A Shattered Heart

Long Ling hurriedly fired a few shots, deliberately missing, then put away the shotgun and stood in front of Violet.

“Violet, I don’t want to hunt anymore, let’s go home, the wild ducks we shot are enough for today’s meal.”

Violet frowned slightly, seeing that she had no patience for practicing shooting,

“Practice a little longer, when I was in the training camp, I had to practice from morning to night every day before I went back.”

Anxious, Long Ling had to act spoiled with her, “The recoil of this gun is a bit strong, my shoulder is numb from the shaking, it hurts a little, let’s go home first, and practice again next time.”

Violet watched Long Ling’s slender hand pressing her shoulder, a layer of crystal-clear sweat appearing on her fair forehead, and her cheeks and neck were pink, she looked quite delicate.

She had heard the maids around Long Ling say that Long Ling had been working in the fields from morning to night, and was usually never idle.

When she hugged Long Ling at night before sleeping, the muscle lines of Long Ling’s arms were much firmer than before.

It had only been an hour, and with Long Ling’s excitement about hunting for the first time, she shouldn’t have suddenly gotten tired.

A hint of suspicion flashed in Violet’s eyes, but she simply said to Long Ling, “Come here and let me see.”

Long Ling handed the shotgun to the guard, walked to Violet, unbuttoned a button, and showed Violet the reddened skin on her shoulder.

Violet looked at Long Ling’s dazzlingly white skin. Dragon bodies were generally very strong, and Long Ling was an Alpha, so the recoil couldn’t damage her skin so quickly.

That area of skin was probably sunburned, and the silver-white dragon scales were faintly visible in the sunlight. Generally, dragon scales only appeared when the body was overheated.

Violet didn’t expose Long Ling, thinking that she had just suddenly lost interest.

A small dragon like Long Ling, who had just come of age, was unstable and liked things that disappeared as quickly as the wind.

Besides, she had originally let the little dragon out to play, and she was much more well-behaved than before if she knew to go home on her own.

Violet handed her own handkerchief to Long Ling, “Wipe off the sweat, let’s go home.”

Long Ling breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from her forehead with the handkerchief, and secretly glanced at the place where Loraine had appeared earlier.

Fortunately, Loraine didn’t know that Violet was by her side and hadn’t come over directly.

She turned back around, only to find that Violet’s gaze was looking in that direction.

Long Ling quickly leaned over and kissed Violet’s forehead.

“Violet.” Long Ling’s cheeks were a little red, and her eyes were sparkling, “Do you like to eat roast duck or salted duck?”

Violet looked at Long Ling’s soft face, whose neck was blushed from the kiss, “Either is fine.”

She thought of the elf she had inadvertently seen just now. Was the little dragon stopping her from looking because she was afraid that she would harm the elf?

Violet’s gaze fell on Long Ling’s red lips, and she moved closer, “Are you happy that I took you out to play today?”

An ambiguous aura swirled around Long Ling’s lips, and Long Ling suddenly felt the temperature rise.

She knew that Violet meant she wanted a kiss, and in order to divert Violet’s attention, she could only kiss her briefly.

Long Ling’s lips lightly touched Violet’s lips, and she sincerely said, “Happy, thank you, Duchess.”

Violet’s eyes rippled, and she wrapped her arms around Long Ling’s neck, “Is that how you thank me?”

Long Ling’s cheeks were slightly hot, “We’re outside right now.”

Violet curved the corners of her lips, “I had the servants bring a camping tent.”

Long Ling gently kissed her twice, “Let’s go home first, I want to go back and make roast duck for you, there’s an oven in the manor, it’ll taste different if we make it outside.”

Violet then let her go. By this time, the elf had already left the reeds, so it seemed that it was still a close call.

It was the same if they didn’t meet today; they could see each other in a couple of days. Today wasn’t a good opportunity.

After working hard all morning, they had hunted a total of four wild ducks.

After Long Ling brought the wild ducks back to the manor, she scalded them all and removed the feathers.

After removing the feathers and organs, each of these fat ducks was still heavy.

Long Ling smeared salt on the duck bodies, sprinkled some spices, and gave the wild ducks a careful massage so that the duck meat could be marinated for a while to absorb the flavour.

Violet watched Long Ling massaging a duck so carefully, with a bright smile on her face, and suddenly felt a little unhappy.

During the days of the cold war between her and the little dragon, although the little dragon massaged her legs every day, she didn’t say a word after each massage, slept with her back to her, and even slept separately from her.

Now that her mood was finally better, she was actually smiling so sweetly at a wild duck.

Violet turned her wheelchair and entered the crystal kitchen.

Long Ling washed her hands and was cutting apple slices when she heard the movement behind her,

“The roast duck isn’t ready yet, please wait outside for a while, I’ll stuff these apples into the ducks, and they’ll be ready to roast in a bit.”

She had turned around and was about to say something, when she saw Violet standing there with her arms crossed, looking a little angry.

Long Ling suddenly felt a chill down her spine and hurriedly changed the apple pieces into heart shapes, put them on a plate, and presented it to Violet, “Duchess, these are for you.”

Violet glanced at the heart-shaped apples, accepted the silver fork that Long Ling handed her, and the corners of her lips slightly curled.

She had just picked up a small apple piece when she noticed that the apple was broken, divided into small squares.

Violet frowned. She didn’t like such implications and said displeased, “Why are the apples broken?”

Long Ling explained, “It’s easier for you to eat like this.”

Violet stared into Long Ling’s eyes, a glimmer of something flashing in her eyes.

Long Ling hurriedly shook her head, saying extremely sincerely,

“You are the Duchess, and I am just an insignificant little dragon. If it weren’t for your helping hand, I would still be locked up in jail because of debt. I will help you peel another new apple now.”

Violet’s gaze became slightly cold, “You don’t need to put everything on me like you mean it.

As long as you obediently stay in the manor, I will help…”

But she just wanted to know if Violet could only love her, if she would only be with her, and she wouldn’t even give her that. Long Ling had already given up.

Long Ling’s hand holding the fruit faltered slightly, “Duchess, you have a lot of money and a lot of choices. Everything here is yours, even I am yours. What does it matter whether an apple is whole or not? It’s just an apple.”

Violet tightened her brows, “But I want complete sincerity.”

Long Ling re-peeled a complete love apple and placed it on the plate in front of Violet, saying softly, “This time it’s complete, there won’t be any more mistakes.”

That love apple was placed on top of those broken apple pieces, its surface still covered with some crystal clear drops of water, swaying a little, unstable.

Violet used a silver fork to pick up the love apple, stopping its sway, and slowly placed it in her mouth, taking a small bite.

When she had gone out hunting with the little dragon, her heart had been sweet, but now the apple she was eating tasted a bit sour.

Violet slowly ate the entire love apple.

This time, she didn’t leave the crystal kitchen, but sat beside it, quietly watching the little dragon busily making roast duck.

The afternoon light was very quiet, and the sunlight refracted through the different colors of the crystal, casting rainbow-like shadows.

Long Ling wore a light green apron, and the colorful light fell on her fair cheeks.

Her nose was high, and her lips were small and delicate.

Long Ling was immersed in it, and even took time to make some soft and chewy pancakes, which could be used to wrap the duck meat and eat.

Time passed quickly, and before long, the aroma of roast duck filled the oven.

It was roasted with dry fruit wood, so the meat would have a light and sweet fruity flavor.

The skin of the roast duck had been scalded several times with boiled maltose water, and the freshly roasted duck was a beautiful orange-red color.

She had also stuffed apple pieces inside the roast duck to fix its shape, and the cooked apple meat mixed with the roasted duck meat.

The aroma of the roast duck filled the entire kitchen.

Long Ling first removed the hook from the roast duck, then released some of the broth inside the roast duck, and used a sharp knife to slice off the duck meat.

The roast duck was made perfectly, the duck meat and duck skin were attached to each other, the duck skin was crispy, the duck meat was tender, and rich gravy flowed out from under the duck meat when it was sliced off.

Long Ling’s knife skills were excellent, and she sliced off the entire duck in a few minutes.

The remaining duck carcass could also be used to make a roast duck frame soup, adding some ginger slices, scallions, and white radish, and adding boiling water to the pot and cooking it for a while.

The ducks they hunted were several years old, so they could be stewed for a longer time and the flavor would be even more delicious.

The longer it was cooked, the whiter the soup would be.

Long Ling carried the small pancakes and sliced roast duck to the table and placed it in front of Violet.

She then made some sliced vegetables and sauces and rolled a small pancake for Violet.

“It tastes better to eat it like this. I also made some soup, and I’ll give it to you to drink later. It’s good for your health and very nourishing.”

Violet picked up the small pancake, put it in her mouth, and took a small bite.

The duck meat was roasted to perfection.

It had just come out of the oven, so the skin was very crispy and tasted very fragrant.

After she finished eating, she casually asked, “Making so many nourishing things, do you want me to carry your dragon egg?”

Long Ling lowered her head, suppressing the dull, astringent feeling that was blocking her throat, and said softly,

“You should eat the roast duck first, this duck has to be eaten while it’s hot, otherwise it will be a little greasy when it cools down.”

She lowered her eyelashes and laid out another small pancake for Violet, carefully rolled it up, and handed it to Violet again.

Violet saw Long Ling’s slightly red earlobes and the thick, curled eyelashes that were constantly trembling. She thought Long Ling was shy.

During Long Ling’s susceptible period when she had deeply marked her, she had stubbornly left her strawberry-flavoured pheromones in her body.

She probably wanted a dragon egg.

Violet didn’t like young dragons that much.

The egg-laying period would take a long time, which would be very energy-consuming, and partners would have to take turns hatching eggs to take good care of the dragon egg.

If a little dragon whelp that looked like Long Ling hatched after the dragon egg broke, it actually wouldn’t be that unacceptable, and would probably be a very cute baby.

It was difficult for dragons to conceive, but if an Alpha and an Omega combined, the chances of conceiving a dragon egg would increase a little.

Unfortunately, her body wasn’t in good condition now, so she couldn’t fulfill the little dragon’s wish.