Capturing My Demon King Costar

Yao Shen never gets to hear Xin Hulei's reply. As the scene dissolves into the next one, he isn't sure if he's glad for it or not.

There's a lot to be said about seeing your current lover fucking a version of you from a past life. Maybe the mental disconnect would be too much for Yao Shen -- maybe that odd feeling of being jealous of himself would resurface.

It's already threatening to do so, when he watches Xin Hulei and the Crown Prince holding each other on a bed, hidden from view of the small living area by a silk curtain. He can tell they're both naked under the sheets, and the Crown Prince is no longer wearing the veil.

He must have already told Xin Hulei his name -- Yao Shen.

Xin Hulei is carding his fingers through the Crown Prince's hair, softly, a distant look in his eyes. 

Once again, Yao Shen wonders how he's going to forget it all, or at least pieces of it. He remembers the Crown Prince's face, well enough to be suspicious when they meet during the audition, yet, he has no recollection of that disastrous talent show.

"What are you thinking about?" the Crown Prince asks, his head pillowed on Xin Hulei's chest.

"Of how much I've left my original mission get away from me." He inhales, his gaze drifting upwards towards the canopy. "I've left my own frustrations get in the way of what I was supposed to do."

The Crown Prince hums. "Because of your shizun?"

Xin Hulei makes an affirmative sound. "Have you ever heard about Modu?"

The Prince goes still in Xin Hulei's arms, his fingers curling up into a fist over Xin Hulei's skin. "I have...it's something of a topic in Youdu at the moment."

Xin Hulei doesn't think much of his words, and just hums. "Then you probably know that our defences are failing."

The Crown Prince doesn't say anything, he just lets Xin Hulei speak.

"The revenants are getting closer and closer to the city, soon they'll be able to breach our walls. We need a human artefact to work as an amplifier so that we can strengthen the wards."

He stops himself suddenly. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you all this, you have nothing to do with it."

"No...I...maybe there's something I can do to help." He relaxes his fingers and starts drawing random shapes on Xin Hulei's bare chest. "What's stopping you from getting this artefact?"

Xin Hulei chuckles, but there's no humour in it. "Well, in a perfect display of how fate has a penchant for irony, the artefact we need is protected by wards much stronger than the ones Modu has." He shakes his head. "We haven't found a way to cross them, or deactivate them."

Yao Shen can see the gears turning in the Crown Prince's mind, he must be recalling some conversation. Something that he was made to overhear on purpose for this exact moment -- to unwittingly set in motion Modu's downfall.

Si Wang might not have known what transpired between Yao Shen and Xin Hulei, but he knew that his brother was against the destruction of Modu, as did the other ghosts -- any of them could have used his compassion and empathy to manipulate him into doing their dirty work for them. Without him being any the wiser.

It's a terrible thing, an awful thing, and Yao Shen can only watch as the Crown Prince's face shifts into a mask of determination, and he says, "I think I know how I can help you."

With those few words, meant in good fate, he's sealing his fate, Xin Hulei's fate, and the fate of several people he will never meet.

Hundreads of years down the line, Yao Shen is a silent witness to it all -- standing in the corner of the room, watching a memory play out -- unable to do anything to stop the events that follow it.

---

The next thing Yao Shen sees, the Crown Prince is climbing through a window, back into the the Fragrant Peony room he was in with Xin Hulei.

Xin Hulei helps him over the windowsill, and closes the window behind him. The prince starts unwinding the black headwrap from around his face, and takes off his dark cloak, revealing the flimsy robes of his courtesan disguise.

He takes out a parcel wrapped in cloth from the pockets of his cloak and produces a shimmering green stone within a hexagonal silver inlay. 

"What is it?" Xin Hulei asks.

"This can deactivate any war withing a one li radius," he pauses. "It's not a very large area, for that you'll need more of them, but I'm not sure if I can get any more of them without someone noticing them missing."

Xin Hulei takes the stone from his hands and examines it under the light of the nearest candle holder.

Yao Shen looks over his shoulder and inspects it too. This is probably the "relic" the courtesan Qing Yu will switch out later, since he's been enlisted by Si Wang to spy on the Crown Prince.

Looking at it, it looks completely unremarkable and decorative in nature. But Yao Shen doesn't doubt the Crown Prince's words.

This is likely something the ghost kings planned to use for their attack on Modu. 

"One li is enough. What we need is kept in an underground vault," Xin Hulei says, dropping the stone on top of his discarded robes.

He pulls the Crown Prince against him and the two of them topple into bed. He kisses the Crown Prince's lips.

"Thank you, I won't forget your help."

The Crown Prince smiles, and runs his thumb under Xin Hulei's sharp cheekbone.  "I'd prefer if you didn't forget me."

Xin Hulei catches his hand and kisses his knuckles one by one. "Impossible."

The Crown Prince gives him a look as if he doesn't believe him, and Yao Shen's heart fills with immense sadness.

If Xin Hulei leaves now he'll be able to get the artefact from Frozen Peak, and save Modu. Xie Huan and Yan Shuyi will survive.

Most likely, so will the Crown Prince -- one way or another, Yao Shen wouldn't be here.

Such is fate.

"I guess you'll be going now," the Crown Prince says, his smile still in place despite the wounded vulnerability in his eyes.

Xin Hulei looks into his eyes. "There's no rush, I can stay a little longer."

He cups the back of the Crown Prince's head and takes his lips in a kiss. Yao Shen wishes he could warn them that this little moment of bliss will cost them everything.

---

When he next opens his eyes, Yao Shen is looking at the Crown Prince's slender back as he waters blackened, withered flowers spread over a few pots on top of a short wall.

"Nothing grows here," a childish, petulant voice says.

Both Yao Shen and the Crown Prince turn around to look at Si Wang, approaching with his hands clasped behind his back.

He looks like an overgrown child in his fine robes. His most standout feature is his youth. It's hard to notice anything else about him, with how much that jumps out.

He's otherwise plain, but there's a wildness to him that makes him look almost feral -- like someone who grew up in the wild. 

The Crown Prince his unmoved by his presence, and returns to his mostly dead plants. "There are trees here, some bushes and wild flowers too."

"Those things have always been here," Si Wang says. "Nothing planted grows, in the same way that two ghosts, even if they have the right parts, can fuck as much as they want, but no new life will be formed."

The Crown Prince's mouth curls slightly in distaste at Si Wang's crass words. Yao Shen has more information than him, so he knows that Si Wang's words are meant in another way too. They're supposed to be a dig at the Crown Prince, and all the days he spent locked up with Xin Hulei in the Fragrant Peony.

Yao Shen has a privileged view of Si Wang's disdainful expression. He expected to offend the Crown Prince much more than this.

"Speaking of which," he says, driving his point home, although the Crown Prince doesn't raise to his bait. "That Demon King is back."

The Crown Prince just hums, not showing any reaction. "Okay..."

Si Wang glares. "They want you to go back there, and see why he's back."

The Crown Prince keeps his back turned on Si Wang, so he doesn't see the small smile that curls on his lips. Secretly, he's pleased that Xin Hulei is back, he thinks he's back to visit him. 

"Now?" he asks, his tone level.

"Yes," Si Wang says.

The Crown Prince puts down his wooden watering can, and leaves without another word to Si Wang. 

Yao Shen has a privileged view of Si Wang watching him go, a dark smirk curling on his thin lips.