Once outside the city, Ryan Carter wiped some dirty mud from the ground onto himself, and also smeared two streaks on Valkyrie's fair cheeks.

“Let’s hide at my place for a while first,” Ryan Carter said.

Valkyrie didn’t reply, which was tacit consent.

They walked out of the city on foot, and before long, they saw squad after squad of guards speeding down the road. Clearly, news of Valkyrie’s escape had already spread.

……

After traveling for three days and nights, Ryan Carter and Valkyrie finally escaped back to Xiaosang Town.

Xiaosang Town was a gathering place for silkworm-raising farmers. Many merchants from outside the city would come here to buy raw silkworms and silk materials. With the increasing number of outsiders, it gradually became a place full of all sorts of people.

The more outsiders there were, the easier it was to hide. Ryan Carter and Valkyrie hurried along through the night, not daring to rest much during the day, and were utterly exhausted.

As soon as he entered his own small courtyard and hut, Ryan Carter collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep.

Valkyrie made do by pushing two chairs together, lying there without saying a word.

She was just as tired, and after everything that had happened, her heart had suffered a heavy blow. But she didn’t fall asleep right away. As she recalled the events of the past few days, her eyes unconsciously grew moist.

The sleeping Ryan Carter suddenly stopped snoring not long after. He opened his eyes and looked at Valkyrie, who was lying on her side, curled up slightly, and saw a few sparkling drops clinging to her eyelashes… He couldn’t help but sigh softly in his heart.

Although their relationship was physical rather than emotional, Ryan Carter still felt a bit of regret.

For him, it was just drinking some poisoned porridge, spending a night in a dungeon, and running for a few days.

But for her?

She was the lord of Yong City, her power taken, her chastity lost, now reduced to hiding in a small hut reeking of silkworm droppings. The calm and occasional dazedness she had shown these past days was probably not because she had easily forgotten the humiliation, but because she was turning all her inner anger and shame into a patient desire for revenge.

Chapter 3: Dragon Gate

Sigh, now I’m just a silkworm farmer.

Relying on selling a bit of silk to get by, if nothing unexpected happens, next year I’ll marry Little Grace, the girl across the street who makes silk, and live an ordinary, drifting life.

Over the years, Ryan Carter had already worn down his ambitions. He no longer hoped for former glory, only wanting to honestly plant some mulberry trees and raise silkworms in a place where no one knew him, muddling through life…

Who would have thought that one day he’d end up sleeping in a dungeon with the dazzling Valkyrie, the ruler of Yong City? What a restless life!

Closing his eyes, Logan Carter also began to feel lost and drowsy.

Before long, he too fell asleep from exhaustion.

……

“Sizzle~”

That smells so good. Is the neighbor frying rolls again?

Ryan Carter woke up and quickly caught the aroma of fried food wafting through the air.

After splashing his face with cold water, Ryan Carter realized the delicious smell was coming from his own kitchen.

Where was Valkyrie?

She was in the kitchen??

Could it be that she could cook too!

Amazing—she could handle the dungeon, the hall, and even the kitchen!

Walking into the simple kitchen, Ryan Carter saw a bamboo basin next to a big pot, filled with golden, crispy, oil-fried rolls that looked crunchy and delicious!

But soon, Ryan Carter witnessed a scene that made him want to collapse!

Valkyrie was holding long chopsticks, skillfully dipping plump meat silkworms in sweet potato starch, then tossing them straight into the oil pot. The fresh aroma immediately filled the air again.

“My big meat silkworms!!” Ryan Carter wailed.

“I’m hungry. There’s nothing else to eat in your house.”

Silkworms are so cute, how can you eat them!

Ryan Carter had painstakingly raised those big meat silkworms for over a month. Each one could be traded for a grain of silver sand. Marrying a wife in town depended on these most valuable silkworms…

“You look like a fairy, so elegant, but why do you fry silkworms so deliciously… and so cruelly!” Ryan Carter said, almost in tears.

“I’ve seen these big meat silkworms before. My people used to make them this way. I’ve tasted one—they’re too greasy, not really to my liking.” Valkyrie wrapped a fried silkworm in a tender green leaf to cut the grease, took a bite with a slight frown, and swallowed it with difficulty.

It’s bad enough you’re eating them, but you have to call them greasy and make it look so painful to swallow…

They’re obviously delicious!

In the end, Ryan Carter still picked up a piece, wrapped it in a fresh leaf, and put it in his mouth.

“Little one, I won’t eat you, I won’t eat you. Those are big meat silkworms, they’re meant to be eaten.” Ryan Carter said as he ate, comforting the little ice bug lying on his shoulder.

“In recent months, there’s been a rumor that young dragons love to eat big meat silkworms. If a young spirit that eats meat silkworms appears, it must be captured—the chance of transforming into a dragon is very high,” Valkyrie said.

“No wonder big meat silkworms have been selling so well lately, demand far outstripping supply. I thought some rich young lady was getting married and needed lots of silk for clothes. Damn, they’re supposed to be for spinning silk, but now they’re just meat. Those big silkworms must feel so wronged.”

“If eating silkworms leads to becoming a dragon, then the souls of tens of thousands of silkworms wouldn’t have died in vain,” Valkyrie said.

“Are dragons really that noble?”

“Noble.”

“How do you compare?”

“I am not as noble as a dragon.”