Chapter 107
Heros held Daphne in his arms all the way until they left the training ground.
How long had it been since he last held Daphne like this.
No, had he ever held Daphne in his arms to begin with?
-The curse placed on you has already been lifted.
After hearing those words that night, what occupied Heros’s mind constantly was not the presence or absence of the curse, but all the foolish actions he had committed until now.
After Elise died, he lived half out of his mind.
The fact that he himself was the one who caused his beloved Elise to die drove him insane.
If I had eradicated all the black mages, would Elise have lived.
If I had killed the surviving black mage before he could cast the curse, would Elise have lived.
No, if I had never met Elise in the first place, she……
After that, Heros dreamed of Elise every single day.
But even in dreams there was no peace.
In the dreams Elise resented him, and even after waking, the Elise in his heart continued to resent him.
Yet he did not feel sadness.
He could not feel sadness.
All he could feel was a suffocating pain as if his breath was being choked and his chest torn apart.
If only he could pour out his emotions in tears, perhaps his heart could empty, but with no outlet the emotions kept piling up until his heart stopped functioning properly.
The things he could feel grew fewer and fewer.
That was why he could no longer bear to look at the children.
Rache, Vipera, Arius.
When he looked at them, it felt as though Elise was standing right beside them.
The exact image of Elise loving the children came rushing back.
Even so, when he tried to embrace them, the choked emotions blocked him.
Every time he saw Daphne, a strange disgust and discomfort surged, preventing him from getting close.
He knew in his head that she was the last gift Elise left behind, but his heart refused to accept the child.
In that way, he grew distant from everyone.
-How about letting go now.
That was what Daphne said to him.
-Guilty feelings, when carried for too long, inevitably turn into obsession.
You are already free of the curse,
and all that remains is your obsession.
You foolish idiot who clings desperately to Elise’s death and Elise’s love, unable to even see what is right in front of you.
Only then was Heros finally able to look at everything around him.
Rache who had gone astray at some point, Vipera who shut herself in her room, Arius who cried calling for mother every night, and Daphne who had been neglected despite her frail body.
The moment he recalled those children in his mind, Heros felt emotions surging up inside him like bubbles.
This was sadness, relief, and guilt.
It was sad, yet fortunate.
There was still a chance left to atone to the children.
It was sad and guilt-ridden.
Because he had given them an irremovable span of time.
So Heros made a decision.
Now that nothing blocked him anymore, this time for sure……
-I hope our children live happily. For their entire lives.
He would keep Elise’s dying wish and take responsibility for their happiness.
Feeling his chest tightly constricted, Heros hugged Daphne a little harder.
The breath that now carried fully melted emotions was scorchingly hot.
Daphne, quietly held in such Heros’s arms,
‘What the hell.’
was extremely flustered.
She was certainly grateful that he stepped in against the Imperial Count’s nonsense.
However, Daphne had thought Heros intervened purely for the sake of ‘the dignity of the ducal family.’
Even saying “my child ” and so on, she assumed they were just empty words.
But that was not the case.
The warmth from the two hands embracing her, the gaze looking down at her, the occasionally audible soft breathing — everything seemed to say that it was all for Daphne.
‘Uh, um.’
Honestly, this is very confusing……
Daphne rolled her eyes around, checked that no one was nearby, then patted Heros’s chest a couple of times.
“Warrior. Put me down now.”
And she wriggled as if struggling.
“I can walk on my own feet.”
Heros furrowed his brows, stared at Daphne trapped in his arms, then let out a sigh and set her down on the ground.
But he had no intention of turning away immediately.
“You.”
Heros knelt on one knee in front of Daphne and crouched down.
“Why are you so skinny?”
No matter how firmly Heros resolved to become a good father, his nature did not change.
In other words, Heros’s blunt, inconsiderate way of speaking remained exactly the same.
“I thought I was holding a paper doll. And now that I look, your skin is so pale you really do feel like a paper person.”
Daphne’s mouth fell half open.
Paper, what?
Never in her life had she heard such an insulting remark.
How, how could he look at these beautiful arms and legs and call them a paper doll?
Daphne’s eyes trembled.
“This won’t do. It’s an order. Gain five kilograms before you leave the academy.”
There was roughly one month left until discharge.
Gaining five kilograms in one month was something that would barely become possible only if one lay around doing nothing and ate three full meals a day.
If she continued being rolled around in daily physical training like now, there would be no chance at all for her to gain weight.
“Are you kidding?”
“I’m serious.”
“What nonse…… ha, never mind.”
Daphne judged that arguing with this suddenly strange warrior would gain her nothing.
So she swept back her fallen bangs and clicked her tongue.
“Warrior. Stop causing unnecessary fuss and go back inside. I have no intention of humoring your jokes.”
“Daphne.”
However, Heros had no intention of backing down.
He tightly grasped one of Daphne’s hands and looked straight into both her eyes.
“I am not a warrior.”
“Huh?”
“I am your father.”
“…….”
“Call me that.”
This time Daphne’s mouth fell completely open.
Wha, what…… what……!
“What’s wrong with you, seriously?”
Did he eat something bad? Or is he dying?
They say people change when death is near — is it true?
Daphne felt her head spinning.
“Why do you hate it so much? Isn’t it true that I am your father?”
“……That is true.”
“Then call me.”
Daphne opened and closed her mouth.
Wow, Bertio.
Looks like I’m about to call your grandson “father.”
The world really isn’t easy……
***
Kalid, sprawled in front of Shio, shook his head frantically and spread both palms wide.
“N-no!”
Shio’s brow furrowed.
“No?”
“No! It’s Lani! It’s because of Lani!”
Kalid shouted and began babbling nonstop.
“I really, truly intended to just stay buried in the forest quietly! Seriously! But Lani came looking for me! Threatening to kill me if I didn’t come out!”
“……Lani did?”
Shio recalled the green dragon, Lani.
Even when he had met Lani, the other had not seemed particularly threatening.
Just a guy obsessively immersed in strange experiments and research, somewhat crazy — that was the extent of it.
In terms of combat ability, Kalid should be far stronger.
Shio narrowed his eyes, suspecting Kalid was lying.
“Can Lani kill you? As far as I know, no.”
“I thought the same! But it turns out I was wrong!”
Kalid pounded his chest as if wronged and stomped his feet.
“I don’t know what method he used, but he became incredibly strong. I charged in telling him not to talk nonsense and almost died. So I had no choice. Really.”
“…….”
“You’d probably have a hard time with him now too, Shio.”
Kalid kept glancing at Shio’s reaction, but he was still a red dragon who always said whatever came to mind.
A simple, brutish guy with short thoughts who spoke exactly what he thought.
Shio looked down at Kalid obliquely, then the corner of his lip twitched upward.
“Kalid.”
“Y-yes?”
“Looks like I didn’t beat you hard enough. To make you spout such nonsense.”
Mana began gathering in Shio’s hand.
“No, no! Ack! Wait a second!”
Kalid stretched out his leg to run away, his face looking as though he would cry any moment.
It was exactly then.
“……What’s this?”
A soft, baby-like voice cut between them.
Kalid and Shio turned their heads at the same time.
There stood Daphne, wearing a somewhat displeased expression.
“What are you guys doing?”
Since ancient times it has been said:
When one dragon appears, mountains collapse,
When two dragons gather, a country disappears.
Then what happens when three dragons come together?
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