Chapter 397 The Tsundere Dragon Princess Accidentally Reveals Her True Feelings!

Emberlyn herself froze.

'What did I just say?'

She hadn't intended to challenge her elder sister, especially when Luke's life was still in danger, yet the words had escaped before she could restrain them.

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra stopped just before her lips touched Luke's.

She slowly raised her head and turned toward Emberlyn.

"...Responsibility?"

Her voice was unusually calm, although the irritation in her crimson eyes had become unmistakable.

"When did Luke become your responsibility?"

Emberlyn hesitated, realizing she had already gone too far to pretend she hadn't said anything.

However, after recalling the month she had spent accompanying Luke, she gradually gathered her confidence.

"He's my responsibility because I've been traveling with him this entire month, while you weren't even willing to remain near him."

Rhaenyra stared at her.

"...Oh?"

She slowly rose from beside the stone slab before approaching Emberlyn, stopping directly in front of her younger sister.

The two Dragon Princesses stood face-to-face, both still holding the medicines they had intended to administer to Luke.

A faint trace of the healing potion remained upon Emberlyn's lips, while Rhaenyra's own lips carried a small crimson glow from the blood essence she had gathered.

"Ember, I think you've forgotten something."

Rhaenyra's voice became colder.

"Even if I discard him or refuse to acknowledge him, Luke is still mine, and he will always remain MINE!"

Her voice rose toward the end, and the atmosphere inside the cave became increasingly tense as her A-Rank aura began stirring.

The thought of someone claiming Luke as their responsibility was already irritating enough.

However, hearing those words from her own younger sister made the feeling even worse, especially when Emberlyn had apparently grown so close to him during the past month.

Unfortunately, Emberlyn wasn't willing to remain silent this time.

"You're wrong, Sister. Luke isn't some object you can discard whenever you want and then claim again as though nothing happened."

"..."

Rhaenyra stared at her.

Emberlyn continued, her expression becoming more determined.

"You may not accept him as your husband, but that doesn't mean you can treat him however you please."

She didn't fully understand why she was defending Luke so strongly, although the month they had spent together had changed her opinion of him considerably.

At first, she had regarded him as another human Hero connected to the gods, someone she expected to possess the same selfish ambitions and false promises she had witnessed among so many others.

Even the Dragon Hero who had previously been summoned had disappointed her, which was why she had rejected the proposed marriage, a decision her father and grandfather had respected.

However, Luke had gradually proven different.

During their journey, she had witnessed how he treated the innocent demi-humans rescued from the Orc outposts, and despite his unusual personality, she had come to recognize that his concern for them was genuine.

He could be shameless, troublesome, and occasionally ridiculous, but Emberlyn had never felt that he was pretending to be someone he wasn't.

And after seeing him nearly die, she was no longer willing to hear her sister speak about him as though he were merely a possession.

Unfortunately, her words only made Rhaenyra angrier.

"Not an object?"

Rhaenyra repeated the words with a disbelieving expression, looking at Emberlyn as though her younger sister had said something completely absurd.

Then she pointed toward the stone slab.

"IF HE ISN'T AN OBJECT, THEN TELL ME WHY THE FUCK MY LUKE IS LYING THERE WITHOUT ANY LIMBS, COMPLETELY UNCONSCIOUS!"

Her furious voice echoed through the cave.

Before Emberlyn could answer, Rhaenyra stepped forward and grabbed her by the collar.

"YOU WERE WITH HIM THIS ENTIRE MONTH, WEREN'T YOU?! THEN HOW DID YOU LET HIM END UP LIKE THAT?!"

Emberlyn's expression changed.

Although she was more talented than Rhaenyra, having reached A-Rank before her elder sister, she knew that such differences meant very little when Rhaenyra lost her temper.

Her sister had always possessed an uncontrollable temper, and even if she were facing a true god, she probably wouldn't hesitate to fight once her anger overwhelmed her judgment.

Now, with crimson flames beginning to flicker within Rhaenyra's eyes, Emberlyn could sense just how furious she had become.

Unfortunately, the accusation had also struck a painful truth.

Emberlyn glanced toward Luke's unconscious body.

'If I had intervened earlier...'

She had repeatedly justified her decision to remain hidden by reminding herself of her father's orders and the danger posed by the three A-Rank Orc leaders.

Yet now that Luke was lying before her with all four limbs missing, she couldn't completely suppress the guilt gathering within her heart.

"I was following Father's order," Emberlyn finally replied, trying to defend herself. "He specifically told me not to interfere in your mission."

"Heh? Father's order?"

Rhaenyra sneered.

For a moment, Emberlyn became confused by her reaction.

"Little Sister, sometimes I really wonder whether Father has pampered you too much."

"...What?"

"You're so concerned about following orders that you've apparently forgotten they can be broken," Rhaenyra replied, maintaining her grip upon Emberlyn's collar. "We're dragons, Ember, and we have our own pride. Do you really believe we should blindly obey every command, even when someone important to us is dying?"

Emberlyn opened her mouth, but before she could answer, Rhaenyra asked another question.

"Tell me, Ember. Was Father's order more important than Luke's life?"

"..."

The question immediately silenced her.

Rhaenyra continued looking directly into her eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Because if you truly believed his life was more important, then why did you wait until he was almost dead before deciding to save him?"

Emberlyn felt her throat tighten.

She remembered how she had repeatedly hesitated while watching Luke struggle against the Orc army, and how she had finally chosen to break her father's order only after the three A-Rank leaders attempted to capture him.

"But I saved him at the last—"

"WHY SO LATE?!"

Rhaenyra interrupted her angrily.

"You could have intervened earlier, but you kept following Father's order until Luke was barely alive! Why did you wait so long?!"

Emberlyn lowered her gaze, unable to immediately respond.

Although she had possessed reasonable concerns about revealing herself, the sight of Luke's devastated body made defending those decisions increasingly difficult.

Rhaenyra finally loosened her grip slightly.

"Let me ask you something else, Ember. If Grandpa ordered Father not to protect either of us, do you think he would obey?"

"..."

Emberlyn looked toward her elder sister.

Rhaenyra answered her own question.

"Of course he wouldn't! Father would protect us even if he had to fight Grandpa himself, and you know that as well as I do!"

Her voice remained firm, carrying the certainty of someone who had never doubted their father's love.

"Because to him, his family is more important than any order."

Those words finally made Emberlyn fall silent.

She knew Rhaenyra was right about that.

Their father had always been willing to protect them, and although he could be strict about many matters, Emberlyn understood that he wouldn't hesitate to oppose even their grandfather if his daughters' lives were genuinely threatened.

After all, he had listened to her wishes before, including her decision to reject the Dragon Hero's marriage proposal.

'Then why couldn't I...'

Emberlyn looked toward Luke again, her earlier determination gradually giving way to guilt.

However, Rhaenyra had already reached the limit of her patience.

"So get lost! I'll take care of Luke myself!"

With those words, she pushed Emberlyn backward.

THUD!

Emberlyn stumbled and fell onto the cave floor, looking up at her elder sister with a complicated expression.

Rhaenyra ignored her and immediately returned to Luke's side, where the drop of blood essence she had gathered was still waiting to be administered.

She carefully lowered herself beside him, preparing to transfer it into his mouth.

However, Emberlyn couldn't remain silent.

"Rhaenyra, but you don't even accept him as your husban—"

"That's a matter between husband and wife."

Rhaenyra interrupted without turning toward her.

Her voice had become noticeably quieter, although it still carried enough firmness to prevent Emberlyn from continuing.

For a moment, even Rhaenyra seemed confused by the words she had just spoken.

After all, she had never properly accepted Luke as her husband, and much of their relationship had been defined by her anger, pride, and unwillingness to acknowledge the connection between them.

She had even hurt him during one of their earlier encounters, allowing her temper to overwhelm her judgment.

Yet seeing him lying before her in such a terrible condition had awakened an unfamiliar heaviness within her chest.

'You troublesome human...'

Her fingers gently brushed the black hair away from his forehead.

'Why do you always have to make things so difficult?'