The Forbidden Light [BL] Chapter 67: Return To The Palace

Hoshizuma, inside Yuecheng’s body, woke early that morning with a wide smile on his face.

The war against the gods in the Hoshigane Kingdom was going exactly the way he wanted.

When will you give back my body?

Hoshizuma heard Yuecheng’s voice inside his mind.

I don’t rember if you are ... or if I was soone else.

Give a little longer. Hold on until Shion returns. I know you’re slowly losing your sense of self, but you need to trust , Yue.

When... when they co back... I want to see my mom...

Soon. I can feel their presence, their magical aura. They’ll be here any mont now, and everything will return to normal. But with them... sothing else arrived...

Sothing else?

Hoshizuma – or rather Yuecheng – grimaced, clearly annoyed

Sothing that should have remained forgotten.

Hoshizuma thought this without directing it to Yuecheng’s awareness, then lazily pushed himself up from the bed.

*

The journey passed rather quickly for them. They all traveled in the sa carriage – one befitting a royal family. The seats were covered in soft fabric and comfortable, and the coach itself was richly decorated, almost as if they wanted to draw the attention of rouges and lesser bandits.

"It’s very sweet of you to co pick up Yue yourself," Haru said, smiling at Aya.

He was sitting with his back toward the direction of travel, beside Shion and their three children, while the others sat opposite them. Aya’s wheelchair fit into the small luggage space at the back.

Lánshuò stood beside Yuri, completely still, staring into the distance. Haru glanced at her for a mont, but imdiately looked away.

I want to deal with her as little as possible. And yet... I trust her. I don’t know why, but that trust appeared suddenly, and it even surprises .

"I’d be a terrible mother if I didn’t," Aya answered after a mont.

Lánshuò twitched. It was an unnatural motion for a living being – more like the trembling of a branch in the wind. She gazed outward – toward the distant horizon.

The stench of dead gods hangs in the air. It’s making my hunger go wild...

As if sensing Lánshuò’s intent, Yuri looked at her mask with slight fear. Around where the mouth should have been – though the mask had no carved lips – a small crack appeared, revealing a glimpse of Lánshuò’s fangs.

Haru noticed it too, and with even more worry than little Yuri, stared at the crack.

"Do not fear, mother of my lady," Lánshuò declared. Her unnaturally low, eerie voice resounded directly in his mind, yet at the sa ti Haru had the impression it also echoed in the air. "The corpses of gods lie thick around here, and it’s making hungry."

Haru knew that whatever Lánshuò told him now, and whatever he replied to her, no one else would hear a word of it.

"Corpses of gods? What do you an?" he asked, shocked.

"Soone... is doing you a great favor, respected mother of my lady."

What the hell happened here while we were gone?

"Haru, are you alright? You look worried and lost in thought," Maldie asked with a worry.

"Yes, everything’s perfectly fine. Sorry, I just started thinking about... certain things."

"I understand. If you want, we can talk about it later," she added with a warm smile.

"Thanks," he replied shyly.

"It was a really long trip," Sayaka tried to start a conversation after a mont of silence. She glanced at Yan Mo for confirmation, but the guardian just kept staring at the ground, shut off from everything around him, completely wrapped up in his own thoughts.

"Oh, don’t even start," Gari groaned. "After we return all I want is a shitload of cold beer and then go to sleep. I’ve had enough excitent."

"Gari! Watch your mouth around the kids!" Maldie scolded.

"Oh co on, ’shitload’ isn’t that bad, and as for beer – they’ll discover it sooner or later, hehe."

"You’re lucky they’re all asleep," Haru said with a laugh, and the three of them chuckled together.

Aya only now looked properly at Lánshuò and noticed the crack in her mask.

"Lánshuò," Aya said, calling the being by na. Yuri’s guardian twitched uneasily, then turned toward her with sothing almost like disapproval in her gaze. "What is the aning of this?"

"I already explained it to the mother of the one I serve."

"Explain it to as well."

"Do you not feel it, young Hoshigane? The aura that has weakened... the suffocating aura that now is lessened, and because of that this land is learning how to breathe again?"

Aya furrowed her brows, thinking about her words. Rouhuo looked at her mistress with worry.

"Are you alright? What are you thinking about?" the half-lioness asked.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I drifted off for a mont," Aya said, coming back to reality from her thoughts.

"I know we still have the return trip ahead, but don’t worry. I’ll do my best to make sure everything goes well," Rouhuo said, then placed her hand on Aya’s. "M-my lady," she added shyly, and quickly pulled her hand back, noticing she’d allowed herself too much in front of the others. With slight fear she looked at Aya, expecting anger – but Aya didn’t react. She was staring off into the distance, lost in thought.

"Thank you, Rouhuo," she said after a mont. "That ans a lot to ."

"H-Huh?!" the half-lioness exclaid. "My lady... like that, in front of everyone?"

"I don’t see a problem with it," Aya replied.

Their journey continued without issue – the carriage wheels rolled slowly and calmly – but the aura Lánshuò emanated weighed heavily on all of them, at least on those who could see her. Even though Haru, Aya and Yuri trusted her, her hunger made the atmosphere inside the carriage much heavier.

Haru glanced at his children: Yuri, who had been a bit uneasy until now, was finally sleeping, along with her brothers, who had been tired from the long journey and had slept through most of it.

As they approached the capital, Shion suddenly clutched his head and scread in pain. Everyone turned toward him.

"Sweetheart, what’s wrong?" Haru asked, concerned.

"I... don’t know... I feel so..." Shion suddenly arched backward in a violent movent and shouted even louder.

His skin shifted into a silver-cosmic color, his hair turning into starry gold.

"What is... happening... to ?" two voices howled at once – one was Shion’s, and the other belonged to soone, or sothing, that sounded disturbingly similar to him.

Panic surged in Haru’s eyes. Not knowing what to do, he grabbed Shion’s hand.

"My love," he whispered in a trembling voice. He tried to channel his magic to help sohow, but the magic in his body didn’t move at all. "Aya..." he turned to her. "Please, do sothing. I don’t know what’s happening."

He looked her straight in the eyes, but Aya stared back, just as shocked as he was.

"Haru, I... I don’t know what’s happening either. I’m at a loss."

"Don’t fear, mother of my lady," Lánshuò said. "Once we reach the palace, everything will beco clear."

"How can anything beco clear when I don’t even know Shion will make it through the journey?!" Haru shouted. "Do you hear how he’s screaming?!"

Shion’s cries were so loud they woke the sleeping children. Yuri woke first.

"Mom, what’s happening to Dad?" she asked, terrified.

Asahi and Shion the Second, just barely roused from sleep, didn’t understand at first — but one glance, one fragnt of the scream filling the carriage, was enough.

"Dad, what’s going on?!" Asahi cried, frightened, but Shion couldn’t answer him.

"Lánshuò, please, do sothing. Anything," Haru pleaded.

Lánshuò hesitated. She looked aningfully toward Yuri – and only when the girl said with voice full of fear and desperation – :

"Please... save my dad," ,

– Lánshuò nodded.

She stepped toward Shion, studying him carefully for a short mont before extending her hand. The slender, shadow-ford fingers of her false body shifted into black-tallic claws – her true form. Lánshuò’s gaze fixed on Shion’s neck, where she spotted a splitting – as if the contour of soone else’s body overlapped the king’s.

She hooked one claw into it, then pulled.

Though no one else saw it, Yuri knew that when Lánshuò touched the contour that did not belong to Shion – she licked her lips.

There was only one thing that could an.

"Mom... the thing that attacked Dad... it’s a god."

"A god?" Haru said in shock. "Again?" He paused, then sighed. "Not that after everything that’s happened it surprises anymore, but it’s still depressing."

"But... I don’t think it attacked on its own will?" Maldie said. "That god was suffering along with him."

"I wouldn’t be surprised if that bastard Fourth did all this on purpose," Gari muttered. "It’d fit a piece of trash like him."

When Lánshuò tore the contour away, Shion bent forward, gasping for breath. Haru took his hand in both of his and pulled him close.

"Sweetheart..." he whispered shakily, fear thick in his voice.

"It’s okay now..." Shion rasped between heavy breaths. "What’s happening to ?" he asked sadly, staring at the floor.

After finishing the healing, Lánshuò stepped toward Haru.

"The maid is correct. It wasn’t just an ordinary god. It doesn’t co from the Fourth, but from soone far stronger. It was created in the likeness of the father of the one I serve, which ans their consciousness was split."

"But why would anyone create a god like that? For what purpose? All of this makes less and less sense, damn it!" Haru snapped, frustrated and angry.

"I do not know, mother of the one I serve," Lánshuò replied, then pointed forward. Confused Aya and the equally frightened Yuri followed her gesture, holding onto her mysterious words:

"I do not know, but the answer lies in the palace. The one who split their consciousness will have to rge them again."

"Hoshizuma..." Aya hissed through her teeth, her gaze locking with Haru’s.

"I hope he’s not working against us, because if he is..." Haru didn’t finish.

His lips quivered with emotion, and tears gathered in his eyes.