Chapter 40 - Extra 1 Sleeping Beauty
This story takes place two years after Dishang Huai left the Olay Empire. Ding Sheng, who had been working hard at the Holy Order to get stronger, hoping to one day save himself, had attended a magic conference alongside the chairman, Sanctus, and others.
At the conference, Ding Sheng encountered a gorgeous, regal and poised woman. It was as if she were a phoenix goddess. Rumour had it she was the crown princess of the Livy Kingdom from the neighbouring Anrola continent. Unlike the Olay Empire, princesses of the Livy Kingdom also had the right to inherit the throne.
Ding Sheng couldn’t even be bothered to use his brain. Even using only his foot, he could predict that, according to the original novel’s logic, every exceptional young woman in this world would somehow get entangled with Dishang Huai in some sort of romantic way, whether deep or shallow.
Noticing that Ding Sheng was staring at the Livian princess, Sanctus specially sidled up to him and eagerly introduced, "Your Highness, that is Princess Koyan of the Livy Kingdom. She’s next in line for the throne."
Princess Koyan… Ding Sheng felt like her name rang a bell. Then it hit him—wasn't this female supporting character No. 4?
Since she was No. 4, she should have appeared before Sherry. As for her story arc…
It was all starting to come back to Ding Sheng.
It was mentioned in the original plot that the King of the Livy Kingdom had arranged for this Princess Koyan and her fiancé to attend the magic conference as representatives of the nation, and hopefully bond. But Koyan wasn’t fond of her fiancé and snuck off in disguise. As fate would have it, she kept running into trouble with bandits, only to be repeatedly rescued by Dishang Huai, who was out on a journey to level up at the time. Even though Dishang wasn’t as good-looking then as he would be later, he was already quite handsome, and Princess Koyan predictably fell head over heels for him, and secretly followed him around.
Later, Dishang Huai decided to challenge a dangerous recluse, a dark magician, to obtain a powerful secret treasure. Knowing the dangers, he strictly warned Koyan not to follow him. Koyan tearfully agreed but was still worried for Dishang Huai's safety. After watching him enter the dark magician's fortress alone, she hid outside, waiting for him. However, when Dishang didn’t come out, her worry got the better of her, and she snuck in to find him.
Turns out, the dark magician was once a brilliant and handsome duke in his youth. But after being betrayed by his fiancée, he threw himself to dark magic, withdrawing from the world and vowing never to believe in love again. He had one rule: anyone who came to him could take whatever they wanted as long as they could defeat him. Should they lose, he'd cast a sleeping spell on them and toss them into his rose garden to rot unless their true love came to awaken them with true love's kiss. If the person who came couldn’t awaken them, they too would be cursed and thrown into the garden. Because of this condition, many feared to even try to come here to try to wake up their lover.
Naturally, as the protagonist, Dishang Huai would encounter many seemingly unbeatable mini bosses at various stages on his journey to level up, and this dark magician was one of them. After losing, Dishang was cursed and thrown into the rose garden. However, in true harem fashion, Koyan happened to sneak in at just the right moment, kissed Dishang, and woke him up, allowing her to take him away.
After recalling the contents of the story, Ding Sheng suddenly realised with a start—This conference… it can't be the one Koyan was supposed to run away from, can it? And the gentleman beside her, that can't be her fiancé, can it?
Sanctus confirmed Ding Sheng’s suspicion with a grin, "You've guessed it right. That is Princess Koyan's fiancé."
Ding Sheng watched as Princess Koyan effortlessly navigated the crowd of delegates from other nations and his face was covered in a look of defeat. The conference had been going on for over twenty days now, and at this rate, when exactly was Princess Koyan planning to build any emotional bond with Dishang Huai? Whether or not they developed feelings wasn’t even the main issue. The real problem was, if Princess Koyan didn’t sneak away, then who was going to wake Dishang with a kiss?
Sure if Dishang Huai just fell to this mini-boss, Ding Sheng’s own fate of being frozen would be broken, and he wouldn’t have anything to worry about anymore. But once Ding Sheng thought about it, he still couldn’t bring himself to feel happy about it. The thought of Dishang Huai becoming rose fertiliser just didn’t sit right with him.
It seems… he was a tinge reluctant to see that happen to Dishang Huai.
Ding Sheng firmly emphasised that it was just a tiny bit. Just a little, little, little bit.
However, in this world, even the smallest feelings can snowball out of control.
Sometimes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
Fully understanding the principle that "small things add up quickly," Ding Sheng decided it was perfectly reasonable for him to pretend to be unwell to hide in his room, and then slip away to save Dishang Huai.
Based on his memory of the relevant plots in the book, Ding Sheng took five days to locate the dark magician's fortress. As he stood before the sombre Gothic structure, he took a deep breath and knocked on the black iron door, intricately engraved with thorny roses.
In the dark and oppressive grand hall, the dark magician sat lounging on a large chair with his head tilted as he eyed the slightly travel-worn princess standing before him. "Your Highness, what brings you to my humble abode?"
Ding Sheng gave a simple bow. "I've come to take my fiancé back."
"Princess Kris of the Olay Empire… I've heard stories about you. So, I don't think that person is your fiancé anymore," the dark magician said with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Ding Sheng raised his head arrogantly, as Kris would. "I don't care, I'm taking him away."
"I’d love to make an exception for you, Your Highness," the dark magician replied softly. "However, those who come to the Black Rose Castle must follow its rules. And you are no exception, Your Highness. Offer me something in exchange, and I’ll grant you one chance to kiss him. If he wakes, you can both leave. If not, you’ll both sleep in my rose garden. I’ll give you one last chance. If you refuse, you may leave here unscathed."
But Ding Sheng's answer was to look the man dead in the eye as he said, "Sorry, but I didn’t bring anything of value when I left. I’m afraid I have nothing to offer."
The dark magician’s lips curled into a smirk, his gaze drifting to Ding Sheng’s long, silky chestnut hair that flowed down to his waist. “Your hair will do.”
Without hesitation, Ding Sheng took the dagger the dark magician handed him and sliced through his hair, leaving it barely shoulder-length. He didn’t feel particularly sentimental about it—before becoming Kris, his hair had never grown past his ears anyway.
The dark magician received the long hair with a smile before bowing as he gestured. "This way, Your Highness."
In the rose garden, red roses could be seen everywhere, growing wild and free. And scattered throughout the garden were sleeping bodies, some already reduced to skeletons.
Ding Sheng’s eyes scanned the ground, searching for a familiar figure.
Finally, he found a sleeping Dishang Huai in a corner.
Ding Sheng let out a long breath and plopped down on the ground without a second thought, propping Dishang Huai up against him.
Then he froze. The little princess who was always slow to realise only just now became aware of a problem she should have thought of earlier—the man said it had to be true love’s kiss, but I’m not Koyan, so how on earth am I supposed to wake Lord Dishang Huai with a kiss?
Just like that, he sat there holding Dishang Huai staring blankly for a good two or three minutes on the verge of tears before remembering that the dark magician was still waiting. He lowered his head and gently traced Dishang Huai's lips with his finger then closed his eyes.
Well whatever, I'll just see if my kiss works first. If it doesn't work, I'll figure something out and get Mo'er or Cece to come and try.
After all, what Kris from the later part of the original story felt for Dishang Huai could be considered true love, couldn't it? Otherwise, there's no way she could have done so many crazy things out of hatred if she hadn’t loved him in the first place.
As an overpowered protagonist, Dishang Huai had a faint consciousness at this moment. Even if no one came to save him, he would have eventually shaken off the sleeping spell in a few days on his own.
He could vaguely feel that someone was holding him, someone the familiar scent of sunshine and violet roses that often appeared in his dreams. The person’s hair brushed lightly against his face, tickling him.
For a moment there, Dishang thought he was dreaming again, so he let himself go and decided to indulge in it.
Then he felt a familiar sensation on his lips, soft and moist—he had only kissed one person in his entire life, so there was no way he would mistake that feeling.
Dishang Huai smiled slightly, almost wanting to cry. Even in his dreams, he rarely felt something so real and beautiful. His dreams often ended the same way, with his princess tearfully looking at him with resentment in his eyes as he said, "Dishang Huai, you and I are done." Those gorgeous violet eyes brimming with sorrow and disappointment.
In his heart, he whispered, My princess.
Then smiled as he leaned into the shy, hesitant kiss that had merely pressed softly against his lips and stopped moving…
Ding Sheng, on the other hand, was utterly bewildered by the kiss as he thought to himself: I get it now. This is why he’s the main character of the shounen genre while I'm just a plain nobody. These flirting skills are truly beyond the reach of ordinary mortals. Is Dishang Huai really asleep? If I were Koyan and he pulled something like this, I’d probably be blushing and offering him my heart on a silver platter too.
With his face flushed and heart racing, the little Princess Kris couldn't help but mumble softly, "Dishang Huai… Wake up, I need to go… Come on, wake up already…"
But hearing those words, the half-conscious Dishang Huai only clung to him tighter.
Ding Sheng had no choice but to use a wind spell to push him away.
At this moment, the dark magician appeared silently, his gaze complicated as he looked at Ding Sheng. "He should wake soon. You've succeeded, Your Highness."
Then he lowered his head with a wry smile. "…I never thought someone would actually be able to break my curse with a true love's kiss. So something like love really does exist…"
Ding Sheng calmed his racing heart, straightened his clothes, and nodded at the dark magician, saying, "Then I'll be off."
The dark magician looked at him in surprise, "You're not going to wait here for him to wake up?"
Ding Sheng shook his head gently and said softly to the dark magician, "Please… don't tell him it was me."
The dark magician paused for a moment, then bowed his head and said, "I promise."
Ding Sheng breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave. But as if suddenly remembering something, he turned back and placed a kiss on Dishang Huai's forehead—that's how the princes always woke the sleeping beauties in fairy tales. With this, Dishang Huai should wake up a little faster, right?
——————————
The first thing Dishang Huai saw upon waking up was still the expressionless dark magician.
The dark magician said to him, "According to the rules here, you’re free to leave now."
Dishang Huai narrowed his eyes at the man. "Someone woke me with a kiss?"
The dark magician didn't answer. Instead, he simply teleported Dishang Huai away with the wave of his sleeve.
——————————
Three months later, after rapidly levelling up and becoming even more powerful, Dishang Huai returned to the Black Rose Castle.
But this time, everything has changed.
Dishang Huai sat on the throne in the dim and vast hall, his fingers twitching slightly. With just that small motion, an invisible hand clamped around the dark magician's throat; one could even hear the cracking of his bones.
With his head tilted slightly to the side, Dishang Huai eyed the magician emotionlessly. "Tell me, who woke me?"
He had his suspicions, but he couldn't bring himself to believe it; his fingers which were resting on the armrest even trembled ever so slightly.
The feeling of being strangled was too unbearable. Struggling to breathe, the magician stammered out what he believed was a clever answer, one that wouldn’t break his promise yet would solve his current predicament. "He left something behind… Let me go… I'll take you…"
Before he could finish, Dishang Huai had already sprung from his seat, commanding, "Take me there." However, he still didn’t release his grip on the magician’s throat.
The dark magician's Collection Room contained all the items obtained through exchanges.
The magician, whose face had already begun to turn blue, stretched out a shaking finger and pointed towards one of the black bookcases. Behind its glass doors, on a crystal plate, lay a bundle of silky chestnut hair, loosely tied with a string of small white flowers.
Dishang Huai no longer had the heart to care about the dark magician. With a flick of his fingers, he casually tossed the mage to the floor and quickly strode forward to open the cabinet. Carefully, he retrieved the lock of hair—its ends still carrying the lingering scent of sunlight and roses.
Gently cradling the hair, Dishang Huai brought it close to his face. As he took in the familiar scent, he closed his eyes and slowly broke into a relaxed smile.
…There's no mistaking it, that's his princess.
He carefully tucked the lock of hair away before turning to the startled dark magician. With that same soft smile on his face, he helped the mage to his feet.
He said, "Thank you," and quickly undid the restraints on the dark mage before walking away with a spring in his step.
Your Highness, wait for my return.
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Thank yous!! (˶‾᷄ ⁻̫ ‾᷅˵)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a great day!!
You can support me by sending some love in the comments or through the button below
peace lilies~