Chapter 32

The wreath was woven entirely from the blossoms of aquatic plants.

The petals were as thin as paper, translucent and pure white.

Xie Juanhan was a little surprised. The Water Demon simply smiled at him and gestured for him to lower his head.

Xie Juanhan turned to Telingewei.

Under the various lights,

Xie Juanhan's skin seemed to glow faintly, too.

The Water Demon gazed intently at Xie Juanhan, hoping he would accept the invitation.

Sensing something was amiss, Xie Juanhan looked to Telingewei for help.

Only when he caught Xie Juanhan's look did Telingewei snap out of his daze. "It's a special invitation they extend to guests," he said quietly.

Xie Juanhan said, "What?"

Telingewei repeated, "They want to have sex."

Xie Juanhan understood. He froze for a moment, then shook his head at the Water Demons in refusal.

The Water Demon kept her eyes fixed on his face and held the wreath out a little farther.

"Ah." Xie Juanhan smiled and waved his hand. "I'm not."

The Water Demon, who looked like a beautiful young woman, tilted her head.

Xie Juanhan met the Water Demon's eyes, his gaze clear.

At that moment, the Water Demon somehow understood what he meant and smiled, too.

She still offered him the wreath, her gaze full of open admiration.

Xie Juanhan met the Water Demon's eyes for two seconds, then lowered his head to accept the wreath.

After placing it on his head, the Water Demon looked him over and gestured that he would look better with his hair down.

Smiling, Xie Juanhan readily removed his hair ribbon and let his smooth hair fall loose.

In all the hazy light, Xie Juanhan looked like a Water Demon himself at that moment.

No, especially because he was the only man,

he stood out all the more.

From his high nose bridge and flawless skin to his smiling, slightly reddened lips,

there was a sharpness to his beauty.

Telingewei's gaze touched his face, then withdrew as if it had been chilled.

Xie Juanhan simply thought the wreath was fun. He wore it for quite a while before noticing that something was a little off about Telingewei's expression.

"What's wrong?" Xie Juanhan took the wreath off his head, his hair still hanging loose.

Telingewei looked a little shaken.

Xie Juanhan slowly caught on, and the smile faded from his face. "Did I scare you?"

Surprise still lingered on Telingewei's face. "N-no."

Xie Juanhan realized something was wrong. "When you were an adventurer, didn't you ever meet anyone who liked the same sex?"

Telingewei slowly shook his head, choosing his words. "I did. There's a bit of a barrier between humans and me, so I never thought much about those things."

Xie Juanhan apologized earnestly. "I'm sorry. There wasn't a suitable occasion to explain it before, but I actually prefer men to women-men in the broad sense. If you mind-"

"No!" Telingewei said at once. "I don't mind."

Telingewei was still deeply shaken.

He had simply never known that, besides being Xie Juanhan's friend, he could also, broadly speaking, be within Xie Juanhan's range of potential partners.

As for himself-

as the only dragon in the world,

he hadn't even had any family before, and he had never considered the matter of a lover at all.

A lover was an abstraction to him.

The idea had never entered his awareness.

The Water Demons brought out their specialty dishes on trays.

The tempting muskrat meat, sea urchin sauce, cattail shoots and other foods were set out on the table.

The little ones should have been digging in, but the two dragons sitting beside them were acting rather strangely.

The Companion Beasts looked from one to the other, a little hesitant.

One little one tried to speak, only for another to promptly nip its ear in warning.

It had no choice but to sit obediently where it was, without making a sound.

==========Author's note:==========

See you tomorrow!

Thanks to Lu Xia Feels Tired for the rocket launcher; thanks to Nan Zhi (*), Qingfeng Yiyi (*2), Gu Ling Jing Guai Xiao Yatou (*2), Full Sugar Zero Fat Herbal Tea (*2), Bright Moon on Half the Wall, Kong Bao's Sole Fan, King Keke's Adventures, Mango King, Double Pupils, and Wild Swordsman for the landmines.

Chapter 32: Chapter 32 [VIP]

The silence at the table really was a little strange.

A Water Demon brought over a tray with new dishes.

Sensing the odd atmosphere, she looked from one to the other, a little puzzled.

Xie Juanhan noticed the strange atmosphere too.

The little ones beside them were all sitting upright and behaving themselves. One was practically drooling with hunger, yet still didn't move.

It was a bit of a shame.

Xie Juanhan looked up at Telingewei.

Telingewei was still shaken and clearly distracted.

There was no counting on him to look after the little ones.

Xie Juanhan left him alone and quietly called the little ones to eat.

The little ones looked at Xie Juanhan, then at Telingewei, and quickly decided they could eat.

They immediately lowered their heads and started eating.

The sauced muskrat meat was delicious!

The sea urchin sauce was so fresh and savory!

The tangy cattail shoots were crisp and a little spicy, crunching as they chewed. Delicious!

The little ones ate in great mouthfuls, polishing off every plate that came.

Toward the end of the meal, Xie Juanhan even shared some of the food on his plate with them.

Telingewei remained distracted the entire time.

He probably hadn't tasted a thing.

Ordinarily, seeing him leave so much food, Xie Juanhan might have shared the food on his plate with the little ones.

Today, after suddenly realizing that Telingewei might never have had any concept of gender or considered romance, Xie Juanhan had mixed feelings.

Eastern dragons had relatively large families, and their family relationships were generally good.

Xie Juanhan had a clear understanding of friendship, romantic love, and familial affection.

That might not be the case for Telingewei.

He had lived alone with the Companion Beasts since hatching and hadn't had enough social experience.

He had probably spent so long treating intelligent beings of other races as little animals that he had no awareness of gender at all.

Xie Juanhan felt uneasy.

Perhaps because of Telingewei's closeness, his own behavior had crossed the line a little too.

Sometimes, he would flirt with Telingewei without thinking.

After all, Telingewei was exactly his type.

Who would have thought that he and Telingewei had been on completely different wavelengths the whole time?

The two dragons finished their meal without much appetite.

The little ones beside them, meanwhile, ate until they were burping.

The Water Demons came to clear the plates and were quite pleased to see that the plates in front of them were mostly empty.

As they were about to leave after the meal, several Water Demons came running over and made a requesting gesture.

Xie Juanhan followed the Water Demons' gestures with his eyes.

The Water Demons pointed to the gold coins they had placed in a small boat, asking Telingewei to make them look new again.

Telingewei glanced at the boat and absentmindedly breathed a stream of Dragon Flame over it, heating both the boat and the gold coins on it until they glowed red.

Then the boat caught fire as well.

Boom-

The boat exploded with a small blast.

The Water Demons: "..."

Xie Juanhan: "..."

Telingewei came to his senses. He looked at the boat, which had been blown to pieces, and froze for a moment. "Sorry."

Xie Juanhan glanced at him, then directed a current of water to sweep up the gold coins and carry them to the Water Demons.

The gold coins, made new by the Dragon Flame, gleamed brilliantly.

The Water Demons instantly went from frightened to delighted. Beaming, they gave them a bottle of spring wine.

The crystal bottle of spring wine was rather large.

It would clearly have been difficult for the little beasts to carry it in their forepaws and walk on their hind paws alone.

Seeing that Telingewei had no intention of taking the bottle, Xie Juanhan took the spring wine himself.

The crystal bottle reflected the light of the firefly lamps, faintly illuminating Xie Juanhan's expression.

When Telingewei saw Xie Juanhan's face, he quickly looked away.

Xie Juanhan felt a little down and looked away too.

After that dinner, Xie Juanhan and Telingewei became noticeably more reserved with each other.

They no longer chatted and laughed, nor did they make those physical gestures that had crossed the line a little.

That was mainly because Xie Juanhan was being much more careful.

They hadn't exactly stopped being friends. They still occasionally went hunting together and gave each other food.

Even so, the change in their relationship was all too obvious.

Even the somewhat slow Companion Beasts could tell something was off between the two dragons.

Time gradually slipped into July.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei had quickly gone from being more than friends back to being just friends.

Telingewei had been spacing out more often lately.

One day, inside the cave,

the little ones were sprawled every which way on the pile of gold coins, fast asleep.

Telingewei came in from outside and sat on his golden throne in human form, staring into space for a while.

After a while, he beckoned to the Companion Beasts.

One little one looked up in confusion.

He really was beckoning.

The little one walked over, and he picked it up with both hands.

Lifted by its armpits, the little one was bewildered. It tilted its head and looked at Telingewei.

Telingewei said nothing, silently holding it up just like that.

After being held up for a long while, the little one lost patience and struggled like a young pig being pinned down. "Squeak, squeak!"

The little one kicked Telingewei in the face, bringing him back to his senses. "Why don't you go play with Xie Juanhan?"

The little one said, "Squeak?"

Telingewei said, "You used to go play with him every day. Now you only go once every two or three days."

The little one said, "Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

Telingewei said, "He's not home? If he's not home during the day, you can wait at his place and come back later."