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I’m dizzy.

My overheated brain shows an unusually dull activity compared to usual.

Even now, as I skim through the pages, it feels like I’m merely putting on an act; the letters reflected in my eyes are only being chased away without entering my mind.

I thought reading the titles of the books on the shelf might calm my heart, but it was all meaningless action.

“Please stay still.”

The books right in front of me didn’t register in my vision.

All I could see was the face of the person who had just smiled sinisterly at me, filling my sight completely.

In his eyes, which captured a warm light like the sun, my own blushing face was mirrored back. The soft touch of that handkerchief as he gently caressed my mouth began to replay in my head like a never-ending loop, as if it had just happened a moment ago.

With the heat bubbling inside me dulling my mind, it was no wonder that all my energy was spent on thoughts like these, leaving no room for the letters to settle in my head.

As I repeated these pointless actions and got lost in my thoughts, it was only later that I realized I had distanced myself from him. Once the warmth and scent I felt beside me disappeared, my head began to regain its composure.

I turned my head to look at where he was.

He had not moved from the spot where he first stood, slowly reading the books shelved before him.

Once I found where he was, my body instinctively moved toward him.

But with my mind regaining its coolness, I hesitated and stopped my steps toward him. The fleeting moment created by this hesitation provided enough time to sort out my dizzy thoughts.

Looking at him, I pushed aside the overflowing emotions and turned my gaze back to the bookshelf in front of me.

After all, approaching him again would just repeat what had just happened. It might be better to keep my distance like this and cool my head a little.

Thinking this while feeling a sense of emptiness, I wanted to return to his side, which I found somewhat comical even as I recognized it. However, if I didn’t act in some way, I’d just end up standing next to him, foolishly doing nothing like before.

I didn’t want that.

Even thinking about it again now, I felt a bit embarrassed, but what happened on the street earlier was, in some way, the situation I had wanted.

Coming to this night market today wasn’t just to keep my distance from him. I secretly hoped for events like what happened earlier to occur again.

However, I also knew if such a thing were to happen to me again, just like before, my mind wouldn’t be able to hold up.

So, I certainly needed a moment to catch my breath.

“That’s unfair…”

Seeing him still surveying the bookshelf with his usual calm face made me a little sulky.

I was going through this emotional turmoil because of him, yet he seemed completely unfazed, maintaining a peaceful expression, which felt rather unfair. Strictly speaking, what happened just now was solely the result of my own karma, so there was nothing I could say.

Still, the feeling that I was always at a disadvantage in our relationship remained unchanged.

I had worked so hard to bridge that gap, but he could shake my heart with just a simple gesture.

Isn’t that just too unfair?

As I muttered about this unfairness repeatedly, a small smile I couldn’t hide appeared at the corners of my mouth.

This was a complaint one could only voice because I remembered the way he looked at me.

I turned my head away from him again and stared at the bookshelf.

My hot head seemed to have settled down quite a bit now. With a calmer mind, I started to survey the bookshelf, and unlike before, I began noticing titles of books I had read at least once.

Since I was only looking for something to pass the time while drinking tea, it would be better to choose light, familiar books than completely unknown works.

“<The Lake of Stars>, <The Fairy's House>, <The Magician and the Wooden Puppet>…”

I muttered the titles of the books that caught my eye.

They were all thin fairy tale books that any child might read, yet I was able to pull them off the shelf without hesitation. Not only could they be read quickly, but these three books were also his favorites.

“Fairy tales? You have such tastes?”

“What’s wrong with fairy tales? They have their own teachings. Most importantly, the stories always end happily.”

“Not always, you know…”

In response to my words, he brought out those three books.

Since I had also read them, I knew how their endings went without him telling me.

“Happily ever after…” At that moment, I had thoughtlessly dismissed that phrase, but recalling that he learned about the world and me through reading these books, I suddenly pondered. He claimed he had not read the endings of those books, but every story must have an ending.

So what was the conclusion of the books he read?

I might never find the answer to that.

But it didn’t matter. The ending of the nameless story would no longer be of importance.

The ending I had determined for our story would definitely be a happy one.

That alone was enough.

【I found it.】

So first, I needed to brush aside the bothersome shadow in front of me.

*

“What are you…? A kin? No, it feels strange to call you a kin.”

A sharp voice pierced through me, giving me the sensation of having a knife at my throat.

From just looking at her appearance, she might seem like a child equivalent to Alphonse, who just turned seven. The golden eyes similar to a dragon peering from beneath her hood glinted dangerously.

How do I react to this?

Pretending nothing’s wrong and turning my back didn’t seem like an option, as her gaze bore into me intensely.

I suddenly felt chilly all over; was this what they called dragon fear? It felt like something was pressing down on me, but this familiar sensation had already been experienced so often with my father, so it wasn’t difficult to regain my composure.

I had surely mentioned wanting to see a dragon when I first arrived in Merohim, but I never expected to want to see the original so soon.

Various circumstances told me that this girl before me was that dragon I knew, but that only made it more confusing as to how I should respond.

She would eventually become a very important figure for Elena, so I couldn’t determine whether approaching her recklessly was truly the right thing to do. A meeting that should have happened at least five years later had been shortened because of me, and I struggled to predict what results that might yield.

The original story had already become completely tangled because of me, but unlike any of the previous encounters, the meeting between Elena and the girl before me represented a significant turning point in the story.

I had vowed that I would stay by her side and wouldn’t worry about the future, but suddenly encountering this being made it a difficult matter to handle.

Honestly, regardless of all that, how she would react upon hearing my background was an issue.

Since the name Kraus was widely known in legends of dragon slaying, what reactions she might have after learning my lineage and how she would treat me were completely separate matters.

What if there was some ancestor she disliked, and she had a grudge against the Kraus family?

However, it seemed better to say something rather than staying still.

Even if she was a dragon who had lived for over a thousand years, she wouldn’t risk her life just to charge into a great mage’s territory.

I slightly bowed my head and greeted her.

“I am honored to meet you, esteemed being. My name is Damian Kraus, and I hold the title of Lesser House of Count Kraus.”

As if lost in thought, tracing her fingers on her head, she looked at me with a flash in her eyes and then gazed back at me as if finally recalling something.

“Kraus!! No wonder I felt that way! I guess after a thousand years, my memory’s a bit hazy…. Oh!”

Her cheerful voice sounded like she had just resolved an unfulfilled question. But as she quickly covered her mouth and began looking around in a fluster, I thought for a moment the barrier I’d set up was still active.

However, her mannerisms perfectly matched those described in the novel, making it a bit of a fresh experience for me. The characters I had encountered until now somehow differed from my preconceived notions.

Fortunately for me, it didn’t seem like she was particularly bothered by the name Kraus. Rather, she appeared focused solely on the fact that her questions had been answered.

She glanced around, and seeing no one else, she let out a sigh of relief. Then, she moved her hands in the air, nodded, and turned her attention back to me.

“Phew… I almost forgot to set up a barrier. Anyway, you were quick to recognize my identity.”

Looking at me with eyes brimming with curiosity.

What should I say to that?

Did she forget how she had shown off her dragon aura the moment she touched me? Her eyes, which had previously seemed as if they might bore right through me, now appeared quite bright and innocent.

As I pondered how to respond to her words, an unfamiliar feeling suddenly surged from beyond the bookshelf, completely different from the dragon fear I had just felt. The voice that had been chattering toward me came to a halt, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

It felt like ‘disharmony,’ something that shouldn’t exist in this world, and it was the most unpleasant sensation I had ever encountered in all my life.

Had she felt it too? Her face was stiff as she gazed beyond the bookshelf.

As soon as I felt that sensation, my mind had no time for thoughts. My body was already moving toward the source of that feeling, and my aura-enhanced body broke straight through the bookshelf.

Amidst the unknown threat, my mind was focused on just one thought.

I desperately hoped nothing happened to her, and that this ominous feeling was just a figment of my imagination.

But that was merely my wishful thinking; my mind was all too aware that reality seldom aligned with such wishes.

The unease I had harbored deep inside soon materialized into reality.

There was nothing.

Elena, who should have been quietly browsing through books, and the source of that ominous aura seemed to vanish as if their very existence had been erased from this world.

 

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