Didn’t you breastfeed?

Lily was still imprisoned in the depths of the cave.

Although her hands and feet were not chained, Lily knew she could not escape.

As long as the evil dragon “big sister” was around, she would be caught before leaving the cave.

And then something shameful would happen.

Lily did not want to be treated roughly by her again.

Ever since Emi was born, Letia’s attention had been focused on their daughter, and she rarely bullied Lily anymore.

In fact, for Lily, she would rather be bullied by Letia than be separated from her daughter.

She longed to hold Emi, to nurse her personally, to help her grow up healthy and happy.

Speaking of which, Letia was quite well-developed… perhaps she was feeding Emi herself?

Two hazy days passed for Lily.

Because the cave was dim, with only the crystal veins glowing faintly, she could not tell whether it was day or night.

But then, the sound of a baby crying echoed in Lily’s ears.

At first, she thought it was an illusion, but soon realized it was not so simple.

Lily crawled up from her bed.

She was still wearing the white dress.

Although there was no underwear beneath, it covered her enough that she was not blushing in embarrassment.

She perked her ears and listened carefully, soon identifying the direction of the sound.

“It’s Emi… could it be that Letia is hurting her?”

Letia loved her daughter too much, so “hurting” was unlikely.

But she was clumsy—what if she had accidentally dropped her?

The more Lily thought, the more frightened she became.

She had to check her daughter’s condition immediately.

So, at the risk of punishment, Lily stumbled toward the depths of the cave.

She peeked inside and saw the room’s arrangement.

Before, the room had been empty.

Now there was a crib.

It wasn’t large, with railings all around to keep the baby from falling.

All around the crib were colorful flowers, their fragrance filling the room so strongly that it reached the entrance.

It looked romantic, but Lily was stunned.

Emi was not lying in the crib at all, but cradled in Letia’s arms.

Letia was patting Emi’s back while telling her a story.

Whether or not a baby could understand the story was another matter—Letia mainly wanted to lull her to sleep.

But Emi cried in her arms without pause.

Letia looked troubled.

She shook a rattle in front of Emi, producing a jingling sound.

But Emi’s crying did not stop.

“What are you doing?!” Lily clenched her fists and shouted.

Letia turned in surprise, anger flashing across her face.

She carefully set Emi into the crib, then glared sharply at Lily.

“You dare wander around the cave without my permission?”

“Because you’re too clumsy!”

“Hah? Should I take that as a provocation?”

Lily ignored her, storming up to Emi’s side.

Strangely enough, the moment Emi saw Lily, she stopped crying and even laughed.

Lily carefully picked Emi up.

In her arms, Emi was exceptionally well-behaved.

Letia’s face darkened with frustration.

Clearly, she was unwilling to accept that Lily could succeed where she, as the mother, could not make Emi smile.

“Clean up this room,” Lily muttered, unhappy. “Don’t you see? Babies are sensitive to strong flower scents!”

“What…” Letia was shocked. “Sensitive… to flower scents?”

“Yes! Why did you bring in so many flowers?”

“Because I wanted to make Emi happy…” Letia looked embarrassed.

But soon realizing she was being scolded, her face hardened again.

“Fine, I understand the problem. Now, give Emi back to me!”

“No way! First take all the flowers out!”

After saying this, Lily carried Emi out of the room.

Letia almost chased her, but then saw Lily only stop at the cave entrance, clearly just avoiding the flowers’ smell.

So Letia used magic to clear away the wildflowers and refresh the air in the room.

Lily peeked in.

Once she saw the air was clean, she carried Emi back inside with relief.

Letia glared at her wordlessly.

Lily’s heart trembled.

She knew what Letia was thinking—she must be resenting her for holding the child.

But Lily was Emi’s mother too.

Why did she have to be so heartless?

Lily placed Emi carefully into the crib and tucked her in.

“Now leave,” Letia said coldly.

But Lily lingered, unwilling to take her eyes off Emi.

Letia snorted, grabbed Lily’s wrist, and tried to drag her away.

At that moment, Emi let out a shrill cry.

Though she didn’t understand what was happening, by instinct she must have sensed her two mothers were fighting.

Letia’s heart softened, and she released Lily.

Lily hurried to Emi’s side, waving her arms and making faces to coax her.

Finally, Emi stopped crying.

Once again, Lily reluctantly tried to leave.

But just half a step away, Emi began wailing again.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying again?”

Helpless, Lily picked Emi up once more.

Instantly, Emi smiled happily in her arms.

Lily looked down at her daughter’s face with relief.

But why was it that every time Lily left, Emi cried?

“C-could it be…” Lily suddenly realized.

“Did you discover something?” Letia asked nervously.

“You must have mistreated her!” Lily blurted, backing away.

“Otherwise, why would she cry in your arms?”

“Don’t spout nonsense!” Letia shouted angrily.

“I love her more than anything—why would I mistreat her?”

“Then why does Emi cry whenever she’s with you?”

The two of them stared at each other, then down at their daughter.

Because Emi was too cute, Letia couldn’t resist poking her cheek with a finger.

Something strange happened.

Emi suddenly latched onto Letia’s finger.

Though it looked like “biting,” she had no teeth, so it didn’t hurt at all.

It was more like… sucking.

From this, Lily suddenly understood something.

She stared at Letia in disbelief.

“C-could it be… you haven’t been nursing her?”

“Me? Nursing? How could I?”

“What? You mean you’re raising a baby without feeding her milk?!”

“We can’t produce milk at all…”

Lily suddenly understood.

Biologically speaking, dragons that lay eggs probably couldn’t produce milk, right?

She had never heard of a bird mother that could nurse its young!

Although Lily had laid the egg, clearly the real problem was with Letia.

Maybe the evil dragon race only used unfortunate girls as… surrogate hosts?

“Wait—does that mean Emi hasn’t eaten anything all this time?!”

“She has taken in a lot of magic,” Letia said proudly, puffing up her ample chest, which shook slightly with the motion.

“Every day I feed her plenty of my magic power.”

“And does that fill a stomach?!”

“Well…” Letia hesitated. “Magic can sustain bodily functions. Even without food, it can keep the body active.”

What was this?

It sounded just like keeping someone alive on intravenous drips.

If the baby wasn’t properly nursed, she would soon become malnourished!