Chapter : 29
“Uuunnniiii!”
“What’s wrong? Who made my baby cry?”
Lulu’s pent-up sadness finally burst out.
“U, unni. Why are all the Tower people hap… happy? sniffle! Lulu has to hug all the sad friends… hiccup! but…”
“Hm? Baby, stop crying and say it properly. I can’t understand you.”
“Waaaahhh!”
…An hour later.
Gulp, gulp.
Lulu tilted her head back and chugged orange juice until not a drop was left, then let out a satisfied, “Kyaa~!”
“Yaaay~! This is the best—!”
Slurp.
She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and nodded gravely, as if she had reached some profound conclusion.
“Now I get why people are happy! When unni pampers you and you get to eat tasty food, that’s what makes you happy!”
Indeed.
This baby dragon was nothing more than a simple creature—one who could find happiness in the smallest things!
Her plump little legs dangled and swung from the chair.
“But… Lulu still wants to succeed at hugging people so she can get her dragon’s nest…”
Hmm. Who else was left in the Tower?
“Ah!”
Her twin pigtails bounced high as an idea struck her.
“Chase! Where’s Chase?!”
At last, she remembered the friend who hadn’t shown up for days.
“Prince Chase has been sick for the past few days. He’s fine now, though. You’ll find him in that tent over there.”
“Chase was sick? Where?”
“Looks like he ate some rotten bread.”
“Oh!”
Lulu rubbed her tiny chin with a grave expression.
“Who gave him something like that?!”
“Who knows?”
“Such a bad person!”
…Completely forgetting that she was that bad person.
“That’s right, isn’t it?”
At last, the situation became clear to her.
‘So that’s why he disappeared all of a sudden after always asking me for food. He was sick.’
Lulu understood perfectly!
She needed to go check on Chase right away.
She didn’t know why he would eat rotten bread, but right now was the perfect chance to hug a sad person!
‘If Lulu hugs him, Chase will feel better.’
And then the number in her fairy tale book would also…
“Hehe.”
Her little mouth curved into a greedy smile.
Wasting no time, Lulu slipped under the flap of the tent the knight had pointed out.
“Knock knock~.”
“…Dragon?”
Was it because he remembered her voice? Chase responded right away.
Making a knock-knock noise with her mouth, Lulu squeezed inside and greeted her friend.
“Chase, they said you ate something weird and got sick?”
“I don’t really know. The knights just told me to rest inside for a while.”
“Hm?”
He looked fine!
Lulu had imagined him lying in bed groaning, but he was sitting there as healthy as ever.
“You’re not sick? The knight said you ate spoiled food.”
“Not sure. They said that wheat bread I had went bad.”
“Wheat bread? But Lulu gave you that…!”
Her mouth froze mid-babble.
“?”
Oh no. Now she remembered.
The rotten wheat bread—they were the ones she gave him!
‘Gasp!’
Cold sweat ran down her little neck.
But that couldn’t be.
She had treasured that bread and carefully stored it in her drawer!
Rumble.
“Em… emergency.”
Rumble rumble.
“Emergencccyyy.”
Her whole body moved stiffly, like a broken puppet.
She was terrified to say it aloud, but—
Poke, poke. Something stabbed her conscience.
Finally, Lulu folded to guilt and asked in a tiny voice:
“Chase… did you get sick from the bread Lulu gave you?”
“It’s fine. I thought it was fun.”
Ah. So it was true.
The culprit was really Lulu.
Plop.
The little sinner dropped to her knees.
Sweat poured down her cheeks as she pressed her palms to the ground.
“I’m sorryyy!”
“It’s okay. I told you, I had fun eating what you gave me.”
Even though he could’ve scolded her, Chase forgave Lulu without a trace of anger.
“B-but Lulu’s food was… really bad…”
“Whether it’s tasty or not doesn’t matter. I couldn’t taste anything anyway.”
“Then at dinner, Lulu will give you all her meat!”
“Alright. Sounds good.”
At that moment—
The corner of Chase’s lips twitched upward, just barely.
In truth, he had been waiting quietly for Lulu to show up ever since he was stuck in the tent.
‘When I ate normal food, I couldn’t taste anything. But the food that dragon gave me—I could taste it vividly.’
Whether it was green onions or spinach—even bland, the sensation of flavor itself had returned. It had shocked him.
But Lulu, who didn’t know any of this, just squeezed her eyes shut and declared:
“Okay! All the meat is yours!”
Their conversation seemed to be winding down when—
“Hm?”
“Dragon? What is it?”
“I just remembered. A hug!”
Lulu finally recalled her mission and jumped to her feet.
“Chase, do you want to hug Lulu?”
The smile slid right off Chase’s face.
“…Why?”
“Because when you’re having a hard time, hugging your friend makes you feel better!”
“……”
“Come here, hug Lulu!”
She spread her arms wide and puffed out her little belly.
“What’s wrong? You don’t want to hug Lulu? I guess you didn’t even like holding hands with me before. Are you… scared of me?”
“No, I’m not scared…”
He tried to reply coolly, but his body flinched.
After a long pause, he nodded solemnly, as if making a decision.
“Alright. Let’s hug.”
“Ooh!”
“I should check if that reaction I had last time was really a coincidence or not.”
Lulu didn’t understand what he meant, but she was thrilled at the thought of completing her mission.
“Okay then, here comes the hug!”
Her little bottom wiggled as she pounced and wrapped Chase in a tight embrace.
“The baby salamander melts colds, defrosts frozen mea—”
“G-get off! Wait, I think I’m gonna—urp!”
Thud.
Chase shoved Lulu away and bolted out of the tent.
Left behind was only the poor baby dragon, sitting on her sore bottom.
“…Get off…?”
Her rear burned as if she had sat on hot coals.
Her eyes stung too. Holding back tears, Lulu whispered to herself:
“Because of hugging Lulu… you feel like throwing up?”
According to the fairy tale book… this one was too short to count as a real hug.
“Waaaahhh!”
Four years old, and already—
Baby dragon Lulu tasted yet another bitter flavor of life.
“Ugh… huff, huff.”
Meanwhile, Chase stumbled outside, his back heaving.
The instant he touched the dragon again, the fear had come crashing back.
“Your Majesty… the prince resisted too much…”
“There’s no helping it. I wasn’t going to push it this far, but…”
The numb barrier inside him had cracked.
His wide, terrified eyes darted around.
“This isn’t the palace. This isn’t the palace…”
Muttering like a self-hypnosis as he steadied his breath, he barely pulled himself out of the tangled memories of his past.
What he thought had been coincidence wasn’t.
“…So it wasn’t just chance.”
Rolling up his sleeve, he saw the strange sigils engraved into his skin beginning to reappear.
But something was different.
“…?”
He rubbed his eyes, but no—it was real.
Some of the markings had faded.
“What… is happening to me?”
Ever since the ritual had branded his flesh, he had felt neither joy nor fear.
But if the markings were being erased—
‘It means… I can feel fear again.’
Closing his eyes tightly, the boy made up his mind.
He had to finish his bucket list quickly.
Because he wanted to escape—from the terrifying past, and from a present where he couldn’t see even one step ahead.
“Ah, I want to greet the prince too. Lulu, let’s go together!”
“No. Lulu’s not going.”
“Why not?”
“Because Chase doesn’t like Lulu!”
Rian, who had belatedly noticed Chase’s strange state, tried to coax her, but the little dragon wouldn’t budge.
That’s right.
Lulu was sulking.
She pushed open the window with a creak. Not far away, the temporary tent stood.
‘Lulu doesn’t like Chase either!’
Her round eyes narrowed to slits.
Just then—
—Young hero. Perhaps that boy Chase has circumstances you do not know. With the wide heart of a hero, why not try once more to reach out?
“…But Chase told Lulu to ‘go away.’ He even pushed me.”
Until now, Lulu had thought Chase was a quiet but kind friend.
She had been wrong.
He wasn’t just quiet—he was mean too!
“Hmph.”
She slammed the window shut like closing her heart.
After that, Chase didn’t show his face again.
But a few days later—
“I’d like to come too.”
He appeared again, in the most unexpected way.
