"Your Highness, who I want to help is my own business, not yours," Kazel said, his eyes slightly cold. In all his life, besides his parents, no one had dared to boss him around.
He was just being a bit nicer to this princess—she actually took herself seriously.
Noticing Kazel's unusual mood, Mu Xueyao was a bit stunned and quickly shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. I just thought…"
"Your Highness, you should go back first. I have matters to attend to here, so I won't be accompanying you," Kazel said coldly, his eyes flickering with a hint of chill. After speaking, he ignored Mu Xueyao and turned to walk over to Mu Qingyun.
Mu Xueyao hadn't finished speaking before being cut off, frozen in place with her mouth slightly open. In the end, she said nothing, but her expression darkened considerably.
[Wow, does Kazel have any self-awareness? How could he talk to the princess like that?]
[Damn, the princess was just acting all cute to him, and yet he talks to her that way because of Mu Qingyun?]
[Aww, the princess looks so lonely, I really feel for her and want to run in and give her a hug.]
[Ahhh, Your Highness, don't be sad!]
Unlike Mu Xueyao's comment section, the comments on Mu Qingyun's side were going wild with excitement.
Kazel returned and immediately transformed his fish tail back, sitting by the shore, his gorgeous tail lightly swaying in the water.
"Aren't you going to say a few more words to your princess?" Mu Qingyun turned her head to look at Mu Xueyao standing alone there, then looked back at Kazel, asking curiously.
She didn't mean to mock; she was just stating the facts objectively.
She remembered Kazel being quite nice to Mu Xueyao before — so why did he seem so cold now?
"He's not my princess, just the princess," Kazel frowned and corrected her seriously.
"Oh." Upon hearing this, Mu Qingyun nodded without further comment.
[Ahhh, I'm going crazy shipping this, "perching on a tree" is just the best!]
[Kazel and Mu Qingyun, go team!]
[Can I take Mu Ge's words just now as jealousy? Is he sour about it?]
[Definitely sour, you can almost taste it!]
[Also, didn't you notice a detail? As soon as Kazel came back, he turned into a fish tail. I remember Mu Ge likes mermaids, especially curious about fish tails.]
[Aaaah, I'm shipping it so hard!]
"Mu Ge, Mu Ge, once we finish building the house, why don't we give the cave to the princess and her group? They do look quite pitiful," Xiong Ruoyou also noticed Mu Xueyao, who seemed embarrassed standing alone, and slowly turned to leave.
The setting sun cast a long shadow behind her, making her look even more lonely.
Xiong Ruoyou's words jolted Mu Qingyun awake — yes, she had almost forgotten this.
"Su, that 'coal,' do you still have some in your storage bag?" she leaned close to Su and asked softly.
Coal?
Su was puzzled by the sudden question and furrowed his brows, searching his mind but unsure what this "coal" referred to.
"It's the black stuff that attracts virtual creatures," she reminded him seeing his confused look.
"Oh, I have some." Hearing this, Su finally understood her meaning. "I'll time it perfectly."
"Good." Mu Qingyun nodded, satisfied with Su's understanding.
The house was slowly being built, but Mu Xueyao was not behaving quietly.
Being ignored by Kazel, especially in front of Mu Qingyun, was a grievance she couldn't bear.
"Bai Feifei, what do you think of Mu Qingyun?" Mu Xueyao lowered her eyes, showing no expression on her face.
Bai Feifei's scalp tingled hearing this — the princess had never thought well of Mu Qingyun. Was she trying to get her to gossip?
After hesitating, Bai Feifei whispered, "Just so-so. Ugly. Only her fire ability is a bit strong."
"Turn off the livestream device; we sisters need to talk in private." Mu Xueyao smiled gently, first closing her own livestream, then leaning over to shut down Bai Feifei's.
This move confused Bai Feifei, but she dared not protest and silently listened.
"Bai Feifei, find a way to get close to Mu Qingyun." Without the livestream on, her face turned icy cold as she looked disdainfully at Bai Feifei. "I need you to gain Mu Qingyun's trust."
Impossible?
Bai Feifei frowned. She had already started trying to get close to Mu Qingyun when she developed suspicions, but Mu Qingyun never showed her a friendly face.
"I don't think I can…"
Before she could finish, Mu Xueyao disdainfully interrupted with a snort.
"I don't care if you can or can't. That's not my problem." Mu Xueyao cast her a cold glance. "Whether you can do it, how you do it, that's your business. What I care about is whether you complete the task I gave you."
"If you fail, you know what the consequences will be."
After saying this, Mu Xueyao left without looking back.
This was the real face of the princess — spoiled and arrogant since childhood, always issuing orders without considering others' feelings.
Bai Feifei's eyes grew cold, her hands clenched into fists. She touched the livestream device on her wrist and bit her lip hard.
She glared at Mu Xueyao's retreating figure for a long while before sighing helplessly.
No matter how much resentment she felt, Mu Xueyao was someone she dared not offend. No matter how excessive Mu Xueyao was, Bai Feifei could only endure.
…
In the cave, Mu Qingyun had been training for a while, then looked down at her left palm.
These days, besides building the house, she had been practicing. After so long, she was eager to test it out.
Clenching her fist, she glanced at the others who were busy with their own tasks. Without making a sound, she stood up and walked out of the cave.
[Hey, what's Mu Ge doing? Why did he suddenly come out?]
[No idea.]
She walked to a fairly open area, turned off the livestream device on her wrist, squatted down, and placed her left palm on the ground. A faint green glow radiated from her palm.
The traces of plants on the ground subtly responded to the energy from her palm. A sprout slowly pushed through the soil, then suddenly grew at a terrifying speed.
When the plant was fully grown, she withdrew her hand and looked at it.
It was an orange tree, not very big, but densely covered with oranges. Leaning close, she could smell the unique fresh fragrance of oranges lingering at her nose.
A satisfied smile curled at the corner of her mouth. She reached out and plucked all the oranges off, then uprooted the entire tree and stuffed it into her storage bag.