✧ Chapter 2 ✧
In the middle of a vast grassland stood a luxurious and elegant residence shaped like a temple. Inside it, in one of the rooms, was a baby crib.
She, who had once lived as ‘진라온’ in her previous life, lay in that crib, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Awah.”
The unchanged human baby babble once again forced her to face her current situation.
Right now, she had been reincarnated as an ordinary human, not the dragon she had admired so much.
‘As I thought…… I really am human.’
No, how could this happen when she had been born from an egg?
It wasn’t like she was some legendary ancestor born from an egg.
They had said it was a dragon egg, so why had she been born in a human body?
‘No matter how much I think about it, I really don’t understand.’
She wished someone would explain this ridiculous situation to her properly.
‘Sigh—’
While she was lost in thought, someone slowly walked toward the crib from a distance.
“Our baby. Are you still awake?”
A well-balanced body covered in lean muscles.
Long black hair with a faint dark-purple tint.
And inside his sharp-looking eyes were vertically slit black pupils, quietly settled in place.
“Hm, can’t you sleep?”
He was a handsome man whose entire appearance was so noble that everything about him seemed attractive.
He was currently her parent.
Her father.
Swoosh.
He opened both arms and carefully lifted her from the crib, holding her against his chest.
“By the way, how can you be this pretty?”
She had first met him shortly after she had broken out of the egg, when the murmuring voices around her had gradually grown louder.
In a place filled with nothing but dragons, he had been the only human.
Or so she had thought.
Among the huge dragon-shaped figures, she had faintly seen the shape of an adult human.
But the moment he picked her up and transformed back into his enormous form, she realized the truth.
He was also a dragon.
He had only been using Polymorph for a short while.
He then flapped his wings and flew away, carrying her small body to this house.
In the end, there was still only one human here.
Her.
But he did not turn away from her simply because she was a human different from himself, a dragon.
“Really…… you’re so beautiful.”
Instead, he praised her like this and couldn’t stop smiling whenever their eyes met.
Unfortunately, rather than making her feel happy, his attitude only made her doubts grow stronger.
‘His attitude is really strange.’
How could he be so happy when his own child wasn’t even the same species as him?
Wouldn’t most people first suspect that the child might not actually be theirs?
With nothing but questions and no satisfying answers, a deep sigh kept rising inside her.
“Phew—”
“Hm? Why does our baby look so tired?”
“Awuh……”
“Are you hungry?”
It was then.
“Hey?! Where are you?!”
A loud, booming voice came from outside.
The door was suddenly thrown open.
“Ah, there you are!”
Someone strode into the room.
He was a handsome man with short blond hair. He was slightly larger in build than the father currently in the room, with a sturdy, muscular body.
“After causing such a huge commotion, you’re just sitting at home like nothing happened……!”
The man who had burst through the door approached her father without hesitation.
At the sound of the unfamiliar man’s deep voice, the gentle expression that had been on her father’s face only moments ago disappeared, and his brows furrowed.
“Keep your voice down. Why are you making such a fuss when there’s a baby here?”
“That’s exactly what I’m making a fuss about! It’s because of that child!”
The man came a little closer and looked the baby over from head to toe before letting out a heavy sigh.
“Sigh—Just as I thought. No matter how I look at her, she’s human.”
He scratched the back of his neck with a worried expression and continued.
“Tell me, is she really your child? You didn’t find some human baby somewhere and put her inside an egg, did you?”
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? She’s my child.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Look. She looks exactly like me.”
“Where?”
“Her hair color.”
Her face didn’t look much like his.
But the color of her hair, like the night sky, was indeed exactly the same.
“See?”
“What do you mean, ‘see’? Only her hair color is the same!”
“Isn’t that enough? I’m the only one here with black hair.”
“Don’t humans have quite a few people with black hair?”
“……”
“……You really did steal her from somewhere—”
“Stop saying such ridiculous things. I didn’t steal her.”
“But—”
“Just wait. Soon she’ll have other features that look like me, too.”
“What?”
“Don’t you know that saying, 무지카? Children change a lot as they grow. So as time passes, she’ll have more things that resemble me.”
Huh?
Muji……ka?
The tips of her ears twitched as she quietly listened to their conversation.
“She’ll develop more similarities? You’re a dragon.”
“So?”
“So? Seriously, think about it logically. You’re a dragon, and she’s human. How could she grow up and come to resemble you? You’re completely different species.”
“……”
“No matter how I look at her, this child is simply too…….”
“Enough. As your friend, I’ve tolerated this much. If you say anything more about my daughter, I won’t hold back anymore.”
“But 녹스.”
녹스?
“That’s enough. If you’re going to say anything more about her, then go back. I’m busy taking care of my child right now.”
Her fingertips, which had been listening to their conversation, suddenly trembled like leaves trembling in the rain.
Because those names—
They were names she knew far too well.
‘무지카…… 녹스!’
무지카.
He was the only friend of the Lord Dragon, the leader of the dragons who was considered the strongest among them in the novel 락테아.
And 녹스 was……
The name of that very Lord Dragon, who had once been called the leader of all dragons before their extinction!
‘Then that means……!’
My father……
My father is……
The Lord Dragon?!
She roughly understood the situation.
This was the world from the novel she had read.
In other words, she seemed to have entered the side story 락테아, which contained the history of the past that had not been properly covered in the main story, 판타지아.
In the main story, there had been only one dragon—the protagonist’s companion, 락테아.
But now there were two dragons right beside her.
“Now, baby. Are you hungry?”
녹스 had brought over a crystal baby bottle filled with fruit juice, which young dragons mainly drank as baby food.
The crystal baby bottle in his hand gave off a soft glow, as if it had been sprinkled with glitter.
She remembered that crystals were common in the world where dragons lived and were often used as household items.
And it was true.
Even the baby bottle and the decorations around the room were all made of crystal.
In the human world, even a small piece of crystal would probably cost quite a lot.
‘No wonder. Everything here was shining so much.’
Even just the things in this room were probably enough to make sure she never had to worry about money again……
“Come on. Say ah.”
While she was thinking about that, 녹스 picked her up and gently tapped the nipple of the bottle against her lips.
Given the situation, she didn’t really want to eat.
But the sweet scent of fruit slowly leaking from the hole in the nipple stimulated her stomach, and even made her drool.
Was this a baby’s instinct?
In the end, she had no choice but to put her mouth around the nipple and begin sucking.
“Hey, is it really okay to feed her that? She’s human.”
“I heard even young human children eat fruit well, so it should be fine. I even looked it up in a book.”
녹스 casually pointed toward an old book sitting on the chair beside him.
무지카 looked suspiciously at the book titled A Study of Human Children by an unknown author.
“Hmm. Fine, let’s say that’s true.”
He quickly turned his head away.
“But more importantly…… are you really sure you have no idea? I mean, why did the child turn out like this?”
녹스 lowered his head for a moment and swallowed a quiet sigh before gently shaking his head.
“I don’t know…… But she’s my child, so shouldn’t I love her no matter what she looks like? As her parent.”
녹스’s eyes remained unwavering.
On the other hand, 무지카 became even more troubled.
Of course he would be.
He had to accept that his closest friend’s child was human.
Unable to contain his frustration, he scratched his forehead repeatedly.
Then, for the first time, he looked directly at the face he had been cautiously glancing at since earlier and asked:
“Then, have you decided on a name for the child? The situation is what it is, but she needs a name to call her.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already had a name in mind for a while.”
“What is it?”
녹스 was silent for a moment.
Then he answered with a gentle smile in his eyes.
“리베라.”
“리……베라?”
“Yes. It’s a word that symbolizes freedom. Even though she’s human, I want this child to live freely and happily here…… That’s why I chose it.”
리베라.
A name that symbolized freedom.
What a lovely and wonderful name.
It was on an entirely different level from the name ‘라온’ that the orphanage director had casually given her after seeing the sign of a bar she often visited in her previous life.
‘A name made for me…… A name created while thinking only of me.’
Her heart trembled for a moment at the name he had carefully chosen for her and the feelings contained within it.
녹스 couldn’t take his eyes off 리베라, who was staring endlessly at him without even remembering to drink her juice.
Perhaps the unfamiliar attitude of his friend, whom he had known for the first time in this way, had left 무지카 quite troubled.
He muttered quietly that he really didn’t know anymore, then closed the door and left.
An awkward atmosphere lingered in the room for a moment.
Her eyes moved nervously from side to side.
But 녹스 gave her a gentle smile, as if telling her not to worry, and spoke.
“Baby. Don’t worry about what the others whisper about. No matter what you look like or what anyone else says, your father loves you.”
And then.
“And if you’re worried that something might happen because you’re like this, don’t worry. I’ll definitely protect you.”
“……”
“Yes. Even if I have to stake everything I have on it.”
The gentle words were something she had never heard even once in her previous life.
Those words softly touched every corner of her heart.
Because of them, all the doubts that had been growing inside her until now began to retreat far into the distance.
‘Yes. I still have my doubts, and I feel confused in many ways.’
But so what?
This person—or rather, this dragon—was now her parent.
Her father.
It was a little disappointing that she wasn’t a dragon herself.
But perhaps she could finally have the happy life she had never been able to have in her previous life.
Besides, wasn’t every living creature around her, including her father, a dragon she had desperately wanted to see and longed for?
And not just any dragons.
They were dragons from the novel she had loved!
That alone was enough to make this situation satisfying.
‘Dragons…… A life together with dragons…….’
Her anticipation for her new life began to rise once again.
She slowly stretched out her small white hand.
She had intended to shake hands, as if saying that she hoped they would get along well and that she was counting on him.
‘Hmm. Is this how I do it?’
Although the hand she held out was incredibly awkward because she didn’t know how a child was supposed to greet her parent for the first time—
“Hm? Baby?”
녹스 looked slightly confused.
Then, as if drawn by a magnet, he gently wrapped his hand around her small white hand.
Their hands met for the first time.
As warm heat passed between them, 녹스’s trembling eyes slowly became moist.
Watching him, a firm resolve took deep root in her heart.
Her father, 녹스, who had given her endless love from the moment she was born.
And the dragons who had been the only light in her terminal life.
Together with them, she would live under this name that symbolized freedom—a name completely unlike the life she had lived before.
‘As a human who is as free as the dragons—or even freer than them.’
She would truly live this life properly.
‘And in order to do that……’
The ‘great tragedy’ that would soon approach.
She would have to stop it.
No matter what.
