Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 90 - 89 - “I’m not scared of her.”

Chapter 90: Chapter 89 - “I’m not scared of her.”

The room had fallen quiet after Lia’s question.

Too quiet.

It was as if someone had asked who was getting married while attending a funeral.

Raven, as if struck by an invisible bolt of confusion, sat upright on his bed.

"...What do you mean, why am I scared of Clara?" He asked, eyes squinting. "I’m not scared of her. Why would you even say that?"

Lia, or Lio, as everyone else still believed, tilted her head slightly. "Because that’s what it seems? You flinch whenever someone mentions her, and every time a girl gets within a two-foot radius of you, you start acting like the floor’s about to open up and drop you into a guilt pit."

"...Okay, maybe I flinch a little," Raven admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, "but not because I’m scared of her. I respect Clara. She’s... she’s important to me."

From her curled-up spot on the floor, Siris hugged the pillow tighter and narrowed her eyes. ’I also want to be important to him.’

Nibbles stopped mid-squeak outside the window. Even Alex glanced in from the balcony, his expression curious.

Raven sighed and looked up at the ceiling again as if expecting it to hand him a script.

"I just... I don’t want her to feel like she’s not enough. If she thinks I’m cheating or being unfaithful, even by accident, she might think I don’t love her anymore." He paused, then added with surprising seriousness, "I’m not scared of Clara. I’m scared of hurting her."

Jessy, who had flopped upside down on a nearby couch, blinked.

Jake shifted in his seat with a thoughtful grunt.

Lia, meanwhile, crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe, her prince-like demeanor slipping into something more thoughtful. "But why do you need to prove it like that?"

Raven’s brow twitched. "Like what?"

"By avoiding other girls. Why not just... act like you love her? Tell her you do. Be clear. If you don’t want another girl, say it. If you do want someone, then tell Clara. Don’t you trust her to understand?"

That made Raven pause.

Even Siris, normally a war crime waiting to happen, suddenly tensed.

Her death hug on the pillow faltered.

This... was dangerous logic.

It was simple logic, but since Raven didn’t work on that logic, she was fine, but if he did as Lio was saying, wouldn’t he cut her off?

Wouldn’t he outright tell her not to cling to him?

While Siris was panicking for the first time in her life, Raven... frowned. And it was a real frown now—not his usual annoyed grimace or exaggerated scowl.

It was a deep, thinking frown.

"...How could ’you’ say that?" He asked, his voice low.

The "you" in that sentence hit differently. His eyes locked onto Lia, whose confidence faltered for a second as she understood what he meant.

That ’you’ wasn’t for Lio, but for Lia, who was a girl.

What she didn’t understand, however, was why he was saying that.

What was so wrong about her question?

No one knew the answer to that, but they knew that things were getting serious now.

So, Rufus raised an eyebrow, Alex stepped halfway into the room, and Jessy pushed herself upright.

Raven, on the other hand, kept his eyes locked on Lia, his expression shifting from clueless to something unreadably sharp. "You said that as if you already knew how Clara would feel. But how could you say something like that and not think it’d hurt her?"

He frowned harder as he continued. "...If I just told her, ’Hey, I want a harem,’ wouldn’t she be crushed? She’d feel like she wasn’t enough. Like I’m already looking away."

His voice cracked slightly near the end.

He was simply speaking his mind, but those words—

—They struck the room like thunder.

Jessy sat up completely. Jake leaned forward. Even Nibbles paused, chewing dramatically slower.

Then, Jessy squinted.

"...Wait. Did you want a harem?"

Raven winced.

There was a long pause.

Then—

"...Yes," he muttered. "Okay? Yes. I do. I mean, it’s not like I’m out here drawing diagrams and holding auditions, but yeah. I have thought about it. I’m an eighteen-year-old guy who was raised in a house where everyone looks like a fashion model and also fights like a dragon. Hormones exist. But it’s been less than a week since I started dating Clara. I just thought it was too soon. I didn’t want to ruin what we have."

Jessy’s expression turned strangely serious.

"...That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard," she said.

"Hey!"

"No, seriously." She stood, folding her arms. "You think Clara would’ve said no if you told her up front that you wanted a harem?"

Raven blinked. "I mean... wouldn’t she?"

Jessy laughed once, not unkindly. "No. She would’ve looked you in the eyes and said, ’Fine, but you’re mine first,’ and then told you to figure the rest out yourself."

Raven opened his mouth. Closed it. Then he opened it again.

Jessy didn’t let up.

"Right now, she’s jealous. She acts like a dragon guarding her hoard because she doesn’t know what you want. If you’d just told her, ’Hey, I want a harem,’ then she’d feel safe. She wouldn’t be worried about getting replaced because she’d know she’s not being replaced but getting company instead."

Siris quietly growled at the word "company," but no one paid her any mind.

Jessy pressed on. "You’re the one making it weird. Clara doesn’t want to read your mind. She wants to feel loved. If you’re clear with her, she’ll adjust. You made it hard by assuming she’d hate it."

Raven sat there, frozen.

In his mind, he heard every anxious, nervous, overthinking thought he’d had about Clara... all crumple like wet paper.

He finally realized where things went wrong.

He had unknowingly started thinking of Clara as a girl from his past world.

The problem was that this planet was different.

This was a world where kings had multiple queens and generals had lovers in every city.

Here, his girlfriend wouldn’t cut off his dick if he told her that he wanted a harem—unless he wasn’t someone capable of making a harem.

As he thought about those things, a deafening silence covered the room.

"...I’m an idiot," Raven whispered.

Siris nodded in agreement from the floor.

Jessy grinned. "Glad we’re on the same page."

Outside the window, Nibbles squeaked in agreement.

Alex nodded solemnly. "He really is."

Lia, meanwhile, stood with an unreadable expression, but inwardly, she was celebrating.

However, the next second, she grew confused, wondering why she was celebrating before the incident by the lakeside played in her mind again.

’Uwaaaaaaa!’

With her eyes going wide and her face growing red, she quickly turned around, hiding her face.

Jake, for the first time since this conversation started, finally spoke. "So. When are you telling Clara?"

"... can I think about it later?"

"No," everyone replied at once.

Raven groaned and faceplanted into his pillow.

"I swear," he muffled into the fabric, "this tower is going to kill me emotionally before it burns me alive."

What he didn’t know, however, was that his time in this tower was only starting right now.

He had yet to face the consequences of his actions this evening.