Chapter 10 — Changed the entire Inheritance Lineage to Choose the Wolf King

Once a year, the Council of Elders of the White Wolf Kingdom holds an ancient ritual called the Wolf King Testing Ceremony — not to choose a leader, as Lang Phong had ascended the throne three years ago, but to reaffirm that the current Wolf King is still worthy of his responsibilities, and at the same time an opportunity for those closest to him — if any — to participate in a symbolic challenge, demonstrating the bond between power and love.

This year, for the first time, Yen Chi was invited to join Lang Phong.

"What's the challenge?" she asked, standing in front of the preparation room door, feeling nervous.

"A walk through the Black Forest — the forest north of the capital, where the terrain is rugged and many wild animals live," Lang Phong explained. "The participating couple must go through that forest together in one day and one night, without help from escort soldiers, relying only on themselves."

"That sounds dangerous," Yen Chi commented, though he couldn't hide the excitement in his voice.

"That's right. That's why this challenge is meaningful — it proves that two people can trust and rely on each other even in the harshest of circumstances." He looked at her, his eyes questioning. "You don't have to participate if you don't want to. This is not a mandatory requirement."

"I want to participate," Yen Chi replied without hesitation. "I want to prove, not only to the court, but to myself, that I can stand by your side under any circumstances."

The next morning, the two entered the Black Forest just as dawn had just broken through. The forest is denser and darker than the forests around the Son Lang range that Yen Chi is familiar with, with towering ancient tree trunks obscuring most of the sunlight.

Before entering the forest, the elders gave careful instructions: not to carry weapons other than a small dagger, not to ask anyone for help no matter how dangerous, and most importantly, not to fully transform unless one's life is truly threatened - because the purpose of the challenge is not to prove muscular strength, but to prove the intelligence, trust and bond between two people.

They move carefully, relying on both wolf instincts and each person's survival experience. Yen Chi, with her sharp intuition, is often the one to detect hidden dangers in advance — a deep hole disguised under a layer of rotten leaves, the characteristic foul smell of a nearby fierce wolf den, or signs of an approaching rain.

"You really have amazing senses," Lang Phong commented after Yen Chi promptly pulled him away from an old hunter's trap hidden under the grass.

"That's the only thing I've always been proud of," she replied, smiling. "Even though my intuition has been fooled by strange scents at home, at least in nature, it has never betrayed me."

"I believe you," Lang Phong said, his eyes following her careful steps amid the thick layer of rotting leaves. "Actually, I've been observing you all this morning, and I've noticed something - you don't just rely on your intuition, but you also know how to read physical traces that ordinary people can easily miss. The way you recognize the unusual moisture of the soil before discovering a trap hole, the way you listen to the sounds of birds to know if there are wild animals nearby before smelling their scent. That's not just wolf instinct, it's experience honed over the years."

"I grew up among the mountains and forests," she replied, a bit of pride in her voice. "While my brothers learn how to use weapons and tactics, I like to wander alone in the forest, learning to listen to every smallest sound of nature. Perhaps that is also a way for me to avoid the feeling of being lost in my own family."

That confession made Lang Phong stop and turn to look at her with sad eyes. "You don't have to hide anymore, Yen Chi. From now on, wherever I live, that place will be your home."

In the evening, when the two stopped by a small stream to rest, a sudden thunderstorm struck, forcing them to seek shelter in a nearby cave. Sitting next to each other in the dark, with only the light glimmering from the small fire they built, Yen Chi and Lang Phong began to share the deepest things in their hearts that before, even though they had written hundreds of letters to each other, they had never dared to say out loud.

"I'm scared," Yen Chi confessed, her voice soft. "I'm afraid that no matter how hard I try, I will always be 'the girl abandoned by the whole clan' in the eyes of everyone here. I'm afraid that you, one day, will look at me with the same skeptical eyes as everyone else."

Lang Phong turned to look at her, his eyes in the flickering firelight contained a deep sincerity. "Yen Chi, I saw your heart before I knew your face. No amount of gossip can change that. I don't love you because you're perfect in the eyes of others — I love you because of the way you face adversity, because of the sincerity you show me even when you don't know who I am."

He raised his hand and gently touched her cheek. "You don't need to prove anything to me. You just need to be yourself."

In that moment, when two hearts fully opened their hearts to each other in the middle of the storm outside the cave, something strange began to happen. Yen Chi felt a strange warmth creeping onto the back of her hand, where Lang Phong was holding it tightly. She looked down, and they were both stunned to see a faint streak of light, shaped like a crescent moon, gradually appearing on their skin - on her hand and on his hand, symmetrical like two pieces of the same whole.

"This is..." Yen Chi whispered, not daring to believe her eyes.

“I have never seen this before either,” Lang Phong replied, his voice filled with surprise, “but I have heard it told by the elders—an ancient legend that even the oldest of the Council have only heard about, never seen with their own eyes. They call it the Wolf Seal.”

"Wolf India?" she repeated, her fingers gently touching the faint streak of light that was gradually spreading on her skin.

"Legend has it, this is a mark that only appears when two wolf people form a true mate bond from the bottom of their hearts — a bond that cannot be forced, cannot be tampered with by any means." Lang Phong looked at her, his eyes filled with emotion. "I never expected to witness this with my own eyes in my life."

The faint streak of light gradually faded after a few minutes, leaving a warm feeling lingering on their skin, but the memory of that moment would forever be engraved in both of their hearts.

They do not yet fully understand the true meaning and power of that Wolf Seal — it will only be fully revealed at a later decisive moment. But that night, in the cave in the middle of the Black Forest, they both knew one thing for sure: the connection between them was real, so sincere that even nature itself had to recognize it.

The next morning, after a fitful but warm night of sleep next to a small fire in the cave, the two continued the remaining journey through the Black Forest with a much stronger bond, together overcoming two more encounters with wild animals and a dangerous fast-flowing stream before reaching the southern forest gate on time. When they safely walked out of the Black Forest, the entire Council of Elders waiting at the forest's entrance all noticed a change in the eyes of the Wolf King and his betrothed - although no one knew the exact reason, that warm light quietly erased some of the remaining doubts in the hearts of some elders.

But in another corner of the capital, in a guesthouse for foreign merchants, Wang Bachyi had completed his first relationship with an ambitious young court official — the beginning of a network of rumors that would soon spread throughout Moonlight City.

That young official, who was dissatisfied with not being promoted for many years despite claiming to have outstanding talent, was easily seduced by Uong Bach Nghi with clever flattery and several gifts of no small value. “You deserve a higher position at court,” Uong Bach Nghi told him during afternoon tea, his voice filled with mock sympathy. "It's just a pity that the current court is paying too much attention to your highness's marriage, and forgetting truly talented people like you."

That seed of doubt and dissatisfaction, though small, had begun to take root - just waiting for the right opportunity to sprout into a storm of rumors that could shake the foundation of the relationship between Yen Chi and Lang Phong.