Could you let me...

Setting: [Dungeon], [Candles], [Shackles], [Monastery]...

Tags: [Coercion], [Imprisonment], [Nonhuman], [Taboo]...

In a scene whose keywords alone made it sound deeply questionable, a [woman] and a [boy] gazed at each other, then slowly drew closer in the flickering light.

Smack.

The woman grabbed the boy by his... collar and asked in a low voice, "...What are you trying to do?"

"What am I trying to do? Didn't I already tell you? I came to sleep with you... What, am I not welcome?"

"What are you really after?"

"I was afraid the night would be too dark and you'd be too lonely, so I came to keep you company. Well? Aren't I nice?"

Held firmly in place by his collar, the boy spread his hands and innocently explained that he was simply here in his capacity as warden to provide a prisoner with nighttime companionship.

His specialty was three-part companionship!

Company for eating, drinking, and chatting.

As for company in bed, that would cost extra.

Of course.

Nobody believed the nonsense Herbert had made up on the spot-not even he thought those words could fool Miss Hungry Dragon.

"Hmm?"

Valentina narrowed her eyes and gave a snort, then released her grip, letting go of the shameless Holy Knight.

She leaned against the bars and warily studied the white-haired boy, looking him up and down as he leisurely settled against the bars beside her.

She was hardly clever, but as an unwanted hatchling whose parents had driven her out of their nest early on, she naturally had her own methods for making it this far.

Purely by being hard to kill- ahem!

Correction.

Valentina relied entirely on the instinctive intuition in her bloodline gifts that let her seek benefits, avoid danger, and turn disasters into good fortune!

If the danger was lethal, she ran. If it wasn't, she charged in.

Her guiding principle was brutally simple: "If you can't kill me, I'll kill you!"

Still, that instinct didn't work every time. Sometimes, it misjudged things.

For example, when Valentina first encountered the Archbishop of Mist, she genuinely hadn't sensed any lethal threat.

She'd assumed he was just some ordinary old man. After several failed attempts to drive him away, she'd angrily tried to turn him into a dead old man with a blast of Dragon Breath.

And then... she'd gotten beaten up.

Faced with true power, Valentina couldn't fight back at all. She became a punching bag that could do nothing but take the blows.

Of course, it was hard to say her intuition had been wrong-after all, judging by the outcome, she hadn't died.

The Archbishop of Mist had no intention of killing her, and Valentina had sustained only minor injuries: damaged muscles and bones, but nothing that couldn't heal.

After a thorough thrashing, the poor evil dragon had been tossed into the Foreign Races' Prison to serve as its resident old gatekeeper.

Whatever the process had been, you couldn't deny her intuition had been accurate.

Just answer one question: had she survived?

She had.

But sometimes, living really was worse than dying!

Locked inside the Foreign Races' Prison, she couldn't die even if she wanted to, and she couldn't get anything to eat either.

Aside from sleeping, the only thing left to do was explore her own abilities.

Although Valentina had been locked in this lightless cell the whole time and seemed to have given up, she had actually been continuously strengthening her abilities.

Partly so she wouldn't make the same mistakes again, and partly because there really wasn't anything else to do.

That day, Valentina had taken the initiative to speak to Herbert because she'd had a strange premonition-if she spoke to him then, it might bring a new opportunity.

And now... Miss Hungry Dragon could smell a lie on Herbert!

Something's wrong. This has to be a trick.

This guy must be hiding something from me again!

"So what's the truth? What exactly do you want to tell me?"

Valentina stared intently at Herbert, glaring back without giving an inch even when he turned to meet her gaze.

Hah!

You're going to spill the whole truth today!

Seeing how persistent she was, Herbert knew he couldn't keep hiding it. He sighed helplessly and shook his head. "Tsk... This is why I hate brats with sharp instincts."

"Fine. If you insist, I'll tell you."

His expression serious, he stressed once again:

"Just so we're clear, you're the one forcing me to say this. Don't blame me afterward."

"I was going to wait until the mood was a little better before bringing it up..."

Hmm?

Seeing his expression, Valentina suddenly had a very bad feeling.

This isn't right...

"Wait! Hold on!"

"No waiting~"

Herbert turned and grabbed Valentina's hand just as she tried to pull it away.

!!?

"Valentina, ever since the day we met, there's been something I've wanted to tell you..."

The handsome boy gazed at her affectionately with his pale gray eyes. A trace of embarrassment flickered in them, but it finally gave way entirely to resolve.

"I don't know whether this request will offend you, but I really don't want to keep enduring this alone."

Valentina: ???

Y-you, what are you trying to do?

At that moment, Valentina could still have forcibly pulled her hand free, but doing so would inevitably hurt Herbert. That made her hesitate for an instant.

But she didn't know.

In a battle between experts, that instant of hesitation was the moment of defeat-

Herbert took a deep breath and clasped Valentina's slender hand tightly in both of his, preventing her escape as he said earnestly:

"This might be a little inappropriate, but I sincerely hope you'll agree to this somewhat presumptuous request."

"Could you..."

At that moment, time seemed to slow for Valentina, and she could clearly hear the powerful pounding inside her chest.

Thump, thump!

Having been alone her entire life and never involved with a man, how could Valentina have experienced anything like this?

She looked into those captivating eyes, felt the warmth coming through his hands, and caught the scent of him that had always tempted her. The entire dragon went utterly blank.

"Uh, uhh, y-you, uh..."

Forget answering-her mind had emptied completely. The intuition she'd honed for hundreds of years was utterly useless at that moment.

She couldn't remember a thing. All that remained was a muddle of thoughts, her brain reduced to mush.

What does he want to say?

Is he declaring his love for me?

Uh!

Should I say yes?

W-we don't know each other that well yet, do we?

We don't, right!?

I, I, I... No!

Even if the circumstances were unusual, even if Valentina wasn't particularly clever, and even if he really was handsome!

She wasn't so naive that a few sweet lies could enchant her into giving him her body.

She really wasn't that stupid.

After all, the foundation of their relationship was far too flimsy.

Then, just as Valentina made up her mind to reject Herbert, she heard the rest of his sentence:

"Could you let me... touch your tail?"

He's said it! I have to turn him down right away!

"Um, you're very handsome, and you smell wonderful, but we can't do that yet-huh?"

Huh?

Huh!!?