The Dragon's Pact: A Princess for the Flame

Chapter 22 – Listen to Long's explanation

Su Nian was stunned as he looked at the series of rewards from the system. He thought to himself, no wonder it's an initial SSR, it's really powerful. This was three thousand system points, and he had worked hard all day killing bandits and even lost some kobolds to get just a fraction of that.

Now, with Anna's affection reaching fifty, a whole bunch of rewards came pouring in.

Of course, the biggest gain was the "Intermediate Devour." The ability to grow and develop without age restrictions was a bit of a bug. After all, juvenile dragons could never have the strength and size of young adult dragons.

Of course, special dragons like the Polikri and Time Dragon were exceptions, but these dragons were rare, often unique.

The more he thought about it, the happier he became. Su Nian couldn't help but lick Anna's soft cheek, his rough, large tongue leaving the still-crying Anna stunned. She stood there, dazed, with a string of crystal-clear tears hanging from the corner of her eye, a bit at a loss.

"Slurp!" Su Nian licked again.

Anna was almost knocked to the ground by the Black Dragon's big tongue.

Seeing that he now had more system points, Su Nian didn't hesitate and directly exchanged for a Vocal Cord Modification.

[Ding! Vocal Cord Modification has been solidified.]

Almost instantly, Su Nian felt a tickle in his throat, and the vocal cord modification was complete, with no discomfort at all.

He gradually realized that such simple modifications were relatively quick, and only those that greatly affected physical abilities would be accompanied by unbearable pain.

"Ah, uh, An... Anna Hathaway!"

A somewhat hoarse and rough young voice emerged from Su Nian's dragon mouth, like an old smoker who had been smoking for decades.

He spoke in very standard Common Tongue, which made Anna beside him widen her eyes, her starry eyes filled with undisguised surprise, even forgetting the terrifyingly rough big tongue from just now.

"Mr. Dragon, you... you can talk now?"

Anna moved closer to Su Nian, extending her two soft little hands to happily hug Su Nian's neck, her pretty face gently rubbing against the rough, dry scales, full of affection and love.

Although the Black Dragon treated her well, the inability to speak was always a regret. Often, their communication relied on primitive gestures, and sometimes, when there was no other way, the Black Dragon had to write on the ground for her to fully understand.

"By the way, Mr. Dragon, how do you know Anna's last name is Hathaway?"

Anna tilted her head, her pale fingers resting on her soft lips, her bright eyes full of curiosity.

Uh-oh...

Su Nian's dragon face froze. Wasn't he caught?

He couldn't possibly say he had a system that knew everything, even that Anna had a sore on her thigh, and that when the Insight Spell level increased, he would even know Anna's kinks, right?

A bunch of reasons flashed through his mind, and Su Nian's dragon face turned serious as he said earnestly:

"Ahem, I heard it from that king, but that's all I know."

"Oh, oh..."

Anna nodded in realization, blinking her big eyes, still having many questions she wanted to ask the Black Dragon in front of her. So, she affectionately hugged Su Nian's neck, dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth, and asked shyly:

"Then... then why did Mr. Dragon kidnap Anna?"

"Uh..."

Su Nian uneasily scraped the ground with his dragon claw. Why did this little girl have so many questions!

A series of questions made Su Nian's dragon instincts subconsciously a bit irritable, but seeing Anna's pretty face, his brain, dominated by reproductive information and dopamine, quickly gave his dragon's irritable genes a slap.

His eyes dodged a bit, and after pondering for a moment, he said with a straight face:

"Of course, it was to save you!"

"To save me?"

The starlight in Anna's eyes became even more dazzling.

"That's right!" Su Nian nodded with a serious demeanor:

"That evil king actually tied you to the sacrificial altar to offer you to an evil dragon. Such behavior is simply insane. Although I'm a Black Dragon, I can't stand such scum behavior, especially since you're seriously ill."

"So, I beat up the evil dragon that was supposed to eat you, then took its place and saved you. That's also why I've been protecting you so well along the way, um... even feeding you medicine."

Yes, that's it, clear logic, no loopholes.

"But..."

Anna bit her finger, her clear eyes innocently looking at Su Nian, then she took out a book from her skirt.

"Tsundere Princess Training Program (Evil Dragon Edition)"

Su Nian: "Σ( ° △ °|||)︴!!!"

Damn!

Su Nian was dumbfounded. He wondered why he couldn't find his little book when he left the Dragon Nest. It turned out it was in Anna's hands.

How was he going to explain this?

"Well, Anna... this book, it's actually not mine, it's from that evil dragon I beat up. I drove it out of the Dragon Nest, took over its lair, so naturally, its stuff became mine."

Su Nian's claw scraped the ground, the flying dirt almost burying the nearby Polikri.

"But..."

Anna looked at the embarrassed Black Dragon and giggled, her pretty face blushing as she murmured:

"But Mr. Dragon, Anna saw you flipping through this book, and when you did, you laughed, ho ho ho~"

By this time, the dirt Su Nian had scraped out had almost buried the kobold behind him. In his eyes, the once pure and cute little Anna now laughed like a little demon wielding a whip.

He quickly glanced at Anna's panel, only to see that the personality section had changed:

[Personality (changing due to Dragonification): Weak, gentle, kind, mischievous]

Uh-oh...

When did this change happen, damn it!

What the hell does this have to do with his dragon saliva!

Su Nian was about to go crazy. Where was his timid, obedient little darling? Although she was cuter now, the premise was that she put down the book in her hand.

After digging a bit, Su Nian roughly figured it out. According to inherited memory, any creature that stayed with dragons for a long time would not only undergo Dragonification but also have personality changes.

For example, the irritable Red Dragon, its followers were basically as irritable as it was. And the brainless White Dragon, its favorite Tier 1 followers were goblins.

When feeding medicine earlier, Anna had also ingested dragon saliva, so naturally, she would be affected. But Su Nian didn't know why this influence was so quick.

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Could it be because Anna was relatively weak?

Su Nian shook his head, arguing:

"Of course, ahem—after all, this book is also a trophy, and flipping through my trophies is a very normal thing to do."

Anna nodded at his words, covering her mouth with a giggle, then in Su Nian's astonished gaze, she hid the book back in her skirt.

She was determined to keep this book.

Actually...

If she could survive, maybe she could really become the "princess" in the book?

The little princess of the evil dragon...

Anna's eyes sparkled with a different kind of light, a small hope in her heart sprouting like bamboo shoots after the rain.

In Su Nian's puzzled gaze, she gently hugged Su Nian's neck, as if holding the plush toy she once placed beside her bed, her favorite.

No matter what the future holds, at least this moment of warmth and peace belonged to her.

Woof