FCTG Chapter 28

Oops.

Belatedly realizing Serendia's presence, Dante cleared his throat with a cough.

"Ahem. So anyway, I have an acquaintance who's an antiquarian, so I had a chance to see a dragon egg up close. I couldn't be certain until I heard Drago's answer. In any case, this egg... seems to be a dragon's egg. A northern dragon maybe... I think they have this color?"

Dante made up an excuse on the spot while looking at the egg. Actually, such things didn't matter to Serendia.

What mattered to her was...

"Is it okay for me to keep it?"

"Of course, Dia."

Dante placed the egg in Serendia's arms.

Serendia quickly received the egg like a mother beast getting back her stolen young. Then she exhaled a deep breath of relief.

Dante gestured with his chin toward Lucy standing in the distance. Now all that remained was to ease her tension. Lucy approached and spoke warmly.

"Wow, a dragon's egg, how wonderful!"

I thought it was a lizard... Lucy muttered while looking at the egg. It was better than before, but her eyes were still full of disgust.

Ugh. Reptiles!

Nevertheless, Lucy suppressed her disgust and even handed over a basket warmly. It was a basket woven from reeds.

"Put it in here, My la... ah, no, Saint! It'll be inconvenient carrying it by hand all the time."

"Thank you, Lucy."

Serendia placed the egg in the basket she received. But leaving just the egg sitting there alone somehow didn't feel right.

'Come to think of it, it was muttering about being cold.'

Serendia felt sorry for the baby dragon curled up inside the egg.

"Um... Your Grace."

"Mm?"

"Could I borrow one of the cushions from the sofa? I'll put it at the bottom of the basket."

"As many as you'd like."

Dante smiled brightly and personally brought a thin cushion to lay inside the basket.

"If you take good care of it, it might break through the shell and hatch."

Lucy muttered while staring intently at the egg in the basket. Drago, who had been listening to the conversation from the side, lifted his chin and interjected.

"Dragon. Great! Great dragon, human cannot raise! Only dragon can raise, human!"

"But My la..., no, the Saint is a saint! She's not an ordinary human!"

When Lucy objected, Drago drooped his tail. Droop. He even awkwardly shrank his boulder-like body and stepped back one step to the side.

"That maid is right. According to legend, the North—"

Dante trailed off and turned his head toward Theodore. Theodore naturally picked up his lord's words.

"It is known as a land blessed by Selene, goddess of the moon, and the ice dragon. Though no dragons remain on the continent today. Perhaps this egg is a descendant of that ice dragon."

"Then maybe this baby dragon really did break the Saint's curse!"

At Lucy's mention of the word curse, the area under Dante's eyes twitched. However, Dante affirmed the maid's words with a gentle smile.

"Did you hear that, Dia? It seems that egg is special. Just like you."

"...Could that be?"

Serendia, who always denied being a saint, passed over it calmly this time, perhaps because the curse had been lifted.

"I'm glad we can stay together."

Serendia whispered while stroking the egg lying docilely on the cushion in the basket. Her eyes looking at the egg were full of affection.

Dante stood at a slight distance, watching Serendia admiring the egg. Theodore whispered beside him in a small voice.

"The hypnotic spell... the protective magic breaking, it was because of that egg, wasn't it?"

Theodore quickly corrected his word choice.

Dante nodded. Then he answered, gesturing with his chin at the egg in Serendia's arms.

"Serendia and that egg are connected by a special power I can't sense."

"...How did you notice it if it's a power you can't sense?"

At Theodore's sharp point, Dante narrowed his brow in displeasure. Dante pouted his lips and scolded Theodore.

"Don't argue with your lord's words, mortal."

"I-I'm just worried..."

"Worried I put a bomb in Dia's arms? Of course I cast a spell on it!"

Dante exclaimed quietly in frustration.

"It will vanish the instant it threatens Dia."

"...I see."

Theodore nodded then casually asked.

"But for an ice dragon to appear... Even if it is just an egg. Could this mean that Lady Serendia is truly a saint?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

Dante evaded the question with an ambiguous answer.

Whether Serendia was truly a saint didn't matter. Dante would love her no matter what she was.

Even if Serendia were a beggar begging on the roadside, a lowly slave, or a pitiful being whose soul had been violated by others...

To him, she was as noble as a saint.

Because of that terrible love, Dante had to deceive even himself.

That egg was protecting Serendia from all threats. Blind protection that sought no reward, not bound by any contract.

Although that was why he'd allowed it to stay by her side.

Dante refused to acknowledge that fact to the very end.

To acknowledge it would mean,

that he was a threatening presence to Serendia. And he couldn't accept that there was another being as blindly devoted to Serendia as himself.

'I'll just keep it by Dia's side and quietly observe it until I figure out what it is.'

It's just an egg anyway.

An egg whose only talent is rolling around couldn't possibly become an obstacle between him and Serendia.

Several days later.

Tap, tap, sizzle—

Dante cracked an egg with one hand and dropped it onto an iron pan. The fried egg cooked with a sizzle on the iron coated with premium olive oil.

"Dante, cooking many egg dishes lately."

Drago muttered to himself beside Dante, who was absorbed in making another meal full of devotion for Serendia.

"Mother hens, angry."

Drago added while crushing an apple with one hand. He was squeezing apple juice with his bare hands. It was a blemished fruit he'd received as a bonus at the market.

"......"

Dante ignored Drago's words and placed the half-cooked fried egg on a plate.

"Apostle of Tenon, taking too many eggs."

Drago raised his voice a bit more. It wasn't a mutter to himself. He was telling Dante to listen.

Dante stubbornly ignored him and mixed two eggs with a pinch of salt and a bit of pepper in a bowl, then poured it onto the iron pan.

Sizzle—!

When he stirred rapidly with a spatula, the egg mixture puffed up into a fluffy shape. Dante lifted the scrambled eggs before they were fully cooked.

"Hmm. Something seems lacking..."

Dante scrutinized the food on the silver plate with a serious expression.

"Protein, excessive. Nutrients, not balanced."

"Ah. I forgot the garnish herbs!"

Dante clapped once, then plucked herbs from the windowsill planter and placed them on top of the food.

Various dishes Dante had made were neatly arranged on a tray with handles.

Dante covered them so the heat wouldn't escape, and Drago transferred the fresh apple juice he'd squeezed into a water bottle.

"I'll skip this."

Dante was about to put the water bottle with apple juice on the tray but stopped and set it far away.

"...I can't put food made by another male into Dia's stomach."

"Drago, worked hard! Washed hands clean!"

Drago shouted as if wronged.

"And yesterday took it and ate! ...Apostle of Tenon, being unreasonable!"

"Unreasonable?"

Dante raised one eyebrow.

"Young dragon. Yesterday Drago in a good mood so specially showed mercy. But today I cannot. Blame your three-inch tongue."

"Grrr...!"

Toward the threateningly growling Drago, Dante stuck out his tongue obnoxiously and lifted the tray high.

"Jealousy! Ugly! Ugly man, women, ice princess dislikes!"

Drago shouted at Dante's back.

"...Dia, dislikes me?"

Dante stopped in his tracks at the kitchen door.

When he lightly gestured with his chin, the water bottle floated up and settled on the tray.

"Drago, washed hands clean!"

Drago gave a thumbs up as if to say he could be trusted. Dante rolled his eyes with an exasperated expression, then moved his feet again.

"Dia, it's mealtime."

Dante appeared pushing a trolley.

His handsome face was blooming with smiles again today. Looking at his fresh smile made her feel as if all her worries and concerns had evaporated.