Chapter 334: I Thought He Were Going to Steal Your Mind
Steven honestly couldn't hold back a laugh anymore. Mostly because—even he wasn't sure how things had spiraled into this.
He turned his head slightly, taking in the sight of the two girls now sitting on either side of him in the bath, shoulders bare above the water, faces flushed scarlet.
He rubbed his face with both hands, feeling like this had to be a dream.
This all started, he supposed, when a mortified Talulah had smashed her fist straight through the wooden wall separating the two baths.
If nothing else, he had learned one thing for sure tonight: this dragon girl could hit. Sure, the wall was just wood, but caving it in with a single punch still said a lot about her physical strength.
Of course, he could've done the same easily… but if he had been the one to break down the wall, the scene wouldn't be nearly as "harmonious" as it was now.
As for how the two of them ended up scooting over into his side of the bath, he couldn't quite say. It just seemed that the moment the wall collapsed, both girls instinctively shrank closer—right into his space.
Still, at least he wasn't completely naked. His modesty was intact by a thin layer of cloth. And honestly? If he was going to be handed this kind of blessing, he had no complaints about enjoying it.
From a beneficiary's perspective, he had no reason to object.
"So," he said at last, flicking a bit of water toward the flustered Talulah, "since things are already like this, why don't we talk about that so-called curse of yours?"
It was hard to imagine, watching her hide her face with both hands and turn bright red, that this was the same girl who had just punched through a wall and merged two bathhouses into one.
And now that she wasn't wearing her near-permanent military uniform… well, Steven couldn't help but note—Talulah had plenty of presence. One glance at those soft, rounded mountains rising from the water, and he couldn't stop himself from thinking about how at the very least, her kids would never go hungry.
"Shouldn't you be the one stepping outside right now, waiting until we're done before saying all this?" Talulah hissed from behind her fingers. His gaze sweeping across her body felt like a searing beam of heat; just that was enough to make her burn. "Don't you feel any shame?"
Shamelessness, she thought, had to have a limit.
Steven, apparently, had none.
"Why should I be ashamed when I'm the one being treated to the sight?" Steven drawled. "If you don't want to sit here with me, you can leave first. As for me—I'm not done soaking yet. It's freezing outside. This is way too comfortable to give up."
To drive the point home, he cupped a handful of hot water, lifted it to his nose as though inhaling a fine fragrance, and leaned back with a sigh of utter contentment.
"Ugh! See?! This pervert is already showing his true colors!" Talulah splashed at him, then quickly turned to her other side. "Alina, say something to him already!"
But the girl on his other side—face just as red, hands just as pressed to her cheeks—only hunched her shoulders. Slowly, she slid deeper into the water, muttering in the faintest voice:
"…I don't really mind…"
Realizing what she'd just admitted, Alina's eyes darted away in panic, but she still made no move to get up or leave.
"Heh. And here I thought someone just said she owed me so many favors she didn't know how to pay me back," Steven teased, grinning. "Well, looks like the perfect chance has shown up. I've been away from home so long without anyone to rub my shoulders… Maybe some kindhearted Miss Talulah would be willing to help out this tired old man?"
After confirming Alina's answer, Steven grinned even wider. Right in front of Talulah, he thumped his own shoulder and then spoke in words that were practically a blatant hint.
"Can you be more obvious?"
How could Talulah not understand what he was implying? Rolling her eyes helplessly, she still leaned in close to him—but not without taking a jab first.
"Of course I can. Now hurry up and give me a proper back rub and scrub me down. Let me see what it feels like to be properly pampered for once."
Steven leaned back with an utterly content expression, showing her his back as if he didn't find anything wrong with her words at all.
"Tsk, with your status and ability, if you wanted someone to serve you, there'd be a line of people begging for the chance."
Though she said that, Talulah still got to work without hesitation—thumping his back, kneading his shoulders—acting exactly like a bathhouse attendant. Even Alina couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the sight.
Only Steven could rein her in like this. Getting this proud Draco to act like that was anything but easy.
"How's that the same? I like it when you do it—the kind where you clearly don't want to, but still have to. That's the fun of it."
Steven kept teasing, feeling the strength in her hands that made it seem like she wanted to strangle him. But instead of worrying, he just laughed even harder.
"And don't change the subject. What's the deal with that curse? Tell me properly. Otherwise, I'll strip off your undergarments and see if you still dare to keep that mouth shut."
Eyes closed, Steven pulled the conversation back to Talulah's so-called curse. He had already guessed it most likely had to do with that so-called Deathless Black Snake, but it was still better to hear it straight from her.
"You wouldn't dare. And if you really did, I'd just stick to you forever. Think carefully about the consequences."
Talulah pouted—she wasn't about to fall for his threat. But soon enough, her bravado crumbled. She started mumbling her way into recounting parts of her past.
Truthfully, she knew he was asking out of pure concern. And just as Alina had said, keeping it hidden from him all this time really was a form of mistrust.
They were already sharing a bath together—was she really going to keep secrets at this point?
Talulah also understood perfectly well that even if she didn't say it, Alina—who was practically one with Steven now—would definitely end up tattling to him in private.
If that was the case, she might as well come clean herself.
"You know… you've never once asked about my past. Aren't you even a little curious? Curious why someone like me—a Draco—would be here in Ursus, living in a broken little mountain village?"
Before speaking of her past, Talulah asked the question that had long been stuck in her heart. Even Alina had been curious about it before. But he had never once brought it up.
As though, to him, she was just like Alina—an ordinary village girl who had grown up in the mountains.
"What's there to be curious about? You're you. A little tsundere dragon—and my friend. Isn't that all I need to know? Your past has nothing to do with me. If you don't want to say it, why should I care?"
Steven continued to endure Talulah's rough, almost violent kneading, though his expression didn't shift in the slightest.
He treated it as though they were discussing something entirely ordinary.
"…You really are… hmph."
Hearing his response, Talulah's gaze softened. Even her pressing hands eased slightly.
As always, this was just who he was—never disappointing in the way that mattered most.
"In short, my past is something I can hardly bear to look back on. The education I received was cruel and deranged, steeped in the arrogance of dominion and the terror of power."
"That man always sought to mold me, to force me into inheriting his power—perhaps even replacing him entirely as his successor."
As she spoke of the past, Talulah's tone grew heavy. A faint tremor lingered in her voice, as if the shadow of that man's presence still clung to her even now.
"But in the end, you rebelled. The person you are now… you're nothing like the one you just described."
Steven glanced back at the forlorn Draco girl. She was like a warrior locked in constant struggle with her fate, yet one who hadn't quite discovered the true path she needed to walk.
"I didn't just rebel," Talulah said quietly. "In the end, I killed him with my own hands. My fingers were drenched in his blood. Yet even as he left this world, he wore a smile."
"Before he died, he implanted an Originium curse into my body. For the rest of my life, if I ever begin to doubt the beliefs I hold fast to… if I feel even a flicker of hatred toward the people I've sworn to recognize as my kin, toward those who deserve freedom—
—that curse will force me down the very path he drilled into me."
Her final words were hushed, almost fearful. For all her strength, she was still just a young girl. When surrounded by such venomous malice, she couldn't help but feel its dread pressing on her.
To be twisted into the very person she had once loathed most—such was the cruelty of the curse.
"He told me this," she murmured.
"That I would be betrayed by the ones I loved. That I would one day watch my friend die because of me. That I would discover my hopes for the future were meaningless."
"And in the end, I would become another him."
Talulah lowered her head, haunted by the duke's dying prophecy. She had no idea what kind of person she would become if those words came true—and she dreaded even imagining it.
"So that's the so-called curse? I thought he was going to steal your mind or something."
Steven's deadpan remark shattered the suffocating weight of the moment. His shamelessness, in its own way, was a kind of strength.
"If you really don't want that curse to come true, then don't let those things happen, simple as that."
"As long as you don't waver in your beliefs, that man's so-called prophecy will never come to pass, right?"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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