The moment the words left his mouth, Yizhou came to a slow stop.
He didn't answer right away. The corners of his lips were still tilted up in a smile, but… there was something off about it.
Sui Sui slowed down and glanced back, sensing something was off. "If you don't want to say it, that's fine," he said gently. "Gege won't press."
But Yizhou shook his head. "No. It's not that," he said softly, his tone calm and even. "It's not something I can't say. But…"
He tilted his head slightly, golden eyes meeting Sui Sui's gaze without flinching. "Gege, if I say it, I'm afraid that you'll hate me."
His voice was light, almost playful, as if he wasn't truly afraid of the possibility. The smile on his face didn't falter, as if the words he spoke were nothing more than a passing thought.
"Gege, can you first promise not to hate me?" he added, with his childlike voice, pleading.
Sui Sui blinked, surprised by the sudden question, but nodded without hesitation. "I promise."
Yizhou smiled faintly, then stood still for a long while, his fingers quietly twisting into the sleeves of his robe. Only when the silence stretched did he finally speak.
"Gege… do you know?" he said softly, almost like he was sharing a secret, his voice warm and tinged with a trace of shyness. "You're the first person who's ever truly cared about me."
"I mean it," he added, his gaze dipping briefly before meeting Sui Sui's eyes again. "You've always been so kind to me… even from the very beginning."
Then, like a dam breaking, the words began to pour out: "First, you saved me, even when you didn't know me. You always care about my well-being. You share your things with me without a second thought. You buy me things… even before I know I want them.
When I'm in a bad mood, you try to cheer me up. You always compliment me… and pat my head…—"
One line after another, Yizhou piled on praise without even pausing for breath. It was as if he'd been holding all of it in for a long time and had finally found a moment to let it spill out.
Listening to him, Sui Sui couldn't help but chuckle, lifting a hand to cover the faint smile tugging at his lips.
This little brat… when did he become so talkative?
"Gege, I really really really like it here… No it's not that I like it here, I like it because Gege is here"
With the way he was going, even Sui Sui was starting to feel a little embarrassed under the constant barrage of compliments.
But…"
Suddenly, Yizhou's tone shifted. The warmth and excitement from earlier vanished in an instant, replaced by a quiet, almost emotionless calm.
The change was so abrupt, it was like watching a bright flame snuffed out by a gust of cold wind.
Yizhou continued speaking, voice soft but flat. "Actually… in the place I used to live, I was always alone."
A brief silence fell between them. Sui Sui drew in a quiet breath, caught off guard by the unexpected confession.
"Gege, do you want to hear a story?" Yizhou asked, tilting his head slightly. His golden eyes reflected the moonlight, calm and clear as they settled on Sui Sui.
Without waiting for an answer, he continued, as if it didn't matter whether anyone was listening.
"Six years ago, a young boy was born," Yizhou said, his voice calm, as though recounting an old tale. "That boy…was Yizhou"
Yizhou then looked at the night sky, he squinted his eyes, as if looking for something: " When Yizhou was born, a a purple star was born in the sky"
"That star shone so brightly, that even in daylight, it outshone the sun."
"They said it was a sign, a good omen from the Heavenly Dao," Yizhou said. But even as he spoke words that praised himself, his voice held no pride, no awe. It remained calm, indifferent, as if he were speaking about someone else entirely.
Yizhou's father is a Dragon Sovereign, one of the strongest in the upper realm. His mother, on the other hand, was a Qilin, the only Qilin born in the last fifty thousand years.
In the Upper Realm, Qilins are revered as sacred beasts, deeply tied to the Heavenly Dao. They are considered prophets of the heavens, for they are among the rare few who can glimpse fragments of the Dao's will.
The birth of a Qilin often marks the beginning of a new era, meaning, there would be a big change coming to the upper realm soon.
But precisely because of their closeness to the Dao, Qilins rarely bear children. It is said that even one qilin birth within a hundred thousand years is already a blessing beyond measure.
However, Yizhou's mother was a wishful wanderer, someone who had always longed to have a child with his beloved. To him, a child was proof of their eternal bond, the embodiment of a love that could endure time itself.
So even knowing the chances were slim, he prayed. Day after day, year after year, he prayed for a miracle.
He waited eight thousand years before that prayer was finally answered.
"Do you know, gege," Yizhou said softly, "they say my mother gave away all the good karma he had accumulated, across all his past, present and future lives, just so he could conceive Yizhou."
They also said Yizhou must be the most loved child in the world. After all, he was a miracle born under heaven's favor and conceived through his parent's sacrifice."
"But Yizhou doesn't think like that at all." Yizhou said flatly, his gaze never once leaving Sui Sui's.
Although Yizhou had a mother, he had never seen him—not once, even from a distance.
The servants in their courtyard used to whisper that it was because his mother was sick. Sick to the point that he couldn't even muster the strength to lift his head and look at the child he had once spent eight thousand years begging the heavens for.
As Yizhou grew older, he came to understand the reason behind that illness.
It was because of Yizhou himself.
People said that while Yizhou was still nestled inside his mother's womb, he had drained nearly all of his mother's life force—consuming it bit by bit like a slow-burning fire. Before he had even opened his eyes to this world, he had nearly killed the person who had brought him into it.
Because of this, Yizhou didn't know if his mother truly loved him. Maybe he did. But there was no way for him to be certain. After all, Yizhou had never felt any warmth from this person. Yizhou had no lingering presence or affection that a child might remember. To him, his mother existed only in name.
Yizhou also has a father.
Though, in truth, Yizhou didn't think his father liked him at all.
He had always been a clever child. Even in the brief moments they had met, he could sense it very clearly —that in his father's heart, there was no space for Yizhou at all. No warmth, no sentiment, perhaps even a touch of resentment. Yizhou wasn't entirely sure.
But Yizhou did not take this to heart, it wasn't surprising.
After all, The Dragon clan are people who are innately selfish beings. Their hearts were made to love only one treasure.
And in his father's heart, that treasure was not him.
However, Yizhou did not hate his father. In fact, deep down in his heart, understood him. After all, he too was a dragon—a creature whose heart could only hold one person.
That kind of devotion was in their bones, carved into their very nature. And Yizhou had long embraced this.