“Hey, you pale dragon. If you keep provoking people like that, I can’t stand it. Don’t you see how desperate I am?”

〔Hehehe. Cheer up. How is it? Still, doesn’t it feel refreshing after pouring it all out?〕

“Even more annoying. So is there a way or not?”

Tahan narrowed his eyes into a smile. Then he provoked Clementina with even more irritating words.

〔I don’t know. But Carry might know.〕

“So in the end, you don’t know? Mother’s not here—how can I find out the method? Why did you want to see me if you don’t even know how I can live?”

〔I heard you looked exactly like Carry. I missed Carry. Follow me. I have something to show you.〕

Tahan, lying like one body with the ground, rose surprisingly lightly. Then he turned and headed toward the waterfall. Clementina wiped her face with her skirt. She even pushed away Dion’s outstretched hand trying to help her up.

Her pride stung at having shed tears and confessed her love in front of Dion. She hadn’t known she’d confess again like this.

Tahan stood before the waterfall. Clementina glared at the cascading water like she could see inside.

Then Tahan slipped right into the waterfall. Tahan’s chuckling laughter was drowned out by the sound of water.

Clementina liked Tahan less and less.

She didn’t like his words constantly digging into her inner thoughts or his irritating behavior.

He was like…… Mother.

Though they’d just met, his behavior toward Clementina was too natural.

Clementina looked up at Dion beside her. Dion looked at her with warm eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’ll wait here. If anything happens, scream. I’ll follow right in.”

Dion said he’d wait without following Clementina. Kitan beside him also pushed her back with his nose.

Splash, splash, splash.

Water droplets splashed on her face as the waterfall’s stream poured down. Chanting that this much water was nothing, Clementina squeezed her eyes shut and moved forward. Her legs wobbled once from the pouring stream, but Clementina could advance safely.

“Pfft, pfft! Hah!”

Clementina rubbed her face vigorously with both hands to wipe off the moisture.

〔Hehehe. Really identical, really exactly alike.〕

Tahan was busy teasing Clementina. He lay back tilting his head and tapped the ground with his front paws.

“Ugh! Please stop. How old are you exactly? How can you act so similar to Leon?”

〔Leon?〕

“Right! A young dragon just past being a hatchling. How can you act exactly the same?”

〔That baby dragon’s name is Leon too? Same as the dragon with the batum outside. I got along well with that one and had several babies.〕

“What?”

Tahan rose from his spot and entered the cave hidden behind the waterfall. His walking posture, shaking his head up and down, seemed excited. Clementina quickly moved her steps and followed Tahan.

“You had babies with Leon?”

〔Right, we were together a long time. But Leon was older than me. I heard he died several years ago. A nostalgic name. Ah! I gave one of Leon’s eggs I’d been keeping to your batum earlier.〕

“……What? You gave him an egg?”

〔It was an egg that wouldn’t hatch no matter how long I kept it. It seemed dead, but I kept the egg out of habit. Then I met Carry. She said it wasn’t time to wake yet and cast a spell on it. Then I told your batum about it. I wonder if it hatched safely.〕

What was Tahan saying now? Had babies with whom? Kept whose egg?

“It hatched! No one’s chosen it yet, so I just named it Leon!”

〔Hehehe, really? That one’s alive? I’d like to see it. Well, we’re here. This is where Carry stayed. How is it? Do you understand a bit why I could recognize you?〕

Clementina’s surprise was brief. The place Tahan guided her to was the deepest part of the cave. It was a place with a rounded dead end like a room. Faded, old papers and clothes hung there.

A loving couple and three daughters were drawn. Clementina recognized them at a glance.

Her Sustain family, affectionate for a time at least.

Clementina sat there and looked at her mother’s belongings for a while. There weren’t many things. But she could feel at a glance they were her mother’s.

Though human warmth had long disappeared, affection remained.

Mother hadn’t forgotten her family even while sick alone. Then why hadn’t she come back? Father had searched for Mother so desperately too.

“Why didn’t Mother return home?”

〔She said she was betrayed. So she couldn’t return.〕

“Betrayed?”

〔Right, if a batum betrays you, you can’t return. Do you think dragons are strong in body and mind? We get hurt too. Wings tear, but hearts hurt too. Once a dragon’s heart is hurt, it can’t be fixed.〕

“So that’s why they hurt. They don’t know how to fix their hearts.”

〔Hearts can be fixed?〕

“They can be fixed. Even after getting hurt or heartbroken, people live. They have to. That’s how they can move forward. It’s not right to sit down regretting just because you’re hurt. Stupid dragons.”

〔Ho! For speaking so confidently, you’re in terrible shape.〕

“That’s why I don’t understand. I prepared to move forward. I could forget that person standing outside no matter how sad. So why do I hurt?”

〔You mean the batum who came all the way here for you? The batum who searched for you? The batum you cried and wailed over earlier?〕

Tahan let out a chuckling laugh and lay down beside Clementina as she looked through Caroline’s belongings.

Clementina had no time to get angry at Tahan’s sarcasm. Mother’s belongings were more important. Though the belongings were like Mother’s relics, they were actually little different from trash.

They were just things Mother in her memory used to use—nothing more, nothing less.

Rather, they seemed more important to Tahan, who tried so hard to keep them. With that thought, she stopped being angry at Tahan. Thinking his sarcasm toward her came from grumbling out of longing for Mother made her feel sorry for him.

“Tahan.”

Tahan had his nose buried in Caroline’s clothes on the ground. Caroline’s scent must have disappeared long ago.

“Did you choose Mother?”

〔I did.〕

“Mother’s definitely dead, right?”

〔It would be troublesome if she’s not dead—that would mean I buried her alive. She died like falling asleep in my arms.〕

“Then how did you survive?”

〔Hehehe. I thought I’d chosen her, but they said I didn’t fully choose her. Only half.〕

“What does that mean? Can you explain so I understand?”

〔You don’t understand? Even my big head didn’t understand. I chose her. But Carry said she couldn’t be chosen.〕

“Why?”

〔Dragons can’t choose dragons. Right?〕

“If you didn’t resonate, how are you talking? You didn’t choose anyone.”

〔Amazing! I chose her.〕

Clementina frowned. Why did dragons all speak incomprehensibly?

〔I chose Carry. Even if dragon blood flows in her, even if she can use magic, she’s not a dragon. I never saw her transform into a dragon. She said choosing her was meaningless, but it wasn’t. I gained wisdom.〕

“Mother said since dragon blood was mixed in her, it was meaningless even if chosen by a dragon? But you ignored those words and chose Mother anyway. Then you gained wisdom?”

〔Clementina. The world is infinite. Even if the world you know changes a bit, the world won’t collapse. Carry is half human. Then at least half can be chosen by a dragon.〕

“But since you didn’t choose a complete human, you didn’t die even when Mother died?”

〔When dragons choose a batum, a powerful bond of connection forms. They fall into sadness because of that emotion. They lose strength and will to live. Of course, I was sad when Carry died too. But I could overcome it. Isn’t that what Carry the dragon left me?〕

Tahan buried his nose in Caroline’s belongings again. She thought her mother’s belongings might be the strength for Tahan to overcome.

If he could remember Mother, Tahan could continue living forward. Tahan smiled like a dragon hundreds of years old.

〔Maybe you’re like that too?〕

“Me too?”

〔If you inherited Carry’s blood, you’re half dragon too. So your body hurts from the sadness of losing your batum. But you’re half human. If you have the strength to move forward, you might get better.〕

“But I finished all preparations to live alone. Yet my body still hurts. Why?”

〔You might be getting better.〕

Tahan rested his head on Clementina’s shoulder, trying hard to comfort her.

“Look at me. Where do I look okay? Even now it feels like thin needles inside me are stabbing toward my whole body. I feel like my body will burst open someday.”

〔Since when was it like that?〕

“I wasn’t this sick from the start. Though I lost weight and energy dropped, I wasn’t this sick. But the pain gradually worsened. I met physicians, but they all don’t know why. Was Mother like this too?”

〔Well, my Carry wasn’t this loud. And she didn’t hurt like that. She was exactly like a dragon who lost its batum. My chosen batum was dying like that and I could do nothing. Except be by her side.〕

Clementina stared at Tahan intently. Perhaps because Tahan was there, her mother lived longer than dragons who lost their batum.

If human blood and dragon blood flowed together in Clementina’s body, what would happen?

Above all, Clementina’s batum hadn’t betrayed her. They’d just ended their contract relationship.

But Clementina had chosen Dion. If Clementina hurt because of dragon blood since she left Dion whom she’d chosen, could she get better if she returned?

With that thought, Clementina helplessly teared up again. It was such a foolish thought.

She’d left for Dion’s sake, yet she was thinking of returning to his side because she was dying.

She felt so miserable for briefly rejoicing that this was the only way.

Perhaps Clementina needed an excuse for someone to push her back. No matter how stubborn she was, she wanted a clear excuse that it was okay to be by Dion’s side.

She’d met Mother’s dragon, but nothing changed in the end. She hadn’t found a way for Clementina to survive.

She would die slowly like this.

Even searching through Caroline’s belongings couldn’t find a way for Clementina to survive. Well, how could she know from such things?