CH 41

Sophia stood in the vast and endless open space, the gentle breeze gently brushing her cheeks, seemingly real.

She took two steps forward, and the landscape changed before her eyes to a sea of beautiful flowers. The flowers were so colorful that when the wind blew, the sea of flowers turned into an ocean, with layers of waves rolling over each other.

The beautiful scent of the flowers made Sophia’s heart rejoice as she ran through them.

As she ran, the scene suddenly changed before her eyes, and she was surrounded by a sea of fire. There was a man shielding  her, and above her head was a huge silver dragon, hovering back and forth, spewing a stream of fiery flame from its mouth and emitting a deafening roar.

She looked around in horror. This palace was strange and familiar, not her own but somehow familiar. Where was it?Oh

yes, it was the palace of King Alexander of Ansel!

Sofia looked at the man who was holding her and realized that it was none other than Ansel Alexander, who was dying.

Ansel Alexander’s back was burnt and festering, and his chest had a bloody hole, from which blood was pouring out.

Sophia’s face was white with fear, but Ansel Alexander pulled a faint smile at Sophia, his hand trembling as he touched Sophia’s temples and said, with all his strength, “Sophia, run, go after the freedom you want.”

Suddenly, his eyes fluttered, and his hand dropped feebly to the ground, his eyes losing their sparkle.

It was all too real, so real that Sophia couldn’t tell if it was reality or an illusion.

Following the spot where Ansel lay, she was horrified to find that the silver dragon had come to a steady rest in front of her eyes.

Tears of despair flowed from Sophia’s eyes as she fell to her knees, her hands and feet limp, tears and Ansel’s blood running down her gorgeous white dress.

The silver dragon’s eyes narrowed slightly as it stepped in front of itself, and Sophia noticed that with each step the silver dragon took, its body shrank. Its body slowly shrank and morphed until, finally, it actually took the form of Hillman!

Dumbfounded, Sophia stared at the handsome Hillman in disbelief and said, “Hillman, you’re a dragon?”

Hillman gave a smitten smile, bent down and took Sophia in his arms and kissed her forehead: “Yes, my Princess.”

He picked up Sophia and strolled idly through the wreckage and corpses.

The sunlight slanted into the rubble, half shining on his face, framing his smile in a horrible way.

How could he still be smiling when so many people had died?

Sophia’s whole body shuddered with spasms.

The devil! He was the devil!

When Hillman took Sophia back to the palace, she cried and threw herself into King Serinon’s arms, accusing Hillman of atrocities and saying that he was a dragon.

But instead of turning the tables on Hillman, King Serinon rebuked Sophia, saying, “Sophia, what do you know? Alexander is a fickle and murderous man. You will not be happy if you marry him. Hillman was just trying to save you.”

Sophia looked at King Serinon with wide eyes, remembering Ansel’s dying words and looking at the righteous king in front of her.

She pointed at them and cried, “If you really cared for me, why did you make me Ansel’s fiancée? If you really only wanted to save me, why did you raze a palace to the ground? I am a puppet, and so is Hillman! We are all puppets for your world domination!!! ”

King Serinon’s eyes widened in anger, and he slapped Sophia hard, “Someone, send Princess Sophia to her room to rest.”

As Sophia was locked in her room, many visions flashed through her mind, from the dreamy sea of flowers, to Ansel’s gentle instructions, to Hillman in his dragon form.

Everything in this world had changed overnight, becoming so frightening and strange.

Sophia suddenly remembered the story of the puppet dolls that Ansel Alexander had told her a long, long time ago.

It was about a puppet doll who would twist its little legs and rip off its arms in order to be free.

Ansel had said that he would tell her the ending later, but now that he was dead, what was the ending?

Sophia wept bitterly as events followed one another, but she was not brave enough to pay the price for her freedom.

She was locked in her room for ten days. On the eleventh day, the door was pushed open.

Silver-haired and silver-eyed Hillman entered the room and half-kneeled in front of Sophia, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and said in a voice as gentle as it could be, “Your Highness, do you remember saving a silver dragon once, eleven years ago?”

Sophia’s eyes drifted for a moment, remembering a memory from when she was five years old. She looked at the gentle Hillman and wondered, “You are that silver dragon?”

Hillman nodded, “Yes Princess, you saved me and then set me free. I have been in love with you ever since, so I took human form and came to you. I did not dare ask for anything but to secretly watch over you. But you showed love and care for me that day, Sophia. Don’t you remember? I was so happy.”

Sofia, frightened by the obsessive look in Hillman’s eyes, moved towards the bed in an attempt to put some distance between them.

He saw the way Sophia was running away from him and stood up and jumped on top of Sophia, saying, “Your Highness, His Majesty Serinon has promised to marry you to me, and from today you are my wife and I am your husband, and you will give me kids!”

Sofia’s fear increased at the sight of the demented Hillman.

She screamed, flinging her arms frantically at the man on top of her. But her resistance drew further excitement from Hillman, who roared to the heavens and transformed into his original form.

Dragons were free to adjust their body size, and Hillman adjusted his dragon body to human size, and with a flick of his sharp claws, he tore Sophia’s clothes to shreds.

Sophia screamed in horror at the sight of her stripped body, flipping over face down and crawling desperately forward, but the bestial silver dragon had already been overcome by instinct and desire.

Dragons are often very dominant to females when they are mating because of their unique skill. To suppress the female dragon in order to produce offspring, the male dragon will often use the sharp claws on his wings to nestle into her shoulders, thus controlling her movements.

Now the silver dragon opened the sharp claws attached to its wings and dug them into Sophia’s shoulder.

Sophia’s head buzzed with unprecedented pain, but why hadn’t she passed out when she was in so much pain? Sophia slumped desperately on her back, with the silver dragon’s powerful thrusts behind her.

She wept tears; this was clearly her home, but now the Silver Dragon was hurting her like this and not a single person came to her rescue.

The silver dragon wants to conquer me, but my father wants to use me to conquer the silver dragon, and I am only their puppet from the beginning, forever used by them.

As the silver dragon sprinted faster and faster behind her, Sophia was in a trance, suddenly remembering Ansel’s story, remembering Ansel’s dying words.

“Ansel, the puppet you spoke of, was actually me, wasn’t it?”

For a moment, she was lost in thought, and then her eyes caught sight of the candlestick within her reach.

If a puppet doll could break its legs and arms for freedom, why couldn’t she, Sophia Serinon, do the same?

With an unprecedented determination in her eyes, Sophia reached for the candlestick, removed the candle from it and thrust the sharp spike into her throat!

It took all her strength, but Sophia felt a relief and freedom she had never felt before. She looked up at the white sky with a smile of relief, “so this is what freedom feels like.”

……….

Sophia slowly got up from the soft velvet bed. Her head was blank and dazed for a moment.

Where is she now? Was this heaven? Or was it a dream?

The nurse who had been waiting for Sofia woke up and presented her with a dress, smiling, “Your Highness, you fell asleep after dinner yesterday after returning from the Saron Empire and did not wake up until noon today. It was a long sleep for you. Did you have some beautiful dreams? ”

It took a long time for Sophia’s mind to sort out the difference between dream and reality, and with a determined and confident smile, she said softly, “Yes Nana, this dream was the most beautiful dream I have had since I could understand.”

Nana looked at Sophia in awe. Why did it feel like Sophia had suddenly grown so much in just one night?

In the emperor’s study in the Saron Empire, Bai Lixin sat at his desk, his head buried in a cowhide scroll, as Di Suo slowly stepped out of the darkness.  His steps were as light as the wind, and he reached Bai Lixin’s side in just a few breaths, saying, “Hillman has gone.”

Bai Lixin pulled his head out of the scroll and asked in surprise, “Hillman slept until now? The princess even left before him  Isn’t that a bit too long of a sleepless? ”

Di Suo shrugged, “You were the one who said to teach him court etiquette, and I only accompanied him for a few spars. He was so tired that he slept all day and night. ”

Bai Lixin’s face was smiling gently, but in his heart he was spitting, “With your perverted fighting ability, who could you compete with that would not be exhausted?”

Di Suo looked down at Bai Lixin, who was sitting on the chair.  Because it was evening, Bai Lixin had changed into a loose V-neck shirt. His collarbones were half exposed from the collar, faintly glowing a gleaming white.

Looking down from above, Di Suo could even see the two red cherry blossoms concealed by the shirt. The red cherries looked so tender and cute.

Di Suo suddenly felt his mouth and throat dry. He swallowed and continued to observe Bai Lixin, who had re-buried his head in the cowhide roll.

His long eyelashes fluttered like two little brushes, and at the age of 26, his skin was finer and whiter than that of a baby. Even his lips were luminous, as if tempting him to kiss them.

Di Suo was taken aback by his own thoughts and said, “I actually want to kiss my enemy’s offspring? Damn, I must have gone too long without mating to have this delusion. ”