Disconnected

Chapter 8: Chance Encounter (pt.3)

As someone who had always paid close attention to her surroundings, that pair of hazels couldn't help but look closer instead.

Ashy hair could even possibly be silver-colored under the right lighting.

Gold pair of eyes that are disguised as yellow when they're not in their normal state.

Cold sweat glistening on his pale face and nape.

Overall features that told her that he's not that old of a dragon. Maybe even close to her in human age.

And then there's that dark blue blood under his no—

‘Wait…’

“—blood?”

"Cava-chi! Blood!" One of the Wyrms freaked out while the other one only stood frozen as the man nonchalantly erased the trail of dark blue.

"Shut it, Pam, you're being too loud."

The man grumbled just a moment before his body swayed to the side when his knees buckled.

Eyes rounded a little, Serein jumped instinctively to catch him before he fell to the ground.

'My goodness…'

She ended up catching a fallen damsel.

'What's with this cliché setting?'

Serein had just met this person. She did not even know his name, and yet here she is, cradling this stranger, preventing him from landing harshly on the gold ground.

What she's doing is pretty much what normally happens in romance stories but in reverse.

'Well, at any rate…'

Serein put the silly thoughts away as she reached out to his forehead after realizing that his body felt hot just from the touch.

The man grunted as he shot a weak glare toward Serein.

"What are you doing...?"

However, he received no decent reply from the human, in which she ended up getting bit by the two Wyrms on her arm and neck.

—- Chomp! Chomp!

Serein hissed a little but does not remove her hand as she realizes that her temperature should be cold enough to help the man with his sizzling fever while she figured out what in the world is happening to him.

"...Serein-shi!"

With that squeak escaping her lips, Cherry, who had been quiet until now, finally reacted.

Serein could also hear shuffling next to the disguised princess. Unmistakably, Gil is making his move as well.

However, before they could come any closer, Serein stopped them with a calm voice.

"It's alright. Let them be."

Serein knows that these two Wyrms are not venomous.

Well, Not yet, at least.

Or else she would have passed out the moment her flesh got punctured.

'Teething stage? They are still too young then.'

Sensing little to no danger other than the possibility of getting dizzy from losing some blood, Serein simply asked the patient instead.

"Sorry, is it too uncomfortable? Would you rather have me carrying you to your bed?"

Their position is indeed a bit awkward, as in, it's not good for the joints to be in this situation for long.

Her small frame seemed to be embracing his body so that she could share her coldness to calm down even a bit of his rising heat.

Serein never has a problem with personal boundaries, which is why she's not aware of why he seems to be uncomfortable other than what she asked him about.

Meanwhile, with the person that's still being supported by her—

His fuzzy mind is a bit chaotic as he tries to stare back at her.

What does this girl want?

Why is she doing this?

And just how did she remain calm when she's bleeding profusely like that?

"Sam, Pam, stop it. Let her go."

In a very weak tone, he ordered the two who stubbornly stayed and deepened their fangs instead.

Serein barely held back another hiss as she flinched, then spoke with the calmest tone she could muster at the moment.

"It's ok, sir. Don't mind that and just focus on your breathing."

'She doesn't mind??'

The two humans and the presumably dragon were baffled by that claim. Although, the latter schooled his expression better than the others.

"Please stay still if you're not uncomfortable. From the symptoms, I don't think that this fever was caused by mere illness?"

Serein said instead, quite assured that this person was more likely to be injured than naturally sick from a weird virus or something.

'Ice would be too cold. But just cool water compress wouldn't be enough.'

Serein felt rather bemused at the thought of her defect being useful in this weird scenario. Even so, her sharp gaze had not yet relaxed whatsoever.

In the middle of observing what might be the cause, Serein saw how that furrowed brow slowly got untangled before then she heard a sigh escaping the pale lips.

"You're one weird human."

"That is correct, sir. I am indeed not normal. I'm quirky like that."

She jested back so that the atmosphere among them wouldn't be as cold as an iceberg. However, it was her indifferent tone that intrigued him the most. 

‘This human is not a normal one, is it?’ 

But he said nothing to answer her words. Not that it's a problem since Serein herself is not seeking a reply.

Rather than that, hazel eyes are scanning his body even closer now as she suspected from the murky blood that this dragon has, that he's in fact poisoned.

Couldn't find any wound on his face or exposed arms, with her other hand that's not bitten by the greenish-blue Wyrm, Serein tried to lift his robe carefully.

— Chomp!

The two reptilians dug their fangs further as she did so.

‘oh, for fuck sake!’

While cursing in her mind with a soft hiss escaping her lips, she tried to ignore the annoying pain as she decided to pay more attention to what she’d been looking for.

The cause of this searing fever.

The man's abdomen is bandaged with herbs though, from the looks of it, the treatment didn't work as much as it was intended.

'Was this caused by a human?'

Serein asked herself as she thought of a scenario where these three were betrayed by a human.

'It would validate the two's reaction if that was indeed the case.'

But to think that there’d be a poison that’s strong enough to harm a dragon.

She couldn’t help but wonder just what kind of person manages to pull off such a feat.