Hate Me, Witch!-Chapter 167: A Girl’s Love Must Be Protected by Herself

The scene she saw sent waves through the spiritual sea she had just completed forming after fully unlocking the Holy Lance’s restraints.

Beneath the glow of dawn, amidst the ruins—

A black-haired youth and the silver-haired Empress reaching toward each other.

What kind of "Lunar Classic Painting" was this supposed to be?

And the most critical issue was—

She was the one who arrived first, wasn’t she?!

Meeting Xia Ya, making pinky promises, even falling in love—she was the one who came first.

So how was it that after just a few hours apart, she was instantly relegated to the third wheel?

With that in mind, Ailora slightly lowered the brim of her wide hat and leaned in close to Xia Ya, sniffing the collar of his shirt.

"Her Highness the Princess, fine, I can accept that."

"But Miss Sylvia, and even Guildmaster Diresse’s scent too."

"What exactly did you get up to in the few hours I wasn’t around?"

How did she never notice before that Xia Ya had the potential to be a master of time management?

"Little Ai, your jealous streak still hasn’t changed one bit."

"But I like that about you."

Xia Ya played with a few strands of Ailora’s falling hair and smiled.

Time could change many things.

But there were also some things time could never shake.

Ten years together hadn’t dulled their love like in so many stories, where passion fades, conflicts arise from trivialities, and love decays… the so-called "three-year itch."

On the contrary, these ten years—along with the complete unlocking of the Holy Lance and the growth in power—

had only intensified Ailora’s possessiveness toward Xia Ya.

One could tell just from how, during the last few weeks before leaving Eden, Xia Ya had been chugging goji tea and grilling lamb kidneys like a madman.

You could only say—this girl had really learned how to turn the tables from below.

The two of them stepped into the residence at No. 32, Golden Osmanthus Street, in the Black Lily District.

Xia Ya glanced around the living room and study covered in dust, then took out a bucket and cleaning tools from his Spatial Pocket.

He summoned his soul-bound pets, all still fast asleep in the Soul Pact Space: "Time to work."

"Ying ying ying~ (Master, this kind of thing should’ve just been left to Yui—those micro-nano robots could've handled it in no time.)"

The little Snow Ferret blinked awake on Xia Ya’s shoulder, letting out a sleepy whine.

Ever since evolving into the Legendary Species "Limit Breakthrough: Snow Ferret," Yin’s sleepiness had only gotten worse.

Out of 24 hours in a day, at least 18 were spent asleep in the Soul Pact Space. The rest of the time, she was either in Xia Ya’s arms demanding pets or lounging on his head soaking up the sun.

Her whole vibe was: Sloth Mode, Activated.

"There’s an old saying in my hometown—‘The longer you live on high, the easier it is to lose your heart.’

It’s a truth I learned from the fragmented memories in that Giant King’s Skull…

Those gods, once upon a time, also had clansmen. They had bonds, attachments, and were living beings too."

"But as their power grew and they rose above the world, their humanity and emotions faded—until only cold divinity remained."

"Of course, stripping away emotions and leaving only aloof divinity isn’t necessarily bad from a power perspective. It’s just… a different choice."

Xia Ya rubbed the heads of Yin, Flashflash, and Chihong.

"I just don’t want our journey, all this resistance against gods and fate, all this struggle for that sliver of fragile human resolve…

to end with the dragon-slaying boy becoming the next dragon.

And after hundreds of years, we too become those high and mighty gods looking down upon all living beings."

If that weren’t the case, then back at the Borgia Family banquet, he should’ve just accepted the proposal from the Crimson Rose Family.

Not chosen to fire that magic-breaking shot at the death-row convict.

"Ying ying~ (Stop with the speech already, Master. I get it.)"

The little Snow Ferret helplessly flicked her fluffy white tail and hopped off Xia Ya’s shoulder.

Then she grabbed a broom from the floor and toddled off toward the inner room.

She’d been adopted and contracted by Xia Ya when she was just a cub too young to remember anything.

He’d always raised and protected her so well that even now, as a Legendary-tier being, Yin remained pretty innocent in temperament. She couldn’t fully grasp the deeper meanings behind Xia Ya’s long-winded musings.

Whatever—basically, time to work, right?

It’s not like it’s her first time being a Tool Ferret. She’s used to it.

Meanwhile, Ailora didn’t say anything. She quietly handed Xia Ya the water-filled bucket.

Compared to Xia Ya’s concerns about losing his humanity someday, she had never wavered in the slightest.

For her, as long as she could stay by Xia Ya’s side—

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Whether that meant sitting with him on a lonely divine throne, slowly forgetting what it meant to be human,

Or falling with him into the abyss, corrupted and twisted into an Evil God, Ailora simply didn’t care.

She would follow him—from life to death.

Everything else, she didn’t care about. Didn’t even want to care.

……

"Done."

Two hours later, Xia Ya collapsed onto the couch in the living room.

On the sofa next to him, Yin and Flashflash also sprawled out like they’d lost the will to live.

Only Yui, the metal fairy, was still floating in the air, flapping her fairy wings formed from Undying Metal, glaring in frustration at the little Snow Ferret and Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey below.

"Big Sis Yin slacked off for fifteen minutes. Flashflash… slacked off for nineteen."

But in the face of Yui’s scolding, Yin and Flashflash didn’t even have the strength to argue back.

As high-tier summoned beasts, their physical capabilities were enough to split mountains and crack boulders… Cleaning a house should’ve been child's play, hardly worth the effort.

But their Beastmaster was an absolute monster.

Under the pretense of “reliving hardship to savor sweetness,” he didn’t just seal off all their pet abilities through Soul Pact restrictions, he also activated a customized gravity field using his “Sovereign Domain,” derived from the skill “Monarch’s Heart,” multiplying the force by hundreds of times.

Every single move felt like trudging through mud, let alone tidying up an entire residence.

And the gravity field was custom-calibrated per individual—take Yin, who had already ascended to Legendary-tier: the gravity she endured under the Sovereign Domain was several times heavier than what Flashflash faced.

The whole idea was to push the summoned beasts to their absolute limits. Brutal wasn’t even the word.

If Xia Ya hadn’t joined in the Sovereign Domain training himself, the pets would’ve likely rebelled already, shouting poetic slogans like “Setting westward with the evening sun, dawn born anew in the east,” while flipping furniture.

Only Little Silver Spirit Chihong stood blinking innocently on the side, in perfect condition.

Before contracting with Xia Ya, Chihong was already a pure-blooded training maniac—he had achieved Transcendent Mastery proficiency in “Slash” with only First-Ring strength.

This level of training was nothing but a drizzle to Chihong. He honestly couldn’t comprehend why Yin and Flashflash—both spoiled since birth—had such pathetic tolerance for pressure.

Xia Ya paid no mind to the scuffling among his pets.

After resting briefly, he walked over to Ailora’s side.

His childhood sweetheart was just like Chihong—a total training addict. She’d voluntarily joined the Sovereign Domain training too, and hadn’t even broken a sweat.

At the moment, Ailora was wiping an old silver-white photo frame on the bookshelf with a tissue.

It was a magitech photograph from when Xia Ya and Ailora had first arrived in the Imperial Capital. In the image, a young boy and girl—still baby-faced and not fully grown—stood side by side.

The boy wore a prematurely serious expression, hands in his pockets, while the little girl clung to his arm, beaming brightly at the lens.

Ailora gently wiped the silver-white frame for a long time before placing it on the nightstand beside the bed.

“Back then, I doubt we ever thought that just a few years later, we’d achieve what we have now.”

Xia Ya glanced at the photo frame and let out a sigh, resting his hand on the golden-haired girl’s white-stockinged, long legs.

“But the past is still just the past. We’ve got to look forward. There are still so many new memories we can make.”

While enjoying the sensation of stroking her legs, he let his other hand trace upward along the golden-haired girl’s soft waist. “We didn’t sleep at all last night. Let’s get some rest early today.”

At the suggestion, a flicker of interest flashed through Ailora’s sky-blue eyes.

But soon, she slightly turned her body to dodge Xia Ya’s mischievous right hand. “I invited Miss Sylvia and Her Majesty the Empress over for a visit—they should be arriving any minute now.”

“You invited them over?” Xia Ya asked, suspicious.

Not that he was against the idea, of course.

As the old saying went, "Han Xin commands, the more the better." Xia Ya—aspiring author of The Exotic Species Cultural Evaluation Guide—obviously welcomed any girl whose favorability level was maxed out and just waiting for the final step. The more, the merrier.

But coming from Ailora’s mouth, it all felt… off.

Wasn’t Little Ai normally the one guarding against other women like they were thieves?

What’s with the sudden thoughtfulness today—was she seriously considering his future s*x life now?

“It’s nothing. I just figured a few things out over those ten years…”

Ailora gazed steadily at Xia Ya with her sky-blue eyes.

“No matter how cautious I am, Xia Ya, you’re still going to keep them in your heart, aren’t you?”

Xia Ya nodded.

Whether it was Sylvianna or Isadella, both had carved out a place in his heart.

He couldn’t let them go.

Didn’t want to let them go.

“So I figured, instead of being constantly on edge, why not just make things clear and settle the competition openly?”

Ailora played with a strand of her pale golden hair. “According to the laws of the Transcendent World, when two Beastmasters encounter something they both want and refuse to give up—there’s only one resolution: they fight it out.”

“But if I really were to fight Miss Sylvia or Her Majesty Isadella—

Regardless of who wins or loses, or who gets hurt—Xia Ya, you'd feel terrible, wouldn’t you?”

Xia Ya thought for a moment and nodded. “To be more accurate, unless you teamed up and left me completely incapacitated, everything you’re describing would never happen.”

“Exactly…”

Ailora blinked her sky-blue eyes. “Though I don’t really want to admit it…”

“Just from listening to your stories in Eden, all those things you shared about Miss Sylvia and Her Majesty Isadella—I can tell…”

“They care about you too.”

“It’s because they care so much that even though they want to claim you for themselves, to keep you all to themselves… they still held back.”

“After that banquet, before we returned from Eden—Miss Sylvia clearly had the absolute upper hand in strength. Yet she never once relied on her identity or power to force you to do anything…”

“Because she was afraid of making things hard for you, afraid of hurting you… She cared more about how you felt than about her own desires.”

The golden-haired girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Compared to Miss Sylvia, I guess I still lack that kind of grace.”

“I mean, the me who hadn’t lived through those ten years still cared too much about possessiveness—ended up coming off second best.”

A soft smile curved on Ailora’s pure white face. “A truly elegant, virtuous partner should always have the confidence and composure to be number one in your heart—at any time.”

Little Ai, where the hell did you learn to sound like a proper Empress-Wife candidate?

Xia Ya couldn’t help but silently complain in his mind.

Back in Eden, during their ten-year stay, Xia Ya had nothing but time—so with his now ocean-deep mental energy, he’d recreated from memory every single book he’d read in his past life.

The range was wild:

Respectable classics like The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers…

And less respectable titles, like Adventurer A-bin—a steamy novel still sitting proudly on Suren’s bookshelf.

He even rewrote old romance drama scripts from the Qiong Yao school he’d watched as a kid.

Who knew what kind of weird stuff his little wife had absorbed over those ten years in Eden?

Just then, the girl’s voice sank slightly.

“But—”

“There are still some things I just can’t yield on.”

Whoosh—

The light flap of wings echoed faintly, carried from the distant edge of the sky.

Xia Ya had only just looked up when he saw the twilight outside the window shrouding the entire sky.

And at the farthest horizon—a massive Crowned Griffon soared through the clouds.

Atop the broad back of the griffon, clad in a black-and-red military uniform, the new Empress of the Empire stood with arms crossed.

The tiny residence at No. 32, Golden Osmanthus Street, Black Lily District, grew larger and larger in her crimson eyes.

Behind Isadella, the Succubus Princess in her flowing white dress held down her skirt against the rushing wind, quietly standing at her side.

A few breaths later.

The Crowned Griffon descended into the courtyard of the residence.

Isadella leapt gracefully from the creature’s back, with Diresse following close behind.

She extended a pale hand and gave a crisp snap of her fingers.

“Good work. Return to the palace now. Come pick me up again tomorrow morning.”

In the next moment, the massive black Crowned Griffon soared into the air, flying in the direction of the Imperial Palace.

As it flew, the Legendary-tier beast kept glancing back, and in its fierce eyes… there was actually a glint of relief.

As the very first summoned beast to follow Isadella, it was as senior as they came.

It knew plenty of behind-the-scenes details—like what had happened the last time Isadella visited No. 32 Golden Osmanthus Street, when it had accompanied her within the Soul Pact Space.

This familiar place before its eyes—

And the man its master had never stopped thinking about—

Along with the instructions to “come back tomorrow”…

In other words: I’m not going back to the palace tonight.

For a moment, the Crowned Griffon was overcome with emotion.

Was its thirty-something single-for-a-thousand-years spinster of a master finally going to get a man?

……

Isadella and Diresse entered Xia Ya’s living room.

At the same time—

Pa-ta—

The frozen twilight shattered.

But this was no mere spiritual projection like the White Cat’s.

This time, it was the real body of the Argent Witch herself, arriving straight from the main tower of the White Tower.

“Miss Sylvia.”

Isadella nodded toward the Argent Witch beside her, then sat naturally on the living room couch.

The last time she had visited was during the Lantern Festival, still as a guest—joining them for a simple meal Xia Ya had prepared.

But at this very moment, everything about this silver-haired Empress exuded the aura of a hostess: calm, composed, and commanding.

Her crimson eyes scanned the golden-haired girl in front of her.

Though she wasn’t as openly sharp as before, Isadella could still sense from Ailora a subtle, oppressive pressure—

An aura that could rival her own.

“No wonder you’re the wielder of the Holy Lance Rhongomyniad.”

“To have reached this point in just ten years…”

Isadella rested a hand on her waist.

There, the golden glow on the sheathed Holy Sword stirred in resonance, as if it might manifest at any moment.

She looked at the expressionless golden-haired girl before her, arms crossed, and spoke softly:

“So, the card game Miss Ailora invited us to—what exactly is it?”

Card game?

Xia Ya’s confusion had only just surfaced—

When the next moment, he saw Ailora pull out a stack of magitech cards.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

He knew that deck all too well—it was a card game he had personally designed and licensed to the Royal Literary Society for distribution.

The game’s foundation was adapted from a rising board game from his previous life, but he had made countless adjustments and localizations to match the Western Continent’s setting.

Many of the cards had magitech sigils inscribed in them, allowing for dazzling effects during play.

It also included elements from Monopoly and pet-raising mechanics.

Rumor had it that after being released by the Royal Literary Society, it became quite popular among the nobility. Xia Ya and Ailora had often played it together during their idle moments in Eden.

Still—he hadn’t expected Little Ai to bust it out at this particular gathering.

Sure, the game was designed as a party activity, but… Little Ai, aren’t you worried this might end with everyone falling out?

“No helping it. Xia Ya is just that kind of greedy guy—he doesn’t want to let go of anyone.”

“And I like him so much that I can’t even bear to put him in a tough spot…”

“If fighting over what we love would make him sad—

Then we’ll just have to settle things through a game.”

Ailora smiled softly as she dealt out the starting hand of magitech cards across the long table.

“As for the prize of this game, just as I mentioned in the magitech transmission to Her Majesty Isadella and Miss Sylvia earlier…”

A prize?

Wait—there’s a prize?

Also, what kind of prize could be tempting enough to get three Throne-tier Beastmasters this interested?

Xia Ya blinked in disbelief.

And then—

He heard Isadella speak again, this time with an amused lilt in her voice:

“Since Xia Ya himself can’t make up his mind and can’t bear to give up anyone…”

“Then making the competition open and transparent—letting us determine order and duration among ourselves—really is a clever idea.”

The moment she finished speaking—

A thick gunpowder scent seemed to rise into the air.

Hearing the implications behind her words, and feeling Isadella’s burning gaze locked onto him—

In that instant, Xia Ya understood everything.

Good lord… the prize is me.

Little Ai, Little Ai—

Did you just sell your own boyfriend off?

Sure, being chased by beautiful girls was fun and all, but seriously? I, Xia Ya Egut, do still have my dignity, don’t I?

I trained bitterly in Eden for ten years to return to the Material Plane and flip the script—to ride the monarch, not to get ridden by one!

But alas, this was Xia Ya’s home—not some battlefield against an Evil God in the stars.

No matter if it was “Nuclear Explosion,” or “Divine Judgment Spear,” or even the combination technique Yin and Chihong trained so hard to master—

“Flame of Ruin: All Creation Turned to Ash”—

None of that could save him now.

With Little Ai and Her Majesty both set on their paths, and the powder keg already lit—

Only one person, who had yet to speak, might still salvage the situation.

And so Xia Ya turned, filled with hope, to his official first wife—Miss Xi Bao.

Only to see that the Argent Witch’s argent eyes were burning brighter than ever.

Filled with blazing fighting spirit, and an overwhelming resolve that said I will not lose.

Sylvianna held an ancient tome in her hands, tilting it just enough for Xia Ya to see the text inside.

And then, in flowing light-gold script, the words slowly appeared on the diary page—

“Brother Xia Ya once said, ‘A girl’s love must be protected by herself.’”

“Isn’t that obvious for any girl?”

Xia Ya: ?

Xia Ya: I never said that.