The Dragon Heart That Refused to Yield

In the dawn duty room, a cluster of system messages suddenly materialized in the air.

“What the hell is this now?”

I had been on the verge of receiving the Dragon Heart from Sofia’s lips when the messages appeared. They sternly warned me that what I was doing was pointless. The sudden alert forced me to freeze mid-motion. I had grown ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠used to notifications popping up at unexpected moments, yet I still couldn’t get used to encountering brand-new messages every single time.

“My Dragon Heart slots are already full? And there are six of them?”

I hadn’t even known I possessed six slots to begin with. Yet somehow they were already completely occupied. The system wasn’t even asking me to pay to unlock extra space; it simply declared that the slots were full and no more could be added. Interestingly enough, the number of Dragon Hearts I could hold matched the number of dragons I could bond with through Beast Taming—six in total. So far I had successfully contracted with three dragons, and I had been just about to accept my first Dragon Heart when this message appeared, complete with the instruction to unlock the sealed pact first.

“Hah… haah? Hwaaah… B-Breeder… sir…?”

A heated breath called my name from close by. Sofia’s voice, flushed and trembling. Her expression was utterly disheveled—probably from the long kiss we had just shared. Her eyes were unfocused, lashes quivering, and she panted with her saliva-slicked tongue slightly extended. The golden Dragon Heart still rested on her tongue, glowing softly.

“Ah, Lady Sofia…?”

I had unconsciously pulled my lips away to check the sudden notification. Sofia had called my name with desperate longing.

“Hah… please, quickly take my heart…♥”

Still dazed from the intoxicating kiss, Sofia steadied her breathing and looked up at me. She wiped her glistening lips with the back of her hand.

—Lick, squelch…♡ Chuu…

She extended her tongue again, presenting the radiant Dragon Heart. Slowly rolling it between her tongue and lips as if to seduce me, as though begging me to take it away.

“You were so forward just moments ago… Why stop now? If it’s you, Breeder, I can give you everything. So please, take my Dragon Heart right away…♡”

Sofia reached out with both arms, asking to be held again. The sight of her so completely unguarded burned itself into my mind. The image of her pleading for me to accept the very core of her being was shocking in its own way—completely at odds with the elegant, dignified Sofia I knew.

“Um, Lady Sofia? Could you listen to me for a moment?”

“Heh, I didn’t realize you were the type to be dishonest with your own feelings. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only makes things harder for you, you know? So enough with the games and give me your lips again…”

—Slide…

Still unaware of the situation, Sofia grabbed my shirt collar and pulled me close once more. She hadn’t been asking earlier out of suspicion; from the very beginning she had intended to hand over her Dragon Heart with everything she had. The only problem was that I couldn’t accept it.

“W-Wait a second…! That’s not what I—”

“—Chuu♡”

Before I could explain, our lips met again. The contact was far hotter and more intense than before. Sofia, already burning with desire, was impossible to stop. I had barely regained the initiative only to lose it again to her overwhelming passion.

“Suck—! Kiss, chup…♥”

Honestly, I hadn’t really wanted to stop her anyway. I simply surrendered the lead once more. Explaining with words would have been pointless; she wouldn’t have believed me.

‘Showing her directly will be faster than talking a hundred times…’

If I pushed her away now, it would only breed more misunderstandings. The only option left was to let her experience the truth for herself.

—Thud…!

The moment I yielded control, Sofia pushed me down onto the bed.

“Slurp, kiss…! Hah—♡ Lick…”

And so the only sounds that filled the dawn duty room were the wet, intimate noises of lips and tongues.

—Chuu, kiss…! Squelch, squish♡

The sticky sounds of saliva and friction continued to echo through the room that should have been quiet. Two pairs of lips and tongues moved without pause, using the Dragon Heart as an excuse to indulge their personal desires.

“……”

How much time had passed like that?

“Hwaaah—? W-Why is this happening…?!”

Sofia, lying face-to-face with me on the narrow bed, suddenly gasped and pushed herself upright.

“Cough—! Hah, hah, hah…!”

Only after Sofia moved did I finally manage to breathe properly. More than an hour had already slipped by. In truth, we had spent far more time deepening our intimate exchange than actually trying to transfer the Dragon Heart. Every time Sofia attempted to pass it to me, I had been forced to endure the sensation of being tested.

If those endlessly repeating status windows hadn’t been blaring in my face, I might have lost all reason and crossed the final line.

‘…How many of these messages are stacked on top of each other?’

I exhaled quietly and dismissed the overlapping notifications. Sofia should have roughly grasped the situation by now. I slowly tried to sit up in order to explain.

But—

“T-This can’t be…!”

“Hm? Miss?”

—Press! Squeeze!

Sofia, already upright, was now trying to physically push the Dragon Heart into my mouth with her fingers.

“What on earth is going on…?”

Yet the Dragon Heart remained hovering just in front of my lips. Even though my mouth was open, it was as if an invisible barrier had been erected; it simply wouldn’t advance any farther.

“Phew… So you’ve finally realized it? For some reason, Lady Sofia’s Dragon Heart… hasn’t been able to enter my mouth since earlier.”

Only after Sofia had completely given up did I finally speak.

“B-Breeder? Does that mean… you already knew what was happening?!”

“Ah, well… How would a mere human like me know? I’m just as confused as you are.”

I deliberately avoided giving a detailed explanation. It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell her, but I lacked the confidence to make her understand. How was I supposed to explain status windows and system messages? Besides, Sofia would likely fixate on the fact that I had already accepted six Dragon Hearts rather than on the mechanics themselves. That would only complicate things further—and might even earn me her resentment. So I chose what seemed like the safest response.

“…Then what exactly is this situation? Hah? That’s it! Breeder?”

“What is it?”

“Are you… a dragonkin as well?! I thought it was suspicious that you could understand Dragon Tongue……”

“Excuse me? A dragonkin? Me?”

“Yes! Otherwise, why wouldn’t my Dragon Heart be able to—”

Sofia’s eyes widened as she leaned back slightly, momentarily flustered by the thought that I might have deceived her. But I had a ready counterargument.

“Lady Sofia? If I were truly a dragonkin, then the pact we formed yesterday shouldn’t have been possible in the first place, right?”

“Hah? That’s true. Then what exactly went wrong……”

Sofia gazed at her Dragon Heart and recalled the contents of the ancient book she had read earlier that day—the very tome that had taught her how to materialize it.

“Hah? T-That’s right……!”

Sofia belatedly recalled the exception clauses. Although the record was from an ancient text and difficult to trust completely, these were the only two possibilities she could currently imagine.

‘As expected, it must have been impossible for Breeder’s human body…? I never imagined the human race could be such a frail species……’

She dismissed the first possibility outright. It was an outcome she didn’t even want to consider. Therefore, she naturally concluded it had to be the second case. Because humans were the physically weakest among the short-lived races, they simply couldn’t accept a Dragon Heart through ordinary means.

‘I-In that case, the only way left is to confirm it through a love pact after all……?’

—Fwoooosh……!

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Sofia’s face flushed a deeper red than a fire dragon’s scales.

‘A body that has guarded its purity for over six hundred years while serving the Primordial Dragon. To think I would even consider a love pact……?’

For Sofia, who had never once interacted with the opposite sex, the very idea was mortifying. Male dragons of her own kind were nowhere to be found due to past wars, and she had never been involved with any other race either—bound by her clan’s strict doctrine to serve the divine.

‘B-But if I can’t hand over the Dragon Heart like this…… Then everything I’ve done with Breeder until now would have been nothing but sacrilege. How could I, as one who serves the gods……!’

Having finally sorted her thoughts, Sofia clenched her hands tightly and made her decision.

Even if it turns out to be the latter case, it’s fine. Even if I can’t give him the Dragon Heart, it doesn’t matter. Since things have come to this, there’s no helping it…… No matter how long it takes, I have no choice but to confirm it through a love pact.

‘But before I resolve to form the pact…… I want to first confirm Breeder’s true feelings toward me……!’