Chapter 207: Su An’an Grows Butterfly Wings
"Seville!"
Su An’an’s eyes flew open, crystalline teardrops still clinging to her butterfly-wing lashes.
She instinctively tried to push herself up, but froze the moment she raised her hand.
Her fingertips didn’t touch fabric, but her own bare skin.
"Are you all right?"
Seville quickly reached out to steady her swaying shoulders, but snatched his hand back as if shocked the instant he touched her skin.
His amber pupils flickered, and his Adam’s apple bobbed unnaturally.
"My head hurts so much!"
Su An’an pressed her temples and suddenly gasped.
Fragmented memories flooded in like a tide: the feel of Seville’s silver-violet hair brushing against her neck.
The gold and pink Divine Patterns entwined on the altar, the strange, searing throb deep in her abdomen.
"We... bonded?"
Her voice trembled, unsteady, and her black eyes were wide circles of shock.
Her gaze swept over their surroundings in disbelief.
The crushed altar of white bone, the congealed blackish-red bloodstains, and the vicious wound on Seville’s arm.
Every detail corroborated the horrifying truth.
"Yes."
Seville turned his face away, his jawline clenched tight.
He mechanically straightened his tattered clothes, his knuckles white from the force of his grip.
He was the one who should have been explaining, yet now he was silent, like a child who had done something wrong.
"It was the King Blood Beast’s spiritual toxin."
He finally spoke, his voice as cold as if it had been quenched in ice. "It used all its spiritual power to trigger a forced heat."
The words were a double-edged sword, cutting open the truth while also wounding himself.
He didn’t dare look into Su An’an’s eyes, terrified he would see disgust or fear.
His amber beast eyes were fixed on the ground, as if there were something there worth studying.
Su An’an noticed that the hand hanging by his side was trembling slightly.
This arrogant, sharp-tongued, and cold Swan Priest was actually afraid.
Afraid of a single word of blame, a single look from her.
"So that’s what happened."
Su An’an spoke softly, then suddenly reached out and caressed his tense arm.
Seville flinched, pulling his arm back as if he’d been scalded.
Su An’an’s gaze fell on the Level 4S emblem below Seville’s collarbone, which shimmered with the light of a Golden Feather.
She paused for a moment, then smiled gently. "It’s a good thing we bonded, then."
Her fingertips lightly tapped the edge of his scorching-hot emblem, her eyes curving into a smile as brilliant as a flower.
"Otherwise, with the King Blood Beast’s final burst of spiritual power, and you only being Level 3S, we probably both would have died here."
Seville’s tense shoulders relaxed imperceptibly.
He turned his face away, his long, silver-violet hair falling to hide the reddening tips of his ears. "Saving you was what I was supposed to do."
His voice was deliberately kept cold and hard, but the end of his sentence uncontrollably lilted upward.
"After all, I promised Qiuqiu I would protect you."
"Just because of Qiuqiu?"
Su An’an was about to tease him for his tsundere-like behavior when a searing, tearing pain shot through her shoulder blade.
She let out a muffled grunt and instinctively reached back to touch it.
"Don’t move!" Seville placed a hand on her back, only to freeze abruptly.
Moonlight pierced through the broken dome of the altar, illuminating her bare back.
Intricate golden patterns were appearing there, outlining the shape of butterfly wings as if drawn by an invisible brush.
Every line flowed with a luster like liquid sunlight.
"What is this?"
Su An’an tremblingly reached back to touch her shoulder blade, and her fingertips were suddenly brushed by something soft.
WHOOSH!
A pair of gold and pink Monarch Butterfly wings suddenly unfurled!
As she unconsciously flapped her wings, golden Phosphorus Powder drifted throughout the entire lair.
The specks of light landed on Seville’s blood-stained silver hair, and his wounds actually began to heal at a visible rate.
"The Mother Empress’s Monarch Butterfly genes... they activated at a time like this."
Su An’an unconsciously placed a hand on her slightly warm abdomen, her brow furrowed. "The two of us fell into this godforsaken place, you evolved to 4S, and I broke through to Double S."
"I’m afraid I won’t be able to hide my identity as a Divine Female now."
Seville’s Adam’s apple bobbed hard.
The King’s Blood curse surged within his veins, and the prophecies of their fated opposition gnawed at his sanity like venomous snakes.
"I will protect you."
His voice was impossibly hoarse. He had to dig his nails deep into his palms to stop his hands from shaking.
"I won’t let anyone find out."
"Don’t worry!"
Su An’an suddenly leaned in, tilting her head with a smile.
"We can just blame the evolution on my alternate identity, Jiu Su. After all, every beast thinks she’s the Divine Female."
"Jiu Su is you?!"
Seville staggered back and hit the rock wall, his amber pupils contracting violently.
The bounty poster he had torn down with his own hands three months ago flashed before his eyes.
[Jiu Su, two trillion Star Coins, dead or alive.]
"Yep."
Su An’an’s fingertip playfully traced over his newly formed 4S mark.
"Big Cat, Night Abyss, Fei Zhao, and Lan Cangming all know. You have a right to know, too."
Seville’s breathing grew heavy, and the curse totem on his chest began to burn.
"You shouldn’t have told me..."
He muttered to himself, his voice torn to shreds by the wind whistling through the depths of the cave.
’The enemies hiding in the shadows, the dormant conspiracies—they could all use this curse against Su An’an.’
"What?" Su An’an tilted her head and leaned closer, the star-like patterns on her butterfly wings suddenly flickering.
Seville took a step back, a metallic taste rising in his throat. "It’s nothing."
He spun around abruptly and said in a cold, hard voice, "Let’s go. We need to find the Light Brain and contact Night Abyss and the others as soon as possible."
"Don’t worry, I will keep this secret."
The moment he turned, he hid his trembling hand in the shadows.
His cursed heart pounded wildly.
’If I’m going to become a blade pointed at Su An’an, I’d rather end my own life!’
"The Light Brain is over there!"
The Star Disc in Su An’an’s hand began to hum.
Seville pushed aside a pile of skeletons in the corner of the rock wall, revealing a tightly wrapped Light Brain underneath.
"Found it!"
The moment Su An’an’s fingertip touched the activation button, the Holographic Screen flared to life.
On the screen, Louis’s face, which was usually gentle and smiling, was now twisted into a vicious snarl she had never seen before.
"The Swan Priest’s Holy Power is the perfect culture medium for the Divine Medicine’s evolution!"
Louis sneered. "Kill Su An’an, and the Divine Medicine will be the Rebel Army’s ticket to conquering the Empire."
’That bastard, he’s been deceiving Alita all this time.’
Su An’an gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as memories flooded back.
Alita, pale-faced, refusing treatment, saying Louis was her only cure.
That she wanted to be with Louis forever.
"Damn it!"
Su An’an slammed her fist into Louis’s image on the Light Screen.
Seville quickly grabbed her wrist.
"Calm down. We have solid proof now. Let’s contact Night Abyss immediately."
"When I get out of here,"
Su An’an said through gritted teeth as she inserted the Star Disc, instantly activating the Light Brain’s emergency transfer protocol.
"I’ll make sure he dies without a burial place!"
[Sob sob sob, Your Highness!]
Little Pink’s long-unheard cries echoed in her sea of consciousness.
[I finally got a signal to contact you! I missed you to death!]