Chapter 254: Coming Clean

Chapter 254: Coming Clean

Feeling the pressure on his shoulder, Wen Ying tentatively stroked Bellerophon's ear, surprisingly discovering that Bellerophon seemed to enjoy this sensation.

Wen Ying felt like he had uncovered a significant secret, leaving him so stunned that he remained silent for five full minutes.

"Bellerophon, didn't you always want to know why I asked you to choose Wen Xinxin?" Finally, Wen Ying recalled the most important matter of the day, regaining his voice and effortlessly casting a sound-blocking barrier.

"Mm," Bellerophon acknowledged.

Wen Ying deliberated over the words before slowly explaining, "This is because... because of my relationship with her..."

Borus raised his head warily, gazing at Wen Ying. Lately, Koroy had been spending an unusually extended duration in their dormitory, subjecting him to a substantial dose of television drama background noise – the kind that was so melodramatic it made his skin crawl with goosebumps.

Wen Ying paused, then spoke slowly under Boreos' crimson gaze, "She's my cousin."

Boros's eyes were blank, his expression equally empty. It was not a cold, emotionless facade, but a vacant, lost emptiness.

"Aah?"

After a moment of silence, Poros asked earnestly and doubtfully, "What did you just say?"

Wen Ying also looked at him seriously. "Wen Xinxin is my cousin, the kind with blood ties."

Poros's pupils trembled. "But you're a demon, and she's human!" Wen Ying even mentioned blood ties. How could that be possible? Wen Ying was already an adult, over a hundred years old, while Wen Xinxin was only in her twenties. Apart from their races, the theory of their ages didn't make sense either.

Indeed, Wen Xinxin resembled Wen Ying very much. Even her cousin... Poros's heart jolted. Wen Xinxin indeed had a cousin named Wen Ying, who looked strikingly similar to the demon in the magic mirror.

But how could Wen Ying be in two places at once? There was no such magic in the realm that allowed for a split presence in different locations.

Poros's eyes were filled with shock and curiosity, eager to seek answers from Wen Ying.

With his thumb, Wen Ying gently brushed the golden hoop earring on Poros's ear as he murmured, "Do you know why I lack common knowledge about demons? It's because my perception is that of a human. Up until last year, in my twenty years of life, I believed myself to be an ordinary human, living as one would, and I had no idea that demons existed in this world."

Poros found it even harder to believe. His scarlet eyes widened, his ears perked up straight, and his tail ceased its swaying.

"Tw- tw- tw—"

Wen Ying helped him finish, "Twenty years."

"Human?! Only twenty years old?!" Perseus's voice rang with astonishment, reaching a high pitch at the end.

Boros examined Wen Ying with astonished scrutiny, his nose brushing against the nape of the young man's neck as he inhaled. The scent was purely demonic, distinct from Wu Fei's unique aroma, whose mother was human and father was a devil king.

"Your aura is pure, devoid of the essence of humanity," Beros stated with absolute conviction.

Even if one were to trace back Wen Ying's lineage of Mirror Demons for thousands of years and find human blood intermixed, after such an extended period, that trace of human bloodline is virtually non-existent.

Gently soothing the apprehensive Cerberus, Wen Ying stroked its fur in the direction of its flattened, startled ears.

"When I first arrived in the Demon Realm, Aruda would secretly add specially crafted demonic potions to my food every day to dilute my human aura," Wen Ying explained. "During inspections too, my blood was tampered with. It's true that I've only lived for twenty-one years. Perhaps because my demonic heritage awakened at the age of twenty, and humans are considered adults by then, my demonic age also directly reflects adulthood."

Seeing Beros' astonishment, Wen Ying continued, "I find it absurd as well, but that's just how it is. I'm a half-hearted demon, having spent only a fraction of human time as one."

Beros pressed on, "What about the origin? The most recent source of your demonic lineage?"

"You're aware of the story about Aruda and her two friends a hundred years ago, right?" Wen Ying said. "One of them died, and the other is my great-grandfather. He ran to the Human Realm, where he met my great-grandmother, and they had my grandfather. From there, my parents came along, eventually leading to my birth."

Beros furrowed his brow. "Have you ever been to the Demon Realm?"

Wen Ying shook his head.

"It can't be…" Beros looked utterly perplexed, his brows knitted so tightly that they could have crushed a fly. "How can someone born in the Human Realm be a demon, with their bloodline only awakening halfway?"

Wen Ying gazed at Beros in disbelief, recalling the angel's words in the underground palace:

"You were destined to become a second-generation angel."

"Nothing is impossible. If angels and demons can have offspring, what else can't happen?" After saying this, Wen Ying found himself agreeing with his own words.

In the exorcist community, nothing was more absurd than the idea of an angel and a demon falling in love and having a child.

If there was, it would be the revelation that their offspring was a second-generation angel, half-human and half-demon. Wen Ying imagined that if this news were to come out, many would feel betrayed by the world.

With this thought, he cupped Beros's face in both hands, their eyes locking in a near-intimate proximity.

"There's one more thing I need to tell you. You're the first demon in the world to know about this."

Beros's eyelids twitched, his voice softening. "…What is it?"

Wen Ying held Pelos's face in his hands and said, "I, am now a prospective second-generation angel."