Chapter 472 - 469: She Has Already Guessed

Chapter 472: Chapter 469: She Has Already Guessed

She spoke softly, feigning curiosity. "Aunt Shuang, actually... that day in the Stone Forest, I happened to see you with that imposing male. I thought he was your Beast Husband..."

Shuang Hua’s body visibly stiffened. The gentleness on her face faded, replaced by a profound bitterness and self-mockery.

She fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly. "No, he isn’t my Beast Husband. He’s the Clan Leader of our Flood Dragon Tribe, Jiao Yuan. And he has a... a Wife whom he loves very, very deeply."

She paused as if mustering her courage, her gaze complex as she looked at Bai Wanwan. "What happened between us... it’s complicated. It’s been many years, but it’s like a heavy stone that’s been weighing on my heart. Wanwan... are you sure you want to hear this?"

She needed an outlet, and this young female before her, whom she had come to regard as a cub of her own, seemed to be the only one she could turn to.

Bai Wanwan took her hand. "Aunt Shuang, I want to listen. Talking about it might make you feel better."

Shuang Hua took a deep breath. Her gaze drifted toward the hazy moonlight outside the window as she became lost in her memories.

"Jiao Yuan and I grew up together. He was the son of the Clan Leader, possessed extraordinary Talent, and was the most dazzling star in the entire tribe—not to mention incredibly handsome. For as long as I can remember, my Mother and Father Beast told me that I would become his mate when I grew up. So, when I was just a cub, I loved to trail after him like a little shadow."

"Later, when he came of age, he left on a trial as was our tribe’s tradition. That time... he traveled to a distant, dangerous land. He was gravely injured and didn’t return for two whole years." Shuang Hua’s voice grew heavy with remembered fear. "For those two years, I lived in constant terror, praying every day for his safe return. And then... he finally came back. I was so overjoyed I nearly went mad. I ran to greet him the very moment I could..."

Her voice suddenly choked with immense disappointment and pain. "But when I saw him... all he could see was the female he had brought back with him. He only had eyes for her. The way he looked at her... it was with a passion and focus he had never once given me."

Shuang Hua closed her eyes, as if she could still feel the heart-piercing pain from all those years ago. "It took me years... to grudgingly accept it. I told myself that some things can’t be forced, that his happiness was all that mattered. I even truly wished them well."

Her tone abruptly turned icy with rage. "But! Just when I thought everything had settled down, I accidentally discovered Lan Yi’s secret! She... She was mating with other males behind Jiao Yuan’s back!"

Shuang Hua’s voice rose with agitation before she forced it back down, trying to control her anger. "Wanwan, you might not know this, but our Flood Dragon Clan is different from other tribes. We are the hereditary guardians of the Life Tree, so the bloodline of the Clan Leader’s lineage must remain pure and powerful! The clan laws are explicit: the Clan Leader’s mate can only have him as her sole male! This is to ensure the purity and strength of the next generation’s bloodline! What Lan Yi did... she was threatening the very foundation of our tribe."

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I was furious, but I didn’t want to tell Jiao Yuan right away. I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle it. I thought that maybe Lan Yi had just made a foolish mistake. I went to her in private and warned her. I told her I knew the truth and that she needed to stop before it was too late, before she did something that would break Jiao Yuan’s heart and bring shame upon our tribe. I even promised to keep her secret, as long as she never did it again."

A look of utter sarcasm and despair crossed Shuang Hua’s face. "But I never imagined... she would play the victim and strike first! She ran crying to Jiao Yuan and framed me! She claimed that because I was jealous of her having his love, I was trying to get rid of her by making up lies to slander her name! Again and again... she did it flawlessly. She even staged ’accidents’ to get herself injured, then pinned the blame on me, claiming I was trying to kill her!"

"Even when I couldn’t take it anymore and went to Jiao Yuan myself to tell him the truth..."

Shuang Hua’s voice filled with helplessness. "But in his eyes, Lan Yi was fragile, kind, and deeply in love with him. And I... I had become a venomous female, my love twisted into hate, a narrow-minded shrew who would stop at nothing to frame the woman he adored. No matter what I said, he was convinced I was lying, that I was just trying to ruin their relationship. The way he looked at me... it was with such disappointment and disgust... like I was lower than a complete stranger."

A long silence hung between them, broken only by the whisper of the wind outside the window.

As if she had spent all her energy, Shuang Hua leaned wearily against the back of her chair.

A storm of emotions raged within Bai Wanwan.

She asked tentatively, "If Jiao Yuan Clan Leader distrusts you so much, and Lan Yi is... like that, Aunt Shuang, why don’t you just let it all go? You could leave this place, find your own Beast Husband and happiness. You deserve better."

She felt for the Shuang Hua Saintess, but she found her devotion and endurance both heartbreaking and a little difficult to comprehend.

Shuang Hua stared blankly into space. After a long moment, she managed a bitter smile, her voice as faint as a sigh. "Let go? Easier said than done... After decades of habit, watching over him, guarding this tribe... it’s all become an instinct carved into my very bones."

After hearing Shuang Hua’s story, the suspicion in Bai Wanwan’s mind grew stronger.

Inside the treehouse, chilly moonlight streamed through the cracks, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow on the floor.

Bai Wanwan sat with Shuang Hua, talking for a long time, until the world-weary Saintess could no longer fight off her exhaustion. Her eyelids grew heavy and closed, and her breathing became even and deep.

"Aunt Shuang?" Bai Wanwan called softly.

The only response was the sound of deep slumber.

Bai Wanwan carefully helped her lie back down on the simple wooden bed, gently tucking the worn animal-hide blanket around her.

Seeing Shuang Hua’s brow still furrowed in her sleep, Bai Wanwan sighed to herself.

Once she was sure Shuang Hua was sound asleep, Bai Wanwan slipped out of the room, pulling the wooden door gently shut behind her.

On the platform outside, her Beast Husbands were waiting like statues melting into the night.

Their sharp senses caught the sound of her exit, and all eyes snapped to her, filled with a silent question.

Xin Feng took a step forward, his voice hushed but with its usual gentleness. "Wanwan, did you get the story out of her?"

"Mm," Bai Wanwan nodded, her expression grave. "I have a general idea of the situation, and a few suspicions of my own..."

She paused, her gaze piercing through the swaying shadows of the trees to land on the distant, colossal tree that towered into the clouds, emitting a faint green glow even in the dark of night. "But I need to go confirm something."

"Confirm it how?" Yan Lie, ever the most impatient one, immediately asked.

Bai Wanwan’s gaze remained fixed on the great tree, which seemed to pulse with a mysterious life force. "By going there," she said slowly.