It was getting fairly dark by the time I was well rested after the ride in the carriage. No one could actually blame me for this since we arrived somewhat before sunset and that was quite late. By the time the tour was over with these two holy knights it was starting to get dark and I did rest a lot after that. Still for some reason I woke up in the middle of the night when everyone was supposed to sleep and found myself hungry. Come to think of it, I haven't eaten anything the whole day at all. So when I woke up in my bed the first thing I noticed in this quiet place was my grumbling stomach which was definitely debanding food right now!

Should I wake up one of the holy knights?

They did say to wake them up if I needed anything...

But the kitchen shouldn't be that far... well in the other building but still not that far. There are not many rooms so I should be able to find it, right?

For some reason I felt really confident to go there by myself. I mean I should know better than this but I still didn't listen to my intuitions. I was just about to get some food after all. What should go wrong? There was not really much that could happen besides me getting scolded and I was fine with that. It would be after all my fault because I was about to steal some food after all. Oh well not as if my stomach would let me any other choice at all. I was hungry and I was certainly not about to go back to sleep with an empty stomach. Even if it would be just a mug of honey and milk, I would for sure be happy with that. Just bread was fine as well.

Nah!

I don't wanna wake up the knights...

They should be resting and they need their rest too!

I am sure there will be something happening all day long and they must be as tired as me...

They were with Micheal the whole time as well...

I wonder how long they were up...

Whatever! They need their sleep!

Since I valued sleep a lot, I was certainly not about to wake these people up at all. I knew out of experience how important sleep was. There were nights I had to stay up studying or getting a project done and sacrifice sleep. I would always feel sluggish and just overall dead the next day. So if I could sleep, I would. It didn't make sense to me to wake them up and ask for help while I could help myself out too.

Alright...

The kitchen should be on the first floor of the other building....

I got this!

I got out of my bed, and this time even changed into my nightgown which was laying prepared in my room. Someone of the knights must have entered the room while I was sleeping since I found a nightgown there and my veil, which I knew exactly that I tossed on the other side of the bed but it was now cleanly folded right next to the gown.

After I got changed, I started to walk out of my room and saw that the hallways were all empty. There was no one there and it was really quiet that one could even hear a needle falling to the ground. Of course my bare footsteps started to echo as I made my way to the other building and I even cursed myself a bit for that. I knew it wouldn't actually wake anyone up since it was not a loud enough sound but it was certainly annoying me right now.

Anyways, I managed to get to the kitchen and started to look around for a bit of food while struggling with this veil. Honestly if I were not a dragon, then seeing through that shit would be impossible. I thought it had something mysterious about it but right now, I found it to be inconvenient. However, I could understand why I was wearing this since I didn't want anyone to find out who I was besides the people Micheal trusted.

This place was filled with enemies and I knew that the moment I saw that overly fat priest walking towards us when we got out of the carriage. It was soo clear that he was the source of problem and that things wouldn't be easy here. Then again, where are things easy? I wouldn't know a single place where stuff were easy besides home. Well there isn't this saying for nothing after all... home is still a place to rest and relax and just retreat and be there not to be nagged by anyone or annoyed or has to do stuff and be graded and so on.

Wow...

This building looks really empty...

I should try not to wake anyone up...

Who knows what will happen if someone does....

But at least I got out to the garden and this view!

My gosh, I never knew a garden could be this nice in the moonlight!

The scenery in front of me was just something else! There was one big tree in the middle and then flowers all around it. Yet it was magnificent. The big tree had leaves hanging down and some flowers on it while the white lilies around it were just seemingly glowing in the dark. Just breathtaking. There was nothing else I could say about this. It was way too beautiful and I couldn't help but stop moving and look at it for a good amount of time.

"Just wow..."

Of course I found myself commenting the scene. Who wouldn't? It was magnificent. The glow of every white flowers and the roses around which were climbing up the nearby walls of all the building. This kinda reminded me of a forest type of setting where plants were overtaking the buildings but it also looked like intentional at the same time for me to say it really is nice.

"I agree. There is nothing more stunning than this."

The sudden voice, surprised me a lot. Needless to say that I felt as if my heart just jumped out of my chess while I was just standing there. For some reasons I also felt guilty as if he caught me stealing something but the truth was, I was not even in the kitchen at all.

"Noel?"

"I was already in the garden and saw you come closer to the entrance of it."

"Ah.... makes sense... what were you doing though?"

"Training a bit. I like to step out a bit every now and then and just get some rest from the others."

"...."

"It's a beautiful night, Vivi. How about staying with me for a while?"

"Mh...."

If my damn stomach wouldn't have growled at this moment, then everything would have been perfect but no. It inevitably would let me know how hungry I was and embarrassed me in front of that knight. I came here to steal some food and as if I had forgotten that fact, my dear stomach had to just make its mouth open and growl at me. Of course I would get something and how could I even forget about how hungry I was?

"Pfff-hahahahahahaha"

"Don't laugh at me!"

"Pretty bold move to come out here alone to get to the kitchen and steal something. Why didn't you just call for one of us?"

"I didn't wanted to wake you two up."

"Why? We are here to serve you."

"Because sleep is important and you two should get as much as you could get."

"Valid answer... alright, I'll take it."

"... soo ahm... what now?"

"You stay here, I'll go get something from the kitchen."

"Thanks!"

I was kinda happy that Noel said that because I didn't even know where the things were. Inevitably, I would have needed to search around and just take whatever I could find. This way I knew whatever he would bring was alright to eat and not only that but he probably knew what he could take and what he was allowed to take as well making me a little less nervous and worried and feeling guilty about it.

In the end, I decided to walk into the garden and lay down right beneath the tree to bathe in its shadow and look up at the nice scenery. Everything seemed perfect at this moment. No one was here to nag, no one was expecting things from me and especially no one worried about what would happen in the future. Now I knew why Micheal wanted to save this place soo much. It was just beautiful and he seemed just sad whenever he was talking about the leader and the church. If no one was taking care of this, then what would end up?

Humans are destined to destroy what they touch and I knew that much but I just didn't want it to be true!

What a peaceful place...

I wonder how long it takes for Noel to come back?

I am starving... though I don't really want to be impolite because I can't really wait...

As I was laying there, I started hearing some footsteps and since I thought that would be Noel, I sat up and looked at the direction they came from just to see someone I had never seen before. That person was someone I didn't know at all. The girl standing there was wearing something white so she had to be one of the church's other members.

"What are you doing here?"

"I think you can see that pretty well or do you need me to spell it out for you?"

Sass might not be the best approach to this situation but I was just too hungry to focus on anything else actually. Besides sooner or later Noel would come back and de-escalate this whole situation. Needless to say that I thought about how to reply to her for a bit before I actually chose sass. Of course I could have just told her who I was but this prick in front of me was basically rudely demanding me to tell her what I was doing.

"Get up!"

"Why should I?"

"Because I am telling you to do so!"

"And who are you to tell me what to do?"

"Who I am? Girl, you are gonna get punished even more if you don't do what I tell you this instant."

"Are you a Saint or a high priest?"

"No."

"Then I don't have to listen to you."

"And who do you think you are?"

"I am the new Saintess."

"Sure~ and I am the queen of this country. Now get up before I have to drag you away."

"I would love to see you try."

Apparently she took that as a sign to get going because the next thing I know, this girl which was about in her teenage years grabbed me by my arm and dragged me up my feet. Oh if you thought I would let this go just like that, then just watch me. I hated being dragged and I hated being yelled at but what I hated more was for people to stick their nose into things they have no clue about.

If this girl would have asked me to leave, I would have told her what was going on.

If she would have just told me that this was an off area, I would have left.

However all she did was actually scream at me for nothing and of course I would react either in an attacking for defensive way.

"I am warning you. Let me go."

"Shut up or do you want to wake up even more people?"

"You know what, maybe this is a good idea!"

"Shut your stupid mouth!"

And this was the moment when she grabbed my veil and took it off my face so that we looked at each other and I definitely had it at this point. No one could blame me for shifting into a dragon and pinning her down. I was still a golden white dragon with feathery wings and in contrast to the last time, I was also quite tall as well and even more powerful now. Holding a person in place was absolutely no problem at all.

What are you gonna do now?

Before this girl could scream or do basically anything, I could see her faint. It was the same moment she realized I was a dragon as well... I may or may not just screw up but I didn't care since I felt the need to do this. No matter what anyone including Micheal will say, this was definitely worth it.

I should probably tell someone about this...

What am I about to do when she comes back to her senses....

Ah shit!

I really didn't think about that...

She will tell everyone that she saw a white dragon and that the Saint was a demon...

I am screwed!

I am 100 % screwed!