Chapter 21: This Skill of Mine Really Isn't Bad (Please Follow and Read)

What does "tsundere" mean?

What does "rotating out of the meta" mean?

What is he talking about?

Valentina blinked in confusion, her face a picture of innocence untouched by the baptism of knowledge.

Lately she had begun to suspect she'd been locked up too long and could no longer understand the language of the outside world.

Just as the hungry dragon was puzzling over this, Herbert continued, "Miss customer, do you have a hairstyle you prefer? Longer or shorter?"

Valentina's lips twitched. "Whatever you like…"

"'Whatever'—the people who say that are the hardest to deal with."

Barber Master He—Herbert—pouted, helplessly picked up his scissors, and muttered, "Since you said that, don't come crying to me later."

Once you've stepped through this door, it's no longer up to you.

This shop accepts no responsibility for any consequences!

Snip.

Accompanied by the faint sound of the scissor blades grinding and pressing, flame-like strands of hair drifted gently down.

Herbert had given a disclaimer in advance, but he wasn't some Bai Chi who charged in completely unprepared.

As the second son of a duke, Herbert didn't know barbering, but the poor soul who'd struggled alone in the world in his previous life was very familiar with scissors.

His skill wasn't anything special, but it was more than enough to cut his own hair and his friends'.

The scissors flew around behind Valentina while she nibbled at the last chicken drumstick, taking small bites.

Having learned her lesson from last time, she'd wised up now—didn't gobble everything down in one go, quietly savoring the process.

Not long after, just as Valentina was about to shove the clean-picked bone into her mouth and crunch it up, a light pat landed on her shoulder.

"You won't get any of this!" she said warily, turning her head, then bit the bone clean through and swallowed it.

Crunch crunch, gulp.

Herbert:???

"Who'd fight you over that!"

He sighed wearily and waved a hand. "Turn around. Let me trim the front for you too."

"Oh."

Looking at the unusually obedient young lady dragon, Herbert's brow couldn't help but rise, and for a moment he couldn't resist the impulse—he pressed his hand to the top of her head and rubbed it.

"Mm?"

Valentina looked up at the youth in confusion, her gaze expressing her bewilderment.

What—are—you—doing?

And at this life-or-death crisis moment, Herbert seemed to have entered a special state.

At this instant, he understood with perfect clarity what he should do and what he absolutely must not do!

His expression unchanged, he kept rubbing and said seriously, "…Don't talk. I'm thinking about how to cut it."

Valentina instinctively felt something was off. She stared hard into his eyes, but in the end found no flaw, and could only let out an "oh."

"Oh… mm?"

Thump thump thump.

The two were very close, and Valentina could clearly hear the strong, rapid beating of the youth's heart.

"Hey, why is your heart beating so fast?" Valentina's brow twitched as she narrowed her eyes. "What are you afraid of?"

The flaw exposed—it seemed everything was over.

But Herbert stayed perfectly calm, even answering with a touch of exasperation: "I'm afraid I'll mess up your cut and you'll get mad at me again… All right, don't move, we're almost done."

Snip snip.

With two final crisp, clean sweeps of the scissors, Herbert completed his artistic creation.

He stood up, took a few steps back, squinted to take a look, then nodded in satisfaction.

"Mm, not bad. My skill really isn't bad!"

"Just as I thought—this look really suits you."

?

Valentina looked at Herbert's strange smile and felt a chill run down her spine. She hurriedly asked, "Hey! Don't just stand there grinning, say something! What do I look like right now?"

"Don't rush, don't rush—I'll show you right now."

Herbert took out the mirror he'd prepared, held it up in front of the young lady dragon, and said proudly, "Tadaa—"

Valentina had meant to snatch the mirror away, but the instant she saw the person in the reflection, her expression went blank.

"Ah…"

The Valentina of this moment was a world apart from her earlier vagrant-like appearance; not a trace of the previous mess and frizz remained.

Medium-long red hair cascaded down her back, with a few stray locks falling across her forehead—giving her a wild, untamed air while still retaining a touch of softness.

A beauty at once dazzling and brimming with a heroic air like this would absolutely turn heads wherever she walked.

Whether she'd slay the boys was hard to say, but odds were she'd slay the girls.

Post a video online and the little girls out there would probably either be fighting to call her "big sis" or scrambling to shout "mommy."

"This is… me?"

Valentina shook her head dazedly from side to side, murmuring in disbelief, "Is this really me?"

It wasn't that she'd never seen her own human form—she didn't dislike it, but she certainly didn't like it as much as her dragon form.

She'd always firmly believed she preferred the majestic, powerful look of her dragon self.

But now, looking at herself in the mirror, her conviction suddenly wavered.

"Of course it's you, and this is your original appearance."

"No makeup, no special effects — how is that not your original appearance?"

Herbert handed the mirror to her, smiling. "This mirror is yours, as a thank-you for your cooperation. From now on you can look in the mirror every day and admire your own beauty."

"Ah… mm."

Valentina took it somewhat dazedly, her gaze following the reflection in the mirror, and for a moment she went still.

Herbert, meanwhile, took the chance to gather up all the hair.

"Good, the materials are in hand!"

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Herbert did not let his guard down at this moment. He picked up the wet Mao Jin and walked toward Valentina.

"Alright, admire yourself later. Let me first wipe the hair off your face."

When you're putting on a show, you have to go all the way — you can't blow it at the very end.

Valentina blinked, came back to herself after a brief daze, and instinctively refused: "No need, I can do it myself…"

Hair strands and the like — why not just burn them away with a single flame?

Why go through all this trouble?

Valentina wanted to dodge, but Herbert had no intention of letting her go. He simply extended the wrung-out wet Mao Jin right in front of her face.

"Alright, just leave it to me. Close your eyes."

"You— mmph!"

The slightly cool Mao Jin pressed unceremoniously against her face, then began rubbing in circles, up and down.

↑→↓←

His technique was not gentle — it could even be called somewhat rough — but the Young Lady of the great dragon did not dodge, and was even unusually cooperative and obedient.

→→↓←→↓

Because this was her first time being cared for by another person.

With her eyes closed, she silently murmured a name in her heart.

"Herbert…"

After finishing Valentina's hair, Herbert did not enter the next area. Instead, he took the strands and left the prison directly.

Compared to continuing to farm goodwill with the others, he had to deal with these rather troublesome materials first — at least give them a wash. After all, these were going into his mouth.

This time, to avoid certain potentially awkward scenes he might run into, Herbert did not go straight to the kitchen to wash them. Instead, he deliberately chose to come to the most remote well in the monastery to draw water.

But before Herbert had even gotten close, the familiar scent hit him and his expression changed abruptly.

"WTF…"

"How did I run into this again!?"

His face turned Solemn as he looked at the grass carp by the well, and only one sentence kept echoing in his mind—

"Brother, your craftsmanship is really something else…"

Thanks to shameless Instant Noodles for the tip — thanks, boss!

……

Please keep reading!

This cold is killing me — cough cough cough cough (attempting to transmit it to you via the internet)





(End of chapter)