Borhes’s expression looked somewhat hurt.
“Xiaxia, I may be a bit old, but in both appearance and physique, I am no less than the young humans of today… Xiaxia, please don’t despise me, alright?”
Xiao Yixia’s eyes were filled with nothing but disdain.
“You’re a six-thousand-year-old geezer who shamelessly forced a twenty-four-year-old young woman like me into marriage—how could I not despise you?”
Borhes’s way of thinking was quite peculiar.
“Xiaxia, could it be that you think I’m inadequate in bed? But why is it that every time we make love, before I’ve even had my fill, you’re already crying and saying ‘no more, no more’?”
Xiao Yixia was nearly infuriated to death by Borhes’s words. She gritted her teeth and said,
“You arrogant, utterly foolish monster—don’t talk to me anymore!”
A hint of displeasure crept into Borhes’s eyes.
“Xiao Yixia, I’m not touching you, not bothering you right now—so why are you scolding me again?
Before I met you, no one had ever scolded me. But ever since I met you, I’ve been scolded by you every single day, scolded by you every single moment! Xiao Yixia, you…”
Borhes was about to lose his temper when he suddenly remembered his earlier promise to restrain his temper in front of Xiao Yixia. So he suppressed his anger.
“Xiaxia, I am the King of the Vampire Race. At the very least, you should save me some face…”
Xiao Yixia said coldly,
“I only give face to humans, not to beasts. A cold-blooded beast like you doesn’t deserve any face from me!”
The anger Borhes had just suppressed flared up again.
“Lynn, throw this ungrateful woman Xiao Yixia into the back mountain to feed Little White!”
Lynn groaned inwardly.
[Here we go again? How many times is this today? My King, if you and the Queen are going to argue, at least don’t drag innocent bystanders into it!
My King, you always make me find a way to give you an out—is that even polite?]
While complaining inwardly, Lynn’s brain was working at lightning speed.
“My King, you’ve misunderstood the Queen. Eastern and Western cultures are different. There’s a saying in Z country: ‘Hitting is affection, scolding is love.’ The Queen scolds you because she loves you.”
Borhes’s face lit up with joy. He swept Xiao Yixia into his arms.
“Xiaxia, I’m sorry, I misunderstood you. So the reason you scold me every day is because you love me…
I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was the language art of Z country before… From now on, feel free to scold me all you want—I’ll accept it happily.”
Xiao Yixia was utterly speechless. She shot Lynn a glare.
“If you can’t master the language of Z country, then don’t force it. Is that how this saying is used and understood? Truly, when the beam above is crooked, the beam below is crooked too… no, wait—it should be: when the beam above is stupid, the beam below is stupid as well!”
Lynn sheepishly rubbed his nose, defending himself inwardly.
[My Queen, of course I know that’s not how the saying is used. I was just giving the King a way to save face. Who knew the King’s Z country language skills were so poor that he’d actually misunderstand my meaning…
But then again, it’s not a bad thing that the King misunderstood. That way, in the future, when you scold the King, I won’t have to rack my brains to find him a way out…]
Winnie Horbett, who was riding alongside on horseback, couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Hahaha… so the invincible elder brother actually has a day when someone points at his nose and scolds him! What a rare piece of news!”
Borhes said with great pride,
“Xiaxia scolding me means Xiaxia loves me. What would you know? Shoo, shoo—go play by yourself and don’t get in the way of me and Xiaxia’s loving time.”
As soon as Borhes finished speaking, he gently kissed Xiao Yixia on the cheek and gazed at her with deep affection.
“Xiaxia, I love you too. In truth, I fell in love with you the very first moment I laid eyes on you. I was just being stubborn before…
Xiaxia, I’m sorry it took me until now to tell you my true feelings. Since we love each other, let’s be together properly from now on, alright?
Staying in the palace all the time is truly stifling. How about I take you out tomorrow?
You surely wouldn’t like the world of the Vampire Race, so I’ll take you to the human world instead. Xiaxia, which country in the human world would you like to visit?”
Xiao Yixia had no desire whatsoever to go out with Borhes, but she suddenly realized this could be her chance to escape him. So she spoke in a soft voice,
“There are still many places in Country Z I haven’t visited. Why don’t we go to Country Z?”
Borhes smiled and shook his head.
“Xiaxia, much of Country Z and the Eastern Continent is beyond my control. If we went to Country Z, what would I do if you tried to escape?”
Xiao Yixia suppressed her disgust and tried to lull Borhes with her words.
“I love you—how could I bear to leave you?”
Borhes let out a light chuckle and kissed Xiao Yixia on the cheek again.
“Xiaxia’s lips say ‘I love you,’ but there’s not a trace of love in her eyes… This shows that Xiaxia’s love for me still only rests on her lips, not yet in her heart…
When the day comes that Xiaxia loves me from the bottom of her heart, I’ll take her to Country Z, and then we’ll go pay our respects to my father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law.”
Her plan having failed, Xiao Yixia dropped the pretense.
“Who would want to go out with a cold-blooded monster like you? Go by yourself if you want to!”
A teasing smile curled at the corner of Borhes’s mouth, and he kissed Xiao Yixia on the cheek once more.
“Xiaxia, are you sure you don’t want to come with me? When I go out, Lynn and Winnie will be accompanying us.
With the three of us gone, and you being so fragrant and sweet, the other vampires would rather risk being killed by me when I return than pass up the chance to taste your blood.
A friendly reminder—other vampires aren’t as ‘civilized’ as I am. They drink blood like wild beasts. The blood slaves they’ve fed on don’t have a single intact spot on their bodies, just like what you saw before…
Now, do you still want to stay alone in the palace?”
At the memory of the horrific state of the blood slaves she had seen before, Xiao Yixia’s body trembled uncontrollably twice.
“I… I don’t want to stay in the palace. I want to go out too.”
Winnie, riding alongside the carriage on horseback, was about to tell Xiao Yixia that Borhes was lying to her—that as long as Borhes hadn’t renounced her, no one would dare touch her—
But she suddenly received a sharp glare from Borhes, and so the words that had reached her lips were forcibly swallowed back down…
Winnie apologized to Xiao Yixia in her heart.
[Queen, I’m sorry. Although I am my brother’s own sister, I don’t dare openly defy him either… After all, I can’t beat my brother, and my power and influence are far beneath his.]
The Next Day
Country F, Western Continent, A Private Island
Borhes held Xiao Yixia’s hand as they strolled along the beach.
“Xiaxia, you grew up in the inland of Country Z. According to your records, you enjoy traveling to coastal cities, so I brought you here. Do you like it?”
Xiao Yixia replied coldly,
“Even the most beautiful sea view is tainted black by you, a cold-blooded monster. Where’s the beauty in that?”
Borhes looked puzzled.
“Xiaxia, I haven’t littered or dumped any sewage. How could I possibly pollute the sea view? Xiaxia, are your eyes playing tricks on you? Take another look—the sea is blue, and the sky is blue too.”
Xiao Yixia didn’t want to waste words with Borhes, so she chose to change the subject.
“Yes, it’s indeed my ‘eyes playing tricks on me.’ Didn’t you say Lynn and Winnie would be coming along? Where are they?”
Borhes lied through his teeth.
“Their flights were canceled due to weather. They’ll have to wait until the airline schedules new flights before they can fly over.”
Xiao Yixia didn’t believe a word of it.
“We came on a private jet. Why didn’t they take a private jet too?”
Borhes continued to make things up.
“Because there’s only one private jet in total, so they had to take commercial flights.”