Kahn looked over in the direction of the voice, spotting Azula calmly strolling over.
Unlike before, this time Azula wasn't alone; beside her were two little girls about their age.
One looked quiet and reserved, while the other was lively and energetic, but both were very cute.
Are these Azula's friends?
"I wasn't crying!"
Upon hearing Azula's taunting words, Zuko raised his voice in protest, quickly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
However, Uncle Iroh, with absolute disregard for Zuko's fragile feelings, burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, it's fine for kids to cry!"
"What's the big deal?!"
Zuko's face instantly stiffened, and he cried out in displeasure.
"I'm not a kid!"
"But only a kid would deny it like that."
"I... Uncle Iroh!"
Zuko was completely flustered by Iroh's teasing.
Seeing this, Azula laughed unreservedly, while Kahn, standing off to the side, looked away, unable to bear witnessing the prince's total defeat.
I didn't expect you, Uncle Iroh, to be so good at throwing your own teammates under the bus.
Finally realizing he had been thoroughly teased, Zuko sulked and completely ignored Iroh.
He then unhappily turned to Azula.
"What are you doing here?"
Azula casually spread her hands.
"Can you please stop talking to me with that annoying attitude every time we meet, Zuzu?"
"I haven't even done anything yet."
"Besides, this time it wasn't my idea to come; it was just that someone hasn't seen you in a long time, so she was incredibly concerned..."
As she spoke, Azula suddenly shoved one of the quiet little girls beside her completely unprompted.
The little girl was pushed forward entirely unexpectedly.
After stumbling forward a few steps uncontrollably, she was about to faceplant right onto the ground.
However, Zuko suddenly rushed forward and caught the little girl securely in his outstretched arms.
"...You'd say so, wouldn't you, Mai?"
Seeing this, Azula watched the dramatic scene play out with immense interest, her arms crossed.
Zuko looked down at the girl named Mai in his arms and asked with genuine concern.
"Are you alright?"
Mai gently shook her head.
"I'm fine."
However, looking at Zuko's face so close to hers, a deep blush suddenly appeared on Mai's pale face.
Zuko, realizing how close they were, also became incredibly red-faced.
"Shhh~!"
Azula's sharp wolf whistle abruptly startled the two.
They quickly separated, both immediately looking down and away, looking incredibly embarrassed.
The other girl giggled as she watched Mai and Zuko.
Azula teased them with an exaggerated exclamation.
"Wow~"
At this moment, Mai finally remembered the actual culprit of all this and yelled at her in deep embarrassment and anger.
"Azula!"
"Uh huh?"
Azula spread her hands again, looking back at her with a completely innocent expression.
Kahn watched the entire interaction, utterly dumbfounded.
If he wasn't completely misunderstanding the situation, Zuko and this girl named Mai definitely seemed to have something going on.
But they were only nine or ten years old; were they really that precocious?!
Kahn and Uncle Iroh exchanged a long glance, finding matching expressions of surprise on each other's faces.
"Zuko and that girl, it definitely seems like..."
"Ha, I really didn't expect Zuko to be so impressive; I completely underestimated him."
"And he had the absolute nerve to say he had no friends before; I completely fell for his trick."
Kahn suddenly paused, realizing exactly what he had just said.
Wait, does a girlfriend actually count as a regular friend?
Uncle Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully and said.
"I am quite curious about when they actually met; I have visited the palace so many times and have never once seen this little girl."
"Interesting."
Kahn also expressed his immense curiosity.
I definitely have to interrogate this kid later.
Thus, the old man and the boy exchanged grins, both coincidentally revealing the identical smiles of eager gossips.
At this moment, Azula walked straight over to Kahn, stood right in front of him, and pointed boastfully at the two girls behind her.
"Meet my friends, Mai and Ty Lee."
The quiet one was clearly Mai, so Ty Lee had to be the lively one.
Upon hearing her introduction, Ty Lee waved energetically at Kahn, revealing a pure, brilliantly innocent smile.
"Hello, my name is Ty Lee!"
This is the kind of smile a normal little girl should have, Azula; you should seriously take notes!
Mai had also returned to Azula's side by then and gave Kahn a slight, polite nod.
"My name is Mai."
"Nice to meet you all, my name is Kahn, and I'm Zuko's friend."
After Kahn finished his introduction, he suddenly saw Azula glaring at him fiercely out of the corner of his eye.
He immediately added a belated clarification.
"And Azula's friend too."
Ty Lee asked curiously.
"When did you two meet?"
"I don't think I've ever seen you around the palace before?"
Before Kahn could even open his mouth to answer, Azula frowned deeply.
"Don't be a busybody!"
"Ah! I'm sorry!"
Ty Lee immediately curled up, looking exactly like a frightened little turtleduck.
"...?"
Hearing the bizarre interaction between Azula and Ty Lee, a massive question mark essentially materialized directly above Kahn's head.
You actually call this a friend?
But Azula didn't seem to mind the awkward tension in the slightest and casually invited Kahn.
"How about it, come play with us."
Ty Lee and Mai both looked at her sideways, intensely wondering why Azula's attitude towards this random commoner boy seemed so unusually good.
And upon hearing Azula's unexpected invitation to Kahn, Zuko immediately stepped protectively in front of his friend.
"Kahn won't be playing with you guys; it's more than enough for Kahn to play with me and Uncle Iroh!"
"Uncle Iroh, so you're here!"
At this, Azula looked over at Iroh with a perfectly feigned 'surprised' expression, acting exactly as if she had only just noticed the Dragon of the West standing right there.
She then continued speaking.
"Don't you think people of the same age have much more fun playing together?"
"And if someone completely unsociable is mixed into the group, everyone else will just feel a bit constrained."
A rough translation of her words would be that she wanted the old man to get lost immediately.
"That makes a lot of sense, it's completely true!"
Uncle Iroh didn't mind Azula's thinly veiled sarcasm in the slightest; instead, he completely agreed with her.
He patted Zuko firmly on the shoulder and laughed heartily.
"In that case, you kids all have a good time together."
"I'll go take care of some other important business and come back to pick up Kahn later."
"Wait!"
Zuko quickly protested.
"I don't want to play with them!"
"Are you absolutely sure you don't want to?"
"Someone came all this way specifically to see you because she was deeply worried."
Uncle Iroh asked with a playful twinkle in his eye.
"I..."
Upon hearing this, Zuko looked over at Mai with a guilty expression, completely at a loss for words.
Then, he desperately gestured toward Kahn.
"But Kahn doesn't want to play with them either, right?!"
"Me?"
Kahn felt Azula's piercing gaze bore into the side of his head.
It definitely felt far more like a death threat than a subtle hint.
He simply shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Isn't it always better to have more people?"
Azula finally withdrew her deadly gaze, looking completely satisfied.
"Alright then."
Seeing that even Kahn had turned against him, Zuko could only seemingly reluctantly accept his harsh reality.
But at the exact same time, he secretly stole a quick glance at Mai.
Only to find that Mai was also secretly peeking right back at him.
Their eyes instantly met, then separated just as quickly, both of them blushing furiously once again.
Kahn watched the entire exchange and internally exclaimed.
Goodness gracious!
Is this a romance drama?
Or an ancient fantasy romance?
This is absolutely amazing!
Before Uncle Iroh left, he specifically instructed Kahn through meaningful eye contact to interrogate Zuko about the little girl named Mai.
Kahn solemnly nodded in agreement.
The sacred mission of the gossips, I shall protect it with my life!