“I’m heading out, Dad~”
Baining gripped her specially-made parasol, pulling the brim of her hat down low.
Just like always, she waved her hand toward Lü Erlu.
“Alright, fine. Get along with your colleagues, especially any young men who catch your eye. Your father is waiting.”
Lü Erlu reached out to pinch her soft little cheek, but like usual, Baining slapped it away.
“Ugh, Dad, do you have any idea how annoying you are!”
Her voice was full of impatience.
“Besides, where am I supposed to find a man who ‘catches my eye’…”
“Silly girl, your father only wants what’s best for you. Feelings are something that happen naturally; you can’t rush them, but you shouldn’t wait too long either. I can protect you now, but what if I get old or something happens? If you don’t find a partner, who’s going to cherish you?”
“Dad, you’re a thirty-year-old bachelor talking to me about relationships… you have absolutely zero credibility! Besides, I can take perfectly good care of myself~”
As Baining spoke, she turned her blushing face away stubbornly, though the tips of her ears had quietly turned a faint red.
She took a deep breath, mustering an unprecedented amount of courage, her voice as thin as a mosquito’s buzz.
“And besides, if we’re really talking about a man who catches my eye… I only have you in my heart, Dad…”
“That’s different, Baining.”
Lü Erlu laughed and shook his head.
“This is the affection between a father and daughter. What I want you to experience is a romantic love between two people…”
“…To me, there’s no difference at all~”
Baining stiffened her neck to argue, then pushed the door open and left without looking back.
Lü Erlu simply took it as a stubborn joke from the young girl and didn’t take it to heart.
“These silly girls. I’ve been nagging them for nearly one month, and not one of them will listen. They’re clearly at the age where they should be falling in love, sigh~”
Lü Erlu sighed with a troubled expression.
“It’s my fault. I didn’t send them to school when they were little. I did everything myself and taught them personally, but that led to them barely having any friends their own age.”
He muttered regretfully and turned to pace toward the back garden.
In the past, he had been meticulous with the plants, watering, fertilizing, and pruning with absolute care.
But today, he just splashed some water on them perfunctorily.
He decided to take off his shirt and began a sweat-drenched workout in the open space.
To prepare for what was coming in two months, he had to squeeze in time to exercise every day and pick up the Magic he had neglected for so long.
However, since he hadn’t touched a Magic Wand in ages, his spell-casting fluency had taken a major hit, and his skills were incredibly rusty.
“Good morning… Father… Wah! Father, why aren’t you wearing clothes!”
Ziya suddenly poked her little head out from behind the fence.
Seeing the scene before her, she immediately covered her face with her hands, but her fingers were wide apart as she peeked at the lean muscles Lü Erlu usually kept hidden.
“…Ziya? Don’t you have to work today?”
Lü Erlu was covered in sweat.
He hurriedly put his shirt back on and asked stutteringly.
“Really, Father! I told you just last night that I had the day off today!”
“Oh, oh, I guess you did.”
Lü Erlu scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
“Hmph, then this is your punishment! Hehehe.”
Ziya lunged forward, her small hands poking and prodding at his abdominal muscles through the clothes he had just put on.
“Hey! Ziya! Men and women shouldn’t be so physical! Especially since I’m your father!”
“Alright, alright, I get it~”
Ziya giggled and let go, but she was secretly whispering to herself.
‘Father, who usually just circles around doing housework, actually has such a solid body. It’s a pity I’m only finding out now; I probably won’t have the chance to touch him later~’
A strange, inexplicable chill suddenly swept through his entire body.
Both Lü Erlu and his “little brother” shivered, causing his lower abdominal muscles to twitch.
“Ziya, let’s head back to the living room first. I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel so cold it’s giving me goosebumps…”
“Roger that, Father!”
Ziya replied crisply and followed behind Lü Erlu, skipping toward the living room.
The sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, illuminating the figures of the father and daughter in a scene of warm harmony.
—
Meanwhile, inside the Dragon Clan Treasure Hall.
“It’s not enough… It’s still not enough… It hurts so much…”
Longjiu curled up amidst the mountain of gold and silver treasures, biting her lip hard as she desperately suppressed the urges surging within her body.
Her voice was filled with painful whimpers.
She hugged herself tightly, her whole body trembling as she used every ounce of strength to fight the instincts flowing through her bloodline.
“Father… Father…”
She murmured unconsciously, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
A Dragon Race’s greed for treasure was an instinct etched into their bones.
But at some point, once she reached a certain stage of growth, this desire began to intensify.
Whenever she saw something shiny and priceless, an uncontrollable urge would scream at her to take it for herself.
Especially after awakening her Imperial Power, this urge had grown even more violent, nearly breaking through the cage of her reason.
To keep herself from being consumed by desire, a subconscious mind had split off from deep within her consciousness, silently guarding her as she teetered on the brink of collapse.
The treasures in the Dragon Clan Treasure Hall kept piling up.
Others thought it was just the inherent wealth of the Dragon Race vault, but no one knew that most of these glittering objects were things Longjiu had quietly brought back from outside because she couldn’t control her greed.
But desire was like a bottomless pit; she wanted more and more.
Ordinary gold and silver treasures had long since become bland, no longer able to satisfy her ever-expanding cravings.
Because Longjiu knew better than anyone that the most precious treasure in this world was never these cold objects.
It was the figure who would smile and embrace her every morning, the one who had warmed her entire life.