TGBAP 18

Hk-!

He sucked in breath urgently and blinked. It was a familiar ceiling.

“Haa, a dream…….”

Realizing it was a dream, Lucian rubbed his dry face. Then a strange face that hadn’t been there just a moment ago suddenly popped out.

“Huh? You really woke up?”

“……?”

Lucian was so startled he couldn’t even react. Was it about five seconds like that?

Aaaaargh!

Lucian’s scream rang through the mansion.

Kaiser jumped back in surprise, puffing up like a cat, and Ria, who had been preparing a restorative meal on the first floor, also jolted and burst up through the floor.

[What is it?! What happened!]

“R-Ria! What is that person?”

The moment Lucian saw Ria, he hurriedly sought her arms.

[Ahh, you were startled because of Kaiser?]

“Kai…… ser……?”

Now that he looked, that man named Kaiser’s face seemed familiar.

Meanwhile, Kaiser only looked dazed at Lucian lying strangely in midair and talking to someone, like he was talking to himself.

Then the stone tablet floated in the air and began writing something.

“Ria, what are you doing?”

[Kaiser can’t see me, so we have to talk like this.]

-Did you wake him up?

Unlike the gentle tone, the writing on the tablet wasn’t gentle at all. Of course, there was no way Kaiser would know that difference.

“Hey, I mean…… he’s all better but he wouldn’t get up…… and more importantly, what is that? Don’t tell me…… you can see her?”

When Ria shook the tablet up and down, Kaiser’s eyes went wide.

“Holy shit! You can see a ghost? I want to see too!”

Kaiser drew close with an uncomfortable gleam in his eyes.

Lucian flinched, and Ria hugged him tightly, guarding against Kaiser.

Even though she shoved the tablet out so he couldn’t come closer, Kaiser ignored it and shoved his face right up to Lucian’s nose.

“Hey! Brat!”

Thwack-!

The moment Kaiser opened his mouth, Ria smashed the tablet down on his head. Kaiser, who couldn’t dodge, clutched his head.

“Ow! Why are you hitting me! You said you’d be nice to me!”

-You were the one making Lucian uncomfortable. And what do you mean “brat”! He has a proper name, Lucian!

“Chee…… What’s it matter what I call him!”

Lucian looked back and forth between Ria’s writing and Kaiser. Since Ria had to write, the conversation wasn’t very smooth.

Lucian poked Ria’s arm.

“Should I relay it for you?”

[No, it’s fine. He’s had enough with this.]

“But it’s uncomfortable.”

Hmm, that’s not wrong, but…….

If he relays my words exactly as they are, that’s uncomfortable in its own way, too.

Just as Ria was thinking, Kaiser caught not only that Lucian could see Ria, but that he was even talking with her, and snorted.

“So you really can see her! Br— ah, no, Lucion! How the hell can you see that ghost?”

“……It’s Lucian, not Lucion.”

“Huh? Ah, sorry, sorry. So, Lucian, you can see that ghost, right?”

“……Yes, but hyung— I mean, aren’t you scared even though you know Ria is a ghost?”

“Ria? Don’t tell me that’s the ghost’s name?”

“Yes, it is.”

Kaiser suddenly made a sulky face again, like something annoyed him.

“Whenever I asked for her name, she said she didn’t have one. Now what, are you discriminating? You’re pampering him more because he’s your groom? I’ve lived seeing her for 250 years more than him!”

[That lizard bastard is starting again.]

“2, 250 years……?”

Unlike Ria clicking her tongue, Lucian went dizzy at the enormous number of years.

When Lucian pointed at Kaiser with his mouth opening and closing, Ria explained.

[He’s a 295-year-old hatchling. In other words, he’s a red dragon.]

“D-d-dragon? Dragons really exist?”

He loves fairy tales, but he thought dragons didn’t exist?

“What, what. What did the ghost just say?”

“She said you— no, I mean, you’re a red dragon.”

“Khmm! That’s right. This body is none other than the great Lord Kaiser of the red dragon clan! Lowly human! Will you not bow your head at once!”

[You can just ignore him. He’s still not a full-grown dragon, so he’s immature.]

“Is he still a kid?”

[He is. A brat. Ah, this damn swearing.]

Ria slapped her own mouth, and Kaiser, who didn’t understand, threw a fit, asking if only the two of them were having fun together.

[For reference, it was Kaiser who saved you yesterday and healed you. You don’t have any pain now, right?]

Only then did Lucian realize his body felt light. His knees, which had been scraped and bleeding, were fine without even a scar, and the soles of his feet, which had been a mess from thorns and stones, were smooth.

Also, his throat should have been horribly hoarse from calling for Ria yesterday, but his voice came out sweetly, like a songbird.

When Lucian looked at Kaiser, he stared down with arms crossed and a surly gaze.

Lucian slipped out of Ria’s arms and bowed at the waist.

“Thank you for saving me, Lord Kaiser.”

Flinch.

Kaiser shuddered. For some reason, he fidgeted and couldn’t respond easily.

To Ria’s eyes, it looked like he was embarrassed.

“Kh-khmm! It’s enough if you know to be grateful……!”

He really is weak to praise. If he were in dragon form, she had a feeling his tail would be wagging all over.

“And Ria is the name I gave her. She said she didn’t have a name, so I named her ‘Ria.’”

“Really? Then it’s true she didn’t have a name. Ah, what a waste! Why didn’t I think of giving her a name? If I had named her, I would’ve made a way cooler name!”

“Did you have something in mind?”

“Elizabethludiondeilian……!”

[Rejected. Too long and tacky.]

“She says it’s too long and tacky.”

Kaiser froze in massive shock.

“That’s too much! How dare she reject a name this body gave! This ghost……! No, is it Ria now?”

[Ugh, when is that lizard going to grow up. His mom must be exhausted too.]

Ria shook her head, then clamped her hand over Lucian’s mouth as he tried to relay her words.

[You don’t have to relay everything. If you relay all my words, the mansion will fly away.]

“Then when should I relay it?”

[Hmm…… you decide. Just leave out when I swear.]

Seeing that innocent face, she couldn’t bring herself to keep swearing at Kaiser anymore.

[I was in the middle of making breakfast, so let’s go to the kitchen together. You didn’t even eat dinner yesterday, so you’re really hungry, right?]

“Yes, I’m hungry.”

[I’ll make you something delicious right away.]

Ria went out first, then Lucian, and Kaiser followed last, calling after them.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s amazing. You really can see Ria? Did you see ghosts from the start?”

“No. Ria is my first time seeing a ghost.”

“Huh? That makes no sense. If you can see Ria, shouldn’t you be able to see other ghosts too?”

“But I can’t. And from what Ria says, it seems I couldn’t see her from the start, either.”

“Then how did you start seeing her? Did she use some kind of magic?”

“No, it’s not that. I just thought I wanted to see Ria, and then I could see her.”

At those words, both Kaiser and Ria stopped walking and looked at him.

Ria didn’t know how Lucian had come to see her, either.

She had thought it was because their souls somehow connected, but was it not?

“Then why can’t I? I want to see Ria too!”

Kaiser started whining again. Unlike Ria being disgusted, Lucian was so kind he entertained his whining.

Looking at it like this, shouldn’t their ages be swapped?

[Gross. Of all things, why does he whine in that form. Lucian, tell him it’s gross and to please change into another form.]

“Um…… Lord Kaiser, Ria says it’s gross, so she wants you to change your form.”

“What’s wrong with my current form? This is a polymorph that fully captures my gorgeous self!”

[Your face needs to match what you do for it to be worth looking at.]

“She says your face needs to match what you do for it to be worth looking at.”

“……Tch. Same thing Mom says.”

[What. So he’s already been nagged about it.]

Kaiser snapped his fingers. Then his form changed from a man in his twenties to someone about Lucian’s age.

Lucian’s eyes went round as he stared at Kaiser, now at the same eye level as him.

“What are you looking at?”

Of course, only the shell changed—the insides were the same.

* * *

“I was wondering what that delicious smell was…….”

Kaiser looked around the kitchen, where cooking was in full swing, with a blank face.

“Lord Kaiser, have you eaten?”

“Huh? Ah, I mean…….”

When Kaiser couldn’t open his mouth easily and floundered, Ria explained.

[Lucian, he doesn’t need to eat.]

“Huh? Why?”

“What did Ria say now?”

“She says Lord Kaiser doesn’t need to eat.”

“It’s not wrong, but…… it makes me feel weirdly annoyed.”

[What’s there to be annoyed about. I’m just stating facts.]

“You can do this too, and you still never treated me to a meal even once?”

Kaiser puffed his cheeks, acting sulky. Since he was in a child’s form like Lucian, it didn’t feel as out of place as before.

“Lucian, don’t you think that’s too much too? It’s been well over 250 years since I started coming to this mansion, and I’ve never once been treated to a meal.”

[Lucian, let his words go in one ear and out the other. He’s the kind of guy who says human food is too lowly and doesn’t suit his tastes anyway.]

Lucian looked confused, like he didn’t know whose words to listen to. In the meantime, Ria plated food and handed it to Lucian.

Since he’d been fasting for almost half a day, she gave him soup to warm his stomach and soft bread.

Instead of saying thanks, Lucian stared at his plate.

“Lord Kaiser, do you want some?”

Then he held his own out in front of Kaiser. Kaiser floundered, and Ria was dumbfounded too.

“You said you’ve never eaten food Ria made even once. Ria’s food is the best! There isn’t a single thing that isn’t delicious!”

“Khmm! If you insist that much…….”

[He can’t even say thank you……. Lucian, I told you you don’t have to take care of him.]

“But it’s better if we eat together.”

[Good grief, you soft-hearted kid.]

Ria shook her head and served Lucian one more portion.

Kaiser was already eating what Lucian had given him.

He savored it with a blank face, then moved his spoon without a word.

Seeing him quietly inhale it, Lucian grinned.

“Is it good?”

“Well…… it’s edible.”

Kaiser’s cheeks turned red.

Seeing that he was satisfied, Lucian smiled even wider, like he was happier himself, and started eating too.

Just as always, Lucian lifted the corners of his mouth brightly.

“Today is delicious too, Ria!”

[This is without your help—does it suit your mouth? It isn’t too salty or too bland?]

In that instant, Kaiser’s hand twitched.

“Yes, it seems like you match it well even without me now? It’d be nice if Ria could eat too.”

[Forget it. I can’t even smell, so what. I don’t even know what “delicious” feels like in the first place.]

Lucian and Ria looked at each other and giggled. But then they felt a prickling gaze.

When they turned their heads, their eyes met Kaiser’s.

‘Huh? Our eyes meet? This feels like déjà vu…… like I’ve felt it somewhere before.’

“W-w-waaah!”

Kaiser let out a shriek, and Lucian, drinking soup, choked, while Ria flinched and stepped back.

“Khk! Cough! W-what, what is it?”

[What’s with him now.]

Kaiser fell off his chair and stared up at Ria with a blank face. Something is definitely strange.

With a feeling like she’d experienced it once before, Ria tilted her head and approached him.

[……Don’t tell me, you can see me?]

Kaiser nodded with a blank face. Ria and Lucian’s eyes went wide, and they looked at each other.

“Waaah! You can really see Ria? How?”

[No…… how is this happening?]

Something like a miracle happened? Kaiser, who had never even seen her silhouette, never heard her voice, suddenly can see her? It’s so sudden…….

At that moment, something caught Ria’s eye. The food Kaiser had been eating.

Lucian had also seen Ria after eating food she gave him.

Of course, Lucian hadn’t seen her right away after eating her food, but if she had to find a common point, it really was only that they’d eaten food she made.

“W…… w…… w!”

After endlessly saying only “w,” Kaiser sprang up with a shout.

Kaiser strode up to Ria and looked up at her.

“……So you’re Ria.”

For some reason, his green eyes wavered. Before she could wonder what it was, transparent tears slid down from his eyes.