Enya didn’t return to the Imperial Capital.
She didn’t go see Vivienne.
After what happened, she chose to leave the Western Wind Empire.
In her current state, there was no going back.
Public opinion across the Empire was burning hot in the aftermath of the dragon’s destruction of the border city.
If she returned looking like this — the so-called “Dragon Princess” — even as the hero who slayed the dragon, she would still become a target, manipulated by those with ulterior motives.
Staying by Vivienne’s side would only drag her down too.
If she were to return alive, many people would surely fear her.
They were probably all praying for this “monster” named Enya to die quietly somewhere.
Her existence — a Commonblood Sword Saint — posed a real threat to the power pyramid built on the supremacy of bloodlines.
Now that Enya was “dead,” They were probably singing her praises and honoring her bravery, weren’t they?
How tiresome this game of class and hierarchy…
Besides, Enya didn’t want Vivienne to see her like this — in such a miserable, pathetic state.
Enya scratched her messy hair.
Whenever she got agitated, strange thoughts would pop into her head — like grabbing a random rock and just smashing the egg.
Then everything would be over.
It’s just an egg, after all!
She could pretend nothing happened and just go back to being with Vivienne.
Wouldn’t that be a perfect ending?
But!
Whether it was the dragon blood in her veins or her own human nature, neither would allow her to do that.
One: bloodline resonance.
Two: an overwhelming surge of maternal instinct.
Enya felt like she was starting to understand those rebellious teenage girls.
Getting pregnant out of wedlock, messing up their lives, Then hugging their fragile little baby with no clue what to do, hearts full of confusion and fear.
Wasn’t that exactly what she was now?
She let out a bitter laugh at herself, then looked out the window and murmured:
“If I brought this child back with me… what kind of expression would Vivienne have?”
“Surprised? Shocked? Angry?”
“What if I just came clean and told Vivienne, ‘Yeah, some blonde chick did me, and now I have a kid. But if you’re still willing, can we go back to the way we were?’”
“I’d die of embarrassment…”
Enya didn’t have the guts to make Vivienne take on this mess with her.
Right now, all that filled her mind was one thing: hatching the egg.
But… should she really do it?
Hatching it would consume her core magic power, causing her strength to drop even further.
And Enya needed to recover — otherwise, if that blonde demon ever showed up again, she’d have no power to resist.
That’s why she’d been hesitating all this time.
To hatch, or not to hatch — that was the question driving her mad.
Logically, she knew she shouldn’t.
But emotionally, she was torn — this was her child, and that feeling of bloodline connection wasn’t something she could fake.
She’d been suppressing her core magic so the egg wouldn’t grow, But whenever the little thing started crying, Enya’s heart softened.
And the egg already had a will of its own — a life, crying out for its mother.
So…Knock, knock~.
The door of her rented apartment was suddenly knocked on.
Enya frowned slightly.
She glanced down at her skirt, bulging from the dragon egg.
With a sigh, she reached for a cloth beside the bed, wrapped the egg in it, and tied it around her waist — this way, she wouldn’t have to hold it with her hands all the time.
She stood up and walked over to the door in just a few steps.
Enya had already sensed the presence of the person outside.
But instead of opening the door immediately, she asked calmly, pretending not to know.
“Who is it?”
There was a brief pause before a woman’s voice replied from the other side.
“Meter reader. Please open the door.”
“……”
As the study of magical theory deepened, magical lighting had become a common household technology — no longer a rare luxury.
With the right connections and some money, anyone could apply to have it installed.
Pay the fees on time, and you’d have light through the night.
Naturally, this gave rise to the job of magical meter readers.
Landlords, always looking to squeeze more rent, found plenty of ways to get kickbacks from these setups.
Enya reached toward her chest.
Around her neck hung a necklace, tucked deep within the cleavage concealed by her clothing.
It had a beautiful name — “I Am a Lie.”
It was shaped like a moth, its wings made of multicolored glass, while its plump body was milky white.
At the shimmering edge of its wings, a line of fine red text read:
“One lie after another, like thread weaving through thread —Over time, they form a net, The net becomes cloth,The cloth becomes a beautiful garment.
Bound by your own cocoon, Will you sleep forever, or emerge as a butterfly?”
This was a legendary-level magical item.
“Lie” could fabricate a false identity out of thin air.
And the longer the wearer lived under that identity, the more real and convincing it would become — making it a perfect disguise artifact.
Thanks to this legendary item, Enya could walk around the city in her current form — that of the Dragon Princess — yet appear to everyone else as just an ordinary human.
She unlatched the door and peeked out through the gap.
Outside stood a stern-faced, sharp-featured woman in a regulation uniform, a sword strapped to her waist.
She clearly wasn’t a meter reader…
The moment the door opened a crack, the woman immediately grabbed the edge to stop it from closing.
Enya feigned surprise.
Of course, she recognized the uniform and the insignia on the woman’s chest.
Redpine City — City Guard Knights.
Once the door was opened, Enya also saw several armored knights flanking the woman, all tall and strong, standing ready.
After stepping aside, Enya let them in.
The woman entered, while the knights quietly moved to the walls, hands on the hilts of their swords, ready to act at any moment.
Inside the room, the woman glanced around before settling her gaze on Enya.
Her skirt was still bulging from the egg underneath, but thanks to the “Lie,” what people saw was a resilient and lonely single mother, strong despite her circumstances.
“You’re not here to check the meter, are you?”
Enya asked bluntly, clearly not intending to play games with this city guard officer.
The woman hesitated, then said, “Apologies for disturbing you, Mrs. Clorcy. We’re actually with the City Guard Knights. We just wanted to ask if you’ve had any contact with… suspicious individuals lately.”
Mrs. Clorcy…?
Phil Clorcy — that was the name of the false identity she was currently using: a recently arrived woman with no family, a strong, struggling single mother.
When she heard herself being called “Mrs.,” Enya got goosebumps.
If this had been the past, anyone who dared call her that to her face would’ve gotten beaten flat!
But… things were different now.
Enya took a deep breath and asked, “Suspicious individuals like…?”
“For example, someone telling you that if you pray to some god, your child will be blessed with a powerful bloodline.”
As the woman spoke, a hint of loathing crept into her eyes.
“If you go with them to some so-called ‘blessing ceremony’ — which is actually a sacrificial ritual — your child will have their flesh and blood stolen by evil gods… and you, madam, would become the vessel for a demon’s birth!”
“Wha—?!”
Enya opened her mouth in shock, doing her best to appear surprised and frightened.
Seeing her reaction, the woman let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Fear and alarm — proof that her warning hadn’t been in vain.
She continued, “You don’t want anything to happen to your child either, do you?”
“Ah, y-yes… of course…”
“If anyone tries to recruit you into their faith, please be careful and inform us right away. Our office is right in front of the lord’s castle.”
“Understood. I will.”
Enya nodded in agreement.
With that said, the woman didn’t linger.
She soon turned and left the room, heading downstairs.
After closing the door, Enya walked over to the window.
As she passed by the table, her tail hooked around a chair and dragged it along.
She opened the window and sat down.
The sun had just risen.
Its soft, warm light fell across her delicate features.
She lifted her eyes and looked toward the sun.
At the edge of her irises was a circle of crimson surrounding gold, all converging into a deep, vertical slit — those beautiful gold-red pupils shimmered like gemstones.
Her gaze slowly shifted from the sky to the streets of Redpine City.
There was no real scenery — only mud.
Redpine City was remote and lacked major industries.
Few young people lived here, giving the entire place a gloomy, lifeless air.
When the wind blew, it even carried a faint scent of decay.
Maybe it came from some dark alley, where an unclaimed corpse lay rotting in silence.
Enya’s lovely brows furrowed slightly.
From beneath her skirt, the dragon egg sent out a wave of magic.
The little one inside was getting restless, eager to come out.
Enya sighed and gently caressed the egg through the cloth, whispering, “Be good. You’ll hatch very soon.”
She looked out the window and let out a long breath.
No matter how long she delayed, Enya knew she would have to hatch the egg eventually — that’s why she had come to this city.
If it were only about hatching the egg, she could’ve easily found a cave in the mountains, lined it with grass and leaves, and done it there.
But she had come here with a different purpose.
Enya wanted to give this child something resembling a normal childhood — a family that loved her, friends she could trust, a life of ups and downs to shape her, so she could grow fully and beautifully.
Then one day, she could go on living proudly as a dragon.
She had only been in Redpine City for a little over ten days.
To rent or buy a decent home, you needed the right connections.
Money alone wasn’t enough.
She definitely didn’t want to hatch a dragon in this cramped little apartment.
Enya took out a plain-looking bracelet.
It was made of pea-sized gray seeds strung together with black thread.
Among them was a single bright red seed.
That red seed marked her identity and rank.
She was, officially, an outer member of the very cult hiding in the shadows of this city.
But in truth, she had infiltrated them with a purpose.
After arriving here, Enya had done her homework.
The region was governed by a female lord who had studied abroad.
Upon her return, she had personally executed the previous lord who had fallen into the cult.
Under her rule, Redpine City had improved significantly.
This female lord was fiercely hostile to the cult and had issued many high-value bounties.
Enya intended to use her — to gain a city household registration and a proper house with a livable environment.
Enya: “Once the dragon egg hatches, it’ll already be like a human child around twelve or thirteen. That’s school age! A city household registration is essential.”
Dragon Egg: “???”
Of course, while she was at it, she might as well clean out the threats lurking near the “nest.”
After all, once she started incubating the dragon egg, she would inevitably enter a prolonged period of weakness — so clearing out dangers in advance was absolutely necessary!
Why were dragons born so powerful?
Because the nutrients that nurtured a baby dragon came directly from the mother dragon’s source magic!
Though this left the mother dragon in a weakened state, it ensured that the hatchling would be incredibly strong from birth.
During the incubation process, it would also inherit its mother’s knowledge — meaning it would be nearly mentally mature the moment it was born.
Enya had already fallen from the ninth tier to the eighth.
She had once suffered a depletion of her source magic — if the egg kept absorbing more, she might drop yet another rank…
That’s exactly why true dragons are so rare.
Laying a baby dragon is no easy task!
Oh — and by the way — true dragons and this world’s dragonkin aren’t even the same species.
True dragons are mythological creatures, classified under behemoths, in the same category as beings like Leviathan.
Dragonkin are magical creatures, categorized under beastfolk, and rumored to have evolved from lizards…
Also — true dragons can reproduce asexually! Pretty wild, right?
After putting on the bracelet, Enya couldn’t help but laugh — though her smile looked a little… unhinged.
Then she suddenly froze.
She had thought of that blonde bastard again.
Gritting her teeth, she snarled bitterly, “Just you wait. One day, I swear I’m gonna chop you up and eat you with rice!”
Of course, that was just talk.
If that woman were to appear right now, Enya would probably still get pinned down and bullied all over again.
“Sigh… I’ll deal with that mess later…”
She collected herself, took a deep breath, and quietly shut the window.
Tftc!