Chapter 36: Can You Let Me

Location: 【Dungeon】, 【Candles】, 【Shackles】, 【Convent】……

Tags: 【Force】, 【Confinement】, 【Interspecies】, 【Taboo】……

In a scene that clearly spells trouble from the keywords alone, a 【Woman】 and a 【Youth】 lock eyes, then slowly draw closer in the flickering light and shadow.

*Slap. *

The woman grabbed the youth by his... collar and asked in a low voice, "... What do you think you're doing?"

"Doing? Didn't I already say? I came here to sleep with you... what, not welcome?"

"What exactly do you want to do?"

"Afraid the night was too dark, afraid you'd be too lonely, so I came to keep you company in the middle of the night. How about it? Am I not wonderful?"

In response, the youth — who had been grabbed by the collar and forcibly held in place — spread his hands and innocently stated that he was merely here in his capacity as Warden to provide nighttime companionship to the prisoner.

His selling point: the three-fold companionship!

Eat together, drink together, chat together.

As for whether he can sleep together — well, that's a different price.

Of course.

No one would believe the nonsense Herbert blurted out — Herbert himself included, who didn't think such words could fool the Young Lady Hungry Dragon.

"Hmm?"

Valentina narrowed her eyes, hummed, released her grip, and let go of the shameless holy knight.

She leaned against the railing, warily eyeing the white-haired youth who was leisurely leaning against the railing beside her, looking him up and down.

She might not count as clever, but as a whelp who had been driven out of the nest by her parents early on, the fact that she had managed to survive to this age naturally meant she had her own tricks.

Purely relying on sheer tenacity — ahem!

Wrong choice of words.

What Valentina relied on entirely was the instinctual intuition within her bloodline talent — the one that sought advantage and avoided harm, turning misfortune into blessing!

Run when there's lethal danger, charge when there isn't.

Her core creed was pure brutality: "So long as you can't beat me to death, I'll beat you to death!"

However, this instinct wasn't useful every single time; there were moments when she misread the situation.

For instance, when she first encountered the Archbishop of the Mist, Valentina truly hadn't sensed any lethal threat.

She had assumed he was just some run-of-the-mill old man, and after failing to drive him away several times, an irritated her had wanted to blast him into a dead old man with a breath of dragonfire.

And then... she got beaten up.

In the face of true power, Valentina had no ability to fight back whatsoever, becoming a punching bag that only knew how to take hits.

Of course, it's also hard to say Valentina's intuition was off — after all, judging by the outcome, she really didn't die.

The Archbishop of the Mist had no killing intent, and what Valentina suffered were only injuries that hurt to the bone but weren't beyond healing.

The pitiful Young Lady Evil Dragon, after getting thoroughly beaten up, was tossed into the alien prison to serve as the door-blocking old man.

Regardless of the process, just say whether her intuition was accurate or not.

Just ask whether she lived or not.

Lived.

But sometimes, living really is more miserable than dying!

Being locked up in the alien prison, she truly couldn't die even if she wanted to, and she couldn't even eat.

The only things left to do besides sleeping were to dig into her own abilities.

Although Valentina had been locked in this lightless prison cell the whole time, seemingly giving up, she had actually been continuously strengthening her abilities.

On one hand, so she wouldn't make the same mistake again; on the other hand, it really was because there was nothing else to do besides this.

That day when Valentina had taken the initiative to speak to Herbert, it was also because she had a strange premonition at the time — that if she talked to him then, it might bring about some new turning point.

And now... the Young Lady Hungry Dragon had caught the scent of lies on Herbert!

Something's off, there must be a trick.

This guy must be hiding something from me again!

"So, what's the truth? What exactly do you want to say to me?"

Valentina stared hard at Herbert, and even when he turned his head to look back, she glared back without yielding an inch.

Hah!

You must spit out the truth for me today!

Seeing her so persistent, Herbert knew he definitely couldn't bluff his way through, so he helplessly sighed, shook his head, and said, "Tsk... that's exactly why I hate sharp-intuition brats."

"Fine, since you insist, then I'll tell you."

With a serious expression, he emphasized once more:

"Special declaration here — this is you forcing me to say it, so don't blame me later."

"I was originally planning to bring it up when the mood was a bit better..."

Hmm?

Watching him like this, a very ominous intuition suddenly rose in Valentina's heart.

Not right...

"Wait! Wait a moment!"

"No waiting~"

Herbert turned around and grabbed the hand Valentina had tried to pull back.

!!?

"Valentina, ever since the day we met, there's been something I've been wanting to tell you..."

The handsome youth gazed at her with deep affection in his pale grey eyes; a flicker of awkwardness passed through them, but in the end it all melted into resolve.

"I don't know if this request might be offensive, but I truly can't bear to keep enduring this alone any longer."

Valentina:???

Wh-what are you going to do?

At this moment, Valentina could still forcibly pull her hand back, but doing so would surely hurt Herbert — and that gave her a moment's hesitation.

But she didn't know.

In a duel between experts, that instant of hesitation is the very moment of defeat—

Herbert took a deep breath, both hands tightly clasping Valentina's slender hand, not letting her escape, and said earnestly:

"Although it's somewhat untimely, I sincerely hope you can grant me this rather presumptuous request."

"You…"

At this moment, time seemed to slow in Valentina's eyes; she could clearly hear the powerful beating within her chest.

Thump-thump!

Having lived a life of solitude and never drawing close to men, where had Valentina ever experienced anything like this?

She gazed into those captivating eyes, felt the warmth transmitted through her palm, and with that scent on him that had been tempting her all along, the entire dragon simply short-circuited.

"Uh, uh-uh, you, uh…"

Let alone answering — her mind went completely blank; the intuition she had honed for hundreds of years was utterly useless at this moment.

She couldn't think of anything, only a head full of muddled, chaotic thoughts remained.

What does he want to say?

Is he confessing to me?

Uh!

Should I accept him?

We, we don't seem to be that close yet, do we?

We shouldn't be, right!?

I, I, I… no!

Although the situation is a bit special, although Valentina's brain isn't the sharpest, although the other party really is quite good-looking!

But she wasn't so naive as to be swayed by a few sweet words into handing over her very body.

She really wasn't that foolish.

After all, the emotional foundation between the two of them was simply too thin.

Then, just as Valentina had made up her mind to refuse Herbert, she heard the second half of his words:

"Could you… let me touch your tail?"

He's said it — she had to refuse him quickly!

"Um, although you're very good-looking and you smell really nice, we still can't right now — huh?"

Huh?

Huh!!?

(End of chapter)