#27
Derik adjusted his hold on Noah, who was making even breathing sounds in deep sleep, and tilted his head to look up. His expression was filled with displeasure as he looked at the small hole from which he and Noah had just fallen.
“I should get some repair work done soon.”
No sooner had his words ended than the space around them began to change.
A being that lives for a long time.
At first, such beings enjoy life, but to endure the repetitive, boring time, they choose long sleep.
Derik was such a being.
During his hatchling days, he enjoyed various amusements, but at some point, he too chose sleep. And the reason he opened his eyes again was because of a being who had invaded his lair and caused a disturbance. Derik snorted at Ray’s words that he thought Derik had died since he hadn’t been seen for so long.
Though he had awakened, there was nothing to do. While he was just mindlessly breathing, Ray eventually drew him into his amusements. After going along with Ray’s pace and living diligently by human standards, he somehow received praise as a great magician and became the Imperial Tower Master.
What was all that for? As the meaningless, empty play was coming to an end, Derik returned to his territory. And the person he met was Noah.
At first, he thought, what kind of human is this? It was fascinating to see such a small being fearlessly wandering around. Though everyone was afraid of his snow leopard form, climbing onto his back and playing with his ears seemed all too easy for this child.
He would babble with awkward pronunciation. If things didn’t go his way, he would lie down and didn’t hesitate to fake crying.
And that’s when he realized. Though he had enjoyed countless amusements in human form, he had rarely encountered human children.
So he spent time beside the child.
It was fun to watch the awkward pronunciation become firm and the small child grow rapidly. He would stuff all the food he didn’t want to eat into Derik’s mouth, climb onto his back when bored, and sometimes, while watching the child squeal when the ball game didn’t go his way, Derik would lose track of time.
Derik, who had thought everything flowed too slowly and was boring, was experiencing time passing in the blink of an eye. He would open his eyes at the child’s tossing and turning, and often find the child curled up and asleep in his arms.
As Derik patted Noah’s back and walked slowly, their surroundings gradually brightened. Darkness receded, and a soft orange light spread as the void space transformed into a space of existence.
The wide empty space changed into the distant living room where Noah and he spent the most time. Warmth spread through the interior, which had been damp due to being deep underground, and instead of the smell of earth, the fragrant scent of food and fruit filled the place.
Sitting in the rocking chair in front of the large fireplace, Derik gently stroked Noah’s face several times. The next moment, the scratches that had formed when Noah fell and rolled down the cliff, brushing against trees and grass, gradually disappeared, revealing a clear, fine face, and simultaneously, a faint smile bloomed on Derik’s face.
Derik lightly flicked the chubby cheeks that had returned to their original plump state after all the bothersome scars and wounds had disappeared.
“It seems our little one isn’t an ordinary little one. Should I take a look now?”
At first, he thought all children were like that. But when it was just the two of them, with himself transformed into Aeongi, Noah did many peculiar things. He wrote characters that even Derik, a dragon who could boast of knowing everything in the world, didn’t know, and spoke languages he had never heard.
Every evening, when he learned letters and numbers from Lucas in his study, Noah would stutter and not do well, but when alone, he performed excellently. No, he even easily handled things that were more difficult and complex.
‘Sigh, what am I doing at this age.’
‘You think I’m strange too, right? It’s fortunate that you can’t speak and are just an ignorant beast.’
‘Ah~ On a day like today, it should be chicken and beer. No… no. With this drizzling rain, it should be pajeon and makgeolli.’
And he said many strange things. But even seeing such behavior, Derik didn’t have any particular thoughts about it. After all, there were many peculiar humans in the world.
But finding a hidden magic stone mine wasn’t something a child would do. Today too, thinking it was just an outdoor excursion, Derik had followed along, but he felt uncomfortable seeing Noah calmly look at the map and properly guide him.
At first, he had the absurd thought that maybe Noah was a hatchling born while he was asleep. Because otherwise, he couldn’t have handled such things so easily by himself. But the small body with barely any mana and the idea that a dragon wouldn’t recognize another dragon didn’t make sense.
Finding a magic stone mine to fund his expensive tuition.
He couldn’t take a still young child to a dangerous magic stone mine, so he gave him a raw stone that could fetch quite a bit of money. Who knew this would happen while Noah was excitedly making a fuss over it.
Lost in thought, Derik, who was looking at Noah sleeping without knowing anything, slowly raised his hand over the child’s head. A soft light shimmered around Derik’s hand, and with his eyes closed, Derik’s brow gradually furrowed as he concentrated.
The light hovering around Derik’s hand and Noah’s head didn’t fade but maintained its form. Its size would increase and decrease, but it didn’t disappear.
“…Hmm.”
In the space where only the sound of burning logs could be heard, Derik’s sigh mingled in. And the light that had shimmered in his hand disappeared completely. At the same time, his darkening gaze touched between Noah’s brows.
After briefly staring at the space between Noah’s brows, Derik relaxed his body and comfortably leaned back in the rocking chair. The chair rocked slightly, and neither Noah, held in Derik’s arms, nor Derik, comfortably resting in the chair, opened their eyes.
Unreadable.
Reading human thoughts and hearts was as easy as blinking for dragons. But even though he directly touched Noah’s head to see deeper inside, nothing was transmitted from Noah.
No emotions, thoughts, or memories—everything was as if wrapped in a white membrane, not revealing its true form. After a faint light brushed across Noah’s entire body, Derik slowly opened his eyes.
“Tsk.”
The magic stones attached to Noah’s necklace and bracelet began to emit a faint light, blinking on and off repeatedly. No being other than himself could use magic in his lair. So the tracking magic powered by the stones couldn’t activate properly, causing them to emit unstable light.
But that was only for a moment. Seeing the stones that had blinked a few times completely lose their light, Derik’s gaze shifted to the ring on Noah’s finger. There was no magic cast on the small pink magic stone.
Well, he had said it was magic that could reduce and enlarge Aeongi’s size, but how could such a thing exist?
Raymond had to make the ring to keep his promise to Lucas. Recalling Noah’s excited boasting to everyone he met while wearing the ring embedded with a magic stone that had no magic cast on it, Derik’s expression hardened coldly.
‘Raymond, you’re really cool. The best.’
It was because he remembered Noah praising Raymond with flushed cheeks. What’s so great about a human who can use a little magic?
As unnecessary thoughts filled his head, Derik quickly dismissed them, but when he saw the brilliantly shining green eyes, he couldn’t say anything.
“…Angel?”
It was Noah who had been asleep just a moment ago. He was about to wake him up anyway…
Noah’s eyes, which were already looking up at him, widened, and then his small, cute fingertips wiggled towards him. How he loved touching faces.
Even when transformed as Aeongi, Noah would touch and play with his face when bored. About two years ago, when Noah was severely ill, he wanted to touch Derik’s face, so Derik allowed it. And this time too, Noah tried to touch his face first.
“Yes.”
“Wow, I really tried to get sick on purpose because I saw an angel when I was sick, and I thought I’d see an angel again if I got sick again. But if I get sick, Loren would be heartbroken. No, that’s not it. Are you really an angel?”
Watching Noah babble incoherently, Derik slightly shook his head at the last question. He could have gone along with the child and said yes, but if he claimed to be an angel again, Noah might deliberately harm himself or put himself in dangerous situations to see him.
An ordinary person wouldn’t do such a thing, but having watched over Noah for more than two years, Derik thought Noah might just do that.
“You’re not an angel?”
“No.”
“Wow… Are you married?”
Was he still half-asleep? At Noah’s out-of-context question, Derik’s eyes widened this time.
“Amazing. He’s truly gorgeous. My eyes weren’t wrong. He’s even more handsome than Raymond.”
Derik burst into a small laugh as he watched Noah mumble to himself, then get surprised and cover his mouth with both hands.
‘As long as they’re pretty and cute, it’s fine.’
It was because he remembered the words Noah often used to say as if talking to himself.
“I’ve never been marr…”
“Do you have a lover?”
Derik’s words, saying he had never been married, were cut off by Noah’s quick question. So before he could finish saying he didn’t have a lover, Noah asked how old he was, causing Derik to slightly furrow his brow.
How old am I? I think I’ve lived about 500 years…
“What’s your name?”
“…”
From Derik’s perspective, he had many questions he wanted to ask Noah, but instead, it felt like he was being interrogated. Noah, who had been comfortably nestled in his arms, was now sitting on Derik’s thighs, facing him with his short legs spread wide.
While asking questions, Noah was continuously touching Derik’s cheeks and saying things like “Your skin is really good too” or “Your voice is totally awesome” without pause.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
