Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Arrested and Imprisoned
"Regarding the repayment of your debt..."
"Don’t worry about the debt, Mr. Constantine, because..."
As Baron’s mind reeled, the woman stood up, her naked body pressing against him. He could feel her softness even through his clothes.
Her eyelashes were curly and thick, like tiny fans. Her pupils were like a sheet of ice, obscuring the look in her eyes, yet he could feel the tempestuous waves about to surge from beneath.
She breathed into Baron’s ear, her tone as gentle as the wind rustling through a wheat field:
"I will repay the debt with my body."
"I think you must have misunderstood something, Miss Carmen... Actually, the main purpose of my visit was to assess your personal credit. Someone from the bank will contact you later about the specific repayment... I think it’s getting late. Since the letter has been delivered, I have to go catch the next bus."
Baron cautiously avoided the woman, reaching for the doorknob with the right hand that held his cane.
His hand touched the knob, and a flicker of joy ignited in Baron’s heart, but then the "knob" took his hand.
Carmen had somehow snuck up behind him. She pulled his hand, spinning him around, her fingertips tracing the buttons of Baron’s suit.
Her gaze was icy, her words just as cold: "Look into my eyes."
’When did she...’
Baron shivered. As the girl spoke, she stared intently into his eyes, like a beast watching its prey. A fire seemed to burn within those blood-red pupils!
He suddenly felt as if he had nowhere to hide under those fiery red pupils. It was like a small boat, long adrift and lonely on the vast sea, suddenly illuminated by a beam from a lighthouse, leaving nothing concealed.
The girl grabbed Baron’s hand and placed it on her heaving, fair chest. Her words were like a thunderbolt:
"You saw me turn into a dragon, didn’t you?"
"What? A dragon? Miss Carmen, you must be joking."
He impassively withdrew his hand, his expression habitually taking on the reserved and wary look unique to the blind.
"Stop pretending, Mr. Constantine," Carmen said lightly. "Since you could find me with the Knight’s Lawbook, aren’t you here to make me, who has failed her Tier advancement, fulfill the agreement we made?"
’Knight Law? Failed Tier advancement? Agreement?’
Baron didn’t understand these strange terms at first, but his intuition immediately brought the letter he’d given Carmen to mind—and sure enough, Carmen now held that very letter.
"Your conspicuous actions were nothing short of foolish. The ’Inquisition’ has already taken notice of this place, and the Dragon Family has no habit of breaking its promises. I don’t know how you managed to find me on the exact day I failed my Tier advancement, but I won’t dwell on that now.
"In any case, before the Inquisition arrives, I will use this Professional Lawbook you brought to sign a Blood Covenant with you and complete the contract for the Dragon Knight Profession."
Carmen tore open the envelope. The letter inside unfolded to reveal a sheet of brownish-yellow parchment. The rest of the scraps were incinerated by a flame that flared up in the girl’s hand. The scene made Baron think of the concept of Magic.
"My Tier is far higher than yours. I don’t understand why ’he’ would make you, an Old Race without even ’Spiritual Sense’, the beneficiary of this agreement. However, I must remind you of one thing, Baron Constantin."
She addressed Baron solemnly by his full name. "The Red Dragon is a dragon abandoned by Destiny. By contracting with me, a Red Dragon, you too will be abandoned by Destiny."
"So I can refuse the contract?"
Although he still didn’t understand the meaning of these terms, Baron was more or less able to follow Carmen’s train of thought.
"This is a warning, not a choice."
She bit down on Baron’s index finger.
Baron felt a sharp pain in his fingertip. He then saw blood drip onto her rose-colored lips and stream down her smooth chin, like the last rays of sunset streaking across the sky. It added a bewitching, poppy-like allure to her already sacred beauty.
Baron tried to pull his finger back but found his entire body was sore and weak. A numbing sensation, like a mild electric shock, started from his fingertip and coursed through his whole body.
The girl was gently licking the wound on his fingertip. She then bit her own lip, and the blood from her lips mixed with the blood on Baron’s finger, mingling and merging like two rose petals floating in a whirlpool.
Then came the girl’s angelic singing voice. She was humming a song, its melody ancient and its lyrics timeless. Though it was neither English nor Chinese, Baron understood the meaning of the words.
The gist of it was that a being called the Master of Dreams had created a place like Heaven. The people loved him, so the Gods killed him, letting him forever accompany humans when they closed their eyes.
It was a bizarre song, but what was even more bizarre was that Baron actually understood it.
"Say, ’I am willing.’"
Carmen’s fingertip rested on Baron’s chest. After having witnessed the girl’s Giant Dragon form, he had no doubt that her finger could pierce his heart in an instant.
’I’m willing, my ass.’
"I... am willing."
Baron swallowed. This contract had a bizarrely ceremonial feel, like a wedding. From this perspective, though, he was the one being forced to the altar.
"I am willing, too... Then the contract is sealed. From this moment on, you shall be my one and only Knight. In the name of the Dragon Clan and by the Law of Order, I swear I shall grant you Dragon Scale and Sharp Claws, giving you the great power to resist all things. I shall grant you the Dragon Heart and the will to fight, giving you the courage to be decisive when action is needed..."
The woman’s voice carried the heavy scent of blood. Fire streamed from her eyes, carrying a fleeting, ancient sorrow, like the gold at the bottom of the Rhine River that had been illuminated by the sun for a thousand years.
Baron suddenly had a feeling that if the woman were a dragon, she must be a lonely one.
