Chapter 16
“What? Five years old? That makes no sense.”
“Do you know how to calculate a dragon’s age?”
Of course I did.
It was one of those pointless bits of lore written into the worldbuilding guidebook. A dragon’s age could be determined by counting the small wave-shaped scales that started at the nape of its neck.
“Look closely at my nape. Count how many scales there are.”
The dragon stretched out its neck toward me, and I hastily reached out to brush my hand over it.
“There really are only five scales…”
I muttered in disbelief. Good heavens, it was just a five-year-old baby dragon.
Which meant this dragon couldn’t possibly be the one who killed the duke’s parents. That had happened eight years ago.
My mind instantly became tangled.
“Th-then… do you have any parents, any siblings? How long have you been living in these waters?”
“…I don’t remember having parents or siblings. Nor do I know how long I’ve been here.”
“What kind of half-baked answer is that?”
“It’s the truth. Didn’t I tell you it feels like there’s a fog in my head? Since I was born, this is the first time my mind has felt this clear.”
The dragon muttered, sounding a bit sulky. Just then, someone banged on the cabin door hard enough to rattle it, calling for me.
“Jiana, are you in there? That dragon whelp too? The time we agreed upon has already passed.”
Startled, I glanced at the clock. More than ten minutes had already flown by.
I’d been so shaken by the dragon’s revelation that I hadn’t even noticed.
“J-just a moment, Your Grace!”
If the dragon was telling the truth, then it was innocent.
How could a five-year-old dragon have caused the tidal wave eight years ago?
Besides, ever since that great wave, no ship had dared approach these waters. Everyone valued their lives too much for that.
In other words, this dragon hadn’t done anything violent in all its five years of life.
‘I can’t let them just kill an innocent dragon.’
I didn’t know why or how the dragons had been swapped, but what mattered now was acting fast.
Frantically scanning the room, I spotted a mop bucket in the corner.
“Sorry, just hang in there a moment!”
I snatched the mop out, dirty water dripping onto the floor, and without hesitation grabbed the dragon, dunked it straight into the bucket, and covered it with the mop.
Almost at once, Duke Ruphelen flung open the cabin door.
“The dragon… Where is the dragon?”
His eyes swept the cabin in puzzlement.
“Didn’t you bring it in here with you?”
“Y-Your Grace, perhaps we could talk for a moment?”
“It’s already been more than ten minutes. We’ll talk after I’ve dealt with the dragon.”
He ignored me completely, striding into the room, lifting every cushion, and yanking open every drawer in search of the dragon.
When he kicked the bucket aside, my heart nearly stopped. But it didn’t occur to him that the dragon might be hidden under the mop.
‘If he finds it, he’ll strike at its neck immediately, won’t he?’
Honestly, it was a miracle he’d restrained himself for ten minutes at all. His refusal to listen to me made that much clear.
I trailed anxiously after him, trying to keep up a stream of words.
“Your Grace, I’ve spoken with the dragon. It really has done wrong, yes, but…”
“That’s right. That wretch of a dragon caused the wave that killed my parents. Then it seized these waters as its domain, smashing every ship that dared approach. It stole the freedom of the seas and struck terror into people’s hearts. Those are crimes a hundred deaths couldn’t atone for.”
Ugh. This wasn’t working.
The duke even rolled up the carpet on the floor, checking carefully as though expecting a secret passage.
After a long silence, I tapped his back.
“But what if… what if it isn’t the same dragon?”
“What are you saying?”
He roughly unrolled the carpet back into place, shoved the sofa aside, and asked without turning around.
“Are you trying to defend it?”
“I’m not defending it!”
How could I explain this?
Fidgeting with my fingers, I forced my brain to work.
“I-I mean, dragons aren’t the only ones of their kind in the world, right? The one that caused the wave eight years ago could already be dead.”
At that, the duke suddenly froze in place.
Still with his back to me.
I seized the moment, blurting it out.
“I saw it myself—this dragon is only five years old!”
“Five…?”
Slowly, the duke turned to face me, his eyes meeting mine.
“…That’s absurd, Jiana. Do you know how long I’ve devoted myself to this revenge?”
“O-of course! Your Grace has prepared for eight long years. But if this dragon is five, then it had nothing to do with the wave back then. Would you still kill it?”
He said nothing, only stared into me.
“No, that would mean carrying out vengeance on the wrong target. Imagine how your real enemy would gloat. Isn’t a true avenger’s duty to identify their enemy clearly and strike them down without mistake?”
Oof, that was a damn fine line—even I thought I sounded cool.
The duke seemed to agree, for he gave a slow nod.
“Indeed… You’re right. If you can prove its age beyond doubt.”
“Exactly! That’s why Your Grace has such keen judgment.”
“The scales… that’s how its age is measured, yes.”
Of course—he’d gathered every scrap of information on dragons for his revenge. So he already knew that method.
‘That makes persuading him even easier.’
Cautiously watching him, I lifted the mop handle and pulled the dragon from the bucket.
“Puh—cough, cough!”
The dragon hacked and gasped for breath.
Thankfully, being a sea-dwelling creature, it hadn’t actually suffocated. It just reeked something awful.
“You hid it in there?”
The duke looked at us with an incredulous expression.
“Please don’t misunderstand. I just needed time to explain.”
Holding the dragon up by the scruff of its neck, I showed it to him. The smell made him wince.
“The stench is terrible.”
“Bear with it a bit and look closely. Here—do you see these scales?”
“One, two, three… five.”
A flash of shock passed through his eyes.
Realizing he’d spent eight years chasing the wrong target must have hit like a thunderclap.
I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for him.
The dragon, terrified of him, kept darting its eyes around nervously.
“Um… Your Grace?”
His complexion shifted from pale to flushed red, again and again.
Carefully, I began edging backward, dragon still in hand.
‘This feels like the moment he’s going to explode.’
My judgment was spot-on.
Unable to contain his fury, Duke Ruphelen kicked the bucket aside and stormed out of the cabin, shouting incoherently.
“Hold still. Ugh, the smell.”
After asking the sailors to clean up the bucket, I dragged the dragon into the washroom and scrubbed it thoroughly.
The stench of mop water was rising off its body in waves—I couldn’t stand it.
“You live in the sea, so why do you hate baths?”
“I don’t hate baths! But when you scrub that roughly, it hurts! I’m just a baby dragon—you should treat me gently and kindly.”
“No can do. I have to scrub hard to get the smell off.”
Only after scrubbing every corner did the reek finally disappear, letting me examine the dragon properly.
As I stared intently, checking every part, the dragon squirmed, looking uncomfortable under the scrutiny.
“Ugh, why are you so fussy?”
“Because it’s unnerving! Why are you staring holes through me?”
“Hmm. No injuries. No missing scales. Wings are normal. All in all… looks usable.”
“What?”
The dragon looked at me with utter confusion, but my head was already spinning with thoughts.
