Mr. Dragon looked at the person before him.
Under the dim yellow lamplight, her expression appeared soft and gentle. Behind her lay the bright-red wedding quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks. She faced him with the corners of her lips curved into a warm smile.
His reflection filled her eyes as she spoke words he could not possibly ignore, without the slightest trace of fear.
A faint flush gradually spread across a certain dragon’s cheeks.
Mr. Dragon turned his head aside slightly and moved his fingertips.
The room before Mu Wanwan instantly became dark again.
In the night, Mr. Dragon’s voice sounded somewhat distant.
“I won’t sit here. Go to sleep.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
She fell speechless.
Listening to the sound of his wheelchair moving through the pitch-black room, she could vaguely see his blurred silhouette heading towards the door.
Unable to hold herself back, she asked, “My Lord, where are you going?”
Mr. Dragon stiffened and stopped moving.
The room fell silent once again.
If Mu Wanwan did not speak, neither would he answer.
After waiting for a very, very long time, Mu Wanwan bit her lip.
In the end, she could not stop herself from asking softly and aggrievedly, “Are you truly that unwilling to sleep beside me?”
They were already husband and wife in name.
They had clearly slept together before.
During the night, he had clearly expressed his affection for her in his own awkward way.
Why did he seem like a completely different dragon now that he was awake?
Mr. Dragon remained silent.
He listened as she quietly asked whether he was unwilling. He listened as she reminded him that she was not a stranger.
It felt as though a piece had been carved out of his heart.
His sharp nails dug into his palms, and blood trailed down his hands.
Yet he still said nothing.
Mu Wanwan’s heart gradually grew cold.
Was the dragon behaving this way because everything before had only been her one-sided wishful thinking?
Was it because of the original plot?
Was the story forcing him to fall in love with Bai Shuiyao now that he had awakened?
Bitterness spread through Mu Wanwan’s heart.
However, she had already changed the original body’s fate of dying miserably. That proved the events written in the novel were not impossible to alter.
Ever since returning and discovering Mr. Dragon awake, she had suffered through this uncertainty countless times.
Moreover, judging from his attitude towards her, it did not seem as though he disliked her.
Instead, it appeared as though he was worried about something.
According to the novel’s description of Mr. Dragon, he had always been extraordinarily brutal towards people and things he did not care about.
Mr. Dragon was already awake. Even if he was temporarily weak, dealing with her would still be effortless.
If he truly felt nothing for her, why had he not attacked her?
She had tested him so many times, and the worst he had ever done was reluctantly turn his head aside and complain that she was noisy.
There was also the gentle little Mr. Dragon.
The foolish dragon who cautiously used spirit stones to give her gifts.
The aggrieved dragon who tugged at the corner of her clothes.
The dragon who lit the lamp for her while his ears shot upright.
How could all of that have been false?
Mu Wanwan gripped the corner of the quilt.
She refused to believe that everything had been an illusion.
There had to be a reason Mr. Dragon was behaving so awkwardly.
If he could not bear to hurt her, then perhaps she could push him a little further.
If he truly hated her…
Then perhaps this would be the last time.
Mu Wanwan blinked her aching eyes and gathered her courage.
Looking towards Mr. Dragon’s back, she spoke as though she were staking everything she possessed on this one question.
Her voice was aggrieved and cautious.
“My Lord, are you planning to abandon me?”
The instant her words fell, the room—which had previously contained enough moonlight to make out rough outlines—became completely dark.
A gust of wind rose beside her, loosening her simply tied hair and brushing past her cheek with a cool touch.
Mu Wanwan discovered helplessly that her body was slowly lifting beyond her control.
The wind spread her skirts apart.
It felt as though she were gradually flying.
The weightlessness and darkness caused a momentary surge of fear.
Had she gambled incorrectly?
Had Mr. Dragon—
No, had the tyrant finally lost patience with her?
That made sense.
She was merely a weak, untalented woman who spent every day talking nonsense and irritating him.
He did not like her at all.
Killing her directly would be the simplest solution.
Mu Wanwan’s hands and feet turned cold, tears clinging to her eyelashes.
But she liked him.
She had already fallen in love with him.
Her body suddenly descended rapidly.
Mu Wanwan instinctively closed her eyes and waited for the tyrant’s punishment.
However, the expected pain never arrived.
Instead, she felt something warm and soft.
Mu Wanwan could not help opening her eyes.
Her gaze met a pair of phoenix eyes glowing faintly with golden light.
It was…
Mr. Dragon?
He had not killed her?
His golden eyes were half-lowered, and his long eyelashes brushed against her face, tickling her skin.
In the next instant, an unmistakable force wrapped around her waist.
Mu Wanwan’s waist weakened, and she helplessly fell against Mr. Dragon’s chest.
“Ah…”
His slightly heated breath brushed past her ear.
Mu Wanwan’s mind went completely blank from shock.
Was he hugging her?
Hadn’t he been preparing to kill her?
Her cheeks grew hot almost immediately.
Sitting on Mr. Dragon’s lap and surrounded by his arms, Mu Wanwan shifted uncomfortably.
She was utterly bewildered.
She truly could not understand this dragon’s thought process.
Did he like her or not?
Mr. Dragon felt the person in his arms struggle slightly.
His heart burned, his lips pressed tightly together, and the tips of his ears turned scarlet.
Abandon her?
How could he abandon her?
How could he possibly bear to?
He had already reached the limit of his endurance and could no longer withstand any more temptation.
The dark thoughts within his heart had completely consumed him.
All his ideas about distancing himself for her sake could not withstand those few words: *Are you going to abandon me?*
By the time he regained his senses, he had already pulled her into his embrace.
She was exactly as soft and warm as he had imagined countless times.
Merely holding her lightly made him feel as though he were about to burst into flames.
He could not say a word.
Even breathing had become difficult.
The sound of his breathing filled Mu Wanwan’s ears.
Her entire face was bright red.
Sitting on the dragon’s lap felt exceptionally uncomfortable.
After a while, she could no longer endure it and lightly pushed against his chest.
“Mr-Mr. Dragon.”
“Mm.”
A certain dragon released her naturally.
Although his ears remained scarlet, his expression was still cold and indifferent. His voice, however, sounded noticeably softer.
Mu Wanwan could not describe what she was feeling.
Flustered, she hurriedly climbed off his lap.
“Do your legs hurt?”
Mr. Dragon remained silent for two seconds.
“You’re light.”
Mu Wanwan could not help laughing.
The uncertainty in her heart over whether Mr. Dragon might change seemed to vanish entirely with that embrace.
She now appeared to understand his personality.
Without asking for his opinion again, she pushed his wheelchair towards the bed with a reddened face.
“My Lord, shall I help you onto the bed?”
Mr. Dragon pressed his lips together.
Mu Wanwan heard him reply in a low, hoarse voice.
“All right.”
This time, he finally stopped being awkward.
Mu Wanwan helped the dragon onto the bed and settled beneath a separate quilt beside him.
Remembering the embrace from moments earlier made her heart beat faster and faster.
She buried her head beneath the quilt.
Knowing that Mr. Dragon was lying right beside her made sleep impossible.
A certain dragon was even worse.
Lying in his familiar place, he felt as though her touch had left marks upon his legs, chest, and arms.
Combined with the itching sensation of his gradually recovering spiritual power, he was even less capable of sleeping.
And so, early the next morning, Mu Wanwan opened her eyes with two faint dark circles beneath them.
When she saw her ugly dragon husband already sitting halfway upright on the bed, his expression cold and his eyes calm, her face reddened.
The dreamlike embrace from the previous night almost seemed unreal.
However, there was one thing she had confirmed.
Mr. Dragon truly would not harm her.
With that thought, the awkwardness inside her faded.
She became even bolder and stopped addressing him as “My Lord” altogether.
“Good morning, Mr. Dragon.”
Mr. Dragon’s eyes brightened slightly.
Cold and reserved, he gave a dignified nod in response.
Mu Wanwan: “…”
She smiled and silently encouraged herself.
She added another item to today’s schedule:
She absolutely had to make Mr. Dragon say a few more words.
“Chirp.”
The forgotten Mengmeng had just awakened.
It tilted its head and stared at Mu Wanwan, who clearly looked tired but somehow also seemed very happy.
Its large eyes were filled with confusion.
Then…
It noticed the deathly stare coming from the ugly dragon behind Wanwan.
“Chirp…”
Mengmeng cowered.
The fluffy chirp hurried away on its short little legs.
The room was far too frightening!
The courtyard was much more fun!
—
While the human and dragon gradually became accustomed to one another, news that Huayun Pharmacy’s Spirit-Recovery Pills were extremely effective at reducing curses also reached many people.
Those who had purchased the first batch spared no effort in promoting them.
Recently, Uncle Zong and Uncle Chen had received numerous advance orders, including some from powerful experts belonging to other races.
As the central city of the dragon territory, the capital frequently housed members of many other races.
The Xianqing Pavilion was the largest intelligence organisation on the entire continent. Together with Jinjiang Auction House, it belonged to the same mysterious organisation.
It maintained branches throughout the dragon, demon, and witch territories.
Rumour had it that branches even existed within the lands occupied by the abyssal monsters.
Now that an alchemist capable of refining pills that weakened curses had appeared, the organisation had naturally obtained the information before almost anyone else.
Leng An, the head of the Xianqing Pavilion’s capital branch, had begun investigating Mu Wanwan’s identity as soon as she first used pills to pay for their services.
“Interesting.”
Leng An held the report his subordinate had just presented, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
“Although the effect isn’t as powerful as Jinjiang Grass, these pills have the advantage of being available in much greater quantities. Perhaps Master will take some interest in this little one.”
The mere fact that she could refine pills with effects resembling the Jinjiang Grass cultivated by his master was already enough to attract their attention.
The continent was becoming increasingly unstable.
The abyssal monsters were growing more restless and had also begun colluding with the witch race.
The Dragon Lord had merely been the earliest sacrifice.
However, now that the Dragon Lord had married such a capable wife, perhaps that man’s luck was finally improving.
Leng An could not be considered his friend, but he had heard a little about the Dragon Lord’s experiences.
How could someone who had made Leng An’s master utter the word “regrettable” possibly remain ordinary?
Leng An compressed the report into a narrow strip and held it between his fingers.
His stern face gradually turned translucent.
Two crystalline antennae emerged from his forehead, and his body slowly transformed into pale-blue, semi-transparent crystal.
He was a special lifeform.
The intelligence channels that the demon and witch races had coveted for tens of thousands of years all belonged to their Special Lifeform Alliance.
One antenna touched the strip of paper in his hand.
The densely packed writing was rapidly copied onto its surface, then transmitted to the Special Lifeform Alliance thousands of kilometres away.
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