Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rattle, rattle, rattle—

The hand holding the cup trembled.

“Do you like coffee or black tea, Sir Knight? But we don’t have coffee, so you’ll have to drink black tea.”

One might wonder why she’d bothered asking if that was the case, but Lulu was completely flustered at the moment.

That was because the knight, who had been staring at her with an indifferent expression, had narrowed his eyes.

Until just a little while ago, the knight had seemed intent on protecting little Lulu.

But she’d gone and ruined everything.

It had all started ten minutes earlier.

“This is the deepest part of the Shadow Forest. How have you managed to survive here?”

“I eat fried eggs and sleep!”

“I found barrier artifacts installed by the princess here. Where is Her Highness?”

“Not Big Sissy, but the princess?”

“…Why would anyone leave a child alone in such a dangerous place? Who’s your guardian? No, where has the princess gone?”

“Mmmm…”

For the first time in a while, Lulu’s little brain began working.

The people currently in the tower were me, a baby dragon, the knight, and Big Sissy… and the princess?

But no matter how young she was, Lulu understood that this was a situation in which she absolutely mustn’t let anyone discover that she was a dragon.

The knight was already so wary of dragons and asking so many questions, after all.

In that case…

“…I’m the princess?”

Lulu tilted her head and put on a prim little expression.

I’m so smart! A perfect score for me!

If she pretended to be the princess, the knight wouldn’t discover her true identity!

Lulu flashed a triumphant grin, certain she’d found the perfect counterattack.

But then—

“I know what the princess looks like. What are you talking about?”

The knight’s expression suddenly turned frightening.

“…Hic!”

It was even more terrifying than a wolf monster or a bat monster.

And that was why Lulu had decided to prepare some black tea.

A complete change of subject!

“Please have some black tea, g-guest.”

Lulu approached the knight, who was glaring at her intently, rose onto her tiptoes, and carefully set down the teacup.

“It’s h-hot, so blow on it before you drink. Hoo—”

She might have made a little mistake somewhere along the way, but Lulu thought that as long as she didn’t let him discover she was a dragon, everything would be fine.

However, the knight continued staring at her without saying a word.

Never having experienced such a fierce glare before, Lulu began sweating cold bullets from the top of her head.

“You have to b-blow on it, you know. Can’t you blow on it?”

“…”

Oh, no! The knight must be angry because I lied and said I was the princess!

After swallowing nervously, Lulu tried even harder to attend to her guest.

The problem was…

“Then Lulu will blow on it for you. Hoo—PFFT!”

While trying to cool the hot tea with gentle little puffs, she’d accidentally breathed fire and burned the knight’s face.

Oh, no…! I’m doomed!

Lulu’s face turned deathly pale.

“S-Sir Knight…”

Until now, Lulu had burned all sorts of things, but this was the first time she’d ever burned a person.

Was Sir Knight hurt?

His face was sitting right there, burning away…!

“S-Sir Knight, water! Water!”

Lulu panicked and almost poured the hot tea over him, but quickly came to her senses and hurriedly filled a cup with cold water instead.

Then, she rushed over and splashed it onto the knight’s face—

“You’re a dragon.”

Drip, drip.

Between his wet strands of hair, the neat-looking crimson eyes now gleamed with a madman’s intensity.

Normally, someone who’d been hit by fire should have been burned black, but the knight, who had just been struck by a fireball and then drenched with a torrent of water, was surprisingly unharmed.

Even so… he was far more terrifying and frightening than Lulu had ever imagined.

“I never expected there to be one so young. You’ve managed to hide yourself quite well in the Shadow Forest.”

One step.

The knight rose from his chair and approached Lulu.

Her hands trembled violently in alarm.

The closer he came, the larger and more threatening he seemed.

“S-Sir Knight. I’m sorry for breathing fire on you. Lulu… isn’t used to controlling her flames yet, so sometimes when I get startled, I breathe fire without meaning to… Hic!”

“Did you intend to hide in this forest until you reached adulthood, then attack the Empire like you did four years ago?”

What did he mean by attacking the Empire four years ago?

Lulu was only four years old now, so she hadn’t even been born back then!

“I-I never did that…! I’m sorry!”

She hurriedly rubbed her tiny, fern-like palms together, but it was no use.

“You seem to think you can disguise yourself in a child’s body and win my sympathy, but I know very well that there’s a monster hiding underneath.”

Shing—!

The knight drew his long sword.

It was far longer than Lulu’s entire body.

With the sunlight streaming through the window behind him, his face was swallowed by shadow.

Startled, Lulu curled into herself and squeezed her eyes shut.

It was at that very moment.

“You sneak into my tower, and the first thing you do is call a child a monster?!”

CRASH—!

Along with a deafening crash that struck her ears, a familiar voice rang out.

A moment later,

the terrifying knight was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, Big Sissy stood before Lulu, breathing heavily.

“Lulu, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? What did that bastard do to you?”

“B-Big Sissy…”

She’d come to save me.

At the sight of her heroic arrival, the tears Lulu had been desperately holding back despite her fear began welling up.

She stretched out both arms, ready to throw herself into Big Sissy’s embrace at any moment, but then…

She hesitated.

A sense of betrayal suddenly began creeping into her heart.

“Big Sissy… Why didn’t you tell me?”

Why hadn’t Big Sissy told her?

If Lulu had known from the very beginning that she was a wicked dragon, she never would have dreamed of reading more storybooks or traveling the world.

She would have given up her stretching exercises, too, and spent the rest of her life huddled inside the tower so she wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“The storybooks and Sir Knight both said dragons are bad. They said dragons kidnap children and set villages on fire. Lulu breathes fire, too!”

“…What?”

“And Sir Knight was looking for the princess. What’s that about? Big Sissy, are you the princess?”

Had Big Sissy been hiding that from her all along?

Big Sissy’s expression darkened as she listened to Lulu.

“……Let’s give our Lulu a hug first.”

“No!”

After a brief silence, Big Sissy tried to embrace Lulu, but Lulu, whose feelings had already been hurt, pushed her away with both hands.

She’d expected Big Sissy to burst into tears and apologize profusely now that her lies had been exposed…

“Lulu. I didn’t raise you to behave like this.”

Big Sissy suddenly raised her eyebrows and asked in a serious voice.

“Are you going to believe the big sister you’ve lived with for a whole year, or some man who broke into our house without permission?”

“Huh…?”

Taken aback by the unexpected question, Lulu blinked her tear-filled eyes.

Big Sissy? Sir Knight?

If she had to choose between the two, of course she’d choose Big Sissy.

The storybooks and the knight had called her a bad dragon, but Big Sissy had saved her, made her fried eggs, played with her…

But then the knight’s furious expression came back to mind, sending a chill down her spine.

A bad dragon.

Lulu’s spirits sank, and her little fingers fidgeted.

“Whose words are right? Sir Knight definitely said I was a bad dragon…”

“Whose words are right, you ask?”

Big Sissy firmly placed her hands on Lulu’s shoulders.

“Whether you’re a good dragon or a bad dragon is something you decide for yourself. What kind of dragon do you want to be, Lulu?”

Of course, she wanted to be a good dragon.

But lacking confidence, Lulu answered in a tiny, timid voice.

“…A good dragon.”

“That’s right. If Lulu declares herself a good dragon, then she’s a good girl. Whenever we go to the village, the grown-ups always praise you for being such a well-behaved girl, don’t they?”

“Ohhh…?”

Come to think of it, that was true.

Whenever she went to the village, the grown-ups praised Lulu.

They said she always bowed politely when greeting them and even ate all the vegetables they sometimes gave her.

Lulu wasn’t a picky eater.

“!”

As that fact came back to her, Lulu’s mouth slowly spread into a confident smile.

“…Then I’m a good dragon?”

“Of course!”

“I’m a good dragon!”

Only then, finally feeling better, Lulu allowed herself to be embraced by Big Sissy.

“Big Sissy.”

“What is it?”

“But… Lulu breathed fire on Sir Knight’s face earlier. Am I still a good dragon?”

“…What?”

The warm hand that had been gently patting her back suddenly stopped.

***

After laying the sleeping Lulu down in bed, Angela returned and looked down at the unconscious man with a sigh.

“I thought that as long as I kept the child hidden, there’d be no chance of anyone finding out. I never expected someone to come looking for her of their own accord.”

Now, what was she supposed to do with this man?

She kicked aside the white bricks that had once been part of the tower, revealing the handsome man’s face.

Considering he’d been struck by the bricks, one would expect at least a drop of blood, but thanks to the defensive artifacts covering his entire body, he looked more like someone who’d fallen asleep than someone who’d been knocked unconscious.

Felix Cardin.

The head of one of the two ducal houses known as the Second Pillars of the Kingdom of Lydia.

It was obvious that he’d come looking for her.

He’d likely been acting under a royal command to rescue the runaway princess, but after hearing the rumor that she’d been kidnapped by a dragon, he probably wanted to kill one with his own hands.

After all, his family had supposedly been killed by a dragon.

Even so…

Feeling rather wronged, Angela let out a sigh.

“Haah… Whatever.”

Her father, the king, and his madness.

The arduous journey she’d undertaken while fleeing with Lulu.

A great deal had happened, but she was proud to say she’d raised Lulu quite successfully, all things considered.

She’d even gone so far as to read Lulu only the storybooks she’d written herself, deliberately shielding her from the negative image of dragons.

Though Sir Felix had personally shown up and shattered her plans to pieces.

“Once he wakes up, he’ll go straight for Lulu, and even if I try to reason with him, I can’t be certain he’ll keep Lulu’s identity a secret…”

She had to find a way to silence him.

In the end, there was only one option left.

Until then…

“I’ll have to imprison the Duke.”

There was no other way.

Having made up her mind, Angela crossed her arms and muttered to herself.

And beyond the crack in the open door…

“Hehe… Sir Knight. Imprison…”

Lulu, who had been secretly watching the situation unfold, nodded with a resolute expression, too.