DMHS 11

But the goat seemed to have other ideas. Even when they gestured toward the garden’s exit, it stayed planted in front of the bench.

In the end, Kian carried it in his arms. Once held, perhaps it found his embrace comfortable, as it stopped resisting.

When they reached the Freesia Palace and returned the goat, the steward in charge of the palace looked visibly flustered.

“Oh, how did you ended up like this?”

So surprised that he even used polite speech to the goat¹.

“I don’t know. Even inside the castle, there can be dangerous people, so please watch more carefully so this doesn’t happen again.”

“Yes, sir. But it’s not entirely within my power to…”

“What?”

“I mean I’ll keep close watch.”

In front of the Freesia Palace, Kian parted ways with Ibrahim. Looking up, he saw in the west a moon rising above the red sunset. Not as perfectly round as yesterday, but still quite full. His thoughts wandered to yesterday.

‘The evening primroses were beautiful.’

And more.

‘The boy there was more beautiful than the flowers.’

Perhaps because he had spoken of love earlier, something so unfitting. Kian asked himself whether he could fall into romantic love if the other was someone that beautiful.

The boy’s age was no problem. Humans grew quickly, ten years and they were adults. But even setting aside age or gender…

‘No, impossible.’

In all his long years, he had never once felt such feelings. It would not suddenly come now.

Kian could not imagine himself in love. That stray thought ended there. With his hands behind his back, Kian walked slowly along the palace road.

***

Walter Benders.

If his life were made into a movie, the runtime would not even exceed five minutes.

Though he was in his mid-sixties, Walter’s life had been monotonous to the extreme. In his twenties, he had entered the palace and taken charge of managing the “Freesia Palace.”

It was a duty passed down through his grandfather and father, so he had no complaints. Just as spring followed winter, Walter had grown up expecting he would one day become steward of the Freesia Palace.

The work of managing the estate was lonelier than Walter had imagined.

When he first entered the palace, the master of the estate was the egg left behind by a dragon who had departed to another dimension the month before.

In the largest, finest room of the estate, on a bed draped with a thin canopy, sat a single golden egg.

According to his father, the egg was supposed to hatch within a year. But even after a year, it remained unchanged. Two years passed, then three, and it was the same. By the fourth year, when the egg still had not hatched, the people of the palace gathered.

‘Why has the divine beast still not been born?’

‘Could something have gone wrong inside the egg?’

‘It cannot be. The next generation has not even been born yet. That must not happen!’

Their voices were heavy with anxiety.

‘What do the physicians say?’

‘They say they do not know, since they have never examined a dragon’s egg before… but when they listen with a stethoscope, they hear faint sounds inside. They also say it is too early to judge it dead.’

‘Hmm…’

Even putting their heads together, they found no answer. Even if the dragon inside had died, breaking the egg by force from the outside was considered sacrilege. In the end, the egg only hatched after ten full years had passed.

Walter remembered that morning vividly. It had been morning, when he entered to clean as usual.

For a moment he found it strange that the window he had closed tightly the night before was open, and then he saw a golden-haired boy standing by it.

The boy was naked. His milky skin had not the slightest blemish, as if his entire body radiated its own light.

He paid no attention to his hair being tousled by the wind through the open window, gazing outside with a bright expression.

Perhaps it was because of that unreal appearance. Walter felt as if he was bewitched, and cautiously spoke.

–Excuse me, who are you?

The boy’s head turned slowly. When he saw Walter, his face lit with an even brighter smile.

–It’s me. Lucien.

–…..

–Thank you for taking care of me all this time.

At last, after more than ten years of waiting, the master of the estate had appeared. From then on, Walter devoted himself entirely to serving him.

Walter carefully oversaw Lucien’s meals and sleeping arrangements. It was Walter who planted various plants around the estate, and even began keeping many kinds of animals.

But Lucien was different from the dragons Walter’s father had told him about. Different from the records of past dragons as well.

First, Lucien always remained in the form of a boy. According to the records, past dragons aged as humans did when in human form.

At three, they looked three years old. At fifteen, they looked like a fifteen-year-old youth. Then, at nineteen, the age of adulthood for humans, they matured and sought a mate.

But Lucien’s outward appearance had not changed since the day he hatched. He was still exactly as he had been, standing by the open window and savoring the wind. Also, Lucien could not transform into his true dragon form.

For reasons unknown, the only transformations he could manage were into one of the animals kept at the estate.

‘I know there are irreverent words spoken about Lord Lucien.’

The short-sighted mocked him as a half-dragon. Some said a being flawed from birth could not possibly serve as guardian of the kingdom.

Perhaps because of such views, Lucien rarely left the Freesia Palace unless something special required it. Naturally, Walter’s life grew even more monotonous.

So that evening, when Walter saw Lucien returning in the form of a goat, carried in the arms of a stranger, he could not help but be shocked. Walter brought Lucien back into the estate. As soon as he shut the doors to the outside, Lucien released his transformation.

Walter checked him over to see if he was hurt.

“Your face is fine, your hands and feet are fine too. What on earth happened, that you returned in the arms of a stranger?”

Lucien’s face was nothing but bright.

“He wasn’t a stranger. It was that person.”

“If you mean that person, then could it be the one you spoke of yesterday…”

“My mate.”

Walter couldn’t close his gaping mouth.

“Aren’t you too quick to assume that person is your mate?.”

Last night, Lucien had behaved strangely during dinner. In the dining hall, where only the clinking of tableware could be heard, he had suddenly jumped up like a man who had heard an air raid alert.

Lucien got up from his seat and disappeared. His sudden action did not last long, and he soon came back to the dining hall. But there was a big change in Lucien’s expression before and after he left.

–I found him.

That was all Lucien said. Even so, Walter was able to understand his words. With the selection tournament continuing for years now, the only thing Lucien could have found was a mate.

Walter felt both happy and doubtful at the same time. How long had Lucien been gone, barely three minutes?

To be certain that someone seen only for a short while was a lifelong mate was something Walter, an ordinary old butler, could not understand.

“He’s only someone you briefly saw yesterday.”

“I saw him. And I found him. But there is a problem. That person said they will not be my mate.”

That one sentence Lucien threw out lightly shifted Walter’s thoughts in a completely different direction.

“Why is that? Lord Lucien is so kind and lovable. In all my life I have never seen anyone as beautiful as you!”

Walter’s loyalty, built from serving one master all his life, was evident.

“Is it because that person is a man? But since they entered the mate selection tournament, gender should not be an issue. Or could it be that person is not a participant?”

“They are a participant. But… it is that. A romantic.”

Walter blinked slowly. A romantic?

“Is it because Lord Lucien did not offer flowers and propose?”

“I have never tried, so I do not know.”

“Now that I think of it, why did you act that way earlier. You did not transform into a goat and wander nearby, did you?”

“I did.”

“…?”

“It is embarrassing.”

“What?”

“My mate is too pretty… I cannot look him in the eyes.”

As if he was truly shy, Lucien’s cheeks flushed red. Walter could not close his open mouth. He knew he would look stupid, but even so the muscles of his jaw would not move as he wished.

“That person’s atmosphere is incredibly attractive. It feels like it pulls in light. Everything around him is dark. Like an endless night.”

“That sounds less like a person and more like a demon.”

Lucien paid no attention to the slight hint of sarcasm in his words.

“What should I do? When he hugged me earlier I thought my heart would explode. I want to go to Marigold Palace and secretly watch him, but I cannot, right. No, if I stick to the wall and peek through the window gap that should be fine, right?”

“You must not.”

“I cannot. Right. Yes. If I am caught he might hate me. But it already feels like he has no feelings for me. Of course. A person that wonderful would never choose me as a mate…”

“That will not be the case.”

“Really? Walter, do you think my mate will choose me? Why? On what grounds? Did you feel something while we spoke briefly? Did that person seem interested in me too?”

…If that person showed interest in a goat, that would be the real problem. The longer the conversation went, the more Walter’s head started to ache. He waved his hand to change the subject.

“Lord Lucien. Tomorrow morning I will send word to His Highness.”

1. He used the formal ‘you’ in the original text ↩︎