Chapter 136
"You could have run the moment you felt me step onto the fire plain, you followed him down instead."
"On the surface, you wanted the Nine-Headed Serpent skeleton."
"Underneath, you were waiting for me to take the bait."
Cecilia backed up three steps.
She stared at him, staring in disbelief wasn’t quite it, what she was looking at was incomprehensible enough to be frightening.
She retreated, he followed.
He backed her into the corner of the stone wall, nowhere further to go.
"Using your looks to seduce me and buy my trust was built into the assassination plan from the start."
"Over the last two days, you weren’t afraid of what I’d do to you, you were afraid I’d do nothing."
"Because that would mean the plan had failed."
"Only if it happened could you use it as a reason nobody could argue with to stay at my side."
"You’d stay until my guard came all the way down."
"And then you’d take the opening."
Cecilia stared at him in outright terror, her face wouldn’t move, how does this demon know all of it?
Not only her identity, the details of the plan.
Is there a traitor in the upper echelon of the Heavenly Demon Alliance?
Impossible.
The fine details lived in her head alone.
The assassination order itself was known to three people in the entire world.
Herself, the Earth Demon Ancestor, and the Heaven Demon Ancestor.
Did those two old monsters sell out the Alliance?
Nonsense, complete nonsense.
Setting aside mysteries she wasn’t solving standing here, another thought arrived and put a shake through her.
If he saw all of it that clearly and laid it out without flinching, then I gave that up for nothing?
Damn it.
Two full days of being wrung out by him.
And she was going to get executed at the end of it?
No, absolutely not.
If that was the only ending on offer, she’d be the most pathetic woman in the four races.
Calm down, don’t panic.
She made herself calm down.
An idea assembled itself.
"Hmph."
"Since you know everything already."
"There’s no point denying it to the death."
"That’s right, I’m with the Heavenly Demon Alliance."
"The Earth Demon Ancestor is my blood uncle."
"And my only reason for approaching you was the assassination order."
"Because I knew."
"Conventional methods don’t kill a monster like you."
"And since you’re a fatal obstruction to the Alliance’s blueprint, you have to be removed at any cost."
Her tone shifted, she went on without a seam in it.
"Before I made contact with you."
"Everything I knew about you came out of cold intelligence reports."
"There was nothing three-dimensional in it. Nothing real."
"These two days changed how I feel in a way I won’t forget."
"If I told you that you’ve completely conquered me... would you believe me?"
Soren held the Strategy Encyclopedia.
He saw through things.
In a narrow sense, she wasn’t lying her submission was strictly physical, her relationship tier hadn’t even lit Obedient and Submissive.
It sat frozen at Strangers Meeting by Chance.
Nobody understood what that meant better than he did.
Dual cultivation was not the strategy required to move Cecilia’s tier.
She was Commander of the Assassination Corps, an Upper-Tier Demon Emperor with a Dao heart harder than most.
Cecilia knew what she was for, she understood the weight of completing a mission far better than a typical Upper-Tier Emperor ever would.
Two days in bed was not going to make her fall in love, hand over her loyalty, and throw away her life’s work.
She was retreating in order to advance, believe those sweet words and he’d be walking into her trap on his own legs.
Then again, the strategy for conquering Cecilia was unusual.
There was no pushing her tier to absolute loyalty on a short timeline, throwing away a woman at this grade after one use would be waste for waste’s sake.
She couldn’t threaten him physically, he could suppress her comprehensively, top to bottom, without effort worth mentioning.
So Soren decided to play the game with her, a pleasant way to pass the time, plus an attentive beauty on hand whenever the mood struck, no argument against it.
He smiled and tapped the tip of her nose.
"Naughty girl."
"Seeing how remarkably honest you are."
"I suppose I’ve no reason not to believe you."
He narrowed his eyes and added a question with a hook in it.
"You wouldn’t ever betray me, would you?"
"Mmm, how could I betray my own man? The Heavenly Demon Alliance is powerful, but I... I really don’t like living underground where I never see daylight."
Inwardly, Cecilia was delighted with how that came out.
"The Heavenly Demon Alliance has always worked in the dark, on jobs that can’t see daylight, that’s why we’re more careful and more secretive than the Falling Cherry Spirit Emperor and his whole tribe."
"All I’ve ever wanted was to live out in the open under the sun, honorably, like ordinary cultivators do."
"All my years in the Alliance, I’ve never had a single day of real happiness."
"And in two days you showed me what the happiest life in the world feels like, that’s why I want to follow you for the rest of mine."
"I’m willing to give up my position as Commander of the Assassination Corps."
"Even if it means cutting ties with my uncle and the rest of them for good."
"I accept that."
Cecilia performed sincerity to a very high standard, tucking herself into Soren’s arms like a small bird needing shelter from the weather.
Soren let the performance stand, he reached out with two fingers and stroked her chin, he nodded, warm about it.
"You really are so considerate."
"Hearing that makes my heart hurt for you."
"Don’t worrym I’ll treat you well."
"I’m glad," Cecilia said, the small upward curve of her mouth was doing a great deal of work.
You filthy demon.
I was raised in the Heavenly Demon Alliance from childhood, you expect me to betray the alliance and my uncle? Keep dreaming.
My only job is to assassinate you.
The moment I see the opening.
I will put you in the ground.
Oh, and.
I’m cutting off that thing between your legs and keeping it.
I’ll use it for needle practice, every single day.