Evil Dragon, Without a Princess, I Had to Transform Myself!-Chapter 93 : Jealousy

Tiana had spent the most unforgettable day since her birth from the depths of Hell.
In the future, if devils were to hold gatherings similar to dragon-themed princess symposiums at devil reunions, Tiana would absolutely be tireless in informing all devils about the pleasure of angering a dragon, and would encourage all devils to try it out themselves.
It could be said to be an essential experience for any devil.
Everyone must try it!
Three seconds after successfully enraging a Patunasankus, Tiana's expression completely changed. She realized where she had gone wrong.
'A dragon?' She just froze for a moment, finally coming to a terrifying realization.
This creature had never been some little mouse, but rather a super big cat!
The other party's initial display of weakness was merely due to the leisurely enjoyment of hunting prey, being intensely curious about everything around her, but at this moment Tiana had accidentally grown tired of playing with everything.
Right now, she was essentially playing a game of cat and mouse, and she absolutely had the ability to thoroughly toy with Tiana before devouring her.
But this was in her world, in her mansion—here there was order, here there was etiquette. At least here, she would never bow down to anyone.
She definitely didn't want to die and go back to her old man...
However, facing a dragon in the midst of fury, Tiana's thousand words all turned into one phrase in her heart.
...Is reconciliation possible?
The next instant, high-temperature flames burst through the dome of the devil's palace. Even Hell's endless scorching wind was repelled by the scalding dragon fire, and was even tainted with high temperature.
After the fierce flames pierced the ground, they erupted from the pillars of the devil's palace. The wronged souls that Tiana had imprisoned over long years were scattered into oblivion, extinguished in an instant like a liberation. Among the countless dispersing souls, a figure emerged from the soul current, fleeing desperately like a mouse in another direction, never looking back.
"...Phew." Patunasankus let out a long, satisfying breath. The release after accumulated anger made her relax considerably.
Although quite annoying, this devil was a qualified punching bag.
Her strength wasn't particularly strong, yet she pretended to be so dignified. Even when beaten black and blue, she maintained an elegant appearance, never once mentioning pain, and even deliberately put on an act of enjoying it.
Were all devils like this?
How disappointing.
"What's this?" Patunasankus noticed the scroll that Tiana had left behind after being completely reduced to ash. Even the dragon's high temperature couldn't completely burn it.
Was this the so-called "dropping gold coins"?
Patunasankus picked it up.
It was covered with Hell script and engravings that looked like something interesting.
"I see." Patunasankus examined the text flowing with souls and magic power, then nodded seriously.
She couldn't understand it.
"Whatever, I'll take it back to study."
Patunasankus looked around at the hellish scenery—rivers filled with blood, endless scorching winds, and mountains of corpses covering the horizon.
"It's about time to go back."
The thing she had been looking for wasn't here.
It wouldn't be.
The evil dragon hooked her fingertip and carved open a portal.
○
"Princess, where did you just go? I almost thought you'd been kidnapped again." Loranhir looked in surprise at Patunasankus, who appeared from who knows where.
"I just went down to Hell." Patunasankus spoke the plain truth directly. No one would believe such words anyway; at most it would be taken as a humorous joke.
"Huh?" Loranhir froze for a moment. After brief consideration, she attributed these words to another outbreak of the Princess's cold humor.
Sigh, the Princess was good in every way, with the only flaw being her lack of a sense of humor.
Loranhir sighed.
"Just kidding, that's not the point," Patunasankus said seriously. "Are you finished?"
"Next, we just need to sell bottles priced at ten silver galleons each and we'll make a fortune." Shatina came out rubbing her hands together. "Luxurious life, here I come."
"Ten silver coins per bottle? You're even greedier than a dragon." Loranhir felt this price point wasn't something normal people could afford.
"What do you know? This is taking the high-end route. Who knows, maybe some rich woman will take one look and buy everything!" Shatina pouted like a child.
"Besides, what's shameful about this kind of pure instinctive greed? Moreover, I'm carrying on the classic dragon tradition—dragons being money-hungry has its reasons!"
Shatina struck a pose; the witch's mini-classroom was about to begin.
"Dragons are passionate about collecting precious metals and gems, sleeping on gold day and night. This rumor has academic basis. Dragons, judging from their form, most likely evolved from lizards and have strong ability to distinguish various colors.
Many descendants of lizards, namely birds, have quite a few species that decorate their nests with colorful feathers. And corvids with higher intelligence even have very similar collecting habits. It's not too hard to understand that dragons choose gold for practicality while collecting brightly colored gems to adorn their lairs.
Moreover, when dragons go out, if some coins fall scattered in the forest, it doesn't matter. They'll be picked up by adventurers, hunters, and woodcutters, then through trade, spontaneously collect in the treasuries of kings and feudal lords.
Dragons only need to raid periodically, and it all flows back. The entire process involves almost no loss.
Even gold stolen by adventurers will quickly flow into treasuries through casinos and tax collectors. Any damaged, deformed, or soiled pieces will even get free refurbishing, recast into uniformly sized, comfortable-to-touch gold coins.
How wonderful. It really makes me so envious."
Shatina daydreamed, giggling foolishly.
"I really want a chance someday to go to an evil dragon's lair and directly empty its treasury. Just thinking about it is delightful."
"Decoration, hmm... harvesting and refurbishing, indeed..." Patunasankus calmly counted on her fingers, one by one.
She had to admit, Shatina had some substance to her thinking.
The elements Shatina mentioned—she had possessed them all in the past.
"Anyway, we're definitely going to make a killing on this trip," Shatina raised her wine glass, declaring confidently. "This quality can even intoxicate a dragon, you know. Later we'll sell this batch of wine and make big money!"
"Really, it can intoxicate even a dragon?"
Patunasankus lowered her head, playing with the wine bottle in her hand. The wine liquid rippled in layers of red, reflecting her drowsy face.
Her face. Latifa's face. The face that Loranhir, Shatina, and everyone she knew saw.
This suddenly reminded Patunasankus of Tiana, who had once transformed into that woman and ended up outsmarting herself.
No anger, no fury.
At such a moment, Patunasankus actually smiled.
A faint smile and a sigh constantly hovered at her lips, and this smile was even more painful than the sigh.
"Your Highness?"
Loranhir heard Patunasankus's inexplicable laughter. She looked at Patunasankus tilting her head.
"Your Highness, do you have something on your mind?" Loranhir asked softly.
The Princess was looking at them now, and in the dim light, those sky-blue pupils seemed to contain some unusual emotion.
"Sometimes..." Patunasankus walked under the shade of a tree, not a large tree. The sparse sycamore leaves swayed in the sun like golden bells. "I actually find myself jealous of you all."
As if encountering something that even she herself found amusing, she laughed softly.
"Ah..."
"Jealous."
Patunasankus smiled.
Her eyes were very deep, buried very low, unclear to see.
"Jealous? Jealous of what?" Both Loranhir and Shatina were very puzzled.
Patunasankus didn't answer them, only gently closed her eyes, quietly feeling them watching her.
Until a ray of sunlight shone on her hair, warm and fuzzy.
She opened her eyes and saw a tree's canopy gently swaying under the hazy blue sky.
A cloudy day, floating uncertain light, spreading broken shadows all over the grassy ground.
A languid afternoon, growing out of the warmth of hair strands and arms.
Quietly transparent with the remaining heat of autumn.
"...Did you see her too?" Patunasankus asked softly.
In the past, she had always heard people say that jealousy was a shy heart, somewhat humble but not despicable.
Yet she was gradually coming to know herself through jealousy.
○
An unknown small tavern.
A girl with light blue hair sat quietly in a corner, her amber eyes unable to be hidden, emitting a faint glow in the darkness.
This getup was really rather eye-catching.
Although Taurant wasn't some remote backwater, girls like her with such cold, noble bearing and natural authority were truly rare.
Just sitting at the bar was enough to make people feel a chill.
This strange difference made many people curious about her origins, but no one went to strike up a conversation.
In this kind of tavern that didn't offer lodging, everyone was just stopping to rest their feet. Approaching rashly would only make people think you had bad intentions.
"What would you like to drink?" The bartender walked over, wiping a wine glass.
The girl didn't seem to notice these appraising glances. She scanned the wine cabinet once and said nothing. In her eyes, everyone around was like ants.
"The best." She tapped the bar, as if announcing a final ultimatum, even giving people the illusion that if she didn't get satisfactory wine, everyone present would immediately shatter like ice sculptures.
"The most expensive will do too," the girl added. "I have plenty of money."
"Tequila Maiden? Bloody Golden Tulip? Batoria's Butcher? Giant Dog?" The more the bartender spoke, the more the girl frowned, and the greater his pressure became.
"Or today's new arrival, let me think... Dandelion Girl?" The bartender wiped his sweat.
The instant he uttered the last wine's name, he suddenly felt a bone-chilling sensation, as if being directly watched by some terrifying creature.
"That one."
The bright red wine liquid slid into the glass, very thick, not stirring up the slightest ripple. The wine fragrance wasn't too rich; all the flavors seemed to be sealed within that crystal-clear, ruby-red wine liquid like coagulated blood.
The girl drank that glass of wine in one gulp. The bitter taste flowed from her lips and tongue through her body, merging into her blood.
Just like her love—the sweetness had already fermented, and she could only try her best to seek that last bit of false sweetness from the boiling bitterness.
Continuously savoring...
She closed her eyes, allowing various thoughts to continuously surge toward her, and these thoughts were all about a girl with dandelion-colored long hair.
Dandelion Girl.
This wine, like this name, was very suitable for her.
It could be colored, it could be poisoned, anything was possible, but as long as she saw them once, infinite tenderness would surge to her heart.
The wine was really mellow, so mellow it was very bitter, waves of bitterness surging toward her throat.
"So sweet."
Liulansankus murmured.