Dragons' Melancholic Song (Part 20)

I questioned, "My number one priority right now is to think about how to escape this place. Why, though, can I not calm down? I can't help feeling that there's something left undone. I can't get Irina out of my mind. I surprisingly couldn't sleep well tonight. Last time, I could sleep well in this room, because I was afraid Irina might barge in at any moment. Now, however, I'm worried about her not coming back.

Why am I worried that she won't come back? I clearly shouldn't have any relations.h.i.+p with her, yet why am I unsettled? I never planned to do that; why am I suddenly concerned about this female dragon I just got acquainted with when the chance to escape is in front of me?

I can't do this. I can't do this. I absolutely mustn't let this happen. If I get distracted with her anymore, I'm going to delay my escape plan. I shouldn't be thinking about looking for Irina right now but how to hurry and escape. I can't sleep right now anyway, so why not get up and scout the situation outside?"

I didn't find out much the last night I went out. After judging my thinking to be abnormal, I returned to my room. However, I had to properly investigate the place tonight. I, at least, needed to know what would happen after I opened the door.

I figured I should head upstairs to Irina's room… bring Mom out and see what happened. I went to the stairs on the right. I took a deep breath before stepping onto the steps and ascending the stairs. The stairs inside the mountain cave were made from stone. No noises were made when stepping on the steps, but as soon as I stepped onto a step, a voice spoke out from above. Soon enough, I could hear footsteps coming from above. Irina appeared at the end of the spiral staircase. She asked, "King Troy, is something the matter?"

"Ah… No… Nothing…"

"I see."

Irina didn't look odd. That made me feel I was an idiot. What happened weighed heavily on my mind, yet Irina looked as though nothing happened. She was calm and collected. I looked at her face. I was partially ashamed and partially nervous to the point that I couldn't speak. I merely murmured a few words in an attempt to explain myself, when Irina didn't care why I was there and didn't ask what I wanted.

Irina nodded: "If there is nothing, you best head back and sleep. It is dangerous to be running around at night, as you will wake Mom up. Mom does not like being woken up at night. By the way, perhaps you are unaware, since you are not a pure-blooded dragon, but Dragons have extra sensitive hearing when sleeping at night. Therefore, if you want to open the door at night, Mom will hear you."

"I'm not…"

"I know you do not want to escape, for running away now is suicidal. That is why I am sure you will not try it. As such, I do not believe that you will choose to leave at night."

Irina seemed to be able to read my mind during my moment of anxiety in trying to explain myself. She yawned and then turned around: "If there is nothing else, I will be heading back to bed now. If I do not sleep well, I will not be able to recover my energy for tomorrow."

"Got it. Goodnight." I nodded and then took one last glance at Irina.

I a.s.sumed that Irina and Camille would usually sleep in their dragon forms when I wasn't around. There might be some problems for them to sleep in their rooms in their human forms. Having said that, there was a chance they were fine, too. After all, they were elves in the past; they always had to sleep in their elven forms. Irina's room wasn't large enough for her to sleep in her dragon form anyway.

Irina said, "Goodnight," and then turned to leave.

Irina wasn't abnormal in any way. In fact, she didn't turn around to look at me again. I genuinely felt as if I was bursting with emotions. Mere days ago, Irina would look at me with her love-heart eyes, hug me and beg me. Then she acted as if she has nothing to do with me. In fact, she was as calm as if we never did anything. She previously felt slightly guilty but not then. She was polite and friendly just as when we first met.

That should've been good news to me. Well, not really. I had to negotiate some conditions with Irina and Camille to be able to leave with Dragon Mom. However, if they had lost interest in the plan, there were two endings. The first one was that they'd just release me. The second one was keeping me with them, as Irina still had positive feelings for me.

"Hey, Irina."

I was reluctant to accept it. Actually, I was very reluctant to accept it. I questioned, "Why has Irina totally lost interest in me all of a sudden? What is she trying to do? Why has she stopped wanting to sleep with me all of a sudden? I want to know why. I want to know what exactly she wants. While Camille said it was to create order for us, there was clearly a problem with just twice per week. Logically speaking, we would have a higher success rate if we did it more times. Does this new plan of hers really work? What's with this strange adjustment? Why does she insist on this? Is Camille planning something?"

I had no idea what Camille did outside the cave daily. I was worried there was some scheme brewing in the background.

"What is the matter?" Irina turned around again.

When I saw Irina again, I couldn't utter a word. Irina appeared to be in a normal condition. I asked myself, "I have so many questions to ask. I want to know what exactly she's trying to do, but why have I now lost my courage to ask?"

I hesitated for a moment and then said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Irina didn't wait for me again. She was probably annoyed, since I called her so many times for nothing. She turned to leave. I followed her advice and returned to my room.

Irina wouldn't trick me. Leaving at night isn't a wise decision. I'd give myself away as soon as I opened the door. If Camille heard it opening, she was bound to bring me under control again. I decided it was better to find an opportunity during the day when they were both out. At least, I learnt Camille wouldn't notice during the day. By the looks of it, I didn't spend a night in vain. I learnt that leaving at night wasn't advisable…

Nevertheless, I didn't notice that there was a glimmering silver liquid trail slowly running down the steps and underneath the light of the flame where Irina and I conversed.

Irina lied on her bed. A dangerous colour gleamed in her eyes. She did her absolute best to maintain a normal state when she met Troy. For a female dragon, especially an aroused one, seeing a male dragon, particularly one they had set their sights on, made it impossible to maintain their demeanour upon their first meeting. Irina had basically returned to the state she was in when she first met him.

Irina's hands began to move again, but the night was tougher to get through than she imagined. Before she learnt about the world of l.u.s.t, she didn't know how it felt. Once she knew how amazing it felt, so she could never feel satisfied with just her fingers. The last few nights had been the most excruciating nights for her to get through. Troy was just downstairs, yet she couldn't go to him, as her mother was present.

Irina's mother gave her the command to not go to Troy's. As an obedient and sensible girl, Irina never considered opposing her mother. Her mother searched high and low every day in the forest. The fact that Irina couldn't get pregnant rendered Camille antsy.

Camille desperately needed a child. The child was the future of the entire dragon race, which was why she thought of a drug. There was a drug that could speed up the rate of pregnancy for a female dragon. The issue was that it took a long time to concoct. Furthermore, it required the female dragon to lead a scheduled lifestyle and ensure her emotions remained calm. The drug was initially intended for families of the dragon race who needed it, but she had to concoct it for a male and female that weren't a family.

Camille watched steam whisk up from the large pot of gurgling brown liquid in front of her. She poured her daughter and Troy's secreted liquid into the pot then stirred it to mix them together. The liquid didn't react. It essentially absorbed everything as a black hole would. Camille took in a deep breath. She had already used her rationality and dignity to control her l.u.s.t, but she reacted to the smell from Troy, nonetheless. She was in no mood to worry about that at the moment, though. Troy belonged to her daughter.

"The future of the dragon race definitely also belongs to my daughter!" was what Camille always had in mind.

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