Vol 4. Chapter 139: Out of the Wolf’s Den, Into the Tiger’s Lair
After leaving the central area of Yexinlian Royal Academy, which had virtually no defensive forces and could practically be called an empty shell of a defense line, Lady Yumo thoughtfully looked back at the magnificent Forbidden Palace standing in the distant grasslands.
"That girl... really is the Heart of the Holy Dragon, huh... Do all sacred artifacts transform into human form these days?"
The black-haired girl murmured softly.
That's right.
Although Lady Yumo hadn't exposed Little Meli's lies on the surface, she had already figured out the little girl's true identity.
No matter how much Little Meli acted cute, the terrifying power she had unleashed at the beginning, along with the aura of holy power contained within her magical energy, made it obvious that her identity was anything but ordinary.
Furthermore, her suspiciously unnecessary self-introduction at the beginning, as well as the anxiety she couldn't conceal in her subsequent words, only made Yumo increasingly suspicious.
And when the little girl claimed she wasn't the Heart of the Holy Dragon, the guilty way her eyes darted around completely confirmed Yumo's suspicions.
That silly, adorably foolish little girl who even wet herself was the Heart of the Holy Dragon in human form.
Apparently, even the people within Yexinlian Royal Academy, including Saiboke and A'San, were unaware that the Heart of the Holy Dragon had successfully taken human form. Clearly, this was an enormous secret.
It was understandable that Little Meli didn't want anyone else to know and had deliberately concealed her identity.
To spare the silly little girl's feelings, Yumo had no intention of exposing her.
After all... whether she was the Heart of the Holy Dragon or not didn't really affect Yumo.
The reason these forbidden grounds were practically 'unguarded' was probably that the academy believed Little Meli possessed more than enough strength to protect herself.
The only thing that left Yumo somewhat puzzled was...
That little dragon girl was obviously quite powerful. In terms of raw strength, she didn't seem any weaker than Limo, yet she somehow seemed terrified of Yumo?
"Why?"
The girl raised a hand to her chin and fell into a brief moment of contemplation.
However, no matter how much she thought about it, Yumo couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.
She had clearly never met the girl before, and with the Veil of Deception concealing her identity, there was no way that little girl could have seen through her disguise.
Besides, she hadn't even used much of her power.
So why was that child so afraid of her?
She had even been frightened into completely losing control of her bladder just because Yumo glared at her a couple of times...
'Am I really that scary?'
The girl simply couldn't figure it out.
"Forget it... No point thinking about that... As long as she can get along with Yuan'er, that's enough. Hasn't Yuan'er always wanted a friend around her own 'age' to play with...?"
It wouldn't be a bad thing if Yuan'er and Little Meli became close.
If they really needed to forcibly take the Heart of the Holy Dragon someday so that Mengxi could complete her Saintess mission, Yuan'er could easily lure the little girl out.
However,
Speaking of Yuan'er...
The moment she thought of her adorable, well-behaved little daughter, Lady Yumo's expression gradually became somewhat solemn.
Recalling Yuan'er's behavior just now, Yumo couldn't help feeling that something was strange, even though she hadn't said anything at the time.
The way Yuan'er had acted earlier, especially when talking about Little Meli, somehow felt... a little off...
At those moments, Yuan'er had either lowered her head and spoken quietly or deliberately emptied her mind and acted cute...
But in the past,
Whenever Yuan'er spoke to her, she would always look straight into her eyes with those big, adorable eyes of hers, even when she'd done something wrong.
"Since when did this child develop such a habit?"
It was almost as though...
She was deliberately concealing her emotions and expressions, as if there was something she wanted to hide from me...
Come to think of it,
Before Yuan'er left the Great Winter Forest, hadn't Karina, Liyu, Xiao, and Saiboke given her some training?
At the time, they had apparently said it was to teach her how to conceal her Shadow of Silence Power and how to live in the human world as an Abyss Demon.
Could they have... taught her something else as well?
Recalling the strange conversation between Xiao and the elven prince Audom, along with Liyu and Limo's peculiar behavior after the Skyvault incident, some increasingly strange thoughts began emerging in Yumo's mind.
However, almost immediately,
Lady Yumo frantically shook her head.
"No, no, no, no... I... I must be overthinking things..."
My...
My children are all so well-behaved... There's no way they'd do something like that...
...
...
--
Meanwhile,
Inside the Forbidden Palace of Yexinlian Royal Academy,
After watching the black-haired girl leave, the trembling Melilov-Baroze finally let out a long sigh of relief.
The little dragon girl's entire body went limp, and she dropped directly to her knees, sitting back on the ground as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
An overwhelming sense of joy at having survived a deadly ordeal rushed straight to her head, causing the esteemed Holy Dragon King to shed a few tears of emotion.
'Wuuu, wuuu, wuuu...
This sovereign didn't die...
I managed to fool her...
I wasn't turned into roasted dragon ribs...
I survived! Wuuu, wuuu, wuuu...'
...
However, after her initial burst of ecstasy, Melilov-Baroze hurriedly raised her hands and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.
An intense seriousness suddenly appeared in her pale-golden dragon eyes.
Now that the immediate threat to her life had passed, Melilov-Baroze couldn't help contemplating an extremely serious matter, one that concerned the entire continent.
"Th-that monster... Why is she here?!!!"
For hundreds of years,
Melilov-Baroze had always believed that the demon-god-like girl would remain quietly inside the Great Winter Forest.
After all, there hadn't been any news about her for several centuries.
And yet,
Now this homebody Demon God, as Melilov-Baroze had always thought of her, had actually appeared openly at Yexinlian?!
She had appeared on the continent?!
Good heavens! What on earth was going on?!
'Did she really come here just to eliminate me...?'
Or was there some even greater conspiracy?
Whatever the case,
This was a monster that absolutely must not be provoked...
The fact that she could appear here so peacefully meant that her true identity probably hadn't been discovered yet, and nobody had foolishly courted death by attacking her.
In that case... to ensure that this monster continued remaining peaceful, she... she had to find a way to prevent anyone else from provoking this 'wild monster'...
Although Melilov-Baroze considered herself a guardian of continental peace, a protector of order who ought to eliminate all evil, she had absolutely no intention of risking her life fighting this monster for the sake of order.
In her opinion, ensuring that this monster wasn't provoked was the best possible way to preserve peace.
If that girl became enraged like she had eight hundred years ago, Melilov-Baroze didn't believe there was anyone on this continent capable of standing against her.
However,
After reaching this conclusion, Melilov-Baroze clutched her little head in utter frustration.
To prevent some death-seeking fool from provoking that Demon God girl, Melilov-Baroze believed it was necessary to inform others of just how dangerous she was.
For example, she could warn the Crimson Leaf Imperial Family or the people of the Asumos Church, making absolutely sure they understood that they must never launch a crusade against the Demon God girl.
But...
With her current appearance, and with her personality constantly reverting to that of a little dragon girl, could she really convince those people not to court death?
After all, those fellows were practically all arrogant, self-righteous idiots overflowing with 'confidence'.
What if they refused to listen to her warnings, convinced themselves that they were capable of defeating the enemy, and instead launched a crusade against that Demon God girl?!
Wouldn't they all end up BBQ'd?!!
"AAAAAAAAAH!!! WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!!"
Melilov-Baroze screamed in frustration inside her mind.
However,
Just as the little dragon girl was drowning in her worries, a sweet, adorable voice as clear and melodious as a silver bell slowly reached her ears.
"What's wrong, Little Meli? Why do you look so unhappy?"
"Hmm?"
Slowly turning her head, Melilov-Baroze glanced at the pink-haired girl beside her, who was continuously poking her little cheeks.
Her expression gradually became rather complicated.
"I..."
'Damn it...'
'I almost forgot...'
'There's still this little troublemaker...'
Melilov-Baroze had extremely complicated feelings toward this Abyss Demon girl named Yuan'er, and she genuinely didn't know how she should interact with her.
Although she had no idea why the pink-haired girl had helped cover up her lies earlier, one thing was certain.
Without Yuan'er's assistance, she probably wouldn't have escaped her predicament.
That Demon God girl seemed to dote on this pink-haired girl tremendously.
If Yuan'er had told the truth back then, her fate would probably have been...
Thinking of this, Melilov-Baroze suppressed the displeasure on her face and could only allow Yuan'er to happily knead and squeeze her cheeks.
As the Holy Dragon King, she naturally shouldn't allow others to casually pinch and knead her face!
After all, this was a matter of dignity!
However, faced with Yuan'er's relentless poking and squeezing, Melilov-Baroze didn't dare resist in the slightest.
She could only lower her head, fuming inwardly without daring to voice a single complaint.
Melilov-Baroze understood perfectly well,
In her current situation, there was no way she could defy this pink-haired girl.
If she accidentally made Yuan'er unhappy and the girl went running to that Demon God girl to complain about her, or simply revealed the truth, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that Melilov-Baroze would end up BBQ'd...
Silently observing the pink-haired girl beside her, whose face was filled with an excited, mischievous grin, Melilov-Baroze inexplicably felt an ominous premonition growing in her heart.
She wasn't sure whether it was just her imagination,
But Melilov-Baroze couldn't shake the feeling that she...
Had seemingly just escaped from the wolf's jaws... only to stumble straight into the tiger's den...