Mr. Dragon Knight, the dragon girls are chasing you!

Luo Ye nearly spat out a mouthful of blood, choking on his own saliva and coughing slightly, his face full of helplessness: "Sister! This isn't the time for making suggestive remarks! This is a life-or-death situation! Can't you be serious for once!"

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his embarrassment, abandoning all jokes, and spoke with utmost seriousness:

"Seraphina, I'm telling you this seriously. If I don't go and I don't save her, the curse will erupt more than a thousand years later, and Eluvia will surely die. And since I'm bound to her by a soul contract, if she dies, I will be directly affected by the contract and won't survive either."

"I know you'll say, 'Then you can terminate the contract yourself.'"

His eyes were crystal clear, his mind resolute, without the slightest wavering:

"But I don't want to. I don't want to give her up, and I don't want to give up...you."

"So for me, there's no turning back. It's either success or we die together."

On the other end of the soul connection, there was another long silence.

Luo Ye thought she had completely lost patience and was ready to cut off the connection and reject his request outright.

Finally, Serafina's voice slowly rang out, her cool and indifferent tone concealing an extremely complex and unfathomable emotion.

"You've reminded me of something; the human lifespan is only about two hundred years."

"What difference does a thousand years or ten thousand years make to you? You won't even live to see the day her curse breaks out. Why risk your life to do something that has no meaning for you?"

Luo Ye was stunned for a moment.

He opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but found that what she said... seemed to make a bit of a point.

Compared to the dragon race's timescale of tens of thousands of years, human lifespan is as short as that of a mayfly, which lives only a day.

Even if he lived for two hundred years, he wouldn't see the backlash of the curse when Eluvia was six thousand years old.

From a rational point of view, he could have simply given up and lived a peaceful life without having to risk venturing into the forbidden zone where death was certain.

You're right.

Luo Ye chuckled softly, a hint of helplessness in his voice, yet utterly candid: "Human lifespan is indeed very short, and I certainly won't live to see that day."

"But so what?"

"Eluvia did nothing wrong. She was born under a curse that bound her to her destiny. She grew up alone, with no one to love or protect her, enduring millions of years of loneliness and fighting against the death shackles she was born with. All of this was not something she should have had to bear."

Now that I know the truth, and since there is even the slightest chance to change her fate, I must do it.

"She is my dragon. My identity is that of a dragon knight, and the mission of a dragon knight is to protect his dragon at all costs."

"And it's not just her."

His voice rose slightly, and a gentle yet firm light shone in his eyes:

"If you were the one facing a curse and on the verge of despair today, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. Even if the road ahead is certain death, even if this is all meaningless, I would still go for it."

"Do you know? Two hundred years is just a blink of an eye for a human to live. But in those two hundred years, I met you and she. Those two hundred years are already more significant than the lives of most people who have lived for tens of thousands of years."

Silence fell again on the other end of the soul connection.

After a long while, a soft sigh echoed from the void.

That sigh contained a multitude of emotions—helplessness, appreciation, emotion, and a hint of tenderness and compromise that even Serafina herself was unaware of.

"That's enough."

"I've lived this long and seen more humans than you've eaten rice. Most of them tremble and grovel before dragons, and the few who have the guts are only after the dragons' treasures and power."

"You're such a peculiar person. You're clearly weak, mean, and annoying, yet you still have the audacity to protect this person and that person. How adorable!"

Luo Ye opened his mouth, wanting to say something witty to ease the atmosphere, but his throat felt like it was blocked by something.

He found himself not knowing what to say.

"...So you've agreed to lend me the Silver Moon Heart now?" He finally managed to utter this last sentence.

Serafina chuckled softly at his abrupt change of topic; her laughter held a hint of relief, tenderness, and a touch of helpless indulgence.

"What can I do if I don't agree? My Dragon Knight has already put it this way. If I don't agree, wouldn't I seem heartless?"

"but--"

She changed the subject, her tone regaining that languid, cat-and-mouse slyness:

"The Heart of the Silver Moon, I can give it to you."

"But I need you to prove your determination to me."

"Tell me, what do I need to do?"

"Come find me at Silvermoon Peak tonight."

Serafina lowered her voice slightly, and the languid ambiguity of midnight quietly returned, carrying a hint of alluring tension.

"With your current strength, equipment, and resources, venturing into the Shadow Rift would be pure suicide; you wouldn't last a moment. I can temporarily give you the Silver Dragon Clan's secret treasures, the Moonflower Technique, and the Origin Enhancement to forcibly boost your combat power and help you survive the forbidden area trial."

"Of course." She paused slightly, her smile alluring.

"If the Dragon Knight's performance tonight satisfies me, I will also agree to the Silver Moon Heart matter."

Luo Ye paused for a moment, narrowed his eyes, and asked tentatively with a hint of suspicion in his voice: "...Wait."

"You just said you were satisfied with tonight's performance—are you flirting with me?"

A soft, melodious laugh came from the other end of the soul connection.

Serafina not only didn't deny it, but readily admitted it, her tone full of languid composure:

"yes."

"Isn't it normal for a silver dragon to flirt with its own dragon knight?"

Luo Ye was caught off guard by her direct attack, and all the counterattacks he had prepared died in his infancy. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, feeling like he had dug a hole and buried himself.

He decided to give up on continuing the discussion and shook his head helplessly.

"...Okay, you win. See you tonight."

A light, satisfied laugh came from the other end of the contract, gentle and melodious, as if all worries had been put aside, or as if full of anticipation.

"Then I'll wait for you."

The gentle voice slowly dissipated into the depths of the soul connection, the faint light of the white contract thread gradually faded, and finally fell into complete silence, the connection was broken.

Luo Ye lay back on the soft stone bed, staring at the dark purple magic patterns slowly flowing on the ceiling, and exhaled a long breath of pent-up air.

With the biggest problem temporarily overcome, the Silver Moon Heart finally has a solution.

But what followed was an even more troublesome and deadly problem—

How did he manage to sneak out of the Night Dragon's Nest without alerting Eluvia, fly across half the continent to Silvermoon Peak, "perform satisfactorily" with Serafina, and then return unnoticed before Eluvia woke up?