The black-haired of the two beauties, now standing in the front of the group, raised her hand, causing them to freeze.

Despite both twins possessing the title of Prime Demon, their eyes turned to the white-haired woman who sighed and nodded with a cold expression, her eyes drilling into Wu Long. Only then did they sheathe their weapons and stood back.

The man in question, however seemed to be completely oblivious to all of the hostility from the masked men or the cold stare, smiling brightly as if he met an acquaintance during a carefree stroll on a popular street on a sunny afternoon.

White-haired beauty narrowed her eyes at this sight while her twin sister gleefully laughed, a smidge of coquettish flavor mixed into the tone of her voice.

“Leave us”

She then turned to the side, not moving her eyes from Wu Long, and the people behind the two hesitatingly looked at her white haired twin again. The former’s eyebrow twitched as a slight displeasure started to seep into her eyes, while the latter outright frowned.

“Are you ignoring the Prime Demon’s orders?”

A strict voice came from under the white-haired beauty’s mask, a color of fury mixed into the usually cold and rather indifferent tone.

‘Hmm~, and here I thought she was more uptight, as I thought, first impressions can be deceitful’

Wu Long showed a slightly surprised expression while the group behind the twins hurriedly retreated to a point from which they could no longer see or hear them.

“Tch, we just had to run into him”

She muttered under the mask in a voice that barely penetrated it but was still picked up by Wu Long who shrugged with an innocent smile and Hong Ye whose eyes narrowed down with a snicker.

“Haha, Sister Yue, don’t pretend. Didn’t you bring him up in a conversation just not long ago?”

“That was~…! haa~… anyway, we do have to talk so maybe it is for the best”

Wu Long chuckled at the conversation between them as the distant sound of tides hitting the rocks coupled with the slowly falling snow created a peaceful atmosphere. The night was dark with clouds covering even the stars so what any passer-by whose eyes have would have seen is at most silhouettes and two pairs of bright red eyes.

But the three people on the scene looked each other in the eyes, behaving as if it was bright as day. After realizing that it was not only them, the twins’ pupils slightly dilated.

“First, let’s start with introductions then, Prime Demon Hong Ye already knows me but I believe it is our first formal introduction with you. My name is Wu Long, you can call me without any formalities”

“… Hong Yue. Prime Demon of the Bahshi Assassination Group, but then, you already knew that. How?”

“Sister Yue! There was something else you said we had to do first”

Hong Yue went straight to the point but her twin sister immediately chimed in, causing her to sigh.

“…Yes, my apologies… we should first thank you for mediating with the Blade Empress”

“Haha, you both are too polite, I merely stated the truth to Her Majesty. It is not worthy of gratitude”

Wu Long lightly laughed causing Hong Yue to slightly pause.

‘Heh, she is a suspicious one. Did she expect another reaction from me?’

He inwardly chuckled as he saw her reaction, distinct to those who expect something specific with high probability and missed.

Usually even people proficient in reading reactions would have trouble with the twins because of the masks that covered half of their face and thus eliminated half of the signs someone would look for, and also because they did not fit the standard behavior models due to ‘unique’ upbringing.

Wu Long, on the other hand, could see their faces through their masks clearly and also detect the minute movements of their facial muscles with the Chaos Origin Eyes. The rest was just massive experience.

“Still, without you it would have been hard to prove our identity to her when she was in that state”

Hong Yue’s pupils shrank, focusing in on him as she replied.

“It really wasn’t that much, but I am grateful you remembered my humble contribution”

And as he spoke, he caught the same reaction of missed expectations.

‘Haha, so young yet already so shrewd’

Wu Long became slightly amused, thinking that Hong Ye was not the only interesting one of the twins.

“Hehe, Sister Yue is just shy. She was su~per upset we left without thanking you”

“Ye’er!”

“Haha, I see, no need to be so torn over something trivial like this, Prime Demon Hong Yue”

“I wasn’t~!”

“See? Da~rling is nice so he doesn’t mind”

“Darling?”

It was Wu Long’s time to raise his eyebrows as he heard this rather intimate form of address. He inwardly became thankful that his ladies were not with him at the moment, as this could easily form a misunderstanding which would turn into an awkward conversation after.

His women did agree to be with him despite there being others, but that was partly because he was open about it and would never hide one woman from his beauties, which placed them all on equal grounds. So if he did hide one, it would somehow make her ‘special’.

“Hehe, no need to be shy, handsome. You have conquered this innocent maiden’s heart so you’ll have to take responsibility”

She continued with a speech that would have created more misunderstandings if heard by others, while Wu Long almost burst into laughter at the mention of the ‘innocent maiden’.

‘Maiden, she is one, but innocent… haha’

“To be fancied by such a beauty is truly an honor, but I seem to have missed the moment I accomplished such a feat”

He finally answered with a charming smile to which the black-

haired beauty lightly snickered.

“Oh come on, you know the moment. Though brief, you managed to make interested in both our interactions, but there was that moment when sparks shined in my eyes, when blood was rushing-…”

Hong Yue sighed at the long-winded speech of her sister, impatiently tapping her index finger on the forearm as she folded her arms until…

“She fell for your sword”

“…Pardon?”

As Wu Long looked somewhat shocked and Hong Ye stopped due to being interrupted, Hong Yue seemed surprised by his reaction, until she finally understood how her words could be interpreted at the same time as Wu Long understood what she wanted to say.

“I-! I-! Th-this-!…”

“Haha, Prime Demon Hong Yue need not explain, I have grasped the meaning now”

Wu Long somewhat awkwardly laughed as he raised his hands to the sides in a peaceful sign and reassured the twin who suddenly was lost for words and stuttered with her pale face gaining a very subtle, almost imperceptible color. All the while Hong Ye was looking at the two interchangeably with a confused look until a sudden realization hit her.

“Eh? Hehe… Kuhahahaha!!! Sister Yue is a pervert hahahaha!!”

As she started laughing her twin sister lowered her head in silence, seemingly calming herself down.

“Khm! Regardless, we got sidetracked. While we are thankful to you for helping us out before, the question still remains. Why do you know so much about us?”

“Ahahaha… hahaha Si-haha Sister Yue, even if you start over now it’s too late ahahaha!”

As Hong Yue seemed to regroup, she cleared her throat and started over all while her sister was folded in two holding her stomach and laughing.

“Ye’er!”

“It’s alright, I can answer like this. Hmm, the first time I met Prime Demon Hong Ye her subordinates called her by her title and also called your name with the same title so I knew that much. And about Bahshi Assassination Group, it’s not like certain people don’t know about it”

“Hehe… he… few~”

Wu Long shrugged the question off, as Hong Yue closely monitored his every move. But to her frustration there were no signs of deception, even if her intuition was telling her that he knew more than he led them to believe.

She also looked at her sister with a sharp look that had ‘and you didn’t dispose of someone who heard that much?’ written all over her face, to which Hong Ye looked away, pretending to be still amused by the previous incident.

“So is it safe to assume you are associated with someone who can know such information?” .

Hong Yue carefully asked, not really expecting an answer to such an invasive question but to her surprise he simply nodded.

“Mm, you can assume that”

Wu Long inwardly chuckled as he saw her surprise, though he felt a little bad for using her words like that.

“So, am I in trouble with you?”

He innocently asked, and Hong Yue sighed.

“No. Who knows what this silly girl’s gonna do if I made things difficult for you”

“Sister Yue! How harsh of you!”

“Oh yeah? Who was it that wiped out the entire Azure Eagle Empire branch because they targeted him? You almost got into big trouble!”

Wu Long slightly widened his eyes as he was wondering why there were no more Bahshi assassins coming for him.

“But Sister Yue! You did find corruption there so didn’t it turn out okay?”

“Be grateful that they were corrupted, otherwise even with our status it would have been a disaster”

Wu Long felt a bit strange about this conversation until he almost burst out laughing again.

‘Haha, what a doting sister. So you want me to know what she did huh?’

“It seems I have to thank Prime Demon Hong Ye for helping me. Thank you very much”

“Eh? Hehehe, you don’t need to worry about it. It’s a trivial matter, hehehe”

As he thanked her, Hing Ye laughed somewhat bashfully, a behavior strangely incongruent with her ‘act of affection’. Though the fact her sister thought it was a charming sign of one’s feelings that should be told as if she said ‘she was up all night to bake these cookies for you’ spoke volumes about her thinking as well.

“But you did lie to me when we met the first time, it was you who killed those dimwits who took an unsanctioned job, right?” .𝒎

Hong Ye then said as she remembered the secret records at the headquarters she massacred.

“Haha, you got me, my apologies but at the time…”

As Wu Long spoke with a smile all three of them suddenly became tense, and first Wu Long and then the twins looked up into the sky in the direction of the seashore.

Updated from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮