It didn't take long for Bai Luo to pull Xiao Mo to the carriage he arrived at the banquet using. Just before entering he turned to Ha-yoon and said sweetly.
"Yoonie, Young Master Xiao Mo will accompany me back to my courtyard. Please prepare a suitable courtyard for his maid to settle in for the night. You can retire for the night as well."
Ha-yoon nodded and then motioned for Mei-Mei to follow her. However, Mei-Mei hesitated before turning to look at Xiao Mo.
"Go ahead."
Xiao Mo said with a nod, but Mei-Mei didn't immediately leave. She stood there staring at Xiao Mo with a deep gaze.
In response, Xiao Mo calmly gazed back at her.
Seeing this, Mei-Mei sighed in her heart and finally replied.
"Then I'll take my leave, Young Master."
After Mei-Mei and Ha-yoon walked away, Bai Luo finally let go of Xiao Mo's sleeve and lifted the curtain before climbing into the carriage.
However, Xiao Mo didn't immediately enter. He stared at Mei-Mei as she followed Ha-yoon. Even though he hadn't told her his plan, he knew she had deduced some of his intentions when he asked her the vial in his robes, which was why she had looked at him like that before leaving. It was to warn him to not go too far.
But Xiao Mo had already made up his mind.
"Young Master Xiao Mo, why don't we head off."
A soft voice drifted out of the carriage and interrupted Xiao Mo's thoughts.
With an expressionless face, he turned and lifted the carriage's curtain before climbing up into it.
The inside of the carriage was quite spacious, allowing for at least three people to sit side by side on the front and back cushion seats without bumping elbows.
Bai Luo sat on the back seat next to the small window of the carriage. After Xiao Mo entered, he chose to sit at the edge of the front seat next to the carriage curtains.
Seeing that he chose to sit so far away from him, Bai Luo frowned underneath his veil.
'This brat is acting strange. A beautiful girl invites him back to her courtyard in the middle of the night and he acts indifferently?'
Bai Luo thought that given his reputation, Xiao Mo would be all over him the moment he entered the Cult.
However, what instead occurred was Xiao Mo ignoring his greeting, and even now, was sitting so far on his seat away from him that he was moments away from tumbling out of the carriage.
Unfortunately, the roads in the Cult's main hideout were paved with stone slabs causing the carriage ride to be extremely smooth. If not, Bai Luo would have very much liked to see him fall outside.
'Regardless of his strange behavior, I just need to get him alone.'
While Bai Luo had his veil to cover his frowning expression as he thought about Xiao Mo's strange behavior until now. Xiao Mo had to actively try and keep his expression neutral while his thoughts kept going over this fiancée of his actions so far.
'This girl is odd. Why isn't she acting like I thought she would?'
At this moment, hesitation appeared in Xiao Mo's heart to go through with his plan. This time it was not because he was unwilling to, but rather because he didn't know if it was feasible anymore.
The crux of his plan lay in making his fiancée hate him to the point that she wouldn't even want to see him or be in the same room as him, much less marry him. He had initially thought she would disagree with this arranged marriage and hate him to an extent, given his widespread infamy.
However, rather than receiving a cold shoulder from her, he was instead complimented for his looks and was then invited back to her courtyard in the middle of the night.
So, what did this mean?
The daughter of the Demonic Cult, a girl worshipped by thousands for her outstanding talent and beauty, was she smitten by his appearance?
'No way, could this girl be as weird as those Young Ladies from those Noble Clans back home?'
Even with Xiao Mo's reputation, those Young Ladies from the Noble Families continued visiting the Han Clan to ask for marriage, with some even suggesting they only wanted to become his concubine.
This news was quite big at the time it first occurred because those Young Ladies weren't ordinary Young Ladies with a bit of beauty and charm. They had behemoth-like entities behind them that with a stomp could flatten ninety-nine percent of the Sects and Clans on the Central Plains.
So, with such a status, how could they be willing to settle for becoming a concubine for a well-known playboy who can't even cultivate?
But even though this was the opinion everyone discussed on the surface, internally they knew the real reason was because of Xiao Mo's appearance. They just didn't want to admit they were inferior, especially those talented Young Heirs in the Righteous Faction.
'How could this be?!'
Xiao Mo inwardly groaned in complaint that this weird girl was too shallow, only seeing his looks while not caring about his actions.
'Damn it, my plan might actually backfire if this goes on.'
Due to both parties being too engrossed in their own thoughts, the carriage remained silent until it reached its destination.
When the carriage stopped, Xiao Mo awoke from his thoughts and stepped down, his expression indifferent. He then stood with his hands clasped behind him and his back to the carriage, completely ignoring his fiancée as she stepped down alone.
"Young Master Xiao Mo, follow me."
Xiao Mo felt a familiar tingling sensation in his ear as this fiancée of his grabbed his sleeve once again and walked towards the lit courtyard.
'Even when I'm openly ignoring her, she's still acting so familiar?'
Xiao Mo frowned slightly as he was pulled into the courtyard.
Meanwhile, the coachman lightly ushered the horses to leave, but as they started to move, he couldn't help but observe the two figures as they disappeared into the courtyard with a peculiar expression on his face.
….
…
..
While Xiao Mo was stirring in his thoughts about what to do, they finally stopped at a sliding door.
After the door was opened, Xiao Mo was pulled inside the lit room. But almost immediately upon entering, all the thoughts that were swirling inside his mind came to a halt and he stared at what was inside the room with a dumbfounded expression.
Inside, there was a bed off to the right that had pink sheets neatly folded on top. Additionally, a door that looked like it led to a closet was towards the back room.
Xiao Mo even saw a girl's makeup table to the left of the room near the closet.
The room itself was not overly decorated with female themes. The only exception was the pink bedsheet and feminine knick-knacks that littered the long narrow shelves on the walls.
There was also a faint flowery scent lingering inside the room, but one would expect this given this was a girl's bedroom.
That's right, a girl's bedroom.
Xiao Mo hadn't been paying attention to where they were going, so he only now realized that this girl had actually brought him to her bedroom in the middle of the night!
'Wha-What is this? It couldn't be that she—she's...'
Suddenly, Xiao Mo felt a cold gust sweep between his legs from the open door behind him making his robe sway lightly.
'Could I have been tricked? Is this girl actually a vixen in disguise? Am I going to be devoured by her? Is this why she brought me here?'
Countless thoughts began racing through Xiao Mo's mind, making him slightly dazed.
Bai Luo had already entered the room and was preparing what looked like tea by one of the long narrow shelves to the right of the room.
Feeling the cold gust of wind, he said.
"Why not come in and close the door."
He then turned around only to see Xiao Mo just standing there.
Xiao Mo quickly recovered his composure. He closed the door behind him before calmly walking over to sit on a wooden chair to the left of the room that had red cushioned seats.
Soon after, Bai Luo held two simple wooden cups emitting two strands of steams that swayed slightly as he walked over.
After placing one of the cups onto the small table next to Xiao Mo, he sat down on the other red cushion chair beside the table and took a sip from his cup of tea.
"Young Master Xiao Mo, the tea is quite nice have a taste and tell me what you think."
Bai Luo said lightly after taking a sip of his tea.
Xiao Mo glanced at the tea—hesitated for a bit— then picked it up.
'I must be too paranoid. There's no way a girl like this would be a vixen. It just doesn't make sense given the information I read about her before coming here. She also doesn't have the means to keep a false identity hidden from father's spies given how weak the Demonic Cult is right now. And if father knew she was a man-eater, he would have at least warned his own son in advance… Right?'
As these thoughts flittered through Xiao Mo's mind, he tentatively took a sip of the tea.