Smiling brightly, Emma turned her camera toward the living room, where Corvin lay sprawled on the couch after playing with Coalball. "Look, look! I've fed Corvin so well these past few days that he's put on a whole layer of fluff. And Coalball's grown too! I think." After showing Edric her two companions, she hurried into the bedroom, excitedly switching the view to the Crescent Divine Tree. "Edric, look! I placed a layer of beast cores under the roots, and it's already sprouted its second leaf!" A few days earlier, during one of their video calls, Emma had already told Edric about the mysterious branch. But she hadn't mentioned that she was feeding it with her blood—she didn't want him to worry. Instead, she'd claimed that she had accidentally placed some beast cores in the pot, and the branch had absorbed their energy, changing as a result. One drop of blood a day caused her no harm, so Edric hadn't suspected a thing.Her smile was soft, her eyes gleaming as she looked at the man she'd been missing day and night. "I looked up some information—it says that for every six leaves the Divine Tree grows, it'll bloom a flower." Watching Emma's bright, animated face as she shared every detail with him, Edric felt warmth rise in his chest. Her love for him was so clear, so genuine, it wrapped around him like sunlight. "Edric, when it blooms its first flower, I'll pick it and send it to you," she said. She'd never seen what the flower looked like, but she already knew exactly what she wanted to do with it. "I wonder what the flower will look like?" "Emma… I'm sorry." The sudden apology startled her. His tone was low and full of guilt. "What's wrong?" she asked quickly. "Did something happen? Are you hurt?" "No, no, I'm fine." Realizing she had misunderstood, Edric hurried to explain, afraid she'd worry. "I just… I feel like I haven't done enough for you. I can't stay by your side all the time, and now you can't even leave the Alliance freely." Other females can go wherever they please once they have a mate, he thought bitterly. But my Emma—she lost her freedom the moment she had me. Emma almost laughed in relief. For a moment, she'd thought something serious had happened. Seeing his self-blaming expression, she immediately understood—her poor little snake was stuck in a spiral of guilt. And when someone got trapped in their own thoughts, comforting words alone rarely worked. The best cure was distraction—redirecting the emotion elsewhere. Under the table, Emma pinched her thigh hard. Ow—d*mn, that hurts! She blinked until tears welled up, then looked at him pitifully through the screen. "So… are you saying you want a dissolution, Edric? You don't want me anymore?""Emma! No—no, that's not what I meant!" Edric froze, completely panicked. He hadn't expected his words to make her cry—or worse, to make her think he wanted to end their bond. Seeing her lying on the desk, tearful and heartbroken, he forgot all about guilt or self-blame. What the hell am I saying? "Emma, please don't cry. I'll never say anything like that again," he blurted. Still sniffling, she looked up at him. "You might not say it, but you're still thinking it." "No, no! I swear I won't think that way ever again. I swear on the Beast God." Her distraught expression instantly tore his heart apart, and he wanted to stab himself in the gut as punishment. The Beast God was real—the divine faith of all therians. A male might lie to his huntress, but he would never dare lie to the Beast God. "Since you swore, I'll believe you this once," she murmured, wiping her tears. "But I'm still mad at you. You don't get forgiven that easily." By then, any trace of guilt in Edric's mind had vanished. Now all he could think about was how to make her forgive him. "Emma," he said softly, almost pleading, "what do I have to do for you to forgive me?" When someone's trapped in guilt, the last thing you do is leave them idle, Emma thought. I have to give him something to do—something safe and harmless, thought. And distracting. Her eyes darted toward Coalball, who had just waddled into the room. A spark of inspiration flashed in her mind. "You said before you wanted to find Coalball a female, didn't you? Well, that's your punishment. You're going to find him a beautiful and intelligent female." "Chirp!" Coalball squeaked in protest, but Emma quickly pinched his tiny mouth shut before he could say another word.She turned back to the projection of Edric. "And you'd better finish up whatever you're working on soon and come back. There are so many things I want to eat, but I don't feel like cooking them myself. You'll have to come home and learn to cook with me—so that next time, you can make whatever I'm craving."