1191 Accepted as Family
"I see… So that's why Yuan impregnated you…" Now that Xi Meili understood the full context to their situation, she heaved a sigh of relief, as it wasn't as bad as she thought.
She looked at Lan Yingying and continued, "But I must say… You're not even 100 years old, yet you're already carrying a child. That's quite impressive and shocking at the same time. We can't get pregnant before 1,000 years old even if we want to since that feature in our body is not yet fully developed before then. I guess that's a special feature of Divine Serpents."
Lan Yingying silently stared at Xi Meili, seemingly pondering something.
"What is it?" Xi Meili asked.
"Do you also want to bear Yuan's child?" Lan Yingying asked in a calm voice.
"Huh?!" Xi Meili's face immediately flushed with redness.
"You don't? I thought that was the reason you asked me about it." Lan Yingying continued to remain calm.
"I-I mean… I never really thought that far. But I do want to marry him."
"Marriage…" Lan Yingying mumbled, and she continued, "I didn't know of this concept until very recently when I left the Mystic Realm since we naturally follow our partners, and to be honest, I still don't fully understand the point of marriage."
Just like a wild beast, the concept of marriage is almost unfathomable in Lan Yingying's mind, especially since she lived a secluded life in the Mystic Realm.
In her eyes, it was only natural to create a family with their loved ones, so the act of marriage, to verbally devote one's life to another through a fancy ritual, was a pointless act.
Xi Meili chuckled, "I get where you're coming from, especially since it's a human tradition. But I still like it, as it has a certain charm to it."
After talking to Lan Yingying for a little longer, Xi Meili left her room and returned to her own.
Later that day at dinner, Xi Mingze said, "Yuan, you will be going to Azure Dragon City with Meili tomorrow, correct?"
He nodded, "That's correct."
"Then you should be aware that the dragons of that city aren't as forgiving as us."
Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by that, Madam?"
"It means that they still haven't forgiven humans for their atrocities." Xi Shengmo said with a serious face, and he continued, "If you want to visit Azure Dragon City, you will need to go there as a 'dragon'. Of course, you could still go there as a human, but you will be attracting unnecessary trouble."
"I see… But how will I do that? They'd immediately realize that I am a human through my smell."
"Don't worry, we have methods for that." Xi Mingze chuckled, causing Yuan to raise an eyebrow.
"What about us?" Feng Yuxiang suddenly asked.
"Oh… About that… Sorry, but our methods will only work for humans, so you'll have to stay behind, unless you want to risk exposing Yuan's identity." Xi Mingze said.
"I am human." Xiao Hua raised her hand.
"While that is true, your main issue is that ominous aura of an Exile…" Xi Mingze shook her head. "That is something we cannot mask."
"We can just hide inside the Young Master's body! That should mask our smell!" Feng Yuxiang said.
Xi Meili then asked, "What are you guys worried about? His safety? I doubt anything can threaten his life there."
Yuan smiled and said to them, "There's nothing to worry about. It's been a while since I last went anywhere by myself, too. I'm sure you guys don't want to stick to me every second of the day, either."
After hearing such words, Xiao Hua and the others could only silently nod their heads.
"You're right, Young Master. You're no longer so inexperienced and weak that you need our presence every moment of the day."
"I guess we've been unnecessarily clingy a little recently…" Lan Yingying mumbled.
Xiao Hua remained silent.
"And it's not like we're going to be gone for a long time. It'll only be a few days at most." Xi Meili said.
Sometime after dinner, Xi Mingze called Yuan to her room, where Xi Shengmo was also waiting.
"Follow us. We'll bring you to somewhere special." Xi Mingze said with a mysterious smile on her face.
While they walked, Xi Shengmo spoke, "I am going to say this in advance, but this isn't something we do for just anyone. The fact that we're doing this for you means we have decided to accept you as 'family', do you understand?"
Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why does it seem like we're about to do something more than just disguising my human scent?"
Xi Mingze chuckled, "Because we are."
Sometime later, they arrived before this room that was heavily reinforced with thick metal doors and even powerful defensive arrays.
"Is this the treasury room or something?" Yuan couldn't help but ask.
"It's something even more valuable."
Xi Shengmo said, and then he began to remove the restrictions with the help of Xi Mingze.
"By the way, this is going to take a while. In the meantime, why don't you thoroughly clean yourself in the bathroom right behind us?" Xi Mingze said to him as she pointed at the room on the other side of the hallway with her eyes.
Yuan nodded and went into the bathroom. However, to his surprise, there were two female servants waiting for him inside.
"We will be taking care of you now, Young Master." They bowed to him.
"Huh?" Yuan had a puzzled look on his face.
When he snapped out of it, he said in an awkward voice, "I can clean myself…"
"We don't doubt that, but it is our job to make sure, so we must insist on cleaning your body."
This made Yuan even more curious as to what was waiting for him behind the metal doors.
"Fine."
He eventually gave up his resistance and allowed these two female servants to wash his body.
The female servants watched him disrobe, and when they saw his refined physique, they couldn't help but swallow nervously and blush slightly.