"Lorian, do you want to come play with us today?"
As Lorian returned, a few dragons quickly hurried over to greet her.
Lorian wiped the blood off her face, lifting her chin high. "I'm not going. Don't you train every day? I'm not like you."
Mother cared about them so much, but all they did was think about slacking off, never listening.
After scolding them, Lorian proudly walked away.
The other dragons: ...
If they really started training hard, Lorian would definitely be even more displeased.
She remembered back during the trials, when they crammed at the last minute, practicing every day. Lorian would secretly watch them, afraid they'd practice too much and surpass her.
Lorian walked toward the palace, and the princes she had captured earlier also greeted her.
"Lady Lorian, you've worked hard training today. Would you like to—"
Lorian looked at him impatiently. "Shut up, you ugly thing!"
In Lorian's aesthetic, anything without dragon horns was ugly.
The prince's face turned pale instantly.
He had been captured and brought to the palace long ago, and he had seen how other dragons treated their servants. Not respectfully, but at least normally.
Only Lorian resorted to personal attacks and insults about their looks. She was the most ill-mannered dragon in this palace.
Lorian didn't care at all what these people thought. Her entire life had only one goal: to gain Mother's approval.
Her training had become more intense recently, and the nearby dragons were no match for her.
When Alaira learned of this, she specially came to advise her: "Lorian, is this really what you want? But right now, you don't look happy either. Maybe you should enjoy the most ordinary life."
Lorian didn't listen to a word. The most ordinary life—wasn't that the life of that Stupid Dragon?
She didn't want to live such a boring life.
But after one battle, she still went to see Ji Zhaoxi—just to take a look at this sister who had never been able to beat her since childhood.
She sat on a big mountain, gnawing on a fruit, watching below with a bored look propped on her chin.
That Stupid Dragon carried a bag full of medicine. She sat down on a rock and began treating a rabbit's leg.
"Little rabbit, you really should stop getting so angry. Your leg has been broken how many times this month already?" Ji Zhaoxi said helplessly, pinching its ear.
The rabbit really loved to get angry, and whenever it got angry, it liked to kick things. It was a particularly stubborn rabbit.
Hearing what Ji Zhaoxi said, the rabbit's already red eyes grew even redder.
"But I can't control it..."
Could it be blamed? Its brain was just that small.
The sun was blazing, and even though the layers of leaves blocked some of it, Ji Zhaoxi still felt hot. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and trimmed the leaves of a big tree.
The plants under the tree hadn't seen sunlight in too long and were feeling a bit down, drooping weakly.
Lorian, sitting on the mountain, was also unbearably hot. She stared irritably at Ji Zhaoxi, crunching on her fruit noisily.
Who made that Stupid Dragon's clothes? They made her look even dumber. Couldn't someone make her something more imposing?
She watched for a while, found it boring, then flung the fruit pit into the forest and flew away.
Alaira was just as foolish as she thought: treating animals' injuries, trimming tree leaves, digging a few ditches...
Was this supposed to be happiness? She didn't understand.
Meanwhile, Ji Zhaoxi was packing her bag to go home. She turned around, tripped over something on the ground, and almost fell.
She looked at the gnawed fruit pit on the ground and fumed: "Who's so rude, leaving trash everywhere after eating!"
But there was only her and Celeste in the forest.
Ji Zhaoxi frowned deeply. It wasn't her who gnawed it. Had Celeste left it lying around after eating?
She had wasted the entire day. Lorian had gone to find the Dragon Queen. She almost never came to see her unless she had achieved some victory.
Inside the palace, a dark golden glow flowed through the air. The Dragon Queen coiled in her throne, her golden-red vertical pupils carrying a divine aloofness.
As soon as she entered the palace, Lorian felt a sharp sting in her lungs. She stood cautiously before the Dragon Queen.
"Mother..." Lorian said quietly.
Honestly, she didn't even know why she had come, but she had.
The Dragon Queen's gaze rested faintly on Lorian, who bowed her head, looking somewhat nervous.
In fact, Lorian was still very young, yet she performed better than any other dragon.
"Mother, what do you think of Alaira?" Lorian asked awkwardly.
After all, Mother often sent for Alaira, even though Alaira was nowhere near as capable as her.
The Dragon Queen was silent for a long time, so long that Lorian began to regret asking that question.
Just as Lorian was about to leave, feeling dejected, the Dragon Queen spoke calmly.
"Lorian, I do not want my heir to be so insecure."
Lorian stared at the Dragon Queen, her eyes a little red.
"At least for now, no one is more suitable than you."
Lorian struggled to contain her excitement. No one was more suitable—didn't that mean she was better?
Finally, Lorian was happy.
As she had thought, Alaira was completely wrong.
Those ordinary lives would never make her happy. Only battle and Mother's approval brought her joy.
At least she didn't want to dig in the mud.
Recently, dragons frequently lurked near the kingdom, and neighboring small countries often reported incidents of dragons injuring people and capturing underage princes. This made the common people of the kingdom uneasy.
Although the harm was in other countries, anyone with eyes could see which kingdom those dragons were targeting.
"Go to the sea to find the Deep Sea Spellbreaker Stone, and once you have it, embed it into the castle's outer walls," Celeste said, handing a magical stone to a soldier.
"This kind of stone can disrupt the dragon clan's magical energy."
The soldier nodded solemnly. No wonder King Celeste had been dealing with dragons since childhood—he was truly experienced.
The false prince before had just told them to charge with swords. But they were just ordinary people—wasn't it a bit much to ask them to attack dragons directly with swords?
Celeste mounted his horse and left again.
The soldiers had great confidence in their king.
"Captain, the King won't let a single dragon get away."
Whatever dragon this or that—when they met their king, they'd only find death!
The captain: ...
The soldier, spotting the wound on Celeste's neck, reddened with emotion: "But the King works so hard. The pressure on him must be enormous. Those wounds on him must be from dragons."
Dragons were truly despicable!
The corner of the captain's mouth twitched, but she didn't respond.
Whatever. She only pledged loyalty to the king.
Celeste rode his horse and found Ji Zhaoxi. She was wearing the clothes and carrying the bag he had made.
He walked up to Ji Zhaoxi and helped her hold the squirrel's tail.
The squirrel gave him a strange look. Dot Eyes, up in the tree, also stared at Celeste with an odd expression.
"Miss Dragon, isn't he your enemy?" Dot Eyes asked, puzzled.
But why did he seem so close to Miss Dragon?
Ji Zhaoxi choked up but didn’t say a word. She was afraid that Celeste might have caught what Dot Eyes had whispered to her.
From the branches above, Dot Eyes chirped, “Miss Dragon, shall we still mess with him from now on?”
Ji Zhaoxi gave a light cough. “No need.”
Celeste acted as if he hadn’t noticed a thing. He tucked a strand of stray hair behind her ear and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
The sky had now turned completely dark. Moonlight spilled through the forest, where many small animals had already fallen asleep.
“You’ve had a long day. Let me take the reins,” Ji Zhaoxi said, showing an unexpected moment of thoughtfulness.
Celeste raised an eyebrow, then let out a quiet laugh. “Thank you, Miss Dragon.”
The moon hung in the sky. Ji Zhaoxi held the reins firmly and rode with focus, while Celeste sat behind her, holding her waist tightly, his head resting on her shoulder.
The horse trotted along at a leisurely pace. Moonlight stretched their silhouettes into one overlapping shadow, growing fainter and farther away, their voices softening into the night.
“Miss Dragon is so kind to Celeste…”
“Ahem.”
