The wind blew through the half-open window. Lorina’s hair fluttered in the breeze. She opened and read the letter that had arrived secretly.

〈Failure〉

Her side had failed, and so had theirs. At least one person needed to succeed, but Annelia and Luden had skillfully avoided the traps they’d set.

“How arrogant to ask why I was apologizing.”

Lorina bit her lip. Reytan had become Crown Prince and Luden was his close friend, so Luden would support him. If that happened, Reytan would truly become a Crown Prince with powerful backing. And he would monopolize Father’s attention.

For now, she needed to go to Mother. Surely Mother’s feelings were hurt too, since the Empress’s son hadn’t become heir but a concubine’s son had.

Thinking this, Lorina changed clothes and headed to the Empress’s palace. Walking there, she looked up at the sky and bit her lip again.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong to Luden. She resented him for not accepting her apology. Did he know how humiliating it was to apologize without knowing the reason?

He would never know what she’d felt when she said those words. Recalling his cold gaze, Lorina suppressed her unsettled feelings. Instead of feeling sorry, jealousy toward Annelia, who had taken her place, bloomed abundantly.

The Empress’s chamber was on the first floor of the Empress’s palace. Lorina opened the door and looked at Kajena, the Empress. Kajena had her brown hair pinned up and was elegantly drinking tea. Beside her, her son, now over ten years old, was reading a book.

“Lorina, what is it?”

Kajena asked, looking at Lorina. Lorina stared at her with wavering eyes, finding her calmer than expected, then walked over and sat in the seat across from her.

“The Crown Prince position went to someone other than your own son—are you at peace with that, Mother?”

Hearing this, Kajena looked at Lorina and smiled quietly.

“Lorina, your brother doesn’t particularly want that position.”

“…What?”

“My son likes Reytan. They get along well, so why would I oppose it and fall out of His Majesty’s favor?”

Lorina sighed at Kajena’s words.

“And you need to be careful.”

“About what?”

“It would be terrible if His Majesty the Emperor found out what we did to Marquis Charlot.”

“Why that matter?”

Kajena’s expression soured at Lorina’s words.

“It wasn’t a good thing. If I’d known the Marquis Charlot’s wife would become close to His Majesty, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Kajena stared at Lorina seriously, then sighed.

“You need to settle down with someone now too.”

“There’s no man who matches my status.”

“You mean a man like Luden Charlot?”

Lorina was at a loss for words.

“Men like that are rare. Besides, even when I found suitable matches, didn’t you reject them all?”

But they weren’t as wonderful as Luden.

“Why do you try to match me with men like that, Mother?”

Lorina needed to be the best. Her man needed to be better than anyone else too. Otherwise, she wasn’t satisfied. The men Kajena brought were decent enough, but they didn’t satisfy Lorina. Lorina couldn’t stand being matched with such men.

“You’re the one who rejected the men I chose. Don’t resent us later.”

Kajena spoke firmly. Lorina looked at her mother, who only cared about her younger brother, then left, closing the door in frustration.

Mother was too foolish. Why wasn’t she angry that her own child wouldn’t become the future Emperor?

Lorina felt so wronged and frustrated she could die! On top of that, she was angry Father hadn’t appointed her as successor.

What was wrong with having ambition? Didn’t everyone have ambition?

Those who said it was wrong were the ones who weren’t right.

* * *

After traveling by carriage through the warp for a day, we arrived at the hotel. The hotel was located a short distance from a wide sandy beach. Our room was the highest one in the hotel. It was a popular room because of its good view.

Luden and I instructed the servants to move our luggage, watched them, then went down to the basement. Various wines were displayed in the basement. They said the wine bar was excellent, and it seemed true.

“How about a drink after dinner?”

Luden pointed to a wine. The curved wine bottle looked luxurious and pretty. I picked up the wine bottle and looked at it for a moment.

It would be nice to drink this while talking with Luden.

“How about drinking it while riding that special thing later?”

“Sounds good.”

The gift the Emperor gave us was none other than a ticket to ride a flying vessel shaped like a round disc that flew through the sky. The disc used magic to maintain a certain altitude, rising into the sky and descending. 

It required many magic stones to operate, making it extremely expensive to run. Since it operated with advanced magic, not just anyone could operate it, and it couldn’t be ridden frequently.

That’s why only imperial family members or those specially permitted by the Emperor could ride it. Even in the Charlot family, only a few had ridden it—this flying saucer—and I would get to ride it.

Of course, here they called the disc by the elegant name Matrian.

“I never thought I’d ride the Matrian with Annelia.”

“Maybe it’s because Luden distinguished himself so much in the war?”

“I doubt it. His Majesty the Emperor probably wants to make a good impression on Annelia.”

Was that really it? Though I had my doubts, I explored more with Luden, chose wine to drink, and left the basement.

* * *

Sella was walking along the beach with Igol. Igol, who could now freely transform into human form, seemed excited by his first sight of the ocean and scurried toward where the waves crashed. When Igol transformed into a human, he was a boy with blonde hair and golden eyes.

“You need to be careful!”

Sella quickly shouted toward Igol. Igol looked back and waved at her. Then, looking excitedly at the ocean again, Igol tilted his head and started running somewhere else.

“Where are you going?”

Sella turned her gaze to where Igol was heading. Just then, she spotted a woman wearing a pink dress walking with a handsome man.

Seeing the woman, Sella’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh my, Annelia!”

Igol discovered Annelia and rushed over, throwing himself into her arms. Since Igol had once lived with Annelia as a substitute for his mother, he instinctively felt goodwill toward her.

“It’s been a while.”

Annelia held Igol tightly in her arms and smiled at Sella. Annelia had sensed the energy coming from Igol and recognized him.

Annelia’s long blonde hair reached her waist. Her brilliantly shining light green eyes and comfortable gaze revealed what kind of life she was living.

“It’s good to see you.”

Luden also welcomed her warmly.

“What brings you two here?”

At Sella’s question, Annelia held Luden’s hand tightly and said with a smile.

“We’re traveling. It hasn’t been long since Luden returned from knight training.”

“Ah, now that you mention it, I heard there was a war in the human world. I heard Luden participated in it.”

It seemed to be over now. Time flew by so quickly. It felt like she’d just met Luden and Annelia yesterday, but four years had already passed.

“I felt Igol’s energy, so I thought I was mistaken.”

Annelia could still sense Igol’s energy. Sella approached Annelia and examined her emotions.

Before, Annelia’s heart had been stained black. But now it was dyed a brilliant white. Seeing her calmed heart, Sella grinned.

“You seem happy?”

At Sella’s question, Annelia’s cheeks flushed. And so Sella and Annelia met in front of the hotel.

At Luden’s question, Sella nodded. Wait, his own child had been born—the person involved should know!

“Shouldn’t you tell him?”

Sella pulled Igol over and hugged him tightly.

“I don’t want him taken away.”

“Um, is he a bad man?”

“That’s right. Black Dragons are naturally cold-natured, but he’s even more cold-hearted. He might deny us.”

Sella stroked Igol’s head.

“Anyway, Igol takes after me, so he’ll never notice.”

Her words sounded bitter.

“Don’t you want him to notice? If you gave birth to a child, you must have had some affection for that man.”

“…”

Sella couldn’t speak. She just looked at us with sad eyes, then hugged Igol tightly.

“Actually, that man’s territory is here. His dragon lair is here.”

Ah, so that’s why she brought Igol all the way here.

“Where are Sella and Igol staying now?”

“Charlot Hotel.”

Oh, then they’re staying in the same place as us.

“We’re staying there too—since it’s come to this, want to have a meal together?”

At my suggestion, Sella bowed her head deeply, then raised it.

“Alright.”

Igol clung to me with no intention of letting go. When Sella tried to take him, Igol whined, held my hand, and shook his head. Then he grabbed Luden’s other hand and shook it.

“I’m happy to meet Dad.”

Igol’s voice was high-pitched and clear, like a human child’s.

“Igol, that person isn’t your father.”

At Sella’s words, Igol vigorously shook his head in denial.

“Here’s my human mom and human dad.”

Igol regarded us as his human parents. At those words, Sella frowned and sighed.

“You said you wanted to meet your dad—you meant your human dad?”

“You said I can’t see my dragon dad anyway. Then I’ll consider my human dad my real dad.”

Igol clearly stated what he wanted to say. Come to think of it, I didn’t know much about Igol’s father. When I glanced over, Sella looked like she was about to cry.

“Does the child’s father not know about Igol?”

“I’ll listen to your story too.”

I grinned. Sella stared at me, seemingly at a loss for words, then smiled quietly.

“You’ve become quite the professional counselor. How did you know I wanted to share my troubles?”

She shrugged.

“Shall we go then? Igol, let’s have dinner with your human parents today.”

Igol jumped up and down excitedly.

* * *

Mesriten was a Black Dragon and the leader of dragons. From his hatchling days, he’d overwhelmed dragons older than himself with his powerful strength, and the moment he became an adult dragon, he became Dragon Lord.

Because of this, he’d been involved in many scandals with other dragons attracted to his powerful strength, and later, finding it bothersome, he deliberately acted cold and aloof toward other dragons.

Such a dragon had once been swept up in the atmosphere and slept with someone. That day, the dragon drinking across from him looked so beautiful that he’d succumbed to her seduction and spent one night with her.

Of course, when he woke up, he was alone in bed. For her, it might have been one night’s amusement. But for him, that day held great meaning.

“Sella’s energy.”

A dragon had visited his territory. Seeing that she’d visited in human form, she seemed to be on a leisure trip.

But beside her was a hatchling’s energy he’d never felt before.

‘Hm?’

At first, he didn’t want to pay much attention. Her visit was probably for travel purposes, so he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by stepping forward.

That’s what he thought, but he kept sensing the hatchling’s energy hovering around her. Because of that, he couldn’t help but pay attention even if he tried not to.

Mesriten transformed from dragon to human form. As a human, he was a handsome man with black hair and black eyes. He looked at his hands for a moment, then clenched his fists.

He needed to find out who the father of the hatchling hovering around her was. He was the Dragon Lord and had a duty to protect hatchlings.

But if that child’s father wasn’t him… he would be very angry.

“Why am I thinking this?”

Anyway, whenever he thought of Sella, his mood became strange. He sighed and flew to Charlot Hotel.