The Birth of a Villainess

"I want you to stay with me."

Qu Xing Xu's voice trembled as he tightened his hold on Lin Xiaofei, who no longer tried to break away from his embrace just to tease him. 

But what she didn't expect was that Qu Xing Xu would become so emotional it almost felt like an illusion and a lie she never thought would happen.

For all the time she had spent with Qu Xing Xu, he never showed any weakness upfront. He always carried that imposing and arrogant nature that would make him appear like a docile beast whom you could approach, but would never think of provoking in fear of being bitten and eaten by it without leaving a bone.

This was the first time that Lin Xiaofei saw him so vulnerable and weak. It almost felt like a dream.

"Do you want me to stay?" Lin Xiaofei didn't want him to force himself to show his weakness to her. Everyone has weaknesses and secrets they wanted to keep even from their beloved ones, and Qu Xing Xu held a deeper and much more dangerous secret.

Even if one didn't have a secret, they still didn't want anyone to see them in their lowest. 

Qu Xing Xu did not reply quickly. The woman in his arms felt so warm and comfortable to hold in his embrace. He had never felt this way towards anyone. 

For years, he had suffered from the nightmares that lurked in the shadows that threatened to overwhelm his good natured side. Even Qu Xing Xu didn't know what the creature inside him could do and for how much longer would he hold it back.

It almost drove him insane and have suicidal thoughts.

Only, he doesn't quite die.

But that wasn't the problem. Could he really show his ugly and darker side to Lin Xiaofei?

It was a question he never wanted to know the answer to. Although he knew what happened to her and her past life was enveloped in darkness, humans have been fearful of what they couldn't understand especially when it was something deadly and unknown. 

Would Lin Xiaofei still love him if she knew what he was?

"Don't force yourself to show me what you really are, Qu Xing Xu." Suddenly, Lin Xiaofei opened her lips to calm his palpitating heart. 

"But I don't think it's fair keeping this from you," he replied.

Lin Xiaofei shook her head, "Nothing is fair in love and war. What made you think you must expose yourself to everyone?"

Hearing her, Qu Xing Xu had the illusion of standing in the middle of nowhere. The land was covered in white, snow was falling from the sky, and the water beneath him was frozen. No one could deny that the place was cold and yet, Qu Xing Xu didn't feel quite cold. No, he felt the warmth deep inside his chest as if someone was setting a fire in his soul.

Lin Xiaofei was still thinking of how she could make Qu Xing Xu feel reassured. She overstepped her place and forced him to walk on a thin rope. That was something she didn't want him to feel. 

She felt the guilt eating away at her.

But suddenly, the man holding her in his embrace held her shoulders and made her turn around. 

The sudden dizzying motion forced Lin Xiaofei to close her eyes. 

"Open your eyes."

However, what she didn't expect was that Qu Xing Xu wanted her to see him.

"Look at me."

Lin Xiaofei hesitated and did not open her eyes even if he told her to do it. She felt his fingers caressing her cheek and felt something warm touch her forehead and nose. 

Then, next it was her lips.

Was he coaxing her to open her eyes using his kisses? Lin Xiaofei was speechless at this and wanted to cry, but got no tears to cry. They played a push and pull game. She even surrendered and the desire to see his true form decreased a lot. And yet, Qu Xing Xu also waved his white flag and surrendered.

"It's okay, you can look now." Qu Xing Xu reassured her that although he was afraid of showing his true form to anyone, he didn't want to hide from her anymore. "I want you to look at me."

'And only me.' Qu Xing Xu thought to himself.

Slowly, Lin Xiaofei, with him urging her, finally opened her eyes. A gasp was released from her mouth as she stared at Qu Xing Xu's true form. 

Earlier, the face she saw was webbed with faint black lines and golden-red eyes. But now, although it was still the same, there was some shocking addition to what he previously looked like. 

Aside from the faint lines and golden-red eyes, two long black horns that twisted forward with the tips of it curling upward to the sky were protruding from the upper part of both of his ears. His ears also changed form into pointy ones; quite not like a human's. 

His sun kissed skin was almost as white and pale as the first snow that touched the ground. And his nails that previously looked normal turned black and longer, it had grown at least one centimeter longer and the tip of his nails were sharper.

Lin Xiaofei was fascinated by the man standing before her. The transformation between his human form to his previous human-demon form, could not compare to his true form.

And just when she thought that nothing could surprise her anymore and that Qu Xing Xu was finished with his transformation, nine tails suddenly started to bloom behind him like a flower but black in colour.

After being dealt with tremendous shock, Lin Xiaofei, who thought she already saw everything in this world after her rebirth, had a hard time absorbing the truth. 

Silence descended in the room. Neither of them talked and just stared at each other.

Finally, Lin Xiaofei found her voice and said in awe, "What are you?"

The tails behind him moved, fluffy and adorable. Qu Xing Xu didn't seem to realize it and answered, "A nine-tailed fox demon."

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Author has something to say: Yay, two chapters update! I had a hart time deciding what I wanted Qu Xing Xu to be and thought that a fox-demon suits him best. 

PS.. Instead of just giving him pointy fox ears, I also gave our ML two horns next to it since he's a fox-demon.