What was a "tsundere"?
What did "out of the meta" mean?
What was he talking about?
Valentina blinked in bewilderment, her face wearing the innocent look of someone untouched by such knowledge.
Lately, she kept wondering whether she had been locked up for so long that she could no longer understand the language of the outside world.
As the hungry Dragon puzzled over this, Herbert continued, "Dear customer, is there a hairstyle you like? Something longer or shorter?"
The corner of Valentina's mouth twitched. "Whatever you want..."
"Whatever, huh? People who say that are always the hardest to please."
Master He, the barber, pursed his lips and picked up his scissors with a helpless look, muttering, "Since you've said that, don't regret it afterward."
Once you've stepped through this door, it's out of your hands.
This establishment accepts no responsibility for the consequences!
Snip.
With the faint sound of the scissor blades sliding and pressing together, flame-red strands drifted down.
Though Herbert had offered a disclaimer beforehand, he wasn't an idiot who would charge straight in without any preparation.
Herbert, the Duke's second son, knew nothing about cutting hair, but the poor fellow who had struggled through his previous life alone had been quite familiar with scissors.
His skills weren't particularly impressive, but they were enough to cut his own hair and his friends'.
The scissors fluttered behind Valentina while she nibbled at the last drumstick.
Having learned her lesson last time, she was behaving herself now. Instead of devouring everything at once, she quietly savored the process.
Before long, just as Valentina was about to stuff the picked-clean bone into her mouth and crunch it up, someone gently tapped her shoulder.
"You're not getting any of this!" She turned around warily, then immediately crushed the bone between her teeth and swallowed it.
Crunch, crunch. Gulp.
Herbert: ???
"Who would fight you for that?!"
He let out a weary sigh and waved a hand. "Turn around. I'll tidy up the front too."
"Oh."
Watching the Dragon lady being almost excessively obedient, Herbert couldn't help raising an eyebrow. For a moment, he failed to restrain his impulse and placed his hand on her head, giving it a rub.
"Hmm?"
Valentina looked up at the boy, her eyes conveying her confusion, along with... a threat.
What are you doing?
At this life-or-death juncture, Herbert seemed to enter a special state.
In that moment, he understood perfectly what he should do-and what he absolutely must not do!
Without changing his expression, he kept rubbing her head and said seriously, "...Don't talk. I'm thinking about how to cut it."
Valentina instinctively felt something was odd and studied his eyes closely, but she found no flaw in his act. In the end, she could only murmur an acknowledgment.
"Oh... hmm?"
Thump, thump, thump.
They were so close that Valentina could clearly hear the strong, rapid heartbeat in the boy's chest.
"Say, why is your heart beating so fast?" Valentina's brows shifted, and she narrowed her eyes. "What are you afraid of?"
His tell had been exposed. It seemed everything was over.
Yet Herbert remained utterly calm, even sounding a little annoyed as he answered, "I'm afraid I'll mess up your haircut and you'll get mad at me... All right, stop moving. We're almost done."
Snip, snip.
With two final crisp strokes of his scissors, Herbert completed his work of art.
He stood and stepped back a few paces, squinted to inspect it, then nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm, nice. My handiwork really is excellent!"
"Just as I thought, this look suits you."
?
Seeing Herbert's strange smile, Valentina felt a little unnerved and hurriedly asked, "Hey! Don't just stand there smiling. Say something! What do I look like now?"
"Easy, easy. I'll show you right now."
Herbert took out the mirror he had prepared and held it in front of the Dragon lady, declaring proudly, "Ta-da!"
Valentina had been about to snatch the mirror, but the instant she saw the person reflected in it, her expression went blank.
"Ah..."
The current Valentina looked like an entirely different person from the vagrant she had resembled before. There was no trace of her former tangled, unruly appearance.
Her medium-length red hair fell behind her, with a few wisps scattered across her forehead, lending a touch of softness to her otherwise wild look.
A radiant beauty with that hint of boldness would turn an astonishing number of heads on the street.
Whether she would steal men's hearts was hard to say, but she would probably steal women's.
Post a video of her online, and those young women would likely be competing to call her either "big sister" or "mommy."
"This is... me?"
Valentina tilted her head from side to side in confusion, murmuring in disbelief, "Is this really me?"
It wasn't that she had never seen herself in human form. She didn't dislike it, but she certainly hadn't liked it as much as her Dragon form.
She had always firmly believed she preferred her magnificent, powerful appearance as a Dragon.
But now, looking at herself in the mirror, that conviction suddenly wavered.
"Of course it's you. And this is what you looked like all along."
No makeup, no special effects-how was that not her original appearance?
Herbert placed the mirror in her hands and smiled. "You can keep this mirror as thanks for cooperating. Now you can look in it every day and admire your beauty."
"Ah... mm."
Valentina accepted it in a daze, her gaze following her reflection. For a while, she fell completely still.
Herbert, meanwhile, took the opportunity to gather up all the hair.
All right, materials secured!
Suppressing his excitement, Herbert didn't let his guard down yet. He approached Valentina with a damp towel.
"All right, you can admire yourself later. Let me wipe the hair off your face first."
If you're putting on an act, see it through. You can't give yourself away at the very end.
Valentina blinked, then came to her senses after a moment's daze and instinctively refused. "No need. I can do it myself..."
Couldn't she just burn away the stray hairs?
Why go to all this trouble?
Valentina tried to dodge, but Herbert wasn't about to let her escape. He brought the wrung-out towel straight toward her face.
"All right, leave it to me. Close your eyes."
"You... mmph!"
The slightly cool towel pressed unceremoniously against her face, then rubbed up and down in circles.
↑→↓←
His technique wasn't gentle; it could even be called rough. Yet the Dragon lady didn't shy away. She was especially cooperative and obedient.
→→↓←→↓
Because this was the first time someone else had taken care of her.
With her eyes closed, she silently murmured a name in her heart.
Herbert...
After finishing Valentina's haircut, Herbert didn't proceed to the next area. Instead, he took the hair and left the prison.
Rather than keep grinding affection with the others, he needed to deal with these troublesome materials first. At the very least, he had to wash them-after all, they would be going into his mouth.
This time, to avoid any awkward scenes he might stumble upon, Herbert didn't go straight to the kitchen to wash them. Instead, he deliberately chose the Monastery's most secluded well to fetch water.
But before Herbert had even reached it, a familiar smell hit him, and his expression changed abruptly.
"Holy shit..."
"How did I run into this again?!"
His expression grave, he stared at the grass carp beside the well, only one sentence echoing endlessly through his mind-
"Bro, you're seriously good at this handiwork..."
Before you continue