Chapter 1308: 66. Heart Like Still Water

The thorn-covered dress fluttered to the floor.

The entire room suddenly fell silent. Muen could even hear his own breathing abruptly grow heavier, along with the faint sound of the gauzy skirt settling against the soft carpet.

Almost instantly, he could feel his blood beginning to boil, while his mind... went completely blank.

"Now... turn around."

Hamreign's tone remained as calm and indifferent as ever. Even after saying so much just now, even though she truly intended to use a drastic remedy to dissect her own heart, her state of mind still seemed utterly unmoved.

She was the one undergoing the trial, and she felt no fear whatsoever.

Because she was also a Calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom, the strongest creature beneath the heavens.

Over the past thousand years, she had endured countless trials. She had walked out of a great catastrophe that had nearly destroyed the world. She had defeated countless unimaginably powerful enemies. Even when facing an Evil God itself, she would not show the slightest cowardice... and the trial before her now was nothing more than an insignificant corner of her long life.

Her heart was like still water.

"This... really doesn't seem like a good idea."

Muen struggled to recover his senses and was still making one final attempt. "I don't think there's any need for a trial at all. Compared to some ridiculous method you probably got talked into by who knows who, I think I could play psychologist instead and use my wealth of experience to help you..."

"I said, turn around."

Her words grew heavier.

The terrifying pressure of a Calamity instantly crushed Muen's feeble resistance.

Although their roles had reversed, the situation itself had not. In front of this beast, he was still nothing more than a little kitten with nowhere to run.

"Damn it, if that's how it is..."

Realizing that Dragon Lady had already completely made up her mind, and that resistance was useless under such an overwhelming gap in strength, Muen gritted his teeth and finally chose to slowly turn around...

And face her.

"Forgive me!"

The first thing that entered his vision was a stretch of pale skin.

Like moonlight, like creamy white jade, like a piece of stone meticulously carved by a master craftsman, or like the purest frost that appeared only at the boundary between day and night.

A few scales adorned it, making that flawless smoothness stand out even more and giving rise to the unrealistic urge to reach out, touch it carefully, and feel it for himself.

Then, immediately afterward, came the towering peaks.

Because of the difference in their height, what should have been something gradually explored instead crashed directly into Muen's field of vision without the slightest obstruction.

Beautiful.

Those were almost the only two words left in Muen's mind.

The peaks stood proudly upright, their shape so exquisitely formed that even the Creator would have praised them. Their fullness was surpassed only by Liya's, making them extraordinarily rare even by human standards, yet because of Hamreign's own tall physique, their size somehow appeared perfectly proportioned, as though they had naturally been meant to look exactly this way.

There was not the slightest flaw or sagging. They simply rose from the plain like that, bringing tremendous shock to Muen... perhaps the only human fortunate enough to witness this sight in a thousand years.

He almost wished he could continue admiring them forever, endlessly immersed in their magnificent grandeur... Fortunately, he had already seen far too many mountains and had developed a certain degree of resistance to them, so he didn't disgrace himself by becoming completely lost in the sight.

And after that, since what lay farther below was a forbidden region he temporarily did not dare look at, Muen could only move his gaze upward. Only then did his eyes finally travel from the peaks, past collarbones that were likewise works of art, past that long snow-white swanlike neck, until they reached the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) incomparably beautiful face that had been waiting for him.

Dragon Lady's expression remained indifferent.

She stood above him, looking down at Muen. The red shadow around her eyes seemed almost to burn, yet it still couldn't conceal those golden dragon pupils blazing like ancient bronze lamps.

Her gaze was equally calm. Aside from a faint flush on her cheeks that wasn't normally there, she appeared completely unaffected.

Even though exposing herself like this in front of someone of the opposite sex was plainly an embarrassing act, she remained composed, open, and calm.

Her fiery-red hair hung loose. Even without a single piece of clothing covering her, she still made it unmistakably clear...

She was the legendary Calamity.

"A-And then?"

Muen's mouth was dry, and he swallowed with difficulty.

He knew it was offensive to stare, but once his eyes had landed on her, he found them almost impossible to move away.

Dragon Lady's body affected him far more strongly than he'd imagined. He didn't understand it. By now, he should have long since grown accustomed to the naked bodies of women, yet upon seeing Dragon Lady without a stitch of clothing, he still reacted like an inexperienced fledgling, flustered and completely at a loss.

"Touch me," Hamreign said coldly.

"T-Touch you?"

Muen's breathing grew even heavier. "Seriously?"

"My previous method was wrong. If I touch you, how am I supposed to test my own heart? So naturally, you should be the one touching me."

Hamreign spoke with complete certainty.

"And it can't be ordinary touching. It has to be caressing. Use your most effective methods to caress my body and test whether I can truly control my instincts."

"What do you mean, my most effective methods? I'm a complete beginner at this..." Muen said awkwardly.

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Hamreign sneered. "Do you really think you can fool me?"

She had already seen everything, and he was still pretending?

The techniques he'd used to toy with those human women before—those were supposed to be the skills of a beginner?

"Just use the same methods you used on those human women on me. Since this is a trial, naturally it has to be severe enough to test my truest heart."

"Those methods? You really want me to? I think..."

"Are you afraid?" Hamreign looked at him disdainfully.

"Who—who's afraid!"

Muen immediately became furious.

If she simply wanted to squeeze him dry, then yes, he definitely would have been a little afraid. After all, fearing beasts was only instinctive for a harmless little kitten like him.

But merely touching her a few times... touching her wasn't going to tear a piece of flesh off him. What was there to be afraid of?

Besides, he was the one touching her. No matter how he looked at it, he was the one profiting here!

"Then... I'm really going to do it?"

With that thought, all ten of Muen's fingers flexed back and forth as he slowly approached Hamreign, who was already standing very close, with cautious, testing steps.

"Just in case, let me ask first. This isn't some kind of trap, right? You're not going to lose your temper and beat me up just because I touch you a few times, are you? And you definitely won't take revenge afterward?"

"Do you really think I'd play such a boring trick on you? It's only a few touches. Hurry up and let me understand my own heart so we can end this farce!" Hamreign snapped coldly.

Her aloof and disdainful demeanor actually made Muen feel a little embarrassed and irritated without realizing it. The person actively asking to be touched was so calm and natural, while his own hesitation made him seem coy, creepy, and pathetic by comparison.

"Then I'm doing it!"

Muen finally worked up all his courage. No longer hesitating, he reached forward with one precise motion, his large hand moving toward those most conspicuous towering peaks that seemed to have been provoking him this entire time...

Time seemed to stretch.

In Hamreign's eyes, the hand belonging to her companion was slowly approaching a private part of her body that had never been exposed to an outsider throughout the past thousand years.

This was an unprecedented experience.

As that hand drew closer and closer, close enough that her skin could clearly sense the warmth that had once existed only in the palm of his hand, even those majestic golden pupils of hers couldn't help but ripple slightly.

But...

It was fine.

She thought.

She had already prepared herself mentally. This was merely a gamble she was certain to win, an easy trial.

She could handle it effortlessly. Her heart right now was just like still water...

Bang!

But suddenly, a muffled crash shattered the brief silence inside the room!