"Okay."

The single word cut through the tension like a guillotine.

Ezra froze, her sword half-drawn. She turned to her husband, her eyes wide with confusion.

"Husband... did the heat finally boil your brain?" she hissed, her voice vibrating with a mix of disbelief and homicidal intent directed at the man in green robes.

"He said 'no bitches'," Nina whispered loudly to Luna, her ears flattening. "Did he call us bitches?"

"What do you think?" Luna muttered, though she looked equally horrified, her hand gripping a fruit knife so hard the handle was cracking. "He is agreeing to... court that thing."

Even Nyx had stopped chewing.

A piece of high-grade steak hung from her fork, suspended in mid-air.

Her golden eyes darted from Judas to Valerian.

Valerian beamed. The white powder on his face cracked slightly as his smile stretched too wide, revealing teeth that were perfectly white but somehow looked predatory.

He snapped his metal fan open with a flourish that sent a wave of cloying, floral perfume washing over them.

"Splendid!" Valerian squealed, his feminine voice reaching a pitch that threatened to shatter the glass windows. "I knew you had taste! A man of your... caliber... shouldn't be weighed down by such heavy baggage."

He waved his fan dismissively at the five stunning women capable of leveling the city block.

"So many mouths to feed. So much nagging. Tonight, I shall show you how a true elite of the Dragon Region lives."

Judas kept a smile on his face. He simply sat there, his heart pounding against his ribs, because of the voice that had just echoed inside his skull.

At the exact moment Valerian had made his lewd proposition, a different voice—deep, respectful, and completely devoid of the feminine screeching—had resonated directly in Judas's mind.

'Young Master. What are you doing here?'

Judas kept his face perfectly neutral, but his mind was racing at a thousand miles per hour.

'Young Master?'

It was the tone of a subordinate addressing their liege lord. It was the tone of recognition.

Judas Iscariot—the man currently inhabiting this body—was a transmigrator.

He had awakened in a field of corpses with no memories of the body's previous owner. He knew the name was Judas, he knew he was a farmer, and that was it.

He had always assumed the original owner was just a nobody.

But a nobody doesn't get recognized by a Captain of the Judiciary in a city thousands of miles away from the North. A nobody isn't called "Young Master" by an Apprentice Dragon Rider.

'This man knows who I am,' Judas realized, gripping his fork tightly under the table. 'Or rather, he knows who this body used to be.'

Valerian was acting.

The flamboyant gestures, the shrieking voice, the lewd public invitation—it was all a cover. He wanted everyone in the inn, everyone in the city, to think that Captain Valerian was just indulging in his well-known perversions.

If they met privately under the guise of a sexual encounter, no one would suspect they were discussing secrets, or the past.

'It's becoming interesting...' Judas thought, a cold smirk touching his lips.

He looked up at Valerian. He needed to play along.

"I am always free for a man of status," Judas said smoothly, ignoring the gagging sound Luna made next to him. "The Jade Pavilion, was it?"

"The Jade Pavilion," Valerian purred, his eyes flashing with a sharp, intelligent light that vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced by lust. "My private estate. Come at sunset. Alone."

Valerian took a step forward. "Here... let me verify if your muscles are as hard as they look."

He reached out. His long, manicured fingers, painted a blood-red, aimed for Judas's hand resting on the table.

Judas didn't move. He intended to let the man touch him, to see if there was another message passed through contact.

But he forgot one variable.

He forgot that while he knew this was a play, his wives did not.

And he forgot that Nyx didn't share food.

The moment Valerian's hand crossed the invisible boundary of their table, a small, pale blur moved.

Snap.

A soft, pale hand clamped around Valerian's wrist. It looked delicate, like the hand of a child, but the grip was absolute.

Nyx stared up at the Captain. She was still chewing her steak, her cheeks puffed out slightly. Her golden eyes were dead, devoid of any emotion other than mild irritation.

"Annoying," Nyx mumbled around her food.

She squeezed.

CRACK.

The sound was sickeningly loud in the silent inn. It sounded like a dry branch being snapped in half.

Valerian's wrist bent at an impossible angle. The radius and ulna bones shattered under the pressure of a True Dragon's grip.

The innkeeper gasped. The soldiers reached for their spears. Ezra and Summer tensed, ready to slaughter everyone in the room.

But Valerian... didn't scream.

He didn't even flinch.

The smile on his face didn't waver by a single millimeter. He looked down at his ruined wrist, then at the small girl holding it, with a look of mild curiosity.

Nyx blinked. She stopped chewing.

Nyx knew exactly how much force she had applied. It was enough to crush steel. It should have elicited a scream, a recoil.

But the human just stood there. His pulse didn't quicken. His pupils didn't dilate from pain.

"My, my," Valerian said, his voice steady, the screeching tone dropping just a fraction. "You have a very feisty pet, Handsome. And very strong."

He rotated his arm.

Crunch. Grind.

Using his own muscles, he forcefully twisted his wrist back into alignment. The sound of grinding bone made Nina cover her ears and whimper.

A green aura flared around the injury—Wood Element Mana—and within seconds, the swelling vanished.

Nyx turned her head to Judas, almost like she was complaining. Judas coughed, holding back the laugh wanting to break free from his throat.

Nyx released his hand, wiping her own palm on a napkin as if she had touched something filthy.

Valerian flexed his fingers, good as new. He leaned in closer to Judas, his serpentine eyes narrowing.

"She is dangerous," Valerian whispered, the mental voice echoing in Judas's head again.

'A True Dragon in human form? You play with fire, Young Master. As always.'

Now Judas was simply petrified.

Aloud, Valerian cackled, fanning himself with his other hand.

"I like danger! It spices up the bedroom! But tonight... leave the pets at home. I want you all to myself."

He spun on his heel, his green robes billowing.

"We are leaving!" he shrieked at his stunned soldiers. "The thieves aren't here! These are just... friends."

The soldiers, confused but terrified of their Captain, scrambled to follow.

The massive Wood Dragon uncurled itself from the floor, gave a terrified glance at Nyx, and slithered out the door after its master.

Valerian lingered at the shattered doorway for one last second. He looked back at Judas over his shoulder.

"Don't be late," he called out. "I will be waiting for you..." he laughed.

Then he was gone.

The inn remained silent for a long ten seconds. A collective sigh of relief followed.

Then, chaos erupted at the table.

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