Chapter 103: Passion and Desire (Mild18+)

The moment his gaze fell on Nox’s limp body sprawled on the platform, his whole body stiffened.

"What happened to him?"

He hurried to Nox’s side at once.

Axe and Lupine looked at each other and quietly moved to the corner where Axe had been refining artifacts.

It was Nox’s luck that he had fainted.

Nothing was a more suitable technique than fainting if you wanted to grab your lover’s full attention.

Lupine chuckled under his breath.

"Don’t you also feel jealous?"

Axe shrugged while feeding more spirit stones into the hearth.

"Will it do any help? I would rather fight a boar and make a feast to take him away than sit around sulking and crying."

He went back to carving, already thinking about whether pure Sikimon hearts could be used as energy cores since they belonged to this world’s energy.

And he was also thinking about what would happen once Leo fully woke up.

That one was certainly a wild dog.

Things would become hard to maintain.

.

.

.

Moon knelt beside Nox and gently nudged his back.

Nox stirred.

As if sniffing a familiar scent, he tucked his head into Moon’s lap and kept rubbing against him unconsciously, letting out a faint, sulking hum.

Moon heard it clearly.

He combed his fingers through Nox’s hair with unexpected gentleness.

For two days he had been stuck on the other side. Even before that, he could feel this fellow was somewhat upset.

And his own heart had not been feeling good about it either.

Yet he still couldn’t bring himself to ask why.

The initial barrier and the lingering feelings of betrayal still sat heavy in his chest.

After a moment of hesitation, Moon leaned down and pressed a soft peck to Nox’s forehead.

"Nox, baby... are you not feeling well?"

Nox stirred but kept his eyes closed.

He was too tired to wake up properly.

Moon looked at Axe and Lupine, who were both pretending to be extremely busy in the corner, and sighed again.

He settled down on the platform, pulling a cushion over with his spiritual power, and leaned back leisurely.

He was tired too.

So he decided to just rest for a while.

He kept Nox’s head carefully on his lap and fixed his sleeping posture.

One hand continued combing through the soft hair while the other picked up the formation plate Nox had just refined.

"A low-grade base protection array," he muttered.

"Will give a shock wave if a mortal steps into the boundary, and... what the heck?"

Moon looked up at Lupine, brows furrowed hard.

"Is this even an array technique?"

"Why not?" Lupine scoffed from afar.

"They intrude on my place—they deserve to fart all day."

Moon’s brows twitched violently.

"What exactly are you teaching them, Master?"

"Whatever they can learn. Don’t worry. The next plate will be set to castrate whoever tries to trespass the boundary. Not just fart."

Lupine scoffed again, though a clear flicker of satisfaction flashed through his ruby eyes.

He waved his long sleeve, and a round jade formation plate clattered onto the stone floor right in front of Moon.

"Take it. This Master doesn’t need them. It’s the Phantom Mist Maze Array."

Moon picked up the jade plate.

He could read the intricate layout etched into the surface, though he was not expert enough to detect every single purpose.

Still, he believed Lupine. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Um... thank you, Master," Moon said.

"When Nox wakes up, we will go set it up in the courtyard first."

Lupine only nodded. Turning his attention back to Axe’s side, immediately starting to slap the silver-haired man’s head while continually scolding,

"Trash! Mongrel! Polish it first..."

[That old hound himself is a mongrel, yet he dares to curse others as mongrels,] the Moon Goddess suddenly spoke up inside Moon’s mind.

Moon blinked in surprise.

’Huh? Really?’

[Hmm. Didn’t you know? He is a wolf too.]

’What?’

Moon’s eyes widened.

[Yes. His clan is the Divine Beast Clan, and it was a wolf clan.]

Moon fell silent for a long moment.

Was it just coincidence?

But now that he thought about it carefully, Lupine had always shown a strange fondness toward Axe.

Otherwise, he would never have agreed so easily to grant his inheritance.

Moon nodded.

But kept silent.

The time after that passed by peacefully.

.

.

.

In the evening, Nox finally woke up.

The first thing he felt was the soft touch of Moon’s thighs under his head.

The faint scent of crispy frost and sweet jasmine wrapped around him like a blanket.

His chest loosened.

He sat up slowly. Amber eyes still a little hazy.

For a second, he just stared at Moon, as if making sure he was real.

Then he leaned in, voice low and rough.

"Baby... I refined an array.

Will you not give me a reward?"

Moon didn’t refuse.

He reached up, fingers curling into the front of Nox’s collar, and tugged him down.

Their lips met.

Soft at first.

Nox let out a quiet breath against Moon’s mouth and sucked lightly on his lower lip.

Once.

Twice.

But it wasn’t enough.

Two days of watching from the side.

Hearing faint sounds from the room.

Forcing himself to draw lines while his mind kept drifting back to him.

Something inside Nox snapped.

His hand slid to the back of Moon’s neck and held him firmly.

He tilted his head and pushed his tongue past Moon’s lips without hesitation.

The moment their tongues touched, Nox groaned low in his throat.

"Mmh..."

He kissed like a man who had been starving.

Hot.

Wet.

Hungry.

His tongue swept deeper, tasting every corner of Moon’s mouth.

He sucked on Moon’s tongue, then pressed forward again.

Moon’s breath hitched.

His fingers tightened on Nox’s collar as the kiss turned messy and open-mouthed.

Soft, wet sounds filled the quiet corner of the palace.

Schlick.

Mmh...

Haa...

Nox shifted.

One knee slid between Moon’s legs as he slowly pressed him down onto the cushions.

His body followed, chest to chest.

One hand stayed at the back of Moon’s neck.

The other braced beside his head.

He kept kissing him deeply, almost desperately, as if trying to pour every restless feeling from the past two days into that single connection.