Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 53. The Queen’s Garden

Rick woke up slowly, with awareness coming back in gentle waves instead of the harsh shock that came with waking up in the past. He felt warmth right away, but it wasn’t from healing magic.

It came from another body pressed against his. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was still lying across Sylvia’s lap. She was absentmindedly stroking his hair while she looked out the window at the sky before dawn. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"You’re awake," she said softly, not looking at him.

"Huh... oh... yeah..." Rick’s voice was rough. "How long have I been gone this time?"

"Just a few hours. You went to sleep after..." She stopped for a moment, and Rick could have sworn he saw a hint of color on her cheeks. "After we celebrated your win."

Rick’s own face got hot as the memories came rushing back. Sylvia kept her promise of a reward last night, after he was well enough to stay awake.

And what a reward it had been. So many times that he had lost count of how many times she had made him shake and feel good about himself, especially by the fourth or fifth time.

Rick said, "Holy shit," and put his hands over his face. "That really happened. I didn’t dream that, did I?"

"You didn’t dream it." A satisfied smile spread across Sylvia’s lips. "You did beg quite nicely at the end, though. I really liked it when you called me ’my queen’ while I was riding you into the bed."

"Oh my god, please stop," Rick groaned, but he was smiling even though he was embarrassed. "Sebastian will never let me forget this."

"Speaking of your annoying butler spirit, he’s been standing outside the door for the last hour, too polite to knock but clearly dying to know what’s going on." Sylvia finally looked down at Rick.

Her amber eyes were warm with laughter and something deeper. "Should we end his suffering?"

Sebastian’s voice came through the door as if he had called it. "I know you can hear me talking about you! And just so you know, I’m not dying to know anything."

"Based on the ridiculous number of EXP notifications that kept coming through the system all night, I already know exactly what happened!"

Rick quickly sat up, wincing a little at the pain in muscles he had forgotten he had. "Wait, how much EXP?"

"A lot," Sebastian said, coming through the door because he wasn’t concerned about privacy. "The system was almost overloaded again. You leveled up after surviving the Trial of Strength and spending a lot of time ’celebrating’ with a Dragon Queen! Twice!"

"I thought that thing didn’t count...? What the fuck...?"

"It’s not THAT! It’s the way you slept for hours on her lap while being cared for."

"Ohh... yeah... seems legit..."

[CELEBRATORY ACTIVITIES WITH THE DRAGON QUEEN]

[+400 EXP: CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH A BIG POWER]

[+200 EXP: MAKING EMOTIONAL CONNECTION STRONGER]

[LEVEL UP: 15 to 16]

[SYLVIA FLAMEHEART’S LOVE: 7 → 8]

Rick blinked when he saw the messages. "Six hundred experience points for being pampered...?"

"Not just pampered, you gooner," Sebastian said with a lot of patience. "Real closeness with someone who is compelling and mature and doesn’t let anyone in very often."

"Remember that the system rewards real connections? And based on what I could tell from the bond readings, last night was very real. Many times."

Rick had never heard Sylvia laugh like that before. It changed her face completely, making her look younger and less stressed. "I like your spirit, friend. He is refreshingly honest."

Rick said, "He’s a pain in my ass," but there wasn’t much heat in it.

"Speaking of which," Sebastian said as he adjusted his monocle, "you have about three days to get better before the Trial of Mind starts."

"It’s very unusual for the Dragon Queen to want to personally oversee this trial. The Council of Elders usually takes care of it."

Rick gave Sylvia a questioning look. She nodded.

"The Trial of Mind and The Trial of Strength are not the same. It’s not about fighting or being able to last."

"It’s about having wisdom, emotional intelligence, and the ability to really get what other people are going through. I chose to give it to myself because..." She paused for a moment, and something flashed across her face too quickly for Rick to see what it was. "Because I need to know you better. Just to see if you can really understand what it means to be next to someone like me."

Rick’s chest tightened when he heard her voice. There was something in it, something weaker behind the royal authority.

He reached out and grabbed her hand. "I’ll do my best to show you who I really am."

Sylvia’s fingers got tighter around his. "That’s what I want."

...

The next three days were like a strange kind of limbo. Rick wasn’t stuck in his room, but he also wasn’t expected to train or get ready in any obvious way. Instead, Sylvia stayed with him and showed him more of the citadel and the dragon kingdom.

She took him to the big libraries, where they carefully kept scrolls and books that were thousands of years old. She took him to the forges where dragon smiths made weapons and armor that were full of magic.

She introduced him to dragon scholars, artists, and philosophers, all of whom were interested in Rick to different degrees, but she didn’t bring him to the training grounds or the arena. And she was always there for him.

On the third day, as the sun set and painted the mountains in shades of red and gold, Sylvia took Rick to a part of the citadel he had never seen before. They walked down halls that got smaller and less grand as they went along. Finally, they came to a small, plain door.

Rick asked, "Where are we?"

"Somewhere I haven’t taken anyone in five hundred years," Sylvia said softly.

She put her hand on the door, and it opened with a soft click. "My own garden."

Rick stepped through and stopped in awe. The garden was so beautiful that it was difficult to believe it was real.

The rest of the citadel was made up of stone, ice, and rough volcanic rock, but this area was full of plants and animals. Around a central fountain, trees with silver leaves grew in careful patterns.

In carefully tended beds, flowers bloomed in colors Rick had never seen before. The ground was covered in a soft carpet of moss, and the air smelled like dirt, growth, and life.

Rick said, "This is wonderful. How is any of this alive up here?"

"Dragon fire and ancient magic," Sylvia said as she walked to the fountain and sat down on its edge. "I made this place a long time ago, when I first became queen."

"Dragons need to remember what it’s like to be around living things instead of stone and ice occasionally."