She was going to have nightmares.
Lucia was certain she would have nightmares tonight.
The evil dragon was simply too awful. Using Er Gouzi as bait was one thing, but he had even refused to spare her, a fake young dragon.
What if he used a young dragon as bait and her fake young-dragon self really got eaten by a Deep Sea Beast? Sea beasts were enormous. According to some legends, certain sea beasts were even larger than dragons. Some could even swallow and hunt dragons.
Sea monsters covered in tentacles seemed capable of hunting and devouring dragons.
There were also sea monsters that looked like giant pythons and could crush entire islands.
The deep sea was full of all kinds of strange, vicious-looking sea monsters. If the evil dragon Lance really encountered one of those terrifying, ugly monsters, he might not be able to defeat it. The deep sea was still forbidden territory for humanity.
Human ships only dared to sail in coastal waters. They did not dare enter the deep sea, because there were too many sea monsters there. The island where the evil dragon lived... was it near the coast?
Or was it in the deep sea? If it was near the coast, that would be fine. With the evil dragon's strength, he should be able to defeat the sea monsters in the coastal waters. But if it was in the Deep Sea Region, his island might be attacked by sea monsters at any time.
Should she ask him? No, forget it. How could a young dragon know anything about coastal waters or the deep sea?
"Coastal waters" and "deep sea" were humanity's divisions of the boundless ocean. They also represented the extent of the human world's exploration of the sea.
Lucia lay in her sleeping spot, waiting for the evil dragon to call her for class.
The evil dragon was touching up his painting in the study. The painting he had made around sunset included her, Er Gouzi, and Turtle-Turtle.
Although she feared that the evil dragon's painting carried an ominous power, she had to admit that it was truly beautiful and full of artistic conception.
She liked it very much. She even wanted to take it with her when she left.
Once she became empress, the value of the evil dragon's painting would rise with her status. After she died of old age, the painting might even become one of the Farolyn Empire's famous masterpieces.
If she really brought the painting back to the empire, she would definitely treat it as a burial object and take it into her tomb.
"All done."
"Huh? All done? Wh-What's all done?"
Lucia subconsciously got up from the soft grass and nervously responded. It had become instinctive.
"The touch-ups."
The evil dragon set down the brush in his claw, turned around, and hung the finished painting in the highest place in the study. This was the "Family Portrait," and it would later become his inheritance to the young dragon, so naturally, it had to be hung in the most conspicuous spot.
"Want to come take a look?"
"Sure, sure."
The young dragon went to the study. After the evil dragon's touch-ups, the painting really was even more beautiful than before. The young dragon, Turtle-Turtle, and Er Gouzi in the picture seemed more vivid, and the afterglow of the setting sun felt real.
Standing before the painting, it was as though she had entered it.
What a talented evil dragon. If the evil dragons of legend were all like Lance, princesses kidnapped by evil dragons probably would not resist interacting with them so much.
"It's full of a dreamlike feeling."
"Do you like it?"
"I do."
"That's good."
The young dragon secretly rejoiced. From the meaning behind the evil dragon's words, he seemed to be planning to give the painting to her.
She prayed that the evil dragon would give it to her soon.
He definitely would not give it to her anytime soon. If he intended to give it to her, he would not have hung it in the study.
"The Dragon Language I taught you this morning—can you write it yet?"
"I can."
There were only a little more than twenty simple characters. She could learn them after writing them a few more times.
She had at least studied the scripts of the dwarves, elves, and beastfolk, so she had a foundation. Naturally, she learned Dragon Language a little faster.
"Then go write a short essay in Dragon Language. The title is: 'My Evil Dragon Papa.'"
"???"
My evil dragon papa?
Lucia suspected that the evil dragon had gotten the title wrong. The title should have been: "My Evil Dragon Husband"?
"Lance, did you say the title wrong?"
"No. Oh, I added one extra word. The title is: 'My Dragon Papa.' Use the twenty-some Dragon Language characters you've learned to write a short essay. If you have no impression of your Dragon Papa, you can change it to 'My Dragon Mama.'"
He had been a little too impatient. When it came to getting the young dragon to call him Papa, he could not rush things. It had to happen naturally.
When interacting with the young dragon, it was best not to have an ulterior motive. Otherwise, if she noticed, she might grow resentful.
After spending enough time together, feelings would naturally develop. Once the young dragon began to trust him, depend on him, and develop feelings for him, she would call him Papa when the time came.
"I don't have a dragon... Papa. Mm, I understand. I'll try to write it. If you don't like what I write, you can't hit me."
She was not a real young dragon. She had no Dragon Papa or Dragon Mama.
If the evil dragon asked her to write a short essay titled "My Dragon Papa" or "My Dragon Mama" in human script, she could easily write ten thousand words.
But Dragon Language would not do. With only a little more than twenty characters used over and over, she could write, at most, a short essay of fewer than one hundred words.
If the title were changed to "My Imperial Father," her literary talent would surely leave the evil dragon amazed.
"I won't hit you. This is just a little test to see how well you can form sentences in Dragon Language."
"Oh."
Lucia took a Dragon Language workbook from the Lucky Coin and walked to the desk, preparing to write her short essay.
Lance did not supervise her from the side. His presence would put pressure on the young dragon, so it was better to let her write freely.
He had something else to do. He had not yet subcontracted the bounty mission Death God Solomon had sent him. At this time, the bounty hunters in the human world should be drinking and bragging at the Bounty Guild while checking whether there were any worthwhile bounty missions to claim.
The evil dragon's enormous body shrank. The sharp-eyed young dragon saw long gray-white hair grow on his head, along with gray-white whiskers above his lips and on his chin.
Why had the evil dragon turned himself into this?
As she watched in confusion, an antiquated rectangular Bronze Token flew out from the evil dragon's horns and floated in midair.
The Bronze Token lit up with a dazzling screen of light. Seeing this, Lucia guessed what the Bronze Token was used for.
A projection.
The evil dragon was projecting himself into the human world and contacting the human world's Bounty Guild, subcontracting the bounty mission the infernal death god had assigned to him to the human world's Extraordinary Persons—or bounty hunters.
Figures began flickering across the dazzling screen of light. Before long, a sweet voice rang out from within it. "Hello, Bronze Bounty Guild Rabbitfolk receptionist No. 345, Meredith. I salute Grandpa Lance, passionate, brave, and battle-hardened.
"Old man, long time no see. I wanted to sing you a song. Hmm? Old man, after all these years, your Druidic Transformation Art is still exactly the same. You haven't improved at all. My singing is much better than it was back then. Do you want to hear it?"
"Is that so? Grandpa will listen carefully. Ready—sing."
"Little White Rabbit, white and white, two ears standing upright. Loves to eat radishes, loves to eat greens, hopping around so cute, so—so—cute."
She stuck out her tongue.
Before you continue