The old fellow, to her credit, kept her promise. Ten minutes before the two-hour mark, she returned Noa's body to the sisters' room.

"See? This queen is a dragon true to her word," she announced.

"Ha... How do I know you're not just doing this to throw me off guard?" Noa wasn't having it. "It's like borrowing money. First, you borrow 100 gold coins and pay it back. Then you borrow 200 gold coins and repay it. On the third attempt, you borrow 1,000 gold coins, and because you're seen as trustworthy, they lend it to you—then, boom, you vanish with the 1,000 coins."

"How dare you! Comparing this queen to some lowly rogue! This queen is resolute in word and deed, and I never fail to repay my debts!"

Noa snorted and continued to bicker with the old spirit.

Reaching the sisters' room, they carefully pressed down the door handle, stepped inside, and gently closed the door behind them—taking extra care not to wake the two little sisters still sound asleep.

After securing the door, the old ancestor said, "There, I'll return control of your body now."

"All right," Noa replied, kicking off her shoes as she resumed control of her body.

But just as she turned around, everything went black, as though a dark cloth bag had been thrown over her head. Panic surged through Noa, and she reflexively tried to defend herself.

However, the next moment, a sudden blow struck her head with force. The unanticipated sneak attack instantly drained Noa of her strength to resist.

Even the most exceptional young dragon would be vulnerable to an ambush—and Noa was no exception.

Before losing consciousness entirely, she vaguely heard two familiar voices.

"Aurora, if you're wrong about this, big sis will definitely punish us when she wakes up."

"Don't worry, second sis. Trust me."

Noa slowly closed her eyes, mumbling faintly, "What on earth are these two idiots up to..."

---

It was unclear how much time had passed by the time Noa woke up. The room's lights were on, though the world outside the window remained shrouded in darkness. The faint moonlight suggested it was still far from dawn.

Drowsy, Noa shook her head to clear her thoughts. As her senses sharpened, she realized she was sitting on a chair. She tried moving her arms, only to find her wrists bound tightly behind her and nearly immobile.

Frowning, Noa wriggled her hands, noting that the ropes were both tightly tied and slightly slippery against her skin, leaving an odd sensation.

Looking up, she saw her two adorable younger sisters standing before her.

"Muen... Aurora, what are you two doing?" she asked.

Muen stepped forward, lifting Noa's face with concern in her eyes. "Big sis, you've been through so much lately."

Noa: "?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aurora said you might not be the sister we're familiar with anymore. So tonight, we're going to test that theory."

Noa froze, processing what her sister had just said. What did they mean by "not the sister we're familiar with anymore"? If she wasn't their sister, who could she possibly be?

Her mind raced, then halted upon a realization. Could it be that Aurora noticed something was off when the old ancestor had been in control of her body?

This pink-haired little troublemaker loved sticking her nose into things. Even their dad called her a born mischief-maker who would show up anywhere there was chaos to be had.

Achieving such a title required keen observational skills—and Aurora certainly had them. Noticing the oddities when the old spirit was controlling Noa might not have been impossible for her.

"Hey, kid," the ancient voice chimed in Noa's mental space, "your sisters are pretty sharp."

"That might be true," Noa replied. "But if you hadn't gone gallivanting around in my body without warning, they wouldn't have had anything to catch on to."

"Hmph. My disguise is flawless! How could I have been noticed?"

"Then how do you explain the situation we're in right now?" Noa fired back, leaving the old spirit momentarily speechless. Trying to change the topic, he said, "Whatever the case, it's best if your family doesn’t learn of my existence. Otherwise, unnecessary complications will arise. The priority now is to fool these two sisters of yours."

On this point, Noa reluctantly agreed. Forget her sisters—if her parents found out she had the consciousness of an ancient ancestor living in her head, they'd be beside themselves with worry.

Noa wasn’t a master tactician, but she understood enough to know that Constantine was still a looming threat from outside, and internally, the Silver Dragons' development demanded her mom's constant attention.

She resolved to handle the matter entirely on her own if necessary. Only if she truly could not resolve it herself would she approach her parents.

Blinking hard, she shifted her focus out of the consciousness space and back to reality.

She looked at her sisters, putting on her warmest, most trustworthy smile.

"How could I not be the sister you know? It's me, of course," Noa said sweetly. She wriggled her bound wrists for effect, putting on her most pitiful expression. "But these ropes hurt me, Muen. Untie me, won't you?"

Muen blinked her big, watery eyes. "Big Sis..."

"Yeah, be a good girl, Muen. Untie these ropes for your poor sister, okay?"

"Big Sis~"

"That's right, Muen. Such a good little sister~"

"No."

"..."

Muen's face turned deadly serious. Even her cowlick stood to attention as she stated solemnly, "Since I knew the ropes might make you uncomfortable, I smeared them with aloe vera juice to prevent them from chafing your skin too much while still ensuring you couldn't slip free."

Ah, so the slippery sensation from earlier had been aloe vera juice. For a moment, Noa didn’t know whether to commend her second sister's thoughtfulness or marvel at how overly prepared she was for this "mission."

Clearly, pleading hadn’t worked.

If kindness didn’t cut it, Noa decided to switch gears to a more... authoritative approach. After all, long explanations might make her seem guilty.

Knowing Aurora well, Noa understood this clever little pink-haired sister didn't easily fall for words alone.

"Muen, Aurora, if you two don’t untie me right this second, then as soon as I break free, both of you are getting your behinds tanned," Noa declared.

Aurora crossed her arms confidently and countered with a cheeky grin. "It's no use, big sis. That rope has anti-magic properties."

"What? Anti-magic?"

Noa tried activating her lightning magic instinctively, only to discover that her magical circuits seemed entirely blocked off, rendering her powerless.

"Give up, big sis—I've told you, the rope neutralizes magic."

"Where on earth did you even get anti-magic tools?"

"Our parents' room," Aurora said matter-of-factly. "After I first noticed something was up with you, I spent days planning this operation and finally managed to find what I needed in their room."

Pausing, Aurora tilted her head with curiosity, adding, "Although I do wonder why mom and dad had that kind of thing in their room to begin with."

Noa's eye twitched slightly.

So... the anti-magic rope their parents had been searching for had ended up in you all along.

Then again, curiosity gnawed at Noa: Why would her parents even have a tool like that? Could it be related to something they’d hinted at earlier—something about... "prisoner play"?

"Anyway," Aurora snapped her fingers, cutting through Noa’s thoughts. "The rope isn't important. What's important is we help you now before it's too late—before whatever's possessing you takes over completely."

Before Noa could argue back, the old ancestor's voice suddenly interjected indignantly: "Possessing?! Whatever's possessing?! What's occupying her mind-space is the noble soul of this queen!"

Oh, how indignant she sounded.

But there was no point. Complaining wouldn’t help here.

Ignoring her, Noa instead turned to her sisters, trying to reason with them again.

"I'm not possessed—I'm just... just not in my best form lately. Give me a couple of days, and I'll bounce back."

"Every possessed person says that, big sis. I read it in the books," Aurora replied confidently.

"..."

"So, I prepared a professional exorcism kit just for you!"

With those words, Aurora suddenly pulled out an assortment of bizarre-looking items from who-knows-where: bells, candles, mirrors, and other small props Noa didn't even recognize.

"...You’re really overdoing this," Noa muttered weakly.

"This is necessary! For your health and safety!"

"..."

Aurora handed a bell to Muen. "Alright, second sis, let's begin."

"Got it!"

"W-Wait, what are you doing?!"

For the first time in years, Noa genuinely panicked. Who knew what these two mischievous sisters had planned for her?

The bell rang with a soft *ding-a-ling~, ding-a-ling~*, and the two little dragon girls began circling around Noa, lighting candles as they went.

They chanted as they spun:

"Spirits and demons, go away~ Spirits and demons, go away~"

Muen & Aurora: ~\(￣△￣~)

Noa & Noa: (;￣ー￣川

They circled her forty-nine times—or at least attempted to, given that Muen got dizzy and flopped down in a daze about twenty laps in.

Aurora, undeterred, placed the bell down and grasped Noa's chin, peering intently into her face.

"How do you feel, big sis?"

"I feel like laughing."

"Still not better. Let's continue!"

"..."

"I can’t go on, Aurora. I'm so dizzy (´Д｀)."

Muen lay splayed out on the carpet like a starfish, weakly jangling the bell in her hand. "Let’s try something else to exorcise her..."

Aurora pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Alright."

With that, the pink-haired girl pulled an almost life-sized mirror seemingly out of thin air and placed it in front of Noa.

"And this is...?" Noa asked.

"A holy exorcism mirror."

"That name is so obviously made up by you."

"Absolutely not! It’s what the book said!"

Aurora stood proudly, one hand on her waist and the other steadying the mirror. "Now, look at the reflection and tell me—what do you see?"

Noa glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Before she could speak, Muen popped her head into the frame and smiled brightly.

"I see an adorable little baby dragon!"

"Second sister, stop messing around."

"Ouch."

Muen stepped back quietly.

Noa sighed and went along with her younger sister. "I only see myself. I don't see any ghost."

"Do you feel uncomfortable?"

"No."

"Guilt?"

"No."

"Hm~~~~"

Aurora ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "This, this isn't right! Could I have misjudged this situation after all?"

Hearing this, Muen froze for a second, and then immediately covered her own butt.

"Sister, when you spank us later, could you be a little gentler?"

Noa looked at Muen, her pupils slightly shifting. After a while, she spoke earnestly:

"I'm just scaring you. You're my dear little sisters—how could I bear to spank you?"

"Really, sister?!"

"Yes, really."

"Aurora, quickly untie her! Isn't it already proven that our sister isn't possessed by a ghost?"

Although Aurora had a million questions in her heart, she had already exhausted every possible exorcism technique, and their elder sister remained perfectly fine.

That meant she truly wasn't possessed by a ghost...

But then how could they explain their elder sister's strange behavior over the past few days?

The pink-haired dragon contemplated for a moment before deciding to shelve the matter for now. She would pretend to believe, "Oh, so you really are fine, big sister!" while continuing to observe secretly for any new clue.

"Alright, untie her."

The little dragon girls untied the magic-suppressing rope from Noa's wrists.

Noa stood up and let out a relieved sigh. She rubbed her wrists, took the towel Muen handed her, and wiped off the aloe juice that had been smeared on her.

"Hehe, sister, Muen just knew that you're still the best sister ever~"

"Hmm."

"By the way, sister, you must keep your promise just now~"

Noa raised an eyebrow. "What promise?"

Muen panicked and instinctively stepped half a step back, curling her tail to cover her little backside. "You said you wouldn't spank me or Aurora anymore."

"Did I? I've forgotten."

"What (ÒωÓױ)?!"

*Crack, crack—*

Noa cracked her knuckles and slowly walked toward her little sisters.

The little dragons huddled together, trembling in fear.

"Sister! You said you would spare Muen!"

"Next time, for sure."

"Fine, if we're going down, we're going down together, isn't that right, Aurora?—Aurora? Hey?!"

Turning her head, Muen saw the pink-haired girl had already bolted toward the door at lightning speed.

"Aurora, where are you going?!"

"Second sister, surely I don't need to explain the concept of 'every dragon for themselves in the face of disaster,' do I?"

"Don't worry. Neither of you—will escape."

...

**Breakfast time at the Melkevi household.**

Leon looked at his two daughters, who were standing to eat their breakfast, his face full of confusion.

"Muen, Aurora, why are you eating while standing?"

"Be-because our butts—" Muen stammered.

Aurora immediately cut in, "Because standing while eating aids digestion!"

"Is that so..."

Leon didn't ask further and continued eating his breakfast.

"By the way, Dad, where's Mom?" Noa asked.

"Oh, she finished eating early and told me to meet her in the front yard later. Apparently, she has something to discuss."

"Oh, all right."

Speaking of which, their mother had seemed unusually excited early in the morning—almost as if she had stumbled upon some joyous occasion.

So, what on earth could she want to talk about in the front yard...?