Chapter 46
Like a cat in a very foul mood—
“Wuaaaanng…!”
Nivellia let out a strange, unintelligible babble as she arched her back.
Even her soft, cotton-candy-like silver hair seemed to bristle sharply for some reason.
Then suddenly, she charged straight at the kitten.
“Go away!”
It was such a reckless, headlong charge that even a wild boar might have been knocked back if it collided with her.
Startled, the kitten dashed away in panic.
It quickly disappeared back into the bushes at the edge of the forest where it had come from.
But even that wasn’t enough for Nivellia. She ran to where it had vanished and kept hissing furiously.
“Haaak! Hiss!”
“Nini!”
Soles, who had been frozen in shock, finally came to his senses and grabbed Nivellia.
But in her agitated state, Nivellia shook off his hand.
“This is Nini’s territory! Don’t come heeere!”
“Nini! Strictly speaking, this is the territory of the Deiamor family.”
Even in this chaos, Soles corrected her properly.
“Go away! If I see you again, I’ll tear your throat out…!”
“Waaah! Nini!”
Soles’ scream echoed deep into the forest.
“……”
“……”
Kaleo and Celetina, who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, were left speechless.
The first thing they saw was their youngest daughter, Nivellia, fuming with anger.
Nivellia, who rarely got angry, looked furious enough for her hair to stand on end.
“Aref! You can’t do that!”
“……”
“Aref, your cat is Nini! So should you reach out your hand to another cat or not?”
“Uh… n-no…?”
“Then why did you do it?!”
After chasing away the kitten that had invaded her territory, Nivellia immediately scolded Aref until he was nearly in tears.
Meanwhile, Aref was completely confused, not even understanding why he was being scolded.
On the other hand, Soles was deeply shocked by his younger sister’s unexpectedly fierce and brutal choice of words.
Unable to recover from the shock, he grabbed Ardores and kept worrying.
“Grandfather, Nini is using such harsh language…!”
“I-I see…”
“Shouldn’t we not send her to kindergarten? Where did she learn such cruel and terrifying words…?”
“No, that’s not the kindergarten’s fault.”
It’s probably my fault.
Ardores reflected belatedly on his rough speech habits from his days as a holy knight.
“Pfft…!”
“Guh…!”
The witches were clutching their stomachs, struggling to hold back their laughter.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
Azel was even crying—from laughing too hard.
It was, quite literally, a scene of pure chaos.
Amidst all this, only Muniel stood still, silently staring at the forest entrance where the kitten had disappeared.
“Mother.”
Kaleo approached and asked,
“What happened?”
“……”
“…Mother?”
Are you alright?
Growing worried at Muniel’s lack of response, Kaleo called out several times. When she didn’t answer, his heart sank.
“Oh my—!”
“Be quiet.”
A wrinkled hand suddenly covered Kaleo’s mouth.
“I’m thinking. Stay quiet.”
Muniel had simply been deep in thought.
Relieved, Kaleo exchanged glances with Celetina, who also let out a breath of relief.
They both turned their gaze toward where Muniel was looking.
“Mother, what’s over there?”
“The cat Nini chased away.”
Something pretending to be a cat.
“Ah…”
Only then did Celetina understand the source of this chaos.
“Nini never really liked other cats.”
Even though she claimed to be a cat herself, she didn’t actually like real cats much.
When she was younger—
Back when she had just started crawling—
Celetina had once shown baby Nivellia a kitten that the maids were secretly raising in the stables.
“Haaak!”
Back then, Nivellia had hissed and swung her arm as if to hit it.
In the end, the stable keeper adopted the kitten and took it home.
Since then, cats had not been allowed in the Deiamor estate.
“They say cats are territorial animals.”
Muniel finally turned her gaze away from the forest.
“They don’t like other cats entering their territory.”
“She really sounds like some kind of thug.”
“Kaleo.”
Calling your own daughter a thug?
Celetina sharply warned him to watch his words.
Embarrassed, Kaleo apologized, but Celetina’s expression didn’t soften easily.
“…It’s changed.”
Muniel murmured quietly.
But no one heard her.
“Oh dear, our Nini.”
Shall we calm down now?
At some point, Muniel had already picked Nivellia up and was soothing her.
In the end, with a bold declaration of “I need to mark my territory!”, Nivellia tightly hugged Aref.
The kitten chased away by Nivellia ran wildly through the forest.
Along the way, it passed wild animals like boars, weasels, and raccoon dogs.
They glanced at the running kitten briefly before looking away.
Only after reaching deep into the forest did the kitten stop, panting heavily.
“What is that insolent brat?!”
A low, ominous voice came out of the kitten’s mouth.
Its fluffy black fur instantly transformed into smooth scales.
Its short tail grew larger, and its stubby legs expanded fivefold.
What looked like a black, winged lizard chirped like a chick—
Yet its voice was heavy, as if echoing from deep within a cave.
“You expect me to protect that damned thing? My neck almost got torn off! That tiny brat tried to kill me!”
The evil dragon Ater had remained in egg form for a long time.
In truth, it could have hatched much earlier. But it had kept sleeping inside the egg because it hated where it was.
A great dragon—
The last remaining one in existence—
Hatching in the arms of a sweaty, muscle-filled mercenary?
Just imagining it was horrifying, so the dragon had decided it would rather die and continued sleeping.
Swearing never to hatch from such a crude and filthy chest.
Then, its fading consciousness suddenly stirred.
Something was holding it.
“Wow, is this really a dragon’s egg?”
It seemed the mercenary king selection had finally ended.
“It just looks like a shiny rock. Hey, you’re not scamming me, right?”
“N-no! It really is the egg of the evil dragon Ater!”
“Well, it doesn’t matter if it isn’t. I didn’t win this for myself anyway. Go bring a box.”
The one who became the mercenary king was a young woman.
She had beautiful red hair, and one of her eyes bore a scar from a blade—though the eye itself was intact.
“I don’t care if it’s an evil dragon or not.”
She leaned close to the egg and whispered,
“I have a young niece. It’s her birthday soon, so I’ll give you to her. Go protect Nini.”
Thus, the egg of the evil dragon, placed in a box, only arrived at the Deiamor estate long after Nivellia’s birthday had passed.
But the box was empty.
During transport, Ater had already hatched and escaped.
Even after regaining its freedom, however, Ater remained near the Deiamor estate.
After all, even as an evil dragon, it couldn’t completely ignore the request of the mercenary king who had freed it from that dreadful situation.
So, it observed “Nini.”
“Nini” was a small girl.
Nivellia Deiamor.
A four-year-old who resembled Saint Muniel.
And something peculiar—someone who remembered her past life.
In truth, remembering past lives wasn’t that special.
Dragons remembered their past lives too—or more precisely, they inherited the knowledge and experiences of their predecessors.
When Ater first gained consciousness, what came to mind was the memory of a previous evil dragon casting a curse on a human 180 years ago.
Anyway, that wasn’t the important part.
Something unsettling was lurking around Nivellia.
Something that writhed as if it could destroy and devour the world was targeting her.
And not just Nivellia.
If one looked closely, that grotesque presence had spread throughout the Deiamor estate, the capital, and even across the entire Drameno Empire.
Even the mighty evil dragon found it chilling—
That “thing” did not belong to this world.
“……”
Lost in thought, Ater trembled slightly.
Then it looked up at the sky.
The forest where the witches stayed was especially dense. Branches covered in green leaves intertwined like a net, hiding the blue sky.
A single ray of sunlight slipped through the leaves and touched the dragon’s forehead.
Curling up, Ater closed its eyes and enjoyed the warmth.
“What happened while I was asleep…?”
“Something terrible, that much is certain.”
Ater slightly opened its eyes.
Looking to the side, it saw the large stag that had led the herd earlier.
“So, the evil dragon has awakened.”
The stag approached and lowered its head slightly toward Ater.
Ater stared for a moment, then lightly nudged its head in response.
“Not long ago. And what brings the Great Spirit of the Forest here?”
“The daughters of the earth have returned.”
“So we have simply returned to our rightful places as well.”
The Great Spirit of the Forest replied with a quiet smile.
