Grown Up

‘Impossible, absolutely impossible, right?!’

A little white dragon girl she saved over ten years ago, appearing before her eyes as a senior student a decade later.

‘Such a thing couldn’t possibly happen!’

Selina roared in her heart.

She felt that the reality before her was even more fantastical than her dreams.

But fact was fact.

Facts wouldn’t disappear because she didn’t want to accept them.

She was there, in a white dress, tall and elegant, like a snow lotus growing on the peak of a celestial mountain.

‘Could it be a case of the same name?’

‘No, it’s not the same name.’

It was the little dragon girl from her dream!

Although the memory was somewhat distant, some details still matched.

The model of the white-haired little dragon girl in her memory, the key detail was the rose-red hair tie tied in her smooth, pure white long hair, the one she had given her.

‘I knew this hair tie felt so familiar!’

‘It turns out it was the one I gave to the little dragon girl!’

Things in this world were truly coincidentally unbelievable.

Selina’s thoughts were completely jumbled. She didn’t hear a single word of what the little dragon girl on the podium was saying. She slumped over her desk as if dazed, her eyes filled with confused thoughts.

‘This is truly exasperating. Why is it that every time I come to this school, I meet old acquaintances connected to my past?’

‘How am I supposed to operate in this marketplace then? Directly jump…’

‘Jumping is impossible. At least, not until she completes the task that old schemer assigned her. Even if she did jump, her soul would probably still be held captive by him.’

Fortunately, Selina was not truly a five or six-year-old child.

After the initial panic and tension, the girl stabilized her mind and finally began to seriously observe Aurelia’s expression and behavior.

Based on her many years of observational experience, Aurelia probably hadn’t noticed her.

It made sense; her current self was a complete makeover. With her appearance, hair color, eye color, race, and even gender all changed.

‘If she could still recognize me after changing her race and gender, Selina vowed she might as well just go to Philicia and admit her identity on the spot.’

Aurelia didn’t recognize her; this was a good thing.

She never imagined that the once skinny, pathetic little dragon girl, after crossing that river, would embark on the right path in her dragon life.

Once upon a time, she was merely a fugitive following him, avoiding other white dragons who were hunting her. But now, she stood there, radiant and dazzling, an esteemed existence that everyone looked up to.

‘The Saintess of the White Dragon?’

It seemed that the pursuit back then indeed had an irreversible impact on her dragon life trajectory.

However, what surprised Selina even more was that the little dragon girl had actually accepted the name she had given her back then.

Aurelia, this name meant ‘golden,’ ‘radiant.’ When he first called out this name, he didn’t have any particularly poetic thoughts. He just felt that the sunset glow falling from the horizon and her golden dragon eyes were very similar.

Gold was a color that signified nobility and was pleasing. Naming her by a color simply meant that Conde at the time hadn’t given it much thought; he just pitied the little dragon girl and said it casually.

But she actually took his casual remark to heart and bore it as her unique name.

As the Saintess of the White Dragon, with her current noble status, if she wished to rejoin the Dragon Tribe’s royal surname, there would absolutely be no problem.

The Dragon Tribe’s royal family would definitely be willing to bestow a new name upon a respected Saintess.

But none of that happened. She preferred to hold onto the words of an unfamiliar human stranger, and she did not try again to integrate into that former home.

And that rose-red hair tie on her head.

The owner of the hair tie was originally a woman who had once begged him to help her “steal” back her husband, who had been forcibly conscripted into the army.

After the deed was done, lacking sufficient funds to pay the remaining balance, she used her most precious rose-red hair tie as collateral.

The hair tie was adorned with some gold threads, but it was essentially a rather crudely handmade product.

Nobles wouldn’t care for it, but for commoners, it was quite a luxurious accessory.

A hair tie that even ordinary nobles wouldn’t care for, she had kept it tied on her head, using it until now.

Looking at its color, it was still as vibrant as ever, as if years and time had never left a mark on that item.

A noble Saintess wearing a commoner’s hair tie, what an interesting combination.

Throughout the entire class, Selina’s attention was almost entirely focused on Aurelia, her eyes fixed on her.

Classes were truly magical. When you weren’t interested in the lesson, every minute felt like a year. But when you were interested in something or someone in that class, time always passed quickly.

In any case, when the bell rang, it was time for class to end.

Students all quickly packed up their belongings or experimental items from their desks, either heading back to their dorms or preparing for the next class.

Selina, of course, did the same, but seemingly to observe Aurelia, her packing speed was a bit slow.

Not until all the students in the classroom had left did the girl pick up the books on her desk, ready to leave.

And at that very moment, the white dragon girl on the podium suddenly spoke, calling out to her.

“Wait…”

Selina paused, then turned and smiled slightly.

“May I ask what Teacher Aurelia needs from me?”

“During class just now, your gaze was constantly on me. Is there something?”

The white dragon girl walked over quietly, every gesture gentle and composed, every movement elegant and dignified.

Only at this moment did Selina truly feel that the little girl who once hid behind her had perhaps truly grown up now.

“No, I just found the teacher’s lecture particularly interesting, so my attention was unconsciously entirely on the teacher~”

‘No, even if she paid close attention, her entire focus couldn’t have been solely on the teacher. Even students in the front row who listened diligently would spend part of their time on experimental equipment, conducting experiments. Yet you were staring at my face almost the entire time.’

Although Aurelia’s words didn’t carry any obvious oppressive feeling, the nobility and coolness emanating from her still made one involuntarily want to respond honestly.

“No, perhaps the teacher is simply too beautiful, and I became momentarily lost in admiration~”

During her days at school, Selina hadn’t made no progress. She had used flattery on Philicia quite a bit before, though in reality, both of them were quite beautiful.

If the person before her were Avia, Selina believed that with such a direct statement, the young girl would surely blush crimson and become incredibly shy, after all, she was just an innocent girl who lacked love in her heart and was actually naive.

But the little dragon girl before her took a direct hit without her expression changing.

‘Such strong composure!’

Selina exclaimed inwardly.

“Is that so? Thank you. However, your attention in class should still be on knowledge. The beauty of appearance will never change, but knowledge can undergo qualitative change through accumulation. Moreover, I only wish to reserve my beauty for the one I love most…”

‘Such a serious answer, truly worthy of a Saintess… Wait!’

Selina had just been about to marvel at how this girl had grown up, speaking such profound truths, when the very next sentence almost made her choke on her own saliva and lose her composure.

‘What does she mean, her beauty is reserved only for the one she loves most?’

‘Such words are meant to be thought, why say them out loud?’

‘No, why would you say them to me?’

‘I’m not the one you love most!’