I'm Not Your Husband, You Evil Dragon!

Time: 8:30 AM

Location: Yuuta’s Apartment Yard

Morning arrived carrying a peace that felt completely disconnected from what had happened the previous night.

The apartment complex had already returned to its ordinary routine as people hurried toward work, children laughed while chasing one another along the pathways, and birds sang from the branches surrounding the yard. To anyone passing nearby, it seemed like another perfectly normal morning.

The apartment yard, however, was anything but peaceful.

CLACK!

The sharp sound of wood striking wood echoed across the open yard as two figures faced each other beneath the morning sun.

Yuuta held a wooden practice sword tightly with both hands, his breathing already heavy while sweat covered his forehead.

A thin layer of green aura surrounded his body before flowing down his arms and wrapping around the wooden blade, creating an unstable coating that flickered whenever his concentration weakened.

Standing opposite him was Isvarn.

Unlike Yuuta, the ancient dragon appeared completely relaxed.

He held nothing more than a short wooden stick in one hand, and there wasn’t even the slightest indication that he considered the weapon inadequate against Yuuta’s aura-covered sword.

His posture remained loose while his violet eyes calmly followed every movement Yuuta made.

Yuuta tightened his grip before rushing forward again. His foot struck the ground as he brought the practice sword downward, aiming directly toward Isvarn’s shoulder, but the elder casually raised his stick and intercepted the attack.

CLACK!

Yuuta immediately changed direction and attacked from the side.

CLACK!

Another effortless block.

He twisted his wrists, stepped closer and attempted a third strike without giving Isvarn time to recover, but the wooden stick moved only a few inches before stopping his sword once again.

Yuuta gritted his teeth and continued attacking, each strike becoming faster as frustration gradually entered his movements.

Isvarn watched without speaking.

Despite the obvious flaws, he couldn’t deny what he was seeing. He had only explained the basic theory of aura to Yuuta and shown him how warriors could channel it through their weapons. Normally, simply learning to maintain a stable coating required considerable practice, yet Yuuta had already managed to surround the wooden sword with aura after only a short period of instruction.

Impressive.

Isvarn’s eyes followed the green energy flowing across the blade.

I gave him little more than theory, yet he already understands how to channel aura through an external object. His ability to learn is considerably better than I expected.

His expression gradually became more serious.

But his control is terrible.

The aura surrounding Yuuta’s sword wasn’t flowing smoothly. It expanded whenever his emotions rose, weakened whenever his concentration shifted, and occasionally gathered too heavily around certain parts of the blade. Instead of Yuuta controlling the aura, his emotions were deciding how much power entered the weapon.

That was dangerous.

Isvarn suddenly moved.

Yuuta barely noticed the wooden stick changing direction before it struck his shoulder.

THWACK!

"Ah!"

The impact knocked Yuuta sideways, destroying his balance and sending him onto the grass. The aura surrounding his wooden sword immediately disappeared as he landed heavily on one knee.

"Again," Isvarn said calmly. "Your aura is fluctuating."

Yuuta remained there for several seconds, breathing heavily while staring at the ground. His shoulder burned from the strike, but instead of complaining, he tightened his fingers around the wooden sword and forced himself back onto his feet.

"One more time."

Isvarn studied him.

"Your body requires rest."

"I said one more time."

Before Isvarn could respond, Yuuta rushed forward again.

The green aura returned almost immediately, rushing from his arms and spreading across the wooden blade. This time it was stronger than before, creating a visible layer around the weapon as Yuuta swung with considerably more force.

Isvarn blocked.

CLACK!

The impact sent a vibration through Yuuta’s arms, but he refused to stop. He attacked again, then immediately followed with another strike, forcing aura into the wooden sword every time Isvarn pushed him backward.

To an inexperienced observer, Yuuta seemed to be improving.

Isvarn knew the opposite was happening.

His technique was becoming increasingly reckless. Yuuta’s attacks were faster, but his breathing had lost its rhythm. His aura was stronger, but the energy coating the sword had become even more unstable. Most concerning of all, there was something inside Yuuta’s eyes that hadn’t been there when their training began.

Anger.

No.

Isvarn narrowed his eyes.

It was something more complicated than anger.

Yuuta swung again, but Isvarn suddenly stepped inside the range of the sword. His wooden stick slipped past Yuuta’s guard before striking him directly in the chest.

THUD!

Yuuta stumbled backward.

"Control your emotions," Isvarn warned. "Aura responds to the condition of your mind. If your emotions control the flow instead of your will, eventually you will destroy your own weapon."

Yuuta gritted his teeth.

"I’m controlling it."

"No, you are suppressing something while pretending it isn’t there. Those are very different things."

Yuuta’s expression immediately darkened.

For a moment, he didn’t move.

Then a voice returned inside his mind.

I hate you.

Yuuta’s fingers tightened around the sword.

I fucking hate you, Yuuta.

His breathing became heavier.

He remembered Erza’s tear-filled face after the slap. He remembered her stepping away from him, opening the balcony door and spreading her wings without looking back.

I was such a fucking fool for falling in love with you.

"Shut up..."

Isvarn’s eyebrows lowered slightly.

"What?"

Yuuta suddenly rushed forward.

His aura exploded around the wooden sword.

Isvarn’s expression changed immediately.

"Boy, stop!"

Yuuta didn’t hear him.

His mind had returned entirely to last night. He remembered everything he had said to Erza, everything she had said to him, and the final words he had screamed from the balcony after she disappeared.

I wish you never came back!

His chest tightened painfully.

Yuuta roared as he swung the sword.

The green aura surrounding the weapon suddenly expanded far beyond what the wooden blade could endure. Cracks raced across its surface as the unstable energy forced itself deeper into the weapon.

Isvarn saw it immediately.

"Release the aura!"

Yuuta’s eyes widened.

Too late.

CRACK!

The wooden sword exploded in his hands.

Fragments scattered across the yard as Yuuta instinctively raised his arms to protect his face. When everything settled, he remained standing with nothing but the handle of the destroyed practice sword clenched between his fingers.

"What...?"

Yuuta stared at it in disbelief.

A sudden pressure twisted violently inside his chest.

His eyes widened.

"Urgh....!"

Yuuta doubled over as blood erupted from his mouth and splattered across the grass beneath him. His knees immediately struck the ground, one hand pressing against his chest while the other still stubbornly held the broken sword handle.

Isvarn’s relaxed expression disappeared.

"Stupid human."

He approached Yuuta immediately, although the irritation in his voice couldn’t completely hide his concern.

"I warned you to control your emotions. Aura isn’t something you can recklessly pour into your body and weapon simply because you’re angry."

Yuuta coughed again, a smaller amount of blood falling onto the grass as he struggled to regain his breathing. His entire body trembled from exhaustion, yet his fingers still refused to release the broken handle.

Isvarn stopped beside him and looked down.

"Enough. Training is over."

Yuuta wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand.

"No."

Isvarn’s eyes narrowed.

Yuuta slowly forced one foot beneath himself.

"Again."

"You destroyed your weapon."

"Then give me another one."

Isvarn remained silent as Yuuta tried to stand, only for his trembling knee to nearly collapse beneath him. Yuuta caught himself and forced his body upright anyway.

"I said..."

His breathing remained painfully uneven.

"...again."

Isvarn finally understood.

This wasn’t determination.

Yuuta wasn’t training because he wanted to master aura faster. He wasn’t pushing himself because of some sudden hunger for strength either.

He was trying to exhaust himself.

Whatever had happened before Isvarn arrived that morning had left Yuuta desperate to keep his body moving, because the moment he stopped training, he would have no choice but to think about it.

Isvarn’s violet eyes remained on him for several seconds before he quietly turned away.

"I think we should stop."

Yuuta stared at his back.

"Grandpa...."

"Your aura obeys your soul, Boy. If your mind is filled with chaos, then chaos is exactly what your aura will become."

Isvarn began walking toward the other side of the yard, leaving Yuuta kneeling beside the fragments of his destroyed sword.

Yuuta lowered his head.

His reflection appeared faintly within the blood staining the grass, but instead of seeing himself, his exhausted mind gave him the one face he had spent the entire morning desperately trying not to remember.

Erza.

Yuuta immediately clenched his eyes shut, desperately trying to push Erza’s face from his thoughts, but even the darkness behind his eyelids couldn’t make her disappear. Her tear-filled violet eyes remained there, followed by the expression she had worn before turning away from him and leaving through the balcony.

Isvarn had already begun walking away when Yuuta suddenly opened his eyes.

"Wait, Grandpa."

Isvarn stopped, although he didn’t turn around. He remained with his back toward Yuuta, silently waiting for whatever the young man wanted to ask.

Yuuta looked down at the broken wooden handle still resting inside his hand. His fingers slowly tightened around it before he raised his eyes toward the ancient dragon.

"Do you think... I’m stronger now?"

The question caused Isvarn to remain silent for several seconds. He understood immediately that Yuuta wasn’t asking whether today’s training had improved his swordsmanship. There was something else hidden behind that question, something Yuuta desperately wanted permission to believe.

Eventually, Isvarn answered.

"Yes. You are stronger."

Yuuta’s crimson eyes widened slightly, and for the first time that morning, a small spark of hope appeared inside them.

"Then I can..."

"No."

The single answer stopped him before he could finish.

Isvarn finally turned his head slightly, looking at Yuuta from over his shoulder.

"You are stronger than you were yesterday, but you are nowhere near strong enough to reach what you seek. Do not confuse improvement with readiness."

The small hope inside Yuuta immediately weakened.

Isvarn’s expression remained serious as he continued.

"For now, focus on the theory I taught you. Learn to circulate your aura without allowing every little emotion inside your head to disturb its flow. Strength without control is nothing more than another method of killing yourself."

His eyes briefly shifted toward the shattered pieces of Yuuta’s wooden sword scattered across the grass.

"You are behaving like an impatient fool who rushes onto a battlefield only to die from the first arrow before the real war even begins. If you truly intend to become strong, then first learn how to remain alive long enough to achieve it."

Yuuta lowered his eyes. Normally he might have complained about being called a fool again, but this time he didn’t have the energy to argue.

"Yes, Master. I’ll keep that in mind."

Isvarn gave him one final glance before turning away. Without explaining where he was going or what he intended to do next, the ancient dragon walked away from the yard and disappeared once again, leaving Yuuta alone with the remains of their morning training.

Yuuta stayed there for another minute before finally forcing himself onto his feet. His chest still hurt from the unstable aura, and the metallic taste of blood remained inside his mouth, but he ignored both as he slowly walked across the yard.

His steps eventually carried him toward the large tree near the apartment.

The moment Yuuta saw it, his pace slowed.

It was the same tree beneath which he and Elena had rested yesterday. The same place where he had fallen asleep believing he could temporarily forget about all the mysteries surrounding his life, only to awaken inside that strange nightmare and find himself chasing the shadow figure. Somehow, everything seemed to have fallen apart after he sat beneath this stupid tree.

Yuuta reached the trunk and slowly lowered himself onto the grass beneath it. He leaned his back against the rough bark before raising his head toward the morning sky, allowing the peaceful breeze to brush across his exhausted face.

His crimson eyes carried none of the determination they had possessed during training.

He simply looked tired.

Not physically tired alone, but tired of trying to understand what was happening to him.

Every time Yuuta believed he had finally found an answer, another mystery appeared behind it. His childhood was apparently not what he remembered. His nightmares were connected to something real. His soul contained secrets even Erza seemed afraid of, and some unknown seal prevented others from simply telling him the truth. Now even becoming stronger had somehow made everything worse rather than easier.

Yuuta gave a bitter smile.

"What kind of protagonist gets treated like this...?"

His voice was quiet enough that nobody nearby could hear.

"I feel more like the victim."

Yuuta rested the back of his head against the tree and closed his eyes. If fate had really chosen him for something, then from his perspective, fate seemed interested in doing nothing except making him suffer until he somehow discovered the reason himself.

And now Erza hated him.

That thought hurt more than Yuuta wanted to admit.

He remembered the slap, but strangely, he wasn’t angry about it anymore. What remained inside his mind wasn’t the burning sensation across his cheek. It was Erza crying while telling him she hated him and regretted ever falling in love with him.

Yuuta’s chest tightened again.

Then, through the peaceful sounds surrounding the apartment, a familiar laugh reached his ears.

It was bright and melodic, completely untouched by any of the misery occupying his thoughts.

Yuuta slowly opened his eyes.

Elena was playing nearby.

She ran across the yard with some of the other children from the apartment, laughing whenever one of them chased her. Her little face was filled with happiness, completely unaware of the emotional disaster that had unfolded between her parents during the night.

Yuuta watched her silently.

For a moment, some of the heaviness inside him disappeared.

Elena was perhaps the one thing in his complicated life he could look at without needing an explanation. Whatever mysteries surrounded his past, whatever strange power slept inside him, and whatever happened between himself and Erza, Elena was still his daughter.

Then another thought entered his mind.

Yuuta’s faint smile slowly disappeared.

Even Elena’s existence had begun with something he deeply regretted.

His gaze fell toward the grass as memories of his first encounter with Erza surfaced. Their daughter hadn’t been born from some beautiful romance between two people who understood and loved each other. Yuuta knew the circumstances of that night, knew Erza had not consented to what happened, and no matter how much he loved Elena now, that truth remained something he could never excuse.

Perhaps that was another reason Erza’s love had always confused him.

Yuuta looked toward Elena again.

Why does Erza even love me?

The question had bothered him before, but after last night’s argument, his exhausted mind began constructing an answer that somehow made everything fit.

Maybe Erza didn’t love him the way humans understood love because she had never learned how.

Maybe she had simply attached herself to him because they had Elena together. Perhaps dragons formed bonds differently. Perhaps having a child with someone created some instinctive attachment that Erza herself had mistaken for romantic love.

Yuuta’s expression became increasingly sorrowful as the idea settled inside him.

That would explain it.

Why Erza could claim to love him while still deciding things without him. Why she could protect him so fiercely while struggling to understand what he actually wanted. Why her feelings sometimes seemed closer to possession than partnership.

Yuuta lowered his eyes.

And somewhere beneath those thoughts existed an uglier belief he didn’t want to acknowledge.

If she truly understood human love... would she ever choose someone like me after what I did to her?

His fiers slowly curled against the grass.

Yuuta couldn’t imagine himself forgiving someone so easily. Yet Erza had returned, stayed beside him, protected him, and somehow developed feelings for the very man connected to one of the worst violations of her life.

It didn’t make sense to him.

Unless her understanding of love was fundamentally different.

"This is probably better..."

Yuuta whispered beneath the tree.

His eyes returned to Elena as she laughed with the other children.

"If she really hates me now, maybe that’s good."

The words hurt, but Yuuta forced himself to continue thinking through them.

Perhaps distance would finally give Erza the chance to understand herself without him confusing her feelings. Maybe someday she would meet someone she genuinely chose after understanding what love was supposed to mean, rather than remaining attached to Yuuta because of Elena, their past, or some strange dragon instinct.

Yuuta tried to smile at the thought.

It looked miserable.

"She’ll move on."

His voice became quieter.

"Maybe that’s what should’ve happened from the beginning."

Yuuta remained beneath the tree, silently watching Elena play while the peaceful morning continued around them. Children laughed, birds moved between the branches, and ordinary people continued living ordinary lives without knowing anything about the strange young man sitting beneath the tree.

Elena eventually noticed her father watching from the distance and immediately smiled even brighter before returning to her game.

Yuuta smiled back for Elena’s sake, hiding the pain behind the familiar expression his daughter knew. As she continued playing without a worry in the world, Yuuta remained beneath the tree, quietly convincing himself that losing Erza was probably for the best.

Yet every time he imagined never seeing her again, his chest still hurt.

What Yuuta didn’t know was that his argument with Erza had come at the worst possible time.

Far beyond the peaceful apartment, deep within the ocean surrounding Liebus, something was already approaching the country. An unknown presence moved beneath the dark water with a single purpose.

It had come to kill.

And while Yuuta sat beneath the tree believing he could finally face his problems without Erza, he remained completely unaware of one terrifying truth.

The threat had already reached Liebus.

And this time...

Erza wasn’t there to protect him.

To Be Continued...

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