Qiu Ling stared at Jing He, wondering if he had heard right. Well, to be honest, he didn’t doubt it all that much. His hearing was pretty good. If anything, he should doubt his sanity because asking him to marry following the dragons’ customs was asking him to be intimate if you got down to it and that … just didn’t seem like something that would ever come out of Jing He’s mouth.

“Uh …” Qiu Ling finally made a sound to reassure his beloved that he had indeed heard him speaking. He simply couldn’t find the right words to respond. Needing a moment at this time wasn’t great though. Jing He already looked worried again.

He thought for another moment and finally pulled the letters out of Jing He’s hand and put them aside. It seemed like they wouldn’t get to deal with those anytime soon. Then, he pulled his beloved around to face him and cupped his cheeks with his hands, locking gazes with him.

Jing He had no idea what was going on in Qiu Ling’s head but just like earlier, he felt mesmerized seeing him up close. He stopped thinking about what he had just asked, simply looking into those familiar eyes. They were dark, very much like those of a god but if you looked very closely, you could find a faint touch of red in there. He hadn’t thought much before but this might be a hint to his demon blood. It would explain why An Bai had reacted the way he did when he originally mentioned it.

Either way, they were very beautiful eyes. The gaze from them could be very gentle. He had felt that before. Right now, it was solemn though as if Qiu Ling was going to say something important. If he did … he should better listen closely.

Jing He blinked his eyes. This time, he somewhat noticed what was happening and tried to pull himself out of this state. He wasn’t sure if he was getting better since he was at least noticing now or if this was just an adjustment to his new state that had nothing to do with better or worse. Anyway, what mattered was that he could react to it.

Blinking seemed to help a little. He naturally still felt that his fiance was very handsome but he wasn’t staring lost in thought any longer. This was much better. He should probably ask Tian about this when he went back to the High Heavens though. There had to be a way around it.

Qiu Ling had used the time Jing He was absentminded to sort his own thoughts. Now, he felt ready to say what needed to be said. “My love … you know I would love to marry you. And yes, we could probably marry right now if we went with my people’s ceremony but … are you sure you want this? Or could it be that you simply feel desperate right now because everything is … new and unfamiliar and you want to hold on to one constant in your life?”

Jing He furrowed his brows and shook his head. “No. I … I want to make you happy.” How could Qiu Ling think this was about anything else?

Qiu Ling smiled faintly and leaned forward, kissing the spot between Jing He’s brows. “I will be happy when you are doing well. Right now, you aren’t. You seem scared, you know? Even if you don’t say it, I can feel that too. And I … I don’t want to marry you just because you are scared. I want to marry you when you want to just because we can.”

Jing He reflexively closed his eyes at Qiu Ling’s kiss. The faint warmth from his lips and breath lingered around him and calmed him down. Opening his eyes again and looking into Qiu Ling’s, he nodded without hesitation. He didn’t think he was doing this out of fear but he didn’t want Qiu Ling to worry about that either. Since he didn’t want to … then there was no use in asking further. He would just … continue to try and get better. Then soon enough, they could really get married with all that should happen.

Seeing him silent, Qiu Ling wasn’t sure if his words had hurt him. He knew that Jing He probably didn’t deal well with rejection, especially when it came to the topic of marriage. No, in this regard, he should feel ill at ease when it happened.

He pondered for a moment and finally lowered his head, kissing him on the lips instead. “You know, I am really tempted though. There is a part of me that has always longed to just ignore everything else and turn matters into a done deal as soon as it was possible. I just … feel like that part of me definitely isn’t the responsible one that makes good decisions so I try not to listen to it.”

Jing He looked at him questioningly. In his mind, Qiu Ling was good all around. He couldn’t imagine him not being responsible. But then, by now, he had also lived through his trial so he knew that there were also some things he hadn’t been aware of previously.

Qiu Ling … was very complex. He wasn’t just the perfect man he saw him as but also someone who had gone through many things to turn into who he was now. Who was to say that he shouldn’t still have an impulsive side to him that would lead to bad decisions?

Jing He lowered his gaze and thought of himself. Wasn’t he the same? He showed one face to others but he knew that deep down or … maybe not even that deep down, he was very insecure. And yes, he made decisions because of that. Maybe Qiu Ling had even been right when he said that he had asked him to get married right now due to fear. Maybe … that was indeed his motivation if he honestly examined it.