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nThe sound of the mushroom hitting his forehead was so loud that I was flabbergasted. Izek sat on the floor, covering his face with his hands.

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nHuh?

nThere was a strange silence for a moment.

n“I- I didn’t…”

n“Un…”

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n

n“A-Are you okay?”

n“Damn it…” He muttered with a low roar, terrifying the hell out of me.

nSomebody, please tell me I didn’t just get a death flag.

n“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t throw it hard on purpose….”

n“Grrrrrrr!”

nThe dragon, who growled loudly while my husband got attacked, moved with a flash as if to eat the arrogant human being in front of him in one bite.

nMy hand grabbed his blue scales.

n“No! Don’t do that!”

n“Groooo…” The dragon looked back at me with a discontented look.

nHa, I really want to cry. I don’t know who the hell I’m worried about.

nThe whole area was slowly becoming noisy. The sound of humans approaching in a crowd… I looked around, biting my lower lip.

nThe dragon still had meat bits stuck around his mouth like a child. Popo was shaking like a scared bunny. Griffin was struggling to flap its wings while shaking its head…

nIt shouldn’t be like this.

nThere must be more Paladin reinforcements than before, and it would be too much for a dragon to hold against.

nPopo and Griffin would really die at this rate.

nI also didn’t know what kind of monsters they were to the general public or how intimidating they were. There was never an instance where poor wild monsters were left alone. But…

nHow could I just turn a blind eye to those who understood me and had been so kind to me? How could I just let them be slaughtered, injured, and kicked out of their homes? This was all because of me in the first place.

nI had to save everything for now. We’d have to live to see each other again later.

nI hesitated and looked at Izek. Izek had already lifted his face and was staring at me with his chest heaving.

nLook at those wild eyes. Was he trying to figure out what to do with me?

n“I…”

n“…..”

n“I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know. I really didn’t know it would be like this……”

n“Then, how?”

nMy words weren’t working on him.

nBut I really didn’t know, you cold-blooded b*stard!

n“It’s not what you think….”

nHow was I supposed to explain this? My head was throbbing and my stomach was urging me to throw up.

nWhat should I tell him? I was invited to the temple, and I almost ran into Lorenzo, so I hid? And then I heard that b*stard talking about sh*t me, so I wandered around in a daze. While I was sick and walking outside the temple alone, I bumped into Popo? That I didn’t plan on running away, I just happened to be like that.

nI knew it was no use talking about things like that.

nHe wouldn’t believe me anyway.

nThroughout my life, I’d never had a good outcome lying, but…

n“I have nothing to do with Lady Furiana.”

nWords popped out of my mouth. Like it was enchanted, my tongue worked on its own accord.

n“You won’t believe it anyway…. you might think I’m a witch, but I really don’t do anything….I didn’t do anything.”

nThe dragon snorted and came close to my face. I rubbed my eyes with my fist and tried to come to my senses. What was I doing? It was not the time to say this.

n“I didn’t run away on purpose, hic. No, I fainted because of the pain, and they… hic, all they did was help me. The dragon woke up because of me. I mean, hic, I mean…You don’t have to trust me, I’ll do whatever you say, and I’ll take any punish-hic-ment, so please just don’t, hic, make me a witch….”

n“Stop…….”

n“What?”

n“Stop… stop crying.”

nHe must be annoyed. Soon after, my husband raised himself up with a sword, panting. At that moment, I tried to stand back with my mouth shut.

n“Who dares to say you’re a witch?….”

n“Hic, what?”

n“Everything we did… Haa, I mean…”

nFlop.

nThe dragon tilted its head.

n“Damn it, I haven’t slept at all….”

nDespite having managed to stand up on his feet, Izek fell back and lay buried in a pile of snow.

nI was far away, so I just looked at him.

nHow could that monster just fall like that? Just because he got hit by a mushroom? Was there something toxic about this mushroom? Or…

n“I’m sorry.”

n…what?

nI exchanged eyes with the dragon for a moment. I thought my ears were hearing wrong.

n“Am I going crazy?”

nIzek shook his head helplessly. His breath came out white, as he spoke, “I’m sorry.”

n“……”

n“I’m sorry…”

nWas it because of the toxic mushroom? Or was it because of the aftereffects of his excited state? Or did he mistake me for someone else?

nHis red gaze that lost its light, stared blankly at my frozen face.

nWeird. This was really weird.

nWhy was he looking at me like that?

nI thought he was annoyed. I thought he didn’t like me. Did he not feel relieved that I was gone? Did he not assume that I was behind Freya’s condition?

n“Lord Izek!”

n“Lady Rudbeckia!”

nI could hear the Paladins shouting close by. I thought a crowd would appear, but only five or six knights came to the snowfield. Sir Ivan, who was at the forefront, stopped when he saw Izek lying on the ground.

n“Crr….” The dragon growled, showing its huge teeth.

nI put my hand to his snout.

n“Hey, don’t do that. It’s okay.”

nI disn’t know what the hell was okay, but I still said it.

nThe Paladins remained silent as if they were calm, but they were probably nervous. At that time, my husband pulled his sword up from the floor and pulled himself up again.

nThen, he staggered towards me. The dragon gave a ferocious look, but he didn’t care. I was slowly swept away by fatigue and unknown emotions.

nMy messy hair, ragged dress, muddy hands, and bloody feet… all eyes were on me.

nMy body shrank on its own.

nSee, I know I don’t look good….

n“…I’ll leave him alone. You’ve had enough fun.”

nWhat was this? Was he being sarcastic? It was as if he’s picking up his wife who lost track of time on a picnic. And not as if he was here to catch a witch.

n“Hey, he…”

n“One punch won’t kill them. It would only take some time to recover.”

nReally? I faltered and turned towards Popo and Griffin. Sir Ivan opened his mouth to me who hesitated.

n“That’s right, ma’am. They’re surprisingly persistent. After a day or so, they’ll be all up and fresh.”

n“Yes! And above all, endangered species must be left alone! Everyone’s going to make a fuss about the dragon waking up for a while, but we have a work ethic….”

nSomeone blocked Andymion’s chatter mouth. I didn’t know why everyone was acting strange. As if to reassure me, trying to appease…Were they setting a trap to placate me?

n“Crooooo…” The dragon’s snout moved again.

nSomething fell from it. At this point, I thought there was a separate cheek pocket in his mouth. I bent over and picked up the jewel that fell at my feet.

nIt was almost the size of the fist-sized ruby .

nThe dragon, who threw up the jewel out of the blue, was staring at me quietly, making no noise. I tried to return it, but he refused, shaking his snout.

nHis golden eyes were glowing mysteriously as if they wanted to say something. Was he telling me to not go? Did he want me to stay with him longer?

nThe guilt made my throat bitter, but now, I couldn’t help it.

nHaa, I didn’t know how everything would turn out if I messed up here. We could meet again only if we lived through today. Besides…

nI shifted my eyes forward. My husband was silently waiting for me with one arm out.

nNow that I see it, he looked quite tired.

nWhat was so hard? Why did he keep making that weird face? What was he thinking?

nI turned to Popo and Griffin again, gave a final look at the dragon, and held my hand in front.

nSighs broke out in the field.

n“Everyone, retreat!”

n“We can all retreat! Come on, let’s get out of here!”

nAh, that’s a relief.

nI thought I was about to fall, but then my feet swung up in the air. I was a chick again.

nMy teeth chattered.

nI didn’t even know it was cold until earlier, but it was amazing to feel how cold the weather was as soon as I returned to the arms of civilization.

n“Anyway, just go home.”

n…Ha, I’m getting goosebumps. What now, hubby? Hey, you pretended to be having a hard time just now! You said you were sorry all of a sudden, and said all those weird things that made me confused! Are you showing your true colors again?

nThis jerk. I knew this would happen. As expected, this cold-hearted brat had not the faintest idea of letting me slip away!

n“Craaa…..croooo….CRAAAA!”

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nInstead of chasing us, the dragon, who was just looking straight at us, seemed to be roaring in a low tone. Soon, he uttered a long, pain-filled cry.

nIt wasn’t that majestic of a roar, but a shrill cry of sorrow.

n“Groooooo!”

nOh god, that idiot really is crying.

nI buried my face on my mean husband’s shoulder and tried to swallow the sob threatening to escape my mouth. His arms that held me were full of strength.

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