Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 109 - 108 - The Interruption.

Clara raised an eyebrow. "That’s it? ’Huh’? You’re not gonna panic and start yelling about carrots or something?"

Raven looked at her, his expression serious. "I won’t do that anymore. People are gonna start calling me a wuss or pussy. I gotta act like an experienced person now."

Clara smirked, then grew a bit more serious. "I’m not telling you this to convince you to include her. That’s not my job. I just... thought you should know. She’s not planning to confess. She’s okay just being around you."

Raven looked down, his arms tightening slightly around Clara as he processed that.

Selena... the girl who had clawed her way back from the edge of madness by forming a contract with a demon, falling for him?

He didn’t know how he felt about that yet.

By now, one thing he knew about Selena was that she wasn’t the same girl he knew from the plot.

The girl he thought would be the best he could find in this novel turned into something else.

Above all, there was one most important thing that he realized immediately.

"...I now have two unstable women who would probably kill for me."

Clara snorted. "That’s assuming Siris hasn’t already started drafting a kill list titled ’Other Girls Who Breathe Near Raven.’"

"I don’t think she would try to kill someone who hasn’t harmed me," Raven muttered. "But I don’t want to check it."

They both chuckled, the tension fading into a warmth that settled comfortably between them.

Raven leaned in and pressed another kiss to Clara’s jaw, more tender this time. "Thanks for telling me."

She hummed, stroking his hair. "Thanks for not freaking out."

"Give me five minutes. I might try to fake amnesia again."

"You try that, and I will tell Siris."

"...Why do I feel like you and Siris would get along well?"

"Are you already planning on adding Siris to your harem? When it hasn’t even been an hour since we talked about it?"

"Ah, no. Well, yes, but no—"

Clara cut him off, pressing her body against his. "Whatever. Kiss me more. It feels good."

"Your wish is my command!"

..................

A while later.

The room was quiet.

Too quiet.

Which was strange, because Raven was in the middle of making Clara giggle like a schoolgirl with his lips somewhere suspiciously close to her collarbone.

Her legs were curled on the couch beside him, arms wrapped around his neck, and her soft laughter echoed with dangerous sweetness.

"This is nice," Clara whispered, her breath warm against his cheek.

"It’s called peace," Raven murmured, already suspicious of it. "Something I never thought I could get—"

SKRRRITCH.

They both froze.

Raven’s head turned slowly toward the floor.

"...Did you hear that?" He asked, already calculating whether it was a cursed mimic mouse, an undead ferret, or—God forbid—a suitor for Clara.

Clara frowned. "It sounded like... scratching?"

The sound came again. Louder.

SKRRRRK-KK-KRRTTCH.

From beneath the wooden floorboards.

Raven’s eye twitched. "Nope. I’ve read this manga before. This is how you die when you’ve just found happiness."

His body, however, was on full alert.

Suddenly—

BOOM.

A floorboard exploded upward, flinging splinters across the room. Clara jumped, clinging to Raven like a burr.

He rolled instinctively, half-expecting an undead hand or a demonic tongue, his arms covered with black-red demonic scales, ready to defend against any attack coming at him.

However, it wasn’t anything Raven or Clara had expected.

Instead...

It was something small.

Furry.

Scarred.

Eyepatched.

With war paint smeared dramatically across its fluffy cheeks.

The creature emerged from the floor like the vengeful spirit of a cursed acorn.

It heaved itself onto the wooden surface with a squeaky grunt and stood up shakily, breathing heavily like a soldier fresh from the trenches.

"...Squeaky?" Raven blinked.

The squirrel raised one paw solemnly in salute.

Clara stared, her gaze quivering. "He dug through our floor. Do you know how strong the concrete below this room is?"

"Enough to take an attack from a level four beast," Raven muttered. "He must have been digging for some time."

Before Raven could interrogate the tiny war veteran, Squeaky dramatically unstrapped a scroll from his back and dropped it like it weighed a hundred kilos.

Then, with one final squeak, he passed out cold on Raven’s foot.

"...Get the others," Raven said grimly.

..................

Ten minutes later, the room was packed.

Jake stood stoically in the corner like a decorative tree.

Rufus leaned against the wall, arms crossed and twitching with the need to stab something.

Selena was awkwardly fidgeting, occasionally sneaking glances at Clara, who was latched tightly onto Raven’s side like she’d claimed him in a gladiator duel.

Siris was also staring at Raven and Clara, but what went through her head wasn’t similar to Selena’s.

She simply didn’t like how Clara was talking up her spot.

But since she could tell that Raven wasn’t against it, she could only keep quiet.

Then there was Alex...

He was crouched by Squeaky, gently fanning the unconscious rodent with a leaf.

"He’s stable," Alex declared. "Probably just exhausted. His soul-paws have seen things."

Everyone turned to him.

Clara narrowed her eyes. "How do you even know that?"

Alex didn’t answer. Instead, he picked up the scroll and unrolled it, squinting.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Wait. Can you read that?"

Everyone knew he could understand Nibbles, but who knew he could read squirrel language?

Alex nodded solemnly. "I feel like Nibbles wrote it. By pronouncing whatever is written, I might be able to translate it."

Everyone, without a word, jumped away from him, their weapons drawn.

"Who the fuck are you?" Raven asked, frowning.

There was no way Alex could think that much.

He didn’t have enough brain cells to come up with that.

"...Are you cursed again?" Siris, the only one who hadn’t moved back, tilted her head and asked.

The others also focused on Alex’s words as the guy replied without even glancing at them.

"No. This time, I’m enlightened."

There was this disturbing serenity in his voice as he continued.

"Now, we need to focus on the thing ahead of us. I think our little friends might be in danger."

The others exchanged a glance, but somehow, they could tell that it was the Alex they knew.

He could somehow use his brain now.

Alex, on the other hand, cleared his throat and read aloud.

"To the brave and dependable Raven,

By the time this letter reaches you, I will have already departed for war.

Our empire—our homeland—is under siege.

Demonic humans have begun attacking from the western border. They blend among us, but their auras twist like spoiled chestnuts.

The Clawtail Recon Squad suffered heavy losses. The Nutfang Rapid Strike Unit is surrounded.

The Great Walnut Tree has fallen.

I go now to lead the final charge.

If I do not return, remember this:

You once took my last pistachio. I forgive you. Let that be my legacy.

—Prince Nibbles."

Alex slowly lowered the scroll. The room was quiet.

Then—

"...The Great Walnut Tree is gone?" Clara whispered, her eyes wide in shock.

"Does anyone know what that actually means?" Rufus asked.

Jake blinked. "It’s a symbol of unity."

Selena, still fidgeting, didn’t say anything. She kept glancing at Rave and Clara, dying to know what had happened.

Was Raven going to accept her? Or was he not?

Why was Clara not even looking at her?!

She didn’t care about the squirrels.

She wouldn’t care about anything until she got at least one signal—

Just then, as if sensing her turmoil, Raven and Clara both turned toward her simultaneously.

They didn’t say anything and nodded.

But that nod spoke more than a million words could for Selena.

She knew that her dilemma was addressed, and the result seemed positive from the way Clara was smiling.

So, for now, she, like everyone else, focused on the squirrel.

Before anyone could say anything, though— freeweɓnovel~cѳm

BANG!

The door swung open again.

Jessy walked in, looking smug. Lia followed behind her with an official-looking scroll in her hands.

"Hey!" Jessy called. "Guess what? We just found out where the third-year trial is happening tomorrow!"

Jessy and Lia had left the mansion the moment Raven and Clara had entered the room.

They had gone out to gather information about the trial they returned to the academy for.

Her enthusiasm, however, didn’t match the room’s atmosphere.

Everyone stared at her.

Lia, who was right behind Jessy, blinked. "Why do you all look like you’ve just been told the planet’s exploding?"

Jessy, on the other hand, took the scroll from Lia and held it up. "Forest located at the order of the Vaise dukedom. The Bestiary Mountain."

Raven’s eye twitched.

Clara whispered, "Isn’t that..."

"The forest where the squirrel empire’s located," Alex confirmed, standing with blazing eyes. "It’s a sign."

Jessy blinked again. "Wait, what? What are we signing?"

Selena slapped her forehead.

Raven stood up, dragging Clara with him as if she were a security blanket. He looked at them all.

"The trial is tomorrow. And it’s happening in the exact place that’s under siege."

He cracked his neck.

"Looks like we’re going squirrel hunting."

Rufus raised a hand. "...To save them, right?"

"Potato, potahto," Raven shrugged.

Siris, seeing Raven stand, quickly skidded closer to him, clinging to his free side, her expression serious. "I’m with you. I will hunt squirrels for you."

Raven glanced at Clara, and seeing her shake her head with a small giggle, he sighed, not making Siris move away.

He didn’t mind her being close anymore.

After all, she was going to be a part of his harem... probably.

Squeaky, still unconscious, let out a tiny snore.

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