He’s not the kind of man who’s been lying to me for ages.
I pushed myself up from the bed, accepting the offer, which was handed to me bluntly.
“I’ll do it.”
“…….”
“Eat, Bob.”
I nodded and turned to follow Calion.
But before I could, the maids burst into the room first!
Kwagwagwagwang-!
“Oh, my lady, please come here!”
“I’ll help you get ready in a moment, but first, let’s take a bath!”
“Washing water! Hurry up and get the washing water first!”
Five or six people, more than enough to support one person, rushed over to me, picked me up, and carried me away.
“What the……?!”
I barely had time to dodge as they all came at me, They were all stomping together.
I was grabbed by both arms and forced to move in front of a large wash basin.
“No, wait, Callion Blissias, you didn’t say that!”
“See you later, ma’am.”
…… I was fooled.
I heard Kallion’s voice from the back of my head, his eyes glowing with pride.
All I wanted to do was eat, and suddenly I was the boss!
* * *
The attendants were in a hurry.
I felt like a cow being led to the slaughter, soaking in the bath and being dragged from place to place, with perfumed oils and balms slathered all over my body.
When I finally emerged in the dress the servants had picked out for me.
“You look so beautiful, my lady!”
Unexpectedly, I was speechless in front of the mirror.
“…….”
What the hell?
I gasped in surprise.
What I saw in the mirror was not what they were praising.
I looked pale, as if I’d had a bad day, and my face was pale beyond recognition.
My eyes were hollow as if I hadn’t slept in days.
The dry, cracked lips were struggling to move in this direction.
……That wasn’t me.
“Madam”.
Hic-!
Finally, another woman in the mirror calling my name started writing letters one by one with her finger.
“It’s so good to have you back, ma’am!”
“What would you like me to do with your jewelry? Rubies? Emeralds?”
The maids didn’t seem to recognize the strange presence.
“…….”
As they all looked at me and blessed me, I looked at myself in the mirror and gasped.
.
Run away from this place.
She faced me with bloodshot eyes, as if in pain.
Like she wanted to drag me out of this mansion right now.
“Heh…….”
<That’s not your place…….>
I stiffened in surprise.
I couldn’t move from my spot.
Amidst the noisy maids, I stood my ground, I stayed put and saw her vanish like a flash.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the words ‘Louise Bartlett’ on the mirror.
‘What the hell, is that…….’
I was speechless for a moment.
I squinted at the mirror, then realized.
“It was a warning spell, I’m sure.”
It was even my magic.
As if the Louise Blissias of the past had been waiting for me in the present.
* * *
I was pretty sure I was slicing a steak.
For some reason, I felt like my concentration was being sliced away with each stroke.
“Belisias’s bloodline is very similar to hatchlings. They were born with powerful magic, and grew up rapidly, making it difficult for them to develop human-like qualities and interact well with others. It’s like being half-human and half-beast.”
“……Aha.”
“I don’t know if you’ve forgotten this, but the first Archduke Blissias was a fire dragon, As time went on, he married a human, and the more their bloodlines mixed, the higher up the Hetzling it went in our family. But then it stopped. Dante will probably adjust by next year, since a one-year-old dragon looks like a five-year-old human..”
“Even though human blood runs through his veins, his lifespan is still long. His magical power exceeds the average level”.
“Not ahhh……, yes, yes?”
“What? What is a hundred-year calamity?”
I ask, frowning, and Kalion smirks back.
I put my fork down.
Bang!
The sound was loud even though I didn’t let go that hard.
“Ah.”
“……!”
Dante, who had been eating next to me, was surprised and dropped his knife as well.
Bang!
And the transformation was quick.
Pow!
The moment I feared had come.
I glanced down slowly to the side where the small explosion had come from.
” Dante?”
“Chink, chink!”
Yes, black lizard. So here he was, seeing him again.
Forcing himself to act human just to make me feel better, even though I didn’t want to.
Dante quickly turned into a dragon, fidgeting and shaking.
“Keying! Kiying!”
Originally, it was just me and Calion having a meal together, but he was barely able to keep his eyes open and ended up nodding off. Being in human form was uncomfortable for him.
But I was too scared to act like my original self, the dragon roaming around me.
However, the mistake had already been made.
Dante’s blue eyes widened in panic, and he rolled over, frozen in place.
“Krrrrrrr!”
“Dante.”
“Hiccup!”
Dante’s movements became hectic like an ostrich slamming its head into the dirt to hide.
Dante flapped his long tail to either side of his body, trying to cover himself with his dark wings.
“Click, click-!”
Soon, the black shell scurried off to the corner of the table.
He lowered his body as low as he could to get out of my sight.
It wanted to look good to me.
But I didn’t want him to notice me, not like this…….
“One year old, like this? The baby is so understanding…….”
“It’s Blissias, he’s a half-breed, so he’s probably around five by now, if not older.”
If normal dragon growth was ten times that of a normal human,
“Five years old…….”
Five times the size of a normal human.
I figured it was only fitting that he had dragon blood, the animal of the gods.
“Come here, Dante.”
“Crouch!”
“You don’t have to be humanized, you can eat on my lap.”
I picked him up through half-clouded eyes and carried him to my lap.
I could feel the heat of its heavy, squishy belly against my hand, just as I had last time.
“What else did the dragon eat?”
I wondered for a moment.
I fed Dante some meat because I couldn’t resist his pleading eyes as he sat on my lap.
Then a heavy scratching sound erupted.
“Kiiiing, grrrr.”
“He must be happy. That’s an unusual sound.”
“What?”
He knew him well, they were of the same dragon blood.
“I like how you two look together. You look so good together.”
“…….”
“Finally, a family reunion. Dante’s been waiting for you a long time.”
Calion’s voice trembled slightly as he cupped his chin with one hand and laughed softly.
He looked like he was about to cry.
Unlike when he’d sternly pulled Dante away from me, his smile made me feel strange.
I realized that Callion Blissias, who had been so cranky as a child, was now capable of such a look.
“But why.”
At the same time, I felt uneasy.
The more I was dragged here, the more I learned, and the more my memory gaps started to fill in.
Something was starting to feel off.
If I was indeed of this place, as Calion had said, why had my memories suddenly been erased and disappeared?
‘If I really have been fooling everyone all this time.’
It meant that I, Louise Bartlett, was quite capable of it.
Furthermore, everyone in my village knows, as I do, that I returned to my hometown at the same time as I graduated from the Academy.
‘I must have manipulated my memory.’
But was I good at mental magic?
Did I have enough magic to make farming tools like pickaxes and scythes more efficient?
‘Plus, mind manipulation magic is a huge taboo…….’
Clearly, something was not adding up.
I swallowed hard in fear.
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