The Saintess

That crimson, seemingly drawn from the depths of her soul, perfectly adhered to its rightful place.

The lines delineated by the paint on the white paper broke the boundary between dream and reality, merging a sense of authenticity with a dreamlike quality.

The white-haired dragon girl gazed at the image of the polished red scale adhering to the ring’s gemstone, her cool little face nodding in satisfaction.

“Well done, Norin.”

Facing her Saintess Highness’s praise, the red dragoness had no mood to be happy.

At this moment, she was clutching her large tail, freshly stripped of a scale, huddled in a corner with a deeply wronged expression, her beautiful face showing signs of shedding little pearls of tears.

“Norin, are you alright?”

“Your Highness, may I say no?”

The red dragoness gazed plaintively at her Highness, who was once again bending over, meticulously appreciating her painting.

In her heart, she cursed the nameless man in the painting fiercely several times.

Although it was only one scale that was stripped, the sensitivity of a dragon’s body in human form was heightened.

Normally, losing scales in a fight was commonplace, and the combative red dragoness had never cared.

But this time, directly stripping a scale from her tail in human form truly hurt so much that she almost cried.

“Alright, alright, I know you’ve been wronged this time. Don’t worry, I’ll cover for you in art class this semester. You won’t have to worry about attendance or your final project.”

Aurelia stroked Norin’s smooth, long red hair, her tone growing gentler.

“Oh, right, what were you just saying? I didn’t quite catch it.”

After intently finishing her painting, Aurelia finally had time and inclination to focus on the big news Norin had mentioned.

“It’s just what happened last night, you see. The Third Imperial Prince of the Blood Empire, for some crazy reason, actually went to Norin’s manor himself, called out Norin’s father and brothers, and then stripped their scales right in front of Norin!”

‘The princess didn’t know what kind of madness struck her last night; she actually only brought one maidservant. It is said that the hidden master of that auction house is even a vampire, a former prince.’

Aurelia listened to the red dragoness babbling, but her casual demeanor clearly indicated she wasn’t taking these matters to heart.

“You speak, I am listening.”

The white-haired dragon girl responded indifferently, as if nothing in the world could truly capture her attention.

“This is a major event concerning the three great powers, Your Highness! Are you really not interested at all?”

Norin sometimes felt that her Highness was very different from other girls.

Most other girls, regardless of their status, had some curiosity and interest in external events.

After all, gossip was an inherent nature of intelligent beings. Even elves, who prided themselves on pure hearts, would inevitably have one or two individuals with a burning soul for gossip among the female population.

‘But compared to her own Saintess, Norin felt that her Highness was about to become an immortal. Dragonkind’s preferences were for two out of three (hoarding treasure, abducting princesses, sleeping), but her interest was exclusively in playing the harp, governing (politically), and quietly painting.’

‘Anyway, the skills she could display outwardly were all uniformly cold and emotionless towards people. Even on the day she inherited the title of Saintess, Her Highness dared to boldly refuse the Dragon King any pleasantries.’

‘That was the Dragon King! In the entire Great Dragon Divine Dynasty, apart from the Dragon God, whose physical form was never seen, he was the primary authority and decision-maker. Her Highness clearly had the Dragon King’s bloodline flowing through her, and the Dragon King himself had intended to use the Saintess inheritance ceremony to mend their father-daughter relationship. But from beginning to end, Her Highness only acknowledged the Dragon King’s bloodline and her royal status.’

‘Yet, facing such a blatant disregard for his authority, the usually bad-tempered Dragon King merely left with a dark face, doing nothing.’

“What does the dispute of the three great powers matter? It’s merely the noisy talk initiated by different races for their respective interests. Even if the Divine Dynasty wants to interfere, that’s a matter for the royal family. I, as the Saintess, am only responsible for the rituals and communication concerning the Dragon God.”

Yes, you heard that right.

The Great Dragon Divine Dynasty was a nation governed by both divine and royal authority.

Although the Dragon God created the dragon race, in reality, the entire Great Dragon Divine Dynasty was completely ruled by the Dragon King alone.

As for the Dragon God?

At least in Norin’s not-so-brief memory, the deity who created the dragon race had never interfered with the Divine Dynasty.

It was like a mother giving birth to a child and then abandoning it completely.

‘Do whatever you dragons want. So what if you inherited my bloodline?’

‘Anyway, I don’t want to bother with anything; I just want to bury my head and sleep.’

Although that was said, from the Dragon King down to the common dragons, there was not one who did not revere this deity.

The Dragon God loved to sleep and loved to slack off, that was the Dragon God’s business.

But those descendants below still had to do what they were supposed to do.

The wise First Dragon King voluntarily delegated 60% of the Great Dragon Divine Dynasty’s power, in name, to the Dragon God Cult, while the royal family retained the remaining 40% of administrative power.

On the surface, the Dragon God Cult was more qualified to rule the Divine Dynasty than the Great Dragon Divine Dynasty’s royal family.

But in reality, the supreme authorities of the Dragon God Cult, the Saintesses of each generation, had little ambition for power.

As for this generation…

Norin looked at her Highness’s profile, intently examining the painting, and sighed helplessly.

Her Highness was no longer simply lacking ambition for power; she simply didn’t have the thoughts and joys of a normal girl.

Her immense interest throughout the day was only in painting the scenes from her dreams, and those scenes were, surprisingly, of the Saintess marrying an unknown man.

If not for the Dragon King secretly condoning this behavior and demanding secrecy, the entire Great Dragon Divine Dynasty would probably be shaken.

‘The pure and immaculate Saintess actually has an unclear relationship with a mere human? How could this be tolerated? How could the pride of the great Dragon race be touched by a weak human?’

‘Moreover, this human, whose very name was unknown, had unknowingly abducted the noble Saintess. Could this be endured?’

“Your Highness, actually, the Dragon King also intended for me to convey a message to you. This… has Your Highness communicated with the Dragon God during this time?”

It was well known that while the deities of other races were fighting in the divine wars, the Dragon God was sleeping.

While the deities of other races were developing wildly, the Dragon God was sleeping.

While the deities of other races were sleeping, the Dragon God was still sleeping…

In reality, the Dragon God spent most of her time dreaming. Her truly awake time was not long at all.

So even the Saintess, whose specific duty was to communicate with the Dragon God, had to see if the Dragon God was actually awake.

A Saintess with bad luck would try to communicate time and again with no signal in return.

The fifteenth generation Saintess in history was tragically like this.

Aside from a grunt or two from the Dragon God, as if half-asleep, when she inherited the title of Saintess, she never had another successful communication throughout her long dragon life.

“Yes, the Dragon God told me that my destined one is coming to find me.”

Aurelia paused in silence, then a rare, girlish blush of shyness spread across her delicate cheeks.