Seven days later, at dawn, golden light streamed through the window and spilled across the room, illuminating everything.
The first ray of the Erdtree's light pierced the darkness like a golden arrow, waking Nolan and Lansseax from their sleep.
Nolan slowly opened his eyes and felt the warmth of the light.
He turned to look at the wardrobe. That feeling of being watched was gone.
But just as he was about to get up, he suddenly heard a faint breath, barely there, coming from inside the wardrobe.
She did not leave? Surely she was not still hiding in there, pretending she was not around? Had Melina gotten that bold now?
Still, even if she stayed there, it did not matter. Once she turned into a spirit, no one but him could detect her.
While Nolan still had the leisure to think about strange things, Lansseax, having avenged her brother's death, sat up from the bed looking thoroughly refreshed.
She stretched, revealing her graceful figure, fair and flawless, with smooth, elegant curves.
After thoroughly taking advantage of Nolan, she seemed to have gotten over her bad habit of losing her nerve at the crucial moment.
Completely bare, she climbed down from the bed and walked straight toward the wardrobe, planning to find a few pieces of clothing to cover herself before going out.
Ancient Dragons had sharp noses. As soon as Lansseax approached the wardrobe, she caught a strange scent.
It was not strong, but it was unusually sharp and familiar, making her raise an eyebrow.
The whole room was filled with a similar scent now. The smell was strongest on the bed, yet the scent coming from the wardrobe was nearly as intense.
Strange. Far too strange.
Lansseax sniffed and could not help frowning.
Then, from inside the wardrobe, she suddenly caught another familiar scent.
It was Melina's scent!
A strange delight suddenly welled up in Lansseax.
She walked to the wardrobe, and when she slowly opened the door, the sight before her brought a smile to her face.
Inside the wardrobe, a beautiful young woman with a lovely figure and delicate features was lying shamelessly in the middle of a pile of clothes, sleeping soundly.
Her body was slightly curled up, and she was hugging several pieces of clothing tightly in her arms, like a child clutching a beloved toy.
The moment Nolan saw this, the expression on his face changed from admiration of something beautiful to surprise.
Of course Nolan knew this was not the first time Melina had done something like this, but her spiritualization ability was far too unreasonable. He had never seen it with his own eyes, nor had he found solid proof.
When he spoke with Melina on ordinary days, he had hinted at it a few times, but Melina always avoided the topic. This was the first time he had caught her red-handed.
As the saying went, if you walk by the river often enough, your shoes are bound to get wet.
Do enough bad things, and sooner or later you were bound to slip up. Perfectly normal. Now Nolan had finally caught her by the tail.
This familiar setup reminded him of those cliché storylines. It felt like, once Melina woke up, he ought to say to her:
"Young lady, you wouldn't want..."
A sly, wicked smile appeared on Lansseax's face. She leaned against the wardrobe like a rogue and stared at Nolan with ill intent, looking so smug it made one's teeth itch.
"I'd already guessed your relationship wasn't ordinary, but I never imagined you two lovebirds played this wildly!"
Lansseax said in a strange, mocking tone, "Your Majesty Nolan, you wouldn't want your subjects to find out about this, would you?"
Well, well. This woman actually dared to steal his line, and now she was even trying to blackmail him?
Nolan muttered inwardly, but on the surface, he stayed perfectly calm.
He waved a hand casually and said as if it were nothing, "Now you're going too far. How can you smear a young lady's innocence for no reason?"
He himself did not care. Wasn't a messy private life practically standard for a Lord in a Souls world?
But this female dragon really spent all day doing nothing proper and only wanted to play around.
"You should stop fooling around too. I have serious business today."
"Tch, boring." Lansseax shook her head in disappointment.
Outside the window, the sky had fully brightened, and the light of the Erdtree shone into the room.
Nolan casually put a few pieces of his own clothing onto Lansseax, then mercilessly drove this beauty in men's clothes into a corner and made her sit obediently.
As Lansseax muttered "heartless jerk" under her breath, Nolan used a wet towel to clean Melina up and helped dress her.
Melina's eyelids trembled faintly. In truth, she had already woken up long ago.
But she did not dare open her eyes. In her heart, she silently prayed that all of this was only a nightmare.
In the past, every time she finished, she would immediately turn into a spirit and vanish. She had never had to worry about Nolan catching her.
But this time, she had gone several days without sleep and had not had the slightest chance to rest. By now, she was utterly exhausted.
So after completing her final routine, she had actually fallen asleep right there in the wardrobe.
She had never expected that when she woke up again, she would already have been discovered. And not just by Nolan alone.
At this moment, Melina truly wished she could take out her golden Dagger, cut her own throat, and be done with it.
She could not imagine how Nolan would look at his so-called "partner" from now on.
He would probably think she had stayed by his side because she coveted his body. Well, there was actually a tiny bit of that.
But that was not important. After all, Nolan had just spoken up for her, and that warmed her heart a little.
However, the moment she thought of Lansseax's unfiltered mouth...
If Lansseax spread this around, then Melina probably had no reason to keep living in this world.
Sitting not far away, Lansseax suddenly shivered. Her draconic instincts seemed to sense some inexplicable killing intent.
"Let's go." Nolan gently tucked the blanket around Melina, then turned to Lansseax and spoke softly.
"Go where?" Lansseax was clearly stunned and did not react right away.
"To find your dear sister, of course. To Farum Azula."
The corner of Nolan's mouth lifted into a faint smile, and his gaze seemed to sweep briefly over Melina.
"She looks tired too. Let her sleep for a while."
With that, Nolan pulled Lansseax up without further explanation, and the two of them left the room together.
As the door gently closed with a soft click, Melina, who had kept her eyes tightly shut, suddenly opened them.
This partner of hers was not bad at all.
Melina lay sideways on the bed, hugged the blanket tightly, and took a deep breath.
Then, just as she was sinking into the scent on the bed, her body began to break apart on its own into countless blue particles.
She and that man had both nearly forgotten. She could not leave him at all.
Nolan walked along with Lansseax in tow. Although he could not see anyone, he could feel Melina following beside him the whole time.
Not showing herself? Or too afraid to show herself?
Nolan was completely certain it was the latter, but he did not tease the pure-hearted young woman who was already so ashamed she wanted to die.
He wound his way through the palace and found Florissax and Sethlinsax.
"Your Majesty, Farum Azula is in the High Heavens east of the Lands Between. If I guide you there, it will only take a month," Florissax said.
"A month? Wouldn't that be two months for the round trip? That's far too long." Nolan rubbed his chin.
"It takes a month because I would be the one guiding you, but your speed is greater than mine. As long as you remember the route, the trip back will be faster," Florissax explained.
So she wanted him to follow her there by flying?
Nolan had thought that Ancient Dragons who controlled the power of time and space would have some more advanced passage, such as opening a spatial portal or something.
"That's still too troublesome. Why don't you just tell me Farum Azula's exact location, and I'll take you there?" Nolan waved a hand.
Florissax froze. "But Farum Azula lies within the spacetime rift left behind by the Dragon God."
"Have you forgotten that the Land of Shadow was sealed by Marika?" Nolan said.
In terms of status, was the god of the Lands Between, who had become one with the Elden Ring, not above the Dragon God?
Yet the seal she had set was still broken through by Nolan.
Florissax thought for a moment, understood what Nolan meant, and then nodded.
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