Chapter 26 : Flutter Flutter (1)

“I’m full.”

“Me too~!”

“I’m full as well.”

The three of us, having finished our meal, all slumped over our desks.

“Ugh… I’m sleepy.”

“Your Highness, are you feeling sleepy?”

“…Yeah.”

“Oh dear, let me take you.”

Feeling drowsy right after eating—this body really is something else.

I guess there’s no helping it since it’s a baby’s body.

“What about me?”

“I will take you as well, Ramir.”

“See you tomorrow, Ramir…”

“Yeah, Minho.”

Waving lightly at Ramir, I drifted off to sleep.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

Ramir bowed her head toward the head maid, who had guided her to her room.

The head maid looked at her with a gentle smile and patted her head.

“You must have been through a lot.”

“…Yes.”

“You can officially submit the residency documents tomorrow. For now, just rest.”

“…Okay.”

“You know where it is, right?”

“Yes, in front of the castle gate.”

“That’s right.”

The head maid smiled softly before carrying Minho away.

Watching her leave, Ramir wiped away the few tears that had escaped.

“You’re awake?”

“…Mom?”

“It’s Mommy~”

When I woke up, my mom lifted me up and hugged me.

“Up we go! Did you sleep well?”

“…Yes.”

“Mom, is Minho awake?”

“Oh, Minho just woke up~”

As if she had known the moment I woke up, my sister came running and took me from Mom.

“…Traitors! I thought you were going to wake me up for dinner!”

“S-Sorry… You were sleeping so cutely…”

“Mom just couldn’t bring herself to wake our little Minho.”

“Sis, you too…”

Still, they could have at least given me some food.

“You ate a late-night snack with Hazel, didn’t you?”

“Hazel?”

“The head maid.”

“Oh, right!”

“Good job!”

“Does the head maid have kids?”

“Huh? She’s still too young to get married~”

I see, so 1,000 years old is still too young for marriage.

What kind of age standards even exist in this world?

As I stood there in shock, my mom patted my head and continued speaking.

“Our little Minho must not have a proper sense of age yet~”

“Seems like it~”

Why was my sister agreeing with her? She’s a kid here too.

I wanted to argue, but I didn’t bother.

She probably just said it without thinking.

Her grin made it obvious.

Looking at her smiling face, I felt like laughing too but held it in.

“Minho, do you know what today is?”

Mom suddenly asked me a question.

What was she getting at?

It didn’t seem like anyone’s birthday.

Maybe a wedding anniversary?

“Is it your wedding anniversary?”

I answered that way because I saw the servants dressing Mom in an outing outfit and applying makeup.

I thought she might be going on a date.

“No, today is your first flight day!”

“…Huh?”

“Today, Minho will spread your wings and fly!”

“Me… Me?!”

“Yes, you!”

Mom looked at me with a very excited expression.

“Minho, you can do it, right?”

W-What?

I’ve never even taken out my wings before!

“I… I’ve never taken out my wings before.”

“You’ve never released them… Oh, because of polymorph?”

“…Yes, I polymorphed right after I was born…”

“Our Minho is a genius?!”

“Heh, heheh…”

‘I’m a genius?’

No, wait.

That’s not the issue here!

I was so happy about Mom’s compliment that I ended up letting out a silly giggle.

But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about whether I was a genius or not.

Flying?

Through the sky?!

Excitement, nervousness, and a little bit of fear hit me all at once.

Without realizing it, I clenched my tiny fists tightly.

“Oh my, how cute! Are you nervous?”

“…Yes!”

“Aah! So cute!”

My sister suddenly started rubbing her cheek against mine.

“Ugh, sis… ugh—mmph!!”

“You’re just too adorable…”

-Squish, squish, squish, squish, squish.

Hey, stop it.

What are you even doing?

I tried my best to push her face away with both hands, but my strength was no match for hers.

“Ugh—mmph! Mmph!”

“Hehe, are you pressing my cheeks now too?!”

Realizing what she was doing, my sister’s face turned red, and she quickly pulled away.

“S-Sorry.”

“You two get along so well.”

I was sulking, and my sister was flustered.

Meanwhile, Mom just laughed, watching us with amusement.

Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but laugh too.

My sister, noticing me, gave an embarrassed chuckle as well.

“Sis, put me down.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine now.”

When I flashed her a big grin to show that I wasn’t actually upset, her embarrassed expression finally faded.

Just then—

“Alright, my little princesses?!”

Dad burst through the door.

Right at that moment, Mom had just finished changing and was adjusting her undergarments.

“Albi, don’t slam the door so hard.”

“Sorry, I’m just so nervous about our daughter’s first flight.”

Dad scratched the back of his head and gave a sheepish smile.

I smiled back at him.

“Ugh, too cute.”

“Huh? Dad?”

And then—he dramatically collapsed onto the floor as if he had just died.

-Is it really okay for a king to act like this?

I always thought dragons were supposed to be majestic, powerful creatures.

But this was so different from what I had imagined in the game.

A united kingdom was established, dragons had gotten weaker…

“Shall we go, my daughter?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

I set my thoughts aside for now—right now, I needed to focus on flying.

Since Mom was still recovering, Dad helped her walk while I held my sister’s hand.

“Are you excited?”

“Yeah, a little?”

“Minho gets to fly in the sky… I’m jealous.”

“Huh? Wait, you can’t?”

“Nope. Since I’m a half-dragon, not many dragon traits show on the outside. You should know that from the game, right?”

Sis! Don’t say that out loud!

“S-Shh! No game talk!”

“Oops.”

My sister quickly clamped her mouth shut, realizing her mistake.

I glanced behind us—Mom and Dad were watching us fondly, smiling.

They probably didn’t understand what we had just said.

“Uh, Mom. Do I have to show my flying to the citizens again this time?”

“No, it’s fine. It’ll just be us this time. It’s something all dragons have to do.”

“Oh, I see…”

So it was just a private thing between us.

I had asked just to test if Mom and Dad had heard our earlier slip-up, but I ended up learning something important.

Honestly, last time was so embarrassing I wanted to die.

At least I didn’t have to go through that again.

As we walked, I suddenly spotted a familiar figure crouching in the middle of the hallway.

“…How do I get out of the castle?”

A familiar head of green hair.

“Oh, Ramir?”

“Ah! Minho!”

It was none other than Ramir.

-Patter, patter, patter, patter.

Overjoyed, I ran toward her, and she, just as excited, ran toward me at full speed.

“Whoa!”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah! What about you?”

“Me too!”

After just one dinner together, we had already gotten pretty close.

Kids really do make friends fast.

Just then—

“Oh, so you’re Ramir?”

“…Ah, hello.”

“You don’t have to be so nervous.”

“W-Wait… aren’t you the Queen?”

“That’s right.”

The moment Ramir realized who my mom was, she started trembling violently.

“…S-Sorry.”

“It’s okay. But what were you doing here?”

Mom kept a gentle smile as she asked Ramir what she was doing.

Ramir, seeing Mom’s kind expression, seemed to relax a little.

“…I, I need to submit my residency papers, but I can’t seem to leave the castle…”

“Oh my, why not ask the servants for help?”

“I-It’s just… they’re all dragons, and they scare me…”

At Ramir’s words, Mom looked slightly surprised, but then she smiled again and gestured toward Dad.

“Ramir, why don’t you give them to this gentleman here?”

“…H-Huh? Gentleman?”

Wait, gentleman?

I looked up at Dad with a blank expression.

…He’s ridiculously handsome, there’s no way he looks like someone you’d call an old man.

Or maybe, considering even the elder grandmas and grandpas here look young despite their age, it might actually be the right term…

“Y-Y-Your Majesty?!”

Ramir’s eyes widened in shock.

“Hmm, I’ll take care of your paperwork.”

“Ah, t-th-thank you so much!”

Ramir started trembling all over again.

Maybe I should do something to distract her.

“Ramir! I’m going for my first flight today! Wanna watch?!”

“…Huh?! Wait, what?!”

“You said ‘huh’ just now, didn’t you?”

“Huh?!?”

“Let’s go!”

I grabbed Ramir’s wrist and bolted toward the castle exit.

“Minho! Don’t run, you’ll trip!”

“Oh my, Yuri is acting like a big sister now?”

“Our eldest is so reliable.”

“W-What?! Ah, hehe…”

“Let’s go before we lose them.”

I heard the voices of three people behind me, but Ramir’s panicked shouting beside me was much louder.

“W-Wait, this is so awkward! I don’t want to go…!!”

“What do you mean? I thought we were friends!”

“…O-Okay… I’ll go…”

In the end, I successfully convinced Ramir to come along, and we arrived at the room where we were originally headed with Mom and Dad.

“Tada!”

“…W-What is this?!”

It was a teleportation magic circle leading to different regions of dragon territory.

A convenient way to travel without having to fly long distances.

These magic circles were incredibly expensive, so only the castle had access to them.

People couldn’t use them to enter the castle from outside—
for security reasons, of course.

I mean, what if an enemy used it to invade the castle first?

“Oh, Minho!”

“Sis!”

“H-Hello…”

“Hello to you too.”

My sister arrived first, patting both my head and Ramir’s in turn.

“How old are you, Ramir?”

“…Thirty.”

“Ah, aha! I-I see~”

I could see the confusion on my sister’s face.

It made sense—Ramir looked way too young to be thirty.

“I’m thirty-four~”

“Oh, then I’ll call you big sister!”

“Sure, thanks!”

As we were chatting, Mom and Dad arrived as well.

“Alright, shall we go?”

“Yes!”

“Minho, hold my hand.”

“Okay.”

Since it felt weird to hold only Mom’s hand, I reached for my sister’s as well.

Then, my sister grabbed Ramir’s hand.

Meanwhile, Dad looked a little disappointed that no one was holding his hand.

Just then, a bright light surrounded us—

b-FLASH!

When we opened our eyes, we were standing on the peak of a massive, towering stone mountain.

It was the Stone Mountain of Wind Dragons.

Time for my first real flying lesson!