Rumble...

The sound of water echoed continuously in the huge bath filled with billowing milky white steam. Aya sat leaning against the lion-shaped spout, vigorously patting her cheeks, trying to calm herself down. Yet, she still felt the heat on her cheeks hotter than the water gushing from the spout.

Why was she here in the first place?

Certainly, she was fully aware of the whole process. Asking herself this question was simply reflecting on why she didn't resist earlier.

It seemed... her mind went blank after Miss Tiran's torrent of kisses, and what followed after that...

Well, whatever had to happen happened, and it was quite satisfying. Looking back, it was quite amusing. Although initially Miss Tiran was extremely aggressive and provocative, the moment they engaged, all pretense vanished with a whimper.

The stark contrast instantly burned Aya's rationality to ashes. The innate desires and ambitions of the Dragon, usually suppressed, now took the lead.

The tender and smooth skin of the young girl, the fragrant silky hair, and the emotions swirling in her eyes like a lake, all made Aya linger. Now she somewhat understood why Miss Tiran always exclaimed, "Beautiful girls are humanity's treasures."

Miss Tiran herself was indeed a treasure.

In this light, the acts of snatching princesses of different races in those fairy tales and legends seemed somewhat understandable.

Both were indulging in forbidden fruit for the first time, and with their bodies far exceeding ordinary standards, even Aya felt like she had entered a so-called sage mode.

After all, when she finally came to her senses, it was already dawn.

Fortunately, she had set up a soundproof barrier when her consciousness was clear, otherwise, with Miss Tiran's volume, the entire castle would probably have known the next day...

No, actually, it wouldn't have been a big deal if the whole castle knew. The key was to make sure Miss Mimi didn't find out, or it would be nerve-wracking to face her later.

Now reflecting carefully, it did feel... quite pleasant.

"What am I even thinking about!" Aya, with a mind too pure but a body quite naughty, thudded her head into the water in front of her, creating a small splash.

At that moment, the door to the bath was pushed open, and Tiran hummed an unknown but unexpectedly catchy tune as she entered. She deftly twisted her slightly damp long hair into a bun at the back of her head, then easily spotted Aya huddled by the spout, and walked over to the edge of the bath, dipping her toe into the water before walking straight towards Aya.

"Why are you hiding here?"

Tiran sat down beside Aya and quickly submerged her already rinsed body into the warm water, letting out a contented sigh and lazily stretching.

Water droplets rolled down the curve of her arm, slipping over her chest before plunging into the pool.

"...Could you cover up a bit?" Aya pretended to cough.

"But your eyes are looking quite honest," Miss Tiran said with a subtle smile, pinching Aya's cheek. "There's no need to be embarrassed, right? Clearly, you weren't so delicate just a while ago..."

"Oh, please stop bringing that up!"

Aya kept dunking her face into the water, trying to escape reality.

"Well, I kind of liked it..." Tiran commented.

"I can tell..." Aya mumbled softly, immediately silenced when Tiran pinched her waist, causing Aya to swallow the rest of her sentence and wince.

"You! Don't think you can push me around!"

Whether it was the thrill of the moment or the effect of soaking in hot water, Aya surprisingly retaliated and grabbed back.

"Hmph, seems like you're not lacking courage in that regard," Princess Tiran responded without hesitation.

Ten minutes later.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! I surrender! Can't I surrender?"

Pinned against the edge of the bath, Aya cried out in pain with her arms twisted behind her. Well, the fact proved that the sage mode did exist. After a night of tussling, neither Aya nor the dragon were... interrupted again in the bath - *ahem*.

Nevertheless, engaging in a somewhat physical fight was quite bizarre. What started as a joke eventually turned into a real back-and-forth exchange of blows.

Aya felt like crying. Why couldn't a majestic Golden Dragon like her defeat a mere human in a physical fight?

Well... although she knew Miss Tiran's body strength was no less than a Dragon's, it was always with a sword in hand. Now, losing even in hand-to-hand combat was quite embarrassing.

"Cheating with life force and body strength through a contract is too unfair!"

After surrendering, Princess Tiran quickly released Aya, and the two leaned against the edge of the pool to rest. They had originally cleaned themselves before bathing to avoid this, but their little scuffle had made them sweat again.

"Hehehe, this proves our bond, right, Aya?" Tiran scooped up a handful of water and let it trickle down her chest, then lazily slid into the water, leaving only her head exposed.

"In some ways, it's much better than the unreasonable master-servant contracts from before... The Dragon Rider contract is at least equal." Aya followed Tiran's lead and submerged herself in the water, feeling the heat seep into her skin.

"Well, I just upgraded it because I caught myself a wife."

"I've told you, I'm not your wife!"

It seemed that after a night of intense battle, both of them felt a bit tired. They silently agreed to rest, letting the hot water ease some of their physical fatigue. In the suddenly quiet bath, with only the sound of water echoing under the high domed ceiling, the light shining through the semi-transparent crystal skylight gradually brightened.

As the first rays of morning light filtered through the crystal and danced on the water, Aya sat up, yawning, and turned to find Tiran also opening her eyes.

For them, sleep was not so crucial, and a short rest sufficed to break their usual habits.

"Yawn... Time to get back to business."

"So, have you really thought about what comes next?"

"Afterwards? Of course," Princess Tiran confidently patted her empty chest, "I'll just tell Dad, and we can get married right away, maybe have the wedding at Gilliast... or, for a livelier atmosphere, at Beacon City."

"You only think about flaunting your love to the whole world..." Aya paused for half a second before sarcastically commenting, then suddenly overturned an imaginary small table. "That's not what I asked! Princess, is your mind solely occupied with love and marriage? We're in the middle of a war, be serious!"

"Tch, is that so?" Miss Tiran regretted.

"Kindly remember the last night when we were silently paying respects at the Warrior's Memorial..." Aya's eye twitched, "And... will your Dad not slay me when he hears you want to marry a random white-haired person suddenly appearing out of nowhere?"

Surely the King would be furious upon hearing that his daughter had suddenly decided to marry an unknown white-haired person, and he might even challenge her to a duel with a sword in hand. That would be troublesome. After all, not everyone here was a fan of white hair...

"What about reclaiming the Beleggern Naval Port? Won't you consider doing that?"

"Well, that... Things seem a bit more complicated than I expected," Tiran said, drying herself off at the other end of the bath. "It seems my plans have hit a snag."

Earlier, when Princess Tiran returned, her plan was to not only achieve the Holy Rank but also secure a dragon rider contract with a limited-edition White Gold Dragon. Logically, completing the mission on the previous map should have been straightforward. Even shortly before, her thoughts hadn't wavered. Witnessing firsthand how a Holy Rank obliterated a regular army in the East Land made Tiran confident that she and Aya could achieve similar results with their coordination.

However, information obtained from her father showed that the opposing Holy Rank expert on the side of the combined Maston and Grelius army wasn't just the dragon girl, but also another Holy Rank.

Things were now a bit unstable. Most Holy Rank experts at this level possessed their unique abilities. Extraordinary individuals like Xiang Ling with her unmatched strength or Yuan, who was simply embarrassing in the Holy Rank category, were rare exceptions. Even Tiran couldn't guarantee that she and Aya wouldn't run into any issues in a two-on-two scenario.

Especially pertinent was their mobility.

This was already evident in their skirmish with the dragon girl; they couldn't independently utilize their exclusive rules, meaning when they acted separately, their combat effectiveness was reduced to that of Yuan's Holy Rank disgrace.

In a situation with two enemy Holy Ranks, their combat abilities weren't reliable — fleeing from a battle they couldn't win might have been possible usually, but now in a war scenario, engaging in combat was inevitable. Otherwise, they'd face ordinary troops with power levels far below that of a Holy Rank, leading to almost certain defeat in the war.

Consequently, Aya and Tiran had to act together, providing an opportunity for the enemy to separate the two Holy Ranks. With one diverting the dragon knight group's attention, the other could launch a surprise attack on critical Milanía strategic targets or even directly push through the large army. Even Aya could easily think of such tactics.

Especially now, with Milanía facing off against Grelius and Maston, the situation of limited forces along the Eastern front and Western coast required careful consideration.

"I guess you're right..."

"According to Dad's plan, we may need to make use of teleportation and quickly deploy before launching an offensive. Now it's more about worrying that the enemy may attack the main Eastern force first... Well, those are his concerns. As for us, it's the perfect time to rest and prepare."