The Devil's Contract Lover - Chapter 63

“Xing Kong, do you love me?”

Having waited for a long time without a reply, Yao Yuan questioned the devil once more.

“It depends on what love is.” Xing Kong gave a cleverly evasive answer after a moment of contemplation. Indeed, what exactly is love?

If love means fulfilling every promise made to a lover, making them happy every day, staying loyal to them, or offering them sufficient support…

…Then the devil, without a doubt, loves humanity.

The devil loves the Contractor, but does Xing Kong love Yao Yuan? That was the question Yao Yuan truly wanted answered.

Is love a change in bodily hormones? The devil can achieve that.

Is love at first sight? Then what constitutes ‘sight’ or ‘falling’?

Is love affection? Xing Kong is fond of her.

The question seemed to be trapped in an endless loop: the devil would avoid every vague descriptive term, and love is difficult to define. Once a precise definition is given, the devil can always find a loophole to state that she satisfies the condition.

After all, the contract is at stake. If Xing Kong cannot convince Yao Yuan that they are in love, she will fail to acquire the soul. How could the devil not care about the contract? Only humans disregard contracts.

“Then Xing Kong…” She reached out her hands and embraced the devil’s waist, “You don’t love me?”

Her voice was weak and soft, the kind of pleading expression the devil utterly detested. Yet, the person looking at her like this was Xiao Yuan, and surprisingly, it wasn’t annoying.

Arrogance drove her to reply with a smile and a “Of course,” as it should have been. Even if she didn’t love the human before her, this person, with their humble status and weak will, would be grateful and fall in love with her.

It was only a matter of when, not if. Perhaps the biggest difference between Xiao Yuan and other contractors was her erratic thought process—quick to kneel, yet the slowest to fall into the trap.

But the words “Of course” felt as if a rune had been branded on her tongue, making it impossible to utter them for a moment.

“That’s great.” Yao Yuan suddenly beamed, pressing her finger against the devil’s lips, “That is your answer, Xing Kong.”

“…” The devil clearly understood that she should immediately do something to interrupt the human’s monologue and inject more doubt into her mindset. But [Sloth] was as potent as [Pride]. The devil, who was usually diligent in maintaining the dominant position, this time did not want to spend the effort to change the Contractor’s mentality.

“And, I want to say…”

[I love you, Xing Kong.] The sentence was lighter than a feather drifting in the wind, settling quietly beside Xing Kong’s ear.

Then, their fingers interlocked.

A Colossal Failure! How could it be a colossal failure!

Yao Yuan curled up under the covers, utterly mortified and ashamed. That was such a failure! She had to erase that memory! Waaah, waaah, waaah— She rolled around in bed for a dozen rotations before daring to peek out from the blanket. Seeing that Xing Kong wasn’t in the room, she finally let out a sigh of relief: she must have been out of her mind to actively try to undress the devil.

And then? And then? And then?

Then she had her [And that’s it?] triple-combo! She just couldn’t do it, not at all! Initiating a seductive move was impossible! If a succubus rating agency existed in this world, and her species was changed to a succubus, the agency’s mentors would surely give her a unanimous and heartbreaking zero points!

Now she understood why “losing face” was called “losing face.” She only wanted to throw herself out the window and never face the tragic mockery… Wuwuwu, Xing Kong’s expression when she left was just… wuwuwu…

“Drink some water.”

“Mm… Wow!” Startled by Xing Kong’s voice, Yao Yuan jumped back into the corner like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, trembling with apprehension.

Fortunately, she couldn’t see any trace of mockery through her fingers, so she slowly lowered her hands: “Can you please let me be embarrassed by myself for a little while?”

“No.” The devil refused ruthlessly. Xing Kong was not the type who only said yes. “Your embarrassment is quite amusing.”

“If you absolutely have to mock me, can you do it another time!”

“My laughter has nothing to do with what you’re thinking.” Xing Kong pinched her cheek, “You are too arrogant; you actually tried to dominate me?”

“Because, because you don’t look strong.” Yao Yuan muttered, “Not a muscular big sister, and your waistline is narrow. It’s deceiving, wuwuwu.”

“…Xiao Yuan, is there something wrong with your brain? Measuring danger by physical strength?” Xing Kong sat next to her, covering her forehead with one hand. “Even ten more football fields wouldn’t be able to contain my true form.”

“Huh? Do you know how big ten football fields are? Your shadow part isn’t that much, is it?” The shocking fact instantly swept away the embarrassment in her heart.

“The parts that humans can understand are the shadow and the gel.” The devil’s expression was quite cruel. “It’s not that common of a substance, but even if you perceive it as a colloid, it would exceed your imagination once all restrictions are lifted.”

“Give me an example? Saying it like that is not intuitive at all.” Yao Yuan began to mentally visualize Xing Kong’s original appearance. First, she imagined a large mass of gel, changed the material to semi-transparent jelly, colored it all black, and then sprinkled a layer of gold dust on top to simulate stars.

Although the chains and tentacles couldn’t be ignored, imagining those was too much trouble, so she’d ignore them for now.

“You’re definitely thinking of something quite rude. Forget it. Enlarge the image of me in your mind to the size of a regular stadium, and then multiply the length, width, and height by 10 times simultaneously.”

The image in her mind instantly warped: a super colossal dark mass covering the entire city, with Yao Yuan, smaller than an ant beneath it, shivering…

“That’s terrifying! Please, please don’t transform!”

“Don’t worry, fully unsealing myself in this foreign world is troublesome and unnecessary.”

The devil seemed satisfied with Yao Yuan’s highly exaggerated reaction, and she hooked her finger under Yao Yuan’s chin: “Do you understand now how impossible it is for you to suppress me?”

“D-don’t confuse concepts! Even though your true form is huge, you are just a normal human size right now, so, so…” Yao Yuan took a nervous gasp, leaning on Xing Kong’s shoulder, pressing down with her inherent weight just to maintain a fragile dominance. Even though she understood the vast physical difference between herself and the devil, she insisted for the sake of her pride.

“So?” The devil provocatively tossed her jacket off, “What happens then?”

History, once again, repeated itself. Yao Yuan, defeated a second time.

“Wuwu, you’re bullying me!”

Only after Xing Kong had buttoned up her shirt did Yao Yuan dare to tap her chest with tiny fists.

“That’s not wrong, is it?” The devil leaned lazily against the bolster. “My meaning is clear: you don’t need to and can’t suppress me, even though your current situation is a bit special.”

“Would it kill you to call me ‘Master’? Waaah, don’t pinch me…” She covered her cheek pitifully to prevent a sneak attack.

“Heh.” Xing Kong didn’t use her hands this time; she simply licked her lips suggestively: “Do you want me to dominate you? Then ask for it.”

“Huh?”

“Express your desire to be dominated with words, actions, and attitude.” The devil looked confidently at the fragile-willed young woman. What are humans, if not creatures that, given a little sweetness, will sink endlessly?

Countless individuals have chosen to kneel and utter respectful titles in the face of her overwhelming presence. She used to be utterly disgusted by the adoration of such lowly beings.

But if it was Xiao Yuan, it was actually a little adorable.

“Xing Kong…”

“Watch your title. Do I need to remind you how to express submission?”

“Are you sick?”

“…” “Ah—Don’t pick me up, you bad guy!”

That night, Yao Yuan ran to the bathroom three times… just to completely wash off the little pig drawn on her face with an oil-based marker.

Comfortable days always pass quickly. During the time when the Succubus and Chu Yan were confirmed dead, Yao Yuan’s efforts were mainly focused on investigating matters related to the return of the Age of Magic.

And, of course, dating Xing Kong.

Although a certain matter still had no progress—and the fact that a certain devil was interested in dominating her “Master”—it was best not to dwell on it.

If there was anything particularly good, it was perhaps her newfound financial freedom. At least now, she could earn enough money for survival and savings without relying on the devil.

The source was somewhat amusing: White Crystal. The seemingly unreliable plan actually flourished. People from all over the world came in admiration, earnestly preparing for the return of the Age of Magic.

As a collaborator on the magic side, a self-proclaimed summoner with a familiar, she naturally received quite a few benefits.

Today, Yao Yuan hadn’t received any messages from the group, nor had anyone notified her to go anywhere to help. She was comfortably lying on her bed, playing on her phone.

“This feels quite suitable.” She muttered to herself as she purchased the desired items online. One was a moonstone for herself, and the other was a gift for Xing Kong. Since they were a couple, having matching accessories would be quite nice.

“Xiao Yuan, today is your graduation.”

A light purple long dress, very much to Xing Kong’s taste, lay on the back of the chair, waiting for its owner to put it on.

The word [Graduation] caused Yao Yuan a moment of confusion. She had longed for graduation, having rewritten her thesis several times and even continued working on it after signing the contract with Xing Kong.

Hearing it now, it felt like a lifetime ago.

She adjusted her mindset, biting into a pineapple shortcake placed on a tray: “Do I still need to go? My student status is gone.”

“Of course, it’s been restored.”

“What?!” The pineapple shortcake in Yao Yuan’s hand instantly dropped to the floor: “Wow! Long live magic!” It would be a lie to say she wasn’t happy; it was, after all, a university degree she had worked for more than ten years to achieve. Losing it for no reason was truly painful. Even if she wouldn’t use it in the future, she didn’t want it taken away.

“It’s not just simple magic; it’s a reclamation.” Xing Kong gently stroked her long hair. “I have fully assimilated the pseudo-artifact that existed in this world and released a portion of its stolen objects.”

Perhaps Xiao Yuan wasn’t the only beneficiary, but the only person she cared about was the girl in front of her.

“Xing Kong, you are so magnificent~” Yao Yuan excitedly snuggled and rubbed herself into the devil’s embrace. “But why did you emphasize [this world]?”

“Because creatures that sign contracts with a pseudo-god or a god, along with spatio-temporal artifacts, share one thing in common: they can travel relatively freely through time and space.”

“Xing Kong, do parallel worlds exist?”

“It depends on the definition. Timelines certainly exist.” The devil’s words caused Yao Yuan to fall silent.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing~ Let’s go to the school first.”

Arriving on campus, she didn’t feel the excitement she had anticipated. Although it was her graduation day, she only felt a sense of calm. Yao Yuan stood outside the sports field, watching her classmates taking photos in front of the teaching building.

That was her class, her student life, but she… suddenly felt she shouldn’t walk forward. Her happiness was obtained by taking away someone else’s.

[Aside from Xing Kong, I’m afraid no one—human, god, or wraith—would want “me” to be the one who survived.]

“Don’t space out.” Just as Yao Yuan hesitated, an invisible hand moved her into the middle of all her classmates. No one noticed her sudden interruption. Everyone smiled at the photographer’s cue of “Cheese,” and the students in the back row even started throwing their caps.

Her heart said she shouldn’t, and her lips wanted to say she didn’t want to, but the photograph still captured a perfect smile.

“Xing Kong, thank you.” After stepping off the platform, Yao Yuan naturally separated from her classmates and walked toward the devil under the tree.

“Such a small matter is a given. I can see what you truly want.” Xing Kong took her hand. “Where do you want to go next? Travel abroad?”

“Xing Kong, I want to go to the amusement park one more time.” She lifted her face, her smile seemingly genuine. “I want to see Shanshan again.”

More than just seeing her again, she… wasn’t sure what she would do.

“Promise me, do not touch anything dangerous. Distorted time and space are the domain of gods. Intruders will be extremely passive.” The devil didn’t stop her, merely offering a warning.

“Of course.”

The devil does not lie; humans are not devils.