[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-saya-and-the-dragon":3,"chapter-saya-and-the-dragon-saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-87":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Saya and the Dragon",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1705074,2177,"Chapter 84: Melons & Madness","saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-87",87,"\u003Cp>Somewhere in the armpit of the continent\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>High summer. Somewhere dusty and pointless. The kind of place where even the flies looked like they regretted being born.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was sprawled in the back of a stolen cart, sweating like a goat in silk, with watermelon juice dribbling down my chin. The sun roasted the horizon. My thighs stuck to the wood like we were cursed lovers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Dragon sat nearby, flicking seeds with the precision of a cranky god. He looked majestic, of course. He always looked majestic. Even when doing something as undignified as spitting pips into the sand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re telling me,” I said between bites, “you’ve never had watermelon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shook his head. “It always looked… common.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Common?” I nearly choked. “It’s red, it’s sweet, it’s full of juice and hope and summer! It’s not common—it’s divine. It’s practically a goddess’s tit in fruit form.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He raised a brow ridge. “You’re sticky.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m radiant.” I slurped another bite, the juice dribbling down my wrist. “You, my scaly friend, have lived a thousand years and never tasted this joy?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No one ever offered,” he said. “And stealing fruit felt beneath me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared. “Beneath you? You’ve vaporized monks for misquoting poetry. You’ve torched cities over tax discrepancies. But melons? That’s where your morals kicked in?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took another slow bite. Then licked juice from his claw. “They are… quite good.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Quite good?” I flung a rind at him. It hit his shoulder with a slap. “That’s like calling me ‘moderately tolerable.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve said worse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve heard worse.” I grabbed another melon and cracked it open on the floorboards. “You’re eating at least half. Then we’re turning your future lair into a melon farm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He blinked. “We don’t have a lair.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A lazy breeze passed. Somewhere, a beetle gave up on life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I rolled onto my back, belly full, cheeks sticky, hair glued to my face. “I could die like this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You nearly did,” he noted. “That merchant had a spear.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And I had tits.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You screamed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He screamed first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He snorted. A rare sound. Almost fond.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tossed him another wedge. “To stolen fruit and bad decisions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He raised it in mock salute. “And to the idiots who left it unattended.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We ate. We sweated. We stuck to things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And for once, it didn’t matter where we were going.\u003C\u002Fp>",391,"2026-06-06T14:39:25.620Z",1,"novelbin.me","7140e78729090dfacb25de1c91d9af1e4204cfe0d1c8f1715dbbb0bd84b961b0","saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-88","saya-and-the-dragon-chapter-86",228,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsaya-and-the-dragon-cover.jpg"]