THE GENERAL'S DISGRACED HEIR-Chapter 308 : UNEXPECTED ARRANGEMENTS

David trudged wearily back to his room, wiping his face with a damp cloth. The training session had revealed far more than he'd anticipated—both about his newfound rank and the concerning progression of the dimensional fractures.

His muscles ached, but it was the lingering pain behind his eyes that truly concerned him. Each glitch left a residual discomfort, like the memory of pain etched into his nerves.

He fumbled with the key Yue had given him earlier, his mind still cataloging the day's discoveries. The door swung open with a creak, and David stepped inside, already shrugging off his outer garment.

"What—"

A startled gasp cut through the room.

David froze mid-step, his exhaustion instantly forgotten as his gaze fell upon Elara, half-wrapped in a bedsheet, her hair still damp from a recent bath. Droplets of water glistened on her bare shoulders, catching the lamplight.

For one excruciating moment, neither moved. Then both exploded into motion—David spinning around to face the door, Elara clutching the sheet tighter around herself.

"I'm sorry!" David managed, his voice strangled. "I thought this was my room—Yue booked it for me."

"That's impossible," Elara replied, her voice equally strained. Despite not being able to see her face, David could hear the embarrassment coloring her words. "Yue reserved this room for me specifically."

A sudden realization dawned on them simultaneously.

"Yue," they both said, David with exasperation, Elara with something closer to mortification.

David ran a hand through his newly-darkened hair, sighing deeply. "I'm going to have words with her in the morning." He kept his back firmly turned, hand already reaching for the door handle. "I'll find somewhere else to sleep. You keep the room."

"Wait," Elara called out, stopping him. "It's already late, and the inn seemed fully booked. We're both adults, and..." She paused, seeming to gather her composure. "It's fine. We can share the room."

David hesitated, his hand still on the doorknob. "Are you certain?"

"Yes, but... look away for a moment while I dress."

David nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on the wooden door while listening to the soft rustle of fabric behind him. The situation was absurd—he was a grown man, a Monarch Rank swordsman who had faced down demons, yet here he stood, flustered as a schoolboy.

"You can turn around now," Elara said after a minute.

David turned cautiously. Elara had donned a simple white nightdress, modest but unable to fully conceal her graceful figure. Her hair, now loose from its usual practical style, framed her face in a way that softened her usually commanding presence. Without the contacts, her crimson eyes seemed to glow in the dim light of the room.

David swallowed, suddenly very aware of the room's small size and singular bed.

"I'll take the floor," he announced, grabbing a pillow from the bed. He'd slept in far worse conditions during his travels.

Elara crossed her arms, a hint of her normal authority returning. "Don't be stubborn. The bed is large enough for both of us."

"That's not the issue—"

"We're here to investigate a demonic infiltration of the imperial nobility," she interrupted. "I think we can manage to share sleeping arrangements without compromising our mission."

The logical part of David's brain acknowledged her point, even as another part noted the slight flush still coloring her cheeks. Practicality won over propriety, and he reluctantly nodded.

"Very well."

The next few minutes passed in awkward silence as they established an unspoken boundary down the middle of the bed. David extinguished most of the lamps, leaving only a single candle burning on the nightstand. They lay stiffly side by side, an arm's width apart, yet somehow the distance seemed both vast and infinitesimal.

Despite his exhaustion, sleep eluded David. The heat of another person so close by, the occasional brush of skin when one of them shifted position—it created an atmosphere charged with unspoken tension. From Elara's measured breathing, he could tell she wasn't asleep either.

After several uncomfortable minutes, David made a decision. With a subtle gesture, he reached into his shadow and pulled.

Luna materialized between them with a soft displacement of air, immediately sitting upright with an annoyed expression.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked, glaring at David. "I was perfectly comfortable where I was."

Her sudden appearance startled a small gasp from Elara, who hadn't expected the third presence.

Luna turned, noticing Elara for the first time, and her eyes widened fractionally—the equivalent of shocked disbelief from anyone else.

"So this was your plan all along?" Luna asked, her gaze flicking between them. "I must say, I didn't expect such... initiative."

"It's not what it appears," Elara began, her usual composure crumbling under the implication. "Yue seems to have deliberately—"

"Booked us a single room," David finished, grateful for Luna's intervention despite her misunderstanding. "A prank, I suspect."

Luna settled between them, creating a natural buffer. "How interesting. The ancient elf has an unexpected playful side."

The tension in the room gradually dissolved into something more manageable as Luna's presence established a new dynamic. Eventually, Elara's breathing deepened into sleep, her face relaxed in a way David had never seen before.

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Luna, seemingly content in her role as chaperone, closed her eyes as well, though David suspected she remained fully aware of their surroundings.

Left alone with his thoughts, David silently summoned his status window.

[

........

]

Unlike the familiar blue interface he was accustomed to seeing, the window that appeared before his mind's eye was pitch black—an emptiness that seemed to absorb rather than display information. No skills list, no rank designation, no progression metrics. The only visible element was his [Bookmark's] cool down: ♾️

Everything else remained hidden behind that impenetrable darkness.

David frowned internally. His advancement to Monarch Rank should have unlocked new system information, new skills, new understanding. Instead, it seemed the [Bookmark] backlash had caused more damage than he'd initially believed. The dimensional fractures weren't just affecting his physical stability—they were corrupting his very connection to the system.

As he lay in the darkness, listening to the soft breathing of his companions, David confronted an uncomfortable truth: if he couldn't find a way to restore his system's functionality and resolve these dimensional fractures, all his power might ultimately amount to nothing.

His gaze drifted to the window, where stars glimmered in the night sky. Somewhere out there were answers—perhaps in Solomon's Legacy, perhaps in Yue's alchemical knowledge, perhaps in some combination of the two. Whatever the solution, he needed to find it soon.

The alternative was unthinkable.