Chapter 130: Publicly Announcing Production

Chapter 130: Chapter 130: Publicly Announcing Production

That evening, everyone was resting by the stream.

Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was fast asleep, Ophelia secretly brought Zerev and Tyler into her spatial realm.

Inside the space, the three little dragon cubs caught their scent and hurriedly came to greet them. The cubs had been growing rapidly. Originally tiny, they were now noticeably plumper, looking almost like fluffy little lion dogs.

Zerev bent down, scooped up the pale gold female cub, and planted a kiss on her. "My good girl, did you miss your father?"

The usually aloof and aristocratic young master unconsciously softened his voice, adopting a sweet, coaxing tone when facing his adorable daughter.

Seeing their father hold their sister, the other two dragon cubs pawed at Zerev’s legs and tried to climb up, vying for his affection. However, Zerev’s attitude toward his two male cubs was the exact opposite of how he treated his daughter. With a hint of impatience on his face, he nudged the white and gold male cubs aside with his foot.

"Shoo, shoo. You’re so young and already trying to fight your sister for favor. Do you have any masculinity at all?"

Ophelia and Tyler watched Zerev’s blatant favoritism and exchanged a helpless smile. The two of them crouched down and gathered the rejected male cubs into their arms.

Tyler softly comforted the eldest, the white cub. "Be good, little one. Let’s ignore this mean father of yours. Your mother and Tyler love you."

Seeing Tyler holding and coaxing his son, Zerev immediately felt displeased. He strode over, snatched the eldest cub from Tyler’s embrace, and shot the man a fierce glare.

"You’re so young and already refusing to acknowledge your own father? I think you’re itching for a spanking," Zerev scolded.

The dragon cub was still too young to understand the complicated underlying tension between his father and Tyler. His big, adorable eyes were filled with nothing but confusion.

Ultimately, this was his own son. As annoyed as Zerev was, he naturally couldn’t bear to actually hurt him.

After they played with the cubs for about half an hour, Tyler suddenly spoke up. "Princess, have you noticed anything different?"

Ophelia didn’t quite understand what he meant. "Tyler, what do you mean?" she asked in confusion.

"Haven’t you noticed, Princess? Zerev and I have been able to stay in this space for increasingly longer periods of time."

Ophelia pondered for a moment. It really did seem that way. "Why is that?" she asked.

"I don’t know, but at the very least, it’s good news for us," Tyler replied.

"Yes," Zerev chimed in. "The longer we spend with the dragon cubs, the more our scents will mask theirs. Once their natural aura weakens enough, the Dragon Stone in the Holy Capital won’t be able to sense them anymore."

Hearing Zerev say this, Ophelia was pleasantly surprised. "Really?"

Although Zerev had said it, he wasn’t entirely certain himself. He suggested tentatively, "We can give it a try."

Ophelia was always a woman of action, so she immediately brought the eldest, the white dragon cub, out of the space.

The moment they exited the space, Zerev immediately looked up at the sky in the direction of the Holy Capital. Seeing no unusual phenomena, the heavy stone of anxiety in his chest finally dropped.

Following that success, Ophelia then tried bringing out the golden second cub and the pale gold third cub, their little female. The three little dragon cubs stayed outside for nearly half an hour, and still, the Dragon Stone in the Holy Capital showed no reaction.

Understanding what this meant, Zerev announced, "The dragon cubs can stay outside from now on."

Ophelia was thrilled to hear this. "Then I can ’give birth’ now."

Later that night, while the males were fast asleep, they suddenly heard a female’s low whimpering.

Laxus was the first to recognize his sister’s voice, snapping completely awake in an instant. He looked toward where Ophelia was lying under a tree. "Ophelia, what’s wrong?"

Ophelia’s cheeks were flushed red, and the golden hair on her forehead was drenched in sweat. She bit her lower lip tightly, unable to speak.

Panicking, Laxus grabbed Tyler’s arm and urgently asked, "What’s wrong with Ophelia? Is she sick?"

"No, the Princess is going into labor," Tyler replied.

Laxus immediately panicked even more. "Then what should we do now?"

Moye, who had rushed over, heard the news of Ophelia’s impending delivery and hurriedly looked at his young master. Seeing Zerev’s tightly knitted brows, he offered a low-voiced reminder.

"Young Master, Ophelia is about to give birth out in the open. Won’t that..."

They were in the wilderness. Once the dragon cubs were born, their scent would be captured by the Dragon Stone in the Holy Capital. When that happened, the young master’s intermarriage with a female from a Foreign Clan could no longer be kept a secret.

Zerev cast a cold glare at Moye. "Can you tell her to stop and not give birth?"

Moye choked on his words. Once a female started going into labor, how could she possibly just stop?

"What? Ophelia is giving birth?" Ali walked over, stifling a yawn, but upon hearing this, her mouth fell open in shock. "I heard the elderly females in the clan say that childbirth is extremely painful and life-threatening! What do we do? Ophelia, are you going to die?"

Laxus’s expression changed drastically at Ali’s words. "Don’t spout nonsense! My sister is not going to die!"

Ali felt a bit indignant, and it looked like she was about to get into a shouting match with Laxus.

Tyler intervened. "The most crucial thing right now is to quickly find a safe place for the Princess so she can give birth in peace."

"Right, right, right," Laxus agreed, suddenly realizing the priority. He led the males to search the area and soon found a cave. After they did a quick cleanup of the interior, he had Tyler bring Ophelia inside for the delivery.

"Ophelia, does it hurt a lot?" Seeing Ophelia’s pale face, Ali’s eyes grew red with tears.

"Ali, I’m fine. You should go outside first. Childbirth isn’t a pretty sight; it might scare you," Ophelia said softly.

Ali shook her head stubbornly. "I don’t want to! I want to stay here and keep you company." She held Ophelia’s hand, her face full of sincerity.

Although Ophelia felt touched, she couldn’t allow Ali to stay. If the young girl remained, she wouldn’t be able to keep up this entire act.

With a pale smile on her lips, she reached out and caressed Ali’s warm little face. "Be a good girl, Ali. Go wait outside obediently. I will be just fine."

"Yeah, you staying here will only interfere with Ophelia’s delivery. Don’t add to the chaos," Laxus chimed in. Seeing his sister clearly in immense pain with a ghastly pale face, yet still forcing herself to comfort Ali, he felt quite dissatisfied with the girl’s stubbornness.

Hearing his harsh words, Ali stomped her foot in anger. "Why are you being so fierce? Fine, I’ll leave!"

With reddened eyes, she turned and ran out crying.

Seeing this, Ophelia hurriedly urged, "Laxus, quickly follow her! It’s so dark outside right now; it’ll be terrible if she runs into any danger."

Laxus also felt a pang of regret. He hadn’t meant to snap at Ali; he was just extremely anxious.

"Alright, don’t worry. I’ll go after her. Just focus on your delivery," he promised.

Since Ophelia was giving birth inside the cave, all the other males, except for Tyler and Zerev, waited outside. They couldn’t see what was happening inside; they could only hear Ophelia’s cries of pain.

Meanwhile, Laxus had to run quite a distance before he found Ali squatting by the stream, sobbing. She picked up stones from the ground and tossed them into the water. As she threw them, she cursed, "Stupid Laxus. Mean Laxus. I was just worried about Ophelia. Why did he have to be so fierce?"