Demon Blood, Maiden Vail

Night had fallen again.

The camp was quiet—too quiet. The flames from the spirit boat's damaged furnace flickered low, casting wavering shadows across tents, trees, and broken talismans.

Lin Yuan sat alone on the deck, staring at the starless sky, absently turning the **now-dim soul stone** in his hand. Somewhere behind him, the newborn baby—**Tearlume**—slept peacefully. The others were tending wounds, resting, or out scouting.

Only one person sat near him.

The **15-year-old girl**.

She hadn't spoken since the naming. She just sat cross-legged on a stack of beast bags, watching the horizon with a gaze too old for her face.

Lin Yuan broke the silence.

> "You never told me your name."

She didn't look at him. "I don't have one."

He blinked. "You don't…?"

She turned slowly, her eyes pale gold in the firelight. "Names are for people who belong. I'm not one of them."

Lin Yuan frowned. "Then… who are you?"

She tilted her head.

> "You want the truth? I'm not one of the refugees. I didn't come from the cages you broke open."

> "I was already there… before you arrived."

Lin Yuan's heart skipped.

She stood up and walked toward him, each step silent, as if the earth didn't dare feel her weight.

> "I've been following you since you entered the Taiyin Sect."

His breath caught.

> "I saw you the first day you stepped through the gates, pretending to be a girl.

> I saw when you held your siblings' hands play in forest.

> I saw when you gave away your food.

> When you healed broken people.

> When you cried at night but didn't let them see."

Her eyes softened.

> "And I saw when you chose to give your life… for a baby that wasn't yours."

Lin Yuan's voice was low. "Why?"

She looked up at the stars.

> "Because I was ordered to."

> "What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

She turned back to him, and this time, her expression… was something else entirely.

Ancient.

Grieving.

Glowing.

> "I'm not a girl," she whispered. "I'm a vessel. A sliver of something old.

> Something that once loved a demon and died because of it."

Lin Yuan stepped back instinctively, his hand brushing the necklace at his chest.

> "Who sent you?"

The girl smiled—not cruelly, but with a sadness that cut deeper than swords.

> "No one alive."

> "Then what are you?"

She knelt before him, eyes glimmering with light—starlight, soul light.

> "I was born from a wish."

> "A wish?" Lin Yuan echoed.

She nodded slowly.

> "Someone once wished that if a child were to be born of **fairy and demon**,

> there would be one person in the world who understood her child.

> even if the heavens did not."

The wind howled softly.

> "That wish became me."

**Lin Yuan couldn't speak.**

His chest tightened, not from fear—but familiarity. There was something about her… something ancient, like an echo that had always lived in his blood.

> "Tearlume isn't the only name born from sorrow," she said.

She turned and began to walk into the woods.

> "When you're ready… come find me."

> "There are things you must learn.

> About your soul.

> Your blood.

> And the fate chasing you like a shadow."

She vanished into the dark.

And Lin Yuan… stood beneath the hollow sky, feeling as if an ancient door had just been unlocked within him.

Sometimes lattes he follows the girl in woods. The **girl's body glowed**, faint gold threading through her skin like sunlight caught in silk.

Her lips didn't move.

But the voice—**gentle, ageless, grieving**—echoed softly in Lin Yuan's mind.

> "I am not a girl. I am a dress. A wedding robe.

> An illusion I crafted to speak with you."

> "Once worn by a **fairy queen**… who gave her heart to a **demon king**."

As the firelight flickered, the camp faded from view, and a **phantom world of moonlight and soul mist** unfurled before Lin Yuan's eyes.

---

He watched the story unfold like a painted scroll unrolling across the stars.

A **young fairy girl**, innocent and kind, saw her village burned by a monstrous beast. Her kin fell. Her people screamed.

But when death reached for her—

A **boy** descended from the skies, wrapped in flame and shadow. He slew the beast. He shielded her. He led the survivors to safety and vanished without asking for thanks.

Years later, she saw him again.

She chased him.

He struck her—mistaking her for an enemy.

When he realized, he knelt in shame.

> "My soul is tainted," he said. "I could hurt you."

But she stayed.

> "Then let me help you cleanse it."

---

The years that followed were a hidden love story.

He returned—again and again—always wounded, always quiet.

Each time, she healed him. Each time, he gave her treasures.

And with them, she grew stronger—becoming the **Saintess of Flowers**, healing thousands, revered across the land.

Later She understand what he was.

A demon.

But his kindness had watered her roots long before she bloomed.

---

And then he gave her a flower.

Not just any flower—

but one carved from **his own demonic bone**, blooming with moonlight.

She took him to her people.

> "He saved us.

> He gave me everything.

> I… love him."

The villagers hesitated—but saw his strength, his gentleness. And so, they **blessed the union**.

They wed beneath the stars.

And she left with him.

---

In the demon kingdom, they lived quietly.

Then came a **miracle**—their child.

Not a baby, but a **seed** of fire and breath and light, wrapped in silken warmth.

But that seed hungered—

for **soul stones**, for **national treasures**, for power that no kingdom could supply.

The demon king emptied his vaults.

The saintess returned to the fairy kingdom.She sell everything she had in the fairy kingdom.Many willingly give her soul stone. The kindness she shown before help her to gather resources.Then the truth leaked.

A fairy married a demon.

The saintess was branded a **traitor**.

The demon king was deemed **bewitched**.

Heaven declared war.

They ran.

Hunted by both their worlds.

They refined beast souls.

They bled their spirit veins.

They carved power from despair.

Then—**with a friend's help**—they built a **secret realm** filled with spirit veins, soul stones, and pure elemental energy.

They sealed the seed inside.

And wrapped it… in **her wedding dress**.

But the friend betrayed them.

Another—who once loved the demon king in silence—**sacrificed her cultivation** to teleport the secret realm across the stars.

> "And I—this robe—was left behind to protect it."

---

> "For a thousand years," the voice whispered, "I fought intruders.

> I devoured spirit beasts.

> I consumed energy to shield the child.

> I waited for someone who is kind and mix blood, who can accept her "

> "I became her womb.

> Her cradle.

> Her sword and shelter."

The girl's form flickered. Her illusion frayed.

> "But I am breaking now. My thread is fading."

> "Before I vanish, I want her to have what her mother could not—"

Her voice trembled with longing.

> "A family."

> "A protector. A friend. Maybe—if she chooses—someone to love."

> "If you accept… the realm is yours. Its treasures, its soul fires, its inheritance—all as a wedding gift."

---

Lin Yuan stood frozen.

The story—its grief, its love, its sacrifice—wrapped around him like frost on bone.

He thought of his own pain.

His demon blood.

His broken soul.

The Evergreen Stone he'd given away.

The soul stone he'd lost.

> "I'm dying," he whispered. "I'm not perfect. I don't even know if I'll live to see her bloom."

The dress pulsed softly.

> "Then let her bloom while you still shine."

> "Let her remember that her parents died for love, not regret."

> "Let her know she is not alone."

Her voice turned fragile.

> "Living alone… is the most painful thing of all."

Lin Yuan closed his eyes.

He thought of the child—still nestled in spirit cloth, unaware of the stars that wept for her.

He opened his eyes again, meeting the glowing gaze of the illusion.

> "Let me speak with my family," he said quietly.

> "I want to give her hope… but I don't want to tear it apart if I fail."

The dress nodded gently.

> "I will wait."

> "For hope is patient."

> "And she is still dreaming"