Chapter 209
Chapter 209: Anyone Can Try to Steal Someone—The Big Golden Dragon Can Too
Agris’s pupils shrank. His voice cracked. “You want to dissolve our engagement?”
“Atuya… you want to dissolve our engagement?”
Atuya kept her head lowered, eyes reddening. “Yes, Your Highness. I want to dissolve it.”
“You don’t need to worry the queen will blame you. I’ll shoulder all fault.”
“After it’s dissolved, I’ll give you all of my assets as compensation. Unconditionally.”
“And this time—your kidnapping of Jiang Tea Tea—I will personally send her back, apologize to Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming.”
“If he’s angry, the fault is mine. I’ll bear it all. It will have nothing to do with you.”
“All profits and credit from our weapons sales at this exhibition will go to you.”
“All blame will go to me.”
When she first met Agris, he wasn’t old. He’d smiled in sunlight, green eyes curved into crescents.
It had been a strange thing—one glance, and she’d fallen in love. Wanted him for life. Wanted to give him everything.
She waited.
Years. Decades.
But she couldn’t become the kind of “ambitious” spouse he wanted. She wasn’t a radical. She couldn’t rise beyond general.
She couldn’t give him the honor he craved.
So… free him.
Free herself.
Everyone would be free.
“Atuya…” Agris finally realized she wasn’t joking.
Fear surged through him.
He reached out with shaking hands to grab her.
Atuya stood abruptly, dodging his grip, and looked at him deeply for one last moment.
Then she turned and left.
Agris tried to crawl after her. “I don’t agree! I don’t agree to dissolving—”
“You’re my fiancée! I don’t agree!”
“Atuya! Come back! I’m ordering you, come back!”
But he had broken ribs. He couldn’t catch her. The pain brought him down hard again.
He’d thought she would do what she always did—turn back, rush to him, worry, soothe, bring him to treatment.
She didn’t.
She heard him fall.
She heard him call.
And she didn’t turn her head. She didn’t slow her steps.
If anything, she walked faster.
“You can hear it,” Jiang Tea Tea said lightly.
She was leaning against the warehouse wall near the exit, flame staff in hand, watching with casual interest. “He’s regretting it. He even sounds like he’s about to cry. You’re not going to give him another chance?”
Atuya tried to smile, but it wouldn’t come. “He won’t cry.”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted a brow. “You still love him?”
Atuya didn’t hide it. “Yes. I still love him.”
“But I won’t give him another chance.” Her voice steadied. “I want to love myself. I want to love the subordinates who have fought and died beside me.”
“I want to give them more chances to love their families.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “You’re right.”
“Love yourself. Love the people who treat you well.”
“Your lives aren’t that long, and there’s so much you want to do.” She spoke bluntly. “Wasting time mourning someone who doesn’t love you, someone who hurts you, is a losing trade.”
Demons did it better. Love and hate were clear. If you couldn’t let go, you killed them, ate them, refined them—either way, they ended up in your hands.
Of course, there had been love-brained demons too. The kind who’d rather slam their heads into walls than harm their beloved.
Jiang Tea Tea watched Atuya and decided Atuya wasn’t that kind.
Atuya gave a sincere nod. “Thank you.”
Jiang Tea Tea hooked her fingers at her. “Bend down.”
Atuya didn’t know what she meant, but she understood one thing clearly: she wasn’t Jiang Tea Tea’s opponent, and she didn’t sense malice.
So she obeyed, bending toward Jiang Tea Tea.
Jiang Tea Tea rested a hand on her shoulder.
A warm current surged into Atuya’s body.
In an instant, the bullet lodged in her shoulder armor dropped out and clinked to the floor.
Then the wound began to close. Blood stopped. The ache eased.
Even her turbulent abilities calmed. Her mental sea steadied, violent waves smoothing into quiet.
A few minutes later, Jiang Tea Tea withdrew her hand and smiled like sunrise. “I like you.”
“I smoothed your mental sea a little. I didn’t raise your level.”
Atuya looked shaken to the core. “Thank you… thank you…”
“No need,” Jiang Tea Tea said. “Send me back.”
Atuya nodded. “All right.”
She ordered her adjutant to haul Agris into the medical department, cut off every one of his communications, and assign four guards to watch him.
Agris, crawling to the doorway in pain, hadn’t heard their earlier exchange. But he did see Jiang Tea Tea treat Atuya.
The thing he’d desperately schemed for—Atuya got without even asking.
Jiang Tea Tea.
Jiang Tea Tea.
Pure human, he thought with venom. She made him hate her.
If she hadn’t existed, Atuya wouldn’t want to dissolve the engagement.
She refused his money, refused his status, refused to serve him… and she even “seduced” Atuya into betrayal.
Only if Jiang Tea Tea died would Atuya stop trying to leave him.
Agris was carried into the medical department. After a scan, the medic told him he was badly injured and needed three days in treatment.
Agris didn’t doubt it. He could feel more than broken ribs—his mental sea and abilities had been shaken by Jiang Tea Tea’s presence.
He couldn’t afford to let his ability level drop further.
He obeyed, letting them place him into a medical pod.
The moment he sank into the healing fluid, an information engineer cut off every signal to his lightbrain.
All incoming calls were redirected to Atuya—meaning if Crown Princess Asais or the queen contacted him, Atuya would answer.
Agris knew none of it. Floating in the pod, he only thought of one thing:
How to kill Jiang Tea Tea.
Atuya personally piloted a flyer, taking Jiang Tea Tea away.
Three minutes into the flight, Jiang Tea Tea turned her head. “Atuya. Slow down a little.”
“Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming’s warship is about to appear.”
Atuya’s heart jolted. “Understood.”
She didn’t slow.
She stopped the flyer completely.
In the same instant, a massive warship ahead dropped its invisibility veil and revealed itself.
Atuya stared at the enormous ship, her hands tightening around the controls.
Her own warship—and the entire Insect Clan exhibition zone—were within Chong Ming’s firepower coverage.
If something happened to Jiang Tea Tea on her ship, Chong Ming could blanket the area with full firepower and erase them before they even finished writing a last message.
“There’s another one,” Jiang Tea Tea said, pointing her thumb behind them. “Chief Executive Zhong Li He’s warship.”
Atuya turned and looked through the rear window.
Da Xi Nation Chief Executive Zhong Li He’s personal warship hung in the sky like a blade, facing Chong Ming’s ship in a silent standoff.
Atuya turned back, exhaled shakily, and looked at Jiang Tea Tea. “I’m suddenly… very glad I made my choice.”
Jiang Tea Tea met her gaze calmly. “I heard the Insect Clan can live to five hundred eighty.”
Atuya’s mouth curved. “Thank you. I’ll work hard to live. I won’t die easily.”
If she’d chosen the way Agris chose today, she might not even have bones left.
“Let’s go,” Jiang Tea Tea said. “The commander-in-chief’s hangar is open.”
Atuya nodded, restarted the flyer, and piloted it into Chong Ming’s warship.
Adjutant AI was already waiting. The moment they landed, he moved briskly and opened the passenger door.
Jiang Tea Tea stepped out, looking completely at ease, as if it were normal for Adjutant AI to open doors for her.
She turned and said, “Adjutant AI, take General Atuya to see your commander-in-chief.”
“I won’t go. I’m going back down to continue patrolling.”
Adjutant AI produced another flyer. “Understood. Use my flyer to go down. The Space Weapons Exhibition airspace has open permissions for my flyer. You can land directly.”
Jiang Tea Tea smiled. “All right. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Adjutant AI said.
Jiang Tea Tea waved once at Atuya, climbed into the flyer, and took off, leaving Chong Ming’s warship.
Only after she flew out did Adjutant AI gesture politely. “General Atuya. This way, please.”
Atuya inclined her head and followed him to meet Chong Ming.
He wore black combat uniform. Golden hair fell down his back. Two gleaming golden dragon horns rose from his forehead.
He looked composed. Powerful. Commanding. Every inch the leader citizens fantasized about.
Chong Ming said simply, “Sit.”
Atuya didn’t sit. She went straight to the point. “Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming, I apologize. My fiancé, Your Highness Agris, offended—”
“Have you ever considered changing environments?” Chong Ming interrupted calmly.
Atuya frowned. “I don’t understand. Please explain.”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes held steady, unmistakable appreciation in them. “You, General Atuya—your ability to fight, your administrative competence, your character—are all excellent.”
“When the Space Weapons Exhibition ends, you return to the Insect Clan and dissolve your engagement with Your Highness Agris. The Insect Queen will marginalize you.”
“Are you interested in coming to my side?”
“Your rank and compensation will remain unchanged. I want you to guard a border-sector space station for me.”