Monsters Wag Their Tails Only at Me

At my reaction, Varen seemed to make some firm resolution and glared even harder.

Then intermittent groans flowed from the dragon hunters hiding in the forest. Thud, flop. I could feel them dropping their weapons or collapsing to their knees.

All I could do was admire Varen’s skill as he subdued the hunters in an instant. With my mouth half open, all I did was add reactions like, “Amazing, so cool, you’re the best.”

Each time I said a word, I felt Varen’s aura grow stronger. Praise could make even a dragon dance.

Just then, Horace, who had been crawling on the ground and vomiting blood, began to scream.

“Aaaaaaah! Aah, ah!!”

His scream was not from pain. He was furious that the situation was not going his way.

Horace worked his blood-soaked mouth. After muttering something incomprehensible, he spat the blood filling his mouth onto the floor.

Horace’s mad gaze was fixed only on Varen. The moment I saw his eyes, a chilling premonition passed through me.

“Varen, move back!”

Before my head could judge the situation, an instinctive warning burst from my mouth.

At my words, Varen lifted me into his arms and flew upward without the slightest hesitation. He moved swiftly, retreating several meters with a single leap.

And the explosions began near Horace. Like someone had stepped on land mines, blasts erupted from the ground one after another, and in the blink of an eye, they reached the place where we had been standing.

“Damn it...”

Varen ground his teeth and swung his remaining hand. Margon and Milo, who were still in that spot, shot roughly into the air.

The two of them, who had narrowly avoided Horace’s attack, looked as if they were trapped inside a transparent sphere. The two flailing in midair flew toward us with a single gesture from Varen.

“Aaagh! You bastard, aaagh!!”

The flight was so fast that the two of them shot past me and Varen. Even in that brief instant, Margon hurled curses at Varen.

But Varen did not seem to have the leisure to answer Margon. He was only sweating as the explosions chased him like ghosts and detonated wherever he stepped.

Glancing back, I threw my arms around Varen’s neck and shouted.

“Varen, the building! Go into the building!”

Horace, seized by madness, was turning the Aylos family estate into utter chaos. But he did not touch the main building where his patron, Phiren, was sleeping.

At my words, Varen flew upward in an instant and moved faster than a crossbow bolt. Only when we reached the entrance of the main building did he set me down lightly.

As expected, Horace’s attack did not reach this place. Gasping for breath, I hurriedly grabbed Varen’s cheeks.

“Haah, haah... Varen, are you all right? You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”

He looked as if nothing was wrong, but Varen was also breathing hard. As I felt over his body, worried there might be an injury I had not seen, an irritated voice popped up behind me.

“I’m the one who got hurt, me!”

I froze and turned around to see Margon, bristling with anger. Margon stomped over, fuming, and glared viciously at Varen.

“Hey, dragon man. Would it kill you to send me flying gently? My skull nearly cracked!”

“Humans, honestly. You do not even know gratitude after being saved.”

Seeing the two of them bicker as always somehow put me at ease. After confirming that both were safe, I hurried over to Milo.

Milo seemed to have lost strength in his legs and had collapsed on the marble floor. His eyes, drenched in shock, were trembling violently.

“Milo, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Uh... uuh...”

Milo only opened and closed his mouth with a pale face. For a boy who had been dragged out of sleep without even getting a proper explanation from Margon, the current situation was no different from a natural disaster.

I felt sorry seeing him frightened, but right now, there was no time to soothe Milo. It was enough that he was not injured.

“Varen, let’s go to the second floor. We’ll grab Phiren and run immediately.”

“I do not think that will be necessary.”

At the same time as Varen spoke, I heard pounding footsteps. At that stride filled with rage, fear carved into my body surged over me like a tide.

I forced my stiff body upright and looked at the stairs. Phiren was coming down, wearing a robe over his sleepwear.

“Ceryl, you bastard!!”

At the thunderous voice, a chill ran down my spine. Cold sweat streamed down my back and forehead.

I clenched both fists and struggled to steady myself. I repeated to myself that the fear I was feeling now was not mine.

But compared to that firm resolve, my whole body was trembling beyond control. My jaw even shook so hard my teeth clacked together.

“You ungrateful wretch! Ceryl, how could you betray me after the way I raised you?!”

Stomping as if he would break the floor, Phiren gradually approached. The closer he came, the more I was seized by the feeling that I was going to die.

I sucked in a broken breath and stepped backward without realizing it. But before I could retreat even a few steps, my back struck something.

Varen, standing behind me, gently wrapped a hand around my shoulder. As if that fleeting warmth were a lifeline, I fumbled for his hand and grasped it.

“Do not be afraid, Ceryl. I am behind you.”

The voice whispering by my ear felt as if it warmed my blood that had frozen cold. Leaning on the dragon’s hot body temperature, I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them wide.

“Haah... Phiren, you... This will not go the way you want.”

A pathetic voice came out of my mouth. But that one weak sentence was more than enough to overturn Ceryl’s entire life.

Phiren violently distorted his face, then let out a hollow, incredulous laugh. He shook his head and looked at me again.

“Ceryl, Lavier blood does flow in you after all. You are greedy, just like your father.”

“...What?”

At his words, my brows furrowed. Between the fear engraved into my bones, resentment and anger surged up.

To use the word greedy for my father. Who was it that had been blinded by greed and killed his own blood?

My clenched fist tightened. I did not even feel the pain of my nails digging hard into my palm.

Not stopping there, Phiren poured oil onto the rising spark. Soon controlling his emotions, he looked down at me with an arrogant posture.

“The crime of betraying the family deserves death, but I will praise you for bringing the dragon here. This is your last chance, so if you want to live, hand over the dragon quietly.”

“...”

“The heart of the Dravergh is mine. Not some weak Lavier like you, but the prepared heir ought to inherit it.”

Even as he spoke confidently, Phiren’s eyelids trembled faintly. The muscles of his sneering face were stiff, and the chest he had deliberately spread wide rose and fell shallowly and quickly.

He was clearly flustered by Varen’s power, which was stronger than expected. He knew that with his own strength, he could not capture the Dravergh.

So he was trying to use Ceryl’s fear. With the gaslighting he had steadily built up since childhood.

I could read every single one of Phiren’s tricks. It was obvious that he was trying to control his young nephew with empty power and authority.

Even so, what grated on my nerves was something else. This was not Ceryl’s emotion, but mine.

“...Why is he yours?”

The anger boiling in one side of my chest rose up my throat. At my breath-filled voice, Phiren’s brows furrowed.

“What did you say?”

“I asked... why he’s yours.”

At Phiren’s question, I repeated the same words. Then I spread both arms wide and blocked Varen from him.

Ceryl’s fear, accumulated over more than ten years, shattered with a crash against only a few months’ worth of my anger.

I shouted at Phiren in a ringing voice from deep in my stomach.

“Why is he yours!! He’s mine!!!”

“...”

My desperate cry echoed through the empty estate. For a moment, it seemed to reverberate faintly through the wide space.

A brief silence fell. Only my harsh breathing filled the gap.

The one who answered me instead of frozen Phiren was Varen behind my back. He gently held my shoulder and whispered.

“Ceryl, say it again.”

With a dragon at my back, I shouted once more, imposing and proud.

“He’s mine! I won’t give a bastard like you even a single strand of his hair!!”

“My hair would be useless, though.”

“Why would it be useless? If it’s pretty, that’s all that matters.”

“...Is that so.”

Varen swept a hand through his long hair. I glanced sideways at his golden hair, made even more luxuriant by the moonlight.

At the sight so precious it would not hurt even if I put it in my eye, I ground my teeth. My will not to hand even a single strand of Varen’s hair to Phiren surged even higher.

Perhaps shocked by my reaction, Phiren could not say anything back. He merely opened and closed his mouth with a stupid expression.

Well, of course. The nephew who had spent his whole life watching his mood and groveling was now snapping informal speech at him and crawling up. It was understandable he would be shocked.

Glaring at Phiren, I formed the next plan in my head. Now all we had to do was bind that human, drag him away, and shake everything out of his head.

“Ah... Father...”

Just then, an unexpected voice flowed from above the stairs. It was his son, Days Lavier, who looked exactly like Phiren.

Apparently awakened by the sudden commotion, he came down the stairs with a dazed look.

I had not thought at all about what to do with Days. At the appearance of a variable, I clicked my tongue shortly.

“Hrk, huck...”

And as Days came closer, Milo clutched the left side of his chest and collapsed.

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