YOU WERE ONE of the greatest nobles in China, from a rich family, with fighting skills and housewife skills that anyone would dream about. You were also very attractive, and many of the young male and female nobles in the area would dream to be your spouse. However, you were already in love with the most handsome man you could ever dream of.

His name was Hua Cheng, and he was a great ghost king, so he was noble, like you. He had great destructive power, but he also had a great love for you in his heart, and that love would always overcome the natural hatred he had for humans and the destructive power he possessed. When you told your parents about Hua Cheng, they were infuriated that you would even think of marrying him. What sort of disgusting human would marry a psychotic ghost king who had killed hundreds of people with no remorse? That type of human must not even be human, but a subhuman monster who had no taste or morals. Yet you were adamant, and continued to meet your lover every night despite your parents forbidding you from seeing him.

After going to see him one night, you were on your way back home when you noticed one of your mother's servants wandering through the town that you had to go through to return home. Your mother was the more aggressive one on the topic of you loving Hua Cheng, and she had said multiple times that she would do anything to see him dead so that you wouldn't be seduced and corrupted by such an evil man. Perhaps your mother had sent her servant to this town thinking that Hua Cheng would be walking around in this town so that the servant could kill him fast and get you back into the safety of not being in a relationship. This theory was confirmed when you noticed the servant playing with the hilt of a sword which they had in their belt, and asking people if they saw Hua Cheng anywhere in the town, providing a verbal description and a picture of him.

You didn't know how you would get past this servant, and if they caught you, they would tell your mother that you were sneaking around late at night and you would get punished seriously. So you went back to Hua Cheng's mansion in the forest, which was where you normally met up with him, and told him about the situation. When he heard about what your parents had said about him, calling him a psychopath and saying he had no remorse for his actions, he didn't care much, saying that he had been called such things many times before and that it didn't affect him that much if not at all. But when you told him what your parents had said about you, calling you a disgusting subhuman monster with no taste or morals, he became infuriated.

"Do they think they're gods, to insult other humans in this way?" he snapped. "You're allowed to love whoever you want, and besides, I don't even hurt you, so I don't see how the psychopath argument applies there."

"I haven't told my parents that I've been sneaking out to see you at night, and one of my mother's servants is in the town I have to pass through to get home, and they have a sword and are ready to kill you if you show up there. I'd be careful going through there in the next couple of days, if my mother doesn't find you tonight, she'll keep the servant there for a few more days to watch," you said.

Hua Cheng thanked you for the warning, then said, "If you can't get back home, you can stay at my house. But I don't think your parents would like that, since you're forbidden to be with me."

"How would they know?" you retorted. "I'd be happy to stay at your house, if I'm allowed to."

This made the ghost king smile, and he showed you to a bedroom that he claimed was the second best other than his. He even gave you a kiss goodnight! What a sweet man.

You threw yourself onto the soft and warm bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You woke up late at night to the sounds of a woman screaming, and were immediately afraid. You got out of your bed and walked through the halls of the mansion for quite some time before finding the main lobby, where your mother was confronting Hua Cheng, with your father standing idly in the background, looking tired and depressed. When Hua Cheng saw you, he pointed you out and said, "Look, Mrs. L/N, your child isn't even injured! They're just fine!"

Your mother ran towards you and grabbed you, slamming you against a wall so hard you couldn't breathe for a moment, then shaking you so much you became dizzy. She was obviously very mad, and you were even more scared now than when you had heard the woman screaming. Your mother was terrifying when she was angry. You once saw her beat up your father until he couldn't stand just because he hung out with another woman once for a business deal. She was not a woman to be trifled with, and you had just disappointed her and disobeyed her. You were going to be seriously hurt.

"What are you doing to Y/N?" Hua Cheng cried out, sounding shocked that your mother, the woman who had given birth to you and was supposed to love you and take care of you, was hurting you in this way.

"They broke my rules," your mother said, grabbing you and slamming you against the wall again. "So they'll be punished. Don't try to stop it. It's what they deserve."

"How do they deserve to be hurt this badly just for loving who they choose to love?" Hua Cheng responded, angry now. "If your child chooses to love me, that is their own choice, and you don't have the right to tell them who they can and can't feel romantic feelings towards. Especially since your child is of marrying age now- they're twenty years old now, two years past the legal marriage age. You just have an obsession with controlling everything they see, to make them the perfect noble and perfect child, when they should be allowed to see whoever they want, read whatever they want, and play whatever they want. Has nobody told you this before, miss?"

"Don't you dare start to fight me!" your mother snapped. "I can have you arrested and hauled out of this region in chains, boy! Keep your mouth shut, and don't tell anyone you saw me hurting my child."

"Why shouldn't I? You deserve to be exposed for the terrible things you've done," he responded. "I'm not afraid to fight you, miss. And I'm not a boy, I'm a grown man. Please give me the respect that is due to a person of your age. Thank you."

You managed to push your mother off you and ran directly into Hua Cheng's arms, which he threw around you, holding you close to his chest and not letting you go.

"You see? Y/N trusts me to protect them. They know I would never hurt them. Isn't that right, my love?"

You nodded and said, "Yes, you've never hurt me. You're a kind man, and you only hurt people who hurt and disrespect you or others you love. You do feel remorse for your actions, you just don't show it."

"He's brainwashed you! That bastard- he deserves death for hurting you in this way!" your mother yelled. You could tell that she knew she was losing. She hated to lose, so now she was panicking. And when she panicked, she didn't think about what she said, she just said things to try and defend herself. You could take advantage of her in this way.

"So you physically abusing me is worse than this man being nice to me but being mean to others?" you asked.

Your mother immediately knew she had messed up when she heard that question. Her eyes widened, and she began to gasp out small words, unable to even form a sentence that would defend her. She had no words left to say. You had officially won.

"You are a terrible child!" she shrieked and howled. "From this day forward, I disown you and your name! May you burn forever in hell for the torture you have brought upon our family!"

With that, she ran out of Hua Cheng's palace, leaving your father behind.

Your father had never really agreed with your mother's thoughts about strictly controlling you. He had even spoke out against her thoughts multiple times, but every time he did that, he would be abused just like you. Eventually, his spirit, which was already weak, was broken, and he just stood there watching and doing nothing as your mother hurt you, day after day, both physically and mentally. You never hated him for this, though. On the contrary, you felt bad that he had been degraded into a person like this, and you wanted so badly to help him, but you were being hurt, so you could say nothing.

"I'll help you, Y/N," your father said, his voice a soft whisper. "I can send materials and food to you. It'll get me badly hurt, but I don't care. I'm sick and tired of your mother controlling our lives. Even if I die, it's worth it, to protect you."

Your eyes filled with tears at this statement. Your father, who had previously been a silent specter of a spectator, watching as you were hurt and being able to do nothing, had regained his fighting spirit. He would protect you at all costs, even if it meant his death. His devotion towards you made you feel endlessly loved. You ran over to him and gave him a long, deep kiss, holding him and thanking him profusely before watching him leave.

When he was gone, you turned to look at Hua Cheng, who had been watching your interaction with your father silently, not speaking, just watching. You came close to him, and he wrapped his arms around your waist, more as an idle action than a sign of affection.

"So," you said, "my mother wants me in hell now, and my father is going to die from helping me survive. This world is a terrible place."

"No," Hua Cheng responded, "This world is not a terrible place. It's some of the people that are terrible. Those people are the only ones I feel no remorse for killing. They deserve it."

You looked directly into his eyes and asked, point-blank, "Would you kill my mother?"

"Yes," he responded without hesitating. "Because she hurt you, and anyone who hurts their children doesn't deserve to live."

You gave him a kiss, which turned into a deep embrace, which turned into you crying against his chest.

"I'll never hurt you," he told you as you cried. "I won't just be a spectator either. When you're hurt, I will step out and protect you, even if I get hurt. I love you, L/N Y/N."

"I love you too," you said. And you meant it.