章 14: Please don't abandon me

"Tribe Queen!"

A masked man knelt in front of the dragon queen, his head lowered.

"Did you find her?" the queen inquired.

"Tribe queen, I didn't find her, but I discovered a female who looks similar to her. She has blue ocean eyes, but she doesn't have blue hair."

The dragon queen's brows knitted slightly. "Perhaps the one you saw was from the mermaid tribe. Continue searching."

"Tribe queen, I also found out that she only has one mate mark on her, but she has a total of three mates."

The queen's eyes widened. "Does she possess the treasure known as coins?"

"This... I'm not sure, but she seems new to the market."

"Gather all the dragons; we are going to meet her. If she's not the one we are looking for, we will continue searching."

"Yes, tribe queen."

"Goddess, you are the only one who has captured my son's attention. I hope you will do me this favor and let him become your mate. I will forever submit to you if you can grant me this favor," she mused.

----

"What's this?"

"Look... it's glowing!"

"Ah... this must be a treasure!"

The crowd gathered together, their gazes focused on the gold displayed on the table. "Are you all curious about what this is?" Lily questioned.

"Yes! Tell us what type of treasure this is!" everyone echoed.

Lily smiled. "This is called gold coins. They serve as money. If you have this with you, you can exchange it for whatever you want to buy. It's that easy," she explained.

"Wow... that sounds easy!"

"This is a big treasure; as long as we have this, we can buy things easily!"

"What are we going to give you in exchange for this?"

"Well... you just give me stones. The amount of stones you give me will determine how much gold I give you, and it will also depend on their quality and size."

"Blue sister!" a soft, childish voice echoed from the crowd.

Lily was surprised and looked around until her gaze fell on a young girl with grayish skin and pointed ears. Her body was covered in scales that served as clothing, and her eyes were a dull blue color with messy ugly gray hair. She walked up to Lily and flashed her a sweet smile.

"You... you are the one that called me?" Lily inquired, and the girl nodded in confirmation. "Why... why did you call me blue?" she asked in confusion.

The girl smiled beautifully, showing her little fangs. "Blue sister has beautiful blue eyes. I have never seen such beautiful blue eyes before; blue sister is very beautiful," she complimented.

Lily was dumbfounded. "What's wrong with this girl's eyesight? If she thinks I'm beautiful like this, what will she say if she sees my true beauty, huh?" she thought.

"She's from the mermaid tribe," Angus's voice sounded behind her.

"Oh..." Lily took another glance at the girl. "Says who that the mermaids are beautiful? And here I am, dreaming of their exceptional beauty just like in the movies. Never trust everything in movies, okay!" she screamed inwardly. "Do you want gold coins?" she asked.

The little girl smiled and brought out an ordinary-looking stone, neither too big nor too small. "How many coins is this worth?" she asked, passing the stone to Lily.

Lily examined the stone carefully, and a satisfactory smile appeared on her face. She opened her sack and retrieved a small sack. "Worth one small sack of gold coins," she grinned, handing it to her.

"It's worth so much!" the little girl exclaimed as she opened it. "Wow! Blue sister, it's really a lot!" She jumped up happily. "I will go and get my sea sisters right away!" she declared and ran off.

Everyone's eyes widened, and immediately, they started rushing forward.

"I have two stones!"

"I have seven stones; I want the treasure!"

"I want it!"

"Nine stones!"

.....

Phew... being a businesswoman is not easy at all! "Lily lamented, leaning on Angus".

"Beauty, you look weak already," Liam remarked, wiping Lily's face.

"Err... since we've sold everything, I will go back home first," Berry stated and slipped away immediately.

"Let me go and get you something to eat," Malik offered, but Lily stopped him.

"Tonight, we are eating something special. What do you think?" she smiled.

The three men looked at each other.

"Let's go home first."

..... Late at night.....

"Angel... what's this?" Angus asked, looking at the white-colored food in front of him.

"This is called porridge. You should try it; I promise you will definitely love it."

Everyone was just looking at the food as if it were a monster.

Lily noticed their expressions and bit her lower lip. "I promise you, you will definitely love it," she repeated, but no one made a move. "It's finished, really finished! If they don't familiarize themselves with this food when the food scarcity season arrives, they will become each other's prey. What to do? What to do?" she thought, and then a red bulb lit up in her head.

"Do you believe that I worked so hard on this food?" She gave them a pitiful look. "If you don't eat it, it means..." Before she could complete her statement, she found the bowl empty, with each of them licking their lips. "It worked," she screamed inwardly.

"Beauty... how... how did you come up with something like this? It's so delicious!" Liam rushed up to Lily, praising her repeatedly.

"Tsk... You guys will still have more of it, but... no more hunting, okay?"

"What will you eat if we don't hunt?" Malik's brows knitted in confusion.

"We... are going to eat foreign food, okay? And I will make it; no need to hunt."

"This...."

Lily cast everyone a meaningful gaze.

"Alright, whatever you say!"

"That's great! I will go and take a bath in the nearby river. You three stay...."

"No way! We will follow you!" Before Lily could complete her statement, the three mates interrupted her immediately.

Lily blinked repeatedly. "Don't tell me you want to watch me bathe," she raised her brows.

"Don't worry; I can wash you up," Liam asserted.

"I will do the drying, drying your body," Angus said with a serious expression.

"You... you both... seriously!" Lily was left speechless. "How can you say something like that so shamelessly?" she thought.

"Come... let's go!" Angus picked up Lily and led her to the river.

"I can bathe myself! You all turn around!" Lily exclaimed, but they were all just staring at her. "Stop giving me that look and turn around!" she shouted, and immediately everyone turned their backs to her. She could only grit her teeth and walk to the river. Just as her feet made contact with the water, she shivered. "Oops, the water is too cold," she murmured.

Angus heard Lily's murmur and moved closer to the river, then he started slamming his tail on it, making the water rise and fall.

"What's he doing?" Lily thought in confusion.

Angus continued the motion until the river, which was flowing, suddenly seemed to stop as if blocked by something.

"You can get in now," he told her.

Lily looked at him, puzzled, and took a step into the river. To her surprise, the water turned warm. "It's warm!" she exclaimed happily. "How did you do that, huh?" she questioned.

"Nothing much, I just shifted some rocks," Angus replied with a warm smile on his face.

"Huh... when did you shift them? I only saw you beating the water!" she blinked cutely.

Angus gently pulled Lily inside the river. "Bath quickly before it turns cold again," he said, turning around.

Lily chuckled and started washing off the mud on her body. "Mm... Liam, can you get my bag, please?"

Not waiting for Lily to finish her sentence, Liam immediately dashed to get her bag and arrived just in time.

"Alright, thanks! You can turn around now," Lily said, taking the bag from him.

"Beauty, you are really beautiful," Liam commented with a lovestruck expression on his face.

Hearing Liam's words, Malik couldn't suppress his curiosity and turned around, only to be struck with disbelief at Lily's extraordinary beauty. "An... angel? This... this is your real appearance!" he exclaimed.

"Err…" Lily felt embarrassed. "Let's not talk about this, okay? You guys turn around; I want to change," she stammered, her face flushed.

Malik found it hard to believe, but he eventually acquiesced to Lily's request. "She's so beautiful!" he exclaimed in excitement.

Angus cast Malik a deadly glare, but his gaze didn't dampen Malik's mood.

"I'm done! Let's go to bed early," Lily's voice echoed as she stretched.

Malik instantly picked her up and carried her back to the house.

---

In the middle of the night.

Lily was sleeping comfortably on the grass bed, her expression relaxed and free.

Angus walked closer to her, his eyes glowing as he bent down, softly caressing her cheek. "I definitely won't allow anyone to harm you," he murmured before lowering his head and gently biting Lily's neck.

He didn't seem forceful; Lily remained still, appearing to be in a peaceful sleep.

Angus's brows knitted together as he seemed to be in pain, yet he didn't stop. Suddenly, the eight dots on his chest, which symbolized his power, began to disappear one by one until there was no trace of them left.

After a short while, he pulled away, looking extremely pale and weak, as if he were haunted by a ghost. "Please don't abandon me," he whispered in a barely audible voice before completely transforming into his snake form and collapsing.

Lily's body started glowing, and a blinding light shone over her, completely hiding her from sight.