Pei Shiyi was practically losing his mind.

On a normal day, he had to be on guard against Shen Zueran secretly getting close to Yu Lan behind his back.

The jealous Merfolk was incredibly possessive; if others had something, he had to have it too.

He’d only been separated from Yu Lan for a few short minutes, and when he wasn’t looking, another rival had appeared out of nowhere.

He even had the audacity to propose becoming one of Yu Lan’s males.

Pei Shiyi was absolutely fuming.

Rage burned wildly in his deep blue eyes, and his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists.

Sheng Yiqing, who was kneeling on one knee before Yu Lan, also heard the commotion. He turned his head slightly, revealing a handsome, exquisitely seductive face.

He gave a slight arch of his brow while his big, fluffy tail tentatively tried to wrap around Yu Lan’s waist in an unmistakably provocative gesture.

Provoking the established partners was standard procedure for the males of the Fox Clan.

These proud and prickly creatures only had eyes for their Female Master; they couldn’t care less about the thoughts or feelings of anyone else.

There was no way Pei Shiyi could tolerate such a provocation. Without hesitation, he raised a hand, controlling the water molecules in the air and condensing them into sharp needles of ice that he shot violently toward Sheng Yiqing.

Sheng Yiqing was not one to just stand there and take a beating. He would gladly accept any punishment from his Female Master, but from a love rival like Pei Shiyi?

Sheng Yiqing bared his teeth, the defiant flame in his eyes blazing even brighter.

’Let’s just see how tough this pretty little female’s Beast Husbands are. If they’re just a bunch of weaklings who can’t take a hit...’

’...then wouldn’t this be the perfect chance to show her my strength, and have her take me in just as I wish?’

Determined to have a showdown with Pei Shiyi, Sheng Yiqing attacked just as ruthlessly.

And just like that, without another word, the two of them started fighting in the garden.

"Hey, hey, hey! Pei Shiyi, stop fighting!"

By the time Yu Lan came to her senses and tried to stop them, the two had already fought their way into the distance, leaving only the occasional BANG echoing through the air.

A dark glint flashed through Shen Zueran’s black eyes. He took a step forward, slowly walked to Yu Lan’s side, and comforted her in a gentle voice.

"Pei Shiyi knows what he’s doing. From what I can see, his opponent isn’t weak, either."

"Just think of it as a bit of sparring. Nothing serious will happen."

"Lanlan, let’s head back to the Starship. Garbage Star is relatively well-governed these days, but it’s still not as safe as the Central Star at night."

Yu Lan was not a stubborn person.

On the contrary, she listened carefully to what each of her Beast Husbands said, making her decisions based on the specific situation.

Since Shen Zueran said the two would be fine, Yu Lan breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement.

"Alright, let’s head back to the Starship then."

"Remember to send a message to Pei Shiyi."

As they walked out of the banquet hall together, Shen Zueran asked, as if by chance:

"By the way, who was that guy just now?"

"Lanlan, do you know him?"

Shen Zueran, secretly seething with jealousy, vowed to find out about every single male who appeared around Yu Lan.

Thinking of the message she hadn’t had a chance to send, Yu Lan quickly shook her head and explained to Shen Zueran.

"No, he just suddenly appeared in front of me a moment ago."

"I’ve been with you two this whole time. Wouldn’t you know if I recognized someone?"

"Something seemed off about him; I wasn’t sure if he was in heat. I was just about to ask you to bring a soothing agent over. Look."

As she spoke, Yu Lan immediately opened her Communication Device, showed Shen Zueran the message she had just drafted, and then sighed.

"I don’t know why he acted like that. He even made Pei Shiyi angry."

"Sigh."

Yu Lan sighed, her lovely, delicate brows furrowed in utter confusion.

’Could a male really decide he wants to spend the rest of his life with someone just from a single glance, without knowing anything about them at all?’

Yu Lan simply couldn’t imagine it.

When Shen Zueran heard Yu Lan’s answer, a slight smile touched his lips. ’It’s good that Lanlan isn’t giving him a second thought.’

At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of relief. Back at the orphanage, he’d been quick enough to completely shield Lanlan behind him.

He hadn’t let her see the man’s face.

He also hadn’t expected that this person would be so shameless as to secretly follow them to the banquet.

To so brazenly reveal part of his beast form to seduce Yu Lan... just as you’d expect from a male of the Fox Clan.

They’ve been this way since ancient times.

Shen Zueran led Yu Lan, walking quickly toward where the Starship was parked.

By the time Pei Shiyi and Sheng Yiqing vaguely sensed something was amiss, there was no longer any trace of the pretty little female at the scene.

Damn that Shen Zueran!

While the snipe and the clam fought, the fisherman reaped the rewards. Shen Zueran had played that part to perfection.

Pei Shiyi gritted his teeth and shot Sheng Yiqing a vicious glare.

"Hmph!"

"I’ll let you off this time. If there’s a next time, I’ll take your life."

With that, he turned and hurried toward the Starship’s docking location.

Standing his ground, Sheng Yiqing raised a hand and wiped his thumb roughly over a cut on his face, a wave of irritation washing over him.

’That damned fish,’ he thought. ’He saw that I’m better looking and more likely to win our Female Master’s favor, so he went straight for my face.’ 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Even though he had done his best to block and had landed plenty of his own blows on Pei Shiyi, he couldn’t stop the Merfolk from leaving marks on his face.

Sheng Yiqing gritted his teeth and took off, quickly chasing in the direction Pei Shiyi had gone.

’I still don’t know the pretty little female’s name or where she lives,’ he thought. ’What if I lose her and never see her again?’

But Sheng Yiqing was a step too slow.

By the time he rushed to the location, the Starship was just lifting off, its deep blue engine flare flashing in the air for a moment.

Then, it quickly shrank into a white dot, heading straight for the Central Star.

"The Central Star?"

Sheng Yiqing murmured.

It was only then that he suddenly remembered: he had a marriage contract with the Empire Princess, Yu Lan.

Sheng Yiqing, who had been dissatisfied with this marriage from the start and had run away to escape it, now found his dissatisfaction reaching its absolute peak after meeting a female he actually liked.

He had to break off the engagement with Yu Lan.

Then he could go to the Central Star and find the pretty little female with a clean slate.

’I hear the males around Yu Lan are all top-tier, incredibly possessive 3S-level Beastman, aren’t they?’

’If that’s the case, they’d probably be thrilled if I took the initiative to cancel the engagement. They might even help make it happen.’

At this thought, Sheng Yiqing took out his Communication Device and found Yu Lan’s contact information—the contact info that the person in charge of the Peace Starship had secretly sent him.

It was so he could get a head start by chatting with Yu Lan online and cultivating some feelings.

Sheng Yiqing had sneered at the idea and never gave it a second thought.

He had no feelings for Yu Lan, so naturally, he had no intention of contacting her.

But now, thinking of the pretty little female, he felt it was necessary to have a talk with this renowned Empire Princess.