"Let's go, Jeanne! Come take a bath with me! I need to thoroughly clean those filthy things out of my body to save myself from trouble later!"
Jeanne, who was nearly asleep, looked at the "frizzy-haired dragon" before her in a daze. Her face, having been woken up, showed a flicker of displeasure as she pondered how she should teach this silly dragon a lesson.
Please, do you have any idea how much I, Jeanne, have done today? I even helped you kidnap a stealth master back here. It's one thing that you didn't give me a raise, but you actually dared to wake me up while I was sleeping?
At this moment, Talulah didn't look steady or composed at all. Jeanne could see her short hair practically floating, her face was a bright red, and the flame on her tail was hot enough to start a barbecue.
Jeanne wasn't fully awake yet. Seeing Talulah jumping up and down in front of her, she reached out and grabbed the pair of small dragon horns on top of Talulah's head, shaking them back and forth.
"Ow, ow, ow! Jeanne, don't just grab my horns and not let go! They're more fragile than you think—if you use too much force, you'll snap them! Stop grabbing, they're gonna break! They're gonna break!"
The expression on Talulah's face was more pained than a "suffering mask." This feeling of having the horns on her head gripped by someone else really wasn't pleasant; her head was being led around by another person's strength.
Generally speaking, races with horns on their heads dislike having them held; to them, horns are very delicate. Of course, Patriot's horns were an exception.
At this moment, Talulah's strength seemed to have vanished. Her head could only wobble in the direction Jeanne's hands moved, making her look extremely passive.
"Put them down, put them down! They're really going to break! I was wrong, okay? I apologize! Just take those wicked hands off my fragile horns and we can talk about anything!"
Under Talulah's non-stop pleas for mercy, Jeanne finally let go of the dragon horns, though she looked a bit unsatisfied. Judging by Jeanne's expression, she clearly hadn't played enough.
Opportunities to openly pet dragon horns were truly rare. Talulah hated having someone grip her horns; in the past, if Jeanne did this, Talulah would be a wilted dragon for the rest of the day.
Fortunately, out of gratitude, Hellagur had prepared individual rooms for them to rest. Otherwise, Talulah's prestige would have plummeted even further in the eyes of the other two.
"If you like horns so much, why don't you find a way to grow a pair yourself? Then you could touch your own every day and it wouldn't matter. Why are you always thinking of ways to play with mine?"
Talulah clutched her head and crouched to the side, complaining to Jeanne with a pitiful look. Behind her, her tail thrashed against the floor with a thwack-thwack, as if expressing her inner indignation.
Since the day she met Jeanne, Jeanne's interest in her tail and horns had been written all over her face. That interest hadn't faded over the years; whenever there was a chance, Jeanne would secretly indulge herself.
In this regard, neither Alina nor FrostNova could escape Jeanne's "evil clutches." Whenever Jeanne appeared before them with that smile, they knew someone was in for it.
However, unlike the other two, Talulah's tail was also a target! According to Jeanne, it was because Alina's and FrostNova's tails were too short, lacking the superior hand-feel of Talulah's tail.
At moments like this, Talulah often had an evil thought: I should find a way to trick my sister into coming here. Then Jeanne wouldn't have time to bother with me.
That said, Jeanne's tail massage technique was exceptionally comfortable. Sometimes, when Talulah's tail was too stiff, she would actually take the initiative to find Jeanne for a massage. Talulah was quite helpless about this. It wasn't that she didn't know how to refuse Jeanne's hands—it was just that they felt too good.
"So, what happened now that made you so anxious to find me? Besides, didn't you already take a bath tonight? Coming here in the middle of the night to wake me up... what are you trying to do?"
Now that she'd had her fun, Jeanne was curious about Talulah's behavior. Asking to bathe together this late felt a bit strange no matter how she thought about it. Could this girl be craving my body?
"Cough, it's nothing big. I'm Talulah, what could possibly be wrong? I just wanted to take a bath with you to... foster our relationship, that's all."
Talulah turned her head away, her face flushing slightly as she tried to change the subject with awkward wording. But her ability to deflect was too weak; Jeanne's face was practically a billboard saying "There's a problem."
This dragon looking for me this late and using this method to dodge the question... she definitely has something she doesn't want to tell me. No way—just thinking about it makes me curious. I have to find a good way to make her talk.
"No, I absolutely can't let Jeanne know anything about this. Otherwise, who knows what kind of nonsense she'll come up with to mess with me. I have to distract her..." Talulah thought to herself, watching as the fire of curiosity began to burn in Jeanne's eyes. If Jeanne found out, her life for the next few days would be miserable.
Recalling what Kashchey had given her, Talulah's face couldn't help but turn red. Despite the Duke's various explanations, Talulah decided she absolutely would not believe him this time.
"Since you put it that way, I'm even more curious about what you're hiding. Come, come to Big Sister. As long as you honestly tell Big Sister what happened, Big Sister will buy you candy."
Talulah watched as Jeanne, wearing a mischievous smirk, gradually approached her. She could only retreat helplessly into a corner. There was nothing she could do; she simply couldn't forcibly resist Jeanne!
Even if Jeanne didn't issue a forced command, that power still unconsciously influenced Talulah. As a Draco, Talulah would subconsciously cooperate with Jeanne's actions.
Furthermore, she felt that after Jeanne shifted into her "black form," this ability was significantly stronger than in her "white form." Now, she could only watch helplessly as Jeanne closed in.
"Come on, tell Big Sister. What secret are you hiding that you won't tell me?"
Jeanne pinched Talulah's cheek. Most of the racial pressure had already been ignored by Talulah; right now, Talulah just didn't know whether she should scratch her or bite her.
A person who claims to be nineteen years old is acting like a 'Big Sister'? You're the one who claims you won't age anymore—in a few years, I might be the one who looks like your mother.
"Fine, fine! I'll tell you, alright?! Honestly, can't a girl just have a little secret of her own?"
Having suffered under Jeanne's "ravaging," Talulah finally resigned herself to her fate. She went back to her room and brought out a box. Inside was... a backless evening gown.