Don't Bite Too Hard

Grace shook her head. "He won't come."

"Why? Doesn't he want us anymore?" Ray's eyes looked hurt.

"No, that's not it. He and Mom have a misunderstanding—once it's cleared up, it'll be fine," Grace said. "Your Dad loves you very much!"

"Then let's try calling him, okay?" Ray flicked out the Heartscale from Grace's necklace with his tail. "I'll call him—he can sense me because my power is much stronger than yours."

With that, he opened his mouth and bit down on the Heartscale.

He looked like he was biting down really hard.

"Hey! Hey! Let go!" Grace hurriedly said. "Don't bite it to pieces!"

Ray let go and waited.

But even after the fish turned into bones, he still didn't show up.

"Dad really isn't coming..." Ray said tearfully after waiting so long. "He doesn't want me anymore..."

"That's impossible!" Grace said. "He... I heard from Shan that he went to the Blighted Wilds. It's really far from here. Maybe he's busy and can't come, or maybe he just didn't sense it... Anyway, you're his son. He would never abandon you."

"Really?" Ray asked.

"Mm-hmm." Grace wiped away his tears, though her own heart ached.

He really isn't coming back...

...

Blighted Wilds.

"Pfft!" Evan Xiao, who was meditating, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Leon Zane, who was healing him, withdrew his hands from Evan's back and said irritably, "Your Highness, what's going on with you? You were almost healed, but you got distracted again! We've been trapped here for so long—don't you want to get out?"

Evan Xiao frowned and said nothing.

Ian Zhu looked at Evan suspiciously. "Your Highness, what's wrong with you? Why are you so restless? When you fought that magical beast, I thought you had it! But at the critical moment you got distracted! Not only did you get seriously injured, now the three of us are stuck here in the Divine Tomb and can't get out."

Evan Xiao still didn't say anything.

"Is something bothering you? Why not tell us? Maybe we can help you sort it out!" Leon Zane asked.

"Yeah, yeah!" Ian Zhu chimed in. "If you keep spacing out like this, how are we supposed to fix things?"

Evan Xiao wiped the blood from his mouth, closed his eyes, and said, "Seal my Heartroot Point."

Once his Heartroot Point was sealed, he wouldn't be able to sense any movement from the Heartscale.

"Heartroot Point?" Leon Zane's eyes widened. "Wait... Is your weird behavior because of Grace?"

Evan Xiao stayed silent.

At first, when she bit the Heartscale, Evan was still angry, knowing she just wanted him to come back, so he ignored her.

Later, when she bit it every day, he became even more certain.

They came to the Blighted Wilds to investigate whether there were fiends hidden in the Divine Tomb.

Even for the dragons, who can see through illusions and truth, they can't know what's really inside the Divine Tomb without entering it themselves.

However, while fighting the magical beast guarding the Divine Tomb, he suddenly realized that Grace hadn't bitten the Heartscale for three days!

Could something really have happened to her? Could she be... dead?

Just as that thought flashed through his mind, the ancient beast struck him, leaving him badly injured.

The three of them were sealed inside the Divine Tomb, unable to leave for now.

...

Just now, at the critical moment of healing, he sensed movement from the Heartscale again.

This time it was Ray, biting down hard.

Why was it Ray and not Grace?

Is she alive or dead?

Evan panicked, and failed again...