Just one week.
Through this week, Feng'er and Kirin spent their days like sisters in blood. Morning through evening and evening through the morning.
Feng'er would occasionally ask Kirin to tell her stories about the history of the Phoenix Household in the Core Continent, and Kirin would often inquire about the nature of humans from Feng're, in particular; men.
Although Kirin tried to make it seem ambiguous as she inquired, Feng'er could see right through her plays and laugh inwardly while maintaining a calm temperament on the surface.
Just one week.
Anastasia had managed to heal her internal injuries and perform some casual appearances in public, mostly interacting with her tribe.
Although she did visit the palace and the manor, she wouldn't dare let her guard down or enter any suspicious areas that could be used to entrap her again.
Kami noticed his wife's distant attitude but he didn't mind at all. In fact, this only increased his desire to court whatever secrets she kept or is trying to keep.
In this week, he made plans to ambush some of Anastasia's tribesmen. Of course, this had to be done in collaboration with external forces to avoid suspicion.
Usually, the household's troops would patrol near the Wolevn Tribe in order to repel any attempts of conflict between the two races. However, minor conflicts throughout the week became more frequent.
Although by a small margin, but the ratio of hostile bandits passing by had notably increased, and the overall prowess of the patroling coalitions correspondingly dimmed, even a naive five-year-old wolevn would notice something off.
In normal times, the wolevn tribe would not necessarily take direct or indirect action to repel curious humans. But, on many occasions recently they had to provide direct or indirect help to the patrols, which didn't feel right.
This matter has been reported to Anastasia, and she figured this was Kami's way of suppressing her clansmen and their activities.
If a battle was to break out between Monsters and Humans, no one would care about the background of the humans or why this happened, the street and public would naturally side with the human race.
And currently, if a full-scale racial war broke out, the wolven tribe can be said as a black sheep in a tiger's den. The tribesmen were anxious, they didn't fear fighting for death, but what about their wives and cubs?
In a war, both parties would dispatch troops and leave the incapable ones behind. However, at the moment, what can they leave behind?
....
"Leader! This is certainly not a coincidence! Are you keeping something a secret from us?"
A middle-aged man with tan skin asked.
Currently, Anastasia was inside the pavilion dedicated to her Tribe's affairs.
In front of her, three middle-aged men bent on half a knee as the one in the center pushed with his questions in a respectful tone.
"Our younger ones can't even play around anymore, bandits and rogue cultivators would flank from left and right! The Household's troops seldom interfere with conflict anymore!"
"He's right, leader... Yesterday evening, Yu'er had suffered from a wound. Although it was only the flesh and didn't penetrate deep, but she's only a child... I'm afraid her mentality will suffer from this in the future."
"Also, today at dawn, one of our clansmen almost killed a human! The worst part is that the Luhei personnel didn't interfere at all! If our brother didn't stop himself, his hands would have already been blood-stained!"
Like this, the three men issued one complaint after another, anyone can figure out that there was some discord between Anastasia and Kami at this point.
Although Kami didn't dare be upfront with pressuring Anastasia, that didn't mean he was hand-tied.
Anastasia simply listened with cold eyes as she vowed to register every offense her tribe suffered.
Her killing intent began to ooze out like a substance, the temperature in the room instantly dropped below zero.
Although she said nothing, her attitude at least confirmed some of the three men's speculations.
"Two days."
Anastasia said, "In two days, this will end."
'If you want to know the truth, I don't mind going out of my way to shed light on you.' Anastasia gritted her teeth as she thought.
It's easy to predict Kami's train of thought once he learns the truth, he will either blame her or Noire, but neither of these is a good outcome.
In two days, Arima should arrive and bring along his Python Tribe.
With Arima by her side, she wouldn't be afraid to reveal the truth to Kami, if he decided to move against her tribesmen as a form of 'justice', she wouldn't idle around and let him sail through her people with a sword.
- - - -
Crack...
Inside the sealed chamber, almost five days have passed.
Through these five days, Noire had done nothing except profusely pouring Bloodline Essence into the Royal Egg.
This process was very demanding.
Noire's body had the catalyst of three different forces, two of which are poisonous towards the phoenix.
He could only maintain the harmony of these forces due to his Spiral Ecliptic Virtue, which is a cultivation method tailored for his body.
Thus, for the past few days, Noire had to be very meticulous about extracting Bloodline Essence and augmenting the Young Phoenix's marrow.
Now, the eggshell has shown signs of breaking as fissures ruptured along with its exquisite texture.
....
Hisss...
A cloud of negative Qi began to seep out through the numerous cracks over the egg, and a breath of vitality began to leak right afterward.
Pah... Pah... Pah...
Pieces of dried shells began to crumble and descend towards the floor, the gentle press of Noire's palm had penetrated through the shell like a knife cutting through tofu, landing directly onto the young lady's temple.
Now, she no longer looked 15 or 16. Instead, her physique had grown a bit more mature with a lingering breath of vitality.
If anything, she appeared to be a young teenager around 18 or 19 years old by now.
She still maintained a petite physique, her skin poured the moisture of sweat due to the uneasiness and anxious trail she has been through.
Her deep azure hair was like a wet curtain concealing her fairly flat chest and porcelain skin as she crouched hugging her knees.
Still, she didn't seem to care, her vision was spellbound towards the figure in front of her.
He had a serene expression regardless of the sweat that drenched his forehead.
The halo encasing his body was very dim and fluctuating as if about to crumble.
Oddly enough, the feeling this halo gave was similar to a feeling that buds from the core of her bloodline and marrow.
Deep down she knew that no matter how vulnerable she is, this person, in particular, would never take advantage of her in any way.
Currently, her face was pale and her thoughts were clouded. She had just been born, but she felt like a nap wouldn't be a bad idea.
Slowly, her eyelids closed to conceal her large curious iris before she leaned forward, inevitably resting her head onto the man's frame.
Of course, if he didn't subconsciously take a step forward she would have fallen off the pedestal. It was as if his very being was mechanically pioneered to protect this young woman in front of him.
This was the inexplicable bond that a Royal Dragonborn and a Royal Phoenix shared.
Since ancient times, only a Phoenix is worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with a Dragon.