Chapter 159: Beast World Childhood Betrothal

Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Beast World Childhood Betrothal

Seeing that the White Dragon Clan Leader clearly had something to say to Ophelia, the surrounding females tactfully made excuses to leave.

Although Rebecca was straightforward and lacked guile, even she could tell that her cousin—whom she hadn’t seen in a long time—seemed to have something on his mind. Never one to mince words, she asked directly, "Is something the matter, Cousin?"

White Dragon hadn’t expected Rebecca to be so blunt. After a brief moment of surprise, he decided to cut straight to the chase. He looked at Ophelia and Tyler beside her, saying slowly, "I heard that Ophelia knows how to grow rice and breed wild boars. I was wondering if our White Dragon Clan might have the opportunity to learn these techniques?

"Don’t worry, we won’t learn for free. We will pay for it."

Rebecca understood. Although she was Ophelia’s mother, she wouldn’t overstep and make decisions on her daughter’s behalf. "Ophelia, you can make the decision on this yourself."

White Dragon hadn’t expected Rebecca to say this, and his expression shifted slightly. But he quickly regained his composure, looking at Ophelia with sincere eyes. "Ophelia, we are family through marriage, so rest assured. Your uncle will absolutely not let you suffer a loss."

Ophelia smiled dismissively. Most of the clan leaders attending today’s one-month celebration had come with an ulterior motive. They were either here for the rice cultivation techniques or the pig breeding. Therefore, she wasn’t surprised by the White Dragon Clan Leader’s intentions.

"Uncle, it’s not that I’m unwilling to teach you. It’s just that growing rice requires a lot of open land. With more open land, the forest area available for hunting naturally decreases. This wouldn’t be a very good choice for you.

"Moreover, the pigs have only just reached adulthood and haven’t started breeding yet. I don’t know how many piglets they will have, nor am I certain if the piglets can be raised as easily as these adult pigs.

"So for now, I don’t plan on giving away any of the future piglets. If you really want to get into breeding, I can give you some breeding rabbits and chickens. They are relatively easy to raise, and generally, they can be eaten after two or three months."

Ophelia’s refusal was well-founded and reasonable, making it impossible for anyone to take offense.

However, Bai Ma had an impatient temperament. He frowned and complained, "How much meat can rabbits and chickens really provide? With the time and effort it takes to raise them, it would be easier to just hunt a couple more prey in the forest."

Seeing Bai Ma’s disdain for raising rabbits and chickens, Ophelia and Tyler fell silent. Even Rebecca dropped the smile from her lips, and the atmosphere instantly grew tense.

In deep frustration, White Dragon glared at his son and scolded him harshly. "If you don’t know how to speak, then shut up!

"Ophelia is being considerate of us. She’s worried that we might waste our time and effort only to fail at raising the pigs, ending up with nothing. You don’t even know how to be grateful, and you’re acting aggrieved?"

Although Bai Ma was slightly angry at being publicly reprimanded by his father, he was an obedient son and didn’t dare talk back. Under his father’s forceful gaze, he even lowered his head to apologize to Ophelia and Rebecca.

"Aunt, Cousin, I was too impatient and misspoke. I’m sorry."

Balunbu, who only reached a person’s waist in height, hurriedly stepped in to apologize on his father’s behalf. He grabbed Rebecca’s hand, acting coquettishly as he spoke in a soft voice, "Great-Aunt, Father didn’t mean to blame Aunt Ophelia. He’s just a bit simple-minded and doesn’t know how to talk.

"Could you and Aunt Ophelia please not be mad at him? Otherwise, Grandpa will beat Father when we get back."

With Balunbu making a show of weakness and acting so pitiful, the displeasure that had built up in Ophelia and Rebecca’s hearts gradually faded.

"Alright, alright, it’s fine now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up," Rebecca said, smoothing things over. Ophelia also expressed that she didn’t mind, finally putting the matter to rest.

After chatting idly for a while longer, White Dragon hesitated a few times before speaking up again. "Ophelia, what do you think of my grandson?"

"Balunbu is already this tall at such a young age. His strength in the future certainly won’t be lacking," Ophelia replied politely.

"Hahaha, hearing you say that puts my mind at ease," White Dragon laughed.

Rebecca was completely baffled by the exchange. "Cousin, what do you mean by this?"

"Cousin, seeing as we already have ties through marriage, why don’t we deepen our relationship? Let Ophelia’s female cub, Wendy, become mates with my grandson. Balunbu is my proudest grandson. When I get old, the position of White Dragon Clan Leader will be his.

"I guarantee that he will treat your little female cub well in the future." White Dragon’s tone was earnest.

Beside him, Balunbu lowered his head slightly, his cheeks flushing red. Even so, he couldn’t help but peek out of the corner of his eye at the fair, chubby Wendy resting in Ophelia’s arms.

Wendy’s dark, grape-like eyes darted around; she couldn’t understand their conversation at all.

However, the eldest, Kohen, was precocious. From the moment he was born, he had inherited all the legacy knowledge of a Winged Dragon male. Because of this, he understood exactly what it meant to become mates. His brows scrunched together like two fuzzy caterpillars as he stared at Balunbu with a scrutinizing gaze.

Sensing a gaze landing on him, Balunbu followed his instincts and looked over, only to see Kohen staring at him with utter seriousness. A friendly smile graced Balunbu’s lips, but the other boy ignored it, turning his head away and refusing to look at him anymore.

Balunbu awkwardly rubbed his nose, then pricked up his ears to carefully listen to the conversation between his grandfather and Ophelia.

When he first heard his grandfather proposing a child betrothal between him and the little female cub, his immediate reaction was resistance. But when he had actually laid eyes on Wendy, the resistance in his heart dissipated considerably. And when he saw Wendy give him a sweet smile, he surrendered completely.

The little female cub’s smile pierced his heart like an arrow, one that couldn’t be pulled out no matter how hard he tried. He didn’t know what it meant to have a crush or what love was, but he felt that playing with a beautiful little female cub like Wendy for the rest of his life would be rather nice.

Ophelia could hardly believe her ears and subconsciously looked toward Tyler. Seeing him nod at her, she knew she hadn’t misheard. She was quite astonished; she truly never expected that even the Beast World had developed the concept of child betrothals.

"Ophelia, what do you think of my proposal?"

Ophelia pondered for a long time before figuring out how to decline him tactfully. "Uncle, thank you for your high regard, but Wendy is still very young. Making Balunbu wait for her to grow up really wouldn’t be fair to him.

"Furthermore, they have absolutely no idea what it means to be mates or what it means to like someone right now. If we arbitrarily arrange a partner for them, it would be disrespectful to both of them and might even hinder their future happiness."

"You don’t need to worry about that, Ophelia. I can make you a promise. In the future, when Balunbu grows up, if he breaks this vow and is unwilling to become mates with Wendy, he will lose his right to inherit the position of White Dragon Clan Leader."

Seeing White Dragon act so solemnly, Ophelia didn’t know what to say. If she said too much, it might seem like she was looking down on them. "Uncle, let’s leave this matter for when the children have grown up. It’s much too early for us to be worrying about this now."

Seeing that Ophelia hadn’t completely shut the door on the idea, the White Dragon Clan Leader didn’t push the issue any further. He smiled and said, "Alright, alright. We’ll discuss this when they’re a little older."

He looked down and patted Balunbu’s head. "Did you hear that, Balunbu? If you want to become mates with Wendy, you’ll have to work hard."

The tips of Balunbu’s ears turned bright red, and he gave a vague nod.