Chapter 55: Let your Queen feed you personally

He looked at her eyes, his face serious as he muttered smoothly, "You actually did a great job today. It would have been difficult for me to lock him down if you weren’t here, Esabella."

The moment her actual name and the brief compliment left his mouth, Esabella froze completely.

The proud, dominant Dragon Queen vanished in a second. Her eyes widened to their absolute limits, and a pink flush crawled up her white neck, turning her face completely red. Large, highly dramatic tears of pure happiness welled up in her eyes. She quickly wiped the corners of her eyes with her long black claws, her breath catching deep inside her throat .

"D-Dante..." Esabella stammered, her voice shaking with an intense, overwhelming rush of joy. "You... you called me by my name. You praised me. Oh my god... my life is completely complete now. I can die peacefully right this second. No, I want to live forever just to hear you say it again!"

Dante’s expression remained totally blank. ’I definitely shouldn’t have said that.’

"My King!" Esabella cried out happily, completely losing her mind to her obsessive love.

She threw her entire body forward, her massive wings snapping wide as she went to wrap her arms tightly around his neck for a massive hug. Her hips swayed with pure excitement, and her bladed tail thrashed wildly against the sand.

Thud.

Before her large chest could touch his, Dante smoothly raised his left hand, planting his palm firmly against her forehead. His arm went completely rigid, locking her mid-air exactly two feet away from his body.

"Stay back," Dante ordered in a deadly whisper. "I told you three steps."

Esabella didn’t retreat. She kept her legs pumping, her heels digging into the black sand as she tried to force her head past his palm, her arms reaching out frantically to wrap around his waist. Her manic, beautiful face carried a desperate, begging expression as her eyes locked onto his lips. "Just one hug! Please, Dante! Just a single hug for your Queen! I held that giant arm for you! I deserve a small reward!"

"No," Dante said flatly, his arm remaining like an unmovable wall against her forehead.

"Just a tiny one! A half-second hug!" she demanded, pouting her lips as her tail thrashed aggressively, leaving deep gouges in the obsidian floor blocks. "Why are you so cold to me? It makes me want you more!"

Dante kept his guard up, his palm firmly holding her back as he internally questioned his own life choices. ’This woman’s mental stability is completely broken.’

Behind them, Gideon leaned on his ancient bone staff, watching the chaotic, silly display with a face full of absolute exhaustion. The old pioneer let out a sigh and rubbed his scarred temples.

"Ten years in the abyss," Gideon muttered to himself, shaking his head as he turned toward the exit. "I survived volcanic calamity beasts, toxic rains, and a decade of isolation... just to watch a kid use his bare hand to keep a dragon queen from hugging him. The upper floors are completely weird now."

Dante finally managed to push Esabella back, shoving his hand straight back into his pocket before she could try another hug. "Let’s go to the dining hall. The conversation is over."

He walked past her over the rubble, Esabella rubbed her forehead where his palm had been, a breathtaking, manic smile stretching across her face as her eyes locked onto his back like a hunter. She followed him, her tail swaying in pure ecstasy as they headed toward the royal feast.

After some time....

The central dining hall of the northern fortress was massive, dominated by a table that stretched over twenty meters down the center of the room. Dozens of terrified demon servants were sprinting back and forth, their claws rattling as they set down massive silver platters piled high with smoking, high-energy volcanic beast meat and red wine.

Dante sat near the head of the long table, Gideon sat a few seats down, already tearing into a giant roasted flank with his bare hands, eating like a wild hermit who hadn’t seen cooked meat in ten years.

Esabella sat directly to Dante’s right. Her eyes were locked entirely on his face, her pitch-black tail swaying in a slow, rhythmic pattern against the stone floor. She picked up a thin golden fork with her long claws, spear-piercing a piece of tender, perfectly seared meat, and leaned right into his space arching her back.

"My King," Esabella murmured, as she held the fork right in front of his lips. "You worked so hard to shatter Balor. Let your Queen feed you personally."

Dante didn’t look at the meat. He simply turned his head slightly, his eyes freezing over with a irritated glare. "I have two working hands. Get that out of my face."

"But—"

"I said no," Dante cut her off, his voice dropping to a angry tone. "Stop bothering me and focus on your own plate. Eat."

The anger in his voice didn’t upset her at all.

"Yes, my King..." she whispered breathlessly, pulling the fork back with a dazed, happy smile. "But I am already completely filled just by watching you breathe. Your angery face is so incredibly handsome."

Dante ignored her comment, picked up a knife himself, and began to eat with rapid, efficient movements. The high-energy meat immediately began to fill the hollow void in his gut, his reconnected system interface smoothly calculating his stamina recovery in the corner of his vision.

All around the perimeter of the room, the royal cooks and vanguard officers were standing like statues, their bodies covered in sweat. They kept their eyes glued to Dante’s mouth, trembling in pure survival terror.

Esabella didn’t look at the food at all. She kept her eyes locked on Dante, but her voice suddenly shifted into a ruthless register as she addressed the kitchen staff. "If my Dante shows a single wrinkle on his brow, or if the texture of that meat doesn’t perfectly please his tongue, I will drag every single one of you to the execution blocks before the meat grows cold."