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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Reconciliation and Farewell
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An hour had passed since Ria had locked Lucian and Kaizareu in the room. The two kept their distance from each other.
At first, they stayed apart because their feelings were hurt, but as time went on, the situation grew tedious and frustrating, making them antsy.
They stole glances at each other, trying to figure out how to break the stalemate. Then, their eyes met.
But the moment they did, they flinched and turned away as if by reflex. This, however, didn't last long.
Kaizareu was the first to speak.
“...What are you looking at?”
“...Who said I was looking at you?”
The harshness of their words only soured the mood further. Both turned away with sullen expressions.
“This wouldn't have happened if you just spoke a little more nicely, Kaizareu.”
“What? Are you saying this is my fault?”
“Yes! Do you think I enjoy being insulted all the time? Did I ask for much?”
During their lessons, Lucian had endured Kaizareu’s tone until he couldn't take it anymore and had said something.
He didn't need praise, just for Kaizareu to stop being so nasty.
At that, Kaizareu had felt a surge of emotion. He had, in fact, been intentionally harsher, thinking he needed to keep his distance from Lucian.
Pricked by his conscience, Kaizareu pouted. Then he aired his own grievance.
“And you? Why do you call me by my name?”
“...What?”
“You used to call me your brother. Why do you just call me Kaizareu now?”
Kaizareu had secretly liked it better when Lucian called him ‘brother.’
It felt like he had gained a cute younger sibling, and it fostered a sense of closeness.
But now, Lucian was so formal, always using his name as if to draw a line between them, and it stung.
Muttering to himself, Kaizareu glanced over at Lucian. He was momentarily taken aback.
Lucian’s face was crumpled, on the verge of exploding with anger.
“You’re the one who started it...”
“...”
“You were the one who said I was nothing to you! So why should I have to call you brother!”
“No, I just...”
Kaizareu couldn't finish his sentence. Lucian’s eyes had already welled up with tears, and he had begun to sob.
“*Hic*, you’re so mean. You didn't even show your face when I was sick, you only said cruel things, and you called me your brother, but then you said I was nothing to youuuu!”
Letting out his pent-up frustrations, Lucian finally broke down and wailed.
“Waaaaaah! I hate you more than anyone in the world, Kaizareu!”
Kaizareu had seen Lucian cry a few times before, but never as wretchedly as this.
The thought that he was the cause of these tears left him at a complete loss.
*Waaaaaah!*
As Lucian stood there, wailing his heart out, Kaizareu cautiously edged closer, watching him warily.
As he approached, Lucian, still crying, glared at Kaizareu with daggers in his eyes.
“You’re mean!”
“...I’m sorry.”
“Idiot! Moron!”
“...I’m sorry.”
“Stupid lizard!”
“Hey... *Sigh*, I was wrong.”
*Hmph.*
Lucian, who had been glaring at Kaizareu with all his might, his lips pressed tightly together, burst into tears again.
Kaizareu awkwardly patted Lucian’s back, then guided him to the sofa and held him in his arms. Lucian struggled, refusing his embrace.
“Let go! I don’t need a dragon who hates me!”
“I said I’m sorry...”
“If you were sorry, you shouldn’t have done it in the first place!”
*Right, you’re right about everything.*
Kaizareu reflected on his own pointless bravado. Why had he tried so hard to push him away when he knew he’d just crumble at the sight of Lucian’s tears?
“Why did you do that to me?”
“...”
As Lucian looked up at him with tear-filled golden eyes, Kaizareu’s lips trembled.
“I was afraid... I’d hurt you again.”
Lucian stared at Kaizareu, his eyes still intense.
Kaizareu continued, his words halting and difficult.
“I was scared that I might kill you again. ...You’re so fragile, you could die with a single flick of my hand.”
Although he no longer felt the intrusive thoughts that had once plagued his mind, he was terrified that what happened before might happen again.
“I thought the only answer was to cut you off before I got completely attached.”
“Then why didn’t you just leave?”
“...I wonder.”
Lucian’s pout softened slightly at the dejected reply.
“Well, I was really scared too. That was the second scariest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“What was the first?”
“...When I first came here.”
The moment he realized that the family he had so longed for had ultimately abandoned him was the first time he had ever felt such despair and terror.
It was Ria who had appeared like a ray of light when he was walking through a tunnel of endless darkness.
“Even now, just thinking about the cellar makes my heart pound, and whenever you act scary, it reminds me of that day.”
Kaizareu flinched, his expression hardening.
“So it’s better if I just stay away...”
“But, even more than that, Kaizareu calling me nothing was even scarier.”
Kaizareu’s mouth fell open at Lucian’s words. Lucian’s eyes welled up with tears again as he rubbed them.
“...I don’t want to be distant from you, brother.”
Lucian’s words struck a chord in Kaizareu’s heart. His own eyes began to redden.
Kaizareu pulled Lucian into a hug.
“Me too... I want to go back to how we were.”
“...Am I really nothing to you?”
“Of course not. You’re the first human I’ve ever cared about.”
“You’re the first dragon I’ve ever cared about, too.”
Lucian hugged Kaizareu back tightly. The faint sound of a heartbeat and the warmth of his body finally brought Kaizareu to tears.
Perhaps being cruel to Lucian, spitting out harsh words, had been his subconscious way of begging for more attention.
He didn't want to be hated, yet he felt he had to be. It was the only way to keep Lucian safe.
Feeling something damp on his head, Lucian sniffled and looked up. Kaizareu was crying.
Lucian was surprised for a moment, then broke into a grin.
“Hee, crybaby.”
“...You little brat. Look who’s talking.”
They pouted at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.
Then, as if they had been waiting for this moment, they opened up, unreservedly pouring out all their past grievances and the things they had wanted to say.
They talked, losing all track of time.
Three hours later, Ria, having prepared dinner, came up to check on Kaizareu and Lucian.
She released the barrier and carefully entered the room.
At first, she was confused, seeing no one, but as she approached the sofa, she found them.
Ria burst out laughing.
[Haha, and to think you two were acting like mortal enemies.]
Kaizareu was stretched out on the sofa, and Lucian was lying on top of him as if to crush him, both fast asleep.
The tear tracks and reddened eyes were clear evidence that they had had a heart-to-heart.
Smiling fondly, Ria remembered something and headed to her room.
She returned with parchment and a pencil and sketched the two of them.
In the distant future, Lucian and Kaizareu would look at this drawing and reminisce, each calling the other a crybaby.
But that was a story for a time yet to come.
* * *
About two weeks had passed since Lucian and Kaizareu had made up.
During that time, James stopped by the mansion again to deliver supplies. The three of them took the opportunity to conduct an experiment on him.
Could he see Ria if he ate food she had made?
‘Hmm, these cookies are delicious. Did you buy them in town? Which shop?’
To state the conclusion first, he could not see Ria.
She had paced back and forth in front of him as he ate the cookies, but he hadn't so much as blinked.
It seemed the condition for seeing her was more than just consuming her food.
It had been about four months since Lucian arrived here. And it was exactly one month since Kaizareu had come to stay.
Kaizareu was still a hatchling who had not yet undergone his coming-of-age ceremony.
The maximum time he could spend in the human world without a guardian was one month.
Faced with saying goodbye to Kaizareu, Lucian refused to leave his side all morning.
[Lucian, that’s enough, come down now. Kaizareu has to go.]
“...I don’t want to.”
[If you keep this up, it’ll be hard on Kaizareu.]
“It’s fine because of magic. I’m not heavy.”
Lucian mumbled, clinging to Kaizareu like a cicada.
Unlike the exasperated Ria, Kaizareu smiled.
“You don’t want me to go?”
“...”
Without a word, Lucian nodded.
For the current Lucian, who was experiencing separation from a loved one for the first time, it was an incredibly difficult ordeal.
Kaizareu understood Lucian’s feelings all too well. While it made him very happy, his time was not unlimited.
If he didn't leave today, his parents would forcibly summon him back.
Kaizareu patted Lucian’s arms, which were wrapped around his neck, and gently lowered him.
Lucian was trying his best to hold back his tears.
Kaizareu knelt to meet his eyes.
“I’ll come back. This isn’t goodbye forever.”
“But you’ll be gone for a long time. Ria said so. She said you only come once every four or five years...”
“That was because it didn't matter for Ria. I’ll come back in a year. Okay?”
“...A year is too long.”
As Lucian grabbed onto Kaizareu’s clothes again, Ria came up behind him and patted his shoulder.
“Then I’ll come back as soon as I can. Just wait five years. Once I become an adult dragon, I can come whenever I want.”
“You’ll definitely come back within five years?”
“Of course! I’ll come back within a year, at the very least!”
“...Ugh.”
Despite Kaizareu’s attempts to soothe him, Lucian finally burst into tears.
Ria and Kaizareu looked at each other and smiled, then pulled Lucian into a tight hug.
“I guess we’ll have to call you the crybaby prince.”
[I know, right? Which prince cries this much?]
“Sheesh... Don’t tease me...”
His words, muffled by a runny nose, only made them want to tease him more. But they stopped there and prepared for Kaizareu’s real departure.
Kaizareu probably wouldn't be able to come here for a year.
A maximum of one month per year. That was the time allotted to a hatchling in the human world.
It wasn't that Kaizareu wanted to be away for a year either.
He, too, was reluctant, hesitating to take his leave. He looked at the sobbing Lucian, then, as if remembering something, rummaged through his dimensional space.
“Here, I’ll give you this.”
“*Sniffle*! W-what’s this...?”
It was a crystal sphere, about the size of a ball.
“We can communicate with this. Of course, only I can contact you.”
The Dragon Lair was covered by a massive barrier, making it impossible for outsiders to make contact unless through a verified communication network.
However, it was possible to send messages from the inside out, so Kaizareu would contact him through this whenever he could.
“Keep it with you, and I’ll call you whenever I have time. Got it?”
“You have to do it every day.”
“...I’ll do my best.”
Kaizareu hugged Lucian tightly.
“We may be different species, and we may not share blood, but we are brothers. Remember that.”
“Okay! You and Ria are my family, too!”
[Haha, am I included?]
Ria beamed, and Lucian and Kaizareu giggled in response.
And so, the three of them shared a tearful farewell.
After Kaizareu left via teleport, Lucian cried his eyes out for a long time, but since this wasn't a final goodbye, he would surely overcome it.
“Ria...”
[Yes? What is it?]
“You can’t leave me, Ria.”
[Who’s leaving? If anything, you might be the one to leave me.]
“That will never happen, so you can never, ever leave me!”
Lucian buried his face in Ria’s chest. Because her body was transparent, his scrunched-up face was clearly visible.
“If you leave, my whole world will fall apart.”
[Somehow, that sounds even more upsetting to you than Kaizareu leaving.]
“...I’m sad that my brother is gone, but I can’t imagine a world without you, Ria. You’re my bride. So you have to stay by my side forever.”
His words, spoken through tears, only made him seem small and cute. She understood his anxiety, but truly, there was no worry more needless than this.
[Don’t worry. That will never happen.]
‘I will never be the one to leave your side.’
