Chapter 355: Luke Survives Rhaenyra… Then Flirts With Her Sister?!

Volume III - ???? (Title will be decided at the end of volume...)

27th Day of Fructus Month, Year 50,001.

Within the Dragon Continent of Kharenthyr, the largest among all the known continents of Valtharion, there remained territories so vast that even kingdoms elsewhere could appear small in comparison, although that title only applied to the lands known to the current races.

Beyond the Endless Sea, nobody truly knew what remained.

Some believed there were forgotten lands hidden beyond those endless waters, while others believed nothing existed there at all, but since nobody who ventured far enough had ever returned with a reliable answer, Kharenthyr continued to be regarded as the largest known continent of Valtharion.

Within one of its many territories, a region known as Bravaryn, there something resembling a dead body lay beneath a tree in the middle of the wilderness.

The man was half-naked from the waist up, with only a pair of badly torn pants remaining on his body, and although he was technically still alive, the way he had been lying there completely motionless for days made him look enough like a corpse that anyone passing nearby could easily make the wrong assumption.

Apparently, one particular woman had been wondering the exact same thing.

She was crouched beside him beneath the shade of the tree, her long snow-white hair falling around her shoulders while two silver-crystal dragon horns rose elegantly from her head, and although the position caused part of her skirt to shift upward toward the unconscious man’s side, her attention remained entirely focused on the stick currently held between her fingers.

Poke.

She pressed the end of the stick against his cheek.

Nothing happened.

Poke. Poke.

The man’s face shifted slightly beneath the pressure, yet there was still no genuine reaction, causing the young woman to continue the strange ritual she had repeated every day for the past week.

For exactly one minute each day, she would come here, crouch beside him, and poke his face with a stick just to see whether the supposedly healed man had finally decided to wake up.

Until now, the result had always been the same.

"Ugh..."

This time, however, a faint groan finally escaped him.

The woman’s icy-blue draconic eyes immediately brightened with curiosity as she stopped the stick halfway toward his cheek, because after an entire week of receiving absolutely no response, the sleeping corpse had finally done something.

Instead of disturbing him further, she remained where she was and quietly waited to see what he would do once he fully regained consciousness.

Luke’s eyelids slowly opened.

His mind remained hazy while his vision refused to properly focus, leaving the surrounding trees and patches of sunlight blurred together for several seconds before his senses gradually began returning.

He stared upward first, finding branches and green leaves above him, then slowly shifted his gaze around the unfamiliar wilderness as he tried to understand where he had ended up.

Eventually, his eyes moved toward the woman crouching beside him.

Luke saw her snow-white hair first, followed by the pair of silver-crystal horns rising from her head, and then her beautiful face framed by those calm icy-blue eyes.

His gaze remained there for approximately half a second.

Then it moved downward.

Because of the way Emberlyn was crouching beside him, Luke’s current position gave him a rather unfortunate—or perhaps fortunate—view beneath part of her shifted skirt.

His blue eyes focused for a moment.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, Luke gave his first opinion after waking from a week-long coma.

"Those red panties don’t suit you. I think blue would look much better."

"..."

"..."

Silence immediately descended beneath the tree.

Emberlyn stared at him blankly, apparently needing several seconds to understand why the supposedly half-dead Hero’s first words after awakening had involved the color blue.

Then realization struck.

Her calm expression finally broke as a faint red color spread across her face, and she quickly adjusted her skirt while staring at Luke as though reconsidering whether allowing him to wake up had actually been a good idea.

Luke, however, showed absolutely no concern for the consequences of his observation.

Instead, he pushed himself up from the ground and stretched his arms above his head, feeling several joints release after remaining motionless for so long.

"Ahh..."

His body felt surprisingly normal.

There was no lingering pain from Rhaenyra’s punch, no broken bones, no torn muscles, and none of the injuries he distinctly remembered receiving before everything had gone black.

Luke rolled one shoulder before looking around again.

"Where the hell am I?"

Emberlyn finally recovered from his earlier comment and tossed the stick away, deciding that after successfully awakening the strange human, it had fulfilled its purpose.

"If I’d known Rhaenyra was going to bring you back in a near-dead state, I suppose letting Grandma bring you herself in a half-dead state wouldn’t have made much difference."

"???"

Luke slowly turned toward her.

His mouth twitched.

For some reason, both options involved him arriving here after receiving a severe beating.

’Was being half-dead somehow guaranteed either way?’

Emberlyn didn’t appear particularly concerned about his reaction as she stood and brushed some grass from her skirt.

"Anyway, you were already unconscious when Rhaenyra brought you here, and Grandma healed your injuries afterward."

She paused before stepping closer.

Luke remained seated while Emberlyn leaned toward him until her face was only a short distance from his, her icy-blue eyes carefully examining him as though she were studying some strange creature Rhaenyra had dragged home.

"So now that you’re finally awake, tell me something, Mr. Hero of Light."

Her gaze moved slowly across his face.

"What exactly are you?"

Luke raised an eyebrow.

Emberlyn’s confusion wasn’t entirely unreasonable, because she knew her elder sister extremely well.

Whenever Rhaenyra became truly angry at something, she normally burned it, broke it, or simply killed it, which made the fact that Luke had received only a single near-fatal punch unusually restrained by her standards.

Especially considering he was merely D-Rank.

’Why didn’t Big Sister kill him?’

Emberlyn lifted one hand before lightly running her fingers along Luke’s cheek, examining his face while trying to understand what exactly her elder sister had seen in this particular human.

At least his appearance wasn’t disappointing.

Even compared with the dragons of her generation, Emberlyn rarely encountered men she would immediately consider more handsome, which made it somewhat surprising that someone from the Human Race possessed features refined enough to attract her attention.

’Has Big Sister gone soft... or is she actually changing?’

That possibility only made Emberlyn more curious.

She had originally come here because she wanted to understand the man who had somehow survived Rhaenyra’s temper, yet before she could continue questioning him, Luke leaned forward as well.

The distance between them disappeared until the tips of their noses lightly touched.

"And who might you be?"

Emberlyn paused.

Only then did she realize that she had been questioning the man for several moments without ever actually introducing herself.

She straightened slightly before answering in her usual composed manner.

"Emberlyn Xarzith’Drevab Starfall, although Emberlyn Starfall is enough. I’m a Dragon Princess... and originally, I was the princess who was supposed to marry you before my elder sister Rhaenyra was chosen instead."

Luke considered those words for a moment.

Then he nodded.

"Luke Voidheart, Hero of Light and apparently your supposed-to-be husband."

"..."

"..."

[...]

After introducing himself, Luke openly looked her up and down once more, from the snow-white hair falling nearly to her thighs to the crystal-like horns above her head.

A playful smile gradually appeared on his face.

"Well, I wouldn’t mind having a wife like you."

Emberlyn froze.

’wife...?’

Luke had said it casually, clearly teasing her after hearing that she had originally been intended as his bride, yet Emberlyn remained completely still for a moment as her mind interpreted the words somewhat differently.

’Does he... like me already?’

While Emberlyn remained trapped inside that misunderstanding, Luke had already moved on to a much more immediate problem.

He looked down at his torn pants and then toward the dirt covering portions of his body after spending an entire week beneath a tree.

"So, Miss Emberlyn, where can I take a bath?"

"Hmm?"

Emberlyn finally returned to reality before giving him a distracted nod.

"Come with me."

Luke followed as she began walking deeper into the forest, and after several minutes, the trees gradually opened around them until something completely different appeared ahead.

At the center of the surrounding wilderness stood a huge palace constructed almost entirely from gold, its walls and towers reflecting the daylight brightly enough that Luke had to stare at it for several seconds.

"Hmm, is this your house?" Luke asked while continuing toward it beside her. "Looks nice."

"It’s Rhaenyra’s."

"Oh."

Emberlyn continued leading him toward the palace without stopping, and as they crossed into the main grounds, Luke began noticing numerous servants moving between the golden buildings and surrounding courtyards.

Most wore simple brown or gray clothing, yet their physical features immediately separated them from ordinary humans.

Some possessed small horns, others had patches of scales visible along their necks or arms, while a few had folded wings resting against their backs, although every one of them currently maintained a predominantly humanoid appearance.

"They’re half-dragons," Emberlyn explained after noticing where Luke was looking.

Luke gave a small nod and continued walking beside her without showing much surprise, because after spending few months time in Valtharion and learning about the different races inhabiting the world, the existence of half-dragons was hardly the strangest thing he had encountered.

Instead, his attention returned toward the golden palace ahead.

For the first time since arriving in Valtharion, Luke Voidheart had stepped onto the Dragon Continent.

And judging by how his first week here had already gone, Kharenthyr clearly wasn’t planning to give him a peaceful welcome.