Having a powerful lord as a father figure, what's wrong with just wanting to draw cards?

"Oh! The Book of Heraldry, is that right? I think there is such a thing. I've been so busy lately that I almost forgot."

"I was afraid you'd forget, so I came looking for you myself..." Xia's words carried a deep sense of helplessness, and a disappointment that she felt her son was not living up to his potential.

That blockhead! Couldn't he have used that as an excuse to come find me? He had to make a girl take the initiative!

Domi apologized and stood up to take a brand new book from his desk drawer.

Shea took the heavy book: "I remember it was just a fragment, right?"

“The scrolls at the auction were indeed fragments, but do you remember what the last king of the Urumqi dynasty did to me in that small room?”

"He...gave you some knowledge, and then tried to possess your body?"

“That’s right. After I erased his consciousness, I obtained all his memories, including the complete Book of Heraldry, which was written by a royal scholar during the dynasty’s most prosperous period. So I wrote it all down.”

"You like studying ancient knowledge, right? Now you can study it to your heart's content!"

Shea suddenly felt the book in her hands become even heavier.

"Why? You could have given me the fragments; after all, that knowledge is your private property, so priceless and precious..."

"Why is there any 'why'? There aren't that many unwritten rules among friends. Didn't you give me the Soul Eater's blade before? Consider this book a return gift."

Friend...return gift...

These are such unfamiliar words; Shia couldn't even remember the last time she used them.

From some point onward, all her actions became purposeful, even sending Domi the Soul Eater's blade was for the purpose of 'verification'.

Is it really possible for someone as direct as him to do that?

Before getting to know Domi up close, even after observing him secretly for three years, she would have remained skeptical. But now, after everything they've been through together, she has chosen to trust him for the first time in a long time.

I believe that Domi is truly the person with whom I can completely let down my guard and disguise, and I believe in his purity.

She hugged the book tightly to her chest:

"Th-thank you...I will definitely study it carefully!"

"Well, if it's Shia, I believe you can definitely do a more thorough job of researching it than I can."

At this moment, Shia looked up at Domi and asked suspiciously:

"So, you've already learned it all once?"

"Yes, it's amazing that ancient technology can still be used today."

"They even used it!?"

“Yes, it’s already engraved on my body.”

Shea's eyes lit up immediately: "You must let me see this!"

So Domi reached out to take off his clothes. Since he had just taken a shower, he was only wearing a thin white shirt. When he unbuttoned it, Domi's muscular six-pack abs and the Qilin Treading Ghost on his chest were revealed.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, her previous girlish shyness long gone, replaced by a fervent thirst for knowledge.

"Can I touch it?"

Domi hesitated for a second before agreeing.

Shia's hands were delicate and fair, with pink and tender nails, without any excessive oil or decoration, and they felt itchy and tingly against her skin...

After merely 'playing with' it for a while, she came to a conclusion:

"It's a pretty cool tattoo, but it's not magical. The real magic comes from the 'ink' used in the tattooing process, right?"

Domi was slightly surprised, but then he understood when he thought about Shia's reputation.

"As expected of a genius girl with a mind that is almost supernatural, she understood it at a glance."

“Don’t call me that. Being called a genius girl is just a burden,” Shia said with a complicated expression. “The higher you’re praised, the harder you fall. But praising me has done me no good at all. The reward is not proportional to the effort. It’s just a shackle imposed on me by the world.”

Seeing that the atmosphere was turning sour, Domi quickly apologized and withdrew his statement.

"Hmm~ Good to know, don't do it again~"

She reverted to her playful self, and Domi breathed a sigh of relief; this was the Shia he knew.

"Oh, by the way, now that you've already studied the Book of Emblems, may I study it in your room? It'll be convenient to ask you if I don't understand something."

"Of course, if Your Highness doesn't mind."

So, the scene became Domi lying on the bed in a daze, while Shia sat at the desk, turning on the magic lamp to 'read by candlelight'. The two of them were in the same room without any sense of incongruity, each doing their own thing and not disturbing each other.

The torrential rain outside showed no signs of stopping and seemed poised to pour even harder, creating a perfect atmosphere for sleeping.

He felt his eyelids getting heavy, and with a tilt of his head and a shrug, he fell asleep on his back.

I don't know how long it took before I woke up from my deep sleep. The cause was an urge to urinate, since I had drunk milk before bed.

She opened her eyes, sat up, and found the desk lamp still on—it was one in the morning! Shia had gone from 'studying by candlelight' to 'studying with utmost diligence'!

Just when I was about to collapse, I miraculously managed to get back up, much like myself in class, feeling overwhelmed by the tyranny of the homeroom teacher but also incredibly sleepy.

Domi yawned and walked up behind Shia, gently patting her shoulder:

"It's so late, go to sleep early. It's not like I'm not going to let you see it."

Shea turned her head, and you could already see obvious dark circles under her eyes, but her expression was still full of excitement and exhilaration; she was absolutely thrilled!

"This is so interesting."

"I'll read one more chapter, then I'll go to sleep..."

“Staying up late is bad for your health,” Domi sighed. “You must be hungry after using your brain for so long. Want some late-night snack? I’ll make you something.”

"You can cook, can't you?"

"Woman, you underestimate me."

"Okay, then... thanks in advance."

"Just so you know, I can only make omelet rice..."

Less than half an hour later, Domi brought over the steaming hot omelet rice.

Actually, making an omelet rice doesn't take long, at most fifteen minutes. You just have to be careful when you pick it up, and since the house is so big, most of the time is spent walking over.

crunch~

He pushed open the door, and the fragrance immediately filled every corner of the room:

"Omelette rice is here!"

Learning from Catherine's experience, and also because Shia attacked him afterwards after her clothes were torn off and she moaned, Domi deliberately did not use Chef Soma Yukihira's unique technique for his omelet rice this time.

However, given the technology involved, it won't taste too bad.

"Ah?"

When I went into the room, the light was still on, but Shia was already asleep on the table, fast asleep. She must be experiencing the side effects of staying up so late.

"Honestly, it's like they're saying I could work out all night again, but I'm already exhausted after only half an hour..."

After muttering to himself, Domi placed the omelet rice on the table and then pulled a blanket over Shia.

But upon closer inspection, it doesn't make sense.

It's raining so hard outside, and the temperature is several degrees lower than usual. With this kind of setup, I'll definitely catch a cold and have a fever when I wake up the next day.

It was alright on the island, at least there was a campfire nearby, but now the room is no warmer than their old hut.

Shea's constitution isn't very good. If she were like Domi, it wouldn't matter whether she covered herself with a blanket or not.

Simply covering yourself with a blanket is not advisable!

"Why don't we just put her back in her room..."

"No, no, it wouldn't be good if I woke her up."

Weigh the pros and cons.

Finally, Domi carried Xia into his own bed, covered her with the blanket, finished his omelet rice, and left the room. He then went into Xia's room and slipped into her bed.

The main idea is equivalent exchange.

"You've already taken over our bed, so it shouldn't be a problem for me to sleep in yours!"

The logic was sound, and there was no embarrassment whatsoever, so I fell asleep with a clear conscience.

An ordinary, uneventful, yet heartwarming rainy night passed by...

The next morning, it was a very overcast day, and there was still a lot of standing water on the ground.

Xia opened her eyes groggily, and the familiar ceiling came into view, but the blanket felt different, and there was a familiar but not her scent.

This is definitely not her bed!

Xia was startled awake. She looked around and then remembered that she had stayed up too late last night and seemed to have fallen asleep.

Looking at the Book of Heraldry spread out on the desk, and the blanket on the chair almost dragging on the floor...

With her strong reasoning ability, she immediately figured out the general course of events, and the fragmented memories that followed were pieced back together.

"It was Domi who carried me to bed... But where is he?"

Shea carefully searched every detail of the bed, trying to find any trace of what had happened, but she found nothing, not even a single fresh hair!

Moreover, the clothes showed no signs of being tampered with.

This made her very disappointed, and she even began to doubt her own charm.

I thought Domi had finally figured things out. If we couldn't take it any further, we could at least sleep in the same bed. But he just wouldn't follow the rules!

hateful!

He was asleep, still in his room and on his bed, and he didn't know what to do?

Shea was so angry that she pounded the blanket with her little fists.

Furious, he got out of bed and went out to look for Domi.

As soon as she stepped out, she ran into Kelsey, who was walking towards her.

"Ah, Your Highness, greetings~"

Good morning, Ms. Kelsey!