Lucieu's eyes were full of bright red flowers, and the dancers who were like flowers, the music lingered in her ears and did not want to leave, and the people around her were laughing and dancing, holding hands and touching feet, leaving no gap, which made Lucieu, who had only seen Afra in the procession and just wanted to take a look, was helplessly pushed forward. In the Emerald Forest, the elves occasionally dance like this all night, either to serve Angelis, the god of life, or to celebrate the new life, or the two elves have decided to make a marriage contract and stay together for the rest of their lives, but the scene today is very close to the last one—it is an ambiguous, humid, warm atmosphere, which makes the heart and skin feel hot for a while. Lucieu could initially be seen dancing merrily with a cardinal, but when she was pulled into another whirlpool by a young and handsome bard, they disappeared like droplets of water that melted into a lake.

She was about to look for Afra, but her eyes were involuntarily drawn to another figure—a figure that made her happy and sad, with black hair hanging down to her shoulder blades, a gray cloak with a white knee-length robe inside, his fingers so slender and so feminine, his lowered side face full of Lucieu as he gently held the arm of a dancer...... A peculiar and strongly attractive look. Without thinking, the black-haired elf pushed the bard away from her side, eagerly and ferociously avoiding or turning the human in front of her, and approaching the half-elf she loved—Lucieu thought she had mistaken the man when she grabbed him, but the man turned around and was indeed Cremar, who was supposed to be on the peak of Arrow Mountain.

Why did you come back?When did you come back?Why didn't you come back to me?Did you mean to?Or did you just come after Afra, why didn't you want to look at me?Unwilling to accept my affection?Lucieux had so many things to ask him, but now she was aggrieved and afraid, but she still clung to his robes and did not allow him to leave, perhaps because the warm and sweet atmosphere was as intoxicating as wine, and Lucieux felt that she had never been bolder than ever— Dance with me, her lips fluttering, the beauty of the elven girl, even if disguised and disguised, still surpasses that of ordinary humans, and when her sanity is almost occupied by love, her soft emotions and obedient gestures will melt the cold steel.

And her loved one seemed to be touched by it, and he lowered his arm and took the girl into his arms, and in his arms, Lucieu smelled the usual smell of a spellcaster, a faint mixture of dried roses, bitter herbs, and pungent sulfur, but still like a river surrounding the castle to create an inaccessible range around him, before Lucieu had been jealous of Afra's arms for the other, and had imagined countless times what it would be like if she could replace Afra, but no amount of imagination could compare with realityThe other party's arms are so strong, the body seems thin but actually tough, and the surging heat radiates from the heavy clothing, Lucieu feels like she is about to be burned. She closed her eyes, vaguely thinking of Cremar's other identity - the dragonborn, the direct descendant of the red dragon, which meant that the dragon blood in his body might be purer and thicker than the dragonborn nine times out of ten, which is why Eloch had the killing intent to kill him and left him in Grenada in the first place - this bloodline is the source of evil, its heat does not come from the sunshine, but from the lava of the abyss, for the existence of goodness, it will only mean harm and killing, not comfort and vitality.

But Lucieu didn't feel that way. Eloch, her friends, and her mother had all questioned how she could have fallen in love with such a terrible person. Was it because he saved himself from the dark chambers and the Warlock's Tower, or was it the gentleness and kindness that was hidden behind the indifference? Or was he willing to be kind to others even as a Dragonborn, and not forget to help others in the face of difficult situations? When she heard of his past (when Eloch had to warn her), Lucieu did not fear or avoid the dark-haired Dragonborn because of the evil prospect that Eloch described, she even felt guilt and pity, and she was saddened that in the early days when this good man was treated unfairly, endured humiliation and torture, and was weak and humble, his other half of his blood relatives not only did not lend a hand, but worsened the situation and fell into the well. Lucie wondered why Eloch, her mother, and her companions thought it was the best thing to do, and if the half-elves inherited the good side of the elves, they also inherited the dark side of humans, dragons, and other humanoids, then how could the Singer elves carve out a huge gray ridge for them? And, judging from the letters Lucie found, the Singer elves did not suffer any calamity for sheltering the half-elves, on the contrary, although there were poor people among the half-elves who could not resist the other half of the bloodline and did what they should not do, but more of them were grateful children, who not only guarded the Gray Ridge for the time set by the king of the jungle, and erected a broad and solid wall for the elves' silver-crowned jungle, but also did not forget the favor that the Singer elves bestowed on them when they were weak after they left— Decades ago, when the Normans, an ally of the Silver Crown Forest, were in turmoil and unable to rescue the Orcs from attacking the Jungle, weren't they all warriors and mages who were fighting alongside the elves, perhaps one-eighth or one-sixteenth of the elven blood?

Lucieu wondered if she could become the master of the Emerald Grove, would she change the stubborn way of thinking and doing things that had lasted for nearly a thousand years? In any case, the tragic repertoire that preceded it should not continue...... Of course, she also had her own reasons, if, she was saying, if the black-haired Dragonborn was willing to be her husband, then their child, though half-elf, still hoped that he/she would inherit Emerald Grove.

In the dazziness and unconsciousness of the elven maiden, they had moved away from the crowd, and when the noise of music and singing slowly subsided, Lucieu opened her eyes in surprise.

I don't know when, the black-haired dragonborn's cloak has been thrown away, and he embraces the elven girl, his slender body like Eloch's lonely tree, and his hair is so black- The elves of Eya had black hair like midnight, but his hair hung down like a deep pool that did not see the light of day, without the tiny specks of the stars or the shiny floats like the crescent moon, and his eyes were darker than his hair, so deep that they could barely be distinguished from his pupils, and for both of them, his already pale skin looked like metal or porcelain of the Serris, and to Lucieu he was perfect, but like countless perfect things in the world, he always lacked a sense of reality。

"Cremar......" Lucieux whispered, her heart beating wildly, unable to tell if it was love or fear.

The black-haired Dragonborn just lowered her head and kissed Lucier's forehead, and just as Lucire put her hands on his chest to feel his breathing and heartbeat, she heard someone singing quietly, but it was only in the second sentence that she realized that it was Cremar, her lover was singing for her.

“...... She is close to my heart like flowers and plants are close to the earth...... She is so sweet to me, like the tired limbs of a child of sleep...... My love for her is the flood of my whole life, like a tide churning under the stars......"

What a low, beautiful voice, Lucieu did not realize that she could no longer stand on her own legs, and as the song described, she hugged the black-haired Dragonborn tightly, her mind in a state of confusion, and nothing but what she grasped in her hands and what she heard in her ears.

"If, I mean...... If I possess the sky, if I possess the stars, if I possess a vast empire, and untold riches...... I'm still not going to be satisfied—but, as long as I have her, I'll be satisfied, even if I only have a little place in the world......"

And the song is accompanied by small, small kisses, from the forehead to the feet, from the fingers to the hair...... She was completely intoxicated by that cold and soft embrace, her limbs flabrowed, her head tilted back, and she completely lost the will and ability to resist.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

If there's anything more disappointing than gaining and losing, it's probably when you find that what you thought you had gained was just a fleeting dream.

Lucieu woke up to the gentle shaking and shouting of Eloch, and she looked around with her blushing cheeks to find that she was still in the room, and the black-haired Dragonborn was not around, and she suddenly felt a pang of heartache, and turned away from her worried and confused guardian. She pushed him away and found her shoes, the undersides of which were clean and unstained with petal juice—was it really just a dream? her skin still had the wonderful touch of the caster's fingers, and the tip of her tongue still smelled sweet like berries or nectar, and she remembered very well the feeling of strands of hair slipping out of her palms.

"Is Cremar back?"

"He was at the Emperor's side lately. Eloch whispered, "What's wrong with you?" Lucie had expressed her longing for the black-haired Dragonborn before, but today was very different.

"When will I be able to see him?"

"Maybe soon. "It may take a long time," said Eloch. ”

Lucieu knew she shouldn't have done it, but she couldn't help but look at Eloch and beg him, she just wanted to see Cremar right away, she didn't believe it was just a dream.

But when she saw Eloher, she was startled by him, because Eya's expression suddenly turned ...... You can't describe this expression in a very difficult way, if you have to say it, it is probably extremely vigilant and resistant, like an animal that has sniffed a powerful kind.

"It's disgusting!" said Eloch, his voice distorted so that it didn't sound like his own, Lucieu was visibly startled, but the tense look and strange sound were fleeting, and when Eloch turned his head again, they disappeared as if they had never been there.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The eyes of the followers of Lady Joy were bloody.

Afra was slightly taken aback, "Why," she asked, "Did she find you?" and then she said, "I don't think she has the power to hurt you." "Especially from such a distance, and with the wonderfully secretive magic of Lady Joy—the goddess of joy, Lierra, who is good at drawing people into beautiful dreams and giving them untold pleasure in them—her priest can also invoke similar magic to confuse the intended goal, but now it seems that the priest has been dealt a very severe blow.

"Not her. Leara's priest said, feeling her eyes tingle, but she didn't want Afra to notice her weakness or Lierra's weakness, she insisted on standing up with the help of her companion, "I was just a little surprised—who is that elven male?"

"Eloch, the child's guardian. "But it seems," she said with a grim expression, "that what you want to talk to me about will have to wait until next time." ”

"Thank you so much for your understanding. "Although the priests of Ryla were hurt by Afra's wishes, they really had nothing to say now, especially since they had not yet fully grasped the character of the newborn, or still conceived deity.

Afra watched them go away, and she was not very interested in the advice of the goddess of joy, Lierra, except that she was only a weak deity, and she hated that Lierra's priest saw her as Flo - she was not the stupid and dissolute god of love and lust!

And even if she were Flo, she wouldn't think much of Liera - Lilla's best friend among the gods was Miliel, the god of singing, and Woking, the god of wealth, secondarily, and she had no deep friendship with Flo, the god of love and lust, and had even quarreled over the problems of the believers.

- The lyrics in this chapter are from Tagore's "The Lover's Yi" Shi Zhen's translation, with slight modifications.