Chapter 10: Elvira, Don’t!

For the next few days, our pace slowed down considerably.
The little girl’s body was very weak, and she couldn’t even endure a few minutes of flight.

During this time, we found a clean stream and gave the girl a simple wash.
After washing off the dirt, the girl looked very cute.
Pinkish-white eyes, light blue long hair, reminiscent of a midsummer beach.
She was small, like a doll.

For the record, it was Elvira whom I asked to help wash the girl’s body.
Her right arm had already recovered.
As for why I didn’t do it myself…

That would be too awkward… I wouldn’t stoop so low as to take advantage of a little girl.

About two or three days later, the girl’s throat was able to make sounds, but it was all breathy.
Her pitiable voice haltingly told me her name.

“Sister… I… my name is… Conia Lavillia.”

After that, I called her little Nia, and Conia was very happy for me to call her that.
I also learned, more or less, about her ordeal.
I can’t believe it… those horrifying scenes were all things little Nia had personally experienced…

Fortunately… I didn’t leave her in the wild.
Fortunately… I still have a conscience.
Little Nia was very attached to me, holding my hand all the way and not letting go.
She even had to sleep next to me.

I guess little Nia only feels safe when she’s by my side, and I went along with her wishes.
However…

Why is Elvira’s gaze so strange?

Every time I take care of little Nia, she would look over, but she would immediately avert her gaze after just a glance, as if afraid of being discovered by me.

But I still noticed…
Since she would look away, it probably means she doesn’t want to talk about it.
With my high EQ, I would definitely not take the initiative to ask.

If it were me, being pestered by someone relentlessly, having them ask about everything and follow me everywhere, I would definitely get annoyed with that person.

Everyone has their own privacy, after all~

After a few days of flying and walking, and crossing a mountain range, we finally saw the coast.
A coastal town lay sprawling on the shore.
That was our destination—Port Otas.

But now, another problem lay before us.

How were we supposed to enter openly?

Both Elvira and I believed that although Port Otas’s control over other races was not as strict, they would definitely be suspicious of non-humans coming from the inland.

As witches, it should be fine for me and little Nia to enter the city.
Judging from the group of people who kidnapped little Nia before, people’s ability to identify witches is very limited.
If it weren’t for the Church of Mancius’s campaign to exclude other races, the witch race probably wouldn’t even be singled out.

But Elvira was different.
That dragon tail of hers couldn’t be retracted.

This problem really needed careful consideration.

In the end, we found a place to rest in the mountains a little far from the city.
A cave, again…

As night fell, the waves of the sea lit up the harbor’s lights.
Port Otas in the dark, seen from a distance, looked like a brightly lit river flowing into the sea.

I had already coaxed little Nia to sleep.
I was standing at the entrance of the cave, gazing at the coast, lost in thought as I twirled my hair.

“Thinking again?” Elvira asked softly, walking over to stand beside me and gaze at the coast with me.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go into the city alone.”

“It’s too dangerous to go alone.”

“It’s more dangerous to go in together,” I nodded slightly.
“My race is not easily exposed.
Tomorrow, you wait outside with little Nia.
I’ll come back after I’ve figured out the situation in the city.”

“What if you run into trouble? Your ability…”

“I’ve tried many times, still no response.”

I really want to control the black and red thorns too, but I don’t know how I managed to do it back in Norn City.
After being beaten to the brink of death, I could naturally use them.
It’s so strange…

I can’t just get beaten to near-death every time I run into danger and then explode on the enemy, right?

Did I get reincarnated as a suicide truck…

Or do I have a passive that activates a final burst of power after death?

Shout “Battle! Awesome!” and I can rise from the ashes and fight the enemy to the death.

Eh?! Wait… can I find a middle ground?

For example, hurting myself, but not to the point of being near death.

“Do you have a knife?” I asked Elvira.

A golden light flashed on her wrist, and a small knife appeared in her hand.
“I don’t think just having a knife will solve the problem.”

I silently took the knife, hesitating as I looked at the blade as thin as a cicada’s wing…

I can’t bring myself to do it…
To be honest, I’m terrified of pain.
To cut or not to cut? That is the question…

Agh! What am I hesitating for!
Elvira was so badly injured in the battle before and didn’t say a word.
What am I being so squeamish for!

With a surge of determination, I gritted my teeth and slashed my right wrist.
Blood flowed out.

“Verona!” Elvira grabbed my wrist. “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

“No… wait a minute.”
I closed my eyes and focused on my wrist, calling for the black and red thorns to appear in my mind…

‘Whatever you are, come out quickly!’

‘I’ve already hurt myself, give me some face, okay.’

Suddenly, a vine wrapped around my wrist.
I opened my eyes in surprise to see the familiar black and red thorns.
The thorny vines were tightly wrapped around my forearm, the sharp thorns piercing my skin and drawing blood.
But I didn’t feel any pain, as if these thorns were a part of my body.

“Verona, these… these thorns,” Elvira’s slightly panicked voice came from beside me.

Following the thorns, I saw that the other end was wrapped around Elvira’s snow-white arm and had already pierced her skin.

So I also started to panic.

“Elvira, it’s not me… I’m not controlling them. Wait, I’ll try to get them off.”

With a thought, the vines began to sway slowly.
After several attempts, the black and red thorns did indeed release Elvira.
But just before they let go, I felt a large amount of my blood being drawn away, flowing through the thorns and into Elvira’s body.

A sense of weakness washed over me.
I lost my footing and was about to fall to the ground when a black dragon tail wrapped around my waist, steadying me.

“Thanks…” my voice was slightly weak. “These thorns are disobedient. Did they hurt you?”

Looking at Elvira’s fair arm, there was no blood on it, only a faint red mark from the pressure.
On the surface, there seemed to be no problem.

“Elvira, how are you feeling? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”

In response to my question, Elvira didn’t react at all.
She kept her head down, her black hair falling like a veil of the night, hiding her face.

“Don’t scare me, say something.”

Suddenly, Elvira slightly raised her eyes.
Her golden dragon pupils emitted a soul-stirring glow, staring straight at me.

“Er… there’s no need to glare at me, right? I really didn’t do it on purpose,”
I scratched my cheek, my gaze awkwardly shifting to the side.
I tried to move, but found that the dragon tail around my waist was wrapped very tightly.

Just as I was wondering, the dragon tail suddenly tightened, and Elvira brought me in front of her, forcing me to look up at her.
Her beautiful face was only a few centimeters away from mine.

I was stunned…

“Verona, I said it before, you are the ‘Seed of Genesis and Extinction,’ right,” Elvira’s breathing was heavy, her face flushed.
“And I need to eat it. You know that, right.”

Her words, completely unrelated to the current situation, left me bewildered.
After a brief thought, I decided to play dumb.

“Haha… er, Elvira, what are you talking about?
It seems your sense of humor still needs some improvement.
No one but me would find this joke funny…………… You are joking, right?”

The corners of her lips twitched, and an aggressive smile appeared.
She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pushed me down step by step, pinning me in a bush.

“Verona, did you know? You are the first person I’ve met who cares about me, who thinks for me, and the first person who doesn’t believe in the curse,”
As she spoke, Elvira lowered her head and greedily breathed in my scent.
Her warm breath on my skin tickled.

“Stop fooling around, Elvira. You’ll wake up little Nia.”

“That’s exactly why you need to endure. You don’t want to wake the child, do you, right?”

The strength of a dragon is terrifying.
Elvira just slightly arched her back to press me down, and I had no room to escape.
Elvira slowly parted my legs, her warm stockings rubbing against my skin, moving from time to time, making the base of my thighs itch unbearably.

Her brilliant golden eyes grew hotter.
I knew—

I was in trouble.

Memories from my past life began to attack me again.
If Elvira were to take off a pair of glasses right now¹, it would fit the scene perfectly.

“I think… we can solve this problem by talking,” I said weakly, praying to catch the last ray of light before night fell.

“Alright, let’s have a good talk.”

The golden light gave its answer.

She said she wanted to see…

The forest at night was quiet yet bustling.
The cute little girl slept soundly in the cave.
She hadn’t had a peaceful sleep in a long time, so she slept very deeply and quietly.

Outside the cave, the evening wind whistled, and a bush rustled and trembled.
The wind blew through the treetops, stripping the leaves one by one, revealing the branches within.
Perhaps because of the sea-land breeze, the night wind grew fiercer, bending branches low and pressing against them,                                                                        Relentlessly teasing every vein of the green leaves.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Only after the leaves quivered, fell to the ground, and lay still did the wind finally ease.

Yet the clump of bushes outside the cave continued to tremble—

All through the night, it never once stopped.

Footnote:

¹ 摘下眼镜的动作 (zhāi xià yǎnjìng de dòngzuò – the act of taking off glasses): This is a reference to a specific trope found in anime, manga, and other fiction. When a character (often a seemingly gentle or nerdy one) takes off their glasses, it often signals a dramatic shift in their personality, revealing a more aggressive, dominant, or even sinister side. Verona is humorously comparing Elvira’s sudden change in demeanor to this well-known trope.