Time seemed to have frozen.
The little blonde girl standing at the entrance of the cave appeared unable to accept what she was seeing, or perhaps overwhelmed by sheer terror, remained rooted to the spot, not moving a muscle.
Her blue eyes lost focus and trembled faintly, and her small body shook uncontrollably.
My anger still surged up to my throat.
Once again, a small human had been thrown into my territory, regardless of my will.
And this time, they even deceived the child before abandoning her.
“I don’t understand why they keep doing this. I should give them a warning.”
There seemed to be no end to human foolishness and cruelty.
Perhaps due to withdrawal symptoms from lack of sleep, or because of my rage clouding my judgment, I wanted to rush out of the cave and roar to intimidate them—
But the small warmth I felt at my feet… the presence of Sori, hiding closely behind my leg, held me back.
“M-m-monster…!”
What finally burst from the blonde girl’s mouth wasn’t so much a scream as it was a suffocating cry.
The child staggered back frantically, but her legs gave out from fear, and she collapsed where she stood.
“Father! Mother! Anyone, please…!”
Then she began crying almost hysterically.
Her terrified cries echoed off the cave walls, making them sound even more desperate.
“Grrrr…”
I growled through clenched teeth as I glared at the blonde girl.
I wasn’t angry at the child.
My rage was directed at those who had made her this way.
But my threatening appearance and low growl only served to magnify the girl’s fear.
She was now sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, hiccuping between gasps.
‘…Damn it.’
What should I do?
If I left her like that, she might really die of shock.
But I couldn’t exactly go comfort her myself.
My huge body, fearsome face, and just-now growling only made things worse.
That’s when it happened.
Sori, who had been hiding behind my leg, very cautiously stepped forward.
I looked down at her in surprise.
What is that little one trying to do?
Sori slowly approached the crying blonde girl.
Her steps were tiny—nothing compared to mine—but there was a strange bravery in them.
It was clearly different from when she had first come here a month ago, trembling in fear as she looked up at me.
Sori stopped a few steps in front of the blonde girl.
Then, with a voice that still trembled a little but was clear and calm, she spoke.
“It’s okay.”
The blonde girl didn’t stop crying.
No—she didn’t even seem to register that another girl her age had appeared.
To her, the massive dragon before her—me—was the only thing dominating her entire world.
But Sori didn’t give up.
Once more, in a louder voice, she said:
“It’s okay! Look at me!”
Only then did the blonde girl’s sobbing quiet a little.
She lifted her tear-streaked face and, through her blurred vision, spotted Sori.
A human girl, just like her.
But… why was that girl standing so calmly in front of the monster?
Confusion and disbelief flickered in the blonde girl’s eyes.
Seeing the girl’s gaze fix on her, Sori continued in a calm tone.
“I was scared at first too. Really scared.”
Sori glanced at me briefly, then turned back to the blonde girl.
“But him… the dragon sir… he doesn’t eat people.”
The blonde girl still looked unconvinced.
Sori racked her brain, desperately trying to think of something good to say about me.
“He even gives me food! Tasty food…!”
The girl’s eyes still trembled with anxiety, her body tense with fear.
Trying to reassure her, Sori lightly tapped her own chest.
“See? I’m alive. I’ve been with him for a month, and I’m not dead.”
One month.
In that time, Sori had learned through experience that I wouldn’t harm her.
Because of that experience, her words—though clumsy—carried sincerity.
The blonde girl was still sniffling, but seemed a bit less overwhelmed by panic than before.
Instead, extreme confusion seemed to take its place.
Her expression said she couldn’t understand the situation at all.
A monster that doesn’t eat people? That even gives food?
She looked back and forth between me and Sori, as if the story didn’t match anything she knew about the world.
I had been watching the entire scene silently.
My rage had long since faded.
‘Should I be glad?’
Instead, surprise and pride in Sori, and a faint sense of helplessness at this strange situation, filled the void.
Just a month ago, that child couldn’t even breathe properly in front of me—
And now, she was comforting a new arrival.
Even vouching for me, saying I wouldn’t eat her.
Sori kept whispering things to the blonde girl.
I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but it seemed like she was sharing her own experiences and what life was like here.
The blonde girl still hadn’t fully let down her guard, but she seemed to be listening, little by little.
‘…That kid’s impressive.’
I looked at Sori again with fresh eyes.
Who would have thought that kind of courage and calm was hiding in such a small body?
Maybe Sori was much stronger than I had imagined.
Maybe that “curse” really was connected to some kind of special power.
Of course, the training over the past month… and whatever that giraffe meat had in it, might’ve played a part too.
But I had no way of knowing that.
I could only think that it was something special about Sori herself.
“So I was… offered as a sacrifice? To the evil dragon… Valakas…?”
“Call me Dragon.”
“What do I do… What do I do… I have to run away… No… They say if someone offered as a sacrifice to the evil dragon runs away, their limbs will be torn off… No… I don’t want that…”
Sori sat beside the anxious blonde girl for a while, talking to her.
The blonde girl’s sobbing had mostly stopped, and only occasional sniffles could be heard.
Listening to their conversation, I was able to infer a few things.
‘Is the evil dragon… me? Has someone else besides Sori been offered as a sacrifice?’
It was absurd to think that I suddenly received the title of ‘evil dragon’ just because I had been sleeping in this cave since I was born.
Judging by the brutal rule about being torn apart for escaping, it seemed that there had been other humans offered to me before Sori.
The girl still looked uneasy, but at least she seemed to have escaped the extreme fear she had at the beginning.
It looked like Sori’s calm demeanor and sincere explanations had worked.
Watching that, I felt both relief and a storm of complex emotions.
‘They said you’d get dismembered if you returned… so how can I let her go…’
Thanks to Sori, the immediate crisis had passed, but now I was left with the reality of having to take care of two young humans.
I’d have to rethink the food situation, figure out how to train the blonde girl, and prepare sleeping arrangements… It was starting to give me a headache.
But at the same time, I no longer felt alone.
Unlike before, now I had Sori.
She seemed to be around the same age as the blonde girl, so maybe they could rely on each other and become friends.
I slowly turned my body and headed toward the deeper part of the cave.
It seemed best to give the two children some space and time.
If I stood there looming in front of them, the blonde girl would never be able to relax.
Deep inside the cave, in the spot where I usually rested, I lay down.
I closed my eyes, but my attention was still focused on the two children at the entrance.
I could faintly hear Sori’s quiet voice and the blonde girl’s occasional sniffles.
I barely managed to sit up.
My whole body was soaked in sweat, and my legs still trembled.
But my mind seemed to be coming back a bit.
I looked over at the girl in front of me again, carefully this time.
Then I recalled the coachman who abandoned me here, and likely the face of my father who orchestrated all of this.
Anger and a sense of betrayal surged within me, but now was not the time to dwell on that.
I needed to understand the situation first.
Trying my best to remain calm, I recalled the etiquette I had been taught since childhood as a noble.
Though I was an illegitimate child, Father always told me to never forget the pride of House Albrecht.
That we were fundamentally different from the filthy commoners.
I brushed off the dirt as best as I could, sat up straight, and steadied my voice.
“I am Lisette, the seventh daughter of Count Albrecht.”
My voice echoed in the cave.
It trembled slightly, but I tried to sound as dignified as possible.
Then I asked the girl in front of me a question.
With the hint of authority I had learned from Father.
“And you are… what’s your name?”
The girl looked slightly startled by my tone, her eyes widening briefly, but soon she answered calmly.
“My name is Sori.”
“……?”
Sori? That’s it? What about her family name? Her surname?
I waited for her to say more, but no further words came.
I looked her over once again.
Worn clothes, rough hands, unrefined speech.
‘No way… a commoner?’
Along with disbelief, a sickening feeling began to rise inside me.
A commoner? That monster, the legendary evil dragon, is keeping a mere commoner girl alive? Even feeding her?
That makes no sense.
It was as if Father’s voice rang in my ears.
“Lisette, though you are a child born out of wedlock, you carry the noble blood of House Albrecht. You must remember that you are fundamentally different from those lowly, ignorant commoners.”
And yet here I was, trapped in this dreadful monster’s cave with that very commoner.
No, that girl had even saved me.
When I had lost my mind in fear, it was clearly she who had calmed me down.
My mind was a whirlwind of confusion.
The gap between the world Father had taught me and the reality I was experiencing now was enormous.
I had learned that commoners were like bugs—ignorant and untrustworthy.
But the commoner girl in front of me now seemed, at least, much calmer and stronger than I was.
I remembered what she had said to comfort me.
‘The evil dragon doesn’t eat people, gives food, provides a place to sleep, and even makes you do weird exercises?’
How had that girl survived here for a whole month? And that monster… what was it, really?
Why didn’t it eat humans? Why did it feed a commoner girl and make her do weird exercises?
I looked at Sori again.
At first, she had seemed shabby and unremarkable.
But now I noticed something in her eyes—a strength I couldn’t quite understand.
A will to survive that didn’t bend even in the face of fear.
And… those faint marks on the back of her hands and forearms… calluses?
They looked a little different from the ones commoners usually get from rough labor.
It was more like… the kind of calluses you get from training?
‘Strange. Everything about this is strange.’
I continued to struggle with unresolved questions, confusion, and the deep-rooted prejudice within me.
But one thing was clear.
Ironically, the only person I could rely on right now was that lowly commoner girl.
I swallowed dryly and asked Sori a question in a slightly sharper tone.
It was a prickly way of speaking, meant to hide my inner turmoil and anxiety.
“How is a mere commoner like you still alive in here?”