Having found a demon, I've decided to raise her.

"I was with him before you. He should be my master. Let him go!"

"What did you say?"

Cerberus finally couldn't hold back any longer. Was this guy here to steal her master? Her red eyes glared fiercely at him, and she let out a threatening growl.

"..."

Chen Ming was now in a daze.

Can anyone tell me what's going on? Why is the Empress still calling him master? He tugged at Cerberus on his body, but the hold was too tight to budge, so he gave up, stood up, looked at the Empress with a puzzled expression, and said—

"Um... Miss Huang, are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"

"Owner……"

The Empress bit her lower lip, as if she had been hurt by him once again. She placed her hand on her collar, a thick collar usually used for large dogs, but now it was around the neck of a delicate woman of such high status. This contrast created a peculiar feeling.

Wait a minute, Chen Ming seems to have seen this feeling in other people before... He slowly recalled the scene in his mind where his sister dressed him up as a dog, that big black collar, which was originally for Xiao Hei, but later disappeared like Xiao Hei.

Little Black?

Perhaps it was something he was thinking about, but for some reason he suddenly remembered the black dog he used to have. Looking at the woman with black hair in front of him, he felt it was absurd and extremely rude.

Mistaking a girl for his old dog is going too far.

He was trying to suppress the thought...

Cerberus had carefully examined the aura of the person opposite him and smiled smugly—

"You're a dog too, aren't you? Trying to trick your owner into taking you in? But give up, your owner already has me. He said I'm the cutest dog, you have no chance!"

Chen Ming opened his mouth. The other party really was a dog? He couldn't help but take another closer look at her appearance. A strand of silver hair was mixed in with her black hair and flowed down in front of her.

I vaguely remember that Xiao Hei looked like this back then. Although most of his fur was black, there was a strand of silver on his head.

Could it be that……

Upon hearing this, Miss Huang's eyes widened as she looked at Chen Ming, seemingly unable to believe it, yet afraid to confirm it. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke—

"Master...Master...is what she said true...?"

During the time I was away, you not only got a new dog, but also said things like that. Do you not like me anymore?

She almost burst into tears and quickly explained—

"Is Master angry with me? But I didn't leave on purpose back then. I was just taken away by a bunch of random guys. Please don't be angry with me..."

What if her master really didn't want her anymore...? She didn't dare to think about it, and her fingertips felt cold.

Cerberus laughed—

"So, as I said, the master doesn't even know you, so don't waste your energy..."

"Little Black? Are you Little Black?"

Ok?

Cerberus abruptly stopped speaking, staring wide-eyed at Chen Ming who had suddenly asked the question. "Does Master really know the person opposite him?"

Chen Ming looked at the other person with some insecurity, but saw that Miss Huang's expression changed 180 degrees from sadness to tears of joy.

She placed her hand on her chest, a beautiful smile appearing on her face, large, glistening tears welling in her eyes, and said—

“I knew my master would remember me, and I have always remembered my master.”

"It really is you..."

Chen Ming's expression of surprise lingered for a long time as he stared blankly at the girl in front of him. His old dog, whom he had raised for over a decade, had returned as a grown woman—what kind of magical thing was this?

However, it seemed more plausible than having a hellish queen fall from the sky as his wife. Chen Ming had gained considerable experience with various strange events and was therefore quite accepting of them.

The emperor strode up to him, took his hand, placed it on his cheek, feeling his warmth, and said—

"It really is me, Master, I'm back."

Chen Ming opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Instead, Cerberus, who was clinging to him, became anxious and grabbed his hair, yelling—

"Master, master, master! Who is she? Who is she?! How do you know her? Master, you actually have a dog outside!"

Her expression was as if she had discovered her owner stealing a dog outside; she looked incredulous and unable to accept it, and questioned him.

"Ouch……"

Chen Ming patted Cerberus's hand, worried he might pull it bald, but he'd put that matter aside for now. He looked at the young lady in front of him... no, he should say Little Black now.

I never imagined I would be able to reunite with Xiao Hei.

I never expected the reunion to turn out like this, all in such a chaotic mess.

What should we say now?

He looked into her silver eyes, and sure enough, they were exactly the same as Xiao Hei's back then. Her appearance had changed, but her eyes remained the same.

Chen Ming was filled with many emotions. Finally, he said with a mixture of nostalgia and reflection—

Welcome back.

Chapter 560 My Master, My Beloved

The story of Xiao Hei dates back a very long time; it was a puppy that he and his sister picked up when he was in elementary school.

To be honest, I don't remember many things clearly when I was a child, probably because I was too carefree. But what happened with Xiao Hei left a knot in his heart.

Perhaps that was the first time he felt such sadness, and learned what true heartbreak was. Looking at the empty dog ​​leash, he recalled the time he and his sister found that little puppy.

Its eyes were barely open, and it seemed to be shivering from the cold, yet its body was also burning hot, as if it had caught a cold. In his haste, he tucked it into his clothes, pressing it against his chest to transfer his body heat to it.

"It's very dirty."

His sister wanted to persuade him not to do that, as the dog seemed to be infected with a disease and she was worried about letting Chen Ming touch it.

But he was such a spoiled child that no amount of persuasion could get him to let go, so we took him directly back to his maternal grandmother's house and insisted on raising him.

Children are mischievous, and adults can't always indulge them, so initially they were unwilling to help. He then took his sister, the only one willing to help him, and devised a plan to catch the big yellow dog at the village entrance, intending to steal its milk.

Although he succeeded, he also got bitten and had to go to the hospital for a check-up and injection.

His stubbornness left his family helpless, so they had no choice but to let him keep the puppy. His grandmother fed him rice porridge and some minced meat.

Slowly, his first pet, his first dog, grew up at his grandmother's house and became very healthy within a few weeks, no longer feeling weak.

His parents saw that he spent all his time raising pets and had lost interest in video games, so they figured that having a dog wasn't a bad thing and let him have his way.

The puppy grew glossy black fur, so he named it Xiao Hei (Little Black). Xiao Hei was a very intelligent dog; Chen Ming often felt that it could understand him.

It grew very quickly. Little Black seemed to be a large dog. A year later, it was as tall as Chen Ming at that time, and looked majestic.

However, he is very friendly to people and never barks randomly when he sees them, unless he sees someone being bullied, in which case he will rush over and let out a thunderous bark.

Little Chenming often rides on its back, and it doesn't make a fuss. It slowly carries Chenming around, so it's more like it's taking its owner out for a walk than walking the dog.

Xiao Hei is always clean and has no lice, probably because it is a clean animal, and Chen Ming always helps it clean.

One night, Chen Ming even slept in its kennel, curled up on its soft fur, and fell asleep, which frightened the family so much that they searched everywhere for it.

Chen Ming actually didn't like dogs; they barked incessantly, smelled bad, and could bite. But Xiao Hei was an exception. It was so well-behaved, sensible, clean, and always followed him around, never wanting to leave his side.

Only when Chen Ming told it not to follow him would it sit still, its silver eyes staring straight at him, looking slightly disappointed.

"Little Black, I'm leaving now. Be a good girl at Grandma's house, okay?"

He would come over every holiday and leave every time school started. There was nothing we could do about it, as his parents' workplace housing didn't allow them to keep dogs.

Especially for large dogs like this.

Each time, Little Black would sit obediently in the same spot, its silver eyes watching him leave. He kept watching until he could no longer see his grandmother's house.

The first time he left, Xiao Hei was still young, but it followed him for dozens of miles until he told it to stop. And every time, he would come back to see it, which gradually created a tacit understanding between the dog and its owner. They both felt that although each parting was sad, they would be reunited soon.

It's just a few more days of missing each other.

I never imagined that one day we would truly never be able to see each other again...

He stared at the empty dog ​​leash, his mind blank. Memories flooded back, bringing only deeper sorrow. Before, whenever he approached the village, Little Black would excitedly rush out to greet him.

As soon as he calls out, it seems to hear him with sharp ears and transforms into a black lightning bolt, rushing over.

But now, no matter where he goes crying, calling its name, or even if he travels all over the village, he will never see it return.

He cried his heart out.

It took my sister a lot of effort to coax him back to his senses.

For him, Xiao Hei was the most indelible mark of his childhood. It was the first time he had taken such good care of a creature, and also the first time he had experienced a "life-or-death separation".

He thought Xiao Hei was dead.

Even if it hadn't been stolen, given a dog's lifespan, Xiao Hei should have died of old age by now.

However, now, a girl with an elegant demeanor claims that she is Xiao Hei, that she has returned, and that she feels very sorry for leaving back then.

What kind of expression should Chen Ming have?

He should have been happy, but this was all too unexpected. His dog, whom he thought was dead, had not only returned, but had also turned into a girl...

He was speechless, momentarily at a loss for words. How to tell the real from the fake? But who would impersonate his dog for no reason? And those eyes…

Every time he returned to his grandmother's house, those silver eyes would be the first to rush over to greet him, displaying a very human-like expression of joy at reuniting with their owner after a long separation.

Finally, he moved his lips and subconsciously said—

"Welcome back..."

A simple "Welcome back" carried a multitude of complex and profound thoughts.

The emperor opposite him wept with joy, then frowned and said with some sadness—

"I'm sorry, I must have hurt my master. I'm sorry for only coming back now..."

She didn't even have a chance to say a word before those old guys took her away; she had no power to resist at the time.

They wouldn't even let them pass on a message to their master, saying things like they were their emperor, not ordinary farm dogs, and had to have the dignity of royalty, and so on. They absolutely refused to let her have any more contact with her family.

But she was just a dog. She was her master's dog, picked up by him when she was a puppy. If it weren't for him, she would probably be lying dead in the wilderness, dead. What dignity would she have left?