Accidentally Married a Fox God

Whether or not Mo Cheng's story was true, the information he had told her was something Li Meirong could no longer choose to ignore. He claimed they had both been transferred into a novel he had read as a child, and whether or not that was indeed what had happened, his knowledge was too important to overlook.

If he was indeed correct, then that would mean Zhu Qingyue was the greatest villain of this world, and would somehow end up being imprisoned after being beaten by Mo Cheng. And that was only if Mo Cheng even managed to defeat him in the first place.

If he wasn't able to defeat Zhu Qingyue, then wouldn't that mean that this world would be, ultimately, destroyed?

As Li Meirong thought on this, the image brought about by the pixie's illusion flashed through her mind once more: Zhu Qingyue's monstrous form, looming over her as he ate her alive.

The terror that image invoked left her weak on her feet. Li Meirong's figure swayed, much like a willow on the verge of finally breaking to the strength of a strong wind.

Mo Cheng grabbed her arm to steady her, attentive to her state and swift to react, but his eyes still glinted with barely-suppressed anger. 

"You've made a mistake, you know," he said. "You should have chosen me instead. I am the hero of this tale, and we are the only two people in this place who are real. The rest are simply characters in a fantasy story, dancing to a tune that's already been played and written."

"Let go," was all Li Meirong said, pushing him away with a hard shove against his chest, and even though her push felt more like a light jostle, he released his hold on her arm. 

As he wasn't physically ill, but was instead suffering in his mind and soul, he barely moved from her shove. He observed her with hooded eyes as she sat down abruptly on the bench, their previous positions now reversed.

Mo Cheng was growing more and more frustrated with Li Meirong's lack of favorable reaction. Instead of her having a change of heart, she seemed more haunted and worried by something else entirely.

Wouldn't it make more sense for her to be by his side to defeat the villain she had been seduced by? Yet she still acted so repulsed by even a small, simple touch from him.

"Doesn't it make sense for us to be together?" he demanded. "For you to be by my side and follow my lead?" He stomped his foot on the ground childishly. "Zhu Qingyue is an evil guy! How can you side with him?"

Li Meirong didn't respond immediately. Instead, she silently fished out a piece of parchment and a stick of drawing charcoal, and began scribbling. Though her face was still pale and she seemed to be recovering from a shock, a glint slowly grew in her eyes as she focused on the paper.

Mo Cheng couldn't help the twitch that developed in the corner of his mouth at her lack of reaction.

"What are you doing right now?" he asked finally, after having received no answer for longer than he was comfortable with. "We're having a very serious conversation and you're… drawing?"

Li Meirong ignored him as she focused on finishing her work, turning to present the parchment to Mo Cheng a few moments later. It was a diagram with several names written down, his and hers included.

Confused, Mo Cheng looked up from the paper to meet Li Meirong's limpid black eyes.

"What's this?" he asked. Li Meirong held a hand up between them, acting calm and composed even though she had to remain seated due to how her legs could no longer support her weight without trembling.

"We are going to devise a plan, together, on how we will work this out." Her voice was quiet as she spoke. "Before we begin, let me just say this: I will never have any intention of hooking up with you, and never have from the moment I met you. Even though I arrived here in the body of a young girl, you and your companions have always seemed like children to me as I was an adult before. In a way, I feel like I owe you an apology for this, because I have always seen you, Mo Jing, and Shu Qianqian as younger siblings I must take care of and protect." 

Li Meirong sighed and continued, "Perhaps due to the way I have treated you, I have never sat down with you to properly talk things out. Even when you all acted in the wrong, I did not take the issues at hand seriously enough until it was too late, seeing it as mistakes made by children." Then, she shook her head slowly, regretful. "Maybe we could have had this conversation years ago, and prevented certain events that have occurred since."

Mo Cheng bit the inside of his cheek to prevent any words spilling out of him in response to her words, and he had to concentrate hard to prevent himself from crumpling the parchment in his hand. He had not had any specific expectations about what he would hear from Li Meirong when he finally came clean and told her the truth, but this was so far from even his vague imaginings that it was actually upsetting. 

The way she spoke made him realize that no matter how many times he tried to win her over, or how many different ways he tried to do it, she would never wish to be by his side. No matter how popular, talented, or handsome he was in this world, the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

Li Meirong's long eyelashes cast shadows over her cheeks as she looked down. Despite her rational, calm speech, she looked frail. It was as if their conversation had taken a heavy toll on her.

She cleared her throat. "With that being said, we are comrades of a sort. If what you say is true, then I would prefer that we cooperated to work things out. Even though you mentioned that everything in your life here has happened in accordance to the story, that isn't entirely true." 

Mo Cheng frowned. "Explain your reasoning," he demanded. 

Li Meirong looked up and pointed a finger at the diagram she had drawn, to the circle with her name inside. The characters of her name had lines drawn over them.

"First, you said that I was not part of the original story at all. My character never existed in the tale you know. This means I can directly and indirectly influence the events that will unfold, because the story does not account for me," she began. Mo Cheng was still frowning slightly. "Second, you said that in the story, your character defeats Zhu Qingyue, but your combat level does not come anywhere close to his right now. When I first met Zhu Qingyue, he was suffering from a terrible illness, but he was recently cured. Now he is fit as a fiddle, while you are ill." 

She pursed her cherry lips in contemplation. "As he is right now, I doubt you would be able to leave so much as a scratch on him."

"Does this mean you'll help me defeat him?" Mo Cheng tilted his head to the side as he asked, his tone hopeful.