"WHAT THE-"
Oh no...
Oh NO NO NO NO NO!
Did he see me shift?!
Wait, does he even know it's me?
Oh god! What do I do if he starts attacking me?
I could hear Noel's voice soon after this girl fainted and looked at the holy knight who was about to shed his sword and point at me. I mean it was kinda understandable since I was a huge dragon and with huge, I mean about 2.5 meters. Something about being a dragon made me feel a lot better than just sticking around as a human. It felt not only good but I felt a lot more safe in this form as well.
"Don't panic. It's me, Vivi."
Please just don't attack me!
I don't want to hurt you!
I mean, I don't wanna get hurt....
I know swords don't work on me but what about holy swords? They do have a bit of holy power in them....
Ah isn't that all the same!
I don't want to be attacked!
I have to shift back!
He had a plate in his hand but said plate was dropped when he saw me looking at him. My bright gold eyes were looking and focusing on the knight entirely and he might have even been scared. It was a bit hard to tell for me what was going on but I decided to shift back to being a human and use the magic that I learned as to not shift back and just be standing there naked.
"Noel... I can explain."
"I am listening."
Wow... a bit too calm...
Is this what they describe as the calm before the storm... scary!
Slowly but surely I made my way to him and he didn't seem as scared now but still afraid enough to not let me get too close to him. When I got closer than he felt comfortable he would step back and I would just leave it be.
"I am Viviana Underwood and as you saw, I can shift into a dragon.... But I can also heal wounds which is my special ability..."
Though I was sure that Micheal already told these two guards who I was, I decided to introduce myself again and tell him what I could do. Maybe this would make me look a bit better than right now since I did just attack a girl in a dragon body which some might even call a demonic beast. As if dragons were demonic beasts. I didn't quite know where the line was between demonic beasts and dragons but that didn't really matter since I identified myself as a dragon more than a beast and I preferred to not be called a beast at all. I was intelligent and as for that, I wouldn't tolerate anyone calling me a beast. A creature without any complex mind that would just go after their instincts.
"I know who you are but not that you can do that!"
"Well.... I kinda can and I wanted to tell this to Micheal before he left but..."
"Too many people were there. I understand why you didn't...."
"Yeah...."
"So can everyone do that in the Underwood family?"
"Not that I know about it."
"...huh... well that surprised me for sure."
He seemed a lot more at ease with me after he got a bit used to my presence. I was sure he just felt the bloodlust a bit since he was way too close when I shifted and I was not that great in concealing it at all. Maybe some of the people around here were affected by it as well but I couldn't tell that much. From what I knew, slight bloodlust could cause nightmares but for others it might put them in a state of panic to even having a heart attack. It depended on the way and how much of it was applied. All in all, this situation right now shouldn't be that bad but I didn't know what to do with the girl at all. I was definitely lost.
"Should I be concerned about this?"
"What do you mean by this?"
"You shifting at any time?"
Is this all you are concerned about?
What about the girl?
Or me attacking people?
There were soo many other questions in my head which I would have asked first before saying this. I mean yes it might be concerning since I would reveal myself all the time but then again, there were a lot more questions I would have asked from "Are you attacking humans?" to "Do you have yourself under control?". Well these two questions would definitely be the first thing I would have asked and not immediately take everything quite granted and just be concerned about revealing who I was.
Needless to say this knight surprised me and succeeded all expectations I had in him.
"I am not gonna do that!"
"So you can control it?"
You finally asked this!
YES!
And why are you asking that now?
Shouldn't that be the first thing to ask?
"Yes."
"Then what was this now?"
Are you questioning me?
There was this feeling that I got that he wasn't believing anything I just said but the thing was, I kinda did choose to be sassy and bratty and snappy but I was kinda hungry and my patience was gone for the night. I just wanted some snacks and didn't really want any kind of trouble but it went out of its way and found me. Why was this my fault?
"What did you see?"
"Don't just turn your attention to something else."
"I am not. I want to explain it but I need to know what you saw and what not."
"Is that important?"
"You're right.... So what happened is... well she came over being all rude and bossy telling me to stand up and get away from here to get punished or something like that and she then started dragging me before ripping the veil from my head which was my last straw... and then I shifted."
"Did you tell her who you are?"
"You mean that I was the new Saintess?"
"Yes."
"Mh! She said she was the queen if I was the saint and then just grabbed me tightly."
"I see.... I am sorry you had to go through that."
It wasn't even his fault and yet he really looked as if he regretted what he just did. I was sure that he thought I was hurt seeing his reaction but I thought that would be normal. Who wouldn't react like that when they were faced with danger after all? Besides I was pretty sure that I wouldn't have run towards a dragon to actually hug it when I would have seen one as well.
"Ahm... Noel, what are we gonna do now?"
"First off, you're gonna come with me to the kitchen so we can get you something to eat."
He has his priorities straight!
I like this but not what I wanted to ask at all.
It was clear what I meant but I was sure that Noel thought something different was more important. The question he probably had in mind was if a dragon like myself would start to actually go off and kill something to eat if I would get hungry enough. Well that was what I was guessing and it made me laugh out loud for a bit. He seemed puzzled but didn't ask at all while I walked past him to the kitchen. I did know where it was since it was simple to remember and it was an important place after all.
Once we got there, he quickly made me a sandwich and let me sit there at the small table watching me eat it with such pleasure that I saw him smile at me softly. Ah yes, that was a definitely better mood then the one we had earlier.
"Slow down, or you will choke."
"I don't care. This is really good."
"Kid, you are acting as if you haven't eaten in days!"
Well he wasn't really wrong since I only ate a bit the past few days every now and then and the day I arrived at the inn, was my first proper meal in days. I mean I could fly from one village to the next but I would risk people seeing me so I was running in my dragon form in the forest and was looking around, checking the whole area out before I was settling down for a couple of weeks there and the cycle would restart again.
"... don't tell me I am right..."
"Well if it makes any better, I did eat the day before you guys came..."
"No! That doesn't make it any better. Please don't skip meals anymore."
"I wouldn't have if it were not for you guys"
"I am sorry, we should have noticed it. His eminence only eats in the morning and in the evening so we forgot about it."
"He only eats twice a day?"
"Well he does have a midnight snack which I usually bring to him."
"Let me guess, you are up because of that."
"You caught me!"
He laughed it off a bit but I could tell that he was missing Micheal. His guards were definitely different and I could just tell by the dynamic that they wanted to go there to actually help him out and everything which made me only question what happened when I found him there. It might not be a whole day that I knew Jasper and Noel but it was enough time for me to see and feel their character out. They were good people, no questions asked.
"Thanks for the food then!"
"No worries."
"But question. What are we gonna do about the girl? She will know what happened today and spread the words out."
"Don't worry about it."
"Hm?"
"I will take care of this, now let's get you back to your bed."
There was no room for more asking. There was just nothing I could say more at all. Well nothing that would come to my mind. It was late, I made trouble, he went out of his way to help me out and the best part is that neither of this would have happened if I would have just asked one of them to get me a snack. I just didn't want to create more troubles and decided to actually listen to this holy knight instead. He would know what he is saying after all.
The small sandwich he made me was simple but good and once I was done eating, he escorted me back to my room before leaving again with wishing me a good night. He also insisted that I should call one of them if I would leave my room again. It was really important that I should do that since he didn't want something like today to happen again. Not as if I was all too keen on repeating this again. I knew that if they would find out the truth, I could actually lose my head.
Anyways, I found myself back in my own little space, my room, and walked towards the window looking outside for a moment while being lost in my thoughts.
Things are definitely getting difficult...
I will need to control myself better!
I don't want to cause any kind of trouble...
Yeah...
But.... I really don't like getting treated that way and I didn't even want to shift!
It kinda just happened!
Better gonna tell Micheal in the morning about this.