Life After Being Claimed by the Disabled Dragon Lady - Chapter 27

Once Miss Evil Dragon made a decision, even acting cute wasn’t very effective; there was simply no room for negotiation.

Long Ling originally wanted to plead with Miss Evil Dragon again, asking her to go along, but Violet spun the ruby on her thumb and left in her wheelchair without looking back.

Long Ling had no choice but to return to the rose garden. If she had to sleep in the kitchen tonight, she could only make do on the dining table. She wondered if she might catch a cold.

Lorraine was smoking a cigarette. Noticing Long Ling’s red nose and unhappy expression, she couldn’t help but ask, “You were fine a moment ago, why are you suddenly sad?”

Long Ling pretended nothing was wrong, her tone just a bit low: “Her Grace the Duchess said to send me to the tavern alone. She wants to discuss some matters with you this afternoon.”

Lorraine exhaled an elegant smoke ring and kindly asked, “Did you want Violeth to go with you? We can discuss my matters tonight. You two dragons can spend the afternoon together.”

Long Ling didn’t necessarily insist on Violeth accompanying her. Violet always had her own business to attend to. Perhaps Violeth just didn’t like her that much, which is why she didn’t want to be with her all the time.

Maybe she just couldn’t satisfy Violet…

No, she couldn’t think like that. She had to try harder! How could she give up after only a few days? How would she live the rest of her life?

Long Ling clenched her fists, regaining her spirit, and said gently, “I didn’t want to go with her. She’s busy every day, and I shouldn’t bother her. I’m an Alpha, after all. I can handle the tavern business myself!”

Lorraine had encountered many different types of Alphas. Long Ling, this kind of soft yet resilient dragon, was indeed rare. She managed to comfort herself so quickly. Most Alphas have strong possessiveness and are easily angered; they would never willingly accept being ignored. They would at least quarrel with the Omega for a long time.

The Alpha’s icy blue eyes were full of sunshine, and her strawberry pheromone remained sweet, but anyone with emotional experience could sense the little dragon’s sorrow. How could there be such a touching little dragon?

Perhaps Long Ling was just unlucky. If she had met another Omega, she might have been pampered, but Violet was very high in power and status and had always received the best things, so she wouldn’t easily cherish someone.

Sometimes even she, as the Crown Prince, envied Violet for being able to decide her own marriage, but some things couldn’t be envied.

Lorraine held the cigarette between her slender fingers and comforted her like a caring older sister: “The crying child gets the candy. Sometimes, even as an Alpha, as a young dragon, you don’t need to be so strong. Violet might seem cold on the surface, but she is easily soft-hearted. Why don’t I try to persuade her for you later?”

Unexpectedly, Crown Prince Lorraine was quite nice, but Lorraine didn’t seem to have much authority in front of Violet. By doing this, she would just be causing Lorraine more trouble.

Long Ling forced a bright smile: “No need, I’m fine. I’m going to the tavern by myself now. You can go to the study to find Her Grace the Duchess.”

So what if she sleeps in the kitchen tonight? Looking on the bright side, she had never watched the night sky from the crystal kitchen before.

Lorraine watched Long Ling’s departing figure and couldn’t help but shake her head slightly.

Violet’s condition was much better than before, thanks to this little Alpha dragon, but a dragon’s patience is limited. Violet shouldn’t keep bullying the little dragon just because she’s gentle and cute.

If she ignores the Alpha for too long, and the little dragon runs away and is nowhere to be found, Violet would be furious.

Lorraine walked to Violeth’s study, knocked, and entered, saying to Violet, “Violet, aren’t you being a bit too much to your little Alpha? She just came of age not long ago to be your fiancée, and you bully her every day. I can’t bear to watch it. Those beautiful eyes are red like a little bunny’s, and she secretly wiped away tears several times.”

To emphasize how pitiful Long Ling was, Lorraine couldn’t help but exaggerate the situation to Violet.

Cried again? And cried in front of another Omega? Such a spineless little milk dragon. Didn’t she not scold her when she left?

Violet frowned slightly and immediately looked up from her book, asking, “How long did she cry?”

Lorraine thought Violet would continue to ignore her. It turned out Violet could also get nervous because of an Alpha.

Lorraine inwardly clicked her tongue, having thoroughly satisfied her need for gossip. She deliberately added fuel to the fire: “Quite a while. Her eyes were still teary when she left. I saw her look like she wanted to speak but stopped, and she probably really wanted you to go with her. Super pitiful.”

Long Ling was a clingy little dragon, and Violeth knew it very well. She also liked the little dragon clinging to her, but her anger hadn’t subsided at the time, and seeing Long Ling’s pitiful look, she let her off.

When Violet returned to the study alone, she already felt a vague sense of regret.

But as a Duchess and an Omega, there was no reason for her to humble herself and ask an Alpha to come back.

If Long Ling had just lowered her head, chased after her, or clung to her, she would have relented.

The more Violeth thought about it, the more sullen she became. So good at crying, why didn’t she cry in front of her?

Violet’s tone remained cold: “Don’t mind her. She can cry as long as she wants. Alphas shouldn’t be so cry-prone, shedding tears over little things.”

Lorraine had never seen a dragon like this. Her words were the hardest, but her mind was completely elsewhere.

Stop pretending! If the little silver dragon wasn’t gone, she would probably be hugging her on her lap and coaxing her.

Long Ling found her newly acquired personal maid, Nora, and asked her to prepare the carriage. The journey to the tavern was smooth.

The road Violet had arranged to be newly repaired was very flat and wide, even several times wider than the main road in Lierpa Town.

The road was paved with asphalt, pitch, and stones, and the horses’ hooves made a crisp clippity-clop sound as they trod on it.

Through the carriage window, Long Ling saw residents from the nearby area already walking on the road.

There is a saying: to get rich, first build roads. If the roads are not smooth, even if her food is a delicacy, no one will climb mountains and cross waters just for a bite to eat.

At this time, Long Ling still didn’t know that in the near future, some people would indeed be so exaggerated as to travel thousands of miles for a bite to eat.

With convenient transportation, her dishes would definitely sell well in the future!

The carriage driver drove smoothly. When they arrived at the tavern, Nora, sitting beside Long Ling, leaned out and looked at the scenery outside, suddenly exclaiming in surprise.

“Miss Long Ling, it looks like someone is lingering at the entrance of the tavern. Are there new guests?”

A hint of surprise flashed in Long Ling’s mind. She hadn’t even put up a sign, and someone was already visiting?!

The tavern’s menu was not ready yet, and there was only some wine for now. If she could sell even one bottle of wine, that would be her first pot of gold!

Long Ling quickly said, “Let’s go take a look.”

Nora nodded immediately and helped Long Ling out of the carriage.

The two new guests appeared to be a bit short, with bushy beards, carrying hammers and picks on their shoulders. They were pointing at the tavern’s red brick wall, discussing something.

Long Ling cleared her throat and asked gently, “Are you two here for a drink at the tavern?”

A sweet girl’s voice suddenly appeared behind them. The two dwarves seemed startled and immediately turned around.

They had recently seen this abandoned tavern, and over the past two days, people had been coming to clean it up. They thought perhaps the tavern had a new owner and would reopen, and they could come for a drink then.

But the moment the dwarves saw Long Ling, they stepped back two paces, and the iron hammer in their hands dropped to the ground with a clank. Their faces were full of terror: “Oh! Terrible Giant Dragon! Don’t come closer! We were just looking at the newspaper posted on this abandoned tavern! We didn’t mean to provoke you!”

Long Ling immediately felt a little tricky. Was she that scary? When she was at the Illidari Manor, those humans weren’t so afraid of her.

A newspaper? She hadn’t even had time to change the tavern sign, so how could she have the leisure to post a newspaper?

Long Ling followed the gaze of the two dwarves. The newspaper was written with black ink, and a part of the board also had very beautiful drawings, recording recent events in the small town. There was a promotion for recruiting knights, a lost and found section, and at the bottom, Long Ling surprisingly saw a cooking competition organized by the mayor.

[Participants need to bring one hundred plump salmon. The first place winner will receive one thousand gold coins and the Salmon Feast Trophy. Second place will receive a five hundred gold coin reward. Third place will receive a one hundred gold coin reward.]

Long Ling’s icy blue eyes lit up when she saw this new path to wealth.

Nora quietly leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Miss Long Ling, these people seem to be dwarves. They love to drink and love gemstones, and they had a grudge with our dragon race many years ago. Why don’t you pretend to be passing by and scare them away.”

So they were enemies. What a pity. Being so fond of drinking, they might not be able to become the tavern’s guests.

It seemed that her current identity as a dragon was not suitable to be the owner of the tavern in the open.

Long Ling could only put on a serious and majestic expression, spread her dragon wings, and make a gesture as if preparing to release the magic inside her body, threatening them in a pretend manner: “I’m just passing by, too. Since you already know my true identity, why haven’t you run away? Are you waiting to be swallowed into my dragon belly?”

The silver-white dragon wings covered the sky, and the sharp spikes looked like terrifying blades. Although the dragon girl’s eyes hid a mischievous smile, the two dwarves were still frightened by her.

They exchanged a look, terrified of being swallowed by the giant dragon in the next second. They picked up their iron hammers, which were several times heavier than themselves, and fled in a panic.

Long Ling sighed inwardly. A pleasant surprise for nothing. She thought she would have new guests.

It seemed that opening a place in a remote area indeed resulted in a low chance of encountering quality guests.

Long Ling retracted her dragon wings, tore off the newspaper from the wall, and asked Nora, “Where did this newspaper come from? Was it already posted here when you came yesterday?”

Nora scratched her bright golden short hair: “No, I didn’t see it when I locked the tavern door yesterday.”

Long Ling rested her hand on her chin and began to ponder. Even customers were rare, so why would anyone post a newspaper here?

A greyish-brown figure suddenly leaped over, and Renee jumped down easily from the roof.

Renee’s fluffy squirrel tail gently swayed: “Miss Long Ling, I picked up that newspaper on the road. I saw some information that might be useful for the tavern, so I posted it here so you could see it when you arrived.”

Long Ling asked in surprise, “Renee? Why are you here?”

Renee smiled slightly: “You asked me to help you repair the tavern, so I came to inspect it. Only the bricks and tiles on the second floor were severely damaged, so I brought the squirrel beastmen to speed up the repairs.”

Long Ling nodded: “I see. Thank you very much.”

Renee had a good impression of Long Ling and knew she was a very tasteful dragon. She couldn’t help but suggest, “Miss Long Ling, the Salmon Cooking Competition is easy to enter. Lierpa Town hosts it once a year. Since you are interested in the kitchen, you should also enjoy cooking. Every participating chef will at least receive a consolation prize. I even participate once a year.”

Long Ling’s eyes lit up, and she quickly asked, “Renee, do you also like to cook?”

Renee touched her nose, a bit shy: “I just want the prize money. If you steam the salmon and add some scallions, it counts as a dish.”

Long Ling was a little disappointed but still curious: “If that’s the case, there are many participating chefs. Can the judges eat that much salmon?”

Renee waved her hand: “Don’t worry, if they can’t finish, the unpleasant dishes will be taken care of by the Bear Beastman Legion. Those people were cursed by a witch. Every full moon night, they turn into crazy bears. Only by making their mouths constantly eat fish will they stop causing trouble for the nearby residents by the time dawn comes.”

Long Ling was puzzled: “Why did the witch curse them?”

Renee thought for a moment: “Maybe they did something terrible. I don’t know either. I heard about the Bear Beastman Legion when I was very young.”

Nora said from the side: “Miss Long Ling, if our tavern participates and can make delicious food, it will surely attract many people to the tavern.”

Long Ling realized Nora was quite smart. However, she was a dragon, and if she participated, she would certainly cause panic among the crowd.

If she disguised herself to participate, and the surrounding contestants were all normally dressed, wearing a black cloak in the crowd would definitely be very conspicuous, making her look sneaky. If someone recognized her identity, it would surely bring bad publicity to Miss Evil Dragon.

Furthermore, Miss Evil Dragon didn’t allow her to cook for others, so the best way was to find a human to participate in the competition for her and promote her tavern.

Given her cooking skills, teaching someone should be enough to secure a championship, right?

Long Ling had made up her mind and asked Renee, “Where can I fish for salmon?”

Renee said gently, “Salmon can be caught in many places. There are many rivers around Lierpa Town. These rivers converge and connect to the sea bordering Grice Harbor. Every year, salmon swim back to spawn in the spring. You don’t need a fishing rod; a gillnet will do.”

Long Ling was greatly tempted. If the salmon were swimming back to spawn, there must be a lot of fish. With one net, she could catch countless salmon. The salmon she caught could not only be used for the competition but also be cooked and sold as dishes.

The vegetables she planted on the farm haven’t reached harvest time yet, and selling cooked fish would fill the gap. It was practically a cost-free business! She was going for it!

But a new problem arose. Long Ling was penniless. She had no money to buy a fishing rod and a net. If she wanted to participate in the competition, she would have to borrow things from Miss Evil Dragon.

Miss Evil Dragon’s current inner thought was to make her sleep in the kitchen. The ruthless woman was really hard to coax.

Long Ling quietly put away the newspaper, noted the time of the competition, and entered the tavern with Nora.

After a major cleaning, the tavern was completely refreshed. All the windows had been opened for ventilation. Although there were no luxurious decorations, the essential things were there. Basic operating facilities like the wine cabinet, tables and chairs, and the bar were all in good condition.

Long Ling planned to reorganize the sections and asked Nora to rearrange the tables and chairs. She intended to make the area above the bar into small, movable wooden plaques, carving the names on them and hanging them in a long row so customers could clearly see them when placing orders. If new dishes were introduced, they could be replaced at any time.

The tavern’s operation should primarily focus on selling wine, so the wine also needed to be prominently displayed, labeled with the type and vintage. Long Ling discussed the interior decoration of the tavern with Renee. After a busy afternoon, the tavern was finally mostly sorted out.

Long Ling looked at the setting sun in the distance, the golden evening glow filling the entire sky. It was time to return to the manor.

Before leaving, Renee asked her, “Miss Long Ling, have you decided on the name of the tavern? The original sign outside is badly damaged. It looks like it should be replaced with a new one first.”

Long Ling’s mind flashed with thoughts. She hadn’t decided on the tavern’s name yet. This tavern was rebuilt with the help of Miss Evil Dragon. No matter what, she had to ask Miss Evil Dragon for her suggestion first.

Long Ling told Renee, “I’ll tell you tomorrow morning. I need to go back and think about it.”