NMP 3.3

“What is this…”

Jeno picked up a bundle of fur, thinking that if there was a cat as big as a human, it would have brought up a hairball like this. Such strange objects were scattered all over Mikaela’s room.

It looked like she was trying to make something, but what the hell was the princess trying to make?

“Ahhh, when did you follow me!”

Mikaela, who was sitting in front of the desk and diligently scribbling in her notebook, screamed. Was this young lady writing a diary in this situation right now?

“The last few days I haven’t heard anything and you’ve been immersed in this…”

What should he call this?

Jeno couldn’t hold back any longer and asked a question. Before starting a full-scale conversation, he wanted to know the exact name of the object.

“What is this?”

“You don’t recognize it either.”

Mikaela muttered indignantly and replied that it was lace. So she tried to make lace with knitting thread and failed. And on her desk lay a piece of lace a little larger than a handkerchief. Although crooked, it seemed much closer to what was intended than the previous failures.

The results were terrible, but what should he say? Feeling some kind of desperation, Jeno closed his mouth for a moment and stared at the princess.

Among the fairy tales that human parents told their children, there was the story of a princess dressed in nettles to break the curse of her brothers who became swans. Did Mikaela take her inspiration from that?

“Just a little more and I could have done it properly.”

Hearing those words made him even more suspicious. A notebook appeared in Jeno’s view as he was about to ask more.

The handwriting in the notebook was familiar. In addition to Mikaela’s cute handwriting, there was someone else’s.

It was Hildian’s writing.

“She said that if I weave a lace the size of your head and put it on Jeno, I can make a contract with a dragon.”

“Who?”

“That’s what my mom wrote. I have to cover you with white lace that I made myself. And then I close my eyes and say, ‘Dragon, please make a contract with me’.”

“Hildian said that?”

“…Yes, that’s definitely how it was written. So I was planning to ask Jeno.”

For a moment, Mikaela’s cheeks turned red. She looked redder and shyer than the pink roses in the courtyard. With a face that seemed a bit upset to say this in such an unprepared situation, she said.

“I like Jeno.”

Her fingers were intertwined in shame and embarrassment on her purple dress.

She couldn’t say exactly when. As if her clothes were getting wet in the drizzle, Jeno naturally seeped into Mikaela’s mind. Her heart, which began with a small flutter, went through anxiety, joy, jealousy, and shaking, and a relief that made her feel pathetic, until it swelled up like this.

Inside her, Jeno had become a man before she knew it, but she was saddened by the fact that the other person still seemed to see her as a child.

What should she do to become a little more mature?

Jeno must have seen a lot of people over the years. Among them, there must have been many more beautiful and mature ladies than her.

She didn’t have to look far, because Hildian was just such a person.

A composed attitude and a gentle smile.

Mikaela had always seen how Jeno looked when he mentioned Hildian as a contractor he could never forget. His feelings for the former contractor were nothing like love or longing.

It was not such a simple feeling.

Their relationship was still difficult for Mikaela to fully understand. Perhaps even they could not clearly define their relationship.

[Nothing matters.]

Right, that’s how it felt. A relationship that coexisted with respect for the other person as they were without caring about the gaze of others.

For Mikaela, who had only just discovered love, it was like a wall that could not be crossed. She, who always pouted and complained, would never be able to become like her mother.

What if Jeno said he was tired of babysitting a kid and would leave the castle tomorrow?

This was not the only concern she had.

Mikaela continued to live in the castle, but Jeno occasionally went to the villages where people lived. He used to do that when they ran out of urgent necessities, and he would come back from the market with a present for her, just like the ‘dad’ in a children’s book. From beginning to end, she was treated like a child.

He didn’t even have to smile, just standing there attracted attention, and the thought of a pretty village lady approaching him made her heart pound and she couldn’t breathe.

That was when it came to mind.

The small notebook her mother told her to open on her 18th birthday contained a secret she had left for her daughter.

“Can I see what is written?”

Jeno tried to act like an old guardian again. Well, he was actually old. It was also true that he was a guardian.

However…

“She told me not to show it to Jeno.”

“Did Hildian say that, too?”

“Yes, I can show it to you only after the contract with the dragon is over.”

Jeno stared into the air. Then he laughed like he was full of energy.

“You can use me even if we don’t have a master-servant contract, kid.”

“If we sign a contract, I’ll make this my first wish. You will no longer call me a child or a kid anymore.”

“You must have been very angry.”

She had been talking bashfully just a moment ago, but then immediately got angry and hit back. He laughed, knowing she wouldn’t like it.

Jeno laughed. Mikaela was despondent because her mind was relieved without hesitation.

No matter how hard she tried, she would not be able to get the upper hand in this relationship. Not even a chance. Even her four younger siblings, whose faces she has not seen, would laugh their heads off.

So all she had left was a dragon’s contract. Her mother Hildian’s method of authority.

“Let’s say that’s the first wish. Then what are you going to ask for the second one?”

“…I want to be your bride.”

Jeno’s laughter stopped. Ah, what did she say? Mikaela bit her lip. She hadn’t signed a contract yet, but she was swept away by the atmosphere and answered.

Jeno didn’t even think about the influence he had as a man and still acted like a guardian. The problem was that Mikaela had also been used to it for 18 years.

If he asked her a question like that, she would answer obediently without realizing it. Stupid princess. She had to watch her mouth until after the forced contract was signed.

“I told you I like Jeno. Did you think… I would like you the way I like peaches?”

There was silence for a while. Then, at some point, a deep sigh came over Mikaela’s head. Jeno looked upset at first glance.

That night three days ago must have just happened because of the aphrodisiac. Mikaela’s heart sank even more gloomily at the sight of him being upset.

“Let’s correct the mistake in that contract for now.”

Jeno continued.

“What I need is not a lace, but the light of the full moon that touches my heart and the blood of the contractor.”

“But Mom.”

“Hildian Rowana Priscid.”

Jeno mouthed the name of the former contractor in a voice that seemed capable of resurrecting the dead and strangling her. It was the first time Mikaela had ever heard Jeno call Hildian by name with such emotion.

Even after that, he kept muttering to himself, wondering whether this was part of her[efn_note]Hildian[/efn_note] intention from the beginning.

It seemed that Jeno was swearing at her mother.

“Ha…”

He looked down at Mikaela. During the three days she avoided Jeno, his handsome face seemed to have become a little rough. The shade under his eyes was dark. He feigned a laugh as if he didn’t know what to do.

“I’ve lived for three thousand years, Mika. Before that, I was crouching in the lava for five hundred years.”

“I can do that much mental arithmetic.”

Mikaela replied disapprovingly. 3000 – 18 = 2982. Jeno wanted to talk about the age difference between the two.

Hnngg, she wanted to tell him that such a number was so unrealistic that it dulled her senses.

“You’re the guy I’ve known since I was a baby.”

Jeno shook his head.

“I’ve been raising you until this day.”

I grew up on my own. Her mouth itched and she wanted to refute it. But Mikaela decided to listen to what he had to say first.

“But what would I be if I accepted the offer to take you as a bride?”

Was this a question… he wanted to be answered?

“A crazy guy, right?”

And as the words fell, Mikaela was grabbed by the wrist and hugged.

Jeno took her in his arms. His body temperature was always a few degrees higher than hers. Warm and firm, he whispered in Mikaela’s ear.

“Your mother knows me too well. I can’t believe she already wrote that word 10 years ago, looking forward to 10 years later. Did you know that I thought I was going to die because you were so cute when you talked about a ridiculous lace and a contract?”

He added that he felt bad because she had hit the mark. Mikaela accepted his kiss, still in a daze. It was a light but sweet kiss.

It was the kind of kiss she wanted to get on her eighteenth birthday.

“Leave the lace aside, Princess.”

As he left her lips, he said. He was right. There was no longer any need to make a lace by sleeping less at night. Goodbye to her anxious unrequited love, and to the bad princes who wake her up every morning.

The princess of the castle tower has finally achieved her dream-like love.

Right in the arms of the dragon who was guarding her.

“One more time, Jeno. I couldn’t think straight just now.”

“It’s supposed to be like that.”

He lightly smiled. He then asked Mikaela to make a third wish. A wish to be able to live happily ever after by the dragon’s side. He said he would happily take her to a mysterious spring at the far end of the continent if she wished for it.

And they could really fulfill the saying, ‘and they lived happily ever after.’

Pretty dimples appeared on Mikaela’s face.

She would say it again, but she didn’t need a prince at all.

A fresh breeze blew between the two of them sharing a kiss. The wind came in through the half-open glass door, and the pages of the notebook on the desk flipped over.

On the last page, there was only one line of sentence written in blue ink.

It was a very short sentence.

You’re thankful for me, right?

It was the only message she had left for someone other than her daughter. Finally, a gentle smile slowly appeared on the corners of the dragon’s mouth, who had lived only by fulfilling bloody wishes.