Long Cheng was confident that he could change Lu Meili's mind regarding the situation. They did not have a good start, but it did not mean that it would be the case until the end.

As long as both of them accepted the blessing of the Heavens through their mating ceremony and marked their souls, Lu Meili would have the same life as him. After that, they would both have all the time in the world to be with each other and make it right.

There was also a ceremony to tie their souls for seven lifetimes, but Long Cheng noted to himself to not mention that as it was a guarantee that his mate would not be happy to hear it from him.

"What are you still looking at? The king asked you to go with him, right?" Lu Meili asked grumpily as she reminded his uncle's command earlier.

Long Cheng gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Are you really, alright?" He still managed to ask tightly. For him, his uncle could go to the most isolated planet in the entire space and die there at that moment.

He laid all the blame on Long Kael for the current snobbish attitude of his mate. He was thinking of this as a way to comfort himself. Every dismissal of rejection from his mate was like a stab of a knife to his heart.

'I can endure this..' Long Cheng thought to himself as he placed a fake smile on his face despite sensing his dragon whimpering at being ignored.

Just like the mortal side, the savage side could feel that they were not wanted.

He might not be able to completely hide the hurt on his face as Lu Meili brows frowned before she said, "You could hear us earlier." It was not a question. She then bit her lower lip before averting her eyes away from him from his penetrating gaze. It was making her feel guilty somehow.

Long Cheng smiled sadly, "Yes. I heard everything." He was able to hear even the tone in her voice that was refusing the idea of the whole mating thing.

"The king is waiting." Lu Meili whispered. This time she was looking at her feet that were still bare.

"My uncle can wait. It is not urgent." Long Cheng looked at her feet as well. "I will bring you a change of clothes.." He offered as he reached for her wrist and caressed the area were the magical chains were. Not only were her feet bare, she was still in her hanging shirt and underwear. This was annoying Long Cheng but he was not able to bring anything as they were confiscated upon his entry.

Long Cheng was taking his time like no one was around. He seemed to forget his need to talk to Long Kael urgently.

At this time, no one wanted to bother them. The prison guards discretely stepped back to give them privacy as if they were not able to hear the conversation even if they did it in whispers due to the dragons' shifters strong sense of hearing.

Even Long Kael, who was not far from them, was waiting for Long Cheng. Though his expression clearly said that he was running out of patience, he remained silent.

Lu Meili tilted her head after a couple of minutes and looked at him, inquiringly, "Are they not bringing me back to my cell?" She asked.

"Do you want to get away from me that badly?" Long Cheng teased. His expression then turned serious as he clenched the magical strings connecting the cuffs around her wrists. "Your previous cell was torturous and noisy. You won't be able to sleep there. We can petition for house arrest if you want.." He suggested casually.

With that notion, a guard lightly coughed to interrupt them. "Your Highness, we can transfer her to a more isolated cell." The soldier offered as he looked at the king to see if there was any objection.

General Wang was the one who told them earlier on where to put Lu Meili and they were all trained to follow the orders with no questions asked.

Who would have thought that Long Cheng would decide to camp outside the prison cell and cause great disturbance from the other prisoners of the same level?

Seeing this, the king just waved his hand as approval before speaking. "All of you make sure not to forget the punishment for the rogues." He said with indifference before leaving the corridor where the interrogation room was at.

After that, Long Cheng walked beside Lu Meili as the guards escorted them to her new cell.

He was in profound thought about so many things that he failed to notice a small shadow coming out of Lu Meili's foot.

The shadow quickly moved to the nearest dark corner and immediately hid. As a brainless magical entity created only to follow specific orders, the shadow did not care where it would go.

It did not even know that the little magic coming out from it would cause a significant problem in the entire country if not the whole planet.

"Meili, do you need anything else aside from clothes?" Long Cheng asked eventually as they continued to walk the spiral stairs going to the lower level of the prison.

The middle of the entire prison was not hollow, and both sides of them were concrete walls that might be hiding traps to stop any attempt to escape or surveillance cameras.

It was a vast prison, but in truth, the number of prisoners was not a lot.

The underground royal prison had nine levels. They were in the first level earlier where the prisoners that were waiting for their trial were held that could happen after years.

That meant that everyone from that first level were those that still did not know their future fate.

Lu Meili was technically hitting the wrong spot earlier when she mentioned the death penalty punishment that no one with no guaranteed exact date of execution to the prisoners since that was the case for them.

"To which level are you bringing her?" Long Cheng asked one of the guards with them when he realized that they were going down further.

At that time, they already passed another considerably thick metal door that had a vast four written on it in their dragon language.

"Do not tell me you are bringing her to the ninth level?" He asked warningly when the guards were still not stopping on opening the gates.

The correctional officer chuckled. "Your Highness, we are not that cruel. Miss Lu is your mate and a female. We could not let her be with the most guarded criminals of the country." The guard replied respectfully with a glint of mischief in his eye.

Then the guard continued, "She will be staying at the sixth level, and we are making sure that she will be comfortable." He said before looking at the other guards knowingly to which the other's responded.

Since they were also able to hear the conversation that transpired in the interrogation room, the guards knew that they could not offend Lu Meili or be irresponsible around her as the king seemed to value her much.

Just as Long Cheng was going to open his mouth to reply, Lu Meili grabbed his arm, "Do you have my thing in the bag?" She suddenly asked with a guarded expression.

"I'm sorry. It is not allowed here. I do have your beaded bracelet." Long Cheng said regrettably.

***

Author's Note:

From the bottom of my heart, thank you very much!