Chapter 43: But, You’ve Lost Weight, It Breaks My Heart to See!

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: But, You’ve Lost Weight, It Breaks My Heart to See!

Hearing the commotion, Ali slipped out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Thanks to her petite frame, she remained unnoticed. Seeing the atmosphere turn serious, she knew this meant trouble.

"Laxus," she whispered, tiptoeing away to find him.

After all, these were members of the Golden Dragon Clan; it was more appropriate for him, the Young Clan Leader, to manage them. The Young Clan Leader’s position was second only to the Clan Leader, and she could tell that Clan Leader Leon intended to delegate power to Laxus. Laxus handled most of the clan’s affairs, and the Golden Dragon Clan members listened to him.

"Ali, what’s wrong?" Laxus was stirring the ginger soup. He turned his head to look at the small hand grasping his arm.

He had never had such close contact with a little female other than his sister and mother. For a moment, the skin where Ali touched him felt scalding hot.

"Ali!" Klein also saw this scene, his already cold voice laced with a hint of chill.

"Ah, I didn’t mean to. S-sorry." Realizing her behavior was inappropriate, Ali quickly let go.

She hid her hands behind her back and quietly squeezed them together. It was all because she was so used to clinging to her brother and acting spoiled; in her moment of panic, she had completely forgotten herself.

"Why are you being so reckless?" Klein walked over and pulled Ali behind him, reprimanding her in a low voice.

Ali stuck out her tongue. "I didn’t mean to. It’s Ophelia. Something seems to have happened to her."

"What?"

"What happened to her?"

Laxus immediately used his hearing to pick up the commotion outside, simultaneously stepping out of the room. Klein frowned tightly and was also pulled out of the kitchen by Ali.

"Ophelia, what’s wrong? What happened?" Laxus ignored the serious atmosphere, pushing through the crowd and stepping forward.

"They are collecting rainwater and stagnant water from puddles outside to boil the ginger soup. I said before that rainwater and stagnant water aren’t clean and shouldn’t be drunk. How can they use it to make ginger soup!"

Laxus’s eyes darkened as he scrutinized the several males. Before they moved to the stone houses on the mountain, he had specifically instructed the male clan members to avoid drinking rainwater and stagnant water. He knew the males might not take it seriously, but he never expected them to dare give dirty water to the little females!

"It’s Ophelia who is just finding fault out of nowhere. What a terrible habit. We’ve drunk rainwater before, and aren’t we perfectly fine now?" a young, arrogant male scoffed.

He simply didn’t want to take orders from a little female, especially one like Ophelia, who had lowered her status to mate with a Wolf Beast. She had thoroughly disgraced their Golden Dragon Clan. The idea to collect rainwater was his. So what if she was the Princess? She was just born lucky.

"Rainwater is unclean, and drinking it makes it easy to fall ill. We don’t know how long the rainy season will last, so the most important thing right now is avoiding unnecessary illnesses," Ophelia said with a serious expression. "I’m not joking around. If you aren’t willing or think it’s too tiring, you don’t have to do it!"

"Then I won’t. I haven’t mated yet anyway, so I don’t have any little females to look after," the young male said, directly throwing the stone basin in his hands to the ground. He stormed off in a huff.

The crowd that had come out upon hearing the commotion looked at each other in dismay.

"The decision to ban drinking rainwater was made by me, the Young Clan Leader. You must obey!" Laxus said with a stern face and a grave tone.

Once he said this, no matter how dissatisfied the males felt in their hearts, they didn’t dare voice it. One by one, they obediently poured out the rainwater from their stone basins. Laxus was the Young Clan Leader, the future leader of the Golden Dragon Clan. If they wanted a good life in the future, they definitely had to listen to him.

Once the conflict was resolved, Ophelia finally returned to the stone house to dry her wet hair. During this rainy season, she also needed to take good care of her body and prevent herself from catching a cold.

"Let me do it," Tyler said, walking over. He took the animal skin from Ophelia’s hands, sat beside her, and helped dry her hair.

Just then, Laxus came looking for her. "Ophelia, I need to talk to you about something.

"Actually, we can’t completely blame them for what happened today. There isn’t much water left in the clay vats. If the rain doesn’t stop, everyone will be out of drinking water."

"I’ll figure something out regarding the water," Ophelia replied. "For now, aside from the necessary water needed for ginger soup and Sichuan peppercorn water, we need to reduce the clan’s water usage.

"Restrict the males’ drinking water to no more than three bowls a day."

Three bowls a day wouldn’t kill anyone from thirst.

Tyler’s hand paused in drying her hair, but he didn’t make a sound to interrupt them.

Laxus pursed his lips, weighing Ophelia’s words in his mind. Overall, the pros outweighed the cons.

"Alright. I will also lead some clan members to search for clean water sources," Laxus said.

"Mhm, let’s do our best," Ophelia said, flashing a bright smile that revealed her white teeth.

After discussing the serious matters, Laxus reminded Ophelia to take care of herself, then turned and left.

Because Leon was the Clan Leader, the clan members had specially built an independent stone house for him. It was quite large, though it didn’t have separate rooms. After moving to the mountain, the number of stone houses was limited, so Ophelia, Laxus, and the rest lived with their parents.

After they moved in, Ophelia had Tyler use wooden planks to partition a single room within the stone house, using animal skins as a curtain to create a private space.

Once Ophelia’s hair was mostly dry, Tyler set down the towel and said, "Ophelia, you’ve been too tired these past few days. Get some good rest and let Laxus handle the rest."

Lately, Ophelia had been constantly busy with matters concerning the little females, elderly males, and sugar production. Her face had noticeably thinned, and it broke his heart to see her like this.

"I’m fine. After all, I am the Princess of the Golden Dragon Clan. This is what I should do," Ophelia reassured him softly, gently stroking Tyler’s cheek. "And as for the water situation, I’ve already thought of a solution."

"But you’ve lost weight. It hurts me to see you like this!"

"Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine." Ophelia smiled, tilting her head up to kiss Tyler’s lips.

A long while later, both of them were panting heavily from exhaustion.

"Ophelia, I know you have many secrets. I won’t pry, but you have to promise me you won’t get hurt," Tyler murmured.

"Princess, you must remember that I will always be your Guardian."

Tyler pecked her soft pink lips once more and said gently, "I’ll go make dinner. Get some rest."

After calming her breathing, Ophelia slowly lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, and let her consciousness enter her spatial dimension.

The moment Laxus mentioned the water shortage, she had immediately thought of planting coconuts. Coconut water could substitute for drinking water, and as long as the husk was opened, it could be consumed directly. This would also relieve the demand for firewood.

The moment she entered the space, she turned off the auto-planting feature and set it to delay planting by twenty minutes. This way, she could change the crops being grown at any time. The new batch of grain had fully ripened, leaving all 350 square meters of land empty.

Ophelia purchased an appropriate amount of coconut seeds from the store, then planted them in the soil with a single click.

Coconuts required eighty-eight hours to mature, roughly three days.

Three days would be just enough time!