17 – In the palm of the dragon (3)
“Mom…Mom.”
Sure enough.
What is beyond the door is the owner of this mansion, my teacher,
Dracea Rosaria, a dragon with red scales.
“I was waiting.”
I guess I couldn’t find the entrance in the first place.
I’ve been in my mother’s hallway,
I was just wandering under the spell of the red dragon.
My mother turned her back on the bright sunlight and greenery of a spring day, enough to forget the dark hallway.
She faced me with her legs somewhat together and her hands on top of them.
Even more so… With a dress with no place to focus and a face that seems to shine even more.
“Aw, it’s cute too.
I haven’t even been able to teach you this part yet.
What should I do with this?
Should I take the time to share my learnings more calmly?”
I hurriedly looked at the floor as he smiled and tapped his exposed shoulders with both hands.
Explicit clothes and outstanding beauty mean only one thing.
The ‘love’ my mother spoke of is different from the ‘love’ I speak of.
The feelings that taught me warmth were no longer in that body.
Instead, there was just something left to pull me in.
Her mother’s body, which made her forget the cold and gave her a warmer and more comfortable place than pillows and blankets,
Now he was trying to make me feel something different.
“But I don’t think it’s time yet.
Right?”
What was handed out to me was a crumpled piece of paper.
It was none other than what I wrote and left in front of my mom’s door.
“I’m sorry.
At first, I thought you were ignoring my wishes and saying you would leave me…
But now I understand what it meant.”
A letter I kept secret because I thought he wouldn’t let me go.
These things I wrote in case people worried about me disappearing.
I wanted you to get angry, but
That smile.
“Russell, come here.
Don’t just keep standing.”
The look in his eyes as he sweeps his lips with a red tongue that is much longer than mine,
It was never about my mother looking at me as her son.
The warmth coming in between my fingers with my outstretched hand.
The power that goes into that tail that wraps around her waist.
It was far from comfortable anymore.
“hehehe, when did he grow up so wonderfully?
It feels like just yesterday that I was so small that it wasn’t even close to where my stomach was.
Until I realized it was in my arms like this.”
After pulling her arm and making me fall forward, the hand that kept stroking my head and back couldn’t be said to be without affection.
On the contrary, it was overflowing, and only the parts that felt good were being gently scratched.
They must have brought me comfort and happiness.
If only the faces weren’t so close.
If only I hadn’t heard the sound of my mouth being repeatedly eaten through my ears.
“As I’m doing this… I remember the first time I held you in my arms and put you to sleep.
It feels like it was yesterday. It’s so hard to think I’m already leaving like this – “
And, if it weren’t for the rough breathing.
I could have laughed.
With a sense of relief, I would have been able to act even more foolishly like I did when I was young.
For a moment now, I had to feel my mother holding me tightly and breathing hard.
Until the hot and humid energy created a bead on my neck that I couldn’t tell if it was sweat or something else.
“Now that I think about it, you forgot to praise me?
The battle using residual fire was really cool.”
It was so painful that it was difficult to truly accept even compliments.
It was clearly a spark created by reliving memories,
I think of the warmth that saved me,
Also, it was a magic created out of my feelings for the person who taught me.
The admirer, my mother…
It didn’t seem like she was saying those words as a mother.
“It reminded me of you when you rescued me from the clutches of humans.
The thought of trying to start a fire while hurting her delicate hands.
Perhaps it was from then on… Did you start to look lovely?”
The love she always spoke to her mother when she fell asleep,
The love my mother speaks to me now is very different.
That’s why I felt the strength in my hand holding the magic book go away.
Because I didn’t dare think that it would be possible to get out of here.
“I want to hold you like this, but
That would be against your wishes.
Is it right for family to help you follow the path you want?”
But what immediately followed was something different.
Breaking my expectations, my mother was looking at me affectionately and smiling.
“Really… Really?”
“I love your decision and dream more than anything.
If not me, who else can reach out to you?”
It would have been great if I could have accepted that smile right away.
It would have been okay if I could have believed what he said.
The bright yellow eyes continued to make me anxious.
“You just have to make a few promises. It’s simple.”
This was the moment when the cause of that anxiety came out.
***
“First,
I want you to always put your safety first.”
The first rule that came out was simple and obvious.
That’s why I nodded,
As if it wasn’t that simple for my mom, she caressed my cheek and made her eyes close.
“Put yours first.
No matter how dangerous the surroundings become, no matter how weak a person seeks help…
If you feel like you can’t save yourself,
If you think you might get seriously hurt,
Get out of that place.
If you don’t understand this,
Remember the story of how I almost lost my life trying to help a human being.”
Holding my hand tightly,
Wrapping his tail around my waist,
Pushing it into that wide embrace once again –
“This is what you need to keep in mind the most.
Please don’t worry me too much.”
It wrapped me in deep warmth.
No matter how many times I pat your head,
Every now and then, I would tremble as if I had a terrible imagination.
“Okay. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”
So I accepted the first rule.
Heavy and deep.
“…Second, never let the mark on your forehead be revealed.”
This seemed like a natural thing.
It was a symbol that contained my mother’s power that I received from a young age.
Every time I give myself over to feel ‘mana’,
Mom always shared her strength through her forehead.
“You know why, right?”
That’s why she nodded.
She held his hand and made eye contact with him.
“Of course. Until people acknowledge that Mom is a good dragon – “
“No, not even after that.
You still think humans are trustworthy beings.”
But instead of giving me peace of mind,
Pressing me down with sharper eyes and strength –
Mom left me a strong warning.
“Don’t forget how much they want and envy the dragon.
The people out there are different from you. I won’t understand the way you think.
So hide it.
You don’t even know there’s a secret.”
Let me silently agree to that,
Let’s make eye contact with her without resisting the hug,
Mom smiled with satisfaction and she released me.
“Then the last one.
Third,
Don’t get close to the opposite s*x.”
However, the tail was still wrapped around me.
Her hands were also clasped and did not let go.
“You don’t have to think it’s strange.
It’s just that idle thoughts and temptations divert one’s power.”
My mother was holding on to me too tightly for me to take her words seriously.
Until now, my mother had disobeyed her words too easily for me to understand her intentions.
“Then this is…”
That’s why I focused my eyes on the hand she was holding.
“I am your family.”
The darkness that appeared on that beautiful face that pulled me into its arms and smiled.
I ended up learning what kind of facial expressions can be made by emotions that are not even hidden.
“I love you purely,
I support you in getting to the place you want to reach.
I want you to be safe more than anyone else, and I hope you are happy…
Do you wish for misfortune and failure?
I really… Am causing you distraction,
Does it make you harbor dark desires?”
The sound of chuckling and laughing couldn’t have sounded that dangerous.
The goosebumps growing on my arms couldn’t have been so bad.
My mother came closer to me, hugging me even more as I fell slightly –
“So promise.
He said he wouldn’t even look at other women.
I will definitely reject any temptation that comes my way.”
He placed his lips on the tip of my ear.
I don’t know if it was a mistake or an intention, but the texture was extremely sticky and wet.
“…Even if I say this, you won’t understand right away.
Unless you have experienced even the first rule firsthand, you will still have doubts.
So, I was secretly looking forward to this moment that would come someday.”
It looks like it will reach, or it won’t.
The wavering heat was different from any warmth I had felt before.
The heat, burning fiercely like the red flame itself, enveloped me and pressured me even more.
At the very moment when it wouldn’t be surprising if you were eaten –
“But the moment you understand my words,
I hope you will at least say that you will faithfully follow the rules I said.”
In an instant, he became cold and let me go.
The desire that seemed like it would devour me at any moment disappeared in an instant and I became calm.
“What is the answer?”
I came to my senses after hearing that calm voice, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of the open door of the mansion.
Facing the shadow standing against the sunlight, looking at the yellow eyes shining within it.
“Can you keep your promise?”
Once again, the question flew out in a grand manner, filling up this huge space.
The red-haired woman even spread her wings, revealing her presence generously.
She cleared away the darkness that had been clinging to me and showed me the majesty of her dragon.
I felt as if I had encountered my true body for the first time.
Noble, huge, brilliant –
I seemed to remember the jewel-like scales that sparkled in the sunlight.
Despite the time we have spent together.
Despite the daily life of looking at each other as humans.
“…Yes. I promise.”
That’s why I lowered my head.
He accepted me as his child,
No, maybe now they see me as something different…
Nevertheless, to the person I want to call mother.
