Volume 4 Chapter 13

Volume 4 + Chapter 13: Unease In The Heart

In the palace dining hall, Xia Yi held her knife and fork, absentmindedly cutting a piece of meat and bringing it to her mouth to chew.

So strange… Why does this meat have no flavor at all…?

“Your Highness, is the breakfast I made not to your liking?”

Serra asked gently from beside her.

“Huh? No, not at all! I love the breakfasts you make,” Xia Yi replied. “It’s just… this meat somehow tastes like nothing…”

“Your Highness, that’s because you’re chewing air.”

“Eh?”

Xia Yi lowered her head and found that her fork held nothing at all—she really had been eating air.

Awkward… very awkward.

She felt her face heating with embarrassment.

“Your Highness…”

Serra’s expression is filled with worry.

Ever since breakfast began, Xia Yi had been acting strangely.

Normally, this dragon princess ate with boundless enthusiasm.

Serra simply couldn’t understand why she was like this today.

“Your Highness, what’s on your mind?”

“I…”

Xia Yi hesitated, unable to speak openly.

The reason was Xia Lulu.

From the moment she woke up this morning, she hadn’t seen Xia Lulu anywhere.

And once she learned that Xia Lulu had left the Dragon Palace without a word, she couldn’t relax at all.

Her heart was deeply unsettled.

Xia Yi felt that Xia Lulu was behaving strangely—certainly hiding something from her.

But if she said that out loud, people would definitely laugh at her!

They had just slept together last night, and merely not seeing her in the morning made her panic like this… anyone would think she was just a clingy child.

“N-nothing’s wrong!”

Xia Yi forced a dismissive expression, speared a piece of meat, and put it into her mouth.

“Mmm! As expected, Serra’s breakfast tastes wonderful!”

……

After breakfast, Xia Yi returned to her own room.

Since she had just finished her mission, this period counted as her vacation—she was free to enjoy herself.

“Finally, time to read manga!”

Xia Yi leapt onto her bed and pulled out several volumes.

Even while Xia Yi had been away from the palace, Serra had continued updating her collection according to the series she followed.

She had stockpiled chapters for so long—now she could binge them all at once.

“Stockpiling chapters really isn’t a good habit! Someone like me, when circumstances allow it, never stockpiles at all!”

Xia Yi flipped through the manga, page after page.

But her mind wasn’t there at all—she might as well have been staring at blank paper.

All she could think about was Xia Lulu…

Xia Lulu had silently left the palace early in the morning.

What if she’d gone somewhere dangerous?

The more Xia Yi thought about it, the more anxious she became.

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She tossed the manga aside, put on her shoes, and left her room.

“Your Highness… what are you…?”

Serra looked at her in confusion.

“Serra, I’m going out!” Xia Yi declared.

“Going out? Where are you going?” Serra asked, bewildered.

“I’m going to find Xia Lulu! I’m worried she went to do something dangerous!”

“Something dangerous…” Serra paused.

“But Her Majesty is the strongest presence in our Dragon Kingdom. Nothing is dangerous to her. And she only stepped out of the palace—surely you’re overreacting a little?”

“I—I…”

Xia Yi knew she was being overly tense…

But she simply couldn’t calm down.

Serra thought for a moment, then said, “Your Highness, if you’re truly this worried, then allow me to accompany you to find Her Majesty.”

“Serra, you’re the best! Let’s go—right now!”

Xia Yi was deeply grateful.

First, they needed to confirm where Xia Lulu had gone.

Serra began by searching for members of the royal maid corps—Lucia included—but none of them knew anything. Xia Lulu had left without informing anyone.

Everyone had failed to notice her departure at the time.

“Where could Xia Lulu even go…? She normally never leaves the capital!”

Xia Yi grew even more frantic.

“Your Highness, we can ask the palace guards,” Serra suggested. “If we determine the direction she went, we can infer her destination.”

“Alright.”

Xia Yi nodded.

Serra and Xia Yi headed to the main gate of the Dragon Palace.

Xia Yi didn’t waste time—she invoked the name of Christie and questioned the guards directly, frightening them into reporting everything they knew without the slightest omission.

“…And that’s everything, Your Highness. Her Majesty left heading in this direction.”

The guard pointed toward a distant path.

“That direction doesn’t lead anywhere within the capital…” Serra murmured. “It seems Her Majesty left the capital entirely and went somewhere else.”

Xia Yi stared at the direction Xia Lulu had taken, her thoughts racing.

That direction was…

toward the Purple-Iris Valley!!

Could Xia Lulu have gone there to see Dorothea?

“Serra, you know where Purple-Iris Valley is, right?” Xia Yi asked.

“Purple-Iris Valley?”

Serra blinked in surprise.

“That dangerous place—you went there last time as well…”

“Yes. Take me there now. Xia Lulu is very likely inside!” Xia Yi said firmly.

Serra still didn’t understand the reasoning, but as a professional maid, she didn’t question—she obeyed.

“Understood, Your Highness. Allow me to take you.”

……

……

A red dragon descended from the sky, landing inside a valley blanketed with purple irises.

Xia Yi jumped down from its back.

Serra had assumed her true dragon form to transport Xia Yi as quickly as possible.

“Serra, stay behind me and follow!” Xia Yi commanded.

“As you wish, Your Highness.”

Serra shifted from her dragon form back into human form and followed Xia Yi into the valley.

Soon after they entered, the path behind them vanished, the scenery shifting—purple irises blooming endlessly in all directions.

“Xia Lulu! Xia Lulu! You’re here, aren’t you!!”

Xia Yi ran deeper into the valley, calling Xia Lulu’s name, caring nothing for the strange surroundings.

She only wanted to find Xia Lulu—

to soothe the unease that was tearing her heart apart.

At the same time, she called out loudly for the gold dragon who lived here.

“Dorothea! Dorothea!!”

Ahead, the flower sea shifted, opening a path—as if intentionally guiding them.

Xia Yi grabbed Serra and rushed forward along the newly revealed road.

It wasn’t long before, at the path’s end, Xia Yi saw a golden-haired, golden-eyed dragon maiden.

Dorothea.

Xia Yi hurried over. “Dorothea, Xia Lulu came here, didn’t she?”

“Xia Lulu did indeed come to me this morning.”

Dorothea hesitated, lowering her head—her expression heavy with sorrow.

Xia Yi froze.

Her mind went blank.

The unease in her heart… had become reality.

“Xia Lulu… in the end… she still couldn’t…”