Forcefully Doting On You - extra5

 

Chapter 134

The Little Priest of the Gods (End)

Note: This is the end of this novel. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and supporting it here and on Ko-Fi! 

In the dead of night, Cross silently moved through the long corridor lit by flickering candles on either side.

The young monarch's eyebrows furrowed, his face taut, and the slight tremor of his hands at his sides betrayed his anxiety.

Witnessing the pure and beautiful Oracle Priest fainting on the day of the decisive battle nearly froze Cross' heart. What's more, hearing Themis grit his teeth and reveal that Mu Cai had been beguiled and possessed by a demon had felt like a raging torrent of blood rushing to his head.

From the first day that young Cross saw his destined Oracle Priest, he nurtured affection for the priest - pure, beautiful, noble, and kind-hearted. This silent affection was akin to wine brewing, growing richer and more profound as he came to understand Mu Cai with each passing day.

So, when Cross learned that his Oracle Priest now belonged to someone else, his heart roiled like a tempest. Jealousy and rage nearly wore a hole in his heart, depriving him of sleep as he restlessly tossed and turned in his bed at night.

Cross yearned to see Mu Cai. He wanted to be with him immediately, to claim and mark him as his own. He wanted to make Mu Cai forget the demon and ensure he occupied the priest's heart wholly from that point forward!

With these tumultuous emotions, Cross quickened his pace. As he neared the Royal Bedchamber, he heard sounds of struggle and harsh whispers of reprimands and pleas from within.

Alarmed, fearing the demon had returned to the human world, Cross immediately pushed open the door.

Blessed with divine strength since birth, he effortlessly managed tasks that even adult warriors struggled with. In his eyes, the frail door barring the bedchamber was as good as non-existent.

The next moment, Cross, the young city lord, widened his eyes, nearly warping the door handle.

On the soft bed belonging to the Oracle Priest, Mu Cai was pinned down by Themis. Half of his garments were torn away, revealing his porcelain-like skin. His smooth black hair sprawled over the bed, and his slender arm grasped in Themis' hand, jerked around like a fish out of water as he struggled.

Interrupted, Themis clicked his tongue in irritation. His upper half was bare, and he glared menacingly with his golden eyes.

Hearing the sound at the door, Mu Cai immediately appealed for help, "City Lord! Save me! Themis isn’t himself!"

Having said this, the Oracle Priest expected immediate assistance.

However, it didn't come forth.

The young monarch stood at the entrance, his veins bulging from his arm, muscles rippling, the door nearly broken in his hand. Under the candlelight, Cross's face turned a heated crimson, his expression decidedly unnatural.

Seeing this, Mu Cai felt a bubble of unease raise in his heart for an unknown reason.

The monarch did not rush to help him. Instead, he seemed lost in thoughts, as if struggling to restrain himself.

The Oracle Priest's immediate thought was that something had befallen Cross. As a priest, he had been trained since childhood to respond to diverse cries for help, guided by his teachers to always extend compassionate assistance to every person in need.

At this moment, he completely forgot he was at another's mercy and urgently addressed Themis, his face blazing white, "Themis, stop this. The City Lord might be in trouble; let me go so I can check on him."

Seeing the anxiety in his teacher's eyes, which were as bright as the Milky Way on a summer night, Themis couldn't help but tenderly cup the man's chin with his free hand. He chuckled, "Teacher, even though you've been tainted by the demon, your heart remains so pure."

After his cruel-edged words, his golden, lively eyes shifted towards Cross, "Cross, do you wish to share our teacher?"

At Themis's words, Mu Cai's eyes dilated, while the door panel in Cross's hold cracked into two.

Finally confronting his own feelings, the young city lord croaked, "No."

Raising an eyebrow, Themis looked down on him and barked, "Then get out!"

Even though priests and other clergy technically belong to the city-state, and are superficially under the city lord, the temple exists independently of the secular world, accepting offerings from the populace and not bound by secular laws.

Themis's courtesy towards Cross on a day-to-day basis was due to protocol and respect for Cross's position as the monarch, but now that Cross had interrupted his personal affairs, Themis, inflamed, would naturally not present a friendly countenance.

Especially when Themis noticed Cross's gaze had been fixed on Mu Cai's exposed shoulder. Without making a show of it, Themis nudged his teacher behind him, only leaving one hand firmly holding Mu Cai's slender wrist.

The figure whom everyone's gazes converged upon was obstructed, and Cross seemed to awaken from a slumber. He clenched his fist tightly, speaking in a deep voice, "My not wanting to share Mu Cai with you doesn't mean I don't want him."

Having said this, Cross met Themis' golden eyes head-on without backing down.

Both of Mu Cai's hands were tightly held, and he felt like he was about to pass out again. He felt helpless as Themis was not listening to reason. Mu Cai originally thought the monarch would be the reasonable one, but now it didn't seem to be the case.

Just as the two were at a deadlock, footsteps were heard from outside the chamber.

Mu Cai immediately tensed up.

The number of priests living in the temple was limited, and each room was situated considerably distant from the others, making it hard to hear any noise.

Who could be coming at this time?

If such a scene was witnessed, the reputations of Themis and the monarch would be utterly destroyed!

Themis and Cross temporarily ceased their face-off, both turning their heads towards the door.

The footsteps grew louder, finally reaching the door.

Upon seeing the intruder, Mu Cai couldn't help but exclaim, "Patro?!"

The latter had been unconscious for the entirety of the preceding incidents. Had he finally awoken?

But why did the Purifier Priest's condition look so wrong? Mu Cai knew that Patro was always accustomed to enduring hardships and living an ascetic lifestyle. Now, Patro's face was creased with worry and looked ferocious; he probably couldn't bear it any longer!

At this time, he must have come to seek help, right?

As Mu Cai thought of this and tried to get up, Themis stopped him: "Master, wait, something is wrong with him."

Patro raised his eyes, which were surprisingly bright. Despite the pain on his face, he was still persistently gazing at Mu Cai, his voice hoarse: "Mu Cai, go...hurry, leave!"

Just as his words fell, a deep, eerie laughter echoed throughout the room.

"The one who summoned my avatar, do you think you can stop me? Who do you think commanded you to come here? Moreover, can you really bear to let Mu Cai go?"

The voice was deep and magnetic, filled with tempting offers from the demonic realm, causing the expressions of everyone in the room to change.

It was that demon!

Patro's face immediately flushed bright red.

The person kneeling on the bed, his hands held tightly with his white robe hanging down, exposed his slender and pale shoulders. In his eyes were shock and pity as he looked at Patro.

Suddenly, a tearing pain came from within his body. Patro was clear that the demon he had summoned was about to emerge!

In the instant Perseus retreated into a different space, he understood one thing.

Why could this human easily summon him, who hadn't set foot in the human realm in tens of thousands of years? Why did the city-state monarch and priest possess powers that originated from him?

Because all of them were fragments of his divine soul that had fallen to the mortal world after being seriously injured in the battle of the three realms that he had participated in all those years ago.

All of them were him, and this time, the evil god had returned from the different space using his own avatar.

To retrieve his Mu Cai.

In the eyes of the other three, Patro suddenly knelt on the ground, emitting a painful howl. Immediately thereafter, the image of the demonic god behind him began to crystalize.

At the same time, Themis, Cross, and Patro all suddenly found a sequence of memories in their minds that did not belong to them.

Starting from the great battle of the three realms tens of thousands of years ago, with the ancient gods, demons, and humans entangled in conflict. The evil god was seriously injured, the divine soul was shaken, split, and scattered, falling into the human realm.

And they were part of it.

By the time the shadow had fully materialized, the demon god spread his enormous bat wings, revealing a somewhat evil smile, "Why are you all fighting and scrambling like this?"

"Since you all are merely parts of me, why don't we all love our Mu Cai together?"

The other three hesitated for a moment, remaining silent.

However, they all turned their heads, the look in their eyes as they gazed upon Mu Cai was fanatic.

Thinking of the horrible scene in his mind, Mu Cai couldn't bear it any longer and passed out.

________________________

Mu Cai jolted awake from the dream.

The air conditioner in the room was running, the temperature had been turned down quite low, but it still couldn't block the surging heat. The person holding him was like a furnace, with a heavy arm resting on his waist.

In such a summer night, it was practically a torture.

As Mu Cai thought of the dreamscape, he angrily pounded on the person beside him several times after looking at the freshly awoken Mu Qing, "What are you doing! How can you, how could you do this?!"

He had agreed to love just in the spirit of being old and married, thinking that spicing up their relationship could be interesting. Who could have thought that after reading several novels, the other would create such a world for him?!

Mu Cai still remembered the feeling of helplessness and despair from the dream; he wished he could beat this guy up right away!

The planet ruler let his beloved pummel him with tiny fists.

To him, this amount of force felt just like tickling, and since he had indeed done something wrong, Mu Qing decided to let Mu Cai vent his frustrations first before he tried to placate him.

When Mu Cai had vented all his anger and stopped panting in rage, the planet ruler hurriedly sat up, with one arm around Mu Cai's shoulders and one hand holding the other's fair hand, coaxing, "Don't be angry, Mu Cai."

His body was unbearably hot, a 16-degree air conditioning unit was useless, it was like sitting in a furnace. As Mu Cai was still angry at the moment, he immediately pushed Mu Qing away with strength, "Go away! You're too bad! Don't come near me!"

Mu Qing immediately put on a pitiful face, "It's because you've been so cold to me lately, not letting me hold you, touch you, or even hug you. I felt so bad, that's why I came up with this script."

Mu Cai’s hand, poised to push him away, halted mid-air.

This indeed was his problem.

Although Mu Cai had to act this way solely due to the unbearable heat, his actions had indeed hurt his lover's feelings.

He didn't want to verbalize the reason initially; after all, it wasn't Mu Qing's fault that his body temperature was so high. If he spoke out, the issue wouldn't be solved, and it might even lead to a forced cooling-off period for the whole summer. Perhaps Mu Qing would even feel that he was being too utilitarian: hugging him in the cold winter, but kicking him away in the hot summer.

Therefore, Mu Cai subtly distanced himself from Mu Qing, assuming he wouldn't notice. Only when he was truly unable to bear the heat did he find something else to do to break free from Mu Qing's embrace.

However, being a man he spent every day with, the planet ruler still quickly sensed his unusual behavior.

When he saw that his evasion couldn't be concealed anymore, Mu Cai had no choice but to tell the truth, "Because... because you're just too hot. When I was hugging you and sleeping with you before, despite having the AC on, I couldn't sleep at all for the whole night, it was too uncomfortable."

After he finished speaking, Mu Cai’s long eyelashes drooped, and his pale face was full of grievance, "You don’t feel it, but I'm really uncomfortable!"

Mu Qing’s hand paused mid-air.

He really hadn't considered this.

As the planet ruler, an embodiment of will, a few-degree rise in the surface temperature of the planet was inconsequential to him. Not to mention that Mu Qing's orbit was closer to the sun than Earth's, with a higher temperature, so the summer heat was nothing to him; he didn't regard it as significant.

But he hadn’t considered his little lover's situation at all, he had been so inconsiderate!

At this realization, Mu Qing hurriedly cooed his lover in his arms, "I'm sorry, Mu Cai, it's my fault for not considering this. But don’t worry, I'll cool down very soon!"

Upon seeing his lover apologize sincerely, Mu Cai felt that his previous action of hitting him was somewhat excessive. Lowering his eyes, he extended his fair hand to touch Mu Qing's arm, and said rather shyly, "Alright, stop apologizing. I'm also at fault. I should have spoken up earlier."

"I shouldn't have hit you," with that, Mu Cai raised his eyes, solemnly declaring, "No more allowing such situations to happen!"

Mu Qing quickly embraced him, "Yes, yes, absolutely! Are we going to see Father today?"

Thinking of his father in the hospital, although it was just a minor surgery, Mu Cai still felt somewhat worried. He quickly replied, "Yes! I must accompany him for the surgery today."

Mu Qing extended a hand to stroke his lover’s cheek, smiling, "Don't worry too much. Mom, Dad, elder brother, elder sister, and I have all said — we will always love you."

Mu Cai’s family was really great. As early as when they were together, when he and Mu Cai shared a life, they solemnly exclaim,

No matter life or death, across time and space, we will always love you, always.

On that night, people all around the world witnessed history, as the Dawn jumped out of its previous orbit and moved into a sun-distant one.

And on that very night, Mu Cai finally managed to have a comfortable sleep in the arms of his lover.

Without even switching on the air conditioner.

－－End－－

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