42. “It Was Just an Illusion”
“Little Vassal is quite skilled,” Calysia murmured, her gaze fixed on Reina’s back.
“It seems Master Calysia isn’t omnipotent after all.”
Reina found Calysia quite amusing, wondering what possessed her to want to cook.
Calysia carefully observed Reina’s movements.
Her actions were clearly very simple, as easy and unpretentious as placing eggs in a basket or pouring water into a bottle, yet they were difficult for Calysia to replicate.
Calysia watched closely, taking mental notes and learning, carefully memorizing every movement and detail.
At least Calysia is a willing learner… Reina was just about to think this when Calysia’s hand landed on her stomach.
“Master Calysia, don’t touch me randomly.”
“What about here?”
“No.”
Reina glared at her: “If you do that again, I won’t teach you how to cook.”
Calysia could only comply, at least for now, while she was still interested in learning to cook.
At this moment, Reina completely forgot about the [Divine Sea Pearl].
After all, this dress wasn’t as revealing as lingerie, ignoring the large area of exposed back… after all, that was where her wings were supposed to grow.
Reina placed the knife on the cutting board. Calysia understood, picked up the knife, and began to mimic the movements she had memorized—but that feeling of something seemingly simple yet impossible to replicate returned.
Reina shook her head.
She held Calysia’s knife-holding wrist with one hand and subconsciously wrapped her other arm around Calysia’s waist for support, moving it gently up and down.
“Hold it like this, move like this, understand, Your Majesty?”
“…Mm, very simple.”
“I know you don’t understand. Try it yourself.”
“…”
“This is a mistake, the knife isn’t sharp enough.”
“Dummy Calysia.”
Reina helped Calysia through the entire process of cutting vegetables… Of course, by the time she took over, there wasn’t much left to cut, so she had to take out the potatoes she had just bought this morning as teaching tools.
Next, Reina patiently explained everything to Calysia, including ingredient ratios and baking times.
Calysia kept nodding, not interrupting, as if thinking, or perhaps spacing out.
But it was more like her brain had crashed.
Calysia.exe not responding.
Seeing Calysia’s amusing expression, Reina chuckled:
“If the Dragon King could master the kitchen, she would surely receive much praise~”
“What are you saying, Little Vassal?” Calysia sat down on a nearby stool, resting her chin on her hands, which were propped up on the back of the chair. “Only you would praise me.”
She regained her usual calm smile.
“And, I don’t need to master the kitchen. I just need to master you~”
“I can’t cook for you forever.”
Reina retorted.
After saying that, she felt like a fool. If she truly became Calysia’s little vassal, it seemed she really would have to cook for her forever.
Ahh, if her evolution level was high enough, she would achieve immortality, which meant she would have to cook for this person for all eternity!
The thought gave Reina a headache. She continued preparing dinner, pushing these thoughts aside. These things hadn’t happened yet, their causes and effects unknown, their reality uncertain. Further contemplation would only drive her mad.
Seeing Calysia resting beside her, Reina quickened her pace.
But the Dragon King didn’t intend to leave the kitchen. Instead, she continued to observe Reina, as if studying her cooking methods and rhythm, or perhaps admiring Reina’s body.
Having nothing else to do while cooking, Reina asked out of boredom, also as a form of concern from a maid to her master.
“By the way, Master Calysia, why did you suddenly want to learn how to cook?”
Calysia leaned on the back of the chair, looking like a lively little girl at this moment. She narrowed her eyes, as if dozing off, or envisioning a beautiful and happy future, or perhaps recalling a pleasant melody, her tail swaying rhythmically.
“I can’t let you do all the cooking forever.”
Reina shut her mouth.
She didn’t say another word until dinnertime.
…
Reina discovered that the quality of the Divine Sea Pearl was indeed excellent.
Even the Dragon King’s and her own maid uniforms would inevitably wrinkle, but this dress didn’t have that problem at all.
Its texture was like gauze and nylon, yet the material was some unknown light metal, the Goddess’s treasure, seamlessly woven together.
After bathing with Calysia, Reina went to bed early, wanting to fall asleep quickly.
She thought about tomorrow’s banquet, how to maintain her composure and dignity, how to remain serious yet polite in front of Calysia, how to appear cold and ruthless yet still show a hint of humanity in front of everyone…
And then, she couldn’t sleep, even feeling a little irritated, her body temperature slightly elevated.
Calysia usually didn’t like going to bed immediately after bathing. She would first organize the day’s documents and work. Only if there was nothing to do would she come directly to Reina.
And tonight, it was undoubtedly another night of being mistaken for a bed warmer.
She originally wanted to sleep in the [Place of Prayer], but the thought of sleeping in her own mental space in a dream was too creepy, so she gave up. That kind of scene always brought back unpleasant memories from certain works of fiction.
Therefore, she could only spend the entire night being held tightly by Calysia.
Until the moon began to emit a slightly stronger light again, that is, early morning the next day, Reina still couldn’t fall asleep.
She was thinking about the banquet—she hadn’t invited other potentially suspicious Dragon Knights. To ensure the success of her subsequent plans, she had to consider more countermeasures.
Moreover, some things had to be done today.
Fortunately, dragons had strong constitutions. Eating, besides storing physical energy and magic power, was mostly just to satisfy psychological needs. When engaged in battle or in a tense situation, dragons could go without sleep or food for a long time.
Except for Calysia.
She wanted to eat every meal.
The banquet was scheduled for the morning, and time wasn’t on her side. In the afternoon, Calysia would activate the Greater Teleportation Magic Circle, sending the Dragon Knights and other dragons back to the Dragon Realm.
But even at 7 AM, Calysia was still in bed.
No matter how much Reina tried to push her, it was useless. Calysia’s wings enveloped her delicate body, her tail wrapped around Reina’s thighs, making it incredibly difficult even to turn over.
She gave up on struggling and tried to force the lazy dragon to get up.
“Master Calysia, wake up.”
“…”
“Wake up!”
“…”
“Master Calysia, meow~”
Out of curiosity, Reina pretended to be a cute kitten, trying her best to make the cutest sound she could, but unexpectedly, Calysia woke up instantly!
“Rei… na?”
Calysia opened her sleepy eyes, and hearing her Little Vassal’s cute voice, her interest was immediately piqued.
She pleaded:
“Reina, can you meow again~?”
“That was just your imagination.”
