* * *

“……?”

What does that mean?

I tilted my head slightly, asking for more explanation, but the dragon, as if tired, yawned widely and dismissed us both at the same time.

[This is as far as I can help. Love potions aren’t my specialty, so you might want to seek out Ollyard. Not sure if he’ll even agree to see you, though.]

The crystal that had been shimmering in the air floated slowly toward me.

I was afraid it might pierce my skin, but to my surprise, it stopped approaching and instead lost its light, disappearing altogether.

Come back after the lovers’ quarrel is over and you’ve made up your mind, it said.

But who was having a lovers’ quarrel?

I felt wronged.

This was just Hernan’s one-sided pursuit and insistence.

---

“What do you think you’re doing? This is outright fraud. I can’t accept this.”

As soon as we stepped out of the shrine, I protested vehemently, but Hernan just shrugged his shoulders with an infuriatingly calm expression.

“Don’t you care at all about the feelings of someone whose pure heart was trampled and betrayed last night?”

Pure heart, my foot. This was the guy who had me locked into multiple contracts.

If anything’s a scam, it’s this, not some noble affection.

His tongue was unnecessarily long. (TL: Someone who easily tells nonsense without guilt feelings.)

The one betrayed wasn’t him—it was me.

“Did you plan this from the moment we made the pact?”

I frowned and asked, but Hernan, smiling, opened the door to the grand duke’s palace and feigned ignorance.

“Who knows? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“The whole story about being an illegitimate child is a lie too, right? Wasn’t that just something you made up to gain my sympathy?”

Feeling a sudden wave of injustice as I retraced the cause of my mistake last night, I demanded an answer, and Hernan responded with a straight face.

“No, that part’s true. Didn’t you confirm it at the shrine earlier? How else do you think I could have been recognized as a bloodline of the Yudenet family?”

Well… anyone who saw Yudenet and Hernan together would have no choice but to acknowledge it.

That was definitely the same bloodline.

There was no denying they were ancestor and descendant.

Wait, but didn’t he just say earlier that they didn’t look alike?

He knows they look alike. I wanted to point that out, but this wasn’t the time, so I held back with some effort.

“…….”

As I narrowed my eyes at Hernan, he shamelessly added.

“Of course, I’m better looking. Objectively speaking, I believe we have quite different faces.”

If Yudenet had heard that, he would have thrown his staff at him immediately.

How could someone become so brazen in an instant?

The pitiful young man from last night was nowhere to be seen, replaced by this sly, punchable pretty boy.

“If you want to take a closer look, I’ll give you time to observe. You seemed to like it last night….”

I didn’t need to hear any more. I swiftly kicked Hernan in the shin and marched inside.

Since the library and the office were on the same floor, I had no choice but to walk in the same direction as Hernan.

Soon enough, he caught up behind me and asked.

“Is there nothing else you’re curious about?”

Unbelievable. Does he think I want to keep talking to him?

But unfortunately for me, there was a question that had been nagging at me ever since we left the shrine.

I stopped abruptly, turned to Hernan, and asked, glaring at him.

“Why does the dragon… no, why does Lord Yudenet live there?”

Don’t dragons usually live in something like a lair?

I asked, recalling the image of dragons from various fantasy franchises and media.

When you think of dragons, you usually imagine a huge cave filled with treasure, right?

Unable to suppress my curiosity, I asked, and Hernan, looking somewhat surprised, answered obediently.

“Rather than living there, it’s more like he’s bound to the place.”

“……?”

Hernan seemed to realize I didn’t understand and explained further.

“He’s waiting. For the moment when Hildea, the founder of the Yudenet family, reincarnates.”

Come to think of it, earlier, he did mention that he saw all humans as caterpillars except for Hildea.

“Hildea?”

“Yes, to sum it up briefly, Lady Hildea Velon Yudenet, who is like my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, founded the Yudenet family with the help of Ryuudene. According to their pact, Ryuudene cannot leave the shrine until the day Lady Hildea is reincarnated.”

Ah, I think I read something similar in the book Hawthorne gave me.

It said something about Hildea, who was born into a poor herbalist family, borrowing the power of a dragon to defeat the local lord who accused her of being a witch and establishing the small village that became the beginning of Velon.

I thought it was just a legend about a tribe that worshipped dragons protecting the village.

“Who would’ve thought a real dragon existed….”

Not to mention the whole heir business. I’d already been through so many shocks today that even if Berta suddenly returned with a bang, I wouldn’t be that surprised.

“Though he’s a guardian dragon, he’s bound to the shrine by a contract, and dragons aren’t allowed to interfere much with humans anymore due to certain regulations, so there’s not much he can do for us. But still, being as ancient as he is, he possesses knowledge and magic far beyond human reach.”

It was a statement that reduced the guardian dragon to something like a thousand-year-old, pickled vegetable, but I didn’t have the energy to point it out, so I just nodded vaguely.

As I was about to enter the office, I suddenly realized I’d forgotten something important and turned back to Hernan.

“Wait a minute. Let’s make one thing clear. I never agreed to have your child with a clear mind.”

“If you’re so concerned about the Yudenet family’s heir, there’s a way to address that. Didn’t Lord Yudenet mention it as well? If Lady Aberdeen doesn’t wish it, he won’t force anything, no matter how much I may court you. There are other ways to produce a vessel.”

How can you even say that? Even if I’m not the one giving birth, I still hate the idea.

I’m not planning to marry anyway, and since the child would essentially be born from the magic of both Hernan and me, it would still be like a biological child.

The only reason I’m not punching you in the face right now is that, at least, you’re not forcing this on me.

But it’s still incredibly unpleasant.

“I’ll just return the dowry and head back to Nirvan Estate as soon as I have the funds.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Hernan let out a faint laugh.

“We’ll see. Do you really think you can push me away so easily?”

……?

I glared at Hernan, wondering what nonsense he was spouting.

Hernan, who had been sulking in the shrine just moments ago, now smiled with a completely different face.

“It would be wise to think carefully about what Lord Yudenet said.”

I crossed my arms, incredulous.

“What? Are you threatening me right now?”

“Not a threat, more like a plea.”

Hernan suddenly took my hand, bowed, and lightly kissed the back of it.

My reaction to yank my hand away in disgust was purely instinctual.

Why is this happening?

Shouldn’t the Grand Duke be this obsessive and clingy with Berta, not me?

Where did things go wrong for them to get this twisted?

“Are you serious? Talk of true love and chastity may be your concern, but I have no intention of marrying you. I’m not even interested in you that way.”

Just as I turned around to leave, Hernan’s voice echoed behind me, low and deliberate.

“Is that so? Your body didn’t seem to agree last night.”

And that infuriating mouth didn’t stop there.

“No matter how much you deny it, the fact remains that you took my purity last night. Ah, I’ve heard that in the common tongue, young men of your social class call it ‘hit and quit’ when someone sleeps with them and refuses to take responsibility. Is the heir of Nirvan one of those ‘hit-and-quit’ types?”

It was as if Hernan knew exactly how to push every one of my buttons.

It seemed like he was truly gifted at choosing the perfect moment to stir up trouble.

“Who said someone is ‘hit-and-quit’ types? It was just a mistake made in the heat of the moment!”

“If adults, in full consent and not intoxicated, engaged in such activities, how could it be considered a mistake? A mistake is when you hastily prepare in the morning and miss a document, not something like this. How can it be called a mistake when something that big went into such a tight space? Moreover, Mister Aberdeen wrapped his legs around my body….”

I swallowed a scream inwardly at the scandalous words that were almost too embarrassing to hear and covered Hernan’s mouth.

“Please, shut your mouth. I’m afraid the servants will overhear. Isn’t everything about the welfare of the estate’s people just a scam?”

When I raised my voice, gripping the office door handle, Hernan looked down at me with a somewhat bitter expression, though I couldn’t quite understand why he was making such a face.

* * *