Bai Lingling she forced herself to breathe. She needed her strength. She needed her core stable. She needed patience.
Because now she understood clearly.
This sly fox did not care about her life.
He did not care whether she lived or died in the battlefield.
He did not even care if she starved in this dirty residence he forced her into.
He only cared about Yunhe City.
And the power that would fall into his hands the moment she turned eighteen and was sent to war as the heavenly Phoenix bearer.
The City Overseer title meant nothing to him.
The management power...everything that controlled the city's wealth, influence, protection...was what he wanted.
And Yan Hai…
He was merely a convenient tool to achieve that.
Bai Lingling's fingers curled slightly.
The urge to strike him with her whip was almost unbearable.
Across the room, the beautiful girl beside Yan Hai hid her hostility poorly, only deepening Bai Lingling's resolve.
They did not just want her engagement.
They wanted her city.
Her authority.
Her future.
And they expected her to smile and say yes.
In the corner, Mo Lingxu lifted his beast-like head, his golden eyes fixed on her.
Now that all pretense had fallen away, he could finally sense what lay beneath her fragile appearance.
A strange, buried power.
A demonic aura faint yet unmistakably ancient.
A suppressed force that did not belong in a weak human girl.
His tail flicked once, quiet interest curling through him like smoke.
This little girl…
She was far from ordinary.
Far from helpless.
Far from predictable.
And for the first time, he thought seriously...
Perhaps staying with her will benefit me far more than leaving.
If she wanted him to stay as a pet, then she will have that. Now all he wanted was a chance to get this weakling alone and confirm his suspicion.
Mo Lingxu's beast tongue came out slowly, brushing over his fangs in a lazy manner, almost as if he had just tasted something interesting in the air.
His golden eyes narrowed even more, watching Bai Lingling with a calm patience that did not belong to an ordinary creature.
His eyes were half-lidded, simply fixed on Bai Lingling. Bai Lingling felt that strange gaze pressing lightly against her back and turned her head sharply, expecting something dangerous in the shadows, but she was only met with the small wounded beast she had rescued.
Bai Lingling blinked once.
A little scratch of confusion flickered across her face.
"…It's just a beast," she muttered under her breath, before turning her attention back to the sly foxes standing before her.
Bai Lingling was too disgusted by that hypocritical look of Yun Haisheng. So she decided to play his game with him.
"Uncle Yun, you are not trying to say that you want me gone earlier so that you can take everything I have right?" Bai Lingling made sure to put on her most innocent face.
Everyone in the room immediately became alert. The guards became the most excited and could not wait to tell the rest their young miss had finally gotten Smarter!
Uncle Yun immediately tensed up at her words and let out a forced laugh that almost made the disgust Bai Lingling had been hiding show.
He almost thought that this foolish girl had finally caught on all of a sudden, even the princess herself flinched as she gripped Yan Hai's cloth.
And the so called fiancé secretly reached out to touch her hand comforting her.
Bai Lingling did not miss out on any of the interaction and could only swallow her irritation.
How did the original owner of this body manage to believe this man who could not even look at her face without getting the urge to throw up was in love with her?
Yun Haisheng saw the displeasure in the princess' face and knew he had to clear the misunderstanding immediately.
"Ah, Qingqing how can you think like that? Your uncle simply wants to make things easier for my niece in the future, or can your uncle not want good things for you any more?"
His acting was really superb Bai Lingling had to give that the him. "Ohhhh, I get it now. Uncle you only want the best for me. It's my fault for thinking like that"
Hearing that Yun Haisheng calmed down and hid the delight in his heart. Here he was thinking that his ulgy duckling had finally caught on.
But as usual, her love for Yan Hai won again. She would forever be a fool.
The guards who had been excited earlier sulked back, they had been too hopeful.
But then the next words from Bai Lingling made them have hope again.
Bai Lingling pressed her lips together, pretending to think very deeply, but in truth she was trying not to gag at the idea of calling Yan Hai anything remotely affectionate.
She forced her expression into something soft and obedient, the kind of face the original Yun Qingqing would have worn, then finally spoke.
"Uncle Yun, your words are… thoughtful," she began slowly, even though every syllable felt like chewing rocks. "But you should also know this clearly. Once someone like me, a heavenly Phoenix bearer, reaches eighteen and steps foot on the battlefield, there is no guarantee of survival. Most die. The rest come back half-dead. So… how can I drag Yan Hai into that misery with me? Would I not be ruining his future?"
She lowered her gaze just enough to look humble, yet inside she was rolling her eyes hard enough to see her own brain. She almost choked trying to continue.
"I do not wish to become a burden to him," she added softly, her voice calm even though her soul was on the floor screaming, And I would rather swallow poison than marry that stiff wooden plank.
Just the thought of calling him "Brother Hai" made her spirit leave her body for a moment, so she wisely kept her mouth shut before she said something truly unforgivable.