Get Ahead of the Fallen Heroine and Make the Bull-Headed Man the Victim

65. Thinking of the victim now? Have you asked me about the hidden BOSS?

Using the power of the evil dragon, Valentina could almost be said to be sweeping through the area. Even in regions inhabited by powerful monsters, the ones that jumped out to confront her were mostly just the cannon fodder of that area. The truly formidable BOSS had to be triggered by Valentina herself as the main character to activate the ‘plot.’

Noah did not rush to catch up; instead, he walked leisurely from a distance, watching the anxious princess through the magic array monitor, a satisfied smile on his lips.

Although Noah had forcibly given Valentina the power of the evil dragon, essentially granting her a cheat, she had indeed gained combat experience from defeating monsters.

The fact that she was merely stalemated against a group of blood-sucking bats, rather than being directly defeated and entering a defeat play, was the best evidence of this.

In other words, Valentina’s basic attributes were indeed improving, though she seemed unaware of it.

About an hour later, the anxious Valentina finally found the giant dragon lurking in the cave at the mountain’s peak.

It was a very typical red dragon, with sharp claws and scales larger than a human head, exuding a strong sense of oppression. Even at rest, it was a colossal creature, towering over most buildings.

When Valentina saw the red dragon, she didn’t have any particularly special feelings.

If she had reached this point through her own strength, she would surely have been so excited that her heart would race, and her body would tremble involuntarily.

Because becoming a hero by slaying the evil dragon had always been her dream.

But at this moment, she didn’t feel excited at all; after all, she had arrived here thanks to the detestable evil god, completely lacking any sense of achievement from her own efforts along the way.

—

Instead, driven by the anxiety of being toyed with by Noah and the obligation to quickly slay the beast to save the nearby townsfolk, the princess’s pure and beautiful face now bore a cold expression.

— In any case, let’s kill this evil dragon first.

With this simple thought floating in her mind, Valentina tightened her grip on the knight’s sword stained with the blood of monsters, preparing to deliberately make a noise to attract the attention of the resting red dragon.

But perhaps due to her slightly overflowing killing intent, the red dragon, which had been lying down, suddenly opened its enormous eyes.

This made Valentina immediately raise her weapon, on guard as the red dragon, without a word, unleashed a blast of scorching dragon breath directly toward her, who was still at the cave’s entrance.

However, the dragon’s breath did not come. The red dragon, having opened its eyes, didn’t even notice her; instead, it looked deeper into the cave.

Could it be that the evil god intentionally emerged from within to provoke the red dragon, increasing her difficulty?

Just as Valentina furrowed her brow, contemplating whether it was Noah causing trouble again, she witnessed an astonishing scene.

What emerged from the depths of the cave was not the inscrutable black-haired youth, but two much smaller red dragons, roughly the same height as Valentina, clearly juvenile red dragons.

The two young dragons appeared quite lively, playfully frolicking and tumbling toward the adult red dragon.

And the red dragon merely watched silently, its terrifying, inhuman dragon eyes seemingly filled with a hint of affection.

“……”

This made Valentina, who had initially planned to strike, suddenly wear a complex expression.

The grip on her sword involuntarily loosened a bit.

“—Hey, what’s wrong, Your Highness? Aren’t you going to slay the evil dragon? You look a bit hesitant; is this how a princess of the kingdom should act?”

At that moment, Noah’s voice suddenly rang in her ear, having appeared beside her without her noticing.

Noah, like a devil in Valentina’s heart, casually tempted her to take a step forward.

“I—I’m not hesitating! I’m just considering the timing of my strike!”

Provoked by Noah’s low-level taunt, Valentina instinctively chose to be defiant.

Yes, she was the princess of the kingdom, her ancestors had once accomplished the great feat of slaying dragons to save the suffering people, and she should certainly follow in their footsteps to resolve the imminent threat.

…But, but it shouldn’t be a dragon within the kingdom, right? After all, she had never heard of its existence, and what would happen to those two young ones if she killed it now?

Wasn’t there an angel in her heart to give her advice?

“Don’t worry, Your Highness, just slay those two young ones as well, and send the mother and her three dragon children to meet the goddess together~”

Fully understanding what Valentina was thinking, Noah suddenly appeared on her other side, offering her the best suggestion in a voice as cheerful as an angel’s, completely different from his previous devilish mockery.

“So both sides are evil, no, the evil god?”

Having already endured Noah’s taunts, the princess could no longer hold back, glaring fiercely at Noah, who was urging her to take action.

“Ha, isn’t that obvious? Stop talking nonsense and get on with it! Are you waiting for me to kick your backside?”

With his cheerful smile gone, Noah, who had been on Valentina’s right, urged her to fight while moving behind her, saying something that instantly flushed Valentina’s face with embarrassment.

“I will, of course! I am the princess of the kingdom; the evil dragon must be eliminated!”

“Your words sound nice, but why don’t you act on them? You’re making it seem like I’m the evil dragon; you look like you’re about to pounce on me at any moment.”

—

—

Noah, who actually knew why Valentina was hesitant, disdainfully curled his lip, completely embodying the cold-blooded, heartless demeanor of a villain.

Although Valentina still couldn’t make out the upper half of Noah’s face, those two eyes filled with mockery made her feel very uncomfortable.

In the past, she could hold his gaze with her sense of justice, but now she felt guilty and dared not look into Noah’s eyes.

From noble mtl dot com

“Th-that is…”

Her Highness the Princess was desperately considering why she couldn’t take action, in order to persuade both Noah and herself.

But clearly, Noah wouldn’t give her that opportunity.

“…It’s actually because you think that doing so would be akin to doing something bad, right? Because you sensed maternal instincts from that red dragon, well, rest assured, I can guarantee that the red dragon isn’t clever enough to possess human emotions; it only has instincts. The maternal love you feel from its eyes is simply because you lack love yourself.”

“!!?”

Hearing Noah’s words that struck right at her heart, Valentina’s face clearly showed signs of wavering.

What she didn’t want to admit was forcefully exposed by Noah.

Yes, she indeed felt sympathy for the evil dragon, which was a very unworthy thing for a princess of the kingdom.

“…Perhaps that really is the case; I can’t bring myself to act now.”

Having been seen through to this extent, Valentina could only dejectedly lower the bloodied sword in her hand, her voice becoming somewhat despondent.

She truly was an incompetent princess.

But with this, she also felt a sense of relief; surely Clyde would agree with my decision…

At this moment, the image of her gentle childhood friend flashed through Valentina’s mind.

She thought that if her childhood friend Clyde were by her side now, he would definitely support her in choosing not to act, after all, that gentle boy had once said that there might exist good dragons that are friendly to humans.

Just thinking that at least her childhood friend still supported her, a trace of comforting smile appeared on Valentina’s dejected face.

“Ha, how gentle indeed, but do you know? This is nothing but hypocrisy. Guess what, why is this mother dragon alone with two children?”

However, it seemed that Noah couldn’t bear to see Valentina in such a pathetic state, and immediately threw out the trump card.

“C-could it be!!?”

Upon hearing Noah’s words, a terrifying possibility surged in Valentina’s heart, one that turned her face pale, erased her smile, and made her childhood friend vanish from her mind.

……

……

PS. Two updates today! I’ll continue updating tomorrow at eight-thirty in the morning!

If possible, I hope the readers can click to pre-order the book; after all, if you do it now, there’s a discount.

(As of now, the monthly ticket count is 360, which means I still owe 36 chapters. Huh? Why did I add 4 chapters with 13 extra monthly tickets? Well, I thought if I wrote a bit more, it would make the readers happy, wouldn’t it?)

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