-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Pitiful Young Lady (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[...Nothing's happened, has it?]
It had only been ten minutes since Kaizareu left. So why did this ominous feeling persist?
Lucian is smart, so he wouldn't do anything dangerous. No, he might wander into the beasts' territory without realizing it.
One thought led to another, ending with the image of Lucian becoming prey for some beast, disappearing forever.
[What a dreadful thought.]
That can't be. Lucian will surely return safely.
It wasn't just a wish; it had to happen. Otherwise, she didn't know what she would do...
Bang-!
“Ghost! The kid's gonna die!”
Just then, the door burst open as if it were breaking, and Kaizareu appeared. His words nearly scattered her spirit.
[Lucian!]
Ria rushed to Kaizareu's side. The Lucian in his arms was a world away from the boy she had seen that afternoon.
He was covered in injuries, his clothes were caked in mud and sweat, and his entire body was feverish, his breaths coming in ragged gasps.
“His fever is no joke. He's going to die at this rate.”
Ria bit her lower lip and took Lucian from Kaizareu's arms.
Kaizareu froze, watching Lucian float in mid-air.
Ignoring whether Kaizareu was watching or not, Ria focused all her attention on Lucian.
She hurried up to the second floor and started drawing a bath.
She was too shocked to control her magic properly. Her mana control was failing, causing her hands to slip repeatedly.
Afraid she might drop Lucian, she gently placed him on the floor.
[Damn it! I don't know any healing magic!]
She was terrified that Lucian might actually die.
“Ria...”
A hoarse, weak voice called out. Ria looked up at Lucian.
His brilliant golden eyes, now hidden behind swollen eyelids, showed how much he had cried. And yet, fresh tears were welling up.
[Shh, don't cry. It's all right now. I'm here.]
“I'm sorry. For saying all those mean things to you...”
Ria bit her lip, suppressing the urge to shout as she usually would.
[No, I'm the one who's sorry. I should have found you sooner. No, I should have stopped you from going into the forest...]
“...Are you forgiving me?”
[There's nothing to forgive. You didn't do anything wrong. So just rest for now. I'll stay by your side.]
“Heh, hehe...”
A wounded cheek, a split lip, and swollen eyes. Despite his wretched state, his smile instantly calmed Ria's anxious heart.
With that final smile, Lucian fell into a deep sleep, nearly fainting.
“Hey, Ghost. Is the kid all right?”
While she was filling the bathtub, Kaizareu peeked in cautiously.
He glanced around, noticing how different the room and bathroom looked from before.
Seeing Kaizareu, Ria brought the slate from the room and wrote on it.
-Thank you. The boy is alive because of you.
“...Ahem. To think I'd live to hear you say thank you. You never once said it, no matter what gifts I brought.”
Kaizareu seemed a bit embarrassed before grumbling gruffly. Ria chuckled.
-I know you come here for my sake every time. Of course I'm grateful for that, too.
“Ahem! Is that so?”
She owed Kaizareu a great debt. Honestly, if it weren't for him, she might never have found Lucian.
If Kaizareu had been human instead of a dragon, he wouldn't have found Lucian so easily. It was only because he was a dragon who could wield magic freely that...
[Ah! That's right, there's him!]
Remembering something, Ria quickly wrote on the slate.
-Do you happen to know any healing magic?
“Healing magic? Of course. I'm one of the most talented hatchlings, you know. My mother said I have a natural gift for magic!”
Perfect timing.
-Then please, heal this boy. I can't do it with my own power.
“Eeeek-!”
Kaizareu made a face, showing his blatant disgust. He looked at Lucian with displeasure, then pointed a finger at the slate Ria was holding.
“You seem to keep forgetting. I'm a dragon, you know?”
-Yes, I know.
“And you know this, yet you order me around like an errand boy! You're always threatening me! And now you want me to heal a mere human? Why should I!”
He was usually so obedient; she'd expected him to agree this time too. Was that not the case?
“You should know I'm cutting you some slack. Do you think there's anyone else in the world who bosses a dragon around like you do? If my mother found out, she'd burn you to a crisp along with this entire mansion.”
[Just when I'm about to be nice to him, he ruins the mood with that mouth of his.]
“And who is this kid, anyway? He's just a human who won't even live a hundred years! Why do you care so much about him!”
[Huh?]
His tone went beyond simple annoyance; it sounded almost sorrowful. Ria blinked.
Looking closer, she saw Kaizareu huffing, his cheeks puffed out.
What was this nearly 300-year-old creature doing? It was grotesque.
“You're always telling me to get lost! When I was fifty, you set my butt on fire and chased me away, so why does he get special treatment! Dote on me too!”
Whine, whine-
A dragon's whining was truly beyond imagination. Worse, he was polymorphed into a grown man, so the sight of him lying on the floor, throwing a tantrum, was absolutely dreadful.
Ria came to a new realization. No matter how handsome and refined the shell, if the core was a brat, it was all useless.
“I said dote on me tooooo-!”
As the dragon threw his fit, the mansion began to shake slightly.
“Umm...”
When the sleeping Lucian finally let out a groan, Ria threw in the towel.
-Alright, alright. I'll dote on you!
She quickly held the slate up to his face, and he stopped as if a switch had been flipped.
“Really?”
[...Damn, I really want to hit him.]
Ria suppressed the curse that was about to escape her lips and wrote.
-Yes. I'll treat you just like Lucian, so please, just stop.
“Who's Lucian? Ah, this kid?”
As she nodded with the slate, Kaizareu pouted slightly and glared at Lucian.
Lucian, still groaning, was delirious with fever.
“If I heal him, what will you do for me?”
-You asked me to dote on you.
“You should be doing that normally.”
[This little brat. He wants so damn much.]
-Then what do you want?
“Hmm... I don't know...”
[If you don't even know what you want, then just shut up and do it! Look at Lucian's face! He's about to stop breathing!]
Lucian's condition was worsening, and Kaizareu's nonchalant attitude was infuriating. But since he was the only one who could heal Lucian, Ria played her trump card.
-I'll give it to you.
“Huh?”
-I'll give you one of the items from the mansion you coveted before.
Kaizareu's eyes widened.
And for good reason; there were many things in the mansion that he coveted.
Things that were hard to find these days, or so he said. In any case, he was always eyeing the mansion's treasures, and he'd once been caught stealing and severely punished.
Because of that incident, Ria had forbidden him from even touching the mansion's belongings. But now she was offering to give him something, not just lend it. For Kaizareu, it was like hitting the jackpot.
“A-a-are you serious? You can't take it back, okay?”
-Yes.
“Then I want Raphael's Ring!”
[This bastard... that's the one I cherish the most...]
“No, no. Not that, the Spear of the Heavens! Weapons made by its creator are hard to come by now!”
[...When did you get into the armory? I never told you where it was.]
“No, maybe I should take Trin's Compass instead? Argh! What should I pick so everyone says I made a good choice?”
[This bastard, he's planning to clean me out, isn't he? How does he keep picking out only the expensive things I've hidden away?]
Kaizareu went back and forth, agonizing endlessly over his choice. With every passing moment, Lucian's condition grew worse.
Ria, growing frantic, finally snapped the chalk in her hand.
Screech- Screeeee-!
“Aargh! That's the sound I hate the most!”
-I'll give you anything, so just hurry up and save him!
Seeing the furious scrawl, Kaizareu immediately shrank back. He grumbled as he approached Lucian.
“Hmph, you should be honored. A dragon saving a human. If my mother finds out, she'll scold me like there's no tomorrow.”
Despite his words, the playful look vanished from Kaizareu's face as he opened his mouth.
Be healed.
The exclusive domain of dragons, the Dragon Tongue.
An ability that allowed them to cast magic with a single word, without chants or magic circles.
A white, sacred light poured from Kaizareu's fingertips, seeping into Lucian's body. In less than ten seconds, everything from minor scrapes to major wounds began to heal.
His split lip and swollen eyes gradually returned to normal, leaving him looking even healthier than before he had entered the forest.
His breathing became even.
[Hah, thank goodness...]
She could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Ria began to wash the now-healed Lucian. Watching her, Kaizareu leaned against the bathroom door and spoke.
“So, who is this kid that you'd go to such lengths for him? I don't think he was here the last time I visited. Is he a human you're raising?”
Come to think of it, she hadn't told him yet.
Ria wrote her and Lucian's relationship on the slate. Seeing it, Kaizareu reacted with a delay.
“W-w-what?! Maaarried?! To this little brat?”
-That's right. So from now on, don't treat my groom so carelessly.
The words that followed left Kaizareu even more dumbfounded.
Thanks to that, Ria was able to wash Lucian in peace.
* * *
Swoooosh-
A fierce wind blew through the dark forest. Leaves rustled with the breeze, and eerie sounds filled the air. Amidst it all, Lucian ran blindly.
Pant, pant, pant, gasp...!
He glanced back to see wolves drooling as they chased him.
‘I... I have to get back to Ria...!’
He knew instinctively. If the wolves caught him now, he wouldn't survive.
The moment he looked forward again, his foot caught on a tree root he hadn't seen.
Lucian lost his balance and fell hard.
Sharp stones were scattered everywhere, and a dull pain shot through his body.
‘Ugh, it hurts... Ah!’
He groaned at the stinging pain in his knees and palms, but quickly remembered he was being chased and lifted his head.
But he was too late. The distant wolves had already closed in, surrounding him.
In that moment, the face that came to mind wasn't the family he'd never met, but Ria.
‘Ria...!’
Am I going to die like this? We parted after I said such mean things to her. I should have listened to Ria.
Thump, thump, thump.
He couldn't tell if his heart was pounding from the running or from the fear.
But one thing was certain. He didn't want to die like this.
He had to get back to Ria, no matter what.
But contrary to his will, his exhausted body wouldn't move, and involuntary tears blurred his vision.
Grrrrr-
A wolf that seemed to be the alpha bared its teeth and approached. Lucian reflexively threw up his arms and squeezed his eyes shut.
He braced for the end, but no matter how long he waited, the pain never came.
Instead, a cool breeze gently enveloped his body. When he opened his eyes, the bandit he'd seen in the forest was standing there.
The bandit fought off the wolves and then turned to look at him.
He tensed, waiting to see what the man would say.
‘Why isn't he getting up?’
Huh?
The voice was much younger than the one he'd heard at first. At the same time, the charismatic face seemed to melt and distort into a strange shape.
It was a bizarre form, part lizard, part human.
“Hey! Kid! Wake up already!”
The voice boomed, rattling his brain, and Lucian's eyes snapped open.
