Ji Zhaoxi sat on the bed, clutching a wool blanket, stewing with anger at Celeste’s words.
“You say you’re a prince—then what about my servant?”
If he left, who would tidy her cave for her? Who would make her a soft mattress? She refused to go back to sleeping on that cold, hard stone slab.
“I won’t let you leave!” Ji Zhaoxi declared, utterly unabashed.
Dragons were nothing if not tyrannical.
Celeste said earnestly, “Miss Dragon, let me take you back to the palace. I’ll have a crystal palace built for you, and I can still be your servant.”
Ji Zhaoxi refused flatly, her face flushing red with anger. “Build me a crystal palace right here. I’m staying in the forest.”
Hadn’t she treated him well enough? She fed him, housed him, and even gave him two gems a month. And after all that, he was going to quit just because he remembered he was a prince?
His obsession with power was way too much.
What a calculating, opportunistic man.
Seething, Ji Zhaoxi kicked Celeste straight out of the cave. She, Ji Zhaoxi, had no use for deserters.
As she sank into sorrow, thunderous booms echoed across the sky. Delicate fireworks burst against the pitch-black night, the entire kingdom alive with celebration.
Ji Zhaoxi saw the fireworks and cried from sheer frustration. Her cheap, hardworking servant had run off...
She stewed all night without getting a wink of sleep.
The next day, Ji Zhaoxi marched into the forest and solemnly announced to every living creature there:
“From now on, Celeste is our enemy. If you see him, you’re to get back at him for me.”
She’d already planned it all out. When Celeste showed up, the trees would trip him with their branches, and the birds would peck him. That was her punishment for him.
Perched on a branch, a bird preened its feathers and nodded seriously. “Don’t worry, Miss Dragon. We’ll teach him a good lesson.”
When night fell, all the forest creatures drifted into sleep. The evening wind rustled the leaves with a soft whisper, and Dot Eyes, who had meant to stay on watch, lay sprawled across a branch, its chest and belly rising and falling gently.
Celeste rode his horse quietly through the forest.
Tonight, the woods were different from usual. Branches jutted out in chaotic tangles, and small animals blocked his path.
Probably on the orders of a certain Forest Priestess.
Celeste tied his horse to a nearby tree, then sidestepped the forest’s obstacles, heading deftly toward the deeper woods.
Dot Eyes stirred at the sound, lifting its sleep-heavy head, yawning, then dozing off again.
Moonlight trickled through the crevices of the cave. Candles flickered on the walls, but the place still felt cold and dim. The hat she had worn that day lay carelessly in a corner—just as he had left it the day before.
Celeste lit a fire, brightening the cave. He gathered the hat and clothes from the rack into a bamboo basket and took them to the river to wash.
He placed the gems he had brought that day beside her bed, so she could polish them herself tomorrow.
Using fabric from the palace, he had made her several new hats, already washed and dried. He hung them on the wall.
“Celeste... jerk...”
The girl on the bed murmured sleepily, her words slurred with drowsiness.
Celeste paused, turning to look at her. She was burrowed deep inside a massive wool blanket, so soft it nearly swallowed her whole. In the warm candlelight, her cheeks glowed with a faint pink.
He picked up her daily planner, then carefully brushed her hair. The comb slid down her locks with a faint, rhythmic whisper.
To be honest, returning to the palace had always been what he wanted most.
But once he was back, it wasn’t the joy he had imagined. He kept instinctively reaching for things to tidy, clothes to wash, gems to find for her.
Could being a servant become addictive too?
The next morning, Ji Zhaoxi slept straight through until noon. Even a Forest Priestess deserved one day off a week.
When she woke up, she saw the gems by her bed and the new hats on the wall.
She huffed. She didn't care about them!
She would go find her own gems.
So Ji Zhaoxi went to see the Mermaid again. Sure, her tears turned into pearls, but pearls were worth a lot too.
She didn’t dare force the Mermaid to cry outright, but she had gathered some tragic stories lately.
The sea glittered under the sunlight as the Mermaid sat on a large rock, her body slumped weakly, her tail slapping against the water.
Her shoulders heaved violently, and pearls were scattered all around her.
Ji Zhaoxi’s eyes lit up. She grabbed a chest and ran over. The Mermaid cried, and Ji Zhaoxi scooped up the pearls. The Mermaid couldn’t cry fast enough to keep up. Soon, the ground was clean.
“I want to go see him...” the Mermaid sobbed.
But she didn’t have human legs.
What was she supposed to do...
The Mermaid was devastated. When she noticed Ji Zhaoxi staring at her, eyes filled with greedy longing for her tears, she wailed even louder.
Why did this damned dragon keep coming back? She was so sad already.
The Mermaid stared at Ji Zhaoxi’s legs and cried harder. “Why do you have legs?”
Ji Zhaoxi blinked in confusion. “Dragons have always had legs.”
But fish never had legs—going from nothing to something was definitely a lot more trouble.
At that, the Mermaid grew even more miserable. Why was she a fish? Why couldn’t she be a crab, an octopus, or a sea spider...
They had so many legs.
“Should I go to the Sea Witch? The prince is still waiting for me...” the Mermaid said, heartbroken.
Ji Zhaoxi struggled to lift the chest of pearls, nearly toppling over. After several tries, she sighed and tipped some pearls out.
It was way too heavy.
“What if he’s already in love with someone else? Then you’d have changed your legs for nothing,” Ji Zhaoxi said, wiping sweat from her forehead.
The Mermaid hadn’t considered that possibility and froze.
“If you really like him, just tie him up and bring him to the coast. That way, you won’t have to leave your family either,” Ji Zhaoxi suggested.
The Mermaid fell silent, pondering. It had never occurred to her before.
But kidnapping princes was a dragon tradition, and since she was technically related to dragons, it should be fine...
Right then, a loud crash rang out over the sea, but the Mermaid was lost in her own thoughts.
“Save me! Save me! I’m a prince!”
The moment Ji Zhaoxi heard the word “prince,” her eyes lit up. Her new servant had finally arrived.
In her mind, princes made perfect servants—especially since they could find gems.
If Celeste could do it, her new servant definitely could too!
In Ji Zhaoxi’s world, “prince” and “servant” were now completely interchangeable.
Without hesitation, she transformed into her dragon form, snatched the man from the sea, and carried him back to the forest. Before he even knew what was happening, she dropped him onto the ground.
