Chapter 268: Lunatic’s Invitation

Fafnir remained kneeling among the coins scattered across the ground, her long golden hair falling over her shoulders and her tail moving slowly behind her. Her eyes stayed fixed on Victor, following his every movement as the last marks left by the blood chains disappeared from her arms.

Victor, on the other hand, seemed far more interested in her appearance than in the threat she had just made.

"You’ve got quite a filthy mouth for a Dragon Queen."

Fafnir narrowed her eyes.

"What?"

"The Greedy Dragon Queen. Wasn’t that what they called you when you were alive?" Victor tilted his head. "I expected something more elegant. I don’t know, elaborate threats, speeches about the superiority of dragons..."

"SHUT UP!"

Victor laughed.

"Yeah, definitely none of that."

Fafnir clenched her fists. Her claws scraped against her palms as she tried to stand, but the red energy still circulating through the ground seemed to react to her movement. She felt an unpleasant pressure run through her body and had to rest one hand on her knee.

Victor noticed but said nothing.

In fact, now that she had assumed a humanoid form, he could finally observe her more closely.

Her golden hair was extremely long, spreading down her back and almost reaching the ground. Two black horns projected from the sides of her head, contrasting with her delicate face and fair skin. Her golden eyes had narrow pupils, similar to those of a reptile, and the dark tail moving behind her made it quite clear that her human appearance was nothing more than an alternative form.

Victor stared for a few seconds.

"Fuck..."

Fafnir raised her head.

"What now?!"

"You’re really beautiful."

She froze.

Victor studied her face once more, looking genuinely impressed.

"No, seriously. I knew dragons could assume human forms, but I didn’t expect to find such a beautiful woman inside a sword."

Fafnir’s eyes widened.

Then her expression grew even more irritated.

"STOP MOCKING ME!"

She took a step toward him, baring her teeth.

"I’m going to tear that face of yours apart!"

Victor raised his hands. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Calm down. I’m not mocking you."

"LIAR!"

"I’m serious."

Fafnir looked ready to charge again, but Victor continued before she could get any closer.

"You really are a beauty. I won’t say you’re prettier than Serafall, Chysis, Carmilla, Scarlet, or Rowena, because then I’d be lying."

Fafnir blinked.

"...What?"

"But you’re very beautiful."

Victor brought a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe I’ll even start finding you more beautiful once you start liking me."

Fafnir stared at him.

Victor smiled.

"I’m a simple man. I like women who like me. Even when they pretend they don’t, like Rowena."

The silence that followed was deeply unpleasant.

Fafnir seemed to be trying to decide whether Victor was simply stupid or deliberately doing this to irritate her.

In the end, she settled on a third possibility.

He had to be completely insane.

"I would never like a human!"

Her voice echoed through the valley, sending a few coins sliding down the nearby mountains of treasure.

"AND STOP PRETENDING YOU’RE INTERESTED IN ME!"

Victor arched an eyebrow.

"I’m not human. I am a Vampire"

"I don’t care what you are!"

She pointed a claw at his chest.

"I don’t have time for this shit! I need to get rid of this disgusting energy you put inside me!"

Victor glanced briefly at the ground.

The ritual’s lines were still there, although most had lost their glow after he cut the chains. Even so, he could sense that the magic hadn’t disappeared completely. Something continued to link his energy to Fafnir’s soul.

He looked back at her.

"You’re not deaf, but I’ll repeat myself."

Fafnir stopped talking.

Victor held her gaze, and his smile faded a little.

"I’m not playing games with you."

The dragon narrowed her eyes.

"You’re going to be mine one way or another. It’s up to you whether you bow willingly or by force."

Fafnir felt a slight tremor run through her body.

Not because of the threat itself.

She had heard far worse threats throughout her existence. Kings, warriors, mages, and even other dragons had tried to force her into submission. Many had died before they could even finish their speeches.

What bothered her was Victor’s composure.

He had just been burned, cut, torn apart, and almost completely destroyed several times. He had faced her draconic form, managed to imprison her in chains, and yet he remained before her as though this conversation were the most natural thing in the world.

And worse, he seemed genuinely willing to continue.

Fafnir studied his face.

’That bastard...’

She had already realized that Victor wasn’t human. The vampiric energy circulating through his body was impossible to ignore, although there were other things mixed into it that Fafnir still couldn’t identify.

But that only made the situation more irritating.

A vampire was inside her domain, trying to force her to accept a bond, and he still had the audacity to comment on her appearance.

Fafnir bared her teeth.

"I’m going to break free."

Victor didn’t answer.

"I’m going to kill you."

"Hmm."

"I will tear your flesh apart, devour your entrails, and go destroy that damned, torturous sword!"

Her tail struck the ground, scattering coins in every direction.

"And then I’m going to devour this entire world!"

Victor stared at her.

A few seconds passed.

Then he raised Lilith.

Fafnir immediately assumed a defensive stance.

"Are you going to try attacking me again?!"

"No."

Victor placed the tip of the sword against his own stomach.

Fafnir frowned.

"What are you—"

The blade pierced his abdomen.

Victor opened a deep cut in his own body, large enough to reach his internal organs. Blood ran over his clothes as he pulled the sword away and put his hand inside the wound.

Fafnir froze.

Victor pulled out part of his own entrails and extended his hand toward her.

"Eat."

The dragon didn’t answer.

Her eyes slowly dropped to what Victor was offering.

Then they returned to his face.

"...What?"

"You said you wanted to eat my entrails."

Victor extended his hand a little farther.

"So eat."

Fafnir took a step back.

Victor arched an eyebrow.

"Don’t want them?"

She continued staring at him.

All the arrogance she had carried since assuming her humanoid form simply vanished for a few seconds.

Not because she was afraid of an attack.

But because she couldn’t understand what kind of creature would do that to his own body just to respond to a threat.

’He...’

Fafnir looked again at the entrails in his hand.

’He’s crazy.’

Victor tilted his head.

"Well?"

A shiver ran down Fafnir’s back.

’The most insane bastard I’ve ever met in my life!’

She had faced people willing to die for power, revenge, or ambition. She had also known warriors who sacrificed their own bodies to achieve victory.

But this?

That man had just cut open his own stomach and offered his internal organs as though he were sharing a piece of meat during a meal.

And he was smiling.

Fafnir gritted her teeth.

"Put that shit away!"

Victor looked at his own hand.

Then at her.

"You’re not going to eat?"

"I TOLD YOU TO PUT IT AWAY!"

"All right."

Victor put his entrails back into his abdomen and withdrew his hand. His flesh immediately began rebuilding itself, closing the cut as the blood spread across his clothes returned to his body.

In approximately one second, he was completely recovered.

Victor ran a hand over his stomach.

"There."

Fafnir continued staring at him.

Her expression seemed caught somewhere between outrage and disbelief.

Victor, on the other hand, had already lost interest in that little argument. He looked around, chose a relatively clean area between the piles of gold, and extended his hand.

The blood still on the ground began to move.

Fafnir followed the energy with her eyes as the liquid gathered in front of him, forming four legs, a seat, and a backrest. Within a few seconds, Victor had created an armchair of hardened blood.

He sat down calmly.

Then crossed his legs.

Fafnir blinked.

"...What are you doing?"

"Sitting."

"I CAN SEE THAT!"

"Then why did you ask?"

She bared her teeth again.

Victor chuckled before looking up at the reddish sky of that world.

"I imagine time doesn’t pass the same way here as it does outside."

Fafnir fell silent.

"When I met Rowena, time outside practically stopped while I was inside the space where her soul remained."

He rested an arm on the armchair’s backrest.

"If the same thing happens here, those ten minutes Anette gave me aren’t exactly a problem."

Fafnir narrowed her eyes.

"And what does that have to do with me?"

Victor looked back at her.

"Everything."

The dragon froze.

Victor smiled.

"Since we don’t need to worry about time, let’s get to know each other better."

"...Excuse me?"

"I want to learn about you."

He gestured toward the mountains of gold scattered throughout the valley.

"There’s quite a lot of interesting stuff here. You were a Dragon Queen, you were sealed inside Gram, and apparently, you’re guarding more treasure than an entire kingdom could spend."

Fafnir continued watching him in silence.

"I imagine you have plenty of stories to tell."

Victor settled more comfortably into the armchair.

"And I have all the time in the world to listen, right?"

Fafnir felt her tail go rigid.

She looked at Victor.

Then at the blood armchair.

Then at the calm expression of that vampire who had just offered her his own entrails to eat.

Her mouth opened slightly, but no words came out.

’He...’

Victor smiled even more.

"We can start with your name. Is Fafnir your real name, or just a title?"

Fafnir took half a step back.

’...Is he a lunatic?!’