"Why do I have to have you supervise my cooking?" Elaphia hesitated with the wooden spoon hovering over the large pot.
"Probably because what you make is... abstract enough that the Princess said we can't leave you unsupervised," Loranhir teased.
One crouching and one standing, the two busied themselves around the large pot, their hands moving constantly.
Elaphia casually grabbed the holy sword to add so dry firewood to the flas, handling it as naturally as if it were rely a fire poker.
There was a fierce intensity in Elaphia's gaze, as if whatever was stewing in the pot was her mortal enemy.
"Wait, what did you just throw in?" Loranhir suddenly interrupted Elaphia's movents, her brow furrowed.
"Chicken," Elaphia replied bluntly, not even batting an eyelid.
"I know it's chicken, but did you clean out the insides?" Loranhir's voice carried a hint of uncertainty as she leaned closer to the pot, eyeing the boiling broth with growing dread.
"Uh, well..." Elaphia hesitated. "I think... not yet."
Loranhir fell silent for a mont before sheer horror exploded within her.
"Fish it out, you genius! Fish it out now!" she shrieked.
As the two scrambled and bickered, a soft crunch sounded not far away—the sound of a biscuit breaking.
Patunasankus sat alone beneath a tree, her slender fingers flipping through a snack bag as she pulled out a biscuit and nibbled on it. No matter how careful she was, crumbs still scattered just as much on the ground.
Watching the two nearly co to blows, she said nothing, only letting out a quiet sigh, as if she had grown accustod to such scenes.
The way Loranhir and Elaphia interacted gave Patunasankus a strange sense of déjà vu.
In the past, hadn't she and her ancient dragon best friend, Liulansankus, behaved the sa way?
Patunasankus rembered that in earlier years, before the trend of kidnapping princesses took off, she hadn't despised Liulansankus as much as she did now.
At least, that was how she recalled it.
Long before they earned the na "Sankus," the two dragons had already been the closest of friends—always grooming each other's scales, which sotis led to biting, which escalated into clawing and kicking, only to end up cuddling again afterward.
Patunasankus handled the fire, while Liulan controlled the ice. The titles "Black Death" and "Eternal Frozen Mist" were bestowed upon them together.
When the nations of the continent first ford a coalition to slay evil dragons, Patunasankus and Liulan stood on the sa front.
By then, the two dragons' infamy had already spread far and wide. The kingdoms naturally sought to eliminate such threats while they were still young, summoning countless heroes and armies. But such feeble resistance was, of course, futile against Patunasankus and Liulan.
"This is a declaration of war—those blind insects!" Liulan roared in their lair, and thus the war began.
That morning, Liulan froze the entire battlefield into a winter wasteland—ice upon ice upon ice, covering the lifeless plains as countless pristine tracks vanished into the misty horizon.In the afternoon, Patunasankus ca to burn everything to ashes. Dragon Fire boiled around the heroes, accompanied by the drifting cinders falling from the sky like fleeting snowflakes—snow being the death of rain.
Three days later, the allied forces surrendered, and the great kingdoms began turning a blind eye to the two evil dragons.
That night, Patunasankus and Liulan chatted happily in their lair. In truth, winning this war had been a foregone conclusion—even their monstrous minions could see that.
Both evil dragons were deeply disappointed and bored by how quickly the allied forces had surrendered.
After all, it had been a rare mont when they could slaughter to their hearts' content.
"Are adventurers these days all so weak? Not even a single bold threat uttered," Patunasankus asked.
"Not even a single one to trade insults with," Liulan lanted.
Then, together, they prepared a sword mound for these unremarkable adventurers and heroes:
[ ‘Black Death’ and ‘Eternal Frozen Mist’.
Where the allied forces of the kingdoms fell like a crumbling mountain, and the corpses of heroes littered the land.
The evil dragons soared through the skies, crowned with the na ‘Sankus’. ]
But that was all long ago.
Back then, Patunasankus’ lair had not yet undergone its turbulent power struggle, and Liulansankus had not yet beco obsessed with kidnapping princesses.
Then one day, Liulan began showing off the princesses she had kidnapped.
The noble princesses trembled with fear and hatred, while the evil dragon flaunted them as treasures. Patunasankus, however, remained unimpressed. Soon, another princess would arrive—Liulan cycled through them at an astonishing speed. Before anyone knew it, the Evil Dragon Yearbook was filled with Liulan’s na.
To be honest, Patunasankus couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it started. It wasn’t so explosive, unforgettable conflict—just countless small grievances piling up until every little thing afterward felt like stepping on a landmine.
Slowly, the two dragons drifted apart.
Through the long years, Patunasankus passed her days in idle conversation, slow yet thodical.
Until one ordinary day, the evil dragon kidnapped "her".
She had hair the color of dandelions, blue eyes, and wore a pure white dress with a blue ribbon tying back her hair.
From that day on, the evil dragon knew no peace.
"Utterly shaless dragon."
That was Patunasankus’ usual verdict whenever she thought of Liulan.
Whenever Latifa asked why the two dragons could no longer hold a conversation—no matter how she rephrased the question—Patunasankus would always answer the sa way.
"How could I possibly talk to a shaless dragon who swaps princesses like trinkets?"
Then Latifa would roll her eyes and retort, "You’re truly hopeless."
Patunasankus didn’t actually believe she was hopeless. She carried pride in her bones, refusing to resign herself to fate or drift with the tide.
She believed a dragon should not be fickle and capricious, as if loyalty were worthless.
Hopeless or not, so be it.
Patunasankus later thought.
She acknowledged no authority but her own.
She was driven by nothing but her own obsessions.
Patunasankus silently watched the playful figures of Loranhir and Elaphia in the distance, saying nothing.Then, she leaned against the tree, propping her chin in her hand, staring upward for a long ti. There was nothing there to begin with, so who knew what she was looking at.
Her skyward gaze was bluer than the sky itself.
Well, she still missed that damned dragon a little.
○
The dragon head maid Isha gently dusted off Patunasankus’s resting place, carrying out her daily cleaning routine as usual.
She couldn’t quite rember how long it had been since Lord Patunasankus had left. Not a single monster servant had seen the obsidian-scaled evil dragon since Princess Latifa’s funeral.
At first, everyone speculated that Lord Patunasankus had gone to capture a new princess. But everyone knew that with the Black Death’s power, obtaining any kingdom’s princess would be effortless.
So even claid Lord Patunasankus might already be dead, slain by so powerful adversary, and clamored to rally forces for revenge—though no one truly believed it.
One by one, the troublemakers of the past began resurfacing, giving Isha quite the headache. Yet, even with her master gone, the dragon’s lair continued to function as usual.
Only now, without Princess Latifa and Lord Patunasankus, everyone seed listless.
In her mory, there had never been a ti like this before. The evil dragon’s lair had always operated with clockwork precision.
As long as the princess and the evil dragon remained, everyone’s gears turned flawlessly.
Isha took a checkered cloth and wiped away the last traces of dust, then replaced yesterday’s withered flowers with freshly picked ones in the vase. Everything as usual.
With the routine cleaning done, Isha gathered her tools and prepared to leave. The sound of the adamantine door clanging open made her heart leap—she instinctively thought Lord Patunasankus had returned and rushed to the entrance.
But clearly, she was mistaken.
It wasn’t the familiar black-haired, golden-eyed girl with an icy deanor.
Instead, it was a pale blue-haired girl dressed in a silver gown adorned with crystals. Her skin was so fair it seed almost translucent, and her petite stature placed her sowhere between a girl and a young woman.
Isha imdiately recognized the visitor.
[Eternal Frozen Mist] Liulansankus—once Lord Patunasankus’s closest friend, now her sworn enemy.
“...Lady Liulan.” Isha promptly curtsied in greeting.
“Has that pitch-black idiot still not replied to my ssages? Where has she gone? Is she coming to the symposium or not?” Liulan’s expression remained frozen, her tone cold yet haughty.
Her eyes swept across the empty resting place.
“Where’s the dragon?” she demanded coolly.
That Lord Patunasankus and Liulansankus were at odds was common knowledge among all evil dragons. In the past, if her master was absent from the lair, Isha would have made up so excuse to fend off the Eternal Frozen Mist’s inquiries.
But tis had changed. There was no longer any need to worry about this one’s intentions.
“Lord Patunasankus has been away from the lair for so ti due to personal matters,” Isha answered truthfully.
“What a nuisance. If that pitch-black idiot isn’t ho, then her princess, I...” Liulan’s eyes narrowed slightly as she glanced elsewhere, lost in thought."Princess Latifa is already dead." With just that one sentence, Isha blocked all of Loranhir's thoughts.
A sharp pain instantly shot through Isha's mind as sothing probed roughly into her mories. She quickly realized it was Liulan violently scanning her mind.
Having seemingly retrieved so images, Liulan fell silent for a mont before walking away without so much as a glance at Isha, her icy expression remaining indifferent.
Without greeting anyone, she strode straight out the front door. The draconian guards on either side broke into a cold sweat, terrified of drawing the ire of their temperantal mistress.
She had arrived with a frosty chill, yet left with utter detachnt.
"...How dull," Isha heard Liulan mutter under her breath. "I only stopped by on my way to the symposium to ss with this gloomy place."
"Annoying. Might as well freeze the city on my way. There’s so town called Taur-sothing along the route."
Holding the wilted bouquet from the night before, Isha watched Liulan’s figure disappear into the darkness.
She wondered what Lord Patunasankus was doing now.
Perhaps... sothing very important?
She thought.
○
Patunasankus wore a grave expression, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Before her stood two furtive figures—one cautious, the other utterly helpless. One of them held a tray, her eager crimson eyes blinking rapidly in Patunasankus’ direction.
This final al before their departure to Taurant gave Patunasankus the distinct impression it was laced with lethal poison.
"Try the at," Elaphia said, nodding toward the tray. "I made it under Loranhir’s supervision—it’s absolutely safe!"
Recalling Elaphia’s past culinary disasters, Loranhir broke into a cold sweat and lowered her head, not like a lion struggling despite having its fangs pulled, but like prey caught in a trap, wling pitifully.
It was downright terrifying.
‘Is this really okay?’ Patunasankus tried to silently communicate with Loranhir through her gaze.
‘Edible,’ Loranhir conveyed back.
From the other’s eyes, Patunasankus received that answer.
Hesitant but unwilling to refuse, she picked up a fork, speared a piece of at, and brought it to her lips for a cautious nibble.
"How is it? How is it? How is it?"
Elaphia’s wide, round crimson eyes bore into her, her hands waving excitedly as she leaned forward.
She looked just like an eager puppy.
Patunasankus’ eyes flickered, her expression shifting several tis before she finally pressed her lips together.
Seeing that the princess didn’t have any severe reactions—at least no vomiting or fainting—Loranhir finally relaxed, her tension lting away as her usual soft, gentle expression returned.
Patunasankus wanted to say sothing, but the words died on her tongue.
"It’s... not bad," she attempted to offer constructive feedback the way Latifa would have, but after a mont’s thought, she added, "Next ti, I’ll handle it."
She had no choice but to take matters into her own hands, even if she wasn’t particularly skilled at it. Still, it wasn’t a major issue.
Once they crushed Taurant, this absurd journey would finally be over. It wouldn’t take much ti.
As for these two...Patunasankus glanced at Elaphia and Loranhir.
We'll see when the ti cos.
The evil dragon thought.
After everything was over, she would definitely have to capture a new princess. Being an evil dragon ant one had to have a princess.
Patunasankus made up her mind.
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