Chapter 25: This guy… is so perverted?

Though reluctant, Lucia, considering Dorothy was Fratina’s friend, had her prepare a guest room for her.

When Fratina saw Dorothy’s room, she was surprised.

When Lucia first assigned her a room, Fratina assumed all guest rooms in the cave were like hers.

But preparing Dorothy’s room made her realize hers was special.

Dorothy’s room wasn’t bad—furniture materials and craftsmanship were top-notch—but compared to Fratina’s, it lacked personalized decorations, ornaments, and pre-stocked clothes in the wardrobe.

‘So, my room was meant for someone else?’

Fratina’s thoughts spiraled.

Judging by its setup, that room’s original occupant must have been important to Lucia.

Why did Lucia give it to her?

Dorothy’s voice snapped her back to reality.

“By the way, Sister Fratina, I’ve been traveling all day. Is there a place to bathe?”

Dorothy tugged at her shirt, revealing her well-developed figure.

Fratina scolded her. “Dorothy, you’re the Church’s Saintess. Mind your image! If someone saw you like that…”

“Huh? But there’s no one else here.”

Dorothy grinned but took Fratina’s words to heart.

“Sister Fratina, do you have spare clothes?”

“I do… but they might not suit your status.”

“No worries, as long as I can wear them to sleep. I’ll dry mine tomorrow.”

“Alright…”

Fratina led Dorothy to her room, pulled a dress from her wardrobe, held it up to her, and nodded.

“This should do.”

“Great~”

Dorothy, unfussy about temporary clothes, took it from Fratina and draped it over her arm.

“Where’s the bath?”

“There’s a hot spring behind the mountain. Go out of the cave, follow the uphill path, take a fork into the woods, and you’ll find it.”

Fratina, busy cleaning, declined Dorothy’s invitation to bathe together, watching her pout as she headed to the spring.

*

“Phew, that was close.”

In the hot spring, Lucia lounged in the pool, savoring a rare moment of peace.

“Good thing it was Fratina’s friend…”

Though she couldn’t fully sway Fratina through combat, she’d found a less risky approach.

If another faction had come, she and Fratina would’ve had to fight.

That battle would’ve forced Fratina to her side but increased her own risks.

If Fratina found a way to break the contract and wanted to return to humanity, Lucia’s head might be her ticket.

Given Fratina’s character, treating her better might prevent her from killing Lucia post-contract, but the risk remained.

But if she secured a secret deal with humanity’s greatest power, allowing her bond with Fratina, she only needed to join Fratina on missions.

Fratina would retain her Hero’s fame, and Lucia wouldn’t fear her resentment.

By downplaying the contract, they could become friends in time!

The slight risk was that she might have to help humans fight demons.

If her weakened state was exposed then, trouble would follow.

But that was a future problem. For now, preserving her life and the contract was enough.

As she mused, her ears twitched.

Footsteps approached, along with Dorothy’s humming.

Lucia panicked, her hair standing on end.

When she first lived with Fratina, she’d told her bathing times, and Fratina avoided them. Over time, Lucia grew careless.

She forgot Dorothy was staying over and had come at her bathing time.

Suddenly, an idea struck, and Lucia dove underwater.

Since she sometimes bathed as a dragon, the spring was massive.

In her haste, she grabbed only her cloak.

Dorothy arrived at the pool’s edge.

Seeing a pair of sandals, she paused.

‘Women’s sandals? Pretty ones.’

‘Fratina’s?’

But Fratina was busy in the cave, not bathing.

And who forgets their shoes after a bath?

Then Dorothy saw a white towel, a black dress, and…

A full set of women’s undergarments?

“No way, did Sister Fratina forget these because she was too busy?”

Dorothy stood shocked.

Then another thought hit, and her teeth chattered.

“…Is Lucia… that perverted?”

Imagining the worst, Dorothy tried to calm herself.

“Well… she’s a dragon. Dragons don’t get human shame, right? That’s gotta be it.”

But picturing a man in those clothes bathing here made her want to flee.

Yet, seeing the steam rising from the spring, she hesitated.

“No matter what, the spring’s innocent. I can’t waste it.”

Dorothy circled to the opposite corner from Lucia’s spot and began undressing.

Underwater, Lucia seized the moment when Dorothy was distracted, surfaced quietly, grabbed her clothes, and bolted down the mountain, heedless of whether Dorothy saw her.