The Return Of The Devil's Wife

"Yes. I did hit big on this one. It put me in your good books once more."Zi Jue replied matter-of-factly. Yan Qing Shan watched him set down the picnic basket, took out the water flask and poured her a cup. She took it without reservations for her throat felt dry looking at him underneath the sunlight flickering through the branches of the tree.

"Ah, a sun-kissed beauty isn"t good for my heart."

Yan Qing Shan chuckled at the thought, earning her a puzzled look from the beauty himself.

"You"re always in my good books." She answered teasingly and flashed him a vibrant smile. Zi Jue paused for a while at her statement. He then returned an equally dazzling smile right back at her.

"It"s not yet lunch time but we barely had anything for breakfast. Why don"t we have brunch?" Zi Jue suggested and then promptly opened the food boxes they brought with them.

Yan Qing Shan nodded in a.s.sent. "En. That will be great, actually."

The two ate while enjoying the cool shade and the billows of wind pa.s.sing by. Neither of them talked but the silence didn"t feel stifling. On the contrary, it felt comforting.

---

Hades Headquarters.

"That"s strange. Why isn"t Master here yet, Thanatos? Didn"t you say we have an important meeting today?" A burly man clad in dark blue tracksuit and sporting a crew cut asked the man in front of him. Donning a casual cream-colored polo and a crisply ironed slacks, the man called Thanatos shrugged his shoulders.

"I don"t know. Let"s wait for Tartarus. He would know." Thanatos answered flippantly. They may have been Hades" generals but amongst them, it was Tartarus who was the closest. In fact, he was his right hand man. Though he may be acting as a butler and secretary rolled into one, he is still the strongest after their master. Hades was known to have five generals: Tartarus, Elysium, Asphodel, Cerberus and him, Thanatos.

They have been with Hades the longest, and founded the organization with him. In one way or another, however, Hades was their savior and family. He was the one they swore their loyalty too and the one they swore to protect. Except that most of the time the man they were serving decline their protection. Not that they could blame him, he was stronger than them after all. Still, they won"t allow him that luxury of a choice. They, his generals, won"t let him take all the burden to himself anymore.

"By the way Cerberus, is it just me or is it that you have gained weight these past few days?" Cerberus" eye twitched at this off-handed comment from the cool guy lounging about in their boss" room.

"Your eye must have been strained with all the ogling of girls that you do." He retorted. Thanatos was about to talk back when they heard another voice interjecting their banter.

"You two are at it again. You"re even more childish than my looks." A pet.i.te boy with fragile features entered the room and stared at them with a used-to-it expression.

"Yo! Asphodel. My cute lil" bro." Thanatos greeted affectionately and ran towards the boy in an attempt to hug him. However, the boy merely brushed him off by avoiding his tackle leading Thanatos to embrace the floor instead.

"Asphodel, you"re cruelty far exceeds your cuteness. How mean of you to avoid your brother." Thanatos whined as he got up back on his feet. The boy merely gave him a stink eye in response. Cerberus laughed heartily at this scene.

"Thanatos, you are well aware that Asphodel hates skins.h.i.+p. You"re being too clingy that it"s revolting." Cerberus mocked with laugh. Thanatos harrumphed and sat back onto the sofa.

"I thought that the meeting will start at noon. Where are Tartarus and Master?" Asphodel asked the two men. It was strange since their Master was known for his punctuality. Tartarus being with him enforced this rule even more. Those two hated being late. In return, they hated people who were late as well.

Cerberus shook his head lightly before replying. "They"re not here yet. Maybe some emergency happened in Master"s company."

"No, if that was the case then Tartarus would have called by now." Thanatos refuted this claim. Even Asphodel nodded in agreement. They knew their Master and companion well enough to a.s.sume that.

The door, as if in a.s.sent to their claim, opened revealing the darkened face of Tartarus.

"Oi, why do look like your wife has left you?" Thanatos greeted the newcomer but he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth. The other two looked at him like he was a despicable idiot. At this point in time, Thanatos couldn"t disagree with them. He forgot that it was Tartarus" taboo to joke about his wife. She was his reverse scale.

In contrast to most people"s beliefs, Hades" generals weren"t all male. There was a single female among them, Elysium. It was just mostly a.s.sumed that she was a man considering the fact that she was almost on par with Tartarus in fighting prowess. In fact, she was even more aggressive than a man. Elysium constantly sought to prove herself and challenged them almost everyday. And since she can"t ask the Master for a compet.i.tion anytime she wants, she pesters his right hand man instead. Thanatos found it a wonder how the two even got married in the first place.

"My wife is perfectly happy with me, thank you very much. And the reason why I"m like this would probably lead to a similar fate as well." Tartarus ignored his remark which sueprised Thanatos as well as Cerberus and Asphodel. The fact that he didn"t unleash his bloodl.u.s.t on him means that something serious was up. And the things that could faze Tartarus were those that involved their master.

"Master went for a picnic date." Tartarus stated as he met their questioning gaze. The three of them showed apparent surprise at this but not to the point of dread. So, Master went for a date. What was wrong with that?

Wait, what?

Their master was on a date. But their master wasn"t someone to indulge in those sort of things. They knew he was sheltering a woman in his home. But that was it. He was merely returning a debt of grat.i.tude. Who was the woman with him then?

"He went for a picnic somewhere with Miss Yan, which would have been alright. Except he concealed his location and didn"t bring any of his guards." Tartarus continued with his face getting darker by the minute. Yes, Hades was strong. But if his enemies sent a huge number of forces against him, even he would be in danger. They could understand the sense of predicament that Tartarus was having.

"Let"s put off the subject of Master on a date with a certain Miss Yan some other time. For now, master"s safety is on the line." Asphodel responded calmly but his eyes betrayed his exterior.

"Then let"s track him and send some people to his side. Just make sure he doesn"t know of their presence." Cerberus suggested. They all agreed on this course of action except, Tartarus pointed out a crucial factor they have missed due to their anxiety.

"We can track him. That bit is still possible. But sending ordinary members and expecting him not to notice is too big of a feat for the members and too much of am underestimation of Master"s skills." He said in bland tone.

Ah, right. There was that issue. Thanatos scrunched up his brows as he mulled over this. Suddenly, an idea came to him.

"Why don"t the four of us go? Though, it is a loss that Elysium can"t join us. But considering her current condition, then wouldn"t the four of us be enough? At some point we can hide our presence better than the others." Thanatos" met his companions" eyes who held unspoken incredulity. Seriously, how much were they undermining him? He didn"t have women in his head all day long, alright.

"Let"s do that, then. Thanatos, you track Master"s whereabouts. We"ll move out the moment you do." Tartarus ordered.

"Roger. Let"s call this operation, the Picnic Hunt." Thanatos jokingly remarked as he went to do his task.

---

Yan Qing Shan stared in wonder at Zi Jue"s face. His features which usually evoked dread even with the smile on his face was currently plastered with a blissful smile softening his overall aura. His eyes were closed as he laid down on her lap.

"Hey Ah Jue, is this really how a picnic goes?" Yan Qing Shan asked as she absentmindedly brushed Zi Jue"s hair. She was amazed at how silky it was. It felt good on her hand.

"Hmm. I don"t really know since this is the first time I"ve been in one." Zi Jue answered honestly. Yan Qing Shan didn"t reply for a long while.

"I see. It"s my first time as well. But it is fun. Being laid back like this is also good." Zi Jue opened his eyes and met her amber ones.

"You"re right. If I knew how relaxing this was, I would have done it years ago."

Yan Qing Shan paused when she felt a distinct vibration coming from her phone which was nestled at the side of her calf. She grinned at him. "Then let"s do this again sometime soon. When you"re free. We could talk about a lot of things. I realized that I don"t much about you."

Zi Jue"s eyes widened at this before he laughed in delight. "You"re right. Let"s do that."

He was about to say more when a beep sounded out from the phone in his pocket. He smirked when he saw the notification flas.h.i.+ng at the screen. It seems those guys were really bored.

"That aside, Ah Jue did you say that there was a forest nearby?" Yan Qing Shan asked him out of the blue. He saw the look of mischief on her face and figured something was up on her side as well.

"En. Do you want to go check it out?" Zi Jue replied dotingly.

"Yeah. You usually play games on picnics if I"m not mistaken. I suddenly thought of a perfect one." Zi Jue raised his brow at this. He already had an inkling on what she was thinking about.

"Let"s go for a hunt. Preys will be arriving in a little while." Yan Qing Shan smiled lopsidedly at him. Zi Jue held his breath. Even being devious as this, his beloved was still as adorable as ever.

"What a coincidence, my love. I have the same thing in mind. A few "preys" are coming from my side too. We might as well entertain them." He remarked with a cold voice. Those people needed to be punished. It was a rare chance for him to have Yan Qing Shan to himself and they dared rain on his parade. Yan Qing Shan laughed at his answer and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Oh. That wasn"t so bad. Zi Jue decided to lessen their sentence from death to mere bodily harm.

"This picnic, we"re s.h.i.+fting it from normal style to underworld style."