VBNWDW - Chapter 101
Chapter 101
While it's true that dragons care for their young, the wickedness in their bones is hard to suppress, and this fact hasn't changed one bit.
It's like handling a precious porcelain vase. On one hand, a dragon will protect it from shattering, but on the other, they'll kick it with all four feet and send it spinning wildly. All that matters is that the dragon cub stays alive. As for anything else...
As long as it's alive.
Take now, for instance. On a rare, leisurely summer afternoon, dense green shade blankets the lawn, bringing a hint of coolness. The stone-rimmed pool, carved with ancient patterns, shimmers with rippling water.
Birds chirped, pecking ripe fruit from the branches. The fruit fell to the ground, releasing a sweet, rich aroma.
Metis, dressed in a long, dark green gown, tilted her head back to look up. Her golden hair fell loosely, revealing the pearl earrings dangling from her lobes. Her fair skin was almost translucent in the sunlight. The cold austerity she had cultivated as a ruler had vanished, leaving her features soft and radiant.
The Black Dragon she leaned against was the picture of laziness, her eyelids half-closed as if she were about to doze off. But the tail dangling in the pool hadn't stopped moving for a second, deliberately holding the little beast in the water underwater and preventing it from surfacing.
Metis glanced over and saw this. She couldn't help but tug on the Black Dragon's horn, a silent warning not to go too far.
The dragon finally opened her eyes, her gilded pupils filled with displeasure. "You spoil her too much," she grumbled.
"Wodaixina is still a child," the Queen retorted, adding, "She's not like other young dragons. She needs more care and attention."
The Black Dragon gave a helpless twitch of her lips. She had no idea what nonsense the Dragon God had been feeding Her Majesty. So what if Wodaixina was a bit weaker than the average cub, only half the size of the others?
But Metis felt guilty and poured an immense amount of energy into Wodaixina. Even the Dragon God had sought out fine medicinal herbs and magic cores to help the little one build up her strength.
The dragon turned her head. The cub, finally released by her mother, surfaced. She was no bigger than a basketball, with short, plump limbs and a round belly. Her dark scales complemented her pale, grayish-blue eyes, giving her a dazed, guileless look.
The Black Dragon sighed. It was hard to imagine how the once small and skinny Poached Egg had been fed until she became a round little ball. She had trouble even rolling over; without help, she would wobble on the carpet like a tumbler toy for ages.
Did she even look like a dragon?
The Black Dragon gave another "careless" flick of her tail, which just so happened to press down on her daughter's head, pushing the little thing back underwater.
Dragons had powerful lungs, anyway. This was nothing.
How could Metis not see it? She couldn't help but slap the dragon's head, her tone severe. "Let Wodaixina up."
"A little underwater practice is good for a young dragon's development," the Black Dragon said, casually inventing a reason. With a flick of her tail, she scooped the chubby little thing onto the bank.
She gestured. "See? Poached Egg is perfectly fine."
In a dragon's book, "no wounds" and "not dead" meant "perfectly fine."
The Queen was so exasperated she grabbed the dragon's horn.
Such an irresponsible creature.
Meanwhile, the cub coughed a few times and shifted back into her human form.
Because her power wasn't yet strong enough, her dragon horns and chubby tail remained visible. Her soaking wet, silver hair clung to her round face, and her belly was so plump that her clothes couldn't quite cover it, revealing a sliver of fair skin.
She hadn't even found her footing before she was running toward Metis on her short, chubby legs, flailing her arms and crying out in an aggrieved, childlike voice, "Queen Mother, Queen Mother!"
The gilded eyes opened lazily, watching the cub's round belly bounce as she ran. Her arms and legs weren't much better—she was practically a little meatball. Luckily, both her mothers were beautiful, which saved her from having no claim to cuteness.
Still, the dragon huffed twice in dissatisfaction.
What kind of dragon looked like a little piglet?
The little girl, wagging her tail, threw herself into Metis's arms and immediately scrunched up her face to tattle. "Mother was bullying me."
Young children always have a special advantage when it comes to wheedling. When her clear voice was drawn out, it wasn't annoying at all; instead, it sounded utterly pathetic.
She should have been able to hug Metis properly, but her round belly got in the way, creating a gap between them. Her short arms could only just grasp at Metis's waist.
"Queen Mother..." She looked up, her pale, grayish-blue eyes clear and bright, the corners still a little red from the water.
Even the Queen, who usually spoiled the Black Dragon rotten, couldn't help but soften. "Queen Mother will teach her a lesson for you," she cooed.
With that, she raised her hand and gave the wicked dragon several soft pats, chiding her with absolutely no menace. "Take that for bullying our Little Rose! Bad dragon!"
The child was easily placated and joined in. "Bad dragon!"
These light taps were completely painless to the wicked dragon—they felt more like a massage, really. So she deliberately wagged her tail and winked at the Poached Egg in Metis's arms.
How could the noble Princess Wodaixina, the Dragon God's most favored cub, possibly let this slight go? She reached up with a chubby hand, grabbed Metis's, and said, "Don't hit her, don't hit her."
Metis, not noticing the dragon's little gesture, thought her daughter was feeling sorry for her other mother. She looked down and chuckled. "So Wodaixina has forgiven her?"
The little one shook her head firmly, then placed Metis's hand on the dragon's tail and enunciated, "Chop!"
She stared at the tail with gleaming eyes. "Chop, chop it off! Make soup!"
"Drink!"
The little one even gulped, looking as if she'd been coveting it for a long time.
Metis: "..."
The dragon: "..."
The little one didn't yet know how to read the room. Seeing that Metis didn't understand, she began to urge her impatiently. "Chop. Eat."
The dragon could understand her daughter wanting to eat her tail. After all, the little thing had shown such tendencies ever since she hatched. Most young dragons found the tough eggshell hard to chew, frowning as they gnawed on it.
But Wodaixina? While still sitting inside her egg, she had started to gnaw on the shell like a little scaled hamster, leaving deep marks from her front teeth on the hard surface. Because she ate too eagerly, she ended up chipping half a front tooth, and now she spoke with a slight lisp.
When the Dragon God heard the news and rushed over, he was moved to tears, declaring that their poor cub had suffered.
Even Thorn had nodded in agreement and, in an unprecedented move, gifted the dragon cub a massive gemstone.
One must understand that dragons were notoriously stingy to an outrageous degree. A dragon would rather lose its life than a single gold coin—the loss would be enough to make them scramble back from across the river of the underworld.
The Dragon God was even more extravagant. He actually left the dragon cub two of his own scales—the first time he had ever done so in his hundreds of thousands of years of life.
The Black Dragon standing nearby couldn't help but turn green with envy and was repeatedly warned by the Dragon God.
However...
Under the dual pressure of age and intelligence, the dragon cub was eventually "persuaded" to gift one of the scales to her mother.
Wodaixina, oblivious to the strange shift in atmosphere, was still single-mindedly focused on tasting dragon tail soup.
And so, the very dragon tail she coveted wrapped around her belly, easily scooping her up and tossing her into the air.
The Queen's lips twitched, but this time she didn't say anything to stop it, allowing the Black Dragon to toss the cub up and down like a coin.
The hem of her clothes billowed in the wind, and her short, chubby dragon tail flapped about. Wodaixina could even see the highest clouds, which she shattered as she suddenly flew through them.
Of course, that wasn't all. When Wodaixina fell back into the water, the dragon's tail once again held her head down.
She heard her mother's low voice. "Swim."
The low Draconic was especially intimidating. Wodaixina hesitated for a moment before immediately kicking her short legs and paddling with her chubby hands, starting to swim frantically.
She kicked up a constant spray of water that slapped against the bank. Wodaixina was trying so hard that the water level in the pool actually seemed to drop by a centimeter.
The little one blinked, feeling she had worked hard enough for one day. She had just turned her head, wondering if she could get away with slacking off.
But the dragon beside her said calmly, "Faster."
A normal child would have collapsed from exhaustion by now, but for a dragon cub, she could probably empty the entire pool without issue.
The little one pouted but didn't dare to argue. She continued to splash about, her dark tail, which she couldn't yet retract, swishing back and forth in the water.
The Black Dragon lazily averted her gaze and, with a hook of her claw, pulled Metis into her embrace. "See?" she murmured. "I told you she's not as fragile as you imagine."
The Queen was helpless and could only pat the dragon's claw to appease her.
The dragon tilted her head, gently kissed her cheek, and sighed. "Metis, you don't have to worry so much about her."
Sunlight filtered down, and the air was thick with summer heat. Verdant leaves gleamed, and on the rough, ancient tree bark, ants navigated the deep grooves, making their way to the very top.
The Queen was enveloped in the half-coiled Black Dragon's embrace, the dark green fabric of her gown spreading out around them like a magnificent flower.
She said, "I know, it's just..."
"You still see her as a fragile glass bottle and don't know how to protect her," Yueqing finished for her.
She hugged the Queen tighter and added with a laugh, "There's never been such a chubby dragon on Dragon Island. If she ever wants to go back, she can't look like this. She'll be laughed at."
She kissed Metis again. Even though they had been together for many years, her love for Metis hadn't faded in the slightest. On the contrary, it had only grown deeper, and she wanted to be by her side at every moment.
The dragon added, "If you really can't help yourself, you can feed me instead. I don't mind being laughed at. It's a happy problem to have."
How did this end up being about her again?
Before Metis could say a word, a woman with silver hair and dark skin appeared beside her, pulling her into an embrace. "I'm hungry," she said. "When will Your Majesty feed me?"
The voice, deliberately lowered by her ear, was laced with seduction. An adult's hunger wasn't just about an empty stomach.
Her gilded eyes gazed up, looking innocent despite their ambiguous, seductive glint.
Like mother, like daughter. Wodaixina's talent for playing the victim was undoubtedly inherited from Yueqing herself.
"You've been sleeping with Poached Egg for the past few days." At this, Yueqing sounded genuinely wronged.
Dragons were extremely possessive, especially when it came to their partners. If that little thing weren't her own cub, Yueqing would have kicked her into the depths of the ocean long ago.
"And who was it that kept telling Wodaixina ghost stories every night?" The previous atmosphere vanished as Metis retorted irritably.
"I was just trying to build her courage! A dragon, of all things, afraid to sleep alone because of ghosts! I should get Ivo over here to give her a demonstration of what a hundred ghosts crawling up the walls looks like!"
"Then you can prepare to sleep on the floor from now on," Metis shot back.
In the end, Yueqing could only pretend not to understand. She hugged Metis tightly, kissed her forehead with a sigh, and muttered, "Have a child, lose a wife."
The water nearby continued to ripple. Wodaixina, completely unaware of how her mother was scheming against her, kept splashing with her short legs, trying to shed all this extra fat before next summer and become a nimble, slender little dragon.
That night,
The sweltering summer heat faded with the arrival of night. The bustling market fell silent, leaving only the soldiers who patrolled back and forth.
Lights glowed in the castle. In a warmly furnished room, its floors completely covered in fur rugs, the family of three had changed into their sleepwear and were lounging on the soft bed.
As a reward for her strenuous swimming earlier, Metis and Yueqing had taken the little one to the night market. Unlike her two mothers, Wodaixina adored food. She ate her way from one end of the street to the other without stopping, replenishing all the calories she had burned during the day and filling her belly until it was round.
Metis gazed down at the child in her arms, her features softened with maternal tenderness. It was hard to believe this was the iron-fisted monarch who made countless nations tremble.
The silver-haired, dark-skinned beauty lounged beside them, her expression enchanting and her posture languid. Her proud, indifferent gilded eyes reflected only Metis's figure.
The child in her arms was already exhausted. Even her tail had flopped to one side. She was no longer pestering Yueqing, demanding story after story before she would agree to close her eyes.
Someone stopped outside and knocked on the door, asking softly, "Your Majesty, shall I take the Little Highness to her room for the night?"
This was the servant assigned to care for Wodaixina, responsible for carrying the dragon cub to another room after she fell asleep and watching over her through the night.
Upon hearing this, Yueqing's eyes lit up, and she looked over expectantly.
Ever since Mo Wen, Talia, and the others had truly come into their own, the dragon no longer had to accompany them and rarely had the chance to demand rewards. And because of the cub, for the past few days, there had been nothing...
But the Queen disappointed her. She turned to the door and said, "You may go and rest."
Did that mean she wasn't going to have the child moved?
Yueqing's expression darkened. She shot a resentful look at her daughter. She had specifically changed the bedtime stories for the past few nights, telling heroic tales of brave dragons defeating evil princes to rescue kind princesses. The little one had even declared that she wanted to be a brave dragon, too.
And this was her bravery?
If she ever did rescue a princess in the future, her wicked dragon mother would be sure to tell that princess all about how the "brave" dragon was too scared to sleep by herself as a child.
Of course, that was assuming her Queen Mother hadn't already conquered the entire continent, leaving no countries for her to save princesses from.
But that possibility was slim. After all, her Aunt Mo Wen and Aunt Talia had already set out with their armies some time ago, and who knew how far they had conquered by now.
Yueqing stroked her chin, wondering if she should switch to stories about an elf queen next time. She recalled that elves were quite attractive...
Metis, unaware of what her partner was plotting, waited until their daughter was sound asleep before gently placing her between them and pulling up the covers.
A sour voice piped up from beside her. "How thoughtful of Your Majesty."
It had only been a few days, but the jealousy was already palpable. She would grumble about it during the day and bring it up again at night.
Metis looked up at her. "Wodaixina is still a child."
"I'm a child, too. Won't Your Majesty comfort me?" Yueqing raised an eyebrow, her exotic features alight with mischief.
A small lump quietly formed under the blanket.
Metis was about to speak when she suddenly froze, feeling a cool dragon tail wrap around her calf.
"Shameless," Metis blurted out, then quickly added, "Wodaixina is right here."
The dragon tail was relentless. Not only did it not retreat, but it continued to slide higher.
The woman on the other side wore a teasing smile. "Shameless? As I recall, back when Poached Egg hadn't even hatched..."
The memories flooded back. Metis tried to retreat, but her back hit the headboard. With nowhere to run, she could only hiss, "That was different."
Yueqing retorted with a grin. "How is it different? It was always after Poached Egg was asleep."
The only difference is that now she's between us, whereas before she was inside her eggshell.
The dragon tail snaked upward. The fine scales weren't as smooth as usual; they were deliberately raised just enough to create a faint, prickly sensation as they slid over delicate skin. It wasn't painful, but it was distinct.
"Don't..." Metis couldn't help but draw her leg up, clutching at the thin blanket.
"Gently, it's alright," Yueqing had always been skilled at persuasion. Her gilded eyes darkened in the dim light as a strap slipped from her shoulder, her silk nightgown sliding down to reveal the curves beneath.
"Metis..." she whispered, her thick lashes casting faint shadows beneath her eyes.
Thanks to the dragon cub, she had learned just how effective feigning weakness was against the Queen.
The tail continued its ascent, pausing purposefully at a certain spot before sliding over it again and again, as if by accident.
Metis couldn't help but bite her lower lip, her pale, grayish-blue eyes losing focus for a moment, shimmering like fractured light on water.
"No..." she protested again, but her voice was growing faint.
"Just once," the wicked creature promised. But she had made that promise many times before, and not once had she kept it.
The dragon stopped her slow probing. The very tip of her tail pressed against a certain spot, tracing suggestive circles through the thin fabric.
It was truly outrageous behavior, starting before she had even been given permission.
The Queen tried to grab the offending tail, but the dragon caught her wrist. "Metis, come here."
Perhaps the dragon had learned to cast spells somewhere, because Metis found herself obeying as if bewitched.
There was a rustle of fabric. The child beside them rolled over in her sleep. A full day of exertion had left her sleeping soundly, her breathing even and deep.
The light was extinguished. Moonlight seized the opportunity to flood in, casting long shadows across the floor.
Metis bent her knees and moved to kneel over her.
The one below reached up, grasped her waist, and demanded she lean down.
Fortunately, Her Majesty the Queen was good-tempered enough with her to agree to such an unreasonable request.
A strap slipped, and soft, warm skin touched thin lips.
Yueqing tilted her chin up, brazenly taking what was rightfully hers into her mouth.
Unfortunately, with the passage of time, the pleasant liquid that could bring the dragon joy was completely gone, a fact the dragon had lamented more than once.
The hand on the small of her back pressed lightly, pulling her closer. Yueqing had always known how to enjoy herself; leaning against the headboard, she only needed to open her mouth to be fed.
Metis could only indulge her. Her fair fingers threaded through her hair as a series of messy, intermittent kisses fell from her hair to her forehead, her earlobe, her eyelids, like encouragement and urging all at once.
The other person, however, became unhurried, sliding a sharp fang over the peak of the fruit, acting very wicked.
Her slender waist was like a flower stem, bent low by a light rain. The fabric barely clinging to her body also fell away.
"Hiss..." Metis suddenly cried out, the sound exceptionally clear in the quiet room. She added in a hoarse voice, "Gently."
The person beneath her didn't respond and was warned with a tug on the ends of her hair.
Only then did the dragon obey, lightening her touch.
Thin clouds veiled the crescent moon. On the distant plains, a pack of wolves gave chase, their prey fleeing in a panic.
A great wind swept through the wheat fields. An old man, worried about his crops, sat on a ridge and gazed into the distance, his cloudy eyes filled with melancholy.
The soldiers on the city walls chatted in low voices, expressing their envy for their comrades who had left with General Mo Wen and General Talia, wondering how many rewards they would earn this time.
The conversation drifted to their current Queen, their voices full of adoration. The Roy Kingdom no longer believed in any gods; instead, they prayed privately to their Queen.
The flag of the Roy Kingdom would one day fly over the entire continent—of this they were certain, even though not long ago, they had been a nation frequently attacked by its neighbors.
The Queen in her room was unaware of the discussions outside. She was still riding her dragon into battle, leaving her mark on the abdomen of the one beneath her.
The hand resting on the back of her head fell to her shoulder. She tried to steady herself but couldn't fight against the increasingly bold movements, her bent legs trembling.
The dragon laughed, leaning up to whisper in her ear, "Quietly, Metis."
She said, "Our Little Rose is still sleeping. She's tired enough today. We can't wake her."
"Gently, Metis," the wicked dragon who started it all warned, completely forgetting that she had been the one to instigate everything.
Metis lowered her eyes to glare at her, but was punished for it the next second. Her arms, which had been braced on the other's shoulders, suddenly wrapped around her in a tight embrace.
Even the ever-victorious Queen had moments of repeated defeat. If time were to move forward, she would even raise a white flag, begging for mercy in a small voice, repeatedly insisting on her surrender.
But unfortunately, aside from a certain wicked dragon, no one else would ever witness this scene. When daylight came and she donned her magnificent robes and crown, she would once again be the Queen whom everyone revered.
Only the dragon knew. Only the dragon could make her admit defeat, bow her head, and cry out incoherent words.
The cub beside them slept sweetly. Perhaps she was reliving the delicious food from earlier, because she smacked her lips in her dream. Her chubby little hand clutched the blanket, and she gave an unconscious kick.
The movements beside her paused. Metis instinctively reached out to pat the cub gently, just as she had countless times before, softly soothing her.
But this instinctive gesture annoyed the dragon. No one liked their partner to be distracted at a time like this, not even for fear of waking a cub.
So Metis was laid down, turned on her side to face the cub. She naturally sensed the dragon's displeasure and was about to turn and placate her when she was pressed against from behind.
"Soothe her," Yueqing said.
"Don't let her wake up, Metis."
Her tone carried a strange, teeth-gritting quality.
Before Metis could react, what had been paused resumed once more.
This time, Metis covered her own mouth.
But thanks to a certain someone's deliberate efforts, broken sounds still escaped through her fingers. A layer of mist covered her pale, grayish-blue eyes as a blush spread across her skin.
The child beside them rolled over and fell back into a deep sleep.
Yueqing leaned close to her ear and chuckled. "Go on and soothe her, my Queen. Why have you stopped patting?"
Who could be more petty than a dragon?
Her Majesty the Queen learned this lesson profoundly tonight, and she etched it into her memory, not daring to forget.
The night grew deeper, and the sound of water continued.
The cold, mechanical voice of the System once again rang in the dragon's mind.
Before she could listen closely, she said, "Get lost. I'm staying."
And with that, the voice vanished, never to appear again.
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