How To Break Qaq If The Dragon Catches The Wrong Person? Chapter 14

Chapter 14 The Clock

Loria had witnessed the power of the small box, and to avoid being caught in the blast, she didn’t lean in to watch when Mian first started playing. Instead, she pretended to be busy with other toys.

However, her peripheral vision was constantly focused on the situation, afraid of missing Mian’s reaction.

The game in the box was very simple, requiring only a little concentration.

It was actually a prank toy, the principle of which was to suddenly startle the user at the moment they were most focused.

But because it was provided by the most famous magician, although the pranking method was old-fashioned, the things it conjured were quite extraordinary.

It would be the object or image of a person’s deepest fear.

Of course, maintaining such an illusion for long was too complicated, so it would only appear for one or two seconds each time.

But that was more than enough to scare someone.

The first time Loria played, she was nearly scared to tears. After recovering, she decided everyone should try it.

As a result, many servants had already suffered this persecution, and Loria was very satisfied with everyone’s startled reactions.

Watching Mian seriously moving the small bead, Loria’s heart was filled with the excitement of a successful prank. Her gaze, in her peripheral vision, was fixed on Mian without blinking.

…Then, as the minute hand on the clock standing nearby moved most of the way around the dial, the little Princess realized for the first time what a true idiot was.

After waiting for a long time without seeing the scene she wanted, Loria was confused, so she slowly moved next to Mian to watch him play.

As she watched, the confusion in her eyes completely disappeared, replaced by a look of solemnity identical to his.

The reason was simple: Mian’s skill in controlling the small ball was simply too poor.

Loria watched him fail and restart again and again, feeling utterly frustrated, experiencing for the first time what it meant to shoot oneself in the foot.

She had anticipated that some people might not be scared by the contents inside… but she had never imagined that someone would be unable to even play the game long enough for the scary thing to appear.

Where exactly did things go wrong? Loria was completely baffled.

Everyone else before him had succeeded on the first try.

“Brother Mian.” After watching him fail and restart for the eighth time, Loria finally couldn’t hold back. She sincerely advised, “How about we just forget it? There’s actually nothing fun about this…”

“I think it’s very fun.” But Mian, whose competitive spirit had been roused by the successive failures, looked at the small box with a serious and solemn expression, suggesting he wouldn’t give up until he succeeded.

Yet, his skill level completely failed to match his soaring fighting spirit, so Mian failed again and again.

He failed and failed.

Loria just wanted to throw the damned little box away.

The minute hand on the clock turned another half circle, and Loria finally couldn’t stand it anymore.

She left the small room with a long face and ran to complain to her brother.

Kairis was currently reading a secret letter sent by one of the ministers.

It contained a lengthy discourse on his views regarding Fes, and offered several suggestions on how Velen should act against it afterward. The language and attitude were quite aggressive, giving Kairis a headache.

“Brother, why is Brother Mian so clumsy?” Loria’s voice suddenly rang out, briefly pulling his thoughts away from the official document.

She ran and stopped beside him, looking up with a deeply aggrieved expression. “It’s such a simple little game, but he’s been playing for over an hour and still hasn’t succeeded.”

Kairis: “?”

Half an hour later, Kairis and Loria watched Mian fail for the twenty-first time.

One of them looked calm, while the other’s small face was wrinkled like a bitter gourd.

After a while, Loria silently got up, deciding that out of sight was out of mind.

She had given up all hope that Mian could solve the small box. She took some toys and left the inner room to find the maids to play with her.

Thus, only Mian and Kairis remained in the small room.

The Little Dragon’s initial ambition had actually been largely worn away, and Mian was now quite anxious—on one hand, because he had indeed spent a long time on it without success, making him naturally impatient.

On the other hand, it was because Kairis was sitting beside him, watching him play.

Although Mian didn’t turn his head, he could clearly feel the presence of the person next to him.

Kairis’s gaze wasn’t intense, but it still made him feel very nervous.

The more nervous he got, the easier it was to make mistakes.

As a result, the number of failures increased exponentially.

Mian’s face was flushed from playing, but he had to pretend to be calm.

…Actually, he was starting to not want to play anymore, but giving up easily would make him seem like an indecisive dragon.

But it was truly embarrassing to keep failing while Kairis watched.

What was there to even look at? Why could Kairis sit there and watch for so long? He truly didn’t understand.

Mian could only continue playing, conflicted and forcing himself, praying that someone would suddenly come and call Kairis away.

Having witnessed the level of clumsiness his sister spoke of, Kairis shifted his gaze away from the small box. He glanced at Mian’s flushed ear tips and the side of his face, which was staring intently at the box, then withdrew his gaze after a moment.

“Do you really want to open it?” he asked.

Mian was startled by his sudden voice and failed again.

Mian: “…”

He finally stopped his movements and turned to look at Kairis.

After a moment, Mian nodded. “Yes.”

The defiance in his eyes had long since transformed into utter despair regarding his own skill.

Kairis half-curled his knuckles and reached out to him.

Mian hesitated for a moment, then placed the small box onto the hand extended before him.

Once in Kairis’s hands, the obstacles on the box suddenly seemed to lose their menacing appearance, becoming incredibly docile. Mian leaned close to Kairis, watching his movements, feeling dizzy from the speed.

Kairis was fast. In the blink of an eye, he had reached the eighth changing pattern without failing even once.

His long, slender fingers hovered in the air, controlling the small ball’s trajectory quickly and effortlessly. Everything was so precise and perfect that it seemed as if the small ball had a mind of its own, moving without a single flaw.

The entire scene was very pleasing to the eye.

As he watched, Mian’s eyes gradually filled with admiration.

Slowly, Kairis reached levels he had never entered, making Mian watch even more intently.

He was also very nervous.

Because if he failed, he would have to start all over again.

Fortunately, Kairis proceeded smoothly all the way, without slowing down at all.

Loria hadn’t told him which level would unlock the box, so Mian watched with increasing focus.

As Kairis maneuvered the small ball through a new passage, a chill suddenly arose.

Unlike the feeling brought by the weather, this coldness seemed to penetrate the skin, going straight into the depths of the bone marrow.

Mian shivered. An inexplicable fear rose in his heart. He looked around. Everything in the room was clearly the same as usual, yet it suddenly made him feel afraid for no reason.

It was as if something invisible and omnipresent was spying on him.

It might be the scattered books nearby, the glass on the ceiling lamp, or the pattern on the curtains. Everything around him suddenly seemed to possess life, becoming cold and terrifying in that moment.

Mian swallowed, feeling an unprovoked dread.

But then he suddenly remembered that Kairis was still beside him.

Thinking of this, he felt a little more secure. He withdrew his sweeping gaze and silently moved closer to Kairis.

The atmosphere was too strange; he wanted to talk to Kairis now.

But Kairis was still solving the box, and doing so might distract him, so Mian abandoned the idea.

The rain outside the window suddenly intensified, and the room darkened considerably.

Mian quietly watched Kairis manipulate the box for a while longer.

Was this process taking too long?

He thought this for no particular reason.

The unknown fear in his heart grew deeper and deeper. Mian looked at Kairis, parted his lips, wanting to say something.

But he suddenly realized that the person beside him was no longer Kairis.