Fourth it is-I'll be fourth!

She felt as though her pride had been mercilessly trampled under his feet and smashed to pieces.

Her eyes reddened slightly, and she bit down hard on her lower lip to keep her tears from falling right then and there.

She stared fixedly at Chen Changqing, trying to find a trace of mockery—or even a hint of apology—on his calm face.

But there was nothing.

Only a fathomless indifference.

As though refusing a marriage alliance with the True Dragon Clan was nothing more than a trivial matter to him.

That indifference stung her more deeply than any taunt ever could.

The tension inside the hall had reached its breaking point.

Long Gan's fury and Long Ziyue's anguish intertwined into a vast net, closing around Chen Changqing.

Faced with this pressure that threatened to swallow him whole, Chen Changqing finally spoke again.

His voice remained just as steady as before.

"Patriarch Long, Princess, I believe you've misunderstood."

"Misunderstood?"

Long Gan laughed in his fury, the draconic might surrounding him surging even more violently.

"You refused the marriage, and now you call it a misunderstanding? Chen Changqing, do you take me for a three-year-old child?"

He was already on the verge of erupting. Had he not still been mindful of the other man's status as the Shushan Holy Son, he would probably have attacked long ago.

Long Ziyue also raised her head, her reddened eyes filled with stubbornness and bewilderment.

She wanted to hear just what sort of "misunderstanding" he could come up with.

Facing Long Gan's fury, Chen Changqing merely shook his head gently.

"I'm not trying to toy with the dragon clan, nor do I think there is anything wrong with Her Highness."

He turned his gaze toward Long Ziyue, his tone growing a little more earnest.

"Quite the opposite.