Agnes hurriedly laid out excuses.

“As you know, during ‘that month’ a dragon’s power drops to rock bottom. Today especially, with the rain, I couldn’t even move, and of all people, Merrien caught me.”

“I told you not to say her name.”

“Then what should I call her?”

“Just don’t call her anything.”

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Agnes, who had been kneeling submissively on the bed, gulped upon seeing Ariel’s eyes filled with madness.

They knew that when he was in this state, no excuse would work properly.

“Of all people to catch you, it had to be Merri? That doesn’t make sense.”

“There are incomprehensible things in this world. Live long enough, and you’ll encounter them sometimes.”

It was ridiculous to see such elderly words coming from what appeared to be a boy of barely ten years old.

But inside, he was actually a dragon hundreds of years old.

Right now, it was just that one month of the year when he couldn’t properly use his powers, so he could only transform into a very small dragon or a child’s form.

“Since she seems to have sensed your energy right away, let’s say you’re the dance instructor’s younger sibling. Keep the name Agnes.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll give you a room, stay there without Merri knowing. Return to your nest after a month.”

“Fine.”

“First, take just one hit.”

“Fine… Wait, what?”

AAAAHHHHH!!!

Agnes, who had been answering halfheartedly as if having given up on everything, belatedly realized his mistake. He had already fallen for violent Ariel’s trick.

Even though it was just a light tap on the head, since he knew Agnes was in a weakened state.

Seeing Agnes overreacting and screaming as if his body had been split in two, Ariel almost threw him out the window again.

“Okay, I got it. I’ll do it. I’ll pretend to be the dance instructor’s sibling. Okay.”

Agnes, now halfway out the suddenly opened window and completely soaked by rain, tried his best to appear composed.

After this dramatic compromise or rather dramatic threat, Ariel snapped his fingers to clean up Agnes as if nothing had happened, then headed for the door.

“Merri, come in. Did you wait long?”

Then he opened the door with a fresh smile.

It was a perfect threat executed in a short time.

Merrien stepped into the room, seemingly captivated by Ariel’s smile.

By now, Agnes was sitting demurely in a chair instead of on the bed.

‘My goodness… Look at that posture.’

Merrien covered her mouth as she quickly assessed the child.

In that brief time she was out, the child had been thoroughly trained, sitting with legs together in perfect posture. They were even trembling slightly while watching for reactions. But they couldn’t fool Merrien’s eyes.

Meanwhile, Ariel was grinning proudly for some reason, and she could almost see flower backgrounds behind him.

‘This is too much, really.’

Merrien’s Saint instincts activated, and she lightly pushed Ariel’s chest before hurriedly moving forward.

That scream that had clearly echoed outside the door – it must have been this child.

“Let me see.”

Merrien lifted the child’s chin and examined his face from different angles.

Since they weren’t close yet, she couldn’t check his body, but… fortunately, there were no visible signs of being hit anywhere.

‘There might be a slight bump on the head. Or am I imagining it?’

As she examined his face with a serious expression, Agnes, seemingly embarrassed by the close proximity, awkwardly greeted her.

“Ah, hello.”

“Hmm… hello?”

Come to think of it, they hadn’t even been properly introduced. After returning a light wave, she turned to Ariel.

For a moment, he was shooting Agnes a sharp glare but then smiled as if nothing had happened.

“Merri, as you guessed, this one is related to the dance instructor. It’s the instructor’s younger sibling. The name is ‘Agnes’.”

There seemed to be a grinding sound from his teeth when he said ‘This one is related.’

Before she could think about it further, Ariel approached and put his hand on Agnes’s shoulder.

Agnes shuddered violently for a brief moment.

“Ah, I thought so. They look so similar.”

Merrien clapped her fingers together. There was a reason the dance instructor had come to mind.

The unkempt red hair and round eyes were definitely those of a child.

However, that strange energy emanating from those black eyes and that alien feeling was undoubtedly from the same family as the dance instructor.

‘Right. I knew they didn’t seem human…. Wait.’

That meant there was one more fact she had overlooked.

“Then is the dance instructor also a dragon?”

“Yes.”

Good heavens!

The two males nodded simultaneously as if it were obvious.

She had secretly thought she might not be human, but a dragon?

‘So that’s why Ariel made those strange comments about the dance instructor having no gender and being closer to male.’

Now all the questions were perfectly answered. She felt a slight thrill realizing that her deductions had been mostly correct.

From discovering that Ariel was the Tower Master’s sibling to vaguely sensing that the dance instructor wasn’t human.

Perhaps she had a talent for deduction.

Suddenly emboldened, Merrien put her hands on her hips and asked.

“But then, why were you collapsed there? Your condition was terrible.”

Now that the mystery about the dance instructor was solved, she needed to resolve her curiosity about this child.

Agnes at that time, collapsed in the alley, had looked so precarious as if his life could end at any moment.

It was bad enough that it reminded her of Whitey when he was dying, coughing up blood.

Agnes rolled his eyes around as if checking someone’s reaction.

“Well…. I came down to get medicine….”

His voice grew increasingly smaller until it could fit in a mouse hole. When he finally couldn’t continue, Ariel sighed and added:

“This is a special month when dragons’ power becomes severely weakened. It gets even worse when it rains.”

“Ah, I see.”

“!!!”

Suddenly, Merrien placed her hand over Agnes’s heart, who had been hanging his head.

Agnes jerked his head up in surprise, and Ariel’s hand on Agnes’s shoulder tensed.

She probably placed her hand without hesitation because of their child-like appearance.

“……”

But Agnes trembled violently, feeling like his shoulder might break at any moment.

Perhaps it was due to his heart racing from the sudden situation and Merrien’s close proximity.

Though Agnes themselves hadn’t realized this.

“I’m really angry.”

“I’m sorry, my friend…..”

The two whispered in such tiny voices that Merrien couldn’t hear at all.

Agnes deliberately tried not to look to the side.

Nevertheless, the obvious threatening gaze he felt sent chills down his spine.

The window that had been barely closed earlier began shaking so violently it seemed it might shatter at any moment.

The thunderstorm continued to pour down relentlessly.

Whether aware or unaware of the two males’ inner thoughts, Merrien, who had caused this whole situation, was simply continuing her examination, completely oblivious.

“Even after all that healing, you’re still in bad shape. Shouldn’t you be in dragon form?”

As if agreeing, Agnes quickly nodded and transformed back into a dragon.

Ariel’s hand, which had been resting on Agnes’s shoulder, was left wandering with nowhere to go.

Conscious of this, Agnes trembled violently. Merrien, thinking the small dragon was shaking from pain, hurriedly infused him with Holy Power.

White light spread gradually from her hands. The Holy Power seeped between the thick, hard scales, and the dragon’s trembling slowly subsided.

“This should do it.”

When the healing was somewhat complete, Merrien dusted off her hands.

The dragon, now seemingly stable, fell asleep breathing steadily. Or perhaps he was just pretending to sleep.

Curled up on the chair, he looked more like a cat than a lizard.