Life After Being Claimed by the Disabled Dragon Lady - Chapter 54

Long Ling’s backside was burning with pain.

Perhaps because a dragon’s body is robust, her skin was tough, and apart from the pain, her skin wasn’t even broken.

She remembered when she first entered the Imperial Palace at the age of eight. She accidentally broke a taboo and was dragged away and beaten with a stick by the attending governess. She had to lie in bed for a month.

Miss Evil Dragon had held back her strength when hitting her; otherwise, she would have been beaten black and blue, or even killed, given Miss Evil Dragon’s methods.

She had just explained that she had no relationship with Ms. Mo Dai, yet Miss Evil Dragon had beaten her without question and now locked her in the secret room.

Even a criminal must be proven guilty before being imprisoned. How could she throw her in here without a proper hearing?

Didn’t she say she didn’t care about her at all? That she could leave whenever she wanted? Why did she always lock her up after saying harsh words?

How could she leave if she was locked up? She didn’t know how to pick a lock!

Violet only knew how to control her like this, preventing her from participating in competitions or cooking for others. But she was a little chef; cooking was all she knew.

Only by working hard to become an Imperial Chef would she no longer have to live like a minor palace maid, constantly on edge, where no one could casually beat her with a stick anymore.

She couldn’t use magic here, nor could she fly. The one time she tried to escape, she got lost and nearly died in this dangerous world.

She was eighteen years old. In another ten years, according to palace rules, she would be allowed to leave the palace at twenty-eight. At that time, she could return to her hometown to live with her grandmother and older sister, but she was suddenly transmigrated to this world and married a complete stranger after only a month.

Feeling deeply wronged, Long Ling climbed up from the cold pile of gold coins, but because her backside was so sore, her walking was slightly limping.

She finally managed to climb the stairs to the top of the secret room, attempting to push open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Faint purple light flickered frequently, and a magical five-pointed star appeared on the wall.

Long Ling transformed into her dragon form and slammed her hard dragon horns against the wall, trying to smash through it. She pounded fiercely many times, but the wall remained immovable.

She felt a bit dizzy. The magic she had recently learned was simple; she couldn’t break through a high-level magic array.

Long Ling then used her sharp dragon claws to scratch the wall fiercely many times. Sizzling sounds and a string of sparks, like little fireworks, flew out.

Long Ling flapped her dragon wings, using the expelled hurricane to whip up a pile of gold coins. Clattering, clanging, the gold coins slammed against the wall, making a loud, collapsing sound.

Large gold coins struck the wall densely, like drumbeats, denting the wall before rolling onto the floor.

She struggled for a while, finally unable to continue. Her backside still hurt badly. She dug a hole in the gold coin pile and buried herself inside to rest for a bit.

She had never seen so much money before. Now, using gold coins as weapons felt like squandering wealth.

Long Ling gathered a pile with her dragon claws and used it as a pillow beneath her head.

If only she had a large sack, she would take all of Miss Evil Dragon’s gold coins. Then, let’s see if she would dare lock her up again!

Through the wall, Violet sat in her wheelchair, listening to the thumping sounds coming from the secret room. She knew the little dragon was protesting and would be crying bitterly.

She would not forgive Long Ling easily. Daring to betray her and getting entangled with another Omega—she would make Long Ling realize the consequences of angering her!

There was a crystal ball in the secret room, allowing Violet to monitor Long Ling’s every move.

She picked up the crystal ball and could see a silver-white giant dragon curled up in the pile of gold coins. Its wings were weakly folded, and its dragon head drooped onto the gold pile.

When dating another Omega, why didn’t she consider the day she might be discovered? This was the little dragon’s own doing, an unforgivable sin!

Violet tapped her fingers on the back of the chair, quietly observing Long Ling’s every action.

From sunset until late at night, Violet watched Long Ling tossing and turning on the gold pile, eventually falling asleep.

Violet spun the ruby on her fingertip back and forth, the frequency unconsciously speeding up.

Until the little dragon in the gold pile moved, Violet’s movement of the ruby stopped.

Long Ling hung her head, hugging a large pile of gold coins, her eyes red, looking bewildered and pathetic.

Violet suddenly clenched the ruby in her grasp. Did the little dragon realize her mistake? Would she cry and promise never to anger her again?

She would not pardon any dragon who betrayed her. Even if Long Ling knelt before her and kissed her foot, she would only tell Long Ling to roll as far away as possible.

The gloom in Violet’s heart did not lessen. Her forlorn gaze fell upon her disabled dragon tail.

Her leg had improved somewhat under Long Ling’s persistent massages, but she still couldn’t stand up. Over these many days with Long Ling, she had fantasized that if her legs ever returned to normal, her dragon tail could intertwine with Long Ling’s. Yet, she knew that even if her leg recovered, it wouldn’t be the same as a normal dragon’s; she hadn’t been able to walk normally for too long.

She couldn’t tolerate any impurity in her sight. Just the thought that the little dragon was pretending to like her while actually preferring dragons with healthy tails and secretly meeting other Omegas made it impossible for her to deceive herself into forgiving Long Ling!

Violet felt down for a moment. When she looked at the crystal ball again, she found the little dragon was gone from the picture!

Violet gripped the crystal ball tightly; her eyes fixed on the displayed image. A flash of urgency crossed her dark-gold pupils until she saw the silver-white dragon tail appear in the corner. Only then did the tension in her heart ease.

Long Ling had no idea she was being monitored by Violet. She searched around the secret room and found a hidden door.

Her sharp dragon claws eagerly crushed the iron lock. The door opened, and Long Ling squeezed inside, her dragon body getting stuck in the door frame for a moment. She changed back into her human form and, holding her tail, managed to squeeze through.

Long Ling thought she had finally succeeded in escaping and let out a long sigh of relief. Only after she entered and saw all sorts of gemstones glowing in the darkness did she realize she had entered a new private treasury.

Long Ling explored for a while, realizing she couldn’t escape, so she simply began wandering around the treasury.

These gemstones, which could still sparkle in the dark, Long Ling had only observed from afar before—rare treasures presented to the Emperor from the Western Regions. Only the most favored concubine could receive one gem, set by skilled craftsmen into a golden hairpin.

Every time the concubine wore the hairpin and sat on the high phoenix sedan chair, the bright golden sunlight would shine on the gemstone, making it iridescent, the phoenix wings trembling slightly. She had never seen such a magnificent piece of jewelry.

It must be very valuable, she thought. One gemstone belonging to a favored concubine could buy the lives of many people of her low status.

If she had a gemstone, she wouldn’t have entered the palace to become a small palace maid to be bullied.

If she looked at it one more time, she would be glared at by the maid next to the favored concubine, as if her eyeballs were about to be gouged out immediately.

But the gemstone on that concubine’s hairpin wouldn’t even count as a grain of rice in Miss Evil Dragon’s current treasury. Miss Evil Dragon owned much more luxurious and larger gems.

Not only could she look at them twice, but she could also touch them. Long Ling hugged a huge gemstone with both hands and rubbed her cheek against it.

Even the Emperor probably hadn’t seen such beautiful gems, had he?

She was now enjoying the treatment of an Emperor.

Long Ling lovingly kissed the super-sized ruby twice, then went to hug the emerald, giving equal attention to all, pressing her face against every single gem.

If she didn’t enjoy them now, she might never get to again. She would soon go out to make a living on her own. She wondered what life outside would be like.

Even if things didn’t go well, if she knew how to cook, any restaurant would surely hire a chef, right? She had also learned some Western dishes during this time.

While Long Ling was admiring the gemstones, Mo Dai had already ridden in a carriage and aggressively arrived at the Arnold family estate, confronting the current Elder Patriarch.

The architectural style of the Arnold family’s manor was distinctly Chinese, an ancient and quaint grand residence. In front of the gate, they kept bowl lotus and red koi carp. Usually, it was quiet, except for the day the creditors came calling. Today was the first time it was so lively, with all the dragons outside eavesdropping on the fierce argument inside.

“I gave you so much gold to take good care of my daughter. Yet, to settle a debt, you married my daughter off to a disabled Omega dragon! Do you still deserve to be Long Ling’s grandmother?”

Mo Dai wished she could flip over the Elder Patriarch’s desk. The pen holder and paperweights on the desk trembled from her forceful hitting.

The Elder Patriarch wore golden spectacles, looking like a graceful, wealthy old lady with a few weathered wrinkles on her cheeks, faintly revealing her beauty in her youth.

Facing Mo Dai’s pressure, a hint of coldness flashed in her aged dragon eyes, and she meticulously argued with Mo Dai.

“If it wasn’t for your runaway marriage back then, angering the tyrannical and irritable Queen, the majority of our family’s assets would have been paid to the Royal Family overnight to avert disaster. It was only then we avoided being expelled from the country by the Queen. After settling here for so long, we finally managed to gain a firm footing, all relying on you marrying the previous Queen. But you abandoned the whole family and ran away!”

“As for Long Ling, you gave birth to her with an elf, so don’t you know her situation? This child hatched one hundred and fifty years later than other dragons. Her magic talent is abysmal, she’s afraid of heights when trying to fly, and she’s been weak since childhood. She’s only pretty. Marrying Duke Violet is a blessing. She will live a lifetime of wealth and comfort as a Duchess, which is much better than following you, an on-the-run mother who has to hide everywhere!”

Mention of the runaway marriage made Mo Dai’s face darken with displeasure: “You just love climbing the social ladder, which is why you use marriage as a bargaining chip to consolidate your interests, just like when you arranged for me to marry that, Queen. I am Long Ling’s mother. If she was getting married, you should have notified me!”

“The creditors were at my door; they couldn’t wait a moment longer! They wanted to skin me alive!” The Elder Patriarch took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. “I am truly suffering retribution for meeting a group of dragons like you. The spendthrift squanders, the runaway runs away, and you all leave the mess to me. I have to clean it up for you. In my later years, I have no security whatsoever; even my burial money has to be used to pay off debts.”

The Elder Patriarch’s tears dampened the handkerchief: “I didn’t keep a single penny of the money you gave me; it was all spent on your child. What good future can you have with an alien race? I sprinkled who knows how many herbs in the Dragon Pool just to hatch Long Ling. I haven’t had it easy these past few years either. Dragon hatchlings are hard to raise. She just reached adulthood and has to be sent away. Doesn’t her own grandmother feel heartache?”

Mo Dai watched the Elder Patriarch with cold eyes. Back then, when she was running away from marriage, the Elder Patriarch cried in front of her, begging her on her knees to marry the Queen, or else she would smash her head against a pillar and die. She hadn’t died after all these years and was still alive and well.

Mo Dai said coldly: “You know Violet is a disabled Omega dragon. Everyone outside says she is cold-blooded and tyrannical and has even slaughtered cities. There are hardly any normal dragons in the Fergus family. You are trying to push Long Ling into a fire pit!”

The Elder Patriarch put down the handkerchief, her eyes full of wrinkles widened: “I had people inquire about it. Duke Violet is beautiful and holds real power; even the Queen cannot shake her position. If it weren’t for her leg injury and disability, how could it be Long Ling’s turn? This excellent marriage is a rare find. She also has military talent, her territory is managed very well, and various races can live and work in peace in her land. The area she governs is the wealthiest city on the Aldean Continent. If our family wasn’t poor, I would want to move there. When the Duchess recovers, Long Ling might not even be able to get close to her.”

“Besides, I asked Long Ling, and she agreed to marry. No one forced her. Furthermore, marriage doesn’t mean you can’t divorce. They aren’t married yet; they are just living together for a trial period to see if they are compatible. If they aren’t, Duke Violet wouldn’t keep a little dragon she doesn’t like. We are also working hard to earn money; we can just redeem her then. Why are you in such a rush here!”

Mo Dai couldn’t hide her sadness, her tone urgent and angry: “She locked my daughter up! She won’t let her leave and is raising her like a small pet in the manor! Eilora told me that even if Long Ling goes out for some air, she has to be escorted back by the military! How can she be happy there!”

Thinking of her suffering daughter, Mo Dai was distraught. If it weren’t for that Queen back then, constantly sending people to search for her, and the dragon egg being unable to hatch in the elven territory, forcing her to send it back to the family, she wouldn’t have had to live apart from her own flesh and blood.

She finally waited for the previous Queen to die of illness and a new Queen to ascend. She was planning to bring her daughter back to the elven territory to find medicinal ingredients for Long Ling with Long Ling’s elven mother. She didn’t expect such an accident to happen in such a short time.

The Elder Patriarch was indifferent: “Being confined to the manor is not a big deal. Long Ling hasn’t written to me saying she’s unhappy since she married there. I watched her grow up; she has a gentle temper, is obedient, and hasn’t caused trouble since childhood. Long Ling is an Alpha, after all, and Duke Violet is an Omega; she won’t do anything to her.”

Mo Dai said with a cold face: “No matter what you say, I want my daughter back with me now!”

The Elder Patriarch spread her hands: “Then return all the property from back then. If you hadn’t run away from marriage, the family wouldn’t have fallen into decline. If you can return everything, let alone one Long Ling, you could buy three Long Lings.”

Mo Dai had earned a lot of money in the elven territory over the years, making her confident: “I will return it! But all the returned assets must be under my child’s name. You must immediately step forward and find a way to bring Long Ling back from the manor!”

The Elder Patriarch glanced at her and nodded in agreement: “Fine, I will bring Long Ling back. You take good care of your child from now on.”

Duke Violet and Long Ling have been together for half a year, so there shouldn’t be much affection.

Although the Elder Patriarch was reluctant to see such a good marriage fall apart, Long Ling’s mother was practically putting a blade to her neck, so she could only play the part of the wicked dragon.

She wondered if Duke Violet would be willing to release the dragon. They had offended the previous Queen, and things had just calmed down a bit. Now, they were about to offend the Duke again. How would their family live in the future?