After sending Langmuir away, Hun Yao did not choose to stay in his royal court.
His subjects tried their best to retain him, but the Demon King carried out his decision.
He handed over the throne to the young king, Tianpo, assisted by the high priest Tada, and without any hesitation, he moved to guard the barrier cliff.
Whether it was the attendants who wanted to follow the king, or the furnishings used in the palace, Hun Yao took nothing with him.
He opened his private treasury, distributed everything that could be divided among his subjects, and then burned all those bones–the symbols of the enemies the Broken Horn Demon King had defeated over the past decade–by his own hands.
The only thing left was the relic of the Holy Monarch.
The once full treasury suddenly became empty.
Hun Yao put the things that had traces of Langmuir over the years, such as those bone ornaments and that firefox fur blanket…back into the treasury one by one, and finally locked it.
He only took the beast leather harp made by Langmuir himself, and his own bronze curved knife, and walked up the cliff lightly.
It was still winter, and the oddly shaped little wooden house had snow accumulated on the eaves.
The Demon King was idle every day, and the long memories ebbed and flowed in solitude.
But most of the memories were painful. What Hun Yao thought of was always his harm to Langmuir, and the time consumed in probing, doubting, and insincere words.
But that’s all he had. So he could only rummage through those memories, scrape out a little sweetness from the mess, and chew it with more self-torture.
He often dreamed of Langmuir’s death, then gasped in horror in the middle of the night, eyes open until dawn.
The leader Zhen Zan came to see him once, was silent for a long time, and said, “This is not like you.”
She walked behind Hun Yao, who was still tuning the strings of the harp with an expressionless face, too lazy to pay attention to her.
“My King Hun Yao, how could you do such a foolish thing?”
Zhen Zan said, “The Gasuo boundary has been opened, you should have been crowned as the supreme king of the abyss, but now you have lost everything, and the rest of your life can only be a crippled guard on the barrier cliff. And the Holy Monarch you paid for, won’t even come back to look at you.”
“No, you don’t even know if he is dead or alive. He is very likely to be dead, and you don’t know whether he was in pain or happy at the end of his life…My King, is this the void ending you gave up everything for?”
“What are you doing here?” Hun Yao glanced at her, “Did the group in the royal court send you to persuade me to go back?”
Zhen Zan: “…”
Zhen Zan simply found a warm place in the sun on the cliff and sat down.
She looked deeply at the Demon King who had been hailed as a legend in the abyss, and suddenly asked, “Hun Yao, have you given up?”
“I thought that demons like you would never stop fighting until death.”
“Oh,” Hun Yao lazily smiled, “I’m tired of fighting, I think watching the cliff is quite interesting.”
Zhen Zan: “Is it because of the departure of the Holy Monarch?”
“You guess?” Hun Yao lowered his head and hooked his lips, a few strands of black hair falling in front of his red pupils.
…Actually, what Zhen Zan said was right, the Demon King thought.
According to his previous style, let alone losing his demonic breath, even if he lost his hands and feet, he would not willingly roll out of his royal court and run here to watch the cliff.
Hun Yao also found it hard to describe why he suddenly changed his temperament.
It’s just that the human who had been involved in his love and hate for fourteen years had left, and the sunlight had also fallen on the land of Gasuo. The weight he thought he would carry for a lifetime suddenly dropped, and the fatigue that had been lurking for a long time suddenly surged towards his crippled limbs.
For the first time in his life, the Demon King felt that he couldn’t fight anymore.
He just wanted to play the harp alone, plant flowers, and look for the person who had left in his memories.
When the spring was warm and the flowers bloomed, he imagined that Langmuir was watching him from above, smiling and talking to him.
But he didn’t know, he didn’t have to wait until the spring was warm and the flowers bloomed.
Langmuir was watching him at this moment.
The Holy Monarch seemed to like going to the barrier cliff more and more. At first, it was once every ten or eight days, then it became every three to five days, and now it’s almost every day.
Aiden was afraid that his elder brother would say one day, “I want to live in the watchtower,” and then face the Demon King every moment.
The spatial confinement on the barrier cliff seemed to be the same as before. One could see and hear the bottom from the top, but the bottom couldn’t see or hear the top.
But Langmuir insisted on talking to Hun Yao, sometimes talking about his physical recovery, sometimes chatting about the interesting things that happened in the palace.
“Yesterday the doctor let me choose, whether to keep the demon form or recover the human body. He also said that if I wait another ten days and a half, the horns and tail will grow solid, and they won’t go away.”
“The doctor said that the risk of recovering the human body is very high, so I gave up. It’s not bad to have horns and a tail. As for Mana, I sealed it all into that honey gold dagger.”
“These two days I have been studying spells related to spatial laws, you wait for me… don’t be so sad every day.”
“You are always sad, how can I distinguish this feeling of heartache, this feeling of missing, is it guilt or love?”
When Langmuir was not on the barrier cliff, he was recuperating and studying spells in the palace.
One after another, some old friends came to the Holy Monarch.
The first was the former temple knight Gilbert. To be honest, Langmuir had almost forgotten this person. So much so that when the knight came to the Holy Monarch to beg for his forgiveness, he almost didn’t recognize him.
“Why should I forgive you?” the Holy Monarch asked.
Gilbert looked panicked, but heard the former young master add another sentence, “What did you do wrong?”
“I… It was me who told the citizens of the royal city that you favored the demons after you came back from the abyss, which caused you…!”
“But that’s the truth,” Langmuir said, “I can’t resent you for telling the truth.”
The soldier Abel, who had shot him with an arrow from the watchtower, also came. He was so haggard that his cheekbones were sunken, and he seemed to have aged twenty years.
He had shackles on his hands, deeply pressed his forehead to the ground, and dared not speak.
Langmuir pulled him up and chatted with the soldier who had almost killed him for a long time.
Finally, he said to him, “Your ancestors fought with the demons to protect the kingdom, they are our heroes. Even if the war extinguishes in the future, and humans and demons reconcile, the heroes of the past will not be erased of their glory.”
“Of course, as a soldier, you did disobey the military order, and indeed you are guilty. Accept the punishment according to the normal law.”
Abel left crying loudly.
Gradually, more and more citizens who had hurt the Holy Monarch came, they listed their own crimes, and Langmuir listened carefully.
Later, as more and more people came, the Holy Monarch would swing by the ruins of the Brett temple every now and then, telling those who cared about him that he was fine, and he didn’t blame anyone.
In this way, he enlightened the confused, comforted the regretful, and forgave everything at the end of this winter.
Days passed, the snow outside the palace melted, and the early spring flowers began to bud.
Langmuir finished his last story in the abyss, and the recorders also finished three thick books.
That night, when Holy Monarch Langmuir and His Majesty Aiden sat in the back garden watching the stars, the former said softly that he should leave.
Aiden had expected it, but his heart was still unbearably heavy.
“Must you go, brother? Your body has not fully recovered, the abyss is not as good as the palace…”
“It can’t be said that I must go.”
Langmuir took a sip of tea, put down the porcelain cup and said, “I just really miss the Demon King, if possible, I don’t want to drag it anymore.”
Aiden couldn’t speak. The son of god with boundless love, for the first time in his life, had selfishness, how could he refuse?
But he was still worried, repeatedly muttering “What if the demons bully you”, “The abyss has nothing to eat or drink, it’s hard for you, brother”, “What if the Demon King changes his mind”… He wanted Langmuir to bring guards, and he wanted him to bring a caravan, wishing to move half of the palace to him.
Langmuir was both amused and annoyed. “Are you preparing my dowry for me?”
Unfortunately, the dowry could not be taken. That spatial confinement, it was hard enough for the Holy Monarch to make a hole to get in, let alone bring carriages and followers. In the end, Aiden had to give up in frustration.
The matter of re-entering the abyss, Langmuir did not hide from the kingdom.
He honestly explained everything to his subjects, including his complex feelings for the Demon King.
“So don’t worry about me,” he said in the end, “Please…love yourselves for me, love every kind fellow around you.”
As expected, the voices of retention came overwhelmingly, and it took the Holy Monarch a few more days to soothe everyone. The weather had completely warmed up.
The gentle wind brought the news of the revival of all things, countless yellow-green buds broke through the ground, and swallows stood on the newly sprouted high branches.
The path was winding, a carriage was heading towards the direction of the barrier cliff.
Behind the carriage was a large group of people walking, they were all here to send off Langmuir. Many people chased the carriage, repeatedly calling out unwillingly.
“Your Majesty the Holy Monarch, will you come back?”
“Your Majesty the Holy Monarch, you must come back!”
“You can bring the Demon King back, no matter what, you must come back!”
The curtain of the carriage opened, and the beautiful demon with silver hair and purple eyes leaned out, waved at the crowd with a smile, and firmly said, “I will come back, I will come back.”
A little boy bravely inserted the lily flower he was holding under the Holy Monarch’s horn. His cheeks were flushed, and he shouted, “Your Majesty the Holy Monarch, take care!”
Seven years ago, the Holy Monarch, shackled and dressed in coarse clothes, left his hometown alone and followed the demon army.
Seven years later, countless human subjects accompanied the Holy Monarch along the way, walking this road again.
Aiden personally sent Langmuir to the barrier cliff.
“Brother,” he said with red eyes, “you must remember to come home.”
“I will.” Langmuir seriously responded. He was wearing a white robe embroidered with golden flower patterns today, and his silver-gray hair fell on his shoulders.
He raised his right claw, and a strand of demonic breath slowly released.
Now that the Holy Monarch has been completely demonized, the original lung damage had also been healed, and he could use the Demon King’s demonic breath in his bloodline like a normal demon.
“Eh.”
But just as Langmuir was about to put his hand on the spatial confinement, the Holy Monarch frowned.
“What’s wrong, brother?” Aiden asked.
“Something seems to be wrong,” Langmuir said.
During this time, the Holy Monarch was busy dealing with the final chores before leaving, and he hadn’t been here for a few days. Looking at the barrier cliff of Gasuo again, the snow had completely melted, and scattered flowers grew in the mountains. The green area was dotted with yellow and pink, and even the cracks in the rocks were full of vigorous vitality.
But the figure of the Demon King was gone, and there was no movement in the wooden house.
Langmuir tried hard to tiptoe to see, only to see a faint smoke rising from the middle of the cliff.
“…”
The bottom of Langmuir’s eyes immediately sank.
He recognized it, that was the sign of the demons driving demonic breath to fight.
This time, it felt a bit like a marriage procession 🤭