Chapter 66
Chapter 66
As the mood suddenly turned cold, Erina’s eyes darted around. The barrier had been broken—did something happen to Dylan? And what did he mean by ‘fairies’?
There were too many unanswered questions, but all Erina could do was quietly observe the situation. For a while, silence surrounded the three of them.
“Well, um… I’m not really sure myself, actually…! What could’ve happened? Haha?”
Meian was on the verge of freaking out. What about the fairies? What did they even do?!
Without any proper explanation and with Dylan just giving her that cold glare, Meian nervously fiddled with the pendant on her necklace.
“Since when did fairies start blessing you?”
“H-Huh?”
“Judging by how my barrier was nullified, I doubt it’s just one or two fairies hanging around you.”
At Dylan’s question, Meian dropped the pendant she had been toying with and gaped.
Not only did he know there were fairies, he even had a rough idea of how many?! What a scary man—no, dragon!
Dylan chuckled at Meian’s shocked reaction, then turned to Erina and resumed casting the spell to change her hair color.
Even though she’d clearly been frightened by the situation, Meian kept sneaking glances at Erina’s hair, which annoyed Dylan.
A silvery light, just like Dylan’s own hair, briefly enveloped Erina, only to shift to brown in an instant.
As the golden hue disappeared before her eyes, Meian visibly looked disappointed and grumbled without meaning to.
“Why, why!! Why would you ruin such beautiful hair on purpose? It looked so good on Erina…!”
Meian trailed off when she caught Dylan’s gaze and quickly ducked her head.
Right—she’d been caught snooping and was now getting scolded. Meian shrank back and politely clasped her hands.
Erina chuckled at Meian’s constantly shifting demeanor and offered a simple explanation.
“My hair color tends to attract attention from people or dragons, so Dylan changes it with magic to make things easier for both of us. Right?”
“Exactly,” Dylan said, smiling with his eyes.
But Meian didn’t buy it. It was obvious he just wanted to keep the pretty look to himself.
Fighting the urge to pout, she nodded reluctantly.
“Oh, I see…”
“Yes! So, Meian, could you keep what you saw here a secret?”
Erina clasped her hands together and winked. Meian, already fond of Erina, now completely smitten after seeing her true appearance, melted and confidently declared,
“Yes, I can!”
Dylan felt a sense of dread wash over him…another dragon had fallen for Erina. Of course, he couldn’t let his true feelings show, so he forced a smile.
“But Meian, didn’t you say you’re half-dragon? From what Dylan said, it sounds like you also have something going on with the fairies… is that true?”
“Oh, that! So, actually—!”
Meian, who’d been too scared to speak up when Dylan was talking, now lit up with excitement at Erina’s question. Her lips curved upward as she started to explain.
“My mother was a human who lived in the fairy forest! When she became an adult, she left for the city, had me, and then returned to the forest. Naturally, I ended up spending a lot of time with the fairies. They felt sorry for me, so they blessed me so I wouldn’t be mistreated by dragons or humans. Thanks to that, fairies everywhere treat me kindly…”
After her long explanation, Meian gave a bashful smile. Having lived alongside fairies for over 80 years, they felt more like relatives than anything else.
The Witcher Forest, where they were camping, was no different. She had expected the fairies to greet her and even thought their help might calm her unsettled feelings.
Of course, she hadn’t intended to break Dylan’s barrier to spy on them.
Fairies were strong because they lived in the forest, what was she supposed to do about that?!
Meian felt wronged and grew bitter at the fairies who had run off to save their own skins.
“So that’s why Meian seems more energetic in the forest!” Erina said.
“Yup.”
“Then… are there fairies nearby right now?”
Erina asked, glancing around Meian. She couldn’t sense any mana, but her curiosity about fairies, beings that only existed in fairy tales, was obvious.
But Meian shook her head sadly.
“No, they all ran away.”
“…What?”
“They totally ditched me, can you believe it?! As soon as they were found out, they vanished without a trace!”
Meian puffed out her cheeks in frustration. Erina looked at Dylan, unsure how to respond.
“At least they’ve got survival instincts,” Dylan muttered under his breath.
He tried to keep it quiet, but in the still forest, there was no way they hadn’t heard him. The atmosphere, which had only just begun to lighten, froze over again.
Meian, whose face had brightened while talking with Erina, turned pale once more and hiccuped. Erina carefully glanced at Dylan and cautiously asked,
“Do you… dislike fairies, Dylan?”
“No, of course not. I was just a little startled by what happened earlier, so I spoke more harshly than I meant to.”
“Ah, yeah! I was really shocked too! Your barrier…!”
Erina eagerly agreed. Her cheerful comment—”I guess even magic has its weaknesses!”—wounded Dylan’s pride.
He clenched his fist. Someday, he would hunt down the fairies who humiliated him and make them pay.
***
The Next Day
Meian’s eyes were different now that she knew Erina’s secret. She stared at Erina like a grizzly bear that had discovered honey.
Erina found the gaze uncomfortable, but also a little cute. It reminded her of the dragons who used to obsess over her hair, and by extension, of Dylan.
From then on, Meian stuck close to Erina along with the triplets.
“Hey, Erina. Why is that half-blood giving you such a creepy look?”
Mitzu asked, clearly suspicious of Meian’s sudden behavior. Erina had no real answer, so she just smiled awkwardly.
As Mitzu circled Meian, Erina, and the triplets, he shouted,
“You made snacks for the kids and her behind my back, didn’t you?!”
“No, I didn’t!”
“Oh really?! Then why is she drooling like that?! Hey! Human woman! That’s so unfair! Using food like that, so petty!”
Mitzu stomped around, furious that Erina had supposedly excluded him from the treats.
Hael also approached with a hurt expression, staring at Erina. Though she felt wronged, she couldn’t explain the truth, so she tried to distract them by suggesting they all have breakfast.
For some reason, it felt like the number of people she needed to care for just kept growing.
“Erina, how about fruit sandwiches for breakfast?”
“Tada! These are berries I picked this morning on my walk!” said Lia.
“Poi will make mushroom soup…!” added Poi.
The kids each held out small handfuls of ingredients and called to Erina. She fondly patted their round little heads and beamed.
“Perfect! Fruit sandwiches and mushroom soup it is! Thanks to Lia, Resen, and Poi, breakfast will be ready in no time!”
“Yay!”
“Hang on, I’ll grab the pot and bowls! Meian, want to come with me?”
“Yes!”
Meian and the triplets answered in perfect unison. Erina shivered at their choir-like response, then led Meian off to fetch the dishes.
As soon as she disappeared from sight, the children’s innocent smiles faded completely.
