I sprinted straight to the monster and held out my hand.
The white snake seed to hesitate, then inched its way up along my hand.
My mouth fell open before I knew it.
It looked timid, so I’d been worried, but to think it would handle this well.
In an instant, all the fretting about humans evaporated. A silly smile slipped out at the pleasant feel.
“Little one, how did you get all the way here? Did you follow ?”
Those jelly-like, luscious peach-pink eyes stared straight at .
Facing it, I felt like I was getting hypnotized. The corners of my mouth lifted of their own accord, all the way to my ears.
“I’ve been following you the whole ti. I called it over because it would be dangerous if °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° other dragons noticed.”
It was a shocking statent.
Varen did call non-dragon monsters “kin,” but he didn’t treat them with any particular warmth.
And yet he’d called it for fear the monster might be in danger?
Did the trip to the Spring of Wisdom make him grow up. To think he’d say sothing that comndable.
Wearing a satisfied smile, I turned my eyes back to the white snake.
“Oh, pretty thing. How did you manage to follow such a long way.”
After leaving the forest we’d ridden Tyr across the wide desert. Once we arrived at Belzena, we’d co here by a dragon’s magic.
We borrowed a monster’s power and arrived in an instant, but it must have been a pretty long distance.
News that it hadn’t given up and had chased after made my left chest ache.
When I looked with gentle eyes, the white snake tilted its thumb-sized head and t my gaze.
“Ugh.”
My chest that had been aching a little a mont ago throbbed.
It wasn’t that I was actually hurt; it was just my heart lurching when my eyes t the snake’s.
That dewy, soft skin. The tingling sensation as it brushed my arm. Above all, that dopey face.
The image of snakes as wicked and sly is just the old dia’s discarded husk. In reality, most are timid and mild-tempered.
I slowly ran my eyes over the white snake’s body that had crawled into my arms on its own.
“Still, it looks like Theo fed you well. Seeing how your scales gleam all bright and shiny.”
He was the sort you could grind and drink and it still wouldn’t be enough, but it seed he hadn’t starved the monster.
When I first saw Rami, she’d been bony and flaky.
But the white snake’s scales glead like a well-kept reptile. Slender with no dryness anywhere, it even gave off a faint glow reflecting the moonlight.
When I stroked its head with the tip of my index finger, the white, thin tail swayed gently. The damp belly slid up my arm and then wrapped my neck.
I hunched my shoulders at the pleasantly shiver-raising sensation.
“Miyaang....”
Letting out a cutesy catlike cry, the monster rubbed its head against my cheek.
Then the stuffiness in my chest popped, and all the stress that had piled up until now washed away.
I had wondered why I had to fall into a fantasy world and suffer like a dog.
If all of this was the price to live in a reptile heaven, I could endure it as much as needed.
I rubbed cheeks with that tiny head, then paused and glanced at Varen.
When I shared this kind of affection with Rami, he’d bark thunder at , but today he was oddly quiet.
“What is it, why so awkward. Why aren’t you saying anything?”
I realized what I’d blurted and winced.
It felt a little embarrassing, like I was prodding him for why he wasn’t jealous.
But Varen just gave a light shrug.
“That little one’s fine. She’s female.”
“...And?”
“Females don’t covet you.”
Where should I start fixing that deranged line.
He knew his jealousy targets were wrong, but I hadn’t expected them to be this wrong.
More than anything, I almost blurted that aside from sex and species, the only one who covets is you.
Feeling the stress I’d just relieved start to pile again, I looked into the pretty peach-tinted eyes.
The monster’s gaze was not just gentle but downright vacant, and that alone had smiling.
“Little one, why did you follow instead of going to your mom and dad.”
“Miyaang, myaang....”
It sounded like it was saying sothing, so I gave the monster interpreter a look for help.
Varen stood with his arms crossed, just gazing at and the white snake.
“Myaa, miyaang....”
Even at the repeated cry, Varen didn’t translate.
In the end I had to arch a brow and press him.
“What’s the little one saying?”
“...It says it doesn’t know its parents. It was dragged off by humans while in the egg and hatched in a glass jar.”
So that’s why he couldn’t open his mouth easily. It must have tugged at him that the story was a mirror of his own.
I stroked the white snake’s head with my fingertip.
Now I thought I knew why it hadn’t shot out the mont I opened the glass jar.
After sharing a mont of communion with the monster, I walked right up to Varen.
I took both of Varen’s hands—he’d been lost in thought—and brought his palms together.
“Little one, go to this big brother.”
“What? Why... why to ....”
“It’s fine. He’s not a scary dragon-lizard, go on.”
The white snake looked between and Varen.
When I gently soothed its hesitation, it slid down my arm and cautiously crossed over onto Varen’s palms.
For a slender thread-snake, it was a washtub of a space. It coiled into a baseball-sized ring and, with only its head held stiffly upright, stared at Varen.
“......”
“Varen, breathe.”
“Y-yeah....”
More nervous than the small reptile was the giant reptile.
Varen, dumbfounded, was even holding his breath until I tapped his shoulder; only then did he exhale.
And he sent a look like an SOS. A mountain of a body, at a loss before a snake the size of a fist.
Watching the two with satisfaction, I thought of a brilliant idea.
“The little one doesn’t have a na yet. You give it one.”
“?”
“Yeah. You know better than anyone how important a na is.”
Blue eyes wavered helplessly.
His lips mouthed as if to say sothing, then those thick brows drooped.
“I... can’t na as well as you, Ceryl.”
Mm, I do have good naming sense.
Truthfully, a lot of candidates floated through my head. I’m not all that creative, but when I see a monster, inspiration cos.
I didn’t bother saying them out loud so he wouldn’t feel pressured.
“It’s fine, you na her.”
“Why would I....”
When I was little, my busy parents brought ho a puppy for , who stayed alone at ho all day.
So tiny. With four dainty feet like soone had poked in toothpicks for claws, it tore around the house.
Then it went and polished off an entire basket of strawberries I’d left as snacks.
Its muzzle was stained bright red and its belly was swollen fit to burst as it purred through its breathing in sleep.
An unforgettable first eting for life.
“Berry. From now on you’re Berry.”
The mont I nad Berry, I vowed I’d take responsibility for you and care for you for life.
With that beautiful mory in mind, I faced Varen.
“Giving a na ans you’ll take responsibility and care for them for life. Having soone to take responsibility for ans you’re truly an adult.”
When you have soone to be responsible for, anyone grows strong.
I wanted the heart of this still-young and tender dragon to harden just a little more.
Maybe he understood my intent, because Varen lowered his eyes with care.
As if not scared of the giant reptile, the monster squirming in his palms let out a leisurely cry.
“Miyaang....”
It was a fascinating cry every ti I heard it.
Varen watched my face and opened his mouth.
“...Miya.”
“Miya?”
“Because it goes, miya....”
That low, rough voice mimicked the cute cry.
I barely stopped myself from bursting out laughing and patted Varen’s head once.
“Nice, Miya. Pretty and fitting.”
Varen’s ear tips flushed red, and he looked again at the monster in his hands.
And the one who, for the first ti since birth, had a na—“Miya”—lifted its head.
“Miyaang....”
“Looks like Miya likes the na too. Varen, you’ve got a knack for naming?”
“...Do I.”
Good grief. After all that ti glued to Varen, I’d never seen him this bashful.
Smiling broad and bright, I watched as Varen raised a hand. Then, like I had done, he gently stroked Miya’s brow with the tip of his index finger.
“She’s still a young hatchling. She should be learning this kind of thing from her parents.”
Varen’s finger trailed down Miya’s body. It stopped around the middle of that long trunk, and white light began to leak from his fingertip.
I stared, dumbstruck at the mysterious sight.
After a mont, Miya wriggled all over. Like it was going to vomit, it jerked its stiff head with a heave.
“M... mweugh....”
“Varen, what are you doing? Are you sure that’s....”
“Myak!!!”
With a sharp cry, Miya’s mouth yawned wide.
Whoosh—there was a sound of sothing cleaving the air, and then—pop!—the sound of sothing shattering.
Startled, I slowly turned my stiff neck; the rock opposite Miya had a coin-sized hole bored into it.
“Good job, Miya. You learn fast.”
“Miyaang....”
Watching the two monsters trade affectionate words, I swallowed.
I’d thought it was a slender thread-snake, but it might as well be an air rifle.
I suddenly rembered the jar Miya had been trapped in. Heavy and solid like bulletproof glass—there was a reason.
***
It was late at night by the ti Varen saw back to the reception suite.
Standing at the door, I held the handle and hesitated a mont.
“Varen, where are you sleeping?”
“I sleep in my room.”
“Yeah? I’m curious what your room looks like.”
“Ordinary. Only large.”
At the offhand answer I just scratched my nape.
He’s a guy with not a speck of sense for hints; if I spoke in circles, he wouldn’t get it.
“It’s just... I don’t think Margon wants to see yet. It seems right for to avoid him....”
“And?”
I let go of the doorknob I’d been holding and turned around.
Then I asked, in as unselfish a voice as I could manage:
“Can you let sleep in your room just for tonight?”
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