The maid dashed into the room, and her eyes immediately fell on the blood-soaked floor and the Old King, who had completely lost consciousness.
She screamed, “The king is dead—”
Her voice was deafening, piercing through the air with incredible force. Ji Zhaoxi, already flying beyond the palace, was so startled she nearly fell.
Her mind was a total mess now. The whole dragon was deflated. As soon as she returned to her palace, she locked the door, changed her clothes, and flopped onto the bed.
Celeste wouldn’t misunderstand her, right? If he were smart, he’d definitely know she didn’t kill him.
But what if Celeste was really dumb...
Then there was nothing she could do. They’d have to duel. If he had a good heart, he wouldn’t hit her too hard.
And if Celeste didn’t have a good heart...
Then she decided she’d just swallow her pride and go beg Lorian.
Meanwhile, the kingdom had descended into chaos.
“Prince Celeste, when we went in, a dragon flew out. It must have killed the king,” the maid said, her tone firm.
“Before that dragon gets away, Commander, we need to capture it quickly!”
The commander said nothing, glancing at Celeste beside him.
Celeste’s expression was calm. “There are no wounds on the king’s body. It couldn’t have been a dragon.”
Everyone else looked at the Old King’s body. Sure enough, there wasn’t a single wound, though his face was bruised—but that was from his own doing.
Celeste spoke flatly, “Notify everyone. The king’s funeral will begin tomorrow.”
The soldier nearby froze. No further investigation? The funeral was happening that fast?
As he watched Celeste ride his horse into the forest, the soldier’s eyes filled with admiration.
So Prince Celeste was going to seek the truth alone again?
Prince Celeste always took the most dangerous tasks upon himself.
When Celeste arrived at the Crystal Palace, he could feel the somber atmosphere before he even entered. The door was locked, but he knew another way in.
He’d kept that entrance for himself.
Once inside, the room was pitch-dark. At the sound of footsteps, Ji Zhaoxi’s body stiffened.
Celeste lit the fireplace and the candles, and the room finally warmed up.
“Celeste, I challenge you to a duel,” Ji Zhaoxi said, her voice muffled.
Celeste pulled her into his arms, kissed her softly, and whispered, “Alright, let’s duel right here.”
If she was willing.
Ji Zhaoxi’s face flushed bright red as she stared at him in disbelief. “Your dad coughed up blood, and you’re saying things like this?!”
She actually meant to say he died, but that felt rude, so she substituted it with “coughed up blood.”
Celeste cupped her face and kissed her lips. “Miss Dragon, the king was over eighty years old. Dying is perfectly normal.”
Ji Zhaoxi knew that dying at eighty-plus was normal, but Celeste’s reaction seemed a bit off.
Before she could process it, Celeste’s hand brushed her waist, he kissed the tip of her nose, and then bit her earlobe.
He breathed heavily against her ear, hot air grazing her skin. Her dragon horns embarrassingly poked out.
Celeste chuckled softly. “Want to touch the dragon horns?”
Ji Zhaoxi burrowed into his chest, silent, the exposed skin of hers burning red.
Celeste was such a bastard... His dad was lying cold, and here he was starting this again...
Every time things got to this point, she clammed up, but Celeste didn’t want her to stay quiet this time.
He nibbled gently on the back of her neck, his fingers lightly tapping her dragon horns. The horns quivered, but Celeste kept her waiting.
“Miss Dragon, do you want me to touch them?” he coaxed softly.
He felt her grip on his clothes tighten. She still didn’t speak, but she already looked on the verge of tears.
Celeste sighed and placed his hand over them.
Miss Dragon was too much. He just wanted to hear her say it out loud.
That evening, the commoners, after a long day’s work, came home to sudden good news.
The Old King was dead.
The news came so abruptly that even the announcement felt half-hearted. At first, everyone thought it was just a rumor.
The commoners swung between joy, worry, and disappointment until they were thoroughly annoyed.
“Wasn’t it Prince Celeste who sent out the notice? Is it real or not?!”
This mattered a lot to them.
“I want to know too. I’m dying of anxiety here. If it’s fake, I’ll hate whoever spread the lie!”
People kept rushing to the palace to ask, but many still couldn’t believe it.
Because they’d been waiting for the king to die since he turned seventy. But not only did he refuse to die, he kept doing things that embarrassed the nation—and lived on perfectly fine.
That had deeply disappointed the people.
So when they heard the news today, their first instinct was disbelief.
Finally, someone couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“If this is a lie, I’ll make it true tomorrow!”
He’d had it with that old man who never wore clothes!
The people around him urged him not to do anything stupid.
“We’ll find out tomorrow.”
“Yeah, let’s wait until tomorrow.”
Finally, the next day arrived. The Old King’s funeral was held with great pomp. The citizens lining the streets finally breathed a sigh of relief at the sight.
The Queen was ecstatic too. Just then, a handsome prince approached.
“Your Majesty, the days ahead will be brighter,” the prince comforted her.
The Queen, upon seeing this prince from some unknown kingdom, lit up. She flipped her hair and smiled shyly.
Celeste officially became king.
He was still handling funeral matters when it ended so abruptly that envoys from many countries had to travel overnight to make it. When they arrived, sweat dripping down their foreheads, all panting hard.
Despite the exhaustion, seeing this scene made it all worth it.
Meanwhile, Ji Zhaoxi was hosting a turtle-rabbit race, utterly fed up.
The animals around cheered.
The rabbit and turtle were doing fine at first, but then the rabbit went crazy and kicked the turtle out of the race. After Ji Zhaoxi brought the turtle back, it bit the rabbit’s leg.
The two started cursing each other out.
“Coward hiding in your shell!”
“You red-eyed lunatic!”
They hurled insults for ages, but in the end, the rabbit dragged its injured leg and limped to the finish line.
Ji Zhaoxi gave the rabbit two gems and the turtle one. The farce was finally over.
Logically, a forest with a dragon should be chaotic, but theirs wasn’t. Maybe because Miss Dragon was just too lazy.
Back in the day, another dragon trained in the neighboring forest and often caused havoc. Trees wouldn’t even grow leaves back then.
But Miss Dragon, aside from crying sometimes, was great in every other way.
