Her hand paused in front of her mouth, then a smile spread across her face. She lifted her head, choosing to pretend she hadn’t seen Vivienne’s expression at all.
Vivienne walked out of the room feeling refreshed, and after closing the door behind her, she looked up. The maids who had been waiting outside lowered their heads one by one upon witnessing this scene.
Vivienne took a deep breath, steadying the emotional turmoil within her. Even the sweet smile on her face faded, replaced by a formulaic, gentle, practiced smile.
She gave the order, and the maids led the way ahead.
“Let’s go.”
Meanwhile, back in the room, Enya was slowly putting on the black dress. The dragon tail exposed behind her writhed and swayed restlessly, as if still recovering from the earlier teasing sensation.
Vivienne’s fingernails weren’t long, trimmed smooth and rounded. When they scraped across the dragon scales on her tail, they only produced a faint clicking sound.
Yet even such light scraping and touching sent a subtle stimulation through the roots of the scales embedded in her flesh. The caress of her hand made Enya stiffen directly…
Her tail stiffened!
Enya sat alone on the bed, using her fingers to smooth out her slightly disheveled long hair, tucking the loose strands that had fallen in front of her eyes behind her pointed ears, which still carried a hint of rosy flush.
She breathed shallowly, and after the redness on her cheeks subsided, Enya turned her head to look behind her, her gaze landing on her own tail.
Since absorbing the second fragment, she had already broken away from the original framework of the great dragon.
She was no longer the black dragon symbolizing destruction, but rather a color of black tinged with silver. She wasn’t fading; she was gradually transforming.
“Color symbolizes authority, huh…”
She rubbed it hard with force, and after a while, that strange sensation was finally completely covered up. When she finished, Enya let out a sigh.
Enya pressed her red lips together and reached out to press her hand against her tail.
ε=(0′*))～
She stood up from her duck-sitting position, and after getting off the bed, she didn’t retract the draconic features she still possessed.
Enya walked over to the window and pulled aside a corner of the curtain that Vivienne had drawn, looking down through the glass pane at the area below the airship.
The airship had already landed in the dock of the North Gate Airship Dock in Red Pine City.
The view from her suite was excellent, allowing her to clearly see the ribbon-cutting ceremony below. Vivienne hadn’t appeared on stage yet, and Enya’s pair of golden red dragon eyes searched through the crowd.
Before long, she spotted a familiar figure in the seats near the front. It was Phil, accompanied by Rosily and Estelle. The three of them were now seated in the VIP section.
Phil sensed Enya’s gaze and looked up at the majestic flying vessel, but on that window, she only saw the pale pink curtain swaying slightly.
Phil couldn’t help but let out a light snort inwardly, though her face betrayed no emotion. However, Rosily happened to catch the direction of Phil’s gaze, and the girl curiously looked up as well.
She didn’t see anything there, so she couldn’t help but ask curiously:
“Mom, what are you looking at?”
Phil grumbled inwardly: Looking at your mom.
“I’m just looking at the ship.”
“This ship is so big, Mom. Is it as big as a dragon?”
“Probably.”
“Is it?”
“Should be.”
“Then… then how do you defeat a dragon?”
Phil reached out and ruffled the head of Rosily, who was deep in thought.
It would be quite amusing to say, since only the two of them, that pair of “myself,” could truly understand the meaning behind those words.
Rosily couldn’t possibly understand what she meant. It was the same as Enya really wanting to go up there and trim her toenails, but thinking better of it in the end.
Enya really wanted to go up there and trim her toenails, but thinking better of it, she decided against it.
She considered cutting it again, but Rosily wouldn’t agree. Enya was deeply disappointed when she heard that, though she still respected her daughter’s own wishes.
After Rosily’s hair grew longer, Enya had suggested it during those three days. Enya coveted her daughter’s hair—those were silver dragon strands, after all.
And since the recipe could allow people to briefly see what would happen tomorrow, and it happened to be suitable for making fate-related potions, she happened to have a “future potion” that was missing a key ingredient.
Rosily refused, so she had to look for it on her own pillow instead.
And Rosily’s own reasoning was simply that her hair couldn’t be shorter than her sister’s. She was very protective of her long hair now, having previously slept on her stomach every night for fear of crushing it.
When Enya discovered this, she actually told Rosily that if she slept on her stomach, little Rosily would grow up to be as flat as a board. Her sister had impressive curves, so little Rosily shouldn’t be jealous.
It had to be said, the “neighbor’s child” and “your sister” methods worked wonderfully well. Enya never failed to use them.
Back to the ribbon-cutting ceremony scene. The mother and three daughters sat in the front row, also the seats with the best view, only five or six meters away from the stage, allowing them to clearly see the people on the platform.
As for the factions within Red Pine City, Henna had already cleaned out one wave, and the remaining stubborn remnants were used by Yelena as practice, surrendering one by one.
The noble clans were dismantled by Yelena through political maneuvering, and afterward, most of them began to surrender.
The other nobles who had been suppressed to the point of having almost no room to survive were still at home racking their brains on how to break the deadlock.
As for Lilith, her little heart was pounding wildly, though on the surface, the young girl remained the poised and dignified young lady lord.
So at this ceremony, everyone present was from the Asades Lord Faction. Yelena glanced at the two of them sitting below, leisurely sipping their little drinks. The roles had been swapped!
The airship’s staircase was lowered, and then a stunningly beautiful woman with pink hair and a pink dress descended step by step with light, graceful strides.
There was no knight leading the way, nor a retinue of servants following her, which surprised all the people who had gathered. This princess had no airs about her at all—many people couldn’t understand it.
Despite the lack of fanfare, Yelena’s heart was still in her throat. If she hadn’t kept her mouth shut, it might have leaped right out.
The fine beads of sweat on her forehead made it clear just how nervous the rose-beautiful young lady lord was at this moment.
Deep red couldn’t overpower pale pink. Vivienne exuded warmth and approachability, yet she firmly overshadowed Yelena, turning the stage into her own solo performance. Yelena was reduced to nothing more than a supporting green leaf.
Phil glanced at Vivienne, then turned to look at the other side of her. Estelle was gazing intently at the woman on the stage.
Phil pressed her hand onto Estelle’s soft silver hair and gently tousled it, and this happened to be caught by Vivienne’s eye.
However, she didn’t show any emotion, her heart as calm as still water. She shifted her gaze instead to Yelena, who was so nervous she had forgotten her script.
“Ah?! P-Princess, welcome to Red Pine City!”
“Miss Yelena?”
Yelena’s face flushed red. Snapping back to reality, she immediately recalled the words she had rehearsed and blurted them out.
On the ship, Enya watched these scenes and couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
If she hadn’t paid the price, she would have been dragged down there too, having to act as Vivienne’s accessory in front of all those people again. Just thinking about it was terrifying.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was very simple, and the subsequent handover work didn’t require Vivienne’s participation. She had only come here symbolically to take a pair of scissors and make one cut on the red ribbon.
What truly mattered was the journey ahead. After unloading the people and cargo transported to Red Pine City, this airship would set off again at dusk.
It would pass through the Northern Mountains, heading toward the border city of the Elf Kingdom.
Vivienne didn’t stay on the ground for long and quickly returned to the ship.
She also knocked on the door, and Enya was already waiting in front of it.
After the door opened, Vivienne looked Enya up and down.
“Are you going to maintain that form?”
“I’m used to it by now.”
Enya gave a wry smile and said:
“After all, it’s been a year. I’ve been like this for the whole year—it’s more than enough to form a habit. It doesn’t feel awkward anymore.”
“That’s up to you.”
Vivienne didn’t mind. As long as the person in front of her was still her Enya, no matter what form she took, she would love her.
With that, Vivienne moved to embrace her, but Enya nimbly dodged. After evading, she shot Vivienne a glare.
“Can you stop always hugging and holding? We’re not exactly young anymore.”
“Heh, I’m happy, and I’ll do what I want.”
Vivienne lifted her chin and spread her arms to embrace her once more.
Enya didn’t dodge again this time. She merely let out a sigh.
Vivienne reached up to touch the dragon horns on Enya’s head, not caring in the least that the door was still open.
By dusk, the airship officially took off from the North Gate Airship Dock, heading northward.
This sight shocked everyone who saw it, since in their understanding, the north only held the endless, sprawling Northern Mountains stretching thousands of miles.
Red Pine City, Enya’s little home.
Estelle stood in the courtyard, watching the airship rise and fly into the distance. She had been standing there for a long time, and it wasn’t until Phil embraced her from behind that she returned from her daze to reality.
Phil held Estelle a little tighter in her arms and asked very gently:
“Feeling sad?”
“No.”
Estelle shook her head. She gazed at the direction where the airship had disappeared, pressed her thin lips together, hesitated for a moment, and then finally said:
“I feel like Mother… she’s happy. What she gave me before wasn’t that kind of feeling—it was colder, more silent.”
“Is that so?”
Phil blinked, looking at Estelle with a surprised expression.
Phil knew the reason. Wasn’t it just that Enya had dressed up all pretty and gone into someone else’s room alone? How could she not be happy?
Rosily, leaning against the doorframe, ran over quickly and snatched Estelle away from Phil’s hands. The younger sister pulled her older sister’s hand and ran toward the outside of the courtyard, shouting loudly as she ran:
“Let’s go practice sword fighting! We haven’t practiced in days!”
Estelle froze for a moment as she was pulled along. After Rosily finished speaking, she froze once more.
The gold-and-silver sister pair ran off together, and that scene under the setting sun was infinitely beautiful—if not for what Phil shouted right after:
“Both of you, get back here! Eat dinner first!”
“We still need to eat.”
Rosily pulled Estelle and ran back.
“Where are you two running off to? Dinner’s about to be served, and you still want to go out and play?”
In the midst of this back-and-forth, Estelle looked at Rosily’s retreating figure and lowered her eyes slightly. After a moment, she raised her head to Rosily and said, very softly and gently:
“Thank you.”
Onboard the airship.
Enya pushed Vivienne away, her gaze fixed on an empty spot. Vivienne furrowed her brows.
“Enya~ What’s wrong? Did I do something that made you uncomfortable?”
Enya shook her head.
“No, it’s not that…”
Vivienne’s brows furrowed even deeper.
“Then what is it?”
“Don’t you want to go see Estelle?”
“You created her and gave her consciousness. You are her mother.”
Enya had seen that glimmer of anticipation in Estelle’s eyes, but that anticipation had been left unfulfilled. Though the girl wasn’t deeply hurt by it, it made Enya somewhat uneasy.
Vivienne was stunned for a moment, then turned her head away and said:
“Estelle has two bloodlines in her. One is yours, and the other… she isn’t mine. I merely created her. Though I do technically count as her mother.”
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