Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 377

Chapter 377: The Eastern Prince Arrives! A Familiar Face?
The days for Asura passed with peace, spending most of the time training or with his various lovers after studying.

Because they returned to the academy, it felt time became more difficult to spread out, and he became frustrated with the restrictive process.

The reason was that his official wife was the princess.

This meant it was difficult to date and spend time with other women in public without causing issues or rumours. Thus, for the past week, he needed to have dates with Vela and another of his lovers at once, building the pressure and frustration for them all.

However, today was different. Mu Xue and Xavida agreed to spend the day with Vela and Verana, having a girl’s day. In contrast, Asura needed to attend the library to finish the last of his owed assignments before he would gain complete freedom on the weekends.

‘Phew…who would think that this theory that took me five years would only take a few months in this life.’ Asura thought to himself while holding the agriculture enrichment project that he would submit to his mother-in-law in private. Then, after judgment, she would take it to the council to determine its worth for the kingdom. “Maybe it’s because I can use magic. It made the things I didn’t understand or used too much of my imagination to complete before.”

He stood from his desk while the huge 300-page booklet into his item storage before turning to leave the library and heading towards the palace with an uplifted mood.

The moment he left the room, tired and needing something to soothe his exhausted mind after spending hours working on this document, he saw Mu Xue. Though her hair was tied in twintails, something she never did, he found it made her look cute and younger.

“Mu Xue!” He called out with an affectionate voice as she turned to look at him with a shocked expression, her lips open and eyes widened.

Asura dashed towards her and pulled her into his arms. Her eyes looked confused, and she pressed both hands against his chest before he kissed her lips. He felt her soft lips squished against his as she seemed to struggle for a moment.

‘Strange, her tongue is a little awkward… and she tastes a little different.’ He thought. While their mouths slipped open. Now able to taste her hot breath blowing against his cheeks, she seemed to become more invested in the kiss.

Her hands no longer pushed against his chest while her lips narrowed and sucked on his tongue, her face turning bright red, affected by his animus flowing into her body. The beautiful girl groaned with a lovely voice in his mouth.

“Mmmn~ Nnnph!?”

“Ehh..!?” Asura’s eyes opened wide. His crimson eyes gazed into a fiery pair of red gemstones as the woman he kissed shimmered with a fiery aura. Yet seemed to be in a trance from the kiss, her hands pulling on his head to stop him from moving away.

As their kiss continued, the smack of their lips echoed while she sucked his lips and tongue. Almost in a trance, Asura could only spend the time in confusion.

***

Two hours earlier, at the eastern gate of the capital city of Silvara, two people arrived in a grand carriage bearing the emblem of the Emerald Empire.

“Halt, show your documents and give your reason for travelling to the capital!” A guardsman with a grey beard stood with a broad chest blocking the entrance of the carriage. He recently received training from a former general named Glade Estan and became more serious than in the past.

His sky-blue eyes were like a hawk. The bushy moustache flickered as his upper lips moved, watching as a beautiful woman wearing a white silk robe and black armour underneath hid her body like a body suit.

“Greetings, honourable lady. Forgive my crass words, but I must know your allegiance and purpose and confirm your documents.”

“Do not apologise, Sir Knight. I understand you are performing your task and take pride in your role. This should contain my lord’s status and his reason for visiting and our purpose.”

The beautiful eastern maiden with black hair handed over the royal emblem of the Eastern Shang Family. The document from the Silvaran Royal Academy was stamped by the queen and headmaster and finally.

“O-Oh, thank you, My lady.” The old man checked the documents, seeing that there was a stamped document asking for the Emerald Prince to study at the academy for an exchange program.

Next year Silvara’s princess would study at the Emerald Empire. The old man could only accept it and nodded with a bitter smile. His unkempt grey beard and moustache bent along with his lips as his cracked, wrinkled skin transformed with his mood.

“Understood, please. Thank you for being patient. I hope your visit is without issues. Please confer this to your lord. We welcome you with open arms.”

Mu Yue’s eyes seemed confused at how the guard seemed so different from the ones she met in the Empire; her eyes watched him intently while taking back the documents and vanishing back into the grand carriage. A green sphere with four white horses pulling it. With shining golden dragons adorning the entire thing to seem imposing.

“Oi, Mu Yue! How was it? They dare stop my carriage, such inferior barbarians!” Shang Luo lay back in the carriage, two women on either side of him feeding him berries and honey milk. There was no concern, care or respect like the female named Mu Yue offered the guard.

‘How is our future emperor such a slovenly man with no class?’ She thought to herself. Now sitting on the opposite edge while the carriage moved into the inner city, approaching the Royal Academy. Yue’s eyes watched out the one-sided window, amazed by the differences between what she knew and this strange kingdom where the people seemed so free and happy.

“Oh, Prince~ your hands…” one maid squealed as Mu Yue closed her eyes, biting her teeth as she closed her small compartment off, blocking the noise from inside.

She didn’t like the prince, seeing how the women he got involved with turned out. Rather… it was her blade that ended their lives when they got too close or started plotting higher than their station with things like children or bribes.

‘This foolish prince, doesn’t he know the true reason he came here? Not to play or pretend to study, but to analyse and estimate the enemy’s strength, especially the target…’

“Asura Phoenix… born in the Phoenix Glade, twenty years old… height over six feet and five inches….” Her eyes read the information received. For some reason, there were various numbers crossed out for his height and other values.

Halfway through the information, her eyes widened, a slight red flicker growing from the lovely brown iris as she crumpled the parchment in her hands. “Maid… and Fiancée… Mu Xue!? How! She died, and Shang Wei, the emperor, killed them all. I should be the only survivor, is it someone with the same name, a coincidence?”

The rest of the trip became a blur for Mu Yue, her mind in chaos as she made excuses and different stories to make this Mu Xue someone else. Despite mentioning her past, she was found half-dead around the time the Mu Clan was destroyed.

‘This cannot be real… I am just getting too excited and hopeful. I must remain realistic and calm.’

She seemed unable to accept the truth. The reason she lived until now and the way she could accept killing so many people. It was all because she made her heart freeze like ice, believing her beloved older sister had died.

However, despite her feelings, the carriage continued as if it didn’t care about her internal suffering. Until it reached the academy grounds, Mu Yue suffered from her mind’s twisted stories.

***

When she came too, Prince Shang already left with the maids to visit the Queen. She remained close to what seemed like an old library, standing guard alone, thinking about what had happened. ‘So silly, I need to stop getting excited and hopeful. Mu Xue must not be here. That woman is dead…’

She began talking herself into this story, ignoring the logical probability and worked diligently, guarding Prince Shang and the maids to carry out their stay here. It was then that she noticed a handsome male in the distance. ‘Oh… Such a beautiful man. Is he some kind of noble or prince? The way he walks is so elegant and filled with discipline.’

Mu Yue could tell he trained in martial arts from the way he moved and felt interested in him; she didn’t know why, be it his black hair tied in a ponytail with two fluttering bangs swaying at his cheeks.

Maybe the sunny smile on his lips as he greeted the old man, helping him push the huge cart of books without being asked. ‘A fine male.’ She thought, unaware her eyes watched him for close to ten minutes before finally snapping out of it.

“I wonder what he is working so hard on. He looks so troubled…” Mu Yue whispered, watching Asura through the open window as he wrote on several pieces of parchment; it might have been his focused gaze, slightly narrowed eyes and the way his crimson iris shone like rubies whenever he seemed to get something finished or started making progress.

This peaceful time lasted over an hour before she suddenly noticed he vanished when she removed her gaze and tried to focus on herself. ‘Did he go home? I wonder if I will meet him during our time here.’ A strange feeling of interest tickled her mind, though she made out what the document he struggled so hard with was.

“An agricultural document to help the people, using noble level magic above Stage Five…? If the people in the empire heard his ideas… would he soon become our new Emperor? Haha… what a wonderful subject to pursue.”

‘I should head back and meet the prince, eh?’

That’s when the male she watched suddenly appeared before her. His face filled with a strangely affectionate and joyful look upon seeing her face. Mu Yue never garnered looks like this in the Empire because they knew of her body filled with permanent scars and wounds from the night her family were massacred.

Yet from the young scholar, she felt a strange gaze. The one that maids showed to the prince—as he stepped close, she heard him whisper a name passionately, yet it sounded to her like “Mu Yue.”

The fact he knew her name caused her to lose focus, and before she realised. They were kissing, and a sweet and delicious taste filled her mouth each time she tasted his saliva—unable to hold back as she felt a strange energy enter her body, cleansing her and removing the constant burning and ache she felt from her painful scars.

How long did she kiss him?

When did her hands wrap around his neck, and what was the pleasant feeling flooding her mind and body!?

Mu Yue didn’t understand, nor did she want to. Instead, she continued to immerse herself in the first kiss of her life as she felt his hands touch her scarred body. Without hesitation, he held her tight as she drowned in the scholar’s affectionate kiss.