"Are you insane? Or is that nameless plan you're hiding in your heart somehow more important to you than your own life?"
In the darkness, Eblana dragged Zuojian over to the corner by the wall. Then, flustered and unsteady, she started pulling off his clothes, trying to inspect the wound where the wooden spike had pierced him.
Watching the girl fumble all over him, Zuojian coughed up a little clotted blood and shook his head.
"No... I just... cough, cough... felt that this kind of thing was only natural... As a father, shielding a child from danger... isn't that only natural?"
As he spoke, he forced a faint smile in the dark, but the next second another wave of sweet, rusty-tasting blood rose into his mouth.
"Ugh..."
More blood seeped from the corner of his lips.
He parted his mouth as if he wanted to say something else, only to be cut off by Eblana's suddenly harsh voice.
"That's enough, you idiot!"
Her eyes widened. She grabbed his sleeve in both hands, and there in the pitch-black tunnel, their gazes met. In his hazy state, Zuojian thought he could see violet fire flickering faintly in her eyes.
"I don't care whether it's because of some ambition of yours or some other reason that you keep wearing that fake mask of the 'good father,' but just a little while ago you were making all those moves to mock my disguise—going so far as to play the stern father and humiliate me over and over! After doing all that, did you really think I'd just let you off?"
As she spoke, she tightened her grip and hauled the wall-slumped Zuojian a little higher.
"Listen carefully. I'm going to personally reclaim every bit of humiliation you inflicted on me, little by little, in the future. Until then, I absolutely refuse to let you die here so casually."
"Least of all will I accept you dying here while wearing that ridiculous 'good father' face. No. If you're going to die, you'll die by my hand—and only after that absurd mask is torn off, after you're kneeling on the ground in panic, begging for mercy!"
After saying that, Eblana leaned in, staring straight into Zuojian's eyes, and growled in a low voice,
"Until then, you can keep acting out this clownish little father-and-daughter game all you like."
"But I will not allow you to die in this farce."
Her voice was young, but it carried such pressure that an ordinary person would probably have been cowed on the spot.
Unfortunately, Zuojian had already lost too much blood to stay fully conscious. Eblana couldn't even tell whether he had heard a word she had just said.
But that didn't matter.
She set him down, then groped around and found the kerosene lamp that had fallen and gone out during the collapse. But when she picked it up, she realized the wick assembly had already been destroyed in the accident. All that remained in her hand was the metal shell.
Faced with pitch-black darkness where she couldn't even properly examine his injuries, Eblana fell silent for a moment, gritted her teeth, and finally began to stir the flames she had always kept suppressed within herself.
The instant she opened her eyes, the aura of a red dragon spread outward. Violet fire rose first from the tip of her tail, then climbed upward until it reached her still-undeveloped chest, driving back the darkness and bathing everything in sight in a strange, pale-purple glow.
And yet, as the violet flames grew brighter, the tunnel did not grow warmer.
If anything, the air seemed to turn colder.
Still, at least she no longer had to fumble around blind.
By the light of her own flames, Eblana stripped away the clothing around Zuojian's injury and finally saw the full extent of the wooden spike that had pierced through him, along with the steady stream of blood flowing from the wound.
Knowing absolutely nothing about medicine, the girl hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and snapped off the exposed front and back ends of the spike, leaving only the section lodged inside his body. After that, she tore strips from her own skirt and wound them over and over around the injured area.
By now, Zuojian seemed to have completely lost consciousness. Even when Eblana accidentally touched the wound itself, he did nothing more than tremble all over and let out a faint, muffled groan.
After her clumsy bandaging was done, Eblana stood up and wiped the fine sweat from her forehead. But the wrappings had done nothing obvious to improve the color of Zuojian's face.
Through the violet fire, she could see that his life was still steadily slipping away. At best, her bandaging had only slowed the process.
"Damn it, I have to get him out of here. Otherwise he'll still die down here!"
Realizing that, Eblana clenched her fists and turned toward the collapsed section of tunnel.
Broken beams, bricks, and piles of dirt and plaster had completely sealed the passage. The blockage was far too large for a girl like her to clear in any short amount of time.
By the time she dug through it, Zuojian would already be...
"Damn it!"
A trace of panic flashed in her eyes. Even she herself didn't fully understand why she felt so frantic. Maybe it was because if this man truly died down here, then the humiliation she had suffered at his hands would never, ever be erased—and would instead follow her throughout the long remainder of a red dragon's life.
"I won't allow that to happen!"
She lowered her eyes.
All her life, she and her sister had been taught how to hide their identities, how to swallow down their flames, how never to show others that they were different.
This was the first time she had ever driven the violet fire within her with her full strength.
The faint sparks at her chest immediately turned violent under her urging. They leapt, swelled, and spread, igniting every corner around her.
But the collapsed section ahead still did not move.
Her violet fire was not strong enough to blast the obstruction apart. She still had to grow stronger. More importantly... the power of that fire was not one of pure destruction.
It was—
Just as Eblana was sinking into despair, she noticed that one small tongue of violet fire drifting beside her suddenly moved away on its own, like a hound scenting carrion. It floated deeper into the tunnel, lighting the way as it went.
Watching that stray flame drift off by itself, a possibility flashed through her mind.
"Could it be...?"
If her guess was right, then her hypocritical "father" might still be saved.
Realizing that, Eblana stopped hesitating and immediately chased after the wandering violet flame.
After running for what felt like a very long time, she finally reached the end of the tunnel.
"So it really is here..."
Even with a red dragon's body, that burst of movement had left her a little drained. But Eblana had no time to care about that now. After steadying her breathing a few times, she rose onto her toes and shoved open the heavy wooden door in front of her.
With a harsh creak, the already rickety-looking door slowly swung open, allowing her into the space beyond.
"As expected..."
The glow of the violet fire poured into the dark chamber, illuminating everything within.
It was row after row of coffins.
From left to right, their age and condition varied. Judging by the materials and carvings on them, each one held someone who had once been head of the Lefort family.
This was where the remains of the Lefort patriarchs had been laid to rest.
But Eblana had no time to care whether the coffins held family heads or dishwashers, nor did she care to wonder why those lunatics had built a chamber beneath their own house just to store their corpses.
She only needed whatever was inside those coffins to still vaguely resemble people.
Standing in the middle of the room, the girl raised her small, still childishly soft hand like a sovereign issuing a command.
"Rise."
Whoosh!
Violet fire poured from her body, passing through the heavy coffins and attaching itself to what lay within.
The moment it was done, Eblana broke out in a cold sweat. Her face turned deathly pale, and even her legs wobbled beneath her.
But she forced herself upright, staring as strange sounds began coming from the coffins.
Creak...
One after another, the coffin lids shifted open. Arms rose out from within, followed by corpses of the dead slowly propping themselves upright.
The degree to which they remained intact varied depending on how long ago they had been buried.
The most recently interred family head, though dressed much more plainly than the others, was also far more complete.
As for the coffin at the far left of the room, that belonged to the oldest corpse present.
He wore magnificent clothes, and rings of gold and gemstones still adorned his fingers. Unfortunately, not a scrap of flesh remained on him now. He was only a skeleton, kept upright from falling apart by the violet fire.
At this sight, a trace of a smile finally appeared on Eblana's face. Exhausted, she slumped down against the wall and then ordered the corpses:
"You lot... go clear the cave-in in the tunnel..."
To her surprise, the corpses merely turned their gazes toward her. The violet flames flickering in their eye sockets took the place of eyes long since rotted away, and through them they asked:
"Who are you? What gives you the right to command us?"
Eblana froze. Then her pupils widened in disbelief as she stared at the risen dead before her.
"If you don't clear that tunnel right now, then your damned ruined family line is going to end here! The only surviving blood of your family is lying on the ground dying as we speak!"
She had assumed that once she said that much, these old fossils would hurry to act.
Instead, aside from a few of the fully skeletonized ones showing some reaction, the rest merely gave surprised remarks.
"What? The Lefort family still has descendants?"
"That can't be right. I distinctly remember leaving no heirs when I died."
"You are...?"
"Oh! I'm your grandson, William Lefort. You died a bit early, so you wouldn't have met me."
"Oh, you're Anna's boy!"
"Yes, yes, but if I remember correctly, I didn't leave any children before I died... unless the maid Elina..."
Eblana stood there watching these damned corpses not only fail to show any intention of saving their descendant, but also start acting like they barely knew anything at all about the current family head, Zuojian.
In fact, they were rapidly trending toward holding some long-overdue family reunion right there on the spot.
At that, Eblana's fingers tightened until the knuckles went pale. An even more violent surge of violet fire erupted from her body, like a volcano suddenly bursting to life.
The abrupt change stunned every person—every corpse—in the chamber. The next second, the gaze she swept over them was colder than death itself. The sheer pressure of it was enough to make even these long-rotted beings feel as though the hearts they no longer possessed were about to jump out of their chests.
"I'll say it one more time."
Her small body slowly rose from the floor. She extended one hand and pointed toward the tunnel behind her.
Her voice was full of open threat.
"Go clear out the collapsed passage."
"And if you've been dead so long you can no longer understand Victorian, I don't mind letting you experience the kind of pain only the living are meant to feel."
She took one small step forward.
That single step was enough to make every corpse in the room nod frantically.
"We understand! We understand! We're going right now!"
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (261 Chapter) (Ending)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (130 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (80 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (130 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (120 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (78 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (189 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (135 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (145 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (102 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty…then Who Am I? (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (65 Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (90 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (70 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (90 Chapter)
Fuse with Me, Exusiai! (41 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail — After I Die, I Forge Their Madness (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Last Zeus Familia (75 Chapter)
Endfield: Arknights Heroic Spirit Summoning (75 Chapter)
Toyokawa Family Finances (105 Chapter)
Starting From DanMachi to Become Stronger (80 Chapter)
DanMachi: My Familia Is Made Up Entirely of Heroines from Every World! (65 Chapter)
Arknights: My Intel Refreshes Daily (90 Chapter)
Digimon : I Never Meant to Do Evil, Even Though I Wasn't Chosen (40 Chapter)
Miss Holmes Could Never Be the Losing Heroine! (40 Chapter)
Takayama Gamu at Tracen Academy (40 Chapter)
Legendary Trainer Takes on MYGO (40 Chapter)
Arknights : Yandere Game: The Operators Have Come Knocking (70 Chapter)
Arknights: This Dating Sim Is Seriously Wrong! (70 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it