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Chapter 3
Luke’s strange attitude left me confused.
But once my mind started working, it was busier than ever.
Could this… mean that I can really become his family?
If that happened, not only would I be safe, but my future would also be guaranteed.
I quickly finished thinking and threw out my answer.
“I know more about dragons than anyone else.”
“How much?”
“I’m confident I know more about them than anyone in the Empire.”
“And?”
“I’m quick to notice things, and I’m good at doing what I’m told.”
…… Somehow, I felt like I was emphasizing my usefulness as a subordinate rather than my role as a family member.
“I see.”
But Luke seemed quite satisfied with my answer.
He looked at a painting hanging on the wall and smiled faintly before asking me,
“What’s your name?”
“Eria.”
“Eria, then. I’m Luke Croyman.”
I know.
But why was he suddenly introducing himself?
“How old are you?”
“……Nine.”
“Can you read?”
“Yes.”
“What about writing?”
“I can write too.”
“I see. First of all… I’m sorry for taking the joke too far with you.”
A joke?
I tilted my head, and Luke said something meaningful.
“You reminded me of someone.”
His eyes were filled with longing as he said it.
“I was reminded of that person, and I ended up doing something inappropriate to a child as young as you. I apologize.”
…… This was the first time in my life.
The first time someone had ever apologized to me.
It didn’t even bother me that much.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to react, so I simply remained silent.
Luke then gestured toward the door.
A small breeze blew, making a bell ring.
A moment later, a man dressed neatly in black entered and bowed his head.
“Did you call for me?”
The Master of the Magic Tower calmly said to him,
“Ren, prepare the adoption papers.”
What?
…… It was this easy?
Even I thought my proposal was completely ridiculous!
“Are you really sure about this?”
Ren, the secretary of the Croyman Ducal Family, asked with a worried expression.
Luke answered as he flipped through the documents.
“It would be difficult to call it ‘fine’ when we still haven’t found the cause of the mana reversal occurring in the atmosphere.”
“Duke, of course, that is something we need to take seriously as well, but what I was asking about was……”
“Ah. You mean the child.”
Realizing Ren’s intention only then, Luke emptied his second cup of tea before asking,
“What exactly are you worried about?”
“About taking a child whose identity is unknown and who even possesses a dragon egg into the estate as your adopted daughter. What if it’s a trap?”
Luke spoke indifferently.
“If someone has the power to send a dragon to set a trap for me, they would need enormous wealth and ability.”
“……”
“Even the Emperor couldn’t do something like that. So it’s unlikely some ordinary person could.”
“It might not be an ordinary person. Couldn’t it be one of the most dangerous people in the world?”
“She obtained a dragon egg, not an uncontrollable dragon. From the beginning, it doesn’t look like a trap.”
“But still—”
“Even if it really is a trap, I won’t be easily caught. Not when I have a dragon.”
“……That is true.”
Ren thought about it for a long time before finally accepting Luke’s reasoning.
It was said that the moment a dragon egg hatched, the dragon would swear eternal obedience to the first person it encountered.
That was known as imprinting.
In other words, even an extremely wealthy person or the Emperor himself would never send a dragon egg to an archmage like Luke simply to set a trap.
It wasn’t a trap.
It was more like an incredibly precious gift, something that couldn’t even be exchanged for the world’s most famous treasures.
“But was it really necessary to adopt the child?”
If Luke’s goal was the egg, wouldn’t it be enough to persuade her or threaten her until she handed it over?
From the brief conversation Ren had with her during the adoption process, she seemed quite clever.
But regardless, she was still just a child.
“Even an innocent child can hide what’s inside her.”
“She does seem like a rather complicated child.”
“Exactly! Then why did you willingly adopt her into the ducal family?”
Luke slowly answered Ren’s question.
“Regardless of the dragon egg, she was an extraordinary child. I felt an unfamiliar presence from her.”
“Unfamiliar?”
“There is something about her that is strangely twisted, something I can’t properly gauge.”
Ren couldn’t understand at all, but he nodded for the moment.
“It definitely isn’t mana, so then…”
Oh dear. He’s already lost in thought again.
Thinking that he needed to interrupt Luke’s thoughts, Ren asked another question.
“Then wouldn’t it be enough to simply keep her close? There shouldn’t be any need to go as far as adopting her.”
“That… was difficult to refuse after looking at her face.”
“……What exactly do you mean by that?”
The more Ren listened, the more absurd it sounded, and he couldn’t help but ask sincerely.
How could Luke have difficulty refusing someone?
The same man who didn’t even hesitate to flatly reject the Emperor’s proposals?
Ren simply couldn’t understand.
“She kept reminding me of someone.”
“Who?”
“……”
Luke fell silent.
But when Ren saw his gloomy expression, he thought of someone.
Duchess Serena Croyman, who had lost her life in an accident several years ago.
She was the only person who could make Luke show such emotions while thinking about someone.
She doesn’t look anything like her, though? …… Wait. Could it be?
Ren quickly turned his eyes toward the calendar.
Is he feeling empty because the anniversary of the Duchess’s death is approaching?
Thinking of it that way, it finally made some sense.
Several years had passed since the Croyman Duchess lost her life.
But the incident was still like a dagger lodged deep in Luke’s heart.
In the end, Ren gave up trying to question the matter any further.
Whether the child liked it or not, once Luke had made his decision, Ren had no choice but to follow it completely.
Luke stared at his empty teacup with a thoughtful expression before turning his gaze toward the painting hanging on the wall.
As he looked at the beautiful face of the smiling woman, Luke smiled faintly.
It was the same when I first met her.
Even back then, she had been unusually confident for someone so young.
She had seemed strangely certain of herself.
And for some reason, he had found that quite charming.
“My memories are becoming blurry.”
Ren heard Luke mutter those words to himself, but he didn’t ask any further questions.
The atmosphere immediately became heavy.
The two men silently focused only on the documents in front of them.
Just as the awkward atmosphere was beginning to fade into the background—
“W-We have a big problem!”
A maid from the Croyman family suddenly burst through the door.
Before Ren could even correct her lack of manners, shocking words poured from her mouth.
“Right now, the egg… The dragon is about to hatch! The young lady asked for help!”
Luke threw down the document he had been reading and rushed out of his office.
“The egg… The egg is cracking, Duke!”
Just as Ren exclaimed in amazement, “Crack!” The largest crack on the egg suddenly split open.
“Pip… Pii!”
A small black dragon let out a tiny cry.
Hearing that adorable cry, I felt deeply relieved.
It was a good sign that the hatching hadn’t harmed its health.
I secretly glanced at Luke.
He was standing there with his mouth slightly open, staring at Kai in a daze.
It seemed that even he found the sight he was witnessing for the first time fascinating.
“Duke! This is not the time to be standing around!”
Just when I thought the crisis had passed, Ren suddenly panicked and began pushing Luke toward Kai.
“Hurry, hurry! You need to show yourself to the dragon! Quickly, before anyone else is seen!”
……What?
Could he be talking about the ‘imprinting’ I know about?
“Wait, I—”
Before I could stop him, Luke quickly sent everyone away and stood directly in front of Kai.
I found myself looking at him differently.
I had thought he was the kind of man who would remain calm even with a sword at his throat.
But now…
“…… Duke, please use this cloth to wipe Kai. Then he’ll be able to open his eyes more easily.”
I handed Luke a clean cloth.
He took it and carefully wiped the damp Kai.
After that, Luke persistently tried to meet Kai’s gaze.
For the Croyman family, this would surely be an event worthy of being recorded in history.
But honestly, watching Luke chase after Kai’s gaze every time the little dragon moved its head around was a little funny.
Because there was actually no such thing as imprinting with dragons.
“Is this enough?”
Luke finally met Kai’s eyes and asked me.
I subtly looked away.
Did I look like this when I tried to imprint on Kai in all those previous lives?
Seeing it from someone else’s perspective is a little embarrassing.
At the beginning of my regressions, I had constantly tried to imprint on Kai.
But after personally experiencing that Kai didn’t obey my words unconditionally, I eventually realized for certain that imprinting didn’t exist.
Still, there was no reason for me to explain that to them.
I simply nodded.
Keeping them under that impression would be more advantageous for me.
“Yes. Now Kai belongs to you, Duke. But I would like you to let me take care of Kai for the time being.”
“No!”
Before Luke could even say anything, the startled Ren immediately stepped forward and shouted.
