How Far Have I Pushed Him

This time, Skye didn't stop her.

Inside the Demon Emperor's Palace, the lights blazed brightly.

Lily Bai walked straight in.

At the doorway, she could already hear women's teasing laughter.

Lily paused for a moment, then strode quickly inside.

Damian Black was half-reclining on a couch, Mirage lounged in his arms, feeding him a grape-sized fairy fruit.

Pearl 'Peacock' was massaging his thigh.

As she kneaded, she fluttered her lashes and asked seductively, "Your Majesty, does that feel good?"

Damian smiled and patted her head.

Lily stared at his hand, his embrace, his smile, unmoving.

"You're here," Damian drawled, sitting up lazily. "Come closer."

Lily walked over.

"Didn’t you say you liked me?" Damian looked at her. "From now on, you can stay by my side with Mirage and Peacock."

Lily stared at him for a long moment, then smiled: "Damian, you forgot—I’m a Rune Master."

"So what if you’re a Rune Master?"

"Rune Masters have eyes that see through lies," Lily said. "Mirage keeps adjusting her pose to look more intimate, Peacock is so nervous she’s sweating and shaking. This whole room reeks of fake and forced."

Damian’s eyes darkened as he glanced at the two women.

Mirage didn’t dare meet his gaze.

Peacock trembled even harder.

Though she adored His Majesty, just being near him made her so nervous she couldn’t relax at all.

Lily turned to leave. "Honestly, you don’t have to go this far. If you want to end things, just say the word. I’m not the clingy type."

In a blink, she was gone.

Damian stared at the spot where she disappeared, his eyes rimmed red.

"Your Majesty!" Peacock dropped to her knees. "I’m sorry! I—I messed up."

Damian: "Get out."

Peacock scrambled up and bolted.

His Majesty was terrifying like this.

Mirage looked at Damian with complicated eyes. "Your Majesty, why are you doing this?"

Damian took a deep breath, lowered his head, and said, "She... has parents and family."

Mirage understood, sighed, and said sadly, "I like Your Majesty and just want to stay by your side. But you love her, and you’re forcing yourself to let her go. Compared to that... my feelings suddenly seem so shallow."

She turned to leave as well. "I’d better go too…"

...

Lily had no idea why she ended up on the highest peak of the Primeval Demon Wilds.

It was the spot where Damian once took her—the Spirit Tea Tree.

Looking out at the brightly lit Wildlands City, she leaned against the tea tree and murmured, "Tea-Tea, look at what I’ve done to him? I shouldn’t have been so impulsive."

Of course, the tea tree couldn’t answer her.

"I should trust my own feelings," Lily said again. "He does like me… but that kind of love just turns into a heavy burden for him…"

Tears slipped from the corner of her eye, landing on the tea tree's branch. "So… I’ll just bury it in my heart! I’ll never show it again. That way, he won’t have to carry the weight. Right, Tea-Tea?"

"Tonight, I don’t want to stay in the Demon Emperor’s Palace. Let me sleep on your branch, just for one night." She lay down on a horizontal branch, gazing up at the stars. "I love your scent…"

Breathing in the tea tree’s fragrance and watching the stars, Lily drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Suddenly, a surge of abnormal spiritual energy jolted her awake.

She sat up, leaped down from the tree, and realized the surge was coming from the tea tree itself.

All the surrounding spiritual energy rushed toward the tea tree, which slowly transformed into a glowing sphere of light.