The high-ranking members of the Dragon Clan never imagined, even in their wildest dreams, that after His Majesty returned from the battlefield, the first thing she would do was settle a man in the Empress’s palace. Then, she would hastily give them a few perfunctory instructions and proceed to stroll through the streets hand-in-hand with that man.

Similarly, the citizens of Yao Du would have never thought, in a million years, that the tall woman smiling and holding hands with her lover amidst the bustling crowd was none other than their Dragon Emperor, whom they revered with utmost awe and trepidation.

Most people had never even seen her. She was always so high and mighty, exuding an aura of immense power; one wouldn’t even dare to breathe during an audience with her. Who could possibly believe that the woman now holding her lover’s hand, looking around with a curious expression, was the same person?

“It seems you haven’t really explored your own capital much,” Lu Xingzhou remarked.

Her hand was lightly clasped in his, without the previous stiffness he felt when she was carrying him. There was no sign of the terrifying power that could destroy half a city with a single claw. Her grip was soft and boneless, her fingers slender and long, with a cool, jade-like touch that was very pleasant.

Long Qinghuang said, “Of course not. Does your Gu Zhanting go out strolling? He probably doesn’t even know what his own capital looks like.”

“That’s true, but I need to correct you on one thing.”

“What?”

“He’s not ‘mine’.”

“So you have no loyalty to Da Qian. Why don’t you…”

“Hold on… that’s a topic for an Yao Huang to discuss, and you’re not one.”

Long Qinghuang pouted defiantly.

Lu Xingzhou knew she was different from Ye Tinglan. Ye Tinglan wanted to shed her identity as the Saint Lord and simply be with him, briefly forgetting the responsibilities that had burdened her whole life. But Long Qinghuang had never considered such a thing. She reveled in her identity as the Yao Huang and couldn’t truly separate herself from it.

This differed significantly from the records of Tianyao Holy Land. The deviation was quite large.

She was genuinely just accommodating him, accompanying him to be “a little more equal.”

However, the possessiveness born from years of looking down on others couldn’t be suppressed. It was likely that true equality could never be achieved through conventional means, and he wondered when she might grow tired of it.

Lu Xingzhou knew his own nature: he was fundamentally unyielding and never willing to play a subservient role. Even if he occasionally acted like a little puppy, it was intentional, masking the heart of a wolf. Ye Tinglan, who treated him like a puppy, had already been overturned.

If he had been willing to be kept as a “concubine,” lying back and waiting to be fed by a rich woman, then why would he have left Yanluo Hall?

Therefore, he couldn’t rely solely on Long Qinghuang’s current willingness to accommodate him. He had to leverage her current goodwill and her various desires to seize the initiative himself.

When people desire something, they reveal a weakness. Look how compliant she was now.

But Lu Xingzhou still felt a little complicated inside.

He could see that Long Qinghuang’s goodwill towards him was genuine, and growing increasingly so. It was no longer the initial intention of simply capturing a beautiful person for amusement. Perhaps it hadn’t reached the stage of love, but at least she was beginning to instinctively protect her “food.” Using someone’s goodwill to scheme felt like being a con artist, and he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

But there was no other way; he could never stay here as a concubine.

This matter was irreconcilable… he hoped to achieve an outcome that both could accept.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Lu Xingzhou still smiled and said, “Since you’re not familiar with your own capital, how will you guide me?”

“I’m not familiar with the current capital, but I knew it very well before I ascended the throne,” Long Qinghuang huffed. “It’s just changed a bit now… You wait, I’m sure I can find the places I used to know.”

With that, she grabbed a passerby. “Hey, this used to be Canlong Street. Why isn’t it here anymore? Where did it move to?”

“Canlong Street?” The passerby looked at her as if she were a miracle. “Never heard of it.”

Long Qinghuang: “?”

An old Dragon-headed person walked by and leaned in. “I didn’t expect to find a young person who still knows about Canlong Street.”

Long Qinghuang asked, “Why?”

“That street changed its name three hundred years ago,” the old dragon said. “It seems His Majesty said back then that such a name made dragons seem greedy and was inappropriate, so it was changed.”

“I didn’t…” Long Qinghuang choked for a moment, then stared. “When did His Majesty say such a thing? And there was no such order issued!”

“Uh, well, perhaps others feared His Majesty would think that way. In any case, it was changed.”

“How could His Majesty think that!” Long Qinghuang stamped her foot. “I… she clearly loved the food here when she was young! She herself didn’t think there was anything wrong with the name. Who was being so meddlesome?”

Old dragon: “?”

“Ahem.” Lu Xingzhou secretly squeezed Long Qinghuang’s hand, signaling her not to frighten the person, and whispered, “There are many instances where eunuchs are more anxious than the emperor, and the emperor often gets blamed for things.”

Long Qinghuang “hmph-ed,” still quite displeased.

Lu Xingzhou then asked the old dragon, “Since it was just a name change, how about the magic artifacts sold on this street?”

The old dragon said, “Oh, later, due to the expansion of the capital, new plans were made, and all the food vendors moved to different locations.”

“Uh…” Long Qinghuang’s voice softened this time, and she quietly told Lu Xingzhou, “I was the one who did that. But when I approved it, it didn’t have that name. I didn’t know… hmm, but I know where it is now. Follow me.”

Lu Xingzhou shook his head and chuckled, stumbling along as she pulled him. Come to think of it, such urban planning was quite common in Da Qian. He hadn’t expected Yao Du to do the same, which was a stark contrast to the ingrained image of barbaric demons.

And this must have been Long Qinghuang’s doing after she ascended to power.

Lu Xingzhou suddenly realized that the first passerby she had grabbed was a human, not a demon who had transformed so perfectly that their true form was unrecognizable, but someone who was originally human.

Humans in Yao Du were not in the humiliating positions he had initially imagined, such as slaves or mere meat. Instead, they were casually strolling the streets.

It was also because of the presence of these humans that his stroll with Long Qinghuang didn’t feel out of place at all. Walking alongside other demons who had transformed into various odd shapes, they formed a unique sight.

Thinking back, earlier, when he traveled with the demon army, the demons didn’t show any hostility or discrimination towards him. He had initially thought it was because they treated envoys well, but now he realized how could they be so “high-quality” as to be polite to an envoy? In fact, they were simply accustomed to interacting with humans and had no particular attitude.

With this thought, Lu Xingzhou couldn’t help but ask, “Speaking of which, when you lost the war back then, didn’t you become hostile towards the humans within your territory?”

“Hmm…” Long Qinghuang looked up and thought for a moment. “There were some instances, but at most, some prohibitions were added, mainly out of fear of collusion. Otherwise, it wasn’t too bad.”

She paused, then chuckled, “I know what you want to ask… Demons themselves come in so many races, and there are many natural enemy groups among them. When would it ever be humans’ turn to be ‘opposed’? Natural enemies would fight each other to the death first. As for losing a war, before I unified the demon realm back then, how do you think the various races fought each other, and how many times did they suffer defeat? The Dragon Clan has also lost before; it’s not a big deal.”

She then puffed up a little, raising her head and saying, “I’ve recovered the lost territories in this war, so it doesn’t count as a loss. It’s only been ten years; in the long span of life, this grudge is practically not even overnight. Give me another ten years, and I’ll beat that Gu fellow till he’s picking up his teeth!”

You could say this was an emperor’s domineering declaration… but it also inexplicably carried a peculiar girlish charm.

Lu Xingzhou turned his head to look at her. The lights of Yao Du flickered in the night, and the Empress’s perfect profile seemed to glow in their illumination.

There weren’t many people around, but approaching the food street, the sounds were noisy. Yet, Lu Xingzhou felt everything was distant. Instead, the Dragon Emperor, who had always been somewhat ethereal in his mind, walked out of the labels and gradually became three-dimensional, so vivid.

“You…” As if she felt him watching her, Long Qinghuang’s grand pronouncement got stuck. She hesitated, “What are you looking at?”

Lu Xingzhou snapped back to reality, smiling openly. “You’re beautiful.”

Long Qinghuang’s expression was incredibly strange; it seemed she wanted to hit him, but she held back. “Is this how you flirt with your little palace maids?”

Lu Xingzhou chuckled, not answering the question. He merely quickened his pace, pulling her into an adjacent street.

“You still haven’t answered me… me!” Long Qinghuang was pulled along, instinctively running, protesting aloud.

Lu Xingzhou looked back. “Yes, I just wanted to see if talking to you like that would get me a beating.”

“It turns out it does!” Long Qinghuang kicked at his backside. Lu Xingzhou quickly dodged, avoiding the foot, but his arm was caught. “Come with me, you’re not familiar with this place, what are you running around blindly for!”

“As if you’re familiar with it. Haven’t you also not been to this street since it moved?”

“I recognize the signs. Aren’t you supposedly smart? Why are you being so silly now?” Long Qinghuang pulled him into an eatery. “I just wonder if the taste is still the same after all these years.”

Lu Xingzhou glanced at her. This street had moved three hundred years ago, so the taste in her memory would be even older than three hundred years. If she had only eaten it when she was a young dragon, it could easily be eight hundred years.

A centuries-old establishment… the original owner wouldn’t have had such cultivation and would surely have died long ago.

The juxtaposition of the long life span and the girlishness was strangely combined. Lu Xingzhou sat down and watched Long Qinghuang order, finding it truly interesting.

He had originally been scheming, thinking about how to ‘catch’ her, and in the end, he ended up being caught himself. This was a rare experience.

Long Qinghuang finished ordering and handed it to the waiter. She frowned at him. “Strange, why do you keep looking at me like that, so strangely, ever since we came out?”

“Nothing, I just feel very honored.”

“Honored to be treated to a meal by me?”

“Honored to perhaps see the Dragon Emperor in a way no one else in the world has ever seen.”