Chapter 79: Long Xuan
Then she did turn.
And the moment she saw their faces, her own face exploded into color.
Too excited.
Way too excited.
She realized at once what she had almost said and what they must have thought she meant.
Especially Hu Baiyu.
That innocent lion was now looking at her like she had just handed him a lifetime dream.
Feng Yiren side-eyed Hu Baiyu with such thick jealousy that if it had a shape, it would have smacked somebody in the face.
Shi Yan, meanwhile, had seen everything.
And because she was from the tribe and knew exactly how the old Lin Huahua had always treated her males, what she saw now almost made her emotional.
She looked at Lin Huahua with a bright smile and said, "Princess, I am so happy to see this. You are finally accepting these precious males."
Lin Huahua blinked at her.
Shi Yan continued warmly, and as she spoke, there was real feeling in her voice. "Everyone knows how things used to be. We all thought there was no hope. I did not want to believe it myself, but after seeing the way you have been with your males since yesterday, I finally believe it. You look so different now, and not only that, your whole way of acting is different too."
She did not say it out loud, but she also noticed that the princess looked much prettier than before.
Way prettier.
Even Shi Yan, who was another female, could not ignore it.
Still, she kept that part to herself.
What mattered more was that the whole village had pitied these males for so long, especially because they were not just good-looking, they were powerful too.
What female in her right mind would not want them? Yet Lin Huahua had treated them badly again and again. So now, seeing the princess look soft around them, seeing her call them her males and even react possessively over them, Shi Yan truly felt relieved and happy.
Lin Huahua could only give a small awkward sound and look down, because the truth was that she herself had almost forgotten her own plan. A few days ago, if someone had told her she would stand here enjoying praise for accepting some strange beastmen, she would have laughed in their face. Yet now, listening to Shi Yan speak like this, she could not even deny it properly.
And then another thought appeared in her mind.
Did she not have friends in this village?
The more Lin Huahua thought about it, the more she realized how lonely the placeholder had been. She had been so obsessed with that stupid peacock that when friends or people around her tried to talk sense into her, she had only lashed out at them and pushed them away. If that was the case, then maybe this lioness woman in front of her, this warm straightforward Shi Yan, could become her first real friend here.
The thought actually made Lin Huahua feel a little happy.
It also made her think that perhaps she could slowly redeem her reputation in this village.
Then Shi Yan spoke again, and the entire mood changed.
"It is such a pity," Shi Yan said, shifting one of the cubs in the basket, "that Long Xuan was sent to the Broken Fang Expanse."
The moment Lin Huahua heard that name, her whole body went cold.
Then pain struck.
It felt as if something had suddenly cracked open inside her head, and before she could even breathe properly, a rush of memories slammed into her so hard that she grabbed her head with both hands.
Her vision spun.
Her knees went weak.
Fragments of another life, or rather the placeholder’s life, came crashing through her mind in jagged broken pieces.
A man.
No.
A dragon.
A terrifyingly handsome dragon king with a cold face and a ruined clan.
The memory told her things quickly and cruelly.
There had been one more male.
One more.
Long Xuan.
A fallen dragon king whose bloodline was nearly extinct, whose clan had already been reduced to almost nothing. Most females were afraid of dragons, especially one like him, because dragons were too strong, too ruthless, too proud, and even though his clan had fallen, his power and blood were still the kind people both respected and feared. Her father had seen it as an opportunity. If Lin Huahua took him, if she bore his children, then both sides would benefit. Preparations had already been made. The proper rituals had already been handled. He had been assigned to her.
And what had the placeholder done?
She had looked at him, thought only of her precious peacock, and sent the dragon king away.
Not just away.
To the Broken Fang Expanse.
The memories hit harder.
The Broken Fang Expanse was the place used when death alone was too merciful. It was a cursed stretch of land beyond the known territories, full of cracked black cliffs, violent rivers, hidden beasts, poisonous fog, and ancient territorial monsters that even strong beastmen avoided. Once someone was thrown into the Expanse, they could not simply be called back. The mists only loosened after one full season had passed, and until then, even the one who sent them in had no right to demand their return. If they survived, they could come back. If they did not, the land buried them without a sound.
And Long Xuan had been there not for one season.
Not for a year.
He had been there for almost three years.
Because the placeholder had forgotten him.
Forgotten him there.
Lin Huahua’s face went white.
Mu Qingyi saw it first and rushed forward, his calm face finally cracking in alarm. Hu Baiyu was even faster. He was beside her in one breath, one huge hand hovering near her waist, the other near her shoulder, ready to hold her up if she fell. Even Feng Yiren’s swollen face changed sharply, because although he had already long believed this was not truly their female, the reaction she was having right now still made his fox heart tighten.