The crash of the food box hitting the floor startled the two figures still wrapped in each other's arms.
Fox Lian frowned slightly, his tail instinctively tightening protectively around Emma. She jolted, quickly pulling away from his embrace, her cheeks still flushed.
The door burst open.
Gu Liang stood at the threshold, dragon eyes blazing with shock and fury. She looked at Emma's blushing face, then at Fox Lian—calm as ever, his tail still affectionately curled around Emma's waist—and instantly understood everything.
"You…" Her voice trembled. "Emma! You—how could you? You knew how I felt about Lord Fox Lian…"
Her dragon tail stiffened behind her, scales bristling with rage.
Emma's heart twisted with guilt. She stepped forward, trying to explain. "Gu Liang, I—"
"Shut up!" Gu Liang cut her off, eyes rimmed red. "I told you everything. I trusted you. You gave me advice, pretended to help—and behind my back, you… you…"
She couldn't finish. Her glare seared into Fox Lian before she spun around and ran, her tail sweeping the ground in a gust of wind.
"Gu Liang!" Emma moved to follow, but Fox Lian gently caught her wrist.
"Let her cool off," he said calmly, his violet eyes watching the direction Gu Liang had vanished. "She won't listen right now."
Emma lowered her head, remorseful. "I should've told her… I should've been honest from the start."
Fox Lian's tail brushed her arm in a soothing motion. "Matters of the heart are hard to control. Besides," his tone was unapologetic, "I never promised her anything."
Emma sighed. He wasn't wrong. Fox Lian had always kept a polite distance from everyone. He'd never given Gu Liang any reason to hope. It was Gu Liang's own wishful thinking—and Emma, instead of stopping it, had fed it with her silence and selfish hesitation.
"I'll talk to her," Emma said firmly. "I owe her that."
Fox Lian didn't comment. His attention returned to her. He gently lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. "But for now… shouldn't we talk about us, Emma?"
Her cheeks flushed again. She looked away. "Us…? There's nothing to talk about…"
"For example," he said, lips curving, the tip of his tail brushing her nose with a teasing tickle, "a certain goddess who's been secretly coveting my ears and tail for quite some time?"
Emma: "!!!"
"Or," he leaned in, breath warm against her ear, "the fact that she just confessed… she likes me?"
Emma wanted to vanish. She reached out to push him away, but he caught her hand instead, fingers interlacing with hers.
"If you like me," he said, eyes gleaming with triumph, "then from today on, all this fluff… belongs to you alone. How does that sound?"
His voice was low and serious, tinged with unmistakable possessiveness.
Emma stared at his impossibly handsome face, felt the warmth of his tail around her waist and the strength of his grip in her hand. The guilt and confusion from earlier slowly faded. She gently squeezed his hand back, lips curling into a shy smile.
"…Okay."
Fox Lian's eyes lit up like stars. He leaned down and pressed a soft, reverent kiss to her forehead.
And thus, the most sensational news at All-Race Academy was born—
The goddess Emma, once terrified of all things fluffy, had claimed the academy's most beloved fox.
Meanwhile, the "betrayed" dragon girl Gu Liang, after devouring three whole roast spirit lambs in the Spirit Beast Garden, declared furiously:
"I'm going to find a soulmate a thousand times hotter than Fox Lian!!!"