Chapter 51
“Cardinal Dragon?”
“Yes. The one said to guard the Lafrand territory…”
I hadn’t even finished the sentence when the Duke suddenly clenched his teeth and let out a groan. I quickly understood why—the cold was spreading in concentric ripples from beneath his hand.
“Ugh…”
The Duke gripped his own wrist as if trying to crush it. Beneath his skin, something that was more than just muscle writhed, as though it were about to burst out.
No, stop!
Panicking, I grabbed his forearm with both hands. It was so cold it felt like holding ice. I wanted to let go immediately, but the image of him once shoving his own arm into a brazier flashed in my mind, and I couldn’t.
Damn it, how did I handle this last time?
“Y-you’re a good dragon, right? Yes, good boy, go to sleep now. Ah, Duke, what did you even do when you were young—your arms are ridiculously thick.”
I spouted nonsense, trying to drown out whatever words the Duke might have spoken, and kneaded his forearm.
Whether it was the right move or not, the Silver Dragon’s chill slowly subsided. Still, I didn’t let go of his arm.
“Father, are you alright?”
“For now.”
“Why did this happen all of a sudden?”
“Just hearing the Cardinal Dragon mentioned must have agitated it. Dragons don’t get along with one another. They’ll fight over the pettiest things…”
“Ah, stop! Don’t say more—it’s wriggling again!”
“If I landed a few punches, it would quiet down.”
“You’d be the one getting punched first, Duke!”
I wasn’t sure dragons were the only ones with bad tempers—why was he asking for a beating himself?
I tapped his back repeatedly until he finally shut his mouth, and the Silver Dragon calmed down as well.
Damn, at this rate, I won’t even be able to consult him about the Cardinal Dragon.
“So, why did you bring up that one, Sol?”
“…Because Kai was boasting about Lafrand and their guardian dragon. Ah! But of course, the Flogel County is the best!”
The Silver Dragon, which had looked ready to stir again, went still. The Duke’s eyebrow twitched, as if to say, You’re hiding something, aren’t you? But he seemed satisfied with my answer.
Seriously, did they all age backwards into children? Why did I have to be the one coaxing them when I was the youngest here, body and mind? Ugh.
Anyway, before he could press me on whether I was hiding something, I went on the offensive.
“Father, Kai came all the way to the festival.”
“…Hooh.”
“After talking to him, I realized I don’t want to keep being pen pals. I won’t invite him again this summer either.”
“….”
The murderous aura that had been flashing in the Duke’s eyes dissipated in an instant—only for his gaze to sharpen again.
“Did that brat say something improper to you—”
“N-no! At the banquet, he was just another kid my age, and I was glad to meet him. But after talking directly, I found him… boring.”
“….”
“If I cut things off suddenly, it could turn into a political issue between our families, so I’ll exchange letters a few more times and then end it. Is that alright?”
“…Of course. There’s no need to force a friendship.”
He kept his face severe, but when he covered his mouth with one hand, I caught his lips twitching upward. Honestly, I’d expected at least one lecture about politeness.
Well… to be fair, it was rude. After insisting we exchange letters under a guardian’s supervision, suddenly saying “I don’t want to be friends anymore.”
But the Cardinal Dragon is too big of a risk. Kai may be a good kid, but once a dragon’s power takes root, can he really stay the same?
The Cardinal Dragon may have said, I haven’t bonded with Kai yet. I act with the future in mind, but…
Anyone who trusts dragons in romance-fantasy novels is doomed. Proof of that is right beside me—the Duke, suffering endlessly thanks to the Silver Dragon.
Sorry, Kai.
Even if I wanted to watch over you more… in this precarious situation, I don’t have the courage to add new variables to the original story.
With a bitter feeling, I glanced back at the Duke—
“…Huh?”
And saw something dangling oddly from his sleeve.
“Father, that’s…”
The cufflink I had given him was hanging from his shirt cuff, blatantly displayed!
I was dumbfounded by the unashamed show-off—for a moment.
Ugh. When I first bought it, it had seemed decent enough. But attached to his fine clothes, it looked cheap as dirt. Even uglier than the plain button beside it!
“Wh-when did you put that on?”
“Yesterday. I asked them to attach it while preparing the outfit for our dance.”
“You didn’t have to actually wear it out!”
“Wasn’t it meant to be used?”
Well… not exactly. I’d only given it to him to show off—“See? I take care of you. I even got you a gift.”
Now my conscience was pricked.
“…You’re right. Father, you’ve gotten good at pretending to be a doting dad without me even teaching you anymore.”
“I tend to learn faster than most.”
“Ugh, that’s even more irritating if it’s true.”
“It is true. So you, too, will pick things up quickly.”
“I’m not even related by blood, thank you very much. Anyway, let’s see if you’ve really learned. Let me ask you something.”
“Ask away.”
He finally lowered his hands and looked down at me.
His face was as expressionless as ever. His sharp brows, piercing eyes, and solemn lips all etched in straight, severe lines.
But somehow, I sensed a quiet amusement in it… Was it just my imagination? Or my hope?
“Father, what wish did you make earlier?”
“An unfair game, that was. A human child couldn’t possibly win against two humans already in adolescence.”
“Still… I shouldn’t have gotten excited when throwing the last ball!”
Kai hugged a few dolls he’d won from the stalls and whined.
He had battled the Schleyger brothers to win them, hoping to spend more time with Sol. But he hadn’t achieved even half the success he’d had at his hometown festival.
One of Kai’s cheeks puffed out sulkily.
“I’m really good at throwing! Back home, I always beat even the older servants!”
The Cardinal Dragon, currently in the form of a bodyguard, poked the puffed-up cheek.
“That’s because they were servants.”
“…Huh?”
“Consider the possibility that they let you win. Who would dare crush the spirit of the lord’s grandson?”
“…Oh…”
Realization dawned, and Kai’s face reddened. All those races against farmhands years older than him—he had thought he was just that talented…
“You’re right. I wasn’t skilled… That’s embarrassing.”
“As long as you realize it. Plenty of people reach twenty or thirty without ever figuring that out.”
The Cardinal Dragon patted Kai’s head.
For a human, the boy had been born with a good temperament. Especially for a noble. Not that it guaranteed him a smooth life.
“At least you’re better than those Schleyger brothers, ganging up two-to-one in the name of protecting their sister.”
“It wasn’t really two-to-one, more like one-to-one-to-one. Even the brothers were watching each other.”
“Was that so?”
“Yes. Where were you while I was playing?”
When Benen and Elber had taken Kai to the ball-throwing stall, only the Duke’s guards had been nearby. The bodyguard-disguised Cardinal Dragon had disappeared and reappeared at some point.
Under Kai’s questioning gaze, the dragon only shrugged.
“It’s been a while since I last visited Flogel. I wanted to look around.”
“Really? You didn’t go and provoke the Silver Dragon, did you?”
“That one twitches like a worm every time I so much as fart, so why would I need to provoke—ow.”
“Stop that!”
Kai jumped up and smacked the dragon on the lips. Rude, yes—but the urgency made even the dragon chuckle.
“Anyway, the Silver Dragon is trapped in the Duke’s body. Unless he gives up his body, they’ll never actually fight.”
Like a brat teasing a chained hunting dog. Kai thought it insufferable, yet still hugged his dolls tighter.
“Sol… I guess I won’t see her again today.”
When the dragon returned from his suspicious wandering, the Schleyger brothers had been notified of something and had run off. There hadn’t even been time to ask what was happening.
“Maybe they’re busy?”
“Didn’t the letter say so? Guess it wasn’t a lie.”
“…She could have at least shown her face before leaving.”
“Oh?”
The dragon’s eyes narrowed mischievously.
“Do you really like that girl?”
“Huh?”
“At the banquet, you only approached her because I told you to. I thought it was duty, nothing more.”
“…”
It was true. No matter how friendly Kai was, he wouldn’t have blurted out his family history and asked a girl he’d just met to dance, not on his own.
If the Cardinal Dragon hadn’t told him to get close to the Duke’s adopted daughter, he probably wouldn’t have even exchanged names until half a day later. They certainly wouldn’t have been writing letters the very next day.
Even coming to the Flogel festival this time had been the dragon’s idea…
“But when I first saw her, she really caught my eye. At the time, I thought it was just because she was the only one my age among the adults.”
“Oh?”
“But up close, I realized her eyes are really beautiful. And when we climbed the mountain, she was kind and mature. Every time I meet her, I learn something new… and I like all of it.”
“So you’re already dreaming of grandchildren, eh?”
“H-hey! Don’t tease me!”
“Humans always do that. They meet, marry, have children, then die surrounded by those children and grandchildren, thinking that’s a good life.”
“….”
Was that true? The dragon said it so seriously that Kai couldn’t argue.
Naturally, Sol’s face came to mind—her black hair, her golden-brown eyes.
Kai tugged at his own hair absentmindedly. Everyone said his blond hair was beautiful. He couldn’t see them himself, but he knew his eyes were green.
They didn’t have a single feature in common.
If they ever had children… what colors would they have?
“Hey, Kai Lafrand!”
“Huh? What?”
A voice he had been replaying in his head sounded vividly in real life. Like a puppy called by name, Kai shot to his feet.
Across the stone path, Sol Schleyger was striding toward him. At some point, she had changed clothes—her yellow dress glowed under the moonlight, making her look like a fairy of evening primroses.
Kai’s lips stretched into an uncontrollable grin.
…He belatedly noticed the Duke walking beside her. But once his smile had formed, he couldn’t close it again, and all he could do was shout her name.
“Sol!”
