not knowing why, he also found her to be somewhat pitiful, then handed her the towel he had used to dry his wet hair moments ago: “Wipe it off? I’ll find you a pair of shoes.”