Chapter -17.A thief is a thief, no matter what you call him..

And as she watched him work, the scene almost felt like a replay, her role clear: to wait.

She was patient, biding her time as the drama unfolded. She saw the exact moment Li Zhenyu's triumph reached its peak—his smile widening as he pulled the demon's core from its chest. He was practically glowing with pride, as if the world had just opened up to him. But it was a fleeting victory, and Divya was ready to seize the moment.

As Li Zhenyu stood and turned, knife still in hand, his victorious gaze scanned the area. He never saw her coming.

Divya emerged from the cover of the bushes, her movements fluid, stepping into his line of sight with quiet precision. The suddenness of her presence caused him to freeze, his eyes snapping wide in surprise. There she was, standing tall and composed, a slight grin curling at the corners of her lips.

Li Zhenyu's face twisted with confusion. He hadn't expected anyone to be watching. "You..." His voice faltered, his hand instinctively tightening on the knife.

Divya's smirk deepened, her voice smooth and teasing, dripping with both amusement and mockery. "Oh my," she purred, her gaze locking with his, "I never thought my dear brother would come here to stay."

Li Zhenyu's eyes flickered, his breath catching in his chest. He had expected many things today—danger, confrontation, maybe even a little bloodshed—but Divya standing there, unbothered, a smile playing at the corners of her lips, was not one of them. His anger surged, but there was something else—a tightening in his gut, an unease he couldn't shake. What was she doing here?

He blinked, taking a step forward. "You?" His voice was a mix of disbelief and frustration. "What are you doing here?" The question slipped out sharper than intended, but the sight of her, looking so calm despite everything, was driving him mad.

Divya, as if she hadn't a care in the world, popped her finger in her ear and scratched it absentmindedly. Her gaze never wavered from his. "Why are you shouting?" she asked in a tone that was so detached, so casual, it was maddening. "Do you want to make me deaf?"

His hands tightened around the hilt of his knife, the steel of it cold against his palm. He could feel his patience slipping, the irritation clawing at him. "I asked you what the hell you're doing here!" His voice raised, the tension thick in the air, but Divya didn't flinch. If anything, she seemed amused by his outburst, like it was nothing more than a mild inconvenience.

Her smile curved just a little more. "Where else would I go?" she replied slowly, almost as if she were explaining something incredibly simple. "After all, I've just been kicked out of the sect. No place to stay." She looked at him as if he should understand—like this was the most obvious thing in the world. And yet, everything about her seemed to scream that she was more than just a simple exiled disciple.

Li Zhenyu stared at her, his anger shifting into something darker, something more dangerous. This was no longer just about her presence, about what she was doing here. "So what does that have to do with me?" he asked through gritted teeth, his patience thinning. He didn't have time for games. He had a mission, something important to him, and Divya was just an obstacle in his way.

Divya's smile didn't waver. If anything, it grew colder. "Nothing," she said smoothly, the word dripping with sarcasm. "It has nothing to do with you."

She took a deliberate step closer to him, and suddenly the air between them was charged with something far more potent than simple words. Her eyes locked with his, calculating, assessing, weighing him like a predator sizing up its prey.

"But," she continued, her voice lowering to a whisper, "that leopard demon you so kindly cut open... it belonged to me." She didn't pause for his response, letting the weight of her words settle in the space between them.

For a heartbeat, Li Zhenyu stood frozen. His eyes darted over to the mangled corpse of the demon, his stomach sinking. He hadn't realized it. He hadn't thought it through.

Her gaze never left his, her smile turning into something far more dangerous, something that made a shiver run down his spine. "Taking it," she mused, "you know what that means, don't you?" Her tone was soft, almost conversational, but there was an edge to it—a promise of something that would make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

She stepped even closer now, her eyes gleaming with something predatory. "Like something stolen…" she continued, the words slipping out with venom. "And I don't take kindly to thieves."

Her words were simple, but they cut deep. Li Zhenyu's heart skipped a beat. Thief? The term felt like a brand on his chest, marking him. The situation was spiraling.

Li Zhenyu's grip tightened around his sword as his face twisted with fury. "How dare you call me a thief?" he spat, his voice sharp, like the edge of his blade. The tension in the air thickened, a storm brewing between them.

Divya didn't flinch. Her posture was unbothered, as though his anger was nothing more than a passing breeze. She casually glanced at the leopard demon's lifeless body, her eyes glimmering with something almost... amused.

"Because you are," she said simply, the words falling from her lips like a cold verdict.

The audacity. Li Zhenyu's eyes burned with indignation, his knuckles whitening around the hilt of the sword. "What the hell do you mean by that?" His voice now carried the weight of an impending storm, a promise of violence if she didn't take back those words.

Divya tilted her head slightly, as if considering his question, before giving a nonchalant shrug. "Well," she drawled, her voice still deceptively calm, "you see, I killed this demon leopard, so I become the owner of it." Her words hung in the air like a challenge, something dark simmering beneath her placid tone.

She stepped forward, her eyes never leaving his. "And... cutting a pet without asking the owner," she added with a wry smile, "isn't that wrong?"