Knock knock knock~
A few minutes later, the office door was knocked on once again.
“Come in,” Nina said in surprise.
The one who entered was a Demon.
Her grayish-white robe did little to conceal her alluring figure. The girl removed her hood, revealing two dragon horns sprouting from her head. She gave her dragon tail a symbolic flick and flashed a seductive, lazy smile.
“Hello there.”
“Long time no see, guest from the Demon Race.”
“Cut the pleasantries. You know everything, don’t you?”
Under the Demon girl’s insistent questioning, the Winter Queen’s smile rapidly faded, exposing the seriousness and detachment hidden beneath. She hesitated for a dozen seconds before slowly asking,
“…What do you mean, Evil Dragon Lord?”
“Everything.”
Leia dropped the pretense. Her pupils shifted into the diamond shape unique to Evil Dragons. No one but Demons or Xuefei could keep their composure under the gaze of those eyes.
“You…”, the Winter Queen had nowhere left to retreat, but something seemed to lodge all the words she wanted to say in her throat.
“No need to worry.”
Leia pulled a black Treasure Orb from her pocket. It was encased in gold, resembling an ornate stand for a fancy globe, though its true purpose was impossible to discern.
Winter Queen Nina, however, suddenly found it hard to breathe. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced toward the window and saw the entire Royal Palace shrouded in black miasma—yet no one else seemed to notice.
Leia covered her mouth and chuckled.
“This is Laer’s handiwork. It creates a Domain in an instant—a Domain belonging to the Demon Race. Relax. As far as anyone else knows, I’ve already left for the Southern Border with the carriage. Now, will you tell me where Dolores is?”
The Winter Queen slumped into her seat, too tense to speak.
She knew it was incredibly dangerous for the other woman to conjure a Domain right in front of her—not to mention that she was an Evil Dragon.
It meant killing her would take no effort at all. And this woman…
“To prevent any mishaps, this is just an avatar of me. No need to be so tense.” Leia toyed with her silvery, willow-like locks, her tone carrying a hint of seriousness undercut by nonchalance as she explained,
“My power is only around Super Tier Layer 1, you know. So, now that your doubts are cleared up, are you ready to answer my question?”
“She’s in the Bottom Layer Prison.” In the end, Nina abandoned any attempt to keep hiding amid the suffocating air.
She was already under the watchful eyes of certain gods to begin with. Escaping the dragon’s lair only to enter the tiger’s den—and what a tiger it was. No, it was the Evil Dragon herself who had “carried” her off. Nina gave a wry nod, resigned to her fate in this twisted world.
“Bottom Layer Prison, huh…” Leia pondered for a moment, then continued. “Oh, right. You must have memories from the First Playthrough, don’t you?”
“You…! Fine, does that mean Miss Evil Dragon knows who restarted the world?”
The moment she’d struck that deal with the gods, she’d ceased to be an ordinary person. Though caught up in the “restart” and cycle of reincarnation, she’d retained her memories from the previous First Playthrough. She’d tried her hardest not to give herself away, but the Evil Dragon—who had kept her memories too—had caught her dead to rights.
However…
The Evil Dragon was actually a female dragon. And she even had a Dragon Consort of the same race?!
Factoring in the ties between the gods and Dark Filth, the one who’d restarted the world might very well be this all-knowing Evil Dragon. Had she come here to kill her?
Nina had ways to handle a Super Tier Layer 1 Evil Dragon, but she knew full well just how terrifying the other’s true body must be. Unfurling a Domain vast enough to blanket the entire Demon Race said it all. In this world, anyone who dared defy an Evil Dragon was either a god… or insane.
“Does Mo Ran know about this?”
“I’m here in her stead. Though I’d prefer it if you called her Xuefei.”
“Xuefei?!”
Nina was speechless, at a complete loss for words.
An unbelievable realization flashed through her mind.
“So, that Hero from the past—will they know about Dolores?”
“No.” Leia shook her head. “I’m only here to retrieve something. Something that belongs to Xuefei to begin with. As for Dolores, do you really think I care? Besides, wasn’t this all your little act? Striking a deal with some mysterious figure to shelter and hide Dolores away.”
“And it was you who wanted to protect Dolores in the first place. As for the god who tasked you with it, I haven’t the foggiest who that might be. But the gods watching from afar, plus this bizarre rivalry—it’s all quite the spectacle. Hehehe…”
Nina neither confirmed nor denied it. She knew that the Evil Dragon had, without Xuefei even realizing it, steered the conversation to an unprecedented height. Her own meticulously crafted plan was on the verge of being dismantled firsthand by someone walking the same path as that lord.
She had no idea if the choice before her was the right one, but for now, Nina could be certain of only one thing.
—this young woman shared the same ultimate purpose as her.
“…”
“Still hesitating?”
“I trust you, but you can’t take Dolores away just yet. That’s far too dangerous. I agree more with her assessment.”
Nina pulled an ice-blue diamond-shaped gem from beneath the table—like an ice diamond meant for setting in fine jewelry. It perpetually held a chill and contained a power utterly alien to this world, rendering it a singular treasure unlike any other.
She had just extended her hand to offer the gem when, in the next instant, it vanished, reappearing in Leia’s palm as she examined it closely.
“Wise decision, Nina.”
“Heh, if I didn’t hand it over, you’d have killed me, right? As for keeping quiet, I don’t think I could beat you in your Domain. Of course, the same goes for everyone else.”
Cracks spiderwebbed across the scene, like fractures in a glass mirror. It shattered and fragmented just like the illusions and dreams that had dissipated in days past.
“Believe me—for now, don’t go against Orman.” Nina’s words carried a gravity more serious than any she had spoken before.
“…”
“With the Ice Holy Key, my part in this is done.”
Leia couldn’t care less about whatever quarrels existed between gods. Ever since her soul had plummeted into darkness, she had harbored only one obsession.
In the end, with a sharp ripping sound, the Evil Dragon’s Domain fully dissipated. Leia vanished from the spot, as though she had never been there at all.
~~~
Crossing the entire Elf Kingdom was no easy feat.
Especially by carriage. Outside the window, the snow melted away ceaselessly, forming frigid rivers laced with shards of ice. Gradually, the water warmed, flowing into the forest lakes and vast artificial waterways.
As they emerged from the woods and the landscape opened up—revealing the Elf Kingdom’s signature green flower-patterned ships—Xuefei began to question whether the carriage had been the right choice after all.
Inside the carriage, Xuefei lay cradled in Leia’s arms, clutching the Dragon Egg and rubbing it like a child guarding her favorite toy. Lost in sweet dreams, she drooled onto Leia’s black stockings.
“Want to eat… want to eat…”
Xuefei, on the cusp of lactation, craved nourishment at every moment. Yet the Evil Dragon’s milk-producing parts remained dormant, unawakened by Leia, and no magic had conjured even a hint of sweetness. With a sigh, Leia pulled a warm cookie from her bosom and slipped it into the sleeping Xuefei’s mouth.
Xuefei chewed softly, grinding the treat into a fine paste before swallowing it down.
“Gulp, gulp…”
“She’s already given birth, and yet she insists on rushing out like this. Just what fuels Xuefei’s [Obsession]?”
The ship’s blaring horn and the throngs of bustling crowds on the streets shattered Xuefei’s pleasant dream. In her startle, the Evil Dragon nearly flung the toasty Dragon Egg straight into Leia’s lap.
