Chapter 3

My pride took a brutal hit. I crouched on the ground, tears rolling down one fat drop at a time.

Just as I'd feared. No matter how much cultivation I'd leeched off him, it didn't change the fact that I was a useless little runt.

Seeing me cry like that, Silas panicked.

But once he understood this had been my attempt at seduction arts, he turned away and couldn't hold back a couple of snickers.

That only made me cry harder.

At that he scrambled over to soothe me.

"I was just joking."

"How about this. Try again, and this time I promise I'll play along…"

I struck while the iron was hot, scrubbed my eyes dry, and rushed to name my terms.

"It's fine. As long as you promise to sleep beside me, I'll stop crying."

Maybe I imagined it, but his face seemed to go red.

He mumbled and stammered for the longest time and couldn't force out a single word.

Lucky for me, I'd come prepared. I dug three meat pastries out of my robes and slapped them into his hands.

"Here. I'd never sleep here for nothing."

"You don't get any food in this cave, do you? I'll bring you pastries from the sect every day. Just let me squeeze in beside you every night, okay?"

Silas's face changed. He glared at me through gritted teeth. "What exactly do you take me for?"

I looked down at the mark on my wrist, then glanced at the hound demon crouched outside the cave.

It all clicked.

Oh. He must be upset because I hadn't given him a proper title of honor yet.

So I leaned in, cupped his face, planted a loud kiss on his forehead, then pointed at the hound demon outside.

"There. Now you're the same as it."

His face darkened even further.

"You're treating me like a dog?"

I hadn't expected him to mind being my spirit pet this much.

Then again, taking a useless runt for a master was hardly a glorious thing.

I waved my hands awkwardly.

"If you don't want to, then forget it. I won't force you."

My throat had gone dry from all the talking, so I turned to get a drink at the edge of the pool.

He must have thought I was leaving.

His serpent tail whipped out and wound around me, holding tight.

I looked back to find his eyes rimmed red, gazing at me all wounded and pitiful.

"You're not allowed to go. I'm willing. I never said I wasn't just now…"

That night, I lay draped over Silas's true form.

Only then did I notice the pair of horns on his head.

Something in my chest ached.

It had to be why his own kind had mocked him, why he lived all alone in a cave this big.

At that thought I patted his head and comforted him.

"It's all right. You don't have to feel small about having horns. I won't hold it against you."

Silas gave me a strange look and said mildly, "Do you even know who I am?"

Afraid he was about to put on a brave front for the sake of his pride, I hurried to soothe him.

"You're the prettiest little snake under the heavens, of course. Why else would I have come looking for you?"

Silas seemed quite pleased with that answer. He wrapped around me again and started wriggling.

Ah, whatever. I was the one leeching off his cultivation, so let him do as he liked.

Early the next morning, I went back to the Demon Sword Sect and found the sword tomb.

To my surprise, I'd made a huge leap. I could command over a thousand swords at once now.

I did some quiet math in my head.

If I stayed with Silas a few more days, forget clearing out the whole sword tomb in one go. I might even walk off with a good haul of treasures on the side.

At that thought, my eyes fell to the obsidian tiles under my feet.

A single piece of obsidian could fetch a hundred meat pastries in the mortal world.

So if I pried loose a few more to bring back, wouldn't that cover the wedding money for my senior brother and sister?

I might even end up funding my eldest senior sister's whole dowry!

So I slipped off into a corner and quietly dug out a whole sackful of obsidian.

I was just about to drag it away and hide it when a boar demon caught me red-handed.

He hauled me, sack and all, before the Sect Head and reported me.

"Master, this fox spirit's stealing! The loot's right here in this sack!"

Ordinarily, the worst that could happen for stealing floor tiles was being thrown out of the Demon Sword Sect.

But word had it the Demon Lord himself was here today.

The figure seated behind that curtain right now was almost certainly the very same Demon Lord who killed without a blink.

I was scared stiff, frozen like a cornered quail, not daring to lift my head.

The Sect Head opened the sack and flew into a rage. "What do you want with this much floor tile?"

I could hardly say I meant to steal it home to pay for my senior brother and sister's wedding.

That would humiliate our whole Spirit Sword Sect!

I curled myself into a ball, terrified, and sniveled, "I wanted to save up a dowry… for a wedding."

The words had barely left my mouth when a crisp crack sounded behind the curtain. A teacup had shattered.

So the Demon Lord truly was furious. I was dead for sure now.

But the next instant, the Demon Lord let out a soft chuckle and scolded the Sect Head.

"What are you snarling at her for? So she dug a few up. It's not as if the demons are short on this."

"She wants to marry the one she loves soon and is saving up a dowry. What's wrong with that?"

"From now on, she can dig up any floor tile in the Demon Realm she pleases."

And then he even bestowed a treasure pouch on me.

Told me I needn't lug around such a heavy sack anymore. Whatever I wanted, I could just tuck it inside.

The Sect Head stood there dumbstruck, opening his mouth to speak and thinking better of it several times, until at last all he could do was mutter to himself.

"The Demon Lord usually hates sticky-fingered thieves most of all. And today he just lets her off, like that?"

"And besides. Are my old eyes failing me, or did the Demon Lord just now… did his face actually go red?"