Xuanxi was woken up by a strange sound.
It wasn’t loud—like something gently vibrating, its pitch rising and falling unpredictably, carrying an indescribable rhythm. She groggily opened her eyes and realized the sound was coming from the other side of the screen.
She glanced at the clock on her bedside table—5:13 AM.
Outside, it wasn’t light yet. On the other side of the screen, Hildegrif had already sat up.
She was cross-legged on the bed, hands folded over her knees, eyes closed, breathing steady and deep. That strange sound was coming from her—no, to be precise, it was coming from inside her.
The sound seemed to be some kind of cultivation resonance technique. Xuanxi listened curiously for a while, then suddenly remembered what it was.
Meditation.
She’d read that Western dragons used a cultivation method where they tempered their dragon core through specific breathing frequencies and internal elemental resonance, thereby improving their power and bloodline. She’d only seen it in books before, never in person.
She wasn’t sure if she should keep watching.
It felt like spying on someone else’s training. Common sense told her that wasn’t very polite.
Just as she was about to look away, Hildegrif suddenly opened her eyes.
Her amethyst-colored pupils shone like two stars in the dim, pre-dawn room. Her gaze passed through the translucent screen and landed squarely on Xuanxi’s face.
“What are you looking at?”
It wasn’t an accusation. Her voice was still cold, but Xuanxi noticed that this coldness was different from yesterday’s “stay away from me” vibe. There was something extra in it—like the faint embarrassment of being caught doing something private.
“Woken up by the noise,” Xuanxi confessed. “That meditation sound of yours… kind of sounds like a bee.”
Hildegrif’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
“……I wasn’t meditating.”
“Then what were you doing?”
Xuanxi waited a few seconds. No answer.
Fine, she wouldn’t ask. She turned over, ready to sleep a little more.
But the moment she closed her eyes, a voice came from behind the screen, much quieter than before, as if half-muffled by a blanket.
“……I wasn’t meditating. I was detoxing.”
Xuanxi’s eyes snapped open.
“What?”
“Elemental detox. Dragons with bloodline rank S or higher accumulate excess elemental residue in their bodies. It has to be expelled daily through resonance to allow further progress.”
Hildegrif’s speech was slightly faster than yesterday, as if rushing through the words. “It’s not meditation. Though it does boost power, too.”
Xuanxi blinked. She suddenly felt that this aloof young lady wasn’t as hard to approach as she’d thought. At least she’d answered her question.
“Oh.”
Xuanxi said. “Go ahead, then. I won’t watch.”
She turned over again, facing the wall, and pulled the blanket up to her ears.
Behind the screen, there was a few seconds of silence. Then that buzzing sound started again, but at a slightly lower frequency, as if it had been adjusted.
Xuanxi closed her eyes, a small smile unconsciously curling at the corners of her lips.
***
After dawn, the two of them barely crossed paths. When Xuanxi got up, Hildegrif’s bed was already made—quilt folded neatly, pillow centered, the whole bed looking as if no one had slept in it. She was already gone.
Xuanxi washed up, changed into her school uniform, and glanced at the pattern beneath her right eye in the mirror. In the morning light, the pattern showed a faint, dark gold hue, as if drawn on her skin with an extremely fine brush.
She touched it with her finger. Nothing. It was smooth, like touching ordinary skin.
But she knew this pattern wasn’t a normal birthmark. Sometimes it would faintly heat up, especially when she was emotionally agitated.
Her adoptive father had said that when he found her, the pattern was glowing. He thought it was some strange spell, so he specially had someone examine it. The result was—
“Innate,” the examining doctor had said. “Not a spell, not a curse. It’s just grown on her skin. Like some kind of… marking.”
Some kind of marking. A marking whose origin even she didn’t know.
Xuanxi sighed, brushed a few stray strands of hair from her forehead, and partly covered the two lines of the pattern.
Today was her first official day of school. Her schedule included a basic theory class in the main building’s lecture hall. She didn’t know if Hildegrif would be taking the same course.
She didn’t even know what else Hildegrif studied besides “thunder-fire element.”
They were roommates now, but only roommates. At least for today.
The Dragonborn Academy cafeteria was built on the central axis of the main campus. It was a massive domed building, its interior decorated with murals of dragon heroes from past generations.
At breakfast, the cafeteria was packed with new students. Dragons of all colors, in both human and dragon forms, mingled together, as noisy as a bustling market.
Xuanxi carried a tray, weaving through the crowd as she looked for an empty seat.
On her tray were a few slices of toast, a small bowl of jam, a glass of milk, and a saucer of some dark, pasty substance she didn’t recognize.
She’d taken it thinking it was chocolate sauce, but after one bite, she realized it was some kind of savory bean paste. The taste was indescribable.
“If you’re wondering what that is,” a voice came from behind her, “it’s butterfly pea paste. A traditional Western dragon breakfast. High nutritional value, but the taste really isn’t much.”
Xuanxi turned around.
A brown-haired dragon girl was smiling at her. She had a few freckles on her cheeks and deep green eyes, giving her the look of a large canine.
“And you are?” Xuanxi asked.
“Elsa Ash.” The girl set her tray aside and casually sat down across from Xuanxi. “A-rank bloodline, fire element. We live on the same floor—Room 402. I noticed you in the hallway yesterday. Your hair color is so pretty. Is it dyed?”
“……It’s natural.”
“Wow, then your bloodline must be really special!” Elsa’s eyes lit up. “I thought you might be some kind of hybrid. By the way, which family are you from? I’ve never seen a dragon with features like yours.”
Xuanxi hesitated for a second. On her identity papers, the bloodline field was blank. That was a very sensitive issue. In the Western Dragon Domain, bloodline determined almost everything. No bloodline meant no background, no family, no support.
But Elsa didn’t seem like someone who cared about that.
“I don’t have a family,” Xuanxi said. “I’m just an adopted daughter of the House of Herras.”
Elsa blinked, then let out an exaggerated “Oh.”
“That’s even cooler!” Her voice didn’t drop; if anything, it got louder. “Self-made dragons are the best! Let me tell you, my family’s just a minor house—nothing special. But my sister said if I can break into the top hundred at the academy, our family will…”
She stopped mid-sentence.
Her gaze fell on something behind Xuanxi, and her expression shifted from excitement to fear.
“You—behind you—” she whispered, her fingers trembling slightly.
Xuanxi turned. Hildegrif was standing about three meters behind her, tray in hand, expressionlessly staring at Elsa.
That gaze was as cold as looking at a rock.
Elsa’s face went pale. “Uh, I gotta go—I forgot I have an early class today. Bye!”
With that, she grabbed her tray and ran off, as fast as if her tail were on fire.
Xuanxi: “……”
She looked up at Hildegrif. The silver-haired dragoness had already withdrawn her gaze from Elsa, swept it expressionlessly over the empty seat across from Xuanxi, then carried her tray to the farthest corner of the cafeteria.
That seat was by the window, with no one else nearby. She sat alone, isolated.
Xuanxi watched her retreating figure and felt something stir inside.
Not because Hildegrif had scared off her new friend—well, a little—but more than that, it was another feeling.
She remembered her days in the border town.
Back then, she didn’t have friends either. Not because she was intimidating like Hildegrif, but because she was different from everyone else.
She hadn’t succeeded in making friends or fitting into those Western dragon circles. Not because she was hard to get along with, but because in those children’s eyes, she was always an outsider.
“Why don’t you have wings?” “Why are your scales this color?” “What bloodline are you?” “You don’t belong here.”
These questions were never spoken directly, but they were written in their eyes. Xuanxi had seen too many eyes like that.
She looked away, lowered her head, pushed aside the saucer of butterfly pea paste on her tray, and continued gnawing on her toast.
***
The first class was in the lecture hall of the main building. When Xuanxi arrived, more than half the seats were already filled.
She looked around, trying to find a less conspicuous spot. But all the seats near the corners were taken, leaving only a few rows in the middle and some seats at the front.
She chose a seat slightly to the right in the middle row. No sooner had she sat down than someone came over.
“Is this seat taken?”
Xuanxi looked up. A tall female dragon, with light blonde hair and a very pretty face.
But she carried something Xuanxi couldn’t quite put her finger on… distance? No, not distance. More like the kind of ease that came from knowing she was good-looking and not caring what others thought.
“No,” Xuanxi said.
The blonde girl sat down gracefully.
After sitting, she glanced at Xuanxi, then politely looked away.
“You’re a new student?” she asked.
“……Yes.”
“So am I.” The blonde girl gave a slight smile. “Valeris Frostmark. A branch family of the House of Frostmark. A-rank ice element.”
This was the second person today to proactively start a conversation with her.
Xuanxi wondered if it was because she looked friendly or because she looked like an easy target.
“Xuanxi Herras.” She gave a name, leaving out bloodline and rank.
Valeris didn’t press further. She nodded politely, then opened a thick textbook.
Xuanxi breathed a sigh of relief. So not everyone was as bold and brash as Elsa.
She preferred this kind of courteous interaction with Valeris—no need to explain her background, no need to face curious or scrutinizing gazes. Just two strangers sitting together, nothing more.
Soon, the bell rang. The teacher who walked in was a very old-looking Western dragon. In human form, his beard was long enough to be used as a scarf. He walked slowly, but his voice was surprisingly booming.
“New students.”
He stood at the podium, his eyes sweeping across every face in the lecture hall. “Welcome to Dragonborn Academy. I am Oldus Ironback, your basic theory instructor.”
He wrote a few words in the air with fire. The characters floated midair, lingering for a long time.
“Lesson one,” Oldus said. “The history of the dragon race.”
***
For the next hour, Xuanxi listened intently.
Oldus didn’t just cover ordinary dragon history—he also covered the history of relations between Eastern and Western dragons.
From the ancient era when both races shared a common origin, to their later split and antagonism, to the last three hundred years of isolation and non-aggression.
“Three hundred years ago, a great war broke out between the Eastern and Western dragon races.” Oldus’s voice was deep and slow.
“The cause of that war is no longer verifiable. All we know is that both sides suffered heavy losses. After the war, the Eastern Dragon Domain sealed the passage to the West, and the two races went their separate ways.”
He paused, his gaze drifting intentionally or unintentionally toward a few specific spots in the lecture hall.
“Of course, some say the truth of that war was covered up. Others say the two sides actually joined forces against some greater enemy. But these are all legends, without concrete evidence.”
When Xuanxi heard this, she unconsciously frowned.
Three hundred years ago. That timeframe sounded familiar.
As she was thinking, her peripheral vision caught a movement from a seat in the front row.
Hildegrif was sitting at the corner of the very first row. From Xuanxi’s angle, she could only see her silver hair and a sliver of her profile. At that moment, Hildegrif tilted her head slightly, as if looking at something. Then—their eyes met.
Across half the classroom, across dozens of students, those amethyst eyes and amber-gold eyes intersected for less than a second.
Then Hildegrif withdrew her gaze, faced the podium again, her back straight as a rod, as if nothing had happened.
But a strange ripple stirred in Xuanxi’s heart.
In that brief instant, she felt that Hildegrif’s eyes were a little different from yesterday.
Not coldness. Not detachment. More like… hesitation?
But she wasn’t sure.
After class, Xuanxi didn’t rush off. She jotted down a few key points Oldus had made, organized her notes, and then stood up.
Valeris had already left sometime, without even saying goodbye.
Xuanxi didn’t mind. They were just two people who happened to sit next to each other, not friends.
She walked out of the lecture hall and found the hallway mostly empty. She checked her watch. She had an hour before the next class—enough time to go back to the dormitory and grab a book.
She returned to the dormitory building, went upstairs, and stood in front of Room 404. She took out her key, but the door opened from the inside.
Hildegrif stood at the doorway, a book in her hand. She looked ready to go out.
They stood face to face, less than a meter apart.
Xuanxi noticed that Hildegrif was half a head taller than her.
“I came to get a book,” Xuanxi said first.
Hildegrif nodded and stepped aside.
Xuanxi entered the room, picked up the “Introduction to Dragon Elemental Theory” from her desk, and turned to leave.
At the door, she hesitated, then stopped.
“Um…” she said.
Hildegrif stood in the hallway, looking at her.
“That girl from this morning. Elsa.” Xuanxi said. “She’s not a bad person. Just talks a lot. You don’t need to… scare her.”
Hildegrif was silent for two seconds. “I didn’t scare her,” she said.
“Just standing in front of her, staring at her expressionlessly—that’s already pretty scary.”
Another two seconds of silence.
“Because she took my seat,” Hildegrif said.
Xuanxi froze.
“In the cafeteria. The seat she was sitting in. According to the academy’s traditional unwritten rule, it’s first come, first served.” Hildegrif’s tone was as flat as reading a textbook. “I arrived before her, but she took my seat.”
Xuanxi opened her mouth, momentarily at a loss for words.
So this morning, when you stood three meters behind me with your tray, staring at Elsa expressionlessly… it was because she took your seat?
That’s too…
“Then why didn’t you just say so?” Xuanxi couldn’t help asking.
Hildegrif looked at her, her amethyst eyes devoid of expression.
“No need. And I couldn’t be bothered to explain.” With that, she walked past Xuanxi and headed down the hallway. Her pace was neither fast nor slow. Her silver-white hair swayed gently behind her, and soon she disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
Xuanxi stood at the door, book in hand, not moving for a long time.
After a while, she took a deep breath and closed the door.
She leaned against the door panel, staring at the empty room, replaying their conversation over and over in her mind.
Not because Hildegrif’s logic was absurd—well, partly—but more because of something else.
“She took my seat.”
That sentence meant Hildegrif had originally intended to sit across from her. But in the end, she didn’t sit there. Just like yesterday, when she warned her to put away the knife—she could have ignored it, but she still spoke up.
Xuanxi suddenly felt that this aloof young lady wasn’t as cold as she appeared.
Tsundere dragon roomie