The next morning, Ji Zhaoxi set out early. She had something very important to do today.
She was going to fight Lorian.
Ridiculous, isn’t it? She thought so herself.
But it was Mother Dragon’s command. Although Ji Zhaoxi had been banished from the castle, she hadn’t been completely abandoned yet.
Mother Dragon said that if she could defeat Lorian, she would be allowed back into the castle—and she wouldn’t even have to kidnap a prince.
But Ji Zhaoxi felt that kidnapping a prince might actually be easier for her.
Lorian was already waiting at the battlefield, staring at her with excitement. Around her stood dozens of princes—her trophies.
Compared to them, Ji Zhaoxi had come alone to fight.
What a miserable contrast.
Ji Zhaoxi didn’t want to fight Lorian at all. She knew that if she resisted, Lorian would only get more excited.
Lorian had the purest bloodline of an evil dragon.
Ji Zhaoxi let Lorian bully her without putting up a fight. Lorian touched her dragon horns, then stroked her hair. Ji Zhaoxi never understood what was going through Lorian’s mind.
“You stupid dragon, look at your claws and wings. I could crush you with one of my claws.”
Lorian’s eyes glowed red. She stretched out her strong, sharp claws, showing them off in front of Ji Zhaoxi, sneering at her from time to time.
Only when she saw Ji Zhaoxi’s eyes turn red did Lorian finally seem satisfied. She tossed two baskets of jewels at her and told her to get lost.
That was Lorian’s way of paying for Ji Zhaoxi’s injuries.
Ji Zhaoxi shouldered the two baskets of jewels and flew home in sadness.
Now, she had nothing left but jewels.
At that moment, the palace was buzzing with activity. The king had come up with another brilliant idea: to test the princes on their knowledge of princesses.
Hal thought the king should stop coming up with ideas altogether. Everyone knew that princes and princesses were a pair. Even ordinary people knew the basics. How could these princes possibly not know them?
Turns out, some of them really didn’t.
“What time must Cinderella leave the ball?”
A man covered in jewels scratched the back of his head. “Three o’clock?”
The soldier forced a smile. “The ball hasn’t even started at three.”
Next.
“Which princess once received help from a fairy godmother?”
A man wearing a crown frowned deeply. “Is it Mulan? I’m not very familiar with Eastern princesses.”
The soldier gave him a fake smile.
Next.
“Which princess had hair long enough for someone to climb up to her castle?”
A man with a small mustache smiled confidently. “It must be Snow White. After all, she was born with such thick hair.”
The soldier let out a forced laugh through gritted teeth.
Those who answered incorrectly were dismissed. Those who were plain-looking were also dismissed. In the end, no one was selected.
Several soldiers let out deep sighs. How could anyone not know such simple things?
The sky was clear—so clear that even the soft, fluffy clouds were gone. The only thing in the air was an evil dragon flying home, carrying jewels, looking heartbroken.
Her tears fell into the forest, triggering a small, localized rain. One by one, the little animals emerged.
“She got beaten up by Princess Lorian again.”
“She looks really sad. The rain is pouring hard.” A bird shook its body and used its beak to clean its feathers.
A big tree rumbled deeply, “I wish she were even sadder. Her tears help fix my split ends.”
At the same time, Celeste stared at the cave, momentarily stunned. The cave had suddenly grown dim. What was going on? He had never seen it so dark before. Even the energy of the magic mirror had weakened.
But the moment he saw Ji Zhaoxi, everything made sense.
She lay listlessly on the bed, not even glancing at Celeste.
When would she ever be able to kidnap a prince? All the princes within a hundred miles had already been captured by Lorian. That evil dragon was far too powerful.
Celeste observed the dragon. Her horns were slightly scratched, and her scales looked a little damaged too.
His gaze softened. He sat down next to her and began applying medicine to her wounds.
None of the wounds were deep. They would probably heal in a few days. Miss Dragon seemed to be more upset about something else.
While Celeste applied medicine to her scales, he noticed that many of them hadn’t fully grown.
It struck him as strange. If that were the case, then living alone in the forest would be very dangerous for her. So why did it seem like she had never faced any real danger?
Over at the castle, the sun was shining brightly. The birds in the forest sang cheerfully, full of life.
Having bullied Ji Zhaoxi, Lorian was overjoyed.
If Mother Dragon hadn’t said no, she would have wanted to keep Ji Zhaoxi by her side and bully her forever.
“Princess Lorian, she’s such a stupid dragon,” one of the princes beside her said with a flattering smile.
To be honest, when Lorian had first captured him, he had been furious. But over time, although he was still a little afraid of her, he became more envious of her status instead.
As the most powerful young evil dragon of this age, serving Lorian was actually a bit of an honor, wasn’t it?
Lorian raised an eyebrow at his comment. “Oh?”
The prince thought he had pleased her, and his face lit up with joy.
“She’s so weak, and she still dares to challenge you. It’s a complete waste of your time.”
“And just now, when you were bullying her—how pathetic she looked—”
The prince’s mouth hung open, but no sound came out. His eyes went wide with disbelief as he stared at Lorian.
Blood spurted from where her claws had slashed. The next second, the prince collapsed to the ground.
Lorian gave a cold laugh. How dare he think he was qualified to judge a dragon?
The surrounding princes turned pale, but one of them steadied himself and stepped forward, carefully wiping the blood from Lorian’s claws.
Lorian was a bloodthirsty madman...
The dimness in the cave didn’t last long.
The moment Ji Zhaoxi opened those two big chests of jewels, the cave instantly brightened. The localized rain in the forest also stopped.
A glowing mushroom shook itself in despair. It had almost drowned.
Ji Zhaoxi didn’t go to the forest to practice breathing fire. Instead, she practiced right at the entrance of the cave. Celeste followed her outside and trained with his sword.
His injuries had mostly healed, so he had to step up his training.
Just as he had guessed, Miss Dragon’s cave really was safe.
As he trained, he suddenly felt a wave of heat. Sweat began to form on his forehead. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed flames. A fire had flared up right behind him—and it had caught his pants.
Ji Zhaoxi met his gaze guiltily. She splashed a bucket of water on him, quickly extinguishing the flames.
Celeste wrung out his wet hair but said nothing. He went back to practicing his swordsmanship.
