Green Dragon (4)
“Keuk, kehup, heuung.”
Tiamat swallowed hard once, then immediately let out a dry cough. A thin stream of white fluid still trickled down her chin and along her jawline.
“……Ah.”
I snapped back to my senses a heartbeat too late. The moment I had pushed her away, my desire had run completely wild. Now that the haze was lifting, I felt a strange, almost guilty relief.
I dropped to one knee without thinking and pulled a handkerchief from my pocket.
“……Ah, Isaac?”
“Just a moment.”
I wiped her chin with careful strokes. Tiamat stared at me, bewildered.
It was almost as if she couldn’t quite believe I would ever do something so ordinary.
A faint unease stirred in my chest. I asked, voice low.
“Why…… are you looking at me like that?”
“……Eh, no.”
She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve, eyes darting as if weighing whether she should say what was on her mind.
“So…… you’re actually kind?”
The moment the words left her lips, she gave an awkward, almost pitiful smile. Maybe that was the right word—fragile, even.
I said nothing more. I finished cleaning her mouth and jaw, then, on a whim, tucked the sweat-damp strands of her green hair behind her ears as well.
With every pass, her cheeks burned brighter. She finally managed a stuttering sentence.
“I…… I thought the person I saw a moment ago was the real you.”
“……?”
“Turns out…… no. Uh, this version of you is actually kind of handsome…….”
I paused, still holding the handkerchief, and tilted my head. Tiamat flinched at the tiny frown I couldn’t quite hide.
“N-not that I don’t like your rough side. I just…… um…….”
“……Never mind. I get it. No need to explain, Tia.”
I pressed the bridge of my nose, folded the handkerchief, and slipped it back into my pocket. A few stubborn spots remained, so I brushed them away with a casual clean spell……
And somehow, watching her try so hard to look embarrassed made my chest ache in the most complicated way.
She hadn’t been talking about my personality. She had been talking about the images I had shown her—every violent, filthy, possessive thing I had done.
Of course she would call me “violent.” That was exactly how I had appeared.
‘……Why is she so restless? This woman.’
But the part that truly disturbed me was something else entirely.
Somewhere along the line, the ancient Green Dragon had begun to fear me.
Upper-class dragon or not, she was watching my every move now.
Inside my head I kept repeating the same list—Green Dragon, Tia, the other woman—but the moment I saw her acting this way, I felt uneasy myself.
“……Hoo.”
I gathered the scattered pieces of her torn clothing and draped them over her shoulders.
“……Ah.”
“Tia, I should probably mention this right now.”
“Uh, y-yes?”
She clutched the edge of her garment, eyelashes fluttering.
“I have no intention of sharing a bed with you right now.”
“……Eh?”
She had clearly expected something else. Her lips parted in pure shock, as if I had just smashed her over the head with a hammer.
I bit back the sudden urge to slip my finger between those soft lips and added, “So don’t ask me to stay the night. As I said earlier, I have no plans to marry you.”
“…….”
I had already done everything else. This weak, half-hearted declaration about not even doing the act…….
She might have reacted more sharply if she had known, but she only shrugged and looked defeated.
“……I see…….”
Her small murmur was soft, almost resigned. She understood. She would obey.
I exhaled a quiet breath of relief and smoothly changed the subject.
“So…… why me, of all people?”
“Eh……?”
“You said you would tell me. There are plenty of handsome young men in Haendel. Why choose me?”
I sat on the bench in the palace garden and watched her expression.
“……Aah.”
Only now did she seem to remember the full context. She scratched her cheek and spoke.
“Actually…… it’s not a big deal.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“……Yes.”
My firm tone made her pout.
“……I mean…….”
“Yes?”
“I knew you were dating my younger sister.”
“Yes. ……Wait, what?”
I had to lift my head sharply. The words simply tumbled out.
Dating? My younger sister?
It was sudden. And I had no idea which woman she meant.
‘When we first arrived in Haendel…….’
I racked my memory. Before the academy, I had shown different degrees of affection to Lotty and Elena.
If she had seen that…… then yes. It was possible. Lotty was my explicit younger sister, so the chances it was Elena……—
“You slept with my sister.”
“…….”
The bomb dropped again. This time it felt like it had struck me with a hammer.
I stared at her in silence for a long moment. Tiamat deliberately looked away.
Even in chaos, the brain keeps spinning. Her words carried an eerie certainty…… meaning she had proof.
‘Did she…… see something?’
My hand brushed my chest on instinct. The only thing I found was a small note.
It had once been delivered through Tia and had been sitting in the duke’s estate for days.
Crack!
I activated my mana and tore the note open with my eyes.
Surveillance magic. Listening magic.
“…….”
This treacherous dragon girl.
The paper ripped cleanly. I stood up slowly.
“……?! A-ahhh……! Isaac! Let go, let go! It hurts! Aaaaah?!”
I clamped both sides of her temples. Hard. She howled.
Even so, I didn’t loosen my grip. I looked down at her with icy eyes.
“Tell me—did I do a good job or a bad one?”
“A, no! I was just trying to prepare for any accident! I didn’t know who you really were! Aaaaah?!”
“You’re not even showing any remorse.”
“Wrong! It was wrong! I’m so sorry! Haaak!”
Tiamat wailed as if the whole world was ending.
I sighed and released her.
“Hah…… hup…… haaaah.”
She collapsed onto the grass and gasped for breath, eyes wide and shaking.
The pitiful sight should have made me feel something. Instead, I only felt a strange detachment.
“Explain to me. The note about me and Lotty. Admit it.”
“……Y-yes…….”
She hesitated, then finally nodded under my unrelenting stare.
“……I’m sorry.”
“……Hoo.”
I pressed the bridge of my nose again and forced my breathing steady. I couldn’t let my anger take over or I’d want to shake her until her brain rattled.
I kept my voice level and waved my hand. “Continue.”
Tiamat’s fingers trembled as she touched her own temples, then she kept talking.
“So I found out…… you’re the kind of man who sleeps with his sister.”
“……Yes. So?”
“Th-therefore…… I was worried that maybe you’re the kind of person who can’t control his lust…… I was very careful about it.”
“…….”
“……Half right, half wrong. You clearly look like you want me, yet you said you have no plans to marry me…….”
Her voice trailed off. She hung her head, shoulders slumped in obvious despair.
……I had heard it all. I understood it all. But I still didn’t feel satisfied.
‘What the hell is she even saying? In the end.’
I ruffled my hair in frustration.
“There’s something missing from this decisive conversation, Tia.”
“Eh, huh? Decisive……?”
“Yes. So tell me—why does the fact that I slept with my own sister suddenly make you want me?”
“……Ah…… aaah.”
She finally understood my question and raised her voice. Then she gave a tiny, embarrassed giggle.
She muttered, half self-deprecating.
“That’s…… well, I’m not that young anymore, right?”
I blinked.
‘Not that young’ meant ‘quite old,’ didn’t it?
Tiamat pushed on.
“And besides…… we’re different species…… young men these days probably wouldn’t want someone like me, so I thought maybe even an incestuous human would accept me…….”
“…….”
Her rambling only made my head spin. The more I understood what she was trying to say, the more confused I became.
She was saying she wasn’t attractive enough, so normal men wouldn’t want her, and therefore she had pursued me?
‘This is nonsense.’
I let out a short laugh. Even if I wasn’t going to let her classify me among those “normal men”…….
“……How ridiculous.”
I shook my head and leaned forward again. Tiamat shrank back instinctively, though the movement had nothing to do with fear.
……Now that I had regained my composure, I realized I regretted nothing about what we had done together. I simply knew I had acted far too impulsively.
Therefore, I should keep my distance from this woman.
I had my own limits, of course.
But this one thing I had to say out loud.
“……Ah?”
I touched her cheek with the back of my hand. Her eyes were glassy. I looked at her, sighed, and spoke.
“Tia.”
“E-uh?”
“This isn’t some weird sexual thing. I’m not being polite because you’re pretty. I’m being honest.”
“Eh? All of a sudden……?”
“You’re beautiful.”
“──.”
“……Because you’re a very beautiful little sister, someone with decently high standards can say this with sincerity, Tia. You are attractive enough that I could become aroused.”
And in that moment, every single thing Tiamat was doing stopped.
Her body froze. Her fingertips. The flutter of her eyelids.
She simply stared up at me with wide, vacant eyes.
I continued, letting every word carry its full weight.
“So don’t cling to me anymore. Plenty of normal men can seduce you. Go find another.”
“…….”
“……Tia, Tia? Why? Stop. Don’t…… put your clothes back on. Ah, no.”
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