C 91
"They say that couples resemble each other..."
I covered my ears when I heard a voice that seemed to burst my eardrums.
I wondered where the tone came from, Erno Etham or Miriel Etham, but it seemed to come from the grandmother.
"Child abuse..."
"She hates it more when a child doesn't act like a child."
"Ah..."
"That's why she's been clashing with us a lot on things like our education."
A rare emotion appeared on Chronos Etham's face. He led me to the mansion, surrounded by frightened servants.
He nodded at me.
"Go and stop them."
"What?"
"You're the only one here who can stop it."
How am I supposed to get in the middle of that mess?
As I put on a puzzled expression, Chronos Etham spoke again.
"She doesn't harm the children."
"Mmm..."
You're not trying to mess with me on purpose, are you?
I hesitated and cautiously walked towards the almost warlike chaos.
"Is that person my grandmother...?"
She seemed too tough to be called a grandmother.
From her external appearance, she seemed to be no older than her thirties.
Considering the age of her children, she must be at least fifty.
The color has faded a bit over the years, but she has beautiful blonde hair and teary eyes.
Not only that, she held a long iron cane in one hand. The broken furniture seemed considerable.
On one side of the cluttered office, Kylo stood with a look of despair.
"That..."
As I entered Miriel Etham's messy office, I cautiously opened my mouth.
My dad, who was the first to hear my voice buried in an angry voice, looked at me immediately.
There was a bit of blood on Dad's cheek. It was clear that he probably got injured in the riot.
My heart began to beat fast.
"Grandmother...?"
As if my little call had reached her ears, the former duchess, who had a fierce expression on her face, turned her head.
Then, when she saw me, she quickly hid her cane.
"You called me a moment ago?"
"... Yes."
Her sharp eyes were quite frightening.
I nodded, feeling like I was about to be stabbed; she squinted her eyes and looked at me.
"Call me again."
"Grandmother...?"
"Again."
"A-Grandmother..."
She nodded again. Somehow, it reminded me of the old Erno Etham.
"Grandmother..."
"Yes, why are you calling me?"
My grandmother told me to call her!
I wondered where Erno Etham's psychopathic temperament came from, but maybe it came from my grandmother.
She chuckled as I looked dissatisfied.
"I was wondering how you managed to enchant the whole family and even take over the position of the House head; it's certainly well-deserved."
She said and rubbed her chin.
"Fine, what do you want?"
"My dad, you can't hurt him."
I'd rather you hurt me. I can't bear to see him hurt by someone else.
Usually, he avoids it casually, so I don't know why there's blood on his cheek.
"I was just punishing him for doing something wrong."
"...Dad is bleeding."
"If discipline becomes tough, that could be the case."
"Dad doesn't scold me that much."
She laughed heartily as I muttered dissatisfied. Among the piles of toppled books, Miriel Etham groaned and stood up.
It was a bit scary, like a zombie coming back to life from the grave.
"Really? You mean that guy? Maybe it's because he's not interested in you?"
"...He comes to pick me up every morning."
"It's something parents can do."
Somehow her snort felt very unpleasant. I felt a little dejected.
"Even when I was little, he stayed by my side for five years."
"They say that bonding with a dragon will change your life, but anyone else would have waited 10 or 20 years."
"He even gave me the position of family matriarch."
"That's ridiculous. If he didn't hand over all his work, which 10-year-old did he hand over his head to?"
I clenched my fists. When I raised my head with a broken heart, I could see her looking at me with crossed arms.
"He said I didn't have to do anything."
"Yes, does that mean you're just a scarecrow?"
When she summarized it like that, it felt unpleasant because she said something plausible again.
"Eirin."
I was breathless. As I struggled, Dad approached and gently hugged me.
"...Dad told me not to leave until he told me to leave! My dad said he wanted me!"
I shouted with a sob.
Tears welled up in my eyes because I felt unfair for touching my family.
The former duchess, who was watching my tears fall, widened her eyes in embarrassment.
"Yes, I understand. My joke went too far, I'm sorry..."
"Dad, I hate grandma."
"It's okay, I'll take you to your room."
"Not Grandma, she's a bad person. I hate that person."
That was the moment.
A golden wave began to spread in front of my eyes.
---
"Yes, she's not even my grandmother; families don't say things like that. Isn't that right, Dad?"
"...That's right."
"Yes, that's right. She's a bad person. Dad, I hate that person."
As soon as she finished speaking, Eirin's pupils narrowed vertically.
"I hate that she hurts Dad. I hate that she says mean things. Yes, I hate that person."
Unlike usual, the color of the girl's eyes muttering something quietly began to glow.
The voice that sang as if brainwashing herself was quite terrifying.
Eirin's irises shone like something out of this world. Golden magic oozed from Eirin.
"I hope that person disappears."
Eirin smiled mischievously.
However, it was so cruel that it was hard to believe it came from the mouth of an innocent girl.
"Isn't that right?"
Eirin, who closed her eyes with tenderness, turned her head to look at the former duchess.
At that moment, she began to be enveloped in golden magic.
"What is this...?"
Soon, the tips of her fingers became increasingly transparent. As if erasing her existence from the world, she began to gradually fade away.
Everyone looked reflexively at Eirin. The girl continued to smile as she hugged Erno Etham's neck.
---
Looking at the pure face, Erno Etham suddenly recalled the translation of an ancient document.
"The Dragon is desire itself.
The offspring are especially childish.
They have the temperament of a dragon and the ability to achieve it, but their common sense and control are significantly inferior to it.
The reason why dragons needed imprints is also because of this.
Long ago, a god made a pact with a dragon. They were more powerful than any creature on earth, so they wanted to reduce the danger.
Thus, the 'imprint' was born.
However, God made a great mistake.
All living beings have desires.
The desire to be strong, the desire to be better than others, the desire to be special.
The dragon was a being that could easily achieve that.
Therefore, dragons were once ornaments. They unearthed the dragon's nest, stole the egg, and imprinted it.
The imprint was created so that dragons could live in symbiosis with affection for the small and weak.
But greed rules life, and everything begins to twist.
Through the imprint, they forced, ordered, and suppressed the dragon.
The imprint was a means to protect the dragon. A means to suppress the offspring that became wild and used their power recklessly and in preparation to cause great disturbance.
Offspring will do anything to protect their parents. Don't try to persuade them with common sense.
They are beings that will kill all living things active in the world for the restful sleep of their parents, and if their parents want to become kings, they will become evil dragons who will kill all members of the royal family.
If the offspring's desires are unleashed and cannot be subdued, they must be ordered. It can coexist with the dragon only when forcibly suppressed and clearly marked by its master."
It was a sentence that caught his attention and he read it several times.
Erno Etham didn't think Eirin would lose control. Because the girl had a lot of common sense.
"It was something like this."
She's simply overwhelmed by desire rather than common sense. The girl was angry and outraged by her mother's denial of her family.
"Erno, do something!"
Even after being hit like that, Duke Miriel, who hadn't even launched a proper attack against his wife, rushed to his translucent wife and shouted.
Erno Etham saw that the girl was holding her neck tightly.
When their eyes met, her smile shouldn't have been so charming. After hesitating for a moment, he had the girl sit on the office desk.
"Eirin."
"Yes, Dad."
"Can you tell me why you're angry?"
Though he thought he was doing something he wasn't used to, he crouched down and met the girl's gaze.
"Yes, I didn't like it because she said Dad and I weren't family."
"I see. But, I hate even more that you're a delinquent."
"Why?"
"If you become a delinquent, my daughter will go to jail, so I won't be able to be with her."
The two fell silent when the youngest son said that the problem was not that his mother would die but that his daughter would go to jail.
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