This voice sounded so familiar…
But she couldn’t quite place where she’d heard it before.
Xuefei suddenly grew alert.
As was usually the case in situations like this, she half-expected to slip into some alternate space or dream realm. Realizing she wasn’t dreaming, she gently shifted her body to make sure the child wouldn’t be hurt, then lifted her head slightly to gaze at the night sky, where the bright moon hung high overhead.
Strange. It hadn’t turned red. There wasn’t even a whiff of magic.
For Xuefei, who could clearly see souls, failing to spot a ghost would be a laughable failure.
“So it was just an illusion,” Xuefei said.
In most cases, ghosts and monsters didn’t exist. Most of the time, people were just scaring themselves.
Could her human side still be influencing her?
No, no. Her children and wife were purebred Evil Dragons. She’d be the odd one out—afraid of ghosts, no less. Wasn’t that just too embarrassing?
She really needed to toughen herself up.
Maybe she should head to the Human Realm and eat a few people. For an Evil Dragon family, humanity was nothing but a pipe dream. They could never fear the demons and ghosts from fairy tales and legends.
With these thoughts swirling in her mind, Xuefei’s eyelids grew heavy, and she gradually closed her eyes.
But just before her consciousness slipped into sleep, the voice sounded again.
“Awoo~”
“Who’s there?” Xuefei called out softly.
Leia stirred at the sound and cracked open one eye. Seeing nothing amiss, she drifted back to sleep. Only Xuefei scanned their surroundings, swiveling her massive head this way and that.
Xuefei confirmed one thing.
This voice was real—not an illusion at all. Whoever it was had gotten close enough to tease her ear. Could it be that the souls she’d absorbed in the past were still messing with her mental power?
She knew that was impossible under Leia’s watch.
Even if Leia brainwashed her completely, she would never allow Xuefei to suffer.
So who was playing tricks on her?
Xuefei tried to find a pattern. She gently closed her eyes, planning to snap them open toward the source the instant the sound returned. But she couldn’t use magic, and she certainly couldn’t disturb the two little dragons’ sleep.
“Awoo~”
“!”
In that instant, Xuefei flung her eyes open, lifted her head, and whipped it around, searching everywhere.
Nothing…
She still couldn’t find whoever was spying on her and toying with her.
Xuefei was starting to panic for real.
If there were beings even stronger than the Light Envoy and Dark Filth out there, could they toy with her just like this?
“Hehe, Mommy’s such a dummy…”
The little dragon, sprawled atop her mother, gently blew a puff of air into her ear.
In that moment, Xuefei understood everything.
“Tilly?”
“Why aren’t you sleeping?!” Xuefei whispered.
So it was this little rascal talking! Tilly had been teasing her the whole time, whispering right in her ear while Xuefei lay there with her eyes closed and Tilly perched on her back. Xuefei had suspected everyone—even the grass sprouting from the rocks—but it had never crossed her mind that the “culprit” was her own daughter!
Xuefei let out a breath of relief.
After all, if it was just Tilly, she didn’t need to let her imagination run wild.
“Mommy’s so cute. Such an over-the-top reaction, hehe~”
“Don’t talk nonsense…”
“No wonder Mama Leia says Chesia takes after Mama Xuefei. It’s not just empty talk~”
“Hmph…”
Xuefei closed her eyes again, hoping to get back to sleep. Being pranked by her own daughter did dent her tall, mighty image a bit. But on second thought, anxiety gripped her.
She hurriedly snapped her eyes open and prodded Tilly’s back with her tail.
“Are you having trouble sleeping?! You should’ve told Mommy right away!”
“Yeah…”
Tilly looked a little down.
At her age, sleeplessness usually meant something serious.
Maybe she was sick.
Xuefei’s thoughts spiraled into terror until she didn’t even dare imagine what could be wrong. She’d rather have Tilly tease her every single day than let anything bad happen to her daughter.
“Tilly, is something wrong?”
“…”
Tilly’s silence only deepened Xuefei’s worries.
When had this little one picked up Chesia’s naughty streak?
Chesia would just burst into tears and spill everything if asked.
Tilly was different. This little schemer had trick after trick up her sleeve. Normally, she’d be plotting another prank.
But why did she look so unhappy?
“I want milk…”
“Huh?”
The moment Tilly spoke, Xuefei froze like a statue.
“But Mommy’s tired. I don’t know if it’d be too hard on her.”
“I don’t remember you being this thoughtful.”
“Little Ya told me. She said Mommy gets tired, and asking for more nutrition wouldn’t be good…”
Tilly looked a bit embarrassed, but the thought quickly crossed her mind to complain: wasn’t this guy ashamed of waking her up like that?
Such notions vanished in an instant. Xuefei had always doted on her daughter endlessly.
In her dragonized form, Tilly seemed incredibly petite.
It wasn’t that she was too small—it was that Xuefei herself was enormous. Though there was still a considerable gap compared to the Giant race, there was good reason she was called a Giant Dragon.
“Mom turned into a big dragon… probably… just… doesn’t want me to nurse anymore…” Tilly said dejectedly. “Mom’s usually all soft and squishy, but today’s belly feels a little hard… I’m not used to it…”
“Mom didn’t mean that at all,” Xuefei hurriedly explained. Realizing her voice had come out a bit too loud, she reined it in. “Tilly, you can nurse whenever you want. You’re still little—no need to worry about it.”
Tilly bristled at being called “still little,” but since it was an undeniable fact, she had nothing to say about it. Instead, she declared with fierce bravado:
“Hmph! When I grow into a big dragon, I’ll pin Mom down and devour her good!”
Xuefei reflected that if Tilly really grew that massive, she’d be at the age where others would be devouring her—though it remained to be seen if Tilly could stay as tough on the inside as she appeared on the outside.
Xuefei had once thought of herself as a righteous, masculine sort of boy, but life had a way of turning upside down. Now here she was, mother to two children.
Tens of thousands of years from now, when they met again, Tilly might well have become a gentle little wife.
All things considered, there wasn’t much of a problem with that.
After all, Evil Dragons took over a dozen years—or even several decades—to wean. That meant it would be a long time before these two little ones could fully leave her embrace and strike out on their own.
Lost in these thoughts, Xuefei shifted back into her human form. A few scales still clung to her body, modestly covering her vital parts, but she slowly retracted them, exposing the part Tilly craved most.
Once human again, the Tilly who had been nestled so snugly in her mother’s arms now loomed enormously in Xuefei’s eyes—towering a full head taller than Xuefei herself!
From this angle, Tilly’s size was downright exaggerated.
“Tilly, why don’t you change back?”
“…”
Tilly didn’t respond.
After a long pause, she ventured cautiously:
“Mom… can I nurse just like this?”
