Demonic Dragon: Harem System Chapter 723 - Capítulo 723: Fire and Ice

Capítulo 723: Fire and Ice

rcedes Vaintz couldn’t rember the last ti she’d felt so… disheveled.

The eting room was silent, spacious, impeccably organized—but the Ice Monarch paced back and forth like a nervous apprentice about to face her first ceremony. With each step, the hem of her long nightgown dragged across the polished floor, and her loose hair, still slightly disheveled from a terrible night’s sleep, trembled with every abrupt movent.

She was exhausted.

Literally exhausted.

The deep dark circles under her blue eyes betrayed a forced vigil that had stretched for hours.

Hours.

Hours.

The entire night.

And she hated to admit it—but she rembered every minute.

rcedes pressed her fist against her mouth as she walked, trying to control her breathing. Her body trembled—not from cold, but from pure nervousness. Her hands were sweating. Her legs barely supported her.

Just thinking about it, just rembering…

She stopped in the middle of the room, closed her eyes tightly, and bit her lip to stifle a frustrated groan.

“Why… why does he do it so… so LOUD?” she murmured, her voice almost failing.

She ran a hand over her face, feeling the warmth of her skin, completely out of character for her icy skin.

“And why… I…” She shook her head, refusing to finish the sentence.

She didn’t want to na it.

She didn’t want to admit it.

She didn’t even want to think about it.

But it was impossible to ignore the scenes her mind insisted on reconstructing with every sound detail that had pierced the walls.

rcedes pressed her palm against the crystal table, trying to anchor herself to sothing.

“I am a queen…” she said through gritted teeth. “I ruled entire glaciers, executed traitors, faced monsters, survived wars…”

She took a deep breath.

Long.

Heavy.

“…and I almost fainted when I heard—”

She stopped abruptly.

Her face turned so red that even the ice on the floor seed to react.

“This is ridiculous,” she whispered, adjusting her nightgown as if that would restore her dignity.

But it was no use.

Because, no matter how many tis she repeated to herself that it didn’t affect her, her mory betrayed her.

The mory of the muffled sound… The dragging of the sheets… Scarlet’s voice—clear, vivid, expressive, carrying an intensity impossible to ignore…

rcedes subconsciously squeezed her thighs, her face burning.

“This is… this is unspeakable cruelty…”

She resud pacing, quick, almost uneven steps.

“How could they… how could he…”

She swallowed hard, a wave of heat rising in her throat.

“…how could they do that for so long?”

The last part ca out practically in a whisper, embarrassed.

The echo of her own thoughts made her shudder.

An explosion of ice unintentionally ford in the palm of her hand, then cracked—a clear sign that her emotions were out of control. When the ice shattered on the ground, she jumped back, startled by her own reaction.

“I’m… losing my mind.”

She hugged her own arms, walking slower now, like soone fighting an unwanted feeling.

“I shouldn’t be thinking about this… I shouldn’t… feel any of this…”

But the truth bit at her neck, hot as the artificial sun he had created in the sky:

She was envious.

Yes.

She hated the word, hated what it represented.

But it was there, pulsing inside her like a truth too cruel to ignore.

She didn’t want Strax. Or did she? No. No. That wasn’t it.

She didn’t want Scarlet. Or did she want to? Heavens. No.

She wanted… that warmth. That… life. That intensity that the couple radiated as if it were natural—as if the world around them didn’t matter.

rcedes felt her legs give way and she sat on the edge of the table, hiding her face in her hands.

“I feel strange… very strange…” she murmured, her voice choked. “This has never happened before… never…”

She took a deep breath, trying to organize the turmoil inside her.

“I need to… act like a monarch. Like rcedes Vaintz. Not like a… a fool in love with the sounds of the neighborhood in the middle of the night!”

She squeezed her eyes shut, mortified.

The blush on her cheeks wouldn’t fade. Her body wouldn’t stop reacting to the mory. And her breathing was still rapid.

“This is his fault,” she murmured, clenching her fist. “And hers. This is… simply… torture.”

She sighed deeply, exhausted, defeated, completely destabilized. And yet…

…she couldn’t stop rembering.

rcedes, completely lost in her own thoughts, continued to pace the room like an elegant ghost—still trembling, still flushed, still mortified.

She was so distracted that she didn’t even notice the door opening.

She didn’t notice footsteps.

She didn’t notice anything at all.

Until—

PLOP.

Her face sank directly into sothing soft.

Very soft.

Warm.

It’s big.

Very big.

Ti stopped.

rcedes blinked.

She stepped wrong.

And reality crashed down on her like an avalanche:

She had just buried her face in Scarlet’s chest.

“AH—!”

She leaped back so fast, so desperately, so feline, that she almost slipped on the ice itself. Her hair flew, her nightgown fluttered, and she made a sound so much like a frightened ow that even the air hesitated.

Scarlet blinked, confused.

Then she raised an eyebrow.

Then she crossed her arms—further emphasizing what rcedes had just collided with.

“…Are you alright, Queen?” Scarlet asked, her voice laden with that irritating mixture of humor, provocation, and zero modesty. “You look like you’ve been hit by a train. Or two.”

rcedes, red from head to toe, tried to regain her composure.

She failed. Terribly.

“I— I— I didn’t— that was— you were just— I didn’t see—” She stamred so much that the very coldness of the hall seed to shrink from secondhand embarrassnt.

Scarlet took a step forward. rcedes took three steps back.

“Hey. Breathing helps, you know?” Scarlet tilted her head, analyzing every inch of the monarch with a clinical gaze—the kind of look that knew exactly what happened, but was having too much fun to say.

“You’re…” Scarlet made a circular gesture with her hand. “lting.”

rcedes brought her hands to her cheeks, as if she could erase the intense blush that consud her.

“I’m not lting!” she retorted, her voice rising half a tone. “I’m perfectly normal! Absolutely composed! As always!”

Scarlet raised both eyebrows.

“Uh-huh. Normal.” She pointed with her finger. “Dark circles under your eyes the size of the North Wall. Trembling like a wolf pup in the snow. And that look…” Scarlet narrowed her eyes. “That look of soone who hasn’t slept ten minutes.”

The Monarch swallowed so hard the sound echoed through the hall.

Scarlet crossed her arms again—the movent made rcedes look away instantly, mortified with embarrassnt.

“rcedes.” Scarlet’s voice beca serious—but only slightly. “What happened to you?”

The Monarch froze in place.

Literally.

A small circle of ice ford beneath her feet.

And, in a voice thinner than she intended, she replied:

“I… had a rough night.”

Scarlet flashed a dangerous smile.

“Of course you did.”

rcedes closed her eyes, wishing she could vanish from existence. “Please… don’t say anything more.”

“I didn’t even say anything,” Scarlet retorted, suppressing a laugh.

“You’re imagining things,” rcedes pointed out desperately.

“Oh, I am.”

“STOP!”

Scarlet laughed—a warm laugh, full of malice and a discreet affection that only she could convey.

She took another step.

rcedes tried to back away—but bumped into the table and got stuck.

Scarlet leaned in slightly, without touching, without intruding too much… just enough for rcedes to feel the warmth.

“You heard everything, didn’t you?”

The world stopped.

rcedes’ eyes widened, all the color rushing to her face in one fell swoop.

“I—I didn’t hear everything—just—so things—sounds—noises—accidentally—”

Scarlet gave a completely indecent smile.

“So that’s what it was.”

rcedes covered her face with both hands, a miserable groan escaping.

“I want to die…”

Scarlet let out a short, satisfied laugh.

“Relax, Queen. We were just… excited.”

“SCARLET!”

Scarlet winked at her.

“If you want, I can ask Strax to be quieter next ti.”

rcedes opened her eyes, horrified.

“I DON’T— I DON’T WANT TO— DON’T ASK FOR ANYTHING— ANYTHING LIKE THAT—!”

Scarlet smiled, leaning in even closer, her eyes gleaming with pure provocation.

“Hmm. So you’d prefer to continue… listening?”

rcedes made a sound that didn’t seem human.

And Scarlet laughed.

Scarlet was already having a lot of fun—more than she should, more than she would admit aloud—and each new reaction from rcedes was a gift wrapped in thin ice.

The Monarch was still trapped between the table and her own panic, her hands on her face, her body trembling, her breath short. She looked like a crystal about to crack.

Scarlet rested a finger on her chin, observing.

“You’re really a wreck, aren’t you, Queen?”

rcedes let out a choked sound.

Scarlet took a half-step closer.

And that was enough for rcedes to hold her breath as if she’d been stabbed by a fright.

Scarlet smiled.

Dangerously.

“This… little problem of yours,” she began, twirling her wrist in the air as if comnting on the weather, “seems quite serious.”

rcedes’ eyes widened, mortified.

“No— I don’t have—absolutely no problem, understand?! None! Zero!”

Scarlet nodded slowly, feigning patience.

“Okay. Sure. Let’s pretend that.”

rcedes stiffened, as if she’d been frozen from the inside out.

Scarlet leaned in slightly—not enough to invade, but enough to let her feel the warmth of her body, the scent, the confidence.

“rcedes…”

The Monarch swallowed hard.

“…if you want, I can ask Strax to fix your condition.”

Silence fell like an explosion.

rcedes let out a loud, completely involuntary gulp.

Then:

“WHAT?!”

Scarlet crossed her arms, in an exaggerated gesture of theatrical innocence.

“Well. You spent the whole night awake, trembling, averting your gaze from anything warm and… touchable—”

“SCARLET!!”

“—and you’re walking around with wobbly legs, looking like you’re going to lt anywhere.”

“I’M NOT— I— I’M NOT— STOP TALKING LIKE THAT—!”

“So you’d prefer I ask Strax to co here and—”

“STOP!!!”

rcedes raised her hands, and the cold spread through the hall like a controlled storm.

The floor froze.

The walls froze.

The air froze.

Scarlet, for her part, didn’t move an inch.

She even smiled.

“Ah… so you have a problem.”

rcedes looked like she was about to vaporize with embarrassnt.

“I’m not going to ask your husband for anything!” she shouted, her voice too loud for soone who always spoke as if she were ordering statues around. “NOTHING! I DON’T NEED HIM— HIM— HIM!”

Scarlet laughed.

“Calm down, Queen. I didn’t say you needed him. I just said the situation is so bad that maybe… it would be good to ask for help.”

rcedes froze again, even more rigid.

Literally.

A thin layer of ice rose from the floor to her ankles—as if her own body betrayed her desperation.

Scarlet raised her hands in a gesture of peace, although her smile indicated anything but peace.

“Okay, okay.”

She blinked. “I’ll ask him to isolate the area, then.”

rcedes blinked.

“…isolate… the… area?”

Scarlet made a wide, theatrical gesture, pointing to the ceiling, the floor, the walls.

“Yes! He’s great with magic, isn’t he? If you don’t want… hmmm… direct help…” She smiled crookedly. “…you can at least use magical silence. It must be uncomfortable to hear things that… leave you like this.”

rcedes let out a sound that resembled a desperate groan mixed with a sob.

“SCARLET! You’re doing this on purpose!!!”

“Of course I am.”

rcedes froze.

“YOU— YOU— YOU—”

“…I’m married to him, rember? If anyone knows how you felt listening to all that, it’s .”

rcedes turned the color of cold itself: bluish, white, pinkish—a mixture only extrely nervous people could achieve.

And Scarlet, seizing the mont, leaned slowly until she was just inches from the Monarch’s face.

Her smile was an attack.

A confession.

Pure provocation.

“Little Queen, you’re so transparent… I want to bite you.”

rcedes almost fell.

And Scarlet laughed—softly, warmly, deliciously cruelly.

“Relax…” She placed her hand on the Monarch’s shoulder. “…I won’t tell Strax anything. But…”

“He better take the initiative, because if you do, I’ll kill you,” Scarlet whispered.

After all… Scarlet didn’t accept any woman flirting with her husband. But she would accept the opposite.