“Hades… you idiot! Didn’t I tell you to get up?!”
Aze’s voice suddenly pitched higher, soft and sweet but bristling with embarrassment, his silver tail behind him lashing twice in indignation, brushing the floor with a faint rustling sound.
He clenched his fists and stood up, golden eyes still clouded with lingering awkwardness, but he forced himself to look fierce: “It’s all your fault! You just had to fall on top of me. What do you think it looks like if someone sees us?!”
“My fault?” Yiyi raised her eyebrows, snapping back despite the pain from her wound.
“You think I wanted to fall? My legs went weak and I couldn’t stand. If you’d helped me up a little sooner, would this have happened?”
“Tch, useless. You can’t even stand up, and you’ve got the nerve to talk back to me.”
Aze turned his face away, muttering quietly, his tone full of proud disdain.
“You’re the useless one!” Yiyi retorted immediately, her anger flaring in her chest once more.
“If you could control that stupid tail of yours and helped me up sooner, would Lilia have caught us like this? Now you’re turning it around to blame me?”
“Not talking to you. Move, I want to sleep.”
“Sleep?”
Yiyi arched her brows, watching his back as he shuffled toward the bed.
The pain from her wound hadn’t faded yet, but she couldn’t help a teasing lilt in her voice.
“Hey, this is my bed. Move it! You’re not allowed to sleep here!”
“So what if it’s your bed?”
Aze didn’t stop, grabbing the thin quilt from the bed and wrapping himself up, leaving only his round, glaring golden eyes exposed.
“I’m the boss now. You’re the injured one—go stay over there, the bed’s mine!”
As he spoke, he squeezed into the center of the bed.
His silver tail subconsciously swept across the bedding, as if claiming his territory, but the tail tip accidentally caught the bed curtain’s tassels, making the gauze sway and sprinkle some dust onto his silver hair.
“Aze… you bastard! Take this!”
Yiyi jumped up and kicked straight at Aze, who was lying on the bed.
The kick almost cracked Aze’s ribs.
“Aaah—ah~!”
Aze’s scream shot up sharply, the ending trembling uncontrollably and sweet, and that powerful kick sent him rolling halfway across the bed, his silver-white hair scattering like spilled moonlight.
She curled up, clutching her chest, golden eyes filling instantly with tears, but she forced herself not to cry, only gritting her teeth to glare at Yiyi, her voice both hurt and angry: “Are you crazy?! Trying to kill me?! That kick nearly broke my ribs!”
Yiyi froze after kicking, her chest wound throbbing with sharp pain, making her bare her teeth in agony.
But seeing Aze curled up like that, she panicked even more: “I—I didn’t control my strength… Are you okay? Really broken?”
“Nonsense!”
Aze was sweating from pain at the temples, but still forced herself to sit up, lifting a hand to rub her chest but afraid to touch and make it worse, so she just sat there stiffly, breathing heavily.
“You’re supposed to be injured but you’re still so strong!”
“Get out, I want to sleep.”
Aze braced herself, got up, grabbed Yiyi, opened the door, and dumped her outside before closing the door.
Yiyi was caught off guard and thrown onto the cold stone tiles of the corridor.
The jerk tugged at her chest wound, the pain making her vision go black for a second as she gasped sharply.
She leaned against the wall and slowly sat up, both angry and wronged, raising her hand to bang on the door: “Aze, you bastard! Open up! That’s my room!”
There was no movement inside, only the faint sound of suppressed breathing—Aze must still be fighting the pain in her chest.
Yiyi pounded on the door until her hand went numb, but it still wouldn’t budge.
She could only sit there against the wall, fuming and clutching her chest, grumbling: “Petty. It was just one kick! Does he have to hold a grudge like this…”
“Bastard, just wait till I get you!”
Yiyi looked around, spotted a broom, grabbed it, and kicked open the half-closed door.
Aze was leaning against the bed, clutching her chest and panting, silver-white hair messily stuck to her cheeks, golden eyes still misty with tears.
When she saw Yiyi rush in with a broom, she immediately bristled, pushing herself up to lash out, but the pain in her chest made her stumble, her face going even paler.
“You dare come back?!”
Aze gritted her teeth, her silver tail behind her lashing the bedboard with a loud “thump thump”.
“What do you want with that broom? Are you really trying to kill me?”
“You’re the one who threw me out!”
Yiyi waved the broom twice through the air but didn’t actually swing it at her.
“If we don’t settle this today, you’ll never know whose room this really is!”
“Yours?”
Aze snorted, inching toward the bed edge despite the pain, then suddenly grabbing the broom handle.
“Go ahead, hit me if you can! I’d like to see if you, still not healed, can take on my ‘frail little body’!”
She was surprisingly strong, and Yiyi couldn’t move the broom at all.
Her wound started to ache again and she frowned, trying to yank the broom back but failing.
They each clung to one end of the broom, stuck in a standoff, their breathing coming faster.
“Damn it… Then I’ll just… Take this—!”
Yiyi let go of the broom, took two steps back, and pulled a tiny Dawn from under her skirt, raising it over her head.
“Sacred—Sun—Fiery…”
Aze was still fuming, but when she saw Yiyi suddenly drop the broom, take two steps back, then solemnly pull a palm-sized “mini Dawn” from under her skirt and raise it overhead, even dragging out the words “Sacred—Sun—Fiery…”
She lost her composure instantly, bursting out laughing with a “pfft”.
Her golden eyes were still wet, but now they curved like crescent moons, and even her cheeks turned rosy.
She clutched her chest, laughing and hurting at the same time, her shoulders shaking: “Hades, are you an idiot?”
Even her silver tail behind her forgot to be angry, flicking lightly, the tip curving with a hint of amusement.
“Waving around a toy like that, trying to cast a spell? Are you trying to make me laugh to death so you can inherit my… my bed?”
“No, you’re wrong…”
Before Yiyi finished, she took advantage of Aze’s quivering shoulders and total lack of defense, clutching the mini Dawn as she lunged.
That palm-sized little thing jabbed straight at Aze’s waist—a quick, precise poke, not very hard but wickedly mischievous.
“Hiss—!”
Aze’s laughter stopped cold, replaced by a pained and angry gasp, golden eyes instantly wide.
“Hades, you bastard! Only poke at the weak spots!”
Yiyi, triumphant, made a dash for the door, her skirt swirling as she ran, her laughter trailing behind: “That’s what you get for laughing at me! It’s your punishment!”
“Get back here!”
Aze clutched her side, gritting her teeth against the pain in her chest and waist, then leaped off the bed in pursuit.
Her silver tail stood on end in fury, its scales glinting coldly, but her awkward posture betrayed her injury as she chased after Yiyi, her silver hair flying in disarray.
“If I don’t beat you to death today, I’m not Harlaize!”
Aze’s angry roar was soft and trembly, but there was a desperate determination to it.
She pressed her hand to her side, stumbling after Yiyi with pain from both wounds.
Her silver tail stretched straight, its scales scraping across the legs of the tables and chairs with a “swish swish” sound, as if cheering her on.
Yiyi, quick and agile, darted in circles around the room, her skirt sweeping up little clouds of dust from the floor.
She glanced back at Aze’s reddened eyes and shaky steps, secretly delighted but deliberately taunting: “Come on, come on! Can’t catch me, can you? Lord Harlaize, your ‘little body’ can’t keep up! Getting tired already?”
“Shut up!”
Aze gritted her teeth and lunged faster.
Yiyi dodged to the side in a panic but didn’t notice the bed’s foot behind her.
Her ankle caught, and she toppled forward.
Just as she was about to hit the floor, Aze instinctively grabbed her, and they both lost their balance, crashing onto the rug together.
“Ouch~!”
“Bastard, now where are you going to run!?”
Aze pinned Yiyi underneath her, pain making her grimace, but she still pressed down hard on Yiyi’s shoulders, her golden eyes shining with victorious fierceness, the end of her words still trembling softly.
The silver tail wrapped tightly around Yiyi’s wrist, looping again and again as if to keep her from escaping.
“Get up, I’m still hurt. If you don’t, I’ll cause a scene!”
“Cause a scene? You still dare?”
Aze growled, but most of the strength in her hands faded, though she wouldn’t get off, a sly light flickering in her golden eyes.
“Kicking me, poking me, and laughing at me… Now you’re scared? Too late!”
The silver tail not only didn’t let go but wrapped even tighter, its tip deliberately tickling Yiyi’s wrist, making her shiver involuntarily.
“I’m not scared!”
Yiyi retorted, neck stiff, but her wound ached from the pressure, so she frowned and pushed at Aze’s shoulder.
“Get off! You’re hurting my wound. If it really splits open, Xiamir will nag at us again!”
“Call me daddy and I’ll let you go.”
“In your dreams!”
Yiyi’s cheeks flushed red with anger, trying to pry the cold, scaly tail off her wrist but it just tickled her palms.
“No way am I calling you daddy! Harlaize, don’t push your luck!”
“Tch, fine, I’m done teasing you, silly dragon. Ugh~ Sleep.”
Aze finally got off Yiyi, frowning at the pain in her chest, but still reaching out a hand to help her up.
The silver tail unwrapped from her wrist but instinctively hooked onto her sleeve, as if checking she was all right.
Yiyi took the offered hand, sitting up and catching her breath as she clutched her chest, shooting him a glare: “If you’d just done that from the start, we wouldn’t have had to go through all this.”
She said it, but still scooted over, leaving half the bed for Aze.
Aze lay down, pulling the thin quilt over himself, silver hair fanned across the pillow.
He turned on his side, golden eyes shining brightly in the dim room, but he said nothing.
The silver tail rested lightly on Yiyi’s arm, cool to the touch.
“This is my bed… Get off and go sleep on the sofa.”
Yiyi’s voice was stubborn, but she didn’t move, even shrinking further into the covers.
Aze snorted, scooting closer, his silver tail slipping under the quilt to wrap securely around her wrist: “The sofa’s hard, and my chest still hurts. If I mess myself up more, it’s on you.”
Her voice was drowsy, golden eyes half-lidded, glinting slyly in the gloom.
“Besides, Hades, we’ve slept together since we were kids. Why act all shy now?”
“We slept together when we were kids! Now it’s different!”
Yiyi’s face burned, and she tried to pry the silver tail off her wrist, but her fingers only touched cool, ticklish scales, making her shrink back instinctively.