I tugged on his clothing as he continued to laugh at me. Mr. Julius isn’t my slave. He’s my family! If that was the case, it wasn’t right for him to be penniless. He was twenty-five and an adult; surely, he’d want to purchase a few things. In fact, it was normal for a man of his age to have some items in mind.
“I don’t need it,” he said after a good laugh. “You can take care of the money. We can remain as we are.”
He tousled my hair once more. Helios gave a look of surprise before happily poking Mr. Julius with his snout. Yeah, it’s rare to see Mr. Julius laugh this openly. I can totally understand why Helios seems so happy.
I heard the flap of wings and noticed Lumine approaching Helios. This was my second encounter with her. The first time, she was with her father, Lambda, and I didn’t get a chance to touch her directly.
Lambda was currently at the Holy Palace with Prince Faisal and the rest of the Dragon Knights. He had no choice but to leave Lumine behind. There were a lot of female dragons in this garden, and I assumed they were waiting here for their parents to return.
Is Lumine lonely? If she and Lambda were as close as Mr. Julius and Helios, she would undoubtedly feel all alone. I’d one-sidedly assumed that Lumine would become Helios’s wife, but I never heard her thoughts directly. Perhaps I was just pushing my feelings onto her. There was a chance that the two dragons had happened to become friends and nothing more. Will Lumine come to my house? If she does, will she become friends with me?
“Helios, this lady here is Lumine, right?” I asked the dragon, extremely nervous.
I felt like a mother heading for an arranged marriage meeting with her son. If Helios’s lover made me this nervous, I wondered what would happen if I had a son who brought his partner to me one day. Would I be just as nervous and squeak out a greeting somehow? I automatically thought of a smaller Mr. Julius and hastily shook my head. Argh, what am I even thinking?!
“Why do you sound so reserved?” Mr. Julius asked.
“Well, it’s the first time I’m meeting this young lady, and as Helios’s mother, I’d like to make a good first impression,” I stated.
“You’re already acting very unnatural.”
“How so? I’m trying to convey that I’m a reliable, kind mother who can be kind to my son’s bride, too!”
You were just laughing seconds ago. You’re so harsh. Still, this exchange made me feel at ease. A sharp-tongued Mr. Julius and my usual attire made me feel right at home.
I noticed Lumine blinking quizzically at me. She had smooth scales and was smaller than Helios. Her wings and tail were a bit shorter too. She was a touch rounder and smaller, making her head seem larger on her body. It gave her a bit of a juvenile charm—she looked absolutely adorable.
All the female dragons looked similar, so it wasn’t like Lumine was especially small or round, but I thought she looked cuter than the others. Am I being biased like a doting parent? I’m not Lumine’s mom, though.
Lumine gave a soft cry and stuck her head out toward us in greeting. Helios stood beside her, stretched his neck out, and gave a gentle cry in turn.
“Nice to meet you, Lumine,” I said. “This man over here is Helios’s dad, Mr. Julius. And I’m Chloe.”
She gently poked my chest with her snout, encouraging me to touch her. I took her kind offer and stroked her forehead. She felt just like Helios, smooth and cold to the touch, and just a little damp. She seemed rather aggressive with Lambda (or was perhaps just being a bit rough when playing with him), but she now seemed like a composed lady.
“Grr… Grr…” she purred as I continued to pet her. She closed her eyes in the most adorable expression ever.
Yup. She’s cute. She’s a real cutie. Girls are cute. I thought sons were cute, but a daughter is just as adorable. I couldn’t suppress the smile forming on my lips. Lumine was just so, so darn cute, and humans smile when touching cute things.
“Lumine, huh,” Mr. Julius mused before offering a word of praise. “She’s a beautiful dragon.” He seemed satisfied, as though it was only natural that Helios’s choice was a real beauty.
“Lumine, will you become Helios’s bride?” I asked her. “You’ll be coming with us to Astria Kingdom. If you leave Rasheed, you’ll also be apart from Lambda. I know that’ll make you lonely…”
The moment she heard Lambda’s name, she opened her eyes and gave a soft cry of protest. “I’ll be just fine!” she seemed to be saying.
Like Helios, she seemed to understand human languages completely. Dragons were smart, and those raised by humans might’ve learned our language. We couldn’t understand what these dragons were saying one bit, making them much smarter and stronger than us. Lambda had called dragons the messengers of God. I think Samael said the same thing. In fact, he seemed to hate dragons. If that’s true, Helios, Lumine, and the others might really be messengers of God.
“Seems like it’s not a problem to her,” Mr. Julius said with a wry smile.
If Helios took the same stance with Mr. Julius, would he be in shock? I doubted that his dragon would ever sound so defiant. Lumine stepped away from me to rub her head against Helios’s neck. The black dragon, in turn, rubbed his forehead against hers. They seemed to get along very well, and it was a wholesome sight to take in.
“I’m so glad to hear it,” I said. “Congratulations, Helios! You’ve got an adorable bride, and I’m happy to have a growing family.” I clapped my hands to bless them both.
“Rawr,” Helios replied.
He then gently bit Lumine’s neck. This act was very familiar to me—I’d experienced it myself. I gasped, my hands shooting to a certain spot on my own neck. Lumine gently bit Helios back right in front of our eyes. It was wholesome and adorable, but that wasn’t what filled my mind.
“It’s how dragons express their affection,” Mr. Julius said, crossing his arms, seemingly unbothered. “They bite each other’s necks and become mates. I’ve read about it in books, but I’ve never seen it for myself.”
He gazed down at me, red as a tomato, frantically holding my neck, and pointed to his own. He gently tugged on the black string around his neck.