۶۟ৎ Mon's Beloved ✶⋆.˚

Hong Lu’s not a stranger to this feeling but he certainly thought he’d be rid of it forever after he killed the xianren and took over Hongyuan. He couldn’t have been more wrong, but he didn’t particularly care for it either. He was worried at first of course, but after being unable to gather any intel on what could be the potential cause, he waved it off. His time was better spent on taking care of Hongyuan and preparing him for the Wing War.

The feeling only grows stronger when Dante establishes a connection with him, one that calls him forth to temporarily replace a version of himself in Dante’s world. Specifically, the odd feeling only grows stronger whenever he’s brought out to replace the weak version of himself. He makes the connection immediately as a result— that this Dante person is related to that odd feeling he has.

However, Hong Lu can tell that there’s way more to it than what he knows so far. Being around Dante makes the odd feeling stronger, but there’s still things that go unexplained.

Things that slowly start making sense the more “Mirror Dungeon runs” that Hong Lu is brought to.

It takes months for him to notice at first; months that Hong Lu spends learning more about Dante and all the little details they had so that he could make sense of the odd feeling he has. And once he’s familiar with Dante, the strangeness of the mirror dungeon runs they go on start to show up.

First, why does Dante send in identities that are either set to die or asking to be killed off into the battle when they go through so much pain to bring the sinners back? Why do they seem okay with the countless deaths that take place within the mirror dungeon, why are they reckless with said deaths despite the aforementioned pain they go through?

Dante was not a masochist. They didn’t enjoy the pain. When Hong Lu asked about their recklessness with the sinners’ deaths despite this, he only got a shrug and an “I don’t know” in response.

Then the second set of questions came, why did the way Dante leads the sinners in battle change significantly between the mirror dungeon runs and fights outside of it? Sometimes there was a change even within the mirror dungeon.

There was no sense or reason to the change besides some fights requiring more focus, but the degree of the change was strange. As if there was someone else taking over for Dante and controlling them. If it was possible for Hong Lu to take place of another version of himself through the help of a couple devices, then couldn’t the same be said about Dante?

That’s when the pieces finally click together for Hong Lu and he starts his own research the moment he’s back in his world. With his power as the head of a Wing as well as his aggressive approach, it doesn’t take long for him to find a way to bring people from another world into his in a manner similar to how Dante called upon different versions of their sinners to their world. But it still takes too long for his taste.

You, whoever the person taking control over Dante was, are the key to him ensuring his victory in the upcoming Wing War.

He doesn’t need you of course, but having you on his side will make things much, much easier for him.

The first several people that Hong Lu brings to his world are not who he’s looking for. They’re way too clueless to be the person he’s in search of; no familiarity with his world or even the niche things that the person controlling Dante should know about. Fortunately for him, each failed attempt only helps locate where you are and brings him closer to getting his hands on you.

It’s not long before you do end up in his world and he finds it cute how obvious you are about being the person he’s looking for. It’s even cuter how easily you fall for his trap questions and confirm your identity to him.

You are, however, not what he wanted.

Dante seemed knowledgeable about the mirror worlds; of the versions of the sinners that resided within them and their pasts, presents and futures. You seemed to posses a similar range of information, if not a little more, and that on its own could change a lot. However what Hong Lu wanted from you was information about the future; of his enemies and allies, of who’d be most likely to betray him and who wouldn’t. Information that you didn’t have access to.

Nevertheless, he takes you under his wing. He knows more about the City than you do but if he taught you what he knew, then he’s sure he’ll be rewarded as you use the information you currently possess and what he’s taught you to his benefit. The information he got out of you regarding K Corp and W Corp’s singularity are precious enough, not to mention your knowledge regarding L Corp’s and the Library’s past.

How could he let you go, really?

Returning you to your world is out of the question, at least until you’ve fulfilled your side of the deal by helping Hong Lu with his goals. He doesn’t expect you to be loyal of course, so while he’ll make sure that you’re treated with respect during your time with him, you’ll also be under heavy surveillance and your every action will be reported to him.

He can’t have you running away after all. It’d be bad if someone else got their hands on you… if you didn’t die immediately after escaping, which was far more likely than him losing you to someone else.

His obsession takes hold after that. In a way, your position mirrors his own in that you’re both trapped with no one that either of you can truly trust. Hong Lu at least killed off anyone who could cause trouble for him and won’t hesitate to kill more, not to mention that holding the leash of the twelve heishou makes things significantly easier for him even if he had no one by his side. Compared to that, every single person that interacted with you is either doing so under Hong Lu’s orders or have their own ulterior motives that involve using you.

As a result, as the only other person who could understand Hong Lu’s position, he starts spending time with you. More than what he should, though he still keeps a lot of things a secret from you. Despite everything, there will never be a time when he fully, completely trusts you.

His attachment happens rather quickly as well. He’s never had a friend before— he couldn’t allow himself to have any unless he wanted his revenge to fall through, and even before then, what few friends he had, he couldn’t play much with anyway due to his detestable grandmother and the xianren. Being with you is thrilling, eventhough you’re clueless about so many things. If you ever got away, how could you even take care of yourself when you know next to nothing about how the City works?

One might think that he’d tighten the security around you, but instead he forces you to be beside him nearly every hour of every day. There are times when he’ll send you away, but you’re stuck with him otherwise. He’s not above making you sleep in the same room as him — and he’s certainly not worried about you trying to kill him in his sleep, you’d never succeed — nor is he above making you sleep in the same bed once his attachment grows to unhealthy degrees.

It’s not long before he makes you talk about yourself; your home, the culture of the place you come from, your family and background, the likes. He doesn’t have any interest in going into your world so much as he’s interested in you. Besides, if he can give you some of the stuff you had back in your world, then you’d be more willing to stay with him, wouldn’t you?

He destroys the machine that holds open the gateway back to your world and blames a rebel group or a traitor on the inside for its destruction. The deal you made is rendered null as he’s unwilling to let you go. Why would you want to leave anyway when you can have whatever you want so long as you’re by his side?

Hong Lu doesn’t stop his plans for you, no, he still wants to cause a Wing War and come out on top so that he may change more of the City. However he starts using you less and less until you’re nothing more than the Lord’s arm candy in the eyes of everyone residing in Hongyuan. Nonetheless, no one would dare to mess with you despite them looking down on you because messing with you means experiencing the Lord of Hongyuan’s wrath, which serves to further isolate you from everyone else.

Mirror worlds, parallel universes, Hong Lu has stopped caring about them long ago once he started becoming friends with you. He has no more use for those things, not that he needed them before. All he needs is you, his precious new friend by his side, and nothing more.

Your Lord understood you perfectly. He took you out of your cage by your leash everyday so that you could unleash the violent urges bubbling up inside you on anyone you wished to hurt. Your Lord’s praise came after; crooning how lovely you look with that murderous expression on your and blood covering your body.

Messy, he’d say as he swiped his thumb across your cheek in a half hearted attempt to wipe off the blood there. His eye would linger on your lips and the corner of his own would twitch before he tugged you forward to your next playmate.

The other roosters were surely jealousy of you for being pampered so much while they had to wait for a mission to get their violent urges out. They must miss your boring old lord as well, who made sure to take care of every single one of you while bringing in animals for you all to kill in between missions.

Silly old fool, didn’t they know that only the screams of humans could sate the bloodthirst of roosters?

Your Lord knew, maybe that was why when your old lord gave the leash to him, his first order was for you — and only you — to kill them.

…You loved your Lord. He understood you perfectly and took you out to kill whoever you wanted.

<- Back to the masterlist?

Your days blurred into one another to the point you couldn’t tell day apart from night; sunset apart from sunrise. There was no one to keep you company, nothing to keep you entertained, nothing for you to return to and nothing to keep you here besides your parents’ threatening words.

It was then that, having grown tired of everything, you left your room and slipped under the covers of the night sky where no one would be able to find you unless you wished them to. But even out here, not a single soul was in sight.

With a sigh, you leaned against a tree; slowly sliding down until you were sitting on the ground. You could’ve sworn that these gardens were filled with people— other kids that you could play with until sunset or your mother dragged you back into your room by your ear.

But that was the thing, wasn’t it? All that happened years, even decades ago. Of course no one would be around to entertain you now; not when everyone had gone and grown up without you. Baochai, Pan, and even that annoying Yihua… Your heart ached, knowing that you’d never spend time with them again, or talk to them, or even see them.

Was this how the rest of your life would go? Lamenting over your past as your present self continued to rot alive in their room? Where no one would be able to find them?

You were unsatisfied with your life as is, but coming out here for the first time in years only—

Crack.

Your body tensed immediately at the sound before you hastily stood up from your spot and looked around.

What was that sound? You didn’t see a single soul while you were on your way here and you certainly didn’t see anyone while you were here, otherwise you wouldn’t have lamented over how lonely you were. So what was that sound?

Looking around certainly didn’t yield any answers either, not when everything was so dark and the moonlight barely illuminated anything. That, or maybe you hallucinated the sound with how lonely you were. You certainly wouldn't put it above yourself if you—

Snap.

—Nope, it wasn’t a hallucination, not in the slightest.

You looked around once more to locate where the sound came from only to no avail. That was bad news, really bad news. It could just be an animal but you weren’t stupid enough to risk it and took off immediately.

Only for a hand to clamp on your mouth before being pulled back against a chest. A beastly smell washed over you as you let out a muffled cry and struggled against your captor who didn’t seem to find it difficult to hold you against them. It didn’t take long for the scent of bloodshed to waft and mix in with their scent either.

“You are… from the Shi Family,” they— rather, she noted as you kept struggling in her arms. Her voice was surprisingly soft, maybe even soothing if she wasn’t threatening your life right now. “I do not recall him talking about anyone from the Shi Family, only the Xue Family.”

What was that supposed to mean? How did she even know that you were from the Shi Family? Maybe she recognised you, but… no, that wasn’t possible. You hadn’t been allowed to leave your room ever since that day and it was only today that you snuck out against your parents’ wishes. There was no way for her to recognise you.

Your body grew tired before long. That seemed to be what she was waiting for because only when you stopped struggling did she make her move; moving her hands so one on your back and the other under your knees before she picked you up.

“My Lord requested that I be gentle with you,” she began before you could question her on her actions, “however, he has also given me permission to deal with whatever trouble you cause me as I please. I ask of you to behave so that you may remain unharmed.”

A part of you wanted to keep struggling and even scream for help now that she wasn’t covering your mouth, as she had just made a really dumb move by choosing to carry you like you were some kind of damsel in distress instead of dragging you towards wherever her lord was.

But on the other hand… Was there even anyone around to come help you if you did scream for help? There was no one around and considering the scent of blood on her, it was a safe bet to say that no one would ever come to save you.

“…Okay,” you reluctantly agreed.

That seemed to be what she was waiting for as only then did she start carrying you towards wherever her lord resided with a steady yet fast pace.

Her footsteps didn’t make a single sound, it was no wonder then that you didn’t notice her sneaking up on you— well, not until she stepped on a branch twice but that was besides the point. Where there others like her then? Stalking around Daguanyuan and looking for people to kidnap or even kill…

Was that why this place felt so empty?

“My Lord,” your captor piped up as she came to a stop and placed you back on the ground, “I have brought them.”

He hummed in response, turning back to look at her to make sure she wasn’t lying to him before smiling. “Thank you, Miss Faust. Now leave us be~”

She didn’t hesitate, leaving you alone with him in less than a second. What came after was silence; one that likely meant that he was analysing you top to bottom for a second time, something that you couldn’t do to him as you could barely make out his expression through the darkness.

Before long, his expression softened as he took a step towards you. “There you are,” he muttered, not giving you the chance to back away as his hands came up to cup your cheeks; the action followed by a soft thud as something fell onto the ground. “So this is where you have been.”

Not knowing what to say or if you should even be saying something, you opted to stay silent. He seemed to take it as encouragement to continue what he was doing, his fingers gently playing with your cheeks as he lightly pulled and pushed at the skin.

“Have you been waiting for me all this time, hm?”

…Oookay so, as dangerous as this thought was, maybe you should tell him that you weren’t the person that he thought you were? He talked as if the two of you knew each other long ago, and yet you didn’t recognize his face at all despite the darkness making it difficult for you to tell. Besides, you certainly would’ve recognized his voice if you did know about him.

There was also the fact that your captor — Miss Faust, was it? — sounded surprised when she saw that you were from the Shi Family, which had to mean that this…lord, whoever he was, must have confused you for someone else.

With all that said, you had no intention of pretending to be someone that you were not nor were you interested in suffering a worse fate just because you wanted to live a moment longer and kept quiet about something you shouldn’t have.

And if you died right now… well, that’d certainly send a great message to your parents.

“I’m not them,” you said, making him abruptly stop fondling your cheeks. “Whoever you were looking for, I’m not them.”

He didn’t reply, not at first. He stared at you with a blank expression, his slightly parted lips being the only giveaway to his confusion. “…Excuse me?”

Oh you were definitely done for.

“I don’t know you,” you continued, “I don’t recognize you, I’ve never met you before in my life. So I don’t think that I’m—”

His lips crashed down onto yours.

A small sound escaped you before you struggled to pull back, something that he saw as an opportunity to push his tongue past your lips. He brought one hand down to your waist and pulled you closer than you already were so your body was completely pressed up against his.

Only when he thought he had his fill did he pull away, the corner of his lips quirking up into smirk as he licked up the string of saliva connecting your mouths. “Recognize that kiss then~?”

What a fucking asshole.

“Of course not??” you squeaked out, desperately pushing at his chest to separate your bodies to no avail. “Who even does that?? ‘Recognize this kiss?’ You’re lucky I don’t recognize your face at all or I would’ve murdered you first and then torture your—”

His lips came crashing down on you a second time, this time landing on your cheek as he made sure to leave the messiest and sloppiest kiss ever to spite you.

“Mmmmmwah! You’re so cute when you get upset, just how I remember you~”

“Oh I’ll make sure you’re remembered as—!!”

Okay, okay, calm down, you needed to calm down. He just said that he found you cute when you got upset so he was doing all that to piss you off. If you wanted to get away or at the very least make your life easier, then you’d have to stay calm and ignore the stupid shit he was pulling at the moment.

“—Please forgive me, I let myself go for a moment there,” you said as you struggled to lower your voice.

He snorted in response.

You wondered if he’d also find the idea of your fist meeting his face funny— no no calm down, calm down.

“Just… why not tell me your name instead of doing that? I’m sure that would’ve helped me a lot more than… k- kissing me has.”

“That’s because I wanted to kiss you—” Oh you were going to kill this fucking prick so fucking bad! “—Jia Baoyu. My name is Jia Baoyu. Does it sound familiar?”

Jia Baoyu… Of course that name sounded familiar. “The precious gem of the Jia family or whatever, of course I recognize it. I’d have to be from another Wing— no, I’d have to have lived my entire life within the Outskirts to not recognize that name, but even then I would’ve surely heard of it.”

You thought he’d smirk in response, that he’d boast about how important he was and how you’d have to serve him through the rest of your life lest you wanted misfortune upon misfortune to fall upon you. Maybe even kiss you another time, this time taking things a step further just because he could and that you looked cute during it.

But instead, you saw his expression falter. “That name…?” you heard him mutter under his breath. He looked surprisingly, genuinely devastated by your answer.

Which, good, he should be upset. Fucking asshole. But it made you wonder if there was more to this situation than you realized.

He cupped both of your cheeks once more, the look in his eyes — especially when they were so close to your own — were undeniably that of sadness. “What did they do to you…?”

Did they do something to you?

“Arguably the right thing if it got you this upset!” you hissed, struggling to pull away only for him to move one hand to the back of your head and push your face straight into his chest. “H- Hey!! Let go of me already!! i told you i’m not the person you’re looking for!!!”

He kept your face against his chest, gently, affectionately caressing your cheek as he ignored your protests. The gesture was almost sweet. Almost.

“It’s okay, you’re okay…” he kept muttering. His words felt more like an attemot to comfort himself than an attempt to comfort you. “I’ll get you away from this place then help you remember. You’re okay, you’re okay…”

It was a little funny how fast he had gone from arrogant to sad with just one answer from you. However his behaviour certainly was… weird. The Jia Baoyu you knew — what with the way Baochai and Pan talked about him — was never this arrogant either.

Maybe it was stupid of you, but you wanted to know what happened. If that meant hanging out with this stupid prick for the rest of your life then, whatever. The answers you sought were far more important than your own life or comfort.

“Take me away then,” you reluctantly replied, feeling his grip on you tighten when you did. “I… want to know what happened, too.”

Were you making a mistake?

Undoubtedly so, but…

He tilted your face upwards so you were looking at him, the annoying smirk from before now back on his face. “I knew you were in there somewhere~” he purred, moving his hands around your body before picking you up into his arms.

You rolled your eyes. He could say and act however he wanted to, you had already seen past that arrogant mask of his.

“Now where to first, hm? Shall I bring you back to my house or the wedding venue I arranged before coming here? Or maybe you’d prefer we skip the wedding and go straight to our honeymoon~?”

Wait huh?

Huh???

Huh???????