Anna's thin shoulders trembled involuntarily when she heard Su Nian's voice.
She raised her eyes, which had already turned golden-red, and stared blankly at the black dragon.
At this moment, those previously closed dragon eyes had opened.
They were filled with familiar feelings that made Anna feel warm and secure.
"Brother, wuu wuu wuu..."
Anna called out with a trembling voice, rushing into the black dragon's embrace like a young swallow returning to its nest.
Her soft, slender little hands stretched as wide as possible, hugging the enormous creature before her.
As if she wanted to melt herself into his embrace.
"Don't cry, I'm not dead."
Su Nian lovingly stroked Anna's little head with his dragon wing.
Anna pitifully raised her head at his words.
Crystalline tears fell like unstrung pearls.
Large droplets falling one after another.
"Brother, how... how could you do this..."
"Were you planning to leave Anna all alone? Why did you do such a thing behind Anna's back? Heart exchange and such... it sounds so dangerous, what if... what if... wuu wuu wuu..."
"You promised we would always be together!"
Her voice was distorted from crying.
It was the hoarseness and difficulty breathing caused by emotional ups and downs.
Although her words were full of blame,
Her tone was soft and tearful.
Almost pleading.
Those peach blossom eyes, swollen like peaches from crying, were full of grievance and sorrow.
Exchanging hearts was indeed a touching gesture.
But for two people who cared for each other,
Especially for Anna with her deep attachment and love for Su Nian, the feeling of being moved was buried deep under various complex emotions.
"Brother, do you think..."
"Do you think that by giving your heart to Anna and sacrificing yourself, Anna would continue to live?"
Anna said with reddened eyes, her voice faint.
She gently cradled the black dragon's head, holding it softly in her arms.
The dragon heart was gradually adapting.
Her power was rapidly increasing without her awareness.
"No, if you died,"
"Anna would definitely, definitely die with you!"
Anna's tone was solemn, not as if she were negotiating, but more like announcing a fact.
"Anna, I'm sor—"
Su Nian had never faced such a situation before and was about to apologize.
After all, he hadn't consulted Anna about this matter, which was acting on his own.
But before he could speak,
Anna had already cupped his head, stood on tiptoes, and gently kissed his mouth.
Well, having greater strength really made a difference.
Su Nian obediently closed his mouth.
Allowing Anna to kiss his dragon face, the cool soft sensation calming his heart.
"Prprprprpr~"
Oh no, he couldn't help it.
Although Su Nian felt very embarrassed inside,
Anna didn't say anything about it.
Instead, she narrowed her eyes and allowed Su Nian to show affection freely.
"Ahem, well... couldn't help it, force of habit..."
After licking for a while,
Su Nian awkwardly licked his mouth.
Mainly because his dragon tongue seemed to have a mind of its own, occasionally acting beyond his brain's control.
"Brother shouldn't say sorry."
Anna opened her eyes, her reddened eye sockets still containing some tears, but her gaze had become as gentle as water.
"It's Anna who should apologize to brother."
"If not for Anna being a burden, brother wouldn't have suffered so much, and wouldn't have taken out his own heart to save Anna."
"It's all... it's all Anna's fault..."
Seeing that Anna was about to cry again, Su Nian quickly pulled her into his arms and comforted her softly.
"Don't cry, I won't die, I'll just be weak for a while. Your brother is a dragon, you know!"
"A dragon, understand?"
"A legendary creature! An unkillable cockroach~"
"Besides, Anna, you should be happy because now you really can stay with me forever."
Su Nian's words were half-true and half-false, but fooling the elf girl before him would certainly be no problem.
"Pfft~"
No matter how uneasy or frightened Anna felt, she couldn't help but smile through her tears at the black dragon's silly words.
What kind of dragon would compare himself to a cockroach?
Dragons were proud creatures.
Only her brother would demean himself like this to make her happy.
With this thought,
Anna's gaze toward Su Nian grew increasingly tender and sweet, the love in her eyes almost melting out.
"Brother... are you... really okay?"
"You can't lie to Anna again, okay~"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. If you don't believe me, listen to my heartbeat, it should be much stronger than before."
Su Nian replied righteously.
Then, he deliberately accelerated his blood flow to stimulate his heart to beat faster.
His heartbeat did speed up.
But a dull pain also vaguely came from various parts of his body. However, being a black dragon, as long as he didn't want to show it, almost no emotion could be seen on his face.
Hearing this, Anna still worriedly laid her head on the black dragon's chest to listen for a while.
Her fluffy little ears twitched up and down.
Tickling Su Nian's chest.
To prevent himself from punching a hole in Celestine's palace, Su Nian had to focus his attention on Anna's brand new information panel.
[Name: Anna Hathaway (Fully Dragonified)]
[Rating: SSS Class]
[Personality: Lively, Gentle, Kind]
[Race: Dragon Elf]
[Strength: Level 29 (Third Tier) Dragon Language Archmage]
[Life: 9200]
[Magic: 4800 (Mental x40) (Affinity Bonus)]
[Strength: 36]
[Constitution: 92 Armor: 920]
[Mental: 120 Attack: 2400 (Mental x20) (Affinity Bonus)]
[Status: Dragon Heart Adapting]
[Talents: Top-tier Water Element Affinity, Top-tier Light Element Affinity, Peerless Beauty (Active), Delicate Body (Passive), Alluring Fragrance (Passive)]
[Skills: Dragon Language Elemental Magic, Half-Dragon Form, Waterball (Auto-learned), Illumination (Auto-learned)]
[Current Favorability: 100 (Till Death Do Us Part)]
[Evaluation: A lucky girl]
...
After reviewing Anna's panel, Su Nian glanced at his own panel and realized he might not be able to defeat this familiar little loli anymore... but that was just a possibility, after all, his weakness was recoverable, and almost none of the system's modifications to him had been affected by the heart transplant.
However, his little treasure had completely transformed from a frail apprentice mage into a powerful battle mage.
Just the strength attribute on her body already surpassed warriors, not to mention her magical abilities.
The enhancement from the dragon heart and her magical talent had pushed Anna's magical abilities to a peak.
Su Nian couldn't describe the specific effects.
But he estimated that if Anna were to use a spell like Fireball, its power might be comparable to a TNT explosion.
Anna listened to Su Nian's heartbeat for a while.
She found that her brother's heartbeat had indeed improved significantly, which should mean his body was slowly recovering, and the life-threatening danger had likely passed.
However, her brother had also just said that he would probably be weak for a long time.
Thinking of this, Anna couldn't help but feel a surge of gratitude and guilt in her heart.
These complex feelings mixed together,
Making her heart flutter.
[Now, brother's heart is in Anna...]
[And Anna's heart is with brother...]
Anna raised a soft little hand to her chest, feeling the vigorous heartbeat, her pretty face couldn't help but flush with a hint of intoxicated crimson.
"Brother, from today on,"
"Let Anna protect you well!"
Anna smiled brightly.
She stood on tiptoes and gently kissed the dumbfounded black dragon on his face. """
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