The group falls silent until only the sound of the wind outside can be heard. The flickering of the green flames and the rhythmic tapping of the stray branches among the cacophony of the ambient sounds drowned in the silence.
Feng Huan doesn't dare to look up to the men and women sitting around him. He stays in his position, looking down and gritting his teeth until he hears a peal of soft laughter and slight snickering. Alana's smile is dripping with mockery as she places her goblet on the wooden table.
As the goblet touches the table it produces a soft knock. A sheet of sweat covers Feng Huan's forehead as if the temperature is getting warmer, as though her presence among the crowd negates the cold weather just outside the Gothic stained glass separating them from the outside.
Alana clears her throat audibly. She gives him the side eye, her mouth turned upwards in a smile that doesn't reach her eyes; her button nose turns up as if picking up the scent of his juvenile piss.
Finally, she speaks.
"Forget it, this is how Demons have always been."
Feng Huan's head throbs in pain… frustration. 'What…?' he was almost compelled to slam his fist on the table, but he chose not to. 'Yes… she'll bend to me someday, I'm a demon! I'm the superior here!'
Feng Huan looks up to see her smiling at him as she sips her drink. Her eyes are open, and her emerald irises seemingly glowing in contrast to the dim lighting in the hall… Now that he thinks of it, the people around him seem to have glowing irises.
She wipes her mouth, the milk rinsing the yam. Her face shines as she swallows, licking her lips.
Feng Huan laughs in his head as he revels in his superior knowledge. He's always fought hard to get all the knowledge he could. He prides himself in knowing everything! He-
He is derailed from his train of thought as Alana knocks on the wooden table with her heavy gauntlet.
"Demon. You don't really think you've just waltzed in here expecting us to follow you?" she says, the smile on her face not ceasing, her eyes turned up into crescents.
"I… I understand." 'Yes! Yes, I do!' Feng Huan wants to yell out, but her serene face snuffs out the candle of his courage in totality.
"It looks like Domplumo has finally gotten it together." She scoffs.
Feng Huan is stunned into silence.
"That's great to hear! What changed for him?" Another similarly aged woman snickers audibly, almost falling forward from her chair.
Alana holds an armoured hand up, and silence once again envelopes the room. Alana lets out a sigh, tucking a stray strand of hair from her face before landing her gaze on Feng Huan. Her smile is subtle as if her mouth hasn't moved at all.
"Then… What must I do?" Feng Huan asks.
"Then why didn't you ask about it before?" Alana stands up, dragging her heavy chair as she does so. Her hands heavily land on the table, the milk in her cup sloshes around, and a small amount spills on the table.
She turns her head, her eyes gaze over to him, her face is pale, and her breathing shortens. The others follow her lead and stand up as well. Alana's forehead glistens with sweat, her eyes twitching slightly, and her hands shaking as she leans on the table.
"In three days, the Viscount will be visiting the territory." She looks over harshly towards Feng Huan and points a bandaged finger at him.
"If you don't do anything, we're going to give you away!" she scowls before strutting off. The other people at the table also walk away to the entrance, except for one. Unlike the others, her face doesn't seem to be in a permanent scowl.
Neither is a permanent stoicism. Her eyes twinkle as she walks towards him. As she walks towards him the left side of her upper lip turns up to a half smile. Feng Huan looks at her in suspicion, her age seems like an illusion.
An eternal veil of youth covers her face, the armour and decorations on her glowing in the dim hall. Feng Huan looks at her as she's walking toward him like a fair maiden, strutting towards him with a wide smile.
"I would like to talk to you, Domplumo." she says, her voice tingling on his ears. Feng Huan swallows his spit as she saunters towards him.
"What do you want?" Feng Huan asks, taking a step away from her. Her eyes widen, then she smiles. She slinks her arm around his.
"What would you say if I helped you?" she asks. Feng Huan is tongue tied, but he nods slowly. The woman flashes him a smile.
"Meet me in the Library tomorrow." she says.
"Uhuh…" Feng Huan hums, looking her up and down. She looks short from where he's looking, his height of two metres makes the world seem shrunken down.
"You should visit the Opera Doll." she says, before reaching out for a piece of yam and taking a bite. She looks at Feng Huan knowingly, before walking off. Feng Huan lets out a breath.
"Rong… Let's go back." He looks behind him and sees the trusty maid, holding the duck, who's once again in armour. He sighs and walks towards the faceless maid.
Her painted on red cheeks glow, the rest of her face a smooth porcelain, eyeless, eerie. Without thinking, he grabs her shoulder, making her grunt slightly. Her head points up, seemingly looking at him.
Feng Huan looks away, a blush creeping on his face. Ahh! No, this is wrong!
He stomps his feet.
"Follow me Rong." he says as he walks back to the hallway from whence he came, the faceless maid holding the duck following him through the dark corridor. He walks through the damp hallway, the castle looking like it's going to crumble at any moment.
Turning to where his room is supposed to be, he passes the hall where the maids are lined up, looking aimlessly at their fronts, seemingly looking past him, as if he was made of thin air.
He turns to face the door at the end of the hall, the iron door knob reflecting a dim light from the flickering flames. It is cold to the touch, and it seems frozen and hard, submerging him in a damp feeling.
Turning the doorknob he enters his room, immediately plopping himself on the bed, the day utterly exhausting him. Rong steps into the room and closes the door behind her, making a little plopping sound.
She stands still, holding the sleeping armoured duck, standing patiently, awaiting his next move. Feng Huan massages his temple, thinking of things to do next. He looks at Rong and the duck resting on her bosom.
With a lecherous look he stands up to walk towards Rong and the duck. 'Ehehehe when I think of it I haven't been able to enjoy myself here' he thinks as he inches closer.
Rong is not making a sound, other than the occasional scratching on the hem of her dress. As he's walking towards his unwilling victim, he hears rustling on the underside of his bed.
The sound then changes volume, getting louder and louder until he cannot ignore it anymore. Feng Huan turns around and faces his bed. He could only take a step before a barefoot woman tumbles out of it.
She does a barrel roll until she hits the far side of the room, causing ornamental plates and cups perched on the wall to tumble down from their posts and shatter into pieces upon contact to the ground.
Feng Huan feels a tinge of pain as this all unfolds. It seems like Domplumo held those porcelain objects close at heart. Feng Huan winces, before slowly approaching the bundle before him, draped in her cape.
As he comes closer, he can make out the outline of the woman in question. He could catch a glimpse of her pale skin from beneath her cape, as if she's been staying far from the sun for so long.
She's so pale, it looks unhealthy. Feng Huan looks back at Rong's face. Yes, it is white, but her complexion is akin to a counter top at the coffee shop. White as a floor tile at the grocery store. While the woman hunkered down before him…
Her face is pale, but he could see veins crisscrossing her cheeks, it's pulsing and constricting, as if her entire body is pulsing with something unknown. The woman shrugs the cape off her body.
The cape falls off and she stands up, revealing her pale neck, and shoulders. This time, the veins on her cheek are threading thinner to her neck and shoulder, as thin as the thread used for sewing.
The veins on her neck and shoulders are no longer pulsing, but it looks like it's tugging forwards, and backwards… Like a string. The woman moves jaggedly as it faces Feng Huan. She points at him.
"You! I saw what you were about to do!" she says with a shaky voice. Her violet eyes are emanating a glow similar to the red sun's passing through the thin curtains of the room they're in.
"I… who are you?" Feng Huan asks.
"I can't believe you already forgot about me!" the woman frantically points at him, stuttering over her words. Her eyelids look heavy and she looks perpetually groggy. She yawns and sits on the bed.
"I'm your pair, remember?" she says, stretching her arms and sighing.
"I'm really mad right now." she says, laying on the bed.
Feng Huan scratches his head, totally confused. He sits on the other side of the bed, looking over to the woman on the other side, her eyes wide open but her snoring can be heard clearly. Feng Huan stifles a laugh.
He turns to her and slowly closes her eyelids with his hand, causing her to grab his hand with both of hers.
"Keep an eye out for me…"
Feng Huan swallows his saliva audibly as he bites his lip. He looks to Rong, who's standing quietly against the wall for support, but she simply shakes her head at him. Feng Huan lets out a breath as he stares down at the demon on his bed.
Feng Huan sits down in a daze, looking outside the window, watching the red sun sink to the horizon, and the moon slowly creeping up to the sky. This is the second world he's been in, and on this first day…
He doesn't seem to be winning at all. No gold, no Imperial decree, no concubines, no land. What did the previous soul in this body do?? All he knows is, he doesn't deserve this hardship. Instead, he got this empty sandbox.
He tries to stand up, but his hand is being forced to stay, her grip is not letting go, no matter how much power he uses to pull himself free, he cannot stand up for the life of him. At this very moment… He feels powerless…
He can feel tears in his eyes as he groans in frustration, trying to pry himself away from her hands but as hard as he pulls he cannot, and her serene sleeping face serves to mock him. You are no longer all powerful…
The veins on his head start bulging, he groans with all his might, but not even the noise can wake the Demoness up. She is seemingly in a deep sleep.
For the first time, Feng Huan is stumped. There is no cheat menu, where he gets an all powerful artefact or infinite gold…
"This is a glitch, yes!" Feng Huan laughs out loud.
"The cheat menu must be hidden! Maybe I should trigger quests or storylines…" he chuckles to himself, but no matter what he thinks now, his hand is refusing to come free. He's trapped until morning.
His thoughts are derailed when he hears shuffling on the door.
…
Morning comes, and Feng Huan's back is aching. His shoulders are also aching, and his neck is stiff. It feels so painful! The pain permeates throughout his upper body and back. This is pain he has never felt before.
He looks back and notices that his hand has been finally released from the iron grip, his hand is now glistening with sweat. The room is the same old, and it is as musky as ever.
He turns his attention to Rong who is lying on her side with a pillow pressed under her head. Feng Huan frowns, sitting back onto the bed.
"Are you going to continue to follow me around every morning?" he asks Rong.
He half expected the faceless maid to go back to her post and move on with her life. He's already named her, so she should just go back to doing what she normally does. She even got a pillow as she slept on the floor.
However, Rong just lays there unmoving, staring at nothing while the sheets hang on her frame, covering her entire torso, her hands folded neatly by her sides. She is sleeping so peacefully. Maybe Feng Huan should take her with him from now on.
The Demoness resting on the other side of the bed starts to move, her weight shifting the bed, making audible sounds as its legs are scratching on the wooden floor. She stretches herself, lifting her hand and pointing it towards Feng Huan. With a smile, she extends a finger towards him.
"Hey, get off," she says, waving her hand at his face. Feng Huan takes a few moments before he stands up from his sitting position, off the bed. She watches as he moves, her eyes following his every movement.
She smirks at him and raises a brow. "What happened?" she asks. "Why do you look so tired? Do you have a job you need to attend to?" She grins at him. Feng Huan's mouth opens slightly, and his eyebrows furrow.
"Bruh." he raises his brow. "Are you seriously asking me these kinds of questions? Are you feeling alright…?" Feng Huan says. He grabs his hair in frustration and rubs his forehead. "Do you know how exhausting this kind of thing is?" he continues.
"Shut it. I haven't slept that well in thirty years because you just had to injure yourself." she scoffs.
"Come with me."
Feng Huan follows her as she walks out of the room.
She leads him down another corridor and enters a spacious hall with many pillars supporting it high above. Each pillar is decorated in elaborate designs made of stone and carved into various shapes and forms, almost resembling flowers.
He supposes that each one represents the different races, or perhaps the cultures, that lived here before whatever event made the population dip so much.Come to think of it, he's never visited this wing before.
"How long have you been living here?" Feng Huan asks her.
"Long enough." she replies, walking to the centre. She stops in front of a statue depicting a beautiful woman with long black hair and green eyes, wearing a flowing purple dress. They are now standing on a verandah overlooking the valley.
"Do you like what you see, Domplumo?" she asks, looking at him. The verandah rests on a mountain slope, and the overlooking view of the green valley is captivating. She takes another step closer to the statue on the verandah.
"It suits you," she says smiling at him, her hand caressing the statue's cheek lovingly. "You could easily live here with me."
Feng Huan looks at the statue in front of them. He could vaguely deduce that before he got here, the previous owner of the body was a nomad. That gives him more questions than answers.
However, there is something strangely familiar about the statues that surrounds them; the way they hold their own. As if they knew the true nature of their surroundings.
Feng Huan steps forward, leaning closer to study the carving in detail. His fingertips touch the smooth surface of the stone, leaving behind small trails of his fingers.
The stone then gradually regains their original shape, discarding the scratches he has inflicted on it. He traces his index finger along the carvings, tracing his fingertip across the figures.
He pauses at one particular figure and squints his eyes, moving his hand forward, pressing on the carving's surface. As soon as his finger touches the carving, a strange sensation travels through his body, making him shiver.
He quickly withdraws his hand and looks at the statue again.
"What is it?" his companion asks, looking at him with curiosity.
"These scripts, I feel a strange presence within them." he says in a meek tone.
"I believe this belongs to this house."
"That's why they were left behind here, they belonged to this house. Who left it here?" she asks softly, stroking the statue affectionately.
Feng Huan shrugs, "I thought you would know." he says.
"Do you want to find out these mysteries with me?" she asks.
Feng Huan nods his head and follows after her, curious about the script's meaning, about the characters carved on it.
They walk past the columns, stepping over each other and around each other, until they reach the end of the verandah. They stop and stare at the entrance before them.
In front of them is the entrance that leads into the temple itself. A wide golden door with a dragon's head engraved on it. There are two dragons carved in the doorway, one male and one female. A temple on the very top of the mountain.
In contrast to its usual design, it's decorated with a mixture of red and white stone tiles that makes it seem like it came from another era. The door is made of bronze and decorated with gold. It has some sort of magical power that draws people towards it.
"I want to know more…" Feng Huan says, thirsting for knowledge.
"So… like I said…You could easily live here with me."