RHFTY chapter 42

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Disappointed…?

What does he mean by that?

Chaeyi stared blankly at Kukuf, not understanding the underlying meaning of his words.

Leonard and Delion also cast curious glances at Kukuf. Kukuf let out a hearty laugh.

“Dragons can identify friend from foe within a few hours of being born. If it perceived you as a threat, it wouldn’t hesitate to kill you and use you as nourishment. They even do that to their biological parents.”

To their own parents, even.

A rather grim tale.

But it didn’t seem like he was trying to scare them or joke around.

It was probably the truth.

“So, while it’s true that it clings to you because it sees you as a parent, it also stays close because it feels safest by your side. It’s confident that you won’t harm it.”

“…I see.”

“You must be a kind and strong person.”

Kukuf smiled broadly as he stroked his beard.

Suddenly receiving such a compliment, Chaeyi felt a bit embarrassed.

As he lowered his head, the hatchling, who had been staring at him intently, reacted as if it had been waiting for this moment.

“Gyaw gyaw.”

The hatchling’s tiny front paws gently patted Chaeyi’s cheek.

It was endearing, much like how a human baby would behave.

Kukuf, who had been watching the scene with a fond expression, suddenly grew serious and spoke again.

“Anyway, back to the matter at hand… To find this little one’s parents, we’ll need something with a strong scent of the hatchling. Do you have anything like that?”

“Hmm….”

Something with the hatchling’s scent strongly imprinted on it…

Chaeyi pondered deeply.

Enoch, who had been thinking alongside him, suddenly exclaimed,

“Chaeyi, how about the cushion?”

“Ah. That should work.”

There was a cushion the hatchling had spent all day on yesterday, rubbing against it even while sleeping.

Of course, considering the hatchling spent more time in Chaeyi’s arms, the scent would likely be stronger on the clothes Chaeyi wore yesterday.

But those clothes had already been collected by the servants for laundry… so the cushion should suffice.

“Enoch, go get the cushion.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

At Leonard’s command, Enoch hurried to the Onyx Mansion.

Shortly after, Enoch returned with the cushion and handed it to Kukuf.

Kukuf buried his nose in the cushion, sniffed it deeply, and nodded in satisfaction.

“This will do nicely.”

He then continued,

“I’ll borrow this for a while. I’ll ask a friend of mine to track down a similar scent as quickly as possible, so please wait.”

“Yes, we’d appreciate it.”

Kukuf left with Duke Delion guiding him out after exchanging final farewells.

At that moment, the hatchling began fussing, possibly from hunger.

“Kwaang. Aaaang.”

“All right, all right.”

Chaeyi gently cradled the hatchling as one would a baby.

After seeing Leonard off, who had unfinished business to attend to, Chaeyi returned to the mansion with Enoch.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be with this little one, but it seems we should give it a name for convenience.”

“Shall we come up with a name, then?”

“Yes. We should call Ben and Fern too.”

Until the hatchling’s parent dragon could be found… thus began the official temporary care of the hatchling.

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Afterward, Chaeyi, Bennex, and Ferdinand put their heads together and came up with a name for the hatchling. ‘Silviet.’

They decided to call it ‘Silvie’ as a nickname.

It was the only name the hatchling didn’t shake its head at, seemingly satisfied with the choice.

And today, it’s been exactly two days since Kukuf took the cushion.

Silviet was studying the Empire’s language by playing with letter cards in the library alongside Bennex, Ferdinand, and Chaeyi.

“What does this word say?”

“Apple!”

“Correct. Now, what about this word?”

“Fa… mi… ly… Family!”

Within just a few days, Silviet had progressed from understanding human speech to speaking on its own.

Of course, dragons are different from dwarves and cannot produce sounds like humans using vocal cords.

However, Silviet was able to speak like a human by using one of the dragons’ special abilities, telepathic transmission.

“Chaeyi, I want to sit on your lap.”

Silviet, who had been lying on the desk concentrating, suddenly decided it wanted to change positions and tapped the desk with its front paws.

“Sure, come here.”

As Chaeyi opened his arms, Silviet quickly nestled in his embrace, adjusting its position and focusing on the scattered cards again.

Bennex, who was sitting across from them, watched the scene with a relaxed expression and began shuffling the cards again to continue playing with Silviet.

Ferdinand, sitting beside him, occasionally asked questions or played along with Silviet.

Chaeyi felt grateful for the two who came by every day to help. Of course, it wasn’t just them. Enoch and Lawrence were almost always around, and Leonard also visited whenever he had time.

Thanks to everyone’s help, taking care of Silviet wasn’t particularly difficult for Chaeyi.

If there was one inconvenience, it was that the time for walks had become shorter because he couldn’t take his eyes off Silviet.

“Why don’t you have something to eat while you work?”

Just then, a few attendants and Enoch brought food and placed it on the table. There were fragrant tea and savory snacks.

“Silvie, this is for you.”

Enoch pointed to a small plate of snacks made especially for Silviet.

Although dragons are omnivorous and even eat humans, it seemed unwise to give it anything too salty or sweet, so the snacks were made low in salt and sugar.

“Yum yum. Delicious.”

Luckily, Silviet seemed to like the taste and ate the snacks well.

Watching it chew on the snacks while playing with the letter cards, it was hard to think of it as anything other than a child.

Time passed like that.

“Chaeyi.”

A familiar voice called from behind.

It was Leonard.

As Chaeyi turned around, Leonard, who had approached silently, planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

Although briefly startled, Chaeyi soon accepted it as a normal greeting and looked at Leonard with a calm expression.

“You’re here early today.”

“Yeah. You were playing cards, I see.”

Leonard glanced at the table, then at Bennex and Ferdinand seated across, and finally at Silviet, nestled in Chaeyi’s arms.

A flash of displeasure crossed his face.

To be honest, Leonard wanted to chase those two away immediately, snatch Silviet from Chaeyi’s arms, and send the dragon off somewhere.

From Leonard’s perspective, nothing about this situation was welcome.

However, he knew there was no avoiding it for the time being.

Since Leonard couldn’t handle everything by himself, their help was beneficial to Chaeyi.

And Leonard had a trump card.

Hiding his dissatisfaction quickly, Leonard looked back at Chaeyi and spoke softly.

“Chaeyi, let’s have lunch together.”

His tone was as gentle as if he were addressing a lover.

While Ferdinand grimaced, Chaeyi nodded and patted Leonard on the back.

He happened to be hungry.

“Sure. Silviet, let’s go eat.”

“Okay.”

Silviet flapped his small wings happily as he quickly organized his letter cards.

Meanwhile, Ferdinand and Bennex had to prepare to return to his Guest Masion where they were staying, though it would have been better if they could all have a meal together.

Leonard was already making considerable concessions for Chaeyi’s sake.

This was the first time he had allowed so many people into his domain.

But it wouldn’t be right to ask him to share a meal with them as well.

Chaeyi understood Leonard’s discomfort.

Though he didn’t realize that Leonard was using his consideration to create the only time he could separate Ferdinand and Bennex from him.

“Good work. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

“Ben, make sure to rest well.”

“Yes! See you tomorrow, Sir Chaeyi.”

After sending off Ferdinand and Bennex, Chaeyi held Silviet in his arms.

As they, along with Leonard and Enoch, descended to the dining room, the chef was just finishing preparing the meal.

“I’ll take care of the cards.”

“Thanks.”

Enoch took the stack of letter cards and left the dining room.

Silviet sat beside Chaeyi while Leonard sat across from him.

“Enjoy your meal.”

Soon, a variety of appetizing dishes were placed on the table.

However, in front of Silviet were only unseasoned chicken and lamb, which displeased him. He poked at the meat with his claws, whining.

“Yuck! It’s gross!”

“Silviet, don’t play with your food.”

“But it tastes bad.”

Despite Chaeyi’s advice, Silviet snorted and turned his head away.

‘What should I do?’

The seasoning used in human food is too stimulating to give to Silviet, so Chaeyi was concerned.

Besides, according to the letter from Kukuf this morning, chicken and lamb were sufficient for him.

Since nothing else was mentioned, Chaeyi found it hard to make a decision.

At that moment, Leonard sighed lightly, put down his fork, and gazed intently at Silviet.

“Chaeyi’s having a hard time because of you. Don’t be difficult.”

“Ugh….”

“If you don’t want to eat it, then don’t.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Leonard firmly took the plate of meat away.

Seeing this, Silviet, now sulking, muttered under his breath.

“But it’s mine. I’m going to eat it.”

“You should have done that from the start.”

Leonard chuckled and handed the plate back.

Silviet stopped whining and began eating the meat.

Watching the two of them bicker like siblings, Chaeyi couldn’t help but smile.

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