THE Dragon Knights must’ve still been at the Holy Palace. There weren’t many dragons remaining within the vast garden. Quite a few soldiers were still recovering from the battle, so it wasn’t as though the place was totally devoid of dragons.
Brown and green dragons flew about, though Ares and Orpheus were nowhere to be seen. Ares must’ve left with Prince Faisal, while Orpheus flew off with Ruto for the Holy Palace.
“Helios!” I called the moment Mr. Julius and I reached him.
The dragon immediately sensed us and raised his head before giving a large flap of his wings to reach my side. He blinked with his large, golden eyes and stared intently at me while approaching. After carefully inspecting me from head to toe, the magnificent dragon rubbed his pointy snout against me. I petted Helios’s smooth, cold mouth.
“Hshhh…” Helios purred, letting out an odd cry from the back of his throat.
I’d never heard him sound like that before. He closed his eyes, his snout glued against my face, and I used both arms to hug him as tightly as I could. He was large, so it looked more like I was clinging to him, but as I glomped him, he let out a soft cry, acting spoiled.
When we were fighting against Mephisto and Samael, Helios constantly tried to protect me. As I pulled away from him, I gazed into his intense, golden eyes that were peering at me.
“Thank you for fighting by my side, Helios,” I said gratefully. “Thank you so much for protecting me.”
Helios blinked a few times before he raised his head. “Rawr!” he cried proudly.
I felt like he was saying, “Of course!”
“He’s been worried about you,” Mr. Julius said, gently placing a hand on the dragon’s neck. “He caught your scent on me, and he was angry about why he wasn’t allowed to meet you.”
Helios gazed down at Mr. Julius and gave a low, guttural growl from the back of his throat. The dragon indeed sounded a touch miffed as he narrowed his golden eyes, reminding me of an adolescent son who was going through a rebellious phase.
“Don’t sulk,” Mr. Julius said. “She’s fine now.”
“Thank you so much for being so worried about me, Helios!” I cried. “But as you can see, I’m good as new! Once we return to Astria, let’s give you a nice bath. I know there’s a lot of sand and dust in Rasheed. You must feel a bit icky covered in it.”
Helios’s eyes glimmered with joy. We last washed him in the yard of our new home. That feels like ages ago.
“I’d like to cutely decorate our new abode,” I continued. “Rasheed has a lot of cute furniture, fabric, and alchemy lamps. Let’s buy a few and take them with us. It’ll be our small splurge. It doesn’t hurt to go on a shopping spree every now and then.”
“I thought you didn’t like to use money,” Mr. Julius said. “This is rare.”
“Well, we worked hard, didn’t we? We should reward ourselves every now and then. Which leads me to my next question.” I continued to pat Helios, who was happily poking me with his snout, as I looked up at Mr. Julius. “What should we do about your wages?”
“My wages?”
“You work very well, but I haven’t been able to repay you one bit. You protected Astria, but we were busy moving into a new place, and we flew off to Rasheed without a moment to spare. We haven’t been able to discuss it much, have we?”
I first bought him with money, but it had turned into a bitter memory now. Back then, I hadn’t put much thought into the gravity of my purchase. I’d only heard that Mr. Julius was very strong and up for sale, so I decided to take the plunge. I found my actions back then to be arrogant. I didn’t regret them, but I was being shallow-minded and far too reckless.
“I’m your slave,” Mr. Julius insisted. “Are you planning on paying a slave?” He sounded indifferent and clearly wasn’t interested in the money.
“Why don’t we stop that?” I suggested. “Shall we just take off that collar now? And we’re planning on having Ruto try to erase that mark on your neck. You and I are…”
Calling him a slave made me feel uneasy. The word implied that he was offering everything to me. While that was nice, I felt like there was a gap that couldn’t be buried between us—as though Mr. Julius might leave me and go far away one day.
He treated me like a precious treasure and gave his all to protect me. He could only do so because he was strong. And yet, he seemed to exclude himself from receiving the same treatment. He was important to me, and he should be protected too. I hated to see him cast himself aside like he didn’t matter.
“Um, you and I are…” I repeated.
What are we? Partners? Lovers? But that doesn’t sound quite right either…
“You and I are family,” I finished.
Yeah, that sounds the most right to me. Mr. Julius tousled my hair roughly. Ouch.
“If we’re family, then all the more reason not to pay me,” he said. “If your money is mine too, then I don’t need a salary.”
“Then how about an allowance?” I asked, straightening out my messed-up hair.
Mr. Robert, the owner of an armory and weaponry store, worked to support his family. He apparently gave all his money to his wife, and he was given 10,000 gold a month which he was free to do with as he wished.
He’d taught me a lesson. “Money’s tight, Ms. Chloe,” he’d said. “I hope you can buy a lot more so that you can help me support my family. Or I’d be grateful if you could give me a discount on the items you’re selling. Can’t you give me half-off on this Diamond of Eternity?”
I was desperately trying to hold back and not offer any sympathy toward Mr. Robert, who squeezed his family affairs into business. If I kept feeling bad for him and gave him discounts, I’d go bankrupt. Above all, Mr. Robert wasn’t particularly poor.
“An allowance…” Mr. Julius said, placing a hand over his mouth.
He then let out a jovial laugh as though he was unable to suppress his amusement.
“What?” I demanded. “What’s so funny? I’m being serious here, Mr. Julius! Mr. Robert receives an allowance from his wife! I can’t give you a whole lot, but you know, you can have some money.”