Ange practically floated out of the bathroom, her steps unsteady, as if she were walking on cotton.
She collapsed headfirst onto her barely tidy bed, the wooden frame creaking under the strain.
Fumbling for her phone, she stared vacantly at the screen, her fingertips mechanically tapping out four characters and sending them to the name she least wanted to see right now—Rita.
Then, as if using up the last ounce of her strength, she flung her arm, tossing the phone carelessly to the other side of the bed.
The phone bounced once on the rough sheet and the screen went dark.
She raised her right hand, covering her tightly closed eyes with the back of it, as if trying to shut out this despairing reality.
A long, heavy sigh, laden with helplessness and the sense of impending doom, escaped her lips, sounding especially clear in the silent room.
Not long after, the other side of the mattress dipped.
Huayin had come out too, wearing the same exhausted, resigned look of someone who’d barely survived a disaster.
She lay down silently next to Ange, an awkward distance separating them.
A moment of silence stretched between them. Finally, it was Huayin who spoke first, her voice muffled, thick with lingering resentment.
“To think I’d have to marry someone like you? Unbelievable…” She stared at the mottled stains on the ceiling, her eyes hollow.
“What did I do in my previous life to deserve this kind of divine retribution? If I did anything that outraged both gods and men, I wish the gods would punish me, not you… this person.” She spat out “this person” with particular emphasis, dripping with disdain.
Ange kept her hand over her eyes, her voice coming from beneath her arm, utterly dejected.
“Sorry…”
“Sorry is worth less than an egg!” Huayin suddenly turned her head, glaring at her—even though Ange couldn’t see.
“So, what are we going to do?!”
“What to do…” Ange’s voice was tinged with utter bewilderment.
“I don’t know either…”
Irritated, Huayin ran her fingers through her fiery red hair, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to calm down and think.
“The new semester is about to start. I’ll tell my parents I’m busy and don’t have time for anything else, that should let us stall for a while.”
“Stall…” Ange finally moved her hand away, revealing her eyes, now filled with utter hopelessness.
“Stalling won’t help. Since the child already exists…”
“Don’t rush.” Huayin cut her off.
“The Phoenix’s incubation takes much longer than a human baby, at least ten months at minimum.”
“Ten months?” Ange did a quick calculation, a faint spark of hope—maybe you could call it a reprieve—lighting in her eyes, but it quickly faded again.
“So, at the latest, we have to get married in ten months?”
“Not even ten months.” Huayin mercilessly crushed her fantasy, curling her lip.
“You heard my parents just now. They’re planning to have you marry into our family directly. There’s no way they’ll wait that long. They’d probably rush the ceremony for next week if they could.”
Ange’s throat bobbed as she asked in a small voice, her last bit of resistance.
“What if… I just refuse to go?”
Huayin shot her a sideways look, as if to say, how could you be this naive.
“They’ll come pick you up. Sure, you can resist, but…” She paused, her tone meaningful.
“Think about it. Now that there’s already a child, does resistance even matter? Do you want to be exiled?”
Ange fell silent. She knew Huayin was right. The Demon Hunter families cared immensely about bloodline, especially ancient ones like the Phoenix Family. When it came to heirs, they would never let go easily.
“Sigh—!” She let out a long, sorrowful sigh and collapsed back onto the bed.
“I can’t believe it… I, the former Number One Demon Hunter, am actually going to become a mom…”
The absurdity of such a transformation almost made her want to laugh, but it hurt even more than crying.
“I can’t believe it either.” Huayin’s voice dropped as well, her tone dazed by the shock.
“I’ve only been an adult for half a year, and now I’m going to be a mom too…”
Ange reflexively threw in a confused quip.
“Why is it always mom? Forget it, that doesn’t matter anymore…” She didn’t even have the energy to worry about gender now.
Just then, Huayin suddenly called her full name, her voice unusually calm, making Ange’s heart skip a beat.
“Ange Lina.”
“…You called me by my full name. That’s a little scary,” Ange admitted honestly. Every time Huayin used her full name, nothing good followed.
“What’s there to be scared of?” Huayin scoffed, but then her tone grew serious.
“Hmph, since things are like this… Ange Lina, listen to me!”
She suddenly sat up, towering over Ange, her eyes once again blazing—not with anger, but something else.
“For the next ten months, or however long it takes! Just you wait! I’m going to mold you into someone I like!”
“Huh?” Ange was completely stunned. She instinctively propped herself up, staring at Huayin in disbelief.
“You’re… going to raise me?!”
“That’s right!” Huayin declared, arms crossed, chin lifted, reclaiming the pride of a proper young lady—though now directed in a very strange way.
“You’re not the person I like! At least, not yet! So I’ll just have to turn you into someone I like! From your personality to your habits, from how you dress to how you speak! You have to meet my standards!”
Ange stared at her, dumbfounded. After her brain processed this earth-shattering declaration, she only felt the world spinning.
“Oh… my god…”
She let out a helpless groan, completely giving up on communication. She rolled over, turning her back to Huayin, facing the cold wall, curling herself up.
In her mind, only one thought flashed by, over and over.
No FUCKING words.