TDWAP 47

Chapter : 47

Chase had a long nightmare.

A diet full of the best nutrients.
The exact minimum amount of sunlight he had to receive.
Running and exercising under the one-on-one coaching of a famous physical trainer.

The reason for all these luxuries that anyone would envy was just one:

He had to become good livestock.

“A fine one was born and then ran away.”

“Then this… this child is—”

“Child? How dare you! This is of my blood. He must be called a prince!”

“M-my apologies!”

From birth, Chase possessed abnormally strong magical power.

Thanks to that, even though he was born as an illegitimate child branded as “the dregs of sin” by the Benevra state religion, he lived under fairly privileged conditions.

But the boy was never taught to read, nor how to ride a horse.

Because King Drishe did not want him to become a person.

“Just grow up healthy. Grow larger, become an even greater mass of magic power—that’s enough.”

Because of this, Chase could barely speak until the age of five.
If he hadn’t secretly listened to the maids and tutors around him, he might never have learned the kingdom’s language at all.

So, before bed each night, the boy secretly opened books and taught himself to read.

This life, which wasn’t all that bad, completely shattered once his magic exploded in growth.

“Y-you can see the magic with the naked eye! I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“The color of the magic is blue… what a splendid color.”

From then on, Chase had to return the healthy life he had enjoyed to the king.

“I-I’m scared… I don’t want this!”

The sudden stab of sharp needles made him feel as though the blood was draining out of his body—strange, painful, burning all over.

“I hate this, please stop!”

The boy’s cries, once so quiet, now echoed through the palace every day.

Each day was hell.

King Drishe insisted it was merely “extracting magic,” but—

The pain of losing a piece of his own body was sharper than any wound.

Screaming all day, Chase’s health declined rapidly.
His throat swelled, his arms were covered in bruises.

When dark rumors began to spread in the palace, Chase was locked away in the basement.

“Since you scream so much, I’ll give you peace. This is the blessing I bestow upon you.”

A ritual circle, like a tattoo, was carved into the boy’s arm.

His memories after that were hazy.

No matter what horrific sights he saw, his feelings were strangely calm.

Even scenes that should have been shocking eventually grew dull.

“Go to the Shadow Forest. There’s a dragon there. Dragons possess even greater magic than you.”

That was when Chase found a light to end the monotony.

That light was the baby dragon—Lulu.

His eyelids opened.

Chase, blankly staring at the ceiling, turned his head—silver-thread hair spilled over the bed.

And beneath it, pale, flour-like cheeks.

It was the sleeping dragon.

“…The nightmare’s… over?”

Now that he noticed, the dragon who should’ve been in bed was instead sitting in a small chair.
The window that had let sunlight in was already dark.

“Mmm…”

At that moment—

The baby dragon half-opened her eyes, wiping drool from her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Chase, you awake? The scary dream’s all gone now?”

“Dragon, you were having nightmares too.”

“Uh-huh. But it was just scary imagination! Since it’s not real, Lulu’s okay.”

She clenched her tiny fist as if to prove her strength.

…Did she think her past was just a dream?

‘Then… does that mean Princess Angelia is hiding the truth about her past?’

As his gaze narrowed—

“At the end, Chase showed up in my dream and made it a good dream.”

At those sudden words, all the doubts crowding Chase’s mind vanished in an instant.

Come to think of it, the tear tracks on her face were gone.

“And Chase patted my tail and said everything would be okay!”

“Me…? I did that, Dragon?”

“And you didn’t call me Dragon in the dream.”

“Then what did I call you?”

“Lulu.”

The dragon tilted her head as if urging him to call her by name, then smiled brightly, showing her white teeth.

“You called me Lulu.”

The moment Chase met those sparkling ruby eyes, he realized—

His binding spell had completely unraveled.

Otherwise… his heart wouldn’t be pounding like this.

Strange.

Why did he feel so… ticklish?

To stop the corners of his mouth from lifting, Chase deliberately replied with a sullen tone.

“So you’re saying you want me to call you Lulu?”

“Yeah! I call you Cha-se, so I’m Lulu!”

That’s right. Lulu was Lulu.

“…I’ll call you Lulu from now on.”

“Yay! Since Chase is awake, I’ll go call Sis-ter now!”

The baby dragon nodded vigorously and got up.

“Lulu.”

The words slipped out before he could stop them—somehow, it felt wrong to just let her go.

“Mm? Chase, what is it?”

Her round eyes turned toward him again.

What should he say?

She had said she saw him in her dream, so—

Chase blurted out a confession.

“I had a nightmare too… but when you showed up at the end, it got better.”

At that, Lulu staggered back a step, mouth wide open.

“…Whaaat? Even in dreams, Lulu’s a hero…?”

“No.”

His cutting reply made sweat bead on her forehead.

“…Then what did Lulu do there?”

“You didn’t do anything. I just dreamed of finding you.”

“Aha-ha-ha-ha!”

Though it was a serious confession, Lulu burst into laughter.

“Cha-se, that’s what you do every day lately!”

“…?”

“So Lulu’s going to call Sister now!”

And with that, she vanished so quickly it was almost ridiculous he’d even tried to stop her.

“…What I do every day?”

Left alone, Chase repeated her cryptic words—then realized.

Indeed, every morning lately had begun with him going to find Lulu.

That was it.

Living.

The reason for it didn’t need to be anything grand.

Once Chase fully awoke, Angela brought him up to the fourth floor.

And carefully asked,

“Chase. Did you know you had a binding spell engraved on you?”

“Yes.”

“That was His Majesty the King’s doing, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right. He kept extracting my magic, and when it didn’t work, he cast some strange spell.”

It was something that would shake the whole world if known.

And yet, even though it had happened to him, the boy spoke of it as if it were nothing.

Perhaps this too was the residue of black magic.

‘That man who calls himself my father…’

Though she tried to stay calm, heat boiled up in Angela’s head.

The ritual engraved on Chase’s arm was a high-level black magic called “Doll Play.”

As the name suggested, it turned people into dolls.
First robbing them of emotions and pain, then eventually erasing their very sense of self.

It meant becoming someone’s puppet.

It didn’t kill the victim, but it was far beyond the simplistic spells cast on Daisy and Acelin.

That was why even Lulu’s power had taken so long to dissolve the black magic.

“…But you—having this, and not telling me… No. The fault lies with that insane old fraud, not you.”

Just then—

“Did Lulu lose her memory?”

Angela froze at the sudden question.

It felt as if someone had dumped cold water over her head.

“…What are you talking about?”

“Even back at the Antran merchant group, she kept recalling bits of the past. She seems to have memories coming back.”

What?

“Especially earlier, it seemed like Lulu had a nightmare. But when I asked, she said it didn’t matter because it wasn’t something that had happened to her.”

“…?”

Angela stiffened completely.

Could it be that today’s drowsiness and whining were from nightmares?

‘But this morning, she only seemed fussy, nothing more…’

Her thoughts tangled in confusion.

She needed time to process everything that had been dropped on her without warning.

‘First, I need to find out exactly how much Lulu remembers.’

But… what if Lulu realized her parents were dead?

Such sorrow would be unbearable for that little body.

Angela grew more and more anxious.

“…Chase, you didn’t say anything to her, right?”

“Not yet.”