I Transmigrated Into the Wrong Novel as the Perverted Dragon Prince Chapter 40: Void Awakening (18) — Elena’s Mood Swings

I didn’t move. I didn’t even twitch.

"Rio. I know you can hear ."

She leaned in closer, her hair brushing against my shoulder like silk.

"If you don’t open your eyes right now, I’m going to kiss... you."

What?

My heart didn’t just skip a beat; it tried to escape my chest. Kiss ? She wasn’t joking. I could practically sense her shifting, the mattress dipping as she climbed onto the bed, hovering over . Her breath was hitting my face, warm and trembling.

’She isn’t actually going to do it, right?’ I thought frantically. We were blood-related. This was beyond a "complication"; it was a moral catastrophe.

"If you keep pretending, then don’t bla ," she whispered. I felt her face moving even closer, the tip of her nose almost brushing mine.

No! My first kiss!

My eyes jolted open and my hands moved with a speed I didn’t know I possessed, pushing her shoulders back.

"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded, my voice cracking slightly.

I looked into her eyes. The fire I expected wasn’t there. Instead, there was a flash of sothing else—a heavy, sinking disappointnt that she quickly masked with a scowl.

"Tch."

She clicked her tongue, effortlessly regaining her balance and climbing off the bed. She smoothed her ruined tunic, her expression turning icy. "What do ’you’ think you were doing, pretending to be asleep?"

In a mont, the stakes had flipped. Instead of calling her out for her insanity, she had turned the guilt back on .

Just how did she know?

"What? You must be thinking how I knew that you were pretending?"

Yeah, I was. How? My heart rate had been steady, my breathing rhythmic—I had used every trick from my previous life.

"Even if you ask, I am not going to tell you." She turned on her heel, her silhouette tall and imposing against the dim light of the magic lamps. She began walking toward the door but stopped right before grabbing the handle.

"It is past midnight. You can go back to sleep. We will talk tomorrow."

She opened the door, a sliver of the cold hallway light spilling in. But she stopped again as soon as she took a single step forward. I saw her shoulders tremble—a small, violent shudder that shook her entire fra.

"Rio..." she spoke, her back still turned to .

"Mmmm, yeah?" I raised an eyebrow, my pulse still racing from the near-miss on the bed.

She slamd the door shut without moving out. "I can’t pretend anymore."

What pretend? I was the one pretending to be asleep. What was she talking about?

"I can’t go back to being that old, strict sister of yours."

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly and the air suddenly felt heavy.

"Okay, then beco a cute and lovely sister. Simple, isn’t it?" I tried to inject so levity, desperately trying to steer the conversation away from the cliff I felt we were approaching.

"Idiot," she hissed, her voice thick with emotion. "When are you going to understand?"

Understand what? Taboo? Of course I understand. My mind was already mapping out the disaster this would cause. I didn’t want a "romance" plot. I didn’t want to be soone’s obsession. I just wanted to get strong enough to survive this family and this world.

"What do you an, Elena?" I acted completely oblivious, playing the role of the confused brother to the bitter end.

She lifted her head, taking a long, shuddering breath. I watched her from behind as she slowly lowered her head again, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"It is really difficult, Rio. It is more difficult than the training... even more than the awakening I went through."

’Yeah, I get it. Looking soone in the eye and admitting you’ve lost control? It’s a nightmare. Believe , I have went through that not long ago.’

"What is so difficult? You can tell . I’ll try my best to help you."

I reached out a hand, though I stayed on the bed. She took a long ti to answer, the silence stretching until it was painful.

"No," she muttered. "You... can’t..."

She didn’t give a chance to respond. She yanked the door open abruptly and stepped out into the hall.

Thud.

The door clicked shut, leaving alone in the room.

"Phew!"

A massive, relieved sigh escaped my lips, and I finally let my stiff shoulders drop. "Thank God she’s gone."

It was getting suffocatingly heavy in here. I reached up and wiped a few stray beads of sweat from my forehead. At least I was able to dodge a taboo relationship; that’s all that matters. My goal is to survive this world, not to turn it into so twisted lodrama. I need allies, not... whatever she was becoming.

I stared at the closed door, trying to reclaim the silence of the room. I just needed to process the ’Void Gaze’ and the ’Supre Physique’ in peace.

Or so I thought.

SLAM!

The door didn’t just open; it snapped back against the wall with enough force to make the magic lamps flicker. I nearly jumped out of my skin as Elena stepped back inside, her face no longer clouded by hesitation. Instead, it was set in a mask of grim, terrifying determination.

"Wha— I thought you were leaving!"

I scrambled back against the headboard, my hand instinctively going to the sheets.

She didn’t answer imdiately. She turned the lock on the door with a sharp click and walked straight to the center of the room.

"I forgot sothing," she said, her voice dropping an octave. The vulnerability from a mont ago was gone, replaced by the sharp, predatory focus of the kingdom’s strongest knight.

Just why are these sudden changes are happening in her. Is she having mood swings?

"Forgot what? Your dignity?" I snapped, the adrenaline making bolder than I probably should have been.

She ignored the jab. She didn’t look like a sister right now. She looked like a hunter who had realized the prey was trying to slip through the net. She started walking toward the bed again, each step heavy and deliberate.

"I can’t go back to being that sister, Rio. You’re right. It is simple," she said, repeating my words back to with a chilling lack of humor. "So I won’t. If you’re going to act oblivious, then I’ll just have to make it impossible for you to ignore."