Still, though the great battle on the ancient battlefield began in an entirely ordinary fashion, its ending was anything but predictable.

The fighting was already over by noon.

They hadn’t had time to clear the battlefield or confirm whether the Fourth was dead, but no one could seriously dispute the fact that the clan army had been utterly defeated.

With the dust settled and victory decided, cheers soon swept across the battlefield.

The joyful cries grew louder and more rhythmic, until they joined into a mighty roar that echoed across the battlefield for a long time.

Unlike his subordinates, White Bear was far from at ease.

He tossed away the head of one of the Fourth’s trusted men, flicked the blood from his hand, then wiped it clean on his sleeve. He couldn’t help thinking:

Thanks to the teamwork between his mother-in-law and himself, both their main force and their reserves had won—but not without a cost.

He knew his soldiers were just about at their limit. If they had to face another enemy, they probably wouldn’t have enough strength left to fight.

Just earlier, that so-called Dark King Army had defeated the Third Clan’s forces.

White Bear figured:

Unless something unexpected happened, that army would be their next opponent!

They’d have to fight sooner or later, and a short rest wouldn’t be enough to dispel his men’s exhaustion.

Rather than wait for the Dark King Army to attack, they might as well strike first while their morale was high. That could at least reduce their chances of defeat a little.

Of course, given their condition, if the beastkin army fought the Dark King Army, the likeliest outcome was still that both armies would be wiped out.

White Bear found the thought of taking the enemy down with them very hard to accept.

“If it weren’t for my daughter, I really wouldn’t want to give that kid my full support... All troops, listen up!”

After using Bai Meow as an excuse to persuade himself, White Bear raised a hand, ready to give the order to attack.

But just before the beastkin army could launch its attack, the other side had already sent an envoy.

In wartime, you couldn’t rule out the possibility that the enemy might send an envoy to deceive you.

There was no way White Bear would let his guard down just like that.

Even so, he couldn’t say for certain that the Dark King Army had no interest in talking.

So he had no choice but to go and deal with the envoy first.

He was confident he could read people well enough to see through her true intentions.

“I wish to speak with the commander of this army. Which one of you would that be?”

Just as he was thinking that, the tiny envoy appeared.

“That would be me.”

White Bear walked over from a distance.

The moment he saw Alice, White Bear’s big eyes opened even wider than before. They looked like freshly peeled lychees.

The doll just spoke?

White Bear was a beastkin who’d seen his fair share of the world. Before today, he’d thought:

What strange thing hadn’t he seen?

But after seeing Alice open her mouth, he couldn’t help muttering to himself:

“This one’s new...”

The Dark King Army had sent Alice as its envoy because she was eloquent and well suited to communicating with their side.

Wang Yafu and Dracula hadn’t been wrong about Alice’s talents.

But the two of them had overlooked one thing:

Alice was a girl who was hard to please.

Even if she were headed to a cell in some prison, she’d still make demands of the warden and squeeze some kind of “tribute” out of the jailer.

Once you knew Alice was like that, it wasn’t hard to guess why she was about to make demands.

“You’re the one who makes the decisions in this army? Excellent. Let’s talk.”

Alice hopped onto a chair, raised a finger from below, and pointed at White Bear, who looked like a giant to her.

“Before we get down to business, I’d like some East Continent black tea. The very best kind!”

How big he was didn’t matter to her.

After all, whether White Bear was tall or short wouldn’t change how she saw him.

She was always the one making demands, and she wanted the other person to satisfy as many of them as possible.

“We don’t have black tea. People in our country generally don’t drink tea.”

But he was about to disappoint her. White Bear was no gentleman.

Aside from a few exceptions, the king treated most girls no differently from the way he treated men.

“You must have coffee, at least?”

“We don’t have coffee either.”

“Then what about pastries? Don’t tell me you don’t even have pastries here?”

“I have to ask—did you come to the wrong place? This isn’t a café, and I’m not a pastry chef.”

“Fair enough. I can’t imagine a pastry chef looking like you.”

“If you’re done commenting on my appearance, we can get down to business in a moment.”

“Afternoon tea is business to me.”

“It’s not afternoon yet.”

“What matters isn’t the time. It’s a heart that never gives up on enjoying afternoon tea.”

Roooooar!

White Bear let out a furious roar in his heart.

To be fair, he was one of the less impulsive beastkin.

Except when it came to Bai Meow, he could usually keep his cool when talking to people.

The main reason he was finding it so hard to endure this was that he and Alice were simply a terrible match.

Of all the people he couldn’t handle, Wang Xiaole ranked first in his mind, with Alice in second place.

Just as the atmosphere was starting to sour, Bai Shui stepped between Alice and White Bear, using her tiny body to separate the two.

“Here, I’ll share my snacks with you.”

Bai Shui treated snacks as proper meals, so pulling out a few pastries was no trouble at all.

Now that she’d received her “tribute,” Alice’s mood brightened at once, and her words grew much sweeter.

“Oh my, what a beautiful person! You’re both cat beastkin, but you’re completely different from that guy over there.”

“Comparing me to him is just cruel.”

“You’re right. Let’s just say he’s a failed product of the cat beastkin race.”

“That’s the best way to think of it.”

As if they’d hit it off from the start, Bai Shui and Alice soon fell into conversation.

At that moment, they were like close friends who’d been apart for years and finally reunited one day.

And when it came to a certain king, the two of them seemed to share an instinctive understanding.

Their back-and-forth made it sound as if they’d planned their lines in advance.

Over the years, White Bear had gotten used to his mother-in-law’s jabs. Even with twice as many people taking shots at him this time, he didn’t mind.

Once he accepted that he was being left out, White Bear had completely made peace with it.

He’d originally planned to handle the envoy himself, but now he had to leave the task to his mother-in-law.

Even though he was the reigning king, White Bear had just been “laid off.”

With his duty lifted from his shoulders, he took the lunch one of his guards handed him and walked off to a cool spot where there weren’t many people.

He stayed there.

With the king absent from the negotiations, the two sides continued their discussion in an orderly fashion.

“Our king’s campaign is only meant to deal with the vampire army threatening Dibiles. We have no intention of clashing with your country’s elite forces.”

“Your army isn’t far from ours. Even if you’re trying to explain yourselves, your reasons aren’t very convincing.”

“We understand that. But if our army changes formation while on the move, and something unpleasant happens between our forces, we’ll find it difficult even to defend ourselves.”

“Before asking others to trust you, shouldn’t you try trusting them first?”

“Wrong. When both sides stand as equals, trust should be repaid with trust. There shouldn’t be any question of who goes first.”

“Your side was the one that sent an envoy first. Can’t you see that gesture of goodwill through to the end?”

“Our people have always valued etiquette. We never abandon our manners, even when dealing with enemies.

“The king sent me here to show our good breeding to those who aren’t our enemies. It doesn’t mean we intend to bow to anyone.”

“Why make things so complicated? Why not be straightforward, like us?”

After talking for quite a while, Alice and Bai Shui were still circling around the same question: who would make the first concession, and which army would lower its guard first.

It was true that neither Wang Yafu nor Bai Shui intended to start a war, but both were afraid the other side might trick them.

Both sides had to solve an ancient proof:

Before you can make someone believe you’re a good person, you have to prove that you are one!

Bai Shui was undoubtedly more uneasy than Alice.

“After getting to know you a little, I can tell you’re someone I can trust.

If you were the commander of the Dark King Army, we could talk things over. Unfortunately, you’re not the one in charge.”

Bai Shui had heard that the Dark King Army’s leader was a human girl, but that wasn’t enough to make her trust Wang Yafu.

She also knew the girl was only around ten years old.

But that didn’t prove the girl was just an innocent “little rabbit,” and not a cunning “little fox.”

If you wanted to trust someone, the first thing you had to do was meet them in person.

Bai Shui thought that was impossible, but Alice told her it could be done.

“Before the king sent me out, she specifically mentioned this possibility: if I couldn’t complete my mission, I was to ask your commander to come over.

“In other words, my king wants to meet you. I hope you won’t turn down her kind offer.”

Put simply:

In a sense, Alice the envoy was “bait.”

Wang Yafu had sent her here to convince the beastkin commander that they were sincere, and then get her to come meet in person.

One thing needed to be made clear:

This idea hadn’t come from Dracula. Wang Yafu had come up with it all by herself.

Her thinking was still naïve, but it wasn’t just naïve.

That brief exchange before the two sides’ leaders officially met had made Bai Shui feel that the Dark King Army probably wouldn’t become their enemy.

On the basis of that fragile trust, Bai Shui decided to give the other side a chance.

“All right. We’re willing to meet your king. Please hurry back and let her know, so she has time to prepare.”

“We” meant Bai Shui herself, as well as the reigning king, White Bear.

If anything went wrong, Bai Shui would sacrifice this bargain-bin son-in-law of hers and use him as vital cannon fodder to cover her retreat.