Little goldfish liked to swim close to the walls of the fountain pool.
A little like her, sleeping tucked against the corner of the bed, Hera thought.
The little goldfish's orange-red scales looked coated in a glaze of fine glitter. Their tails were translucent gauze, swaying gently as they paddled, as though afraid of disturbing the scattered light suspended in the water.
In groups of three or five, they swam back and forth.
After watching for a while, Li Jia felt a little dizzy. Bored and no longer wanting to watch, she pecked Hera's thumb, asking her to take her away.
Who would have thought that Hera would sweep her hand out and scoop two little goldfish into a glass bottle she conjured?
Li Jia hurried to stop her. "Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp."
Li Jia: ...
Oh no. She couldn't understand what I was saying again. All she could do was watch Hera take the two little goldfish away.
Was this the collapse of morality or the extinction of humanity?!
How could she do something like this? Li Jia started chirping again. Hera tapped her little head and said quietly, "Quiet. We'll talk when we get home."
A wise chicken knew better than to suffer an immediate loss. The "little yellow chick" promptly shut her beak.
Hera tucked her into the inner pocket at the chest of her dress. Her little head rested against the thin lining, and Li Jia could even hear the thumping of her heartbeat.
Inside the castle.
A girl hummed as she happily worked the sewing machine's treadle. The setting sun shone through the curtains onto her tall, slender figure. Thick, long, light-brown hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and beneath her full forehead was a pair of gentle, smiling eyes.
Luoleila was making a pair of exquisite sun-protection gloves for Mofeiliya. The pair she had given her before was too old, so she was planning to give her a new one.
Mofeiliya's hands could not touch sunlight, or they would be corroded, so Luoleila made her gloves from special materials she had bought to shield her from some potential dangers.
Soon, three people and a little yellow chick appeared before her.
"Princess Luoleila."
Doreen called her name and gave her a gentleman's bow.
Luoleila remained calm at the sight of them. She rose, walked up to Hera, and knelt. "Your Majesty, goddess of marriage, I bow before you with a devout heart. May your radiance shine always."
The little yellow chick poked her head out, watching Luoleila pay her respects to Hera. What was this? Why did it feel a little secretly satisfying?
Being an accessory to a big shot was pretty nice. Really nice.
Hearing Luoleila's reverent words, Hera glanced at her. "Do you know why I've come to see you?"
A look of realization appeared in Luoleila's eyes; she had already understood. She lowered her head further. "Your Majesty, goddess of marriage, I know..."
Hera, goddess of marriage, never appeared before people without reason. Her appearance would inevitably concern the fairness and outcome of a marriage contract.
"Lorella Pokape, in the name of a god, I ask you: are you truly willing to marry the evil dragon Mofeiliya and become his wife?"
"As long as you say no, the marriage contract will disappear on its own, and the world will forget your marriage to the evil dragon Mofeiliya. You need have no reservations."
"And I will take you away from here."
As long as she said no, the marriage contract would automatically dissolve. The circumstances of this case were unusual: Luoleila was a bride who had been abducted, and on top of that, the rumors they had picked up suggested that Mofeiliya might not be male.
As long as she said no, Hera had the power to strip both their names from the marriage records.
"No, Your Majesty, goddess of marriage. I did this willingly. I married Mofeiliya of my own free will."
"Please don't erase our traces from the marriage records."
Luoleila settled fully onto both knees before Hera, pressing her palms together in an earnest plea.
"She is the most important and best person I have ever known in my life. She is my partner."
Luoleila seemed to remember something. Thoughts crowded densely together, taking her back to their first meeting a month earlier.
Luoleila told the story slowly.
Lorella Pokape, a lowborn bastard born to a mistress. More than once, the queen had grabbed her by the hair and warned her, "If you weren't a girl, do you really think you would have lived this long? Filthy vermin belong in the sewers."
In fact, she had spent sixteen years sleeping in a corner of a kitchen storeroom as dark as a sewer.
Luoleila had thought she would go on living quietly like this, her life as uneventful as still water, until she died.
Only when the crown prince of a neighboring country sought a marriage alliance with the Pokape Dynasty did they remember that they still had a "spare" princess.
The crown prince was extremely cruel, and what he had done to his previous five wives was inhuman. Luoleila had someone make inquiries and learned that all five had been tortured to death by him.
Luoleila did not want to marry someone like that. She began resisting in every way she could, but crying, screaming, and refusing to eat were all useless.
Pokape II looked coldly down at her. "You are a princess of this country. It is your duty to marry into another country to preserve our nation's stability."
"We have already agreed. The wedding will take place next month. Wait for the day in peace."
Those were the last words her biological father left her with. The bronze doors closed mercilessly.
At first, Luoleila had held out hope, pleading for her father to cancel the marriage. But all she received was stricter confinement, with the guards outside her door keeping an even tighter watch. Her tears had dried up completely, and she no longer longed for her father to grant her that sliver of pity.
Whoever you placed your hopes in would enslave you.
Closeness bred contempt; loyalty brought abuse.
Luoleila no longer hoped for a love that would never be returned.
Even if that love was bound by flesh and blood.
After confirming it over and over, Luoleila came to terms with it. She began eating of her own accord and even asked after the maid who brought her changes of clothes.
Everyone let their guard down, believing Princess Luoleila had accepted her fate and was calmly preparing to be married.
This was a princess's destiny.
In the dark of night, Luoleila knocked out the maid who came to deliver her bathwater and changed into her dress. Gritting her teeth, she lifted a brightly burning torch that lit the palace corridor. As though she had made some sort of resolve, she set fire to the palace where she lived.
Flames soared into the sky.
Amid cries of "Fire!" and "Quick, put out the fire!" Luoleila escaped the palace under cover of night.
Luoleila hid beneath a bridge, trembling. She had no idea where to go. Pokape II had ordered a search and arrest; not even a fly would be allowed out of the capital.
She lasted three days without a drop of water, until she truly could not endure it anymore.
Luoleila crouched by the river, her eyes red and swollen and her cheeks pale. Looking at her reflection in the water, she felt something called courage stir for the first time.
She remembered that horrifying legend.
She called the evil dragon's name at the top of her lungs, willingly offering her soul and flesh as a sacrifice to become its puppet.
A red-haired beauty appeared before Luoleila. She frowned, clearly disapproving of what the human before her had said.
"Who exactly told you evil dragons like eating human flesh? I'm not the king of the underworld. What would I want your soul for?"
Mofeiliya really wanted to slice off the tongues of those rumor-mongers, cut by cut. Good news never left the house, while bad news traveled a thousand miles.
"Are you the evil dragon Mofeiliya?"
The girl sniffled as she asked.
"I am."