The Legendary Knight: Rise of the Primordial Dragon

Chapter 113: Stupid Heart

"It will not end with just a shoulder next time, huh?" Chloe muttered as she slapped a bandage on Vlad’s palm. It was the fourth bandage she had placed on the same hand with the same intensity, covering the red marks left by the thorns.

"Ack! Please be a little gentler," Vlad whimpered, his eyes closed tight in pain, the muscles of his face tightened.

They sat on the bench outside the convenience store where Chloe was mending him, or more accurately, beating him into healing.

After the clash with Lorenzo, Vlad managed to walk off the platform maintaining his unfazed facade. But as soon as he realized no one was watching him, he quickly pulled out the poisonous thorns and barely kept himself from falling unconscious.

It was only thanks to the self-detoxification feature of the Legacy System, which was actively neutralizing the poison in his body, that he did not end up in the infirmary again.

Still, he could not escape the painful yet caring bandaging from Chloe.

"Stupid Vlad, acting all tough," Chloe muttered as she pulled his other hand and began dabbing the cotton, dipped in ointment, onto it.

"Hehe~ you must have thought I lost when the mines blew off," Vlad said with a playful smirk. "How was the sudden surprise at the end?"

"I was not surprised at all," Chloe answered, her tone even, her lavender eyes fixed on the wounds on his hand. "You can never lose."

She said those words as a matter of fact, as if Vlad could never lose a battle in her eyes. The blind faith she had in him only made him smile with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, I will never lose," Vlad said, patting her head.

"But that does not mean you can get injured," Chloe muttered, pressing the cotton harder.

"Y-yeah, I got you, I got you," Vlad blurted, flinching.

Chloe simply gave him a sharp stare before turning her focus back to his hand. She knew that with the path he was walking, injuries were inevitable. Still, she wanted him to take care of himself and not go overboard.

While Chloe began placing the bandages on his hand, he turned his focus to the system display hovering before him, visible only to his eyes.

[Congratulations! You have completed sub-quest #1: Retain the Crown!]

[Sub-quest #2: Quest Hunter is unlocked!]

[The Ascension Dungeon is unlocked!]

Vlad was about to check more details about the Ascension Dungeon, but then suddenly Chloe’s face appeared through the screen, just a forearm’s distance away from him.

The sudden appearance of her serene face startled him slightly.

"Move your head," she ordered, tilting his head forward by grabbing his chin with her fingers before applying disinfectant to his cheek with the cotton.

There were numerous red marks left on his face from the poisonous thorns, not to mention the prolonged exposure of his skin to the poisonous smoke.

"So ugly," Chloe said as she placed a bandage, causing Vlad to gasp.

"H-how could you say that?" he exclaimed, fixing her with widened eyes. "I am still as handsome as ever. Take a closer look."

He leaned closer, brushing his hair back from his forehead with his hand.

Chloe’s fingers froze on his cheek, her eyes locked with Vlad’s as their breaths mingled in the few inches of distance between them.

"Move back, Ugly Vlad," Chloe said a moment later, her ears hidden behind strands of her lavender hair, turning beet red.

She pressed her finger into his cheek, pushing him back.

"So that’s how it is," Vlad muttered, giving her a sideways glance before turning his face away. "You cannot bear to look at me now that I have an ugly face."

"Turn your face. I need to put a bandage on the other side," Chloe said, completely ignoring his remark as she dipped the cotton in disinfectant.

"Forget it, you don’t need to take care of poor, ugly me," Vlad retorted, folding his arms. "Go take care of that Raphael, or whoever. He has a handsome face, doesn’t he?"

Suddenly, Chloe’s inverted face appeared before him, her hair cascading down. She was leaning forward from above him.

"Is this about the dinner I had last night without you?" she asked, a faint smile tugging at her lips, an unusual expression crossing her even features. She moved the cotton to his cheek, balancing herself by holding the backrest of the bench with her other hand.

The frown only deepened on Vlad’s face at her question. Before the cotton could touch his skin, he snapped his head to the other side. "Just go away already. I will do it myself."

"Stop acting like a kid."

Chloe tried applying the disinfectant again, only for Vlad to snap his head away once more.

"Tch, stubborn Vlad!" she muttered, swinging one leg over to the other side of him and sitting on his lap.

She grabbed his face with both hands, cupping his cheeks as she said, "No matter how ugly anyone looks, they are always loved by their family."

"So you are still sticking to the part where I look ugly?"

The faint smile returned to Chloe’s face, making him catch his breath.

"I am only teasing, dummy Vlad. About the dinner, last night. I could not tell you because my phone was dead."

"Oh..." The frown vanished from Vlad’s face, his resistance melting away.

"Now let Chloe Mama make you handsome again," Chloe said, raising the cotton.

"Who is talking nonsense now," Vlad mumbled, lowering his eyes as he offered his wounded cheek to her.

While she gently tended to the injuries on his cheek, Vlad sat completely frozen, an unfamiliar emotion surging through him from the warmth of Chloe pressing against his thighs.

For the first time ever, Chloe seemed completely at ease in a position that was clearly not normal, while Vlad seemed visibly flustered, unable to meet her eyes.

’Stupid heart,’ Vlad muttered inwardly, his hands clenched at his sides. ’Why are you beating so fast?’