No.
This isn't right.
Patunasankus lowered her head in silence, looking at Loranhir holding her hand, plump and warm.
She still couldn't understand Latifa's thoughts.
Suddenly, she gripped Loranhir's hand tightly, as if afraid that letting go would cause someone to float away.
"Hmm?" Loranhir looked puzzled but gripped her hand even tighter.
Patunasankus kept thinking.
Strangely, the more she rushed to place herself in the girl's position from her memories, the more she forced herself to the edge of some boundary, the more she forced herself to peek across that boundary, the more confusion she received in return.
"...Let go."
Patunasankus awoke from her brief trance and withdrew her hand, feeling inexplicably agitated again inside.
Her mind was so active, yet she felt she was missing something, something she could never find.
Amid the chaotic emotions, a hint of joy was mixed in, beyond the hundred things that felt wrong.
So for a moment, she couldn't describe what this feeling was.
An evil dragon could burn down a country, yet couldn't unravel a thread of confusion in her heart.
Her throat itched; she wanted to burn something again.
Patunasankus thought secretly.
Confusion flowed in Loranhir's eyes, not knowing what had happened.
But she could sense that this was the first time the other had shown unusual emotions.
Throughout the entire process of rescuing and escorting the princess, the girl had never displayed any negative emotions, until she kissed her hand.
Somehow, she knew this wasn't her fault. That unconscious outward expression seemed more like...
Some kind of confusion?
She naturally assumed this confusion was the princess's uncertainty about whether she could save her old friend Evelyn. Just hearing Elaphia's proposal made her worried and afraid.
Imagine, on a full moon night, dancing alone by the lakeside to lure a ferocious beast?
Despite Elaphia's so-called promise that everything was prepared, Loranhir secretly told herself that she must protect the princess.
Even though Elaphia had specifically instructed that the ferocious beast had remembered her scent and would stay far away if it detected her.
But Loranhir still planned to quietly follow and see.
Otherwise, she simply couldn't feel at ease.
○
The full moon night arrived as scheduled.
By the lakeside.
"You seem a bit distracted," Elaphia sat on a large rock, carefully examining Patunasankus.
She was, after all, a vampire who had lived for nearly two hundred years. Although she had never lived for herself, reading others' emotions wasn't too difficult for her.
Moreover, Patunasankus didn't seem to be deliberately hiding it.
"Are you worried about your good friend Evelyn, so you didn't rest well all night?" Elaphia said.
"No, I actually rested very well," Patunasankus shook her head in denial.
Her sleep had always been good.
Dragons don't need daily sleep like all humanoid creatures. They typically have a long period of hibernation after extended activity. Given the dragons' long lifespan, this was their normal routine.
Evelyn?
Don't mention it, she truly didn't know her.
"Relax, the princess just needs to follow the plan, and leave the rest to me," Elaphia pointed around and said, "Besides, look, the scenery here is really nice, isn't it?"
Patunasankus looked around. Stars and moonlight were sprinkled on the water's surface, passing this rippling splendor down into the water, making everything around seem to shine brilliantly, as if in a galaxy.
The scenery was nice, but Patunasankus wasn't in the mood to appreciate it.
The confusion from that deep night had been haunting her.
Patunasankus didn't know what was wrong with her, but there was something she desperately wanted to understand. Yet she couldn't grasp even a hint of it.
Thus, she was unusually agitated.
Not to mention, she had never danced before.
For both public and private reasons, Elaphia decided to say something, lest she miss the time to send the princess on her way.
She could choose to kill the princess right now.
But when Elaphia thought about how even Grand Duke Dreka's most stealthy vampire knights were easily found and immediately slain by the hero, she decisively abandoned this idea.
She needed to die for a more important cause.
"If you're confused, just don't think about anything and follow your instincts," Elaphia said.
She took out a violin, placed it on her shoulder, and began playing the prelude.
"It's just a simple dance, it will be over soon."
I hope what she says really works, Patunasankus thought.
If she really made a fool of herself, the evil dragon would seriously consider roasting Elaphia, especially since her throat was itching so much right now.
Patunasankus stood by the lake and saw a girl reflected in the watery surface.
"..."
"..."
The dandelion-haired girl beneath the lake looked at her curiously, and Patunasankus seemed to see her own expressionless face in the girl's clear pupils.
The girl wore a white dress, with a blue ribbon binding her long hair, standing barefoot on the shore.
Only now, the dandelion-colored long hair was darker, but the gentle loveliness still remained on her elegant face. Those long, slender legs appeared so beautiful and proportionate in the moonlight.
Patunasankus seemed to realize something.
She blinked, and the girl blinked too.
She slowly raised her hand, and the girl slowly raised hers too.
Looking at the girl's reflection, all movements seemed etched in Patunasankus's mind.
How to position her arms, how to move her feet—there was no need to think. She just needed to relax and follow the instructions of the girl beneath the lake without hesitation.
She still harbored deep anxiety about herself. But the music was still playing, so the dance had to continue.
Her movements transitioned from initial clumsiness to fluidity, and then to perfection. Patunasankus had never imagined in her life that she could dance like this. With her mind completely blank and unable to think, she completed the entire performance solely on remnants of memory.
She felt her heart beating "thump thump thump" wildly. The warm, moist evening breeze lifted her hair, revealing her face, breathless.
It was her face, yet not her face.
—The day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, yesterday I saw a deer, and today, I met you.
Elaphia's violin playing paused for a moment.
She saw the princess's limbs display astonishing beauty and the nobility of human structure, like a paper flower with its mesmerizing magic.
The dance was uninhibited, as if she had been dancing for years. The silver dance dress flew up, refracting chaotic light and shadow.
A strange and intense sense of guilt spread in Elaphia's heart.
How many more victims of hers would there be?
She didn't know.