Aurina followed the sound and the scent of blood, sneaking all the way to the door.
She spotted the orange dragon that had silently followed her and pressed a claw to her lips in a shushing gesture.
The cat crouched down without a sound.
Aurina pressed her ear against the door.
She faintly heard the crack of a whip, prayers, and strange incantations.
It was all too easy to hear.
What is this?
Some secret bug-on-bug enslavement technique?
Filled with questions, Aurina’s mind spun but found no answers.
So she decided to ask Richard directly.
With that thought, she lifted her foot to kick the door down.
The moment her little foot rose, however, her brain finally turned the corner.
No matter how she looked at it, a female bug like Sophia would never just let this king do whatever she wanted.
Even though Sophia’s own body was already this king’s possession in a sense…
The more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed.
Aurina lowered her foot, scooped up the cat, tiptoed back, and flopped onto her pile of gold coins.
Dragons are always patient when facing troublesome prey.
They soar into the sky and wait for the perfect moment; they bide their time for an opening.
Aurina couldn’t help but recall a hunt from long, long ago—perhaps thousands of years past—when she had faced an extremely powerful long-eared little bug.
To find the perfect opportunity, she waited over nine hundred years.
By the time she struck, his hair had turned snow-white and his skin was all wrinkled.
She defeated him effortlessly.
That is the supreme wisdom of a true dragon.
“So, Richard, hurry up and tell me—what were you doing last night when you went with Sophia to that dark little room to get whipped?”
Aurina asked bluntly, then added, “I’m still just a child, you know.”
The next day.
Three or four cats at the door pricked up their ears and looked outside.
The orange dragon squatted on the windowsill, keeping watch for Aurina.
An embarrassed look crossed Richard’s face.
“When exactly do you mean?”
“At night, obviously.”
Aurina made smacking sounds with her mouth.
“She was definitely whipping you and chanting stuff about ‘original sin’ and sins of desire. What was all that about?”
“How do you know?”
“This king was listening with my ear pressed right against the door.”
Aurina said, “You’ve already answered two questions, so hurry up and tell me the rest.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tell me, tell me, tell me!”
Aurina grabbed Richard’s arm and shook him.
“Strongest little bug, come on, say it, say it!”
“A man’s business is beyond a child’s understanding,” Richard said after a pause.
“It’s… related to sexual matters. Not suitable for children.”
“Gah?”
Aurina stopped shoving him and looked at Richard with amusement.
She covered her mouth and burst into laughter.
“You virgin little bug—gahaha! You’ve never even gotten a single female pregnant! Bugs really are bugs—useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless!”
Her clear laughter echoed throughout the entire room.
Richard grew a little angry.
“You don’t understand. Sophia was helping me treat—helping me suppress—a disease I was born with.”
“What kind of disease?”
“You already know,” Richard said with difficulty.
“Growing two dicks?”
Richard glared at Aurina in fury.
A chill ran across Aurina’s scalp.
She shrank back.
It had been a while since her head was last knocked, but she could feel the “killing intent.”
At the urgent pleading of her skull, Aurina decided to… be a little gentler with Richard.
Yes, gentle.
All for more gold and for the fiancée curse that would enslave him.
“Heeheehee.”
She twisted her fingers together, put on a smile, and leaned against Richard like a cat.
“Gah, I thought you were just showing off.”
“No,” Richard said with a troubled expression.
“It’s always been my illness. I can feel it—that desire far fiercer than ordinary people’s—constantly trying to break free.”
“Is that really an illness?”
“Of course,” Richard said.
“Unrestrained lust brings evil consequences. Of all evils, lust is the chief. I can only do my best to keep it bound.”
Aurina tilted her head forty-five degrees and stared at him.
Her big, bright golden eyes were half puzzled, half pitying—the kind of pity one gives an idiot.
“Then why are you still a virgin?”
“What else would I be?”
Richard replied.
“I have a fiancée. We have a marriage contract.”
“But you’re so strong.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Aurina became even more convinced that Richard was hopelessly stupid—truly, incredibly stupid.
She asked, “Then why did Sophia whip you last night?”
“That was part of the treatment ritual.”
“Oh, so getting lashed hard with a spiked whip.”
Richard’s lips twitched, but he didn’t deny it—he couldn’t lie.
Aurina leaned in impatiently.
“Why?”
Richard looked at Aurina.
He hesitated to speak.
Talking about this felt like exposing the softest part of his heart, and Aurina was neither kind nor gentle.
She had no trace of Sophia’s goodness.
Her personality was vile.
She would surely mock him mercilessly and rake bloody scratches across that soft heart with her claws.
Yet his back still ached faintly—that was part of the “treatment” and couldn’t be healed with divine magic.
He looked into Aurina’s “innocent” gaze, hesitated, and finally said, “Because… I showed signs of my desire breaking its restraints.”
“Signs of what?”
“It’s…”
Richard said, “Yesterday I looked… I looked up Frostsilver’s skirt when she fell.”
Having confessed, Richard turned his head away in shame.
Aurina stood up—she was only tall enough this way to reach Richard, who was sitting on the bed.
She grabbed his head with both hands, forced him to face her, and stared straight into his eyes.
“And then?”
That was it.
“So you got whipped for that.”
“No, it was treatment.”
Aurina let go and stared seriously at Richard—at the strongest little bug who had temporarily killed her.
How could the strongest little bug capable of killing her… how could he be like this?
This king was actually killed by a bug like him.
Strong people shouldn’t be like this.
Her eyes suddenly welled up.
“You’re so pitiful, Richard.”
Richard’s whole body shook.
He had never expected the first time Aurina showed sympathy would be for something so filthy and dark about himself.
No—Aurina was just naïve.
She didn’t understand what this meant.
She had no human sense of shame.
That’s what he told himself, yet a tiny voice deep inside whispered, Aren’t you tired?
Richard shook his head, recalling his duty.
“No, I’m not pitiful. Aurina, one day I will marry Sophia. We’ll walk hand in hand into the hall of marriage, love each other for life, and spend our lives together… I… I will make her the happiest woman in the world.”
As he spoke, he unconsciously raised his hand, showing the ring on his finger that glinted with light.
But Aurina paid no attention to the ring or his words.
She stood up, spread her arms wide, and declared, “So pitiful! Should this king give you a hug? With that stupid brain of yours, you’d never be able to comprehend this king’s world-shaking wisdom anyway.”
Richard gazed at Aurina’s tiny frame and her flat little chest.
Even with arms spread wide, she was so small—she could barely wrap them around him—yet she still tried her hardest.
The cats at the door suddenly turned their heads toward them.
“Meow!”
Richard seized the chance to break the delicate atmosphere.
“What’s wrong with the cats?”
“Someone’s coming,” Aurina said.
“Probably Sophia.”
Richard pushed Aurina away.
“You’ll understand when you’re older.”
“Sir Richard.”
A figure appeared in the doorway.
“The Harper scouts need you urgently. Please come quickly.”
“Alright.”
Richard secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He had barely relaxed when he felt a slight weight on his shoulders.
Aurina plopped herself onto his head and patted it.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Richard’s face had grown thick enough to ignore the astonished stares of others.
He went to meet the Harper agents and discovered one was missing—the “square-faced red-haired hag,” also known as the potato-faced doppelganger.
“She left a letter and vanished. This is bad,” the Harper ranger said, handing the letter to Richard.
Richard took it and read:
“Sorry. For the sake of the good gods you believe in, could you please not bring a dragon when looking for me? I don’t want to pay the penalty for breaking contract. I just don’t want to die. I’ve already fled—far, far away from the capital. The capital is extremely dangerous right now…”