I've Become the Demoness

Chapter 19-The Enemy's Suspicions

By the time the three of them made it back into town, it was already late.

"Looks like I'll be spending the night here. What about you two?" Xiu Xiang asked. Wei Xing and Bai Qing looked at each other. She blushed and picked at her sleeves before replying, "I'll be staying here too."

Wei Xing simply nodded.

"Well, then. It looks like the three of us are fated somehow. I'll get us each a room and afterwards let's meet up for dinner as a token of a new beginning," she chirped. Before they could put in their own two cents, Xiu Xiang had bounced inside the inn.

Wei Xing had seen the way Bai Qing looked at Xiu Xiang. He didn't know why but he felt irritated. He wanted to gouge out that Bai Qing's eyes. How dare she look at Xiu Xiang like a lovesick fool? Bai Qing was about to enter after her when Wei Xing spoke up.

"Whatever feelings you have, stop. It won't come to fruition," Wei Xing stated. Bai Qing frowned as she looked up at him.

"You-!" Bai Qing didn't get to say anything. He had already brushed past her without another word.

Xiu Xiang finished changing out of her dusty clothes and into a light blue dress. Once she finished, she let down her ponytail and brushed it out before pinning half of it up into a bun.

"I look more like a woman now, I guess," Xiu Xiang didn't wear any jewelries and all she had on her was a plain silver pin. She took one more look at herself in the mirror and decided it was good enough to leave to find the other two.

She had just opened the door when she almost ran into Bai Qing.

"Bai Qing? What are you doing?" Xiu Xiang asked as she took a step back to avoid hitting her. Bai Qing stood frozen in front of the doorway as she eyed her up and down.

"You're..." she pointed an accusing finger at her.

"I'm a girl, just like you," Xiu Xiang said dully. The young maiden looked like her heart had been trampled on as her eyes had gone watery.

"But... how? Why?" Bai Qing cried. Xiu Xiang sighed and finally pulled her inside.

After much explaining, Bai Qing finally stopped crying.

"I see... sigh. If I had dressed up as a man too then maybe I wouldn't have gotten captured," Bai Qing muttered. Xiu Xiang laughed nervously and patted her on the shoulders.

"Let's not dwell too much on that thought. Ah. Why'd you tell Wei Xing that your name was Xiu Xiang?" she asked. That had been bugging her all day.

"Oh... well. It's like this, see. My grandfather had sent a marriage proposal in my name to the Tian Ling Sect and Wei Xing was the one that had been chosen to accept my proposal. Except I don't want to marry him!" Bai Qing exclaimed.

Xiu Xiang blinked back a couple of times. How far off had the novel veered? The future wife of Wei Xing doesn't want to marry him? She was so sure that they had fallen in love at first sight. Was it not like that now?

"Why not? I heard he's quite a distinguished person and an extremely skilled swordsman," Xiu Xiang said.

"Have you met the guy? He's so stiff and hard to please. Earlier he--!" Bai Qing cut off what she was going to say right away. She was just about to confess her feelings and realized how embarrassing that would've been. "...Anyway, I just don't like him. Please don't tell him who I really am. I was on my way back to my sect to stop my grandfather from letting this marriage happen when I was kidnapped."

"Okay...? But just so you know, secrets can't be kept forever," Xiu Xiang warned.

Yea, right. Who are you to talk? Xiu Xiang wanted to slap herself silly for even saying it. She was the one with the most secrets right now.

After a long talk, both women decided it was time to get some dinner and finally exited the room to find Wei Xing in the lobby. Several dishes had already been laid out with three sets of chopsticks and bowls of rice.

"Have you been waiting all this time?" Xiu Xiang asked as the two of them approached him. He looked up from the table and the moment he laid eyes on her, his mouth partially dropped open. She cocked her head to the side with a smile on her face. "What's wrong? Is it because you also thought I was a man too?"

She sighed heavily and took a seat in front of him while Bai Qing sat off to her right, frowning. He seemed frozen in place and Xiu Xiang started to wonder if she had given him quite the shock. Bai Qing also noticed his behavior and cleared her throat loudly.

Upon hearing her insulting throat clearing, Wei Xing finally regained his composure and closed his mouth.

"I took the liberty of ordering several dishes. Please," he said as he motioned for both women to start eating. Xiu Xiang grinned at his generosity and didn't hesitate to grab her chopsticks. Every dish on the table looked enticing. She headed right for the sweet braised pork belly and plopped it into her mouth.

The sweet juices of the braised pork hit her taste buds like an explosion. She hadn't eaten all day and this was just the perfect thing to eat after a long day.

Wei Xing watched as the woman in front of him went straight for the braised pork.

How was it that even her taste in food was the same as Xiu Xiang's?

Underneath the table, his hand clutched tightly to the handkerchief that he had picked up in the forest. It had been embroidered Xiu Xiang. He knew that Xiu Xiang had already died but somewhere deep inside of him he refused to believe it. He glanced over to the woman who claimed to be Xiu Xiang. He smirked and shook his head.

That immature Bai Qing dared to use Xiu Xiang's name? How unfitting. There was no way that this handkerchief belongs to her!

He then looked back at the woman in front of him. There were no scars on her face, but she looked every bit like Xiu Xiang. Ever since he saved her from getting whipped, he secretly kept watch over her. He watched her struggle to survive every day and not once did she complain. He didn't know exactly when it started but he had already come to care for her. On nights when she returned home after a tiring day, he left behind food and eventually learned of her likes and dislikes. He had ordered quite a bit of dishes according to her tastes and found it surprising that the woman in front of her picked out only from those dishes. Just what could this mean? Could she really be Xiu Xiang?

"I never got your name. What is it?" he asked abruptly.