My Dragon King System-Chapter 242: “Women”

"Uhm," Aiden muttered, while scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

Laela had just put him on the spot with that question, and now everyone was looking at him, including Rin.

He sighed heavily.

"I’m not sure if she’s ready to leave yet," he answered, gesturing vaguely toward Rin.

Rin’s expression shifted immediately. She frowned and pulled her head away from both women, crossing her arms over her chest.

Laela and Arianna looked at her sadly, as their smiles faded.

"To be honest," Rin began, "I don’t like being kept here against my will."

Aiden shook his head quickly. "But you don’t deny you’ve been treated right," he countered.

Rin opened her mouth to respond, but Aiden kept going.

"You get timely food," he said, counting on his fingers. "And a lot of it. Heck, you even ate the most from my wedding, and you weren’t even there!"

It was true. Aiden had teleported platters of food directly from the wedding venue into the Pocket Domain where Rin had been staying. She’d gone through nearly all of it within hours.

Rin’s frown deepened further and she said, "I cannot believe you’re defending keeping me captive by saying you overfeed me."

She paused, then added defensively, "And it’s not my fault I eat a lot. I’m half demon, remember?"

Aiden shot back. "Okay, what about the books?"

He gestured toward the corner where her bed was at on one of the raised platforms. A small stack of books rested beside it.

"See?" Aiden continued. "You’ve even got some more you haven’t finished yet."

This was how her vocabulary and use of words had improved so noticeably over the past few weeks.

Aiden’s avatar had been quietly providing her with books from Dragonhold’s library, bringing them back one or two at a time whenever she finished reading.

Rin rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation.

Laela and Arianna sat there silently, watching the exchange unfold between them.

It felt like watching a father argue with his daughter over curfew or chores, not like watching someone justify keeping a captive demon confined in a pocket dimension.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Rin stood abruptly and took a few steps away from them before stopping.

She turned back toward Aiden, still with a discontented look on her face.

"Why not call it what it is, Aiden?" she said. "You don’t want me out of here because you’re afraid I’ll go out and kill every human I spot. Because I’m a demon."

Aiden opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it again and shook his head instead.

Rin nodded slowly, as if his silence confirmed everything she’d just said.

"Yeah, I thought so too."

Without another word, she turned and walked back toward her bed in the corner of the domain.

She climbed onto it, lay down facing away from them, and curled up slightly so that no one could see her face anymore.

Both Laela and Arianna looked sad as they watched her retreat.

They understood her frustration, at least partially. Then they turned their gazes toward Aiden.

It wasn’t a bad look or anything accusatory, just a look.

"Oh come on," Aiden said, gesturing with both hands. "Why are you both looking at me like that?"

He let out an exasperated sigh. "I mean, what could I possibly do here?"

Laela placed her hand gently on his lap and said calmly, "We understand."

Arianna nodded in agreement beside her.

Aiden sighed again before speaking.

"Truth is, I don’t think she’s ready to handle how the world of humans works."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"What if some annoying passerby ticks her off? How would she react? Or what if she sees Ingrid one day and wants to get back at her? There’s just too much at stake here to let her off my sight."

Arianna placed her hand on his this time and met his eyes directly.

"We get it, my love," she said gently. "We do."

She paused before adding:

"But I’ll tell you this, she won’t ever know how to react to these things if she remains here."

Aiden sighed hearing that but said nothing more in response.

The three of them sat there quietly for a moment longer before Laela stood up slowly and gestured for Arianna to follow her.

They both walked over toward where Rin lay on the bed with her back still turned toward them.

Laela knelt down beside the bed and spoke softly:

"If you ever want to talk to us, just let Aiden’s clone know."

Arianna knelt beside Laela and added with a warm smile:

"And next time we come, we’ll tell you all about our friends from the guild."

Rin said nothing in response. She didn’t move or turn around either.

Laela and Arianna glanced at each other in understanding and decided not to press any further.

They stood up together and walked back toward where Aiden waited near the center of the domain.

"We’re ready to go now," Laela said.

Normal Academy and mage activities were resuming today for the guilds. Tutoring classes, guild requests and all of that.

Aiden nodded and stretched his hand forward as a blue portal began forming in front of them.

Arianna tilted her head and said:

"Come on... no kisses?"

Laela added with a teasing grin:

"He doesn’t love us anymore."

Aiden rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath:

"Women."

Then he gestured toward them with both hands. "Come here."

They both smiled brightly and stepped closer immediately.

Aiden kissed each of them gently on the forehead as they wrapped their arms around him in a warm embrace before finally stepping through the portal together and disappearing from view.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

———

There was silence in the Pocket Domain for a while. Then Aiden walked over toward Rin’s bed and stopped just beside it.

"So we’re back to no communication?" he asked.

Rin said nothing in response. She remained still, facing away from him.

Aiden shook his head, unsure of what else to say.After a moment of hesitation, he sat down carefully on the edge of her bed.

"Just give me some time to figure it all out," he said. "A few days from now. Won’t be more than five, I promise."

Rin finally spoke, though she still didn’t turn around.

"And then you can let me out?"

Aiden nodded. "And then I can let you out," he confirmed.

"Okay," Rin replied softly.

There was a brief pause before Aiden added:

"There’s another condition."

Rin grunted in annoyance and asked without turning over: "What is it?"

"You’d have to finish the rest of the books here," Aiden said.

Rin scoffed lightly and muttered:

"Piece of cake."

Aiden smiled faintly, satisfied with her response.

He stood up from the bed and walked toward another corner of the Pocket Domain, leaving his avatar standing back in its usual position near where Rin lay.

Aiden stopped at some corner and with a thought, he made his notification window appear before his eyes.

The translucent screen materialized immediately, displaying his current stats and status.

His rank still showed Adult Dragon, and his level read 10, with an additional prompt beneath it that said:

[You are due for a Rank Up]

Aiden stared at it for a brief second before speaking to the system:

"Alright. Let’s rank up."

The system responded immediately:

[Rank Up Complete]

[Host shall now be referred to as an Elder Dragon]