10 – What is Family
Yong believed.
That from now on, he would never peacefully face humans again.
Not just being seen as a mysterious guest,
But as a destroyer who brings death and fire.
He had been mingling with humans for decades.
He had fought alongside humans for decades.
The time he spent in friendship,
And the time he endured resentment and hostility, it was all the same.
But from now on, he believed he would live his life constantly hunted.
That’s what Lusaria believed.
But meeting a child changed everything.
Even though they had only spent a mere five years together.
…She was curious about what having a family that she had never experienced before would feel like.
Because somehow, the human child’s wish resembled her own.
That’s why she became family to a child who knew nothing.
“A strange child, indeed.”
And Yong saw himself, who had unconsciously become attached to that choice.
He believed that someday, when that day came, he would reveal his true identity without any hesitation and disappear into the sky.
Surely, those short memories would be buried and vanish among countless other memories.
Even though he had comforted himself countless times.
But when that moment came, he couldn’t even say the name that humans call him with his own mouth.
He hesitated, but the dragon understood.
“Mm…”
Embracing himself, who had cried for a long time,
stroking him,
the child, who had now grown tired and fallen asleep, was holding his tail with a happy face.
With the threatening weapon that had crushed and pierced numerous armors
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stained with human blood.
Because of this, the child was becoming special.
With eyes that showed no fear, even though they had seen his true form.
With a heart that had no doubt, even though they had seen his weakened state.
The child chose to stay by his side.
“Just five years.
Only five years have passed.
But why do you already see me as someone so special?
As a family.”
He held the child, who was shivering from the cold, in his arms,
gave the tail that seemed to need embracing while sleeping,
shared food when hungry,
and only informed them of things they didn’t know.
Just faithfully fulfilling the role of a mother as requested.
The human child named Russell was now risking his life.
For a pure-blooded dragon.
Even though he had set Rosa’s flames on the human knights, his fellow kin, and inflicted pain.
Even though he had witnessed them screaming in agony and dying.
The child did more for her than her fellow kin.
And that fact kept making her heart race.
“It feels… strange.”
Until now, his sleeping figure had merely looked content.
His cute appearance, soundly snoring while tightly holding the tail, had been adorable.
But now, for some reason, those hands looked daring.
The arm that embraced herself felt oddly uncomfortable.
It was not in a bad way, which made it even more peculiar.
An emotion that could only be explained with such words,
But it wasn’t really negative.
She didn’t dislike it.
A strange feeling she hadn’t learned from the three masters who taught her,
Something she hadn’t learned from the countless people she had met since then.
Something that knowledge obtained by delving into numerous facts and records couldn’t explain.
Russell brought that feeling to Yong.
“Mmm…”
She watched the face of the sleeping boy without knowing anything,
Her voice gradually lowering and her body getting closer to an adult’s appearance.
The gradual disappearance of the immature look was also fascinating for Yong.
She had seen many humans, both children and adults,
But she had never witnessed someone growing up by her side.
“Do human children grow into adults so quickly?”
It had not been long since she taught him, and yet Russell could already use magic.
Although he had collapsed from exhaustion after using it only once…
Nevertheless, she was delighted that he had learned magic so early and used it.
It was something to be proud of and, well, lovable –
“Huh?”
In passing, she noticed a word that made her face flush.
The natural flow of thought seemed to have chosen an unfavorable word.
“No, no. Proud and, um… lovable. Yes.”
But as she spoke, she realized there was no reason for it to be strange.
If she was talking about the love within a family.
There was nothing strange about parents loving their children.
In the end, she blocked it with magic.
“Uhbb! Uhbbuhhbuhh!”
She firmly held back the tail that was thrashing about in her arms,
After taking several deep breaths to cool her reddened ears…
“Really, I can’t write if you say it like that.”
She managed to loosen the grip on her “son’s” mouth.
Unable to face that dazzling, seemingly radiant figure head-on.
“But it’s true… But mom, how can you not use magic at all?”
As she struggled to pry her tightly closed mouth open, she looked once again at the shining gray eyes of the child.
Brushing the dark red hair that emitted a reddish aura, she glanced at the mark on the child’s forehead.
She grasped her racing heart that she couldn’t seem to control.
“Well, let’s leave that for later –
Mom has things to take care of first, so go back to the room and finish packing, okay?”
And before she could be caught, she swiftly opened the door and ran away.
She kept trembling lips and eye corners,
And then she threw herself towards the window, spreading her wings and soaring into the sky –
“I must be crazy, I’m crazy, I’m crazy…!”
Screaming in a voice that the child couldn’t hear, she frantically messed up her hair.
A new emotion that she couldn’t find among countless memories.
But something that she couldn’t embrace as a “son”.
Since the moment she met those eyes that sincerely understood and looked at her with pure affection, her broken heart throbbed violently.
Resenting herself as she stared blankly at those lips that praised her beauty with a smile.
She glared at her tail that still flailed around uncontrollably, unable to find its center even now.
“What’s there to be so happy about… Ahh, it hurts…”
Even if she wanted to maintain composure.
Even if she wanted to remain as the calm and reliable parent.
As the child grew, their appearance aligned more and more with her preferences.
Anxiety was growing in her heart.
“Rosaria, you decided to become that child’s mother…”
But at the same time, one question was being thrown in her heart.
‘You, known as the evil dragon to humans, can you be loved by someone else?’
That simple question momentarily silenced her tail.
Her eyes, which had been roving around, scrutinizing every corner of the sky she had created, now came to a halt right in the center.
The memories of hearing the word “beautiful,”
The moment when she heard the words “kind and magnificent.”
All of them were recent memories.
Her mentors, who called her a child of a great dragon, were too busy researching their own scales and powers.
Since then, everyone she met only reacted with astonishment at her true identity and power, keeping their distance.
Now, she had become the target of resentment and hunting,
Living with a bitter greed and anger.
To that red dragon, there was only one being who showed affection.
“No, no… that child…”
She knew the meaning of love.
She had wanted to be loved by her parents, so the dragon could not be unaware of what that emotion was.
But the dragon had never had children,
And, moreover, she was not the child’s parent.
The fact kept making her feel uncomfortable somewhere in her heart.
“I must become that child’s family, a mother…”
Right at that moment.
For some reason, the word “family” came out of her throat with a strange resonance.
Truly, strangely.
