Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 102 - 101 - Passionate.

The clang of the blade against the scales rang out like a thunderclap.

Time froze.

Everyone in the tavern—drunkards, servers, and even the out-of-tune bard—stopped breathing.

The giant attacker stared at the bone blade, barely inches from his neck. His pupils shrank as he fell to his back, sweat covering his ass.

He realized he was centimeters away from death.

The receptionist, Wheat Bread, behind the bar twitched, her fingers reaching instinctively for the panic bell hidden under the counter.

That was a bell that would summon all of the Vaise assassins hidden in the tavern.

Although Alex’s capabilities took her by surprise, she hadn’t seen that one coming.

Even Raven’s companions stood frozen.

Jake’s hand was halfway to his sword.

Jessy blinked in disbelief. "Did she just—?"

"...Cut Raven?" Rufus whispered, genuinely shocked.

Those scales that Siris cut through were considered indestructible by them, as none of them had ever been able to cut through those scales.

Alex gripped the table. "She was that strong?"

Nibbles covered his eyes dramatically with both paws.

Lia looked like she had just seen someone slap a baby unicorn.

But all of that paled in comparison to what happened next.

Siris stepped back.

Slowly.

One step.

Two steps.

Then, her blade fell from her hand with a soft clink, her eyes quivering.

She looked at Raven.

Then she looked at the blood running down his hand.

Her lips parted as if to say something. But no sound came.

Her legs trembled.

The unshakeable, monstrous, chaos-hardened Siris—the girl who talked about eating demons and thinking it would counter possession—was trembling.

Her mouth moved.

"I... I hurt... you?"

Raven blinked. "It’s fine. You didn’t mean—"

She didn’t hear it.

She couldn’t.

Her thoughts were spinning like a hurricane of razors.

’He got hurt because of me. I did it. I hurt him. Raven... my Raven...’

’Why did I move so fast? Why didn’t I look?’

’I’m supposed to protect him. I’m only allowed to kill those who try to harm him.’

Her knees buckled slightly.

Her eyes widened—dilated and unblinking.

Then the worst thought entered her head:

’If I was about to kill someone for hurting Raven...’

’...Shouldn’t I kill myself, too?’

Her breathing quickened. Her hands twitched.

Somewhere inside her head, the whispering voice of the spirit inside her tried to speak.

’Calm yourself. This is not—’

"Shut up," she muttered aloud, shaking her head violently, her palm moving toward the bone dagger not far from her. "Don’t talk. I need to fix this. I need to—"

But before she could—

Raven hugged her.

It wasn’t elegant.

It wasn’t timed.

He just stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in one clean, desperate motion.

He had seen her eyes going blank, and he knew he had to act.

He didn’t know why he felt that, but he knew he had to. So, he did.

Siris, however, froze.

Her eyes widened to the point of tears, and her hands hovered in the air like she didn’t know whether to push him away or hold on forever.

The tavern watched in stunned silence.

Even the brawler, still crouched on the ground, dared not move.

"I’m fine," Raven said, gently but firmly. "See?"

He slowly pulled back and showed her his palm.

Blood streaked the skin—but the cut was shallow.

It was already closing. Even his Draconic scales seemed fine.

Save for the bloodstains, his hand looked as fine as it was made.

"It’s nothing," he said.

"But—" she started, her voice cracked and barely human.

"I’m not weak enough to be hurt by you, Siris."

To anyone else, that would’ve sounded arrogant.

Rufus blinked. "Uh. That’s kind of... rude?"

"Savage," Jessy whispered.

But Siris?

Siris stared at him like he’d just told her she was worthy of living.

Her legs gave out.

And she dropped to her knees, burying her face into Raven’s chest as silent sobs shook her shoulders.

Raven gently placed a hand on her head, looking confused and mildly exhausted.

’What did I just stop her from doing?’ He wondered grimly.

Alex leaned toward Jessy, whispering, "Did we just... witness a full-blown yandere activation?"

Jessy whispered back, "That wasn’t activation. That was post-meltdown recovery."

Jake cleared his throat, saying something none of them thought about. "We might be on her list."

Yes, they had sparred with Raven. A lot.

Although Raven always won, they did force some injuries on him.

Recalling that, all of them gulped.

They knew that from now on, they had to stay alert during the night.

Who knew when Siris’s blade would want to slice their necks?

Lia downed the rest of her wine and muttered, "I liked it better when the squirrels were the weirdest part of this group."

Nibbles solemnly saluted Raven from across the table.

The receptionist behind the bar slowly lowered the panic bell.

"Well," she said dryly, "congratulations. You passed the test. The secret room is open. And your girlfriend’s... passionate."

"She’s not my—" Raven started, then paused.

He looked down at Siris, still clinging to him, muttering something about being "a useless blade" and "willing to be broken if Raven desired it."

He sighed.

"You know what? Let’s go with her being passionate."

"Smart choice," Wheat Bread said.

The receptionist signaled toward a hallway behind the bar. A door marked "STORAGE" flickered once with mana and clicked open.

Behind it lay the path to the Vaise intelligence core for this region.

But before anyone could move, Raven crouched down beside Siris and said, "You’re not allowed to die for me. Only live. Got it?"

She looked up at him—eyes glassy and cheeks flushed—and nodded once, slowly.

Then she reached out and held his wounded hand, as if afraid it might vanish.

Raven grimaced. "Yeah, okay. But don’t lick it. I know that look."

"I wasn’t," she lied.

Jessy slapped her forehead. "We need mental health potions for her."

Alex nodded. "Or just chain her to a therapist."

Jessy muttered, "Can we chain her to anything?"

Rufus: "...Nope."

Jake sighed, too tired to even say anything.

As the group finally stood and moved toward the door, they couldn’t help but cast careful glances at Siris.

More importantly—at Raven.

From now on, harming him didn’t mean earning Siris’s wrath.

It meant signing your death certificate in blood, glitter, and obsessive loyalty. frёewebηovel.cѳm

And not even the squirrels wanted to test that.

Above all, they all could tell. What Raven did wasn’t simple persuasion. He had indirectly proposed to Siris.

Yes, it wasn’t direct, and he didn’t make it clear, but he did unknowingly make her fall deeper for him.

He did ask her to live for him.

For now, however, no one pointed it out.

After all, even Siris hadn’t noticed it.

She was just happily clinging to Raven, and that was probably all she had in her mind.

The others did wonder, though.

’How long will she avoid bathing to keep Raven’s scent on her body?’

’Maybe she would keep those clothes as a remembrance of this moment.’

In the end, they all quietly followed Raven as they were escorted to the innermost part of the tavern.

Everything around them was dark, but they could make out the movements around them.

They were being monitored.

And the people watching them were strong.

"Ignore those gazes and focus on the path."

Raven’s voice echoed, and they nodded before focusing on the path before them.

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