Chapter 7

“Ugh.”

I quickly pulled the knife out of my hand.

The dining hall instantly became chaotic.

The maid muttered blankly,

“…Kill….”

I struck the back of her neck with my other hand.

Normally, she should have collapsed immediately.

But instead, she only stared at the fleeing princess with dull, unfocused eyes, like someone possessed.

She was clearly not in her right mind.

“Marion. Move aside.”

At Kaiden’s words, I immediately stepped back.

“Ahhh!”

“Don’t look, Serena.”

Even without seeing it, I knew what happened.

Kaiden had drawn his sword and killed the maid.

Serena screamed after blood splattered everywhere, and Lucas must have quickly shielded her.

‘Damn it. So this is the problem with being unable to look at blood.’

I could feel blood flowing from my left hand where the knife had pierced through.

Trying not to look at the blood splashed everywhere, I raised my gaze upward instead.

The sparkling chandelier hurt my eyes.

Once again, I realized something clearly.

‘Retirement is the only way I’ll survive.’

“Are you alright?!”

Before I knew it, Kaiden had approached and carefully examined my left hand.

Unable to look at it myself, I turned my head toward Lucas and Serena instead.

Serena seemed deeply shocked and trembled while leaning against her brother.

Well, seeing a maid get her head cut off would obviously be traumatic.

Lucas comforted her, then his eyes met mine.

He silently mouthed:

Thank you.

The surroundings were noisy.

Guards rushed in again and began cleaning up the corpse.

Kaiden spoke to me.

“Let’s go to the infirmary. No… your room instead.”

“Okay.”

I obediently followed him.

* * *

“I can’t keep living like this.”

“Now what?”

Kaiden stood nearby with crossed arms while I lay on the bed staring at the ceiling during treatment.

“I need to retire.”

“Haah…”

Kaiden covered his face with one hand.

That meant he was extremely annoyed.

“Marion. You did very well today.”

Maybe because I was injured, he tried calming me down instead of getting angry.

But honestly, that only made me more irritated.

“Can’t you at least pretend to take me seriously? At this rate I’m seriously going to die young!”

“Marion.”

Kaiden called my name quietly, but I ignored him and waved my injured left hand dramatically in the air.

“Look at this poor hand!”

Then—

[Ahhh! Human, stop that!]

“What?!”

I jumped up in shock after suddenly hearing a strange voice.

“Marion?”

I could feel Kaiden staring at me with confusion, but that wasn’t important right now.

Near my bandaged left hand hung a tiny black creature.

I quickly grabbed it.

[Ugh! Let go of me!]

“What is this?”

I narrowed my eyes while examining it.

Scales like a reptile.

Red eyes blinking nonstop.

“A lizard?”

The creature flailed its tiny arms and legs furiously.

[A lizard?! I am NOT some lowly reptile, you ignorant human!]

My mouth dropped open in shock.

“The lizard talks?”

“…Doctor. Are you sure she’s alright?”

“T-That is…”

Kaiden and the doctor stared at me with deeply disturbed expressions.

Their reactions felt strange, so I lifted the creature in my hand and asked,

“Wait… can’t you two see this lizard?”

Kaiden and the doctor looked at me like an earthquake had just happened.

“…Marion. There’s nothing in your hand.”

I couldn’t understand.

“You can’t see it?”

“No.”

“And you can’t hear it talking either?”

When I asked in confusion, Kaiden covered his mouth and muttered,

“Now she’s hearing things too…?”

But I had no time to care about his reaction.

The lizard was struggling wildly in my hand.

[Release me! How dare you humiliate me like this!]

“Why is this tiny thing so strong?! Stay still!”

As I twisted around trying to hold onto the escaping lizard, Kaiden desperately shouted toward the doctor.

“Bring the best mental specialist immediately!”

* * *

“So you’re saying you’re not a lizard, but a dragon?”

[That’s right! I am the great dragon, Lord Bled!]

I asked suspiciously, and the so-called dragon standing on my palm became furious.

Looking carefully, I noticed tiny wings on its back.

It could even stand on two feet.

Though honestly, I doubted those tiny wings could actually fly.

Without realizing it, I muttered,

“…A mutant lizard maybe?”

[No!]

How could something so tiny yell so loudly?

My ears hurt.

“Aren’t dragons supposed to be huge and terrifying? You look completely different from what I imagined.”

Hearing my doubt, Bled quickly answered.

[That’s because I’m still a hatchling!]

“A hatchling?”

[Yes! Once I become a full-grown dragon, I’ll become terrifying!]

Watching him flap both arms while proudly describing his future self looked so pathetic and cute that I nodded generously.

“I understand. So you’re basically still a baby.”

[W-What?! I’m not a baby…!]

“You’re not?”

[….]

Bled suddenly fell silent.

His mood became gloomy, making me tilt my head.

“How old are you?”

[…One hundred years old…]

“…You’re older than you look.”

[Ugh…!]

Bled glared at me resentfully but couldn’t deny it.

I raised an eyebrow at his disrespectful stare.

“Well, I won’t treat you like a child then.”

[Y-You arrogant human.]

Actually, this worked out well.

According to the morals from my previous life, a proper adult should be kind and considerate toward children.

But while Bled was considered young by dragon standards, by human standards he was definitely an adult.

So I decided to treat him like someone my own age.

As if he read my thoughts perfectly, Bled narrowed his eyes and said,

[You have absolutely no intention of respecting me, do you?]

…Honestly, he was too tiny and harmless-looking to respect.

I quickly changed the subject.

“Anyway.”

[One day when I become a full-grown dragon, I’ll crush your pride!]

Oh please.

I snorted.

“More importantly, why can only I see you? Because of you, everyone thinks I’ve gone crazy.”

[Th-That’s…]

Bled lowered his head awkwardly.

I stared at him impatiently, waiting for an explanation.

Just one hour ago, Kaiden had nearly grabbed my head in panic.

He was so worried after hearing that I was seeing and hearing things.

He even insisted on bringing the most famous psychiatrist from the capital immediately.

To stop him, I had no choice but to pretend I couldn’t see Bled anymore.

Even then, Kaiden still couldn’t relax and ended up saying something ridiculous.

“…Marion. Would you like to sleep in the room next to mine tonight?”

“The room next to yours?”

“Yes. It was originally prepared for my future wife, but your mental condition isn’t stable right now. I think it’s safer if I stay nearby. After all, if a Swordmaster loses control, I’m probably the only one who can stop you before something dangerous happens…”

“I said I can’t see it anymore! And I won’t cause trouble either! Please stop already!”

“No. A Swordmaster hallucinating is extremely serious. Come here for a moment.”

“Ah! Stop trying to pry my eyes open! Go away!”

Only after arguing for a long time did Kaiden finally leave.

I glared at the true cause of this disaster—the lizard, or rather Bled—and pressed him again.

“I asked why only I can see you! Did you see the Grand Duke’s reaction earlier? Do you know how embarrassing that was for me?”

[I don’t know either… Normally humans shouldn’t be able to see or hear me.]

“What are you talking about? I can see you just fine. Don’t tell me I’ve really gone insane?”

While I started doubting my own sanity, Bled rubbed his tiny chin and muttered seriously,

[I was drawn here by the smell of your blood.]

“The smell of my blood?”