REFDL 26

‘…….’

I glanced down the hallway. The sunset had already vanished. A deep blue evening hung like a curtain, obscuring the far end of the corridor.

My hesitation was brief.

I jumped up and grabbed the doorknob.

Click.

I squeezed through the narrow gap of the open door and slipped inside.

Thick curtains hung, plunging the room into darkness. Without my beastly eyes, I would have seen nothing.

…Musty.

The peculiar, musty smell of dust from a long-abandoned place mingled with a faint dragon scent.

My heart pounded like mad.

The room was filled with objects. They were all covered in white cloth.

If the wallpaper and layout hadn’t resembled an office, I would have mistaken it for a warehouse.

I checked the objects not covered in cloth first. They were boxes. I jumped up using the chair beside me and peered inside one.

‘……!!’

They were toys.

Toys for young dragons, literally piled up like a mountain. I looked around. There were several boxes.

That was when it happened.

Creeak.

“……”

‘……’

Heavy footsteps approached me as I stood frozen.

Kaelus was expressionless. Even more than his usual expressionless self, he revealed absolutely nothing.

Not even anger.

It was strange.

More than being unsettling… it was strangely sad.

Kaelus grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me up. He exited the room and closed the door.

Then he ordered the servant standing nearby.

“Nail down the doors and windows.”

“Yes, Your Grace. “

‘…….’

It felt like I’d committed an unforgivable mistake.

I couldn’t even bring myself to look the man in the eye.

* * *

For the first time, Kaelus brought the cage into the bedroom.

He planned to keep me under constant watch, right before his eyes, unsure what I might do.

Still cowed, I lay quietly on the small velvet bed.

Since ordering the nailing, he hadn’t spoken a single word. He would occasionally look at me with an emotionless gaze before turning away.

And that night.

Kaelus had a nightmare.

* * *

The sound of gasping filled the room.

I hit the ground… no, the cage floor, filled with regret.

Why did I do that!

I covered my head with my front paws and looked at the bed.

The man who had been like a lump of iron was suffering. Sweating, he writhed in agony, then clutched his chest with both hands.

‘…….’

No matter how I look at it, it’s my fault.

There’s no other cause!

“Ugh. Haa. Haa…….”

I opened that door and triggered the trauma he was holding inside.

Crack!

The man, who had been groaning for a while, swung his arm. The bed headboard shattered. Despite the loud noise, no one came to look.

Following the headboard, the nightstand toppled over, and everything on it crashed onto the floor.

Outside the door, it was still quiet.

‘……?’

Why?

……Where the hell is the night shift? Isn’t this dereliction of duty?

Unable to bear it any longer, I bellowed.

Kyaak!

Kyaak!

Steeling myself for Kaelus’s murderous glare, I raised my voice as loud as I could…… but he didn’t wake and no one came.

Only then did I realize.

This was nothing unusual in this mansion.

A man tormented by nightmares and smashing every piece of furniture around him.

Crash.

Crunch!

Crash!

…I’d love to ignore it, but I’ve committed sins of my own, so I can’t.

Besides, the night was just beginning. Am I supposed to watch him do this all night?

Is there any torture worse than this?

Even worse.

It’s a nightmare.

Whether mine or someone else’s, I detest nightmares.

They weigh me down. Limbs that once moved freely and flexibly stiffen, and my body, which should be slicing through water like a dolphin, becomes a weight dragging me down.

The feeling that everything I’ve believed until now is being denied.

An unreasonable sense of betrayal.

A night in prison where rational thought is impossible, where you must simply endure everything.

……I experienced that almost every day.

Later, the nightmare itself became more terrifying than its cause.

“Ugh… Guh.”

But how could I just stand by and watch that happen?

Click.

Having tried once, this time I opened the cage door without difficulty.

I jumped out. Though my body had shrunk and I couldn’t fly perfectly, gliding was possible.

I landed on the bedsheet. I climbed up and saw Kaelus suffering even more than before. Both of his hands clutched the sheet.

Up close, it looked even more wretched. It couldn’t be dismissed as a simple nightmare.

It was a trauma reaction.

I approached beside his head. A flailing arm smashed the remaining headboard. Cold sweat ran down my back, but I didn’t stop advancing.

I closed my eyes and slapped his cheek with my front paw.

Smack!

No reaction. His eyelids remained tightly shut, brows furrowed. Pain radiated from his clenched jaw.

The second time, I was bolder.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

But he didn’t wake up.

I was flustered.

He’s not waking up?

What the hell is going on? This isn’t just a nightmare, it’s like a seizure or something…!

Smack smack smack smack smack.

Startled, I slapped his cheeks and neck without restraint.

…I shouldn’t have done that.

“……”

‘……’

Even seeing a ghost wouldn’t have startled me more than this.

Kaelus glared at me.

Kya?!

His hand roughly grabbed the back of my neck. The pain made tears well up. But I trembled and stayed still.

If things went bad, I could always grow bigger.

Under normal circumstances, maybe.

A man who looks in such bad shape and has no weapons would be easy to subdue.

But I didn’t want to.

Because that would cross a line I couldn’t come back from.

A lot had happened. But having come this far, I wanted to try to get along with him.

…It wasn’t because he was the Dragon Knights’ captain. It definitely wasn’t because he’d become my distant superior the moment I joined.

Really.

“……”

I couldn’t say it had no influence at all. Anyway, that wasn’t the whole reason.

Then, why?

Huh?

Well, obviously…

At that moment, Kaelus moved.

Honestly, I braced myself to be thrown into a cage. But the man acted in a completely unexpected way.

Swish.

“……?!”

He laid me down beside him and quietly closed his eyes.

Only then did I realize. Kaelus had never woken up in the first place. It was sleepwalking. 

His thick forearm wrapped around me and went limp.

Gulp.

I struggled to break free, but only lost strength.

I stuck my tongue out and exhaled. Creating a tiny space to breathe was the best I could manage.

I gave up and let all four limbs dangle.

But my actions weren’t entirely useless. Kaelus closed his eyes, his expression noticeably more relaxed.

‘…….’

His face… was incredible.

I knew he was handsome, but up close, the impact was doubled.

What… even his eyelashes are beautiful.

They were long and lush, as if they could easily hold a small pearl.

Then I imagined it. Dropping one small, pretty pearl onto each of Kaelus’s eyelashes as he slept, sprawled naked on the white sheets like this.

Smack!

My front paw smacked my irreverent face.

……Ah.

I hit too hard…….

Thud.

* * *

Kaelus opened his eyes feeling refreshed.

“……”

It felt cold.

Beyond the discomfort of waking up from being completely drunk to find your clothes changed, it was a chill that went deeper.

The morning after his usual nightmare followed a routine.

First came the curses against the gods and the world. The air he breathed reeked of rot, and even the sunlight tickling his eyelids felt disgusting.

Next, a destructive urge to obliterate everything surged within him.

Then, as his reason returned, he felt a tidal wave of longing, regret, and remorse, turning the morning of reality into a nightmare.

‘But why today…’

Only one thing had changed.

A small dragon lay sprawled like a human, belly up, nestled between his arm and side.

“……”

Kaelus was flustered.

He remembered last night’s little incident.

‘I thought it was a dream.’

His expression turned serious. He glared at the Kremlis, searching for an explanation.

Ron ron ron ron.

The creature, snoring loudly, scratched his belly with his front paws. He alternated kicking his hind legs, seemingly struggling with something.

Wriggle wriggle.

He burrowed into his side and smacked his lips, like a cicada clinging to a sturdy tree.

Kaelus realized.

‘I see.’

When a person is beyond comprehension, no thoughts come to mind.

His ash-gray eyes clouded further. He looked down again at the dragon squirming incessantly.

The haze had cleared by then.

His eyes gleamed brighter, but.

Kaelus didn’t notice. Instead, he stared, mesmerized, at the small, red thing.