Volume 4 Chapter 99

Volume 4 + Chapter 99: Little Butterflies

“So pretty!”

Xia Yi was sitting on the grass, surrounded by a swarm of colorful butterflies.

No one knew where these butterflies had come from, but judging by their behavior, they seemed to like Xia Yi very much. Not only were they unafraid of her, they kept fluttering close to her affectionately.

“Hehe, that tickles~”

Xia Yi turned her head and discovered that several little butterflies had landed on her large tail behind her. Not only that—there were even butterflies resting on her ahoge.

Just like that, the dragon loli playing with butterflies formed a warm, soothing scene, as gentle and healing as a picture from a fairy-tale storybook.

“Save me… save me…!”

However, the tranquility here was suddenly broken.

Xia Yi abruptly heard a cry for help. It sounded somewhat familiar—it was…

Leonard?

She stood up and saw a figure rush out of the forest, tumbling clumsily onto the ground.

It was none other than the leader of the Northern Rebellion Army—Leonard.

For some unknown reason, this battle-hardened and vicious warlord now looked like a startled bird. His face was twisted in terror, not a trace of his former ferocity remaining. He clutched his head and trembled violently on the ground.

“Leonard? What’s wrong with you?” Xia Yi asked curiously as she approached.

“Ah? Ah!! Don’t come any closer!!”

Leonard raised his eyes and saw Xia Yi. It was as if he had seen something utterly horrifying—his reaction was violently excessive.

“Leonard, you’re acting really strange!”

Completely puzzled by his behavior, Xia Yi stepped closer.

“Help me, help me!! I don’t want to die—I don’t want to die!!”

Leonard’s hands kept clawing forward, as if trying to crawl away.

His movements were extremely odd, making him look as though he had no lower body at all.

But wasn’t his body still there?

Xia Yi was amused by the sight.

At that moment, one of the little butterflies on Xia Yi fluttered away and landed on Leonard.

“No!! No, don’t!!”

Leonard reacted as if his courage had completely shattered—tears streamed down his face, his body shaking like a sieve.

Xia Yi couldn’t understand it. It was just a tiny butterfly—was it really necessary to be that scared?

Leonard was far too timid, wasn’t he?

“Leonard, don’t be afraid. It’s just a cute little butterfly!” Xia Yi explained gently.

The little butterfly seemed quite interested in Leonard. After touching him, it didn’t leave his body.

As if some kind of signal had been transmitted, all the other butterflies that had been surrounding Xia Yi flew over together, landing all over Leonard.

“W-wuh… ahh… wuh… eh… ahhh…”

Leonard kept letting out terrified noises that no longer carried any clear meaning, as if his mind were on the verge of collapsing.

“Leonard, the little butterflies just want to play with you,” Xia Yi smiled. “Look, they like you so much—sticking all over you. Aren’t you happy?”

“Heehee… haha… woohoo… heehee!”

Leonard completely lost his sanity and burst into uncontrollable laughter.

As he laughed, more and more butterflies—seemingly appearing from nowhere—gathered onto his body alone.

“Hm…?”

Xia Yi suddenly felt her eyes grow a little tired, so she rubbed them.

When she lifted her gaze and looked at Leonard again, the scene before her had changed drastically.

The beautiful butterflies were gone. Instead, a mass of black creatures was clustered over Leonard’s body, writhing nonstop.

Leonard’s eyes were wide open, frozen in a manic grin. He was no longer breathing, and the lower half of his body had disappeared.

Buzzzzzz—

Xia Yi froze in place.

So the little butterflies she had seen earlier… were all black flies.

……

“Uwaaah!”

“I hate flies! I hate flies!!”

“Stay away from me!!”

In her sleep, Xia Yi flailed her small hands in panic.

“Your Highness, what are you talking about?”

“Huh? I…”

Xia Yi sat up and found that the person in front of her was none other than the apprentice maid, Elly.

She took several dozen seconds to sort through her thoughts.

It seemed that just now she had been…

Having a nightmare?

She remembered.

She had been trapped in a bizarre nightmare, where the little butterflies playing with her had all turned into flies.

“Your Highness, you’re finally awake—thank goodness. I was so worried,” Elly let out a long sigh of relief.

Xia Yi stood up, looked around, and fell into shock.

The enormous magic array she had set up at great expense had somehow been destroyed.

Under normal circumstances, without the protection of the magic array’s barrier, everyone would have been swept into the blizzard and met with disaster.

Yet for some unknown reason, the blizzard had stopped.

Nearby, many Dragon Clan members were still asleep. Those who had already awakened were checking on the condition of the unconscious and trying to wake them.

“This is strange… Why is it only our people here? Where did the rebels go?”

Xia Yi didn’t see a single member of the Northern Rebellion Army.

“Elly, you woke up before I did. Do you know what happened?” Xia Yi asked.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. When I woke up, the situation looked almost the same as it does now. The rebels were already gone—only us remained,” Elly replied.

“Elly, what’s the last thing you remember before losing consciousness?” Xia Yi asked.

Elly thought for a moment, then answered, “Your Highness, I remember that we won the battle. The rebel leader Leonard surrendered to you and was waiting for your response… After that, I don’t remember anything. I suddenly lost consciousness.”

“Huh?”

Xia Yi frowned.

The events she remembered didn’t quite line up with Elly’s—there was a short stretch afterward.

Countless black shadows had fallen from the sky and devoured everyone.

“Elly, did you see any black shadows?” Xia Yi asked.

“Black shadows? What black shadows?” Elly looked completely confused.

“You really don’t remember?”

“Your Highness, what are you talking about? That’s all I remember.”

Elly’s answer plunged Xia Yi into silence.

Afterward, the others gradually woke up as well.

The young princess questioned them about their memories before losing consciousness, but without exception, their answers were almost identical to Elly’s. They all seemed to blank out around the time of Leonard’s surrender.

The only one who remembered the black shadows was Xia Yi herself.

“Could it be… that this too was just part of my nightmare…?”

Xia Yi fell into confusion, even suspecting that her mind was playing tricks on her.

But the current situation wasn’t the time to dwell on that. There were more pressing matters at hand.

She issued orders to all the Dragon Clan members present to search for the rebels’ whereabouts. If they had managed to escape, it would spell serious trouble.

However, after a period of searching, the report the dragons brought back to Xia Yi exceeded her expectations entirely.