Let's start over, Your Majesty.

Chapter 319 Tonight is Long and I Can't Sleep
The rain poured down harder, and Ita's brow furrowed even more.

Normally, this level of rain wouldn't be a problem for her, but today it was.
She looked at the tattered gift box in her arms, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Today was supposed to be my personal trip to pick up the coming-of-age gift I had prepared for Caesar, but this whole thing just happened.

She had driven there alone, picked up the gifts, and returned home. However, due to her excitement and the fact that she rarely drives and her driving skills are not good, she accidentally stepped on the gas and crashed the car into a tree, totaling it.

Fortunately, she was in good health and hadn't been seriously injured. However, she was in the middle of nowhere, and the car radio had been damaged. Although she could use her authority as the head of the family to summon the nearby shadow guards, she couldn't go back and wasn't going to fight, so summoning them wouldn't have made a difference.

Although you can transform into a dragon and fly, what happens to the gifts after you become a dragon? Do you keep them in your mouth?

So he had to carry the gifts himself and travel along the way, planning to find a means of transportation in town first.

We finally found a town, but the only bus at the station was under maintenance and couldn't leave.

In her panic, she pulled out the Frederick family's black card, a card that could be used anywhere in the world. However, the station manager didn't recognize it at all. He then said he would ask the town mayor, and after a long while, he returned with a middle-aged man who said, "Honorable head of the Frederick family, I will now take you back to the capital in my own car."

As it turned out, perhaps due to bad luck, the mayor's car broke down again just before he was about to leave. He quickly found someone to repair it and discovered that a key part was faulty. So he sent someone by bicycle to another town to buy the part.

By this time, it was completely dark, and a light drizzle began to fall, which then grew heavier. Ita knew that she wouldn't be able to make it back to Caesar's banquet.

She stood under the eaves of the station, clutching the gift box, and suddenly felt like crying.
"We prepared so much, but now we've missed such an important holiday."

She sniffed, a strong sense of loss spreading from the bottom of her heart.

Just then, a car headlight illuminated the rainy night, and the mayor's old car creaked as it pulled up beside the station. The mayor braved the rain to open the car door and get out.

"Master! Master Ita's car, the car is repaired! That..."

As soon as he reached Ita, Ita shoved the black card into his arms.

"I'll buy this car."

Ita left only this sentence, got up, opened the car door, and sat in the driver's seat.

The mayor stared blankly at the black card with its high-quality texture in his hand, then at the car that had driven away, and hurriedly called out:
"Hey! Um! The brakes are still not working very well! Maybe we should wait until the rain stops before we go!"

But his shouts were drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain, and Ita had already driven away.

In the torrential rain, vehicles traversed the muddy, almost swampy road, bobbing and undulating.

Ita looked at the half-crushed gift box on the passenger seat, felt relieved, stepped on the gas, and sped off.

The vehicle had been driving for about half an hour. The rain was still heavy, and the water on the road was gradually increasing, making it more and more difficult to drive. It was only because Ita had the ability to sense the elements that he did not lose his way.

Just then, a muffled clap of thunder illuminated the road ahead. Not far ahead, a torrent of water carrying mud and rocks surged from the mountainside, threatening to flood the road ahead.

Ita's heart skipped a beat, and he was about to step on the brakes, but he found that it was no use.

Just as the vehicle was about to run into the mudslide, it suddenly jolted, as if something had pulled it back to a screeching halt, the tires still spinning in the mud.

"Ugh?"

Ita, unaware of what had happened, quickly turned around and saw a figure standing at the back of the car. It was a familiar figure; he had suddenly appeared and pulled the car to a stop.

"Caesar!"

She quickly turned off the engine, opened the car door, and ran out into the rain.
But as soon as he stepped forward, Caesar shouted at him:
"What are you doing! Trying to kill yourself?!"

Ita shrank back in shock at the shout, unable to utter a word.

"The mudslide was right in front of you, how could you think of just rushing towards it! Where's your magic?!"

"I"

Ita choked up. In fact, she was fully capable of using magic to stop the mudslide, but the magic of the dragon race itself was very domineering. If she wanted to stop a mudslide of that scale, she would probably have torn the whole car apart, and then the gift would be gone.

Her mind was caught in a dilemma, and before she could react, the vehicle was stopped.

"I'm sorry."

Ita was soaked to the bone, just like Caesar in front of him.
But she never expected Caesar to appear here.
Caesar looked at Ithaca, who was hanging his head in the rain, sighed, and wiped the rain off his face.

"I really don't know how a dragon like you got into this state."

Before Ita could even utter her aggrieved words, Caesar stepped forward to her side.

Then, he raised his hand and made a sweeping motion around them, forming a rain-avoidance spell. An invisible barrier enveloped them, preventing even a single drop of rain from getting in.

“Let’s go back first,” Caesar said.

"Wait a moment."

Ita hurriedly returned to the car, picked up the gift box,

"This is a gift I prepared for you, Caesar, today."

"You're so stupid." Caesar tapped her on the head in an annoyed tone. "Having you is enough. What more do you need a gift for? You've ruined yourself like this. Do you think I'd be happy to see you like this?"

"I"

Ita blushed and lowered her head, saying, "I understand."

Caesar stepped forward, put his arm around her waist, and glared at her: "I'll talk to you properly when we get back."

A gust of wind swept in, enveloping their bodies and propelling them upwards. He was already quite proficient in the third-tier Wind Control Spell.

Flying through the torrential rain, Caesar said irritably, "I told you to study magic seriously and master more practical spells, but you wouldn't listen. Now that you're in trouble, you can only throw a tantrum. A dragon has been reduced to this state by a rainstorm."

“I understand,” Ita said softly.

“Caesar, how did you find me?” she asked.

“Don’t I know your taste already?” Caesar said.

"When I heard from Doruvan that you hadn't arrived home yet, I knew something was wrong. I activated my senses to track you and followed your presence all the way here. I even used several teleportation spells in quick succession to get here faster."

"Oh"

"I told you, learn more practical spells. If you knew teleportation spells, you wouldn't be afraid of being left here."

“I already said I know,” Ita murmured, burying her face in his chest.
The rain finally subsided a bit, and Caesar, with Ita in tow, flew all the way to Lando, a city more than thirty kilometers from the capital.

Completely soaked, I decided to rest in this town first.

They entered a hotel owned by Frederick in Landoo. As soon as they stepped inside, the drowsy staff on duty saw the two soaking wet people walk in.

When he saw the girl's face clearly, he immediately came to his senses.

"Master, head of the family! You, what brings you here?"

"One room, quickly," Ita said in a muffled voice. "Yes, yes, please follow me."

The staff member on duty led them to the top floor, prepared a Kingdom Suite, and then slowly withdrew.

The two walked into the room with water stains all over the floor, turned on the heating, and the warm air filled the room, finally making it warm.

Caesar glanced at his watch; it was almost two o'clock.

They brought a dry towel and threw it on Ita.

"Go take a shower first."

"Um"

Ita placed the gift box she was holding on the sofa before turning and going into the bathroom.

The sound of running water came from the bathroom. As soon as Ita entered the bathroom, Caesar opened the door to the dressing room that connected to the bathroom.

The sounds of showering in the bathroom suddenly stopped. Ita immediately thought Caesar was coming in, but Caesar simply went to the dressing room, took Ita's clothes that she had changed out of, and threw them, along with his own clothes, into the dryer.

After more than ten minutes, the showering sounds stopped, and Ita came out wearing a bathrobe with her hair wrapped in a towel.

"Caesar, I, I'm done washing," Ita said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"The hot tea is ready. Drink it to warm yourself up."

Caesar pointed to the teapot, then got up and went into the bathroom.

After he closed the door, Ita's heart started racing.

She sat on the spacious living room sofa, unsure of what to do. She ran to the balcony to look at the dark, rainy night outside, then went to the study to browse through the books on the bookshelf. After returning to the sofa, she picked up her teacup and sipped the warm tea slowly.

The shower stopped, and a moment later, Caesar also came out of the bathroom.

He was wearing a bathrobe, drying his wet hair, and his strong muscles were still visible from his open chest.

He sat down on the sofa, next to Ita.

"Go and rest for a while, we'll leave when it's light," Caesar said.

"Um"

Ita gave a soft "hmm," but didn't move.

"Caesar."

"Ok?"

"I...I'm still a little cold." Ita shifted her gaze.

Caesar gazed at her in silence.

"This, this is real!" Ita said, her face flushed.

Caesar sighed, stepped forward, pulled over a blanket, and wrapped Itta in it.

Are you feeling better?

"Oh"

Caesar leaned back on the sofa and looked at the crumpled gift box.

"So what gift did you prepare?" he asked.

Ita, holding her teacup, glanced at him and whispered, "Caesar, why don't you just open it and take a look?"

Caesar then got up, picked up the gift box, and unwrapped the ribbons and outer packaging.
Inside was a rather large leather photo album. When he opened it, he saw a headshot of himself and Ita on the first page. Strangely, the photo was animated. In the photo, Ita was smiling with her lips pursed, sitting and flipping her hair, while he was smiling and had his arm around Ita's shoulder.

He looks much younger than he does now. This photo was taken when I accompanied Ita to the zoo for her twelfth birthday.

As they continued flipping through the album, every photo was a picture of them together over the years. There were also some of Yumilia and Freya, but overall, there were mostly photos of themselves and Ita.

Moreover, each photo is animated, vividly recreating the scene at the time.

“This is…” He looked up at Ita.

“I collected all the photos I’ve taken with Caesar over the years and gave them to a prop maker who now has the technology for creating these animated magical photos. I had him make every single one of them look like this,” Ita said softly.

"Because these photos are precious memories of being with Caesar, and there are no copies available. If we wanted to make more, we wouldn't have the chance. I didn't trust anyone else, so I went to get them myself."

And they carefully protected it all the way, for fear that such precious memories with Caesar would be damaged.

Caesar flipped through the photographs, a smile gradually spreading across his face.
"Ita, thank you, I really like it."

Ita's face flushed.

“But I care about you more than these memories,” Caesar continued.

"Always prioritize your own safety. Losing you is something that can never be replaced, no matter how precious it is."

He looked at Ita with an exceptionally serious expression.

"Caesar. I."

Ita felt a lump in her throat and lowered her head.

"Why are you crying?"

Caesar put down the photo album and stepped forward to embrace her.

Ita buried her head in his chest, sobbing, "I... I missed Caesar's coming-of-age ceremony today. There will never be another chance. Never again. Such an important day without me. I... I was so looking forward to it, but now..."

"Alright, alright, it's just a coming-of-age ceremony. There will be many more important days like this in the future. Why are you crying now?" Caesar patted her shoulder to comfort her.

"What will the future hold?" Ita said, choking back tears.

Caesar paused for a moment, then said in a low voice:

Ita, who was sobbing against his chest, suddenly fell silent.

At this moment, Caesar could even feel Itah's body temperature gradually rising.
Caesar tightened his grip.

"Ita, you've had a tough time all these years," Caesar said softly.

If it weren't for Itha's support, Caesar wouldn't have been able to get to where he is today.

Ita shook her head in his arms:
"In my heart, from the day you found me as a child and carried me home, I already belonged to you, Caesar. If it weren't for Caesar, I might have died in some unknown corner. So, Caesar, you gave me a second life and allowed me to have the happiness I have now."

Ita slowly raised her head in his arms, looking at him with a shimmering, multifaceted expression in her eyes.
(End of this chapter)