"Shit." Arteria cursed under her breath as she continued observing the duo of Noelle and Neia.

Samur, by the way, was in the process of satiating his hunger at the moment.

Arteria had no idea why they were here but if they stepped inside that room, both her and Samur would be doomed.

If Noelle ever found out that Arteria helped Samur in transplanting his fucking heart, Noelle would literally rip their hearts out and make them transplant those hearts in each other's body.

Not to mention that Arteria would be the one to face most of her wrath as she was the adult here and should have stopped Samur's reckless actions.

How one could view Samur as a normal child was something she could never comprehend. The very gaze with which he saw those around him sent shivers down her spine; it was like he wasn't even registering their existences.

But that wasn't the problem right now; right now, the problem was the combination of Noelle and Neia.

And Arteria's mission was to stop them from entering that room.

But she could not just jump out and try to divert their attention away from the room.

They would immediately see through her ruse and enter it to find out what exactly she was trying to hide from them.

For now, she should stay around and learn the reason behind their visit to Samur's room.

"Are you sure about this?" Noelle asked, seemingly a bit puzzled.

"Yes. The smell of blood seems to be coming from here."

'Shit!' Arteria cursed in her heart.

It was clear; they were fucked, and they were fucked gloriously.

Unless…

"Hey." Arteria came out from her hiding spot, walked towards them and greeted them like she had just chanced upon them.

"Oh, hey." Noelle greeted back, not an ounce of suspicion in her eyes.

"What are you guys doing in front of Samur's room?" She asked.

If she can't avoid the problem, then she might as well face it head on and divert it.

"Neia says that she smelled the scent of blood coming from Samur's room. We're here to check it."

"Really?" Arteria raised her eyebrow and sniffed around a bit. "I can't smell anything of that sort."

Plan 1: Make Noelle and Neia doubt their reason for coming here and make them leave.

"No, I'm sure about it." Neia replied with conviction.

"Really?" Arteria raised her eyebrow.

"Well, if she's so sure of herself, then there's no harm in checking, is there?" Noelle said.

"Are you going to enter his room without permission?" Arteria asked.

"He's just a child. What could he possibly have to hide from us?" Noelle chuckled.

'An Operation Theatre...' Arteria wanted to cry but she held on.

This wasn't the time to give up, no, it was time for Plan 2.

"Well, if you say so." She shrugged.

So, Noelle went ahead and twisted the door knob to open the door. However, Samur was someone who wanted to exercise his right to privacy, so he had locked the door.

"Tough luck, huh." Arteria sighed. "Should we try another time?"

"No need. I have this." Noelle pulled out her hair pin.

She bent it, inserted it into the keyhole and twisted it in a rather bizarre manner. After some moments, the lock clicked open.

"…" Arteria made a mental note to add magical defences to the lock of her door.

"Let's see what this smell is all about." Noelle said as she opened the door.

Arteria noticed a hint of worry in her voice and was reminded of the time when Samur coughed out blood even though he had promised not to.

Not to mention that he had the audacity to praise the colour of his bedsheet after it had been dyed red by his blood, as if he was a critique adoring a fine piece of art.

The moment the door opened a whiff of blood assaulted their noses.

'How could we miss it…' Arteria wanted to cry again, but held on.

The reason they didn't think anything of the scent of blood was that they had gotten used to it after the long surgery.

"See, I told you." Neia said.

"Yes, you did." Noelle replied but her mind was somewhere else.

She was probably trying to deduce the reason behind the smell of blood and why it was coming from Samur's room.

Arteria could already see her imagining various scenarios which could have led this room to be full of the iron-like smell of blood.

Thankfully, the giant mirror they had used for the surgery had been conjured through magic so it was no longer there.

However, the leftover crimson drops of blood from the operation were all the more distinct on an otherwise white bedsheet.

"What's this…" Neia swiped her finger over the spot and sniffed it.

"It's my blood…" Arteria sighed as she made this revelation.

Plan 2: Change the reason behind the smell of blood.

If she could not stop them from entering the room, then she could stop them from discovering the truth.

"Your blood? What is it doing here?" Noelle raised her eyebrow.

"Samur, well, he wanted to study my body for his experiment. This is the leftover from that."

"So, you let him cut open your body and study it?" Noelle asked, a bit sceptical.

"Of course not. He just made some cuts on my arm saying he wanted to study my regeneration and how it was related to my muscles, or something like that. I didn't fully understand what he was saying. Oh, and he also drew out some blood."

"Ah…" Noelle nodded; she had heard about Samur taking some blood samples from Neia and Arteria.

His research on them was what had kept him from coming out from his room for both dinner and breakfast.

"We were actually on our way to meet you before Vafferan took him away." Arteria turned to Neia. "Oh right, what's the Princess here for? Vafferan said she wanted to meet Samur or something?"

While it was an attempt at diverting the topic of conversation, Arteria was genuinely interested in knowing the reason behind the Princess' visit.

"Oh, she was just here to thank Samur for saving my life." Noelle smiled slightly.

Without Samur's permission, she could not reveal that Samur and Voloha knew each other and that the latter was here for a reunion.

"Ah, I see." Arteria nodded.

That made sense, though it sure was a bit anticlimactic.

In Samur's words, '5/10, not recommended'.

"But this is…" Neia muttered to herself while still sniffing her finger.

"Hmm?"

"This blood belongs to a human."

"Huh?" Arteria's eyes widened. "What are you talking about? That can't be."

"No, I'm sure about this." Neia looked straight at Arteria. "This is the smell of Samur's blood."

'A Dragon's nose is not supposed to be this powerful!' Arteria wanted to cry.