First Reunion (4)

As I rested comfortably in the room, evening soon arrived.

During that time, I had released my Polymorph and was rolling around, taking a break.

It seems I shouldn’t use Magic recklessly when I’m a hatchling.

I released my Polymorph due to Magic depletion issues,

as my total amount is so small, I must avoid a situation where I can’t use Magic when it’s truly needed.

“Helix, aren’t you hungry? It’s already evening.”

“Kiiik.”

Camille, who had gone out for a while, seemed to have had some business to attend to.

When she asked if I wanted to eat, I nodded my head.

I was incredibly hungry, probably because I had used a lot of Magic today.

I was starting to crave greasy meat.

“The girls prepared dinner.”

“…”

There was only one group Camille would refer to as “the girls.”

The Dragon’s Priestesses. Now that I thought about it, this building was also located near the Dragon God Temple.

No matter what, was it still their role to attend to me?

My thoughts suddenly became complicated.

“Do you dislike the girls attending to you…? If you do, I’ll call someone else.”

“Kiiik…”

In my dragon form, I shook my head from side to side.

It wasn’t a matter of liking or disliking.

In this Holy Dominion, I was faith itself.

Being rejected by me meant having their faith denied.

I always had to be aware of how much of a ripple effect acting arbitrarily based on my every mood could cause.

“That’s a relief. Even if I’m not, those girls are innocent. Please don’t look at them too negatively.”

“Kiiik…?”

Camille was making some strange mistake.

I had never looked at the Dragon’s Priestesses negatively.

If anything, I only pitied their situation.

“Saint-nim, may I come in?”

“Yes, come in.”

A moment later, a young voice, accompanied by a knock, was heard, indicating that dinner had arrived.

But somehow, it was a familiar voice.

I had a premonition that it would be a face I knew.

“Hello, Oh Great One-isiyeo. It is an honor to serve you.”

“Kiiik.”

A total of seven Dragon’s Priestesses followed them in.

Since I had just arrived here, was this a procedure for them to introduce themselves?

But my gaze was fixed on one girl among them.

‘Sera.’

The Dragon’s Priestess with whom I had first formed a bond.

And the child Camille cherished quite a bit.

To reunite with her again after my regression.

It was a truly novel feeling.

“Oh my…”

Sera’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me.

In my previous life, too, when she first saw me, she showed excessive interest,

and reached out her hand without permission, only to be bitten by me.

“So cute…”

Sera instantly reached out her hand as if to touch me.

But…

Wham!

There was someone who grabbed Sera’s wrist.

Surprisingly, it was Camille.

“S-Saint-nim?”

“No, Sera.”

“…”

“Helix dislikes being touched without permission. He might bite if he gets angry.”

Camille’s atmosphere seemed overly stern.

At that, Sera awkwardly withdrew her hand.

“Is that so…? I’m sorry. For trying to touch the dragon without permission…”

“Don’t misunderstand, I’m not angry. I’m just worried you might get hurt.”

Camille was arbitrarily treating me like a troublemaker, even though I had no intention of biting.

Feeling bewildered, I strode towards Sera.

“Oh…?”

And…

I demonstratively bit Sera’s hand.

But it wasn’t a painful bite like in my previous life.

It was just to convey that she shouldn’t misunderstand me.

And as if understanding my intention, Sera burst into Kyaruru laughter.

“Ahahaha, Saint-nim. It seems the dragon wants to convey that he won’t bite…?”

“Th-that’s right. But before, he bit when someone touched him without permission…”

“Is that so? Still, I’m glad the dragon seems to like me.”

Sera carefully placed her hand on my head.

When I didn’t react unpleasantly, her touch became a little bolder.

She stroked my scales, which hadn’t yet developed their full luster, then tickled my chin.

“You’re so adorable. I thought dragons would be incredibly fearsome.”

“Really…? Sera, you’re a bit unusual…”

“Hehe, I sometimes hear that. But you truly are adorable, Hatchling-nim…”

Sera continued to show interest in me.

Camille, with a flustered expression, quickly picked me up and placed me on her lap.

“Alright, that’s enough touching. Helix is hungry.”

“Oh, right. Look at me. I was so engrossed in touching him that I completely forgot.”

Sera cut a slightly cooled beef steak and offered it to me.

“I’m sorry for making you wait, Hatchling-nim. Here, say ‘ah’.”

“J-just a moment, Sera.”

Camille gripped the fork in her hand tightly.

“I’ll feed him, you don’t need to cut it all.”

“Oh, Saint-nim, if you do even that, what will we have to do? Please leave this much to us.”

“Still…”

Camille couldn’t bring herself to stop Sera, who was so diligently focused on her task.

Her tightly pursed lips, looking as if she had much to say, were quite pitiful.

“Ehehe, eat a lot, Hatchling-nim.”

“Kiiik.”

At the fragrant smell of meat, saliva involuntarily drooled from my mouth.

I gobbled up the piece of meat Sera offered in the blink of an eye.

Sera grinned broadly, diligently spearing pieces of meat with her fork and offering them to my mouth.

“Oh, you eat so well. Good boy.”

Even though she was still young herself, Sera’s characteristic maternal personality remained unchanged.

Among the Dragon’s Priestesses, she stood out so strongly in my memory not just because she was the first Dragon’s Priestess I had embraced.

Sera had almost no fear of those in power.

Because of that, she was bound to stand out.

“Saint-nim, you should eat too.”

“Eueung, I should eat.”

“Ah, perhaps it’s because I only took care of Hatchling-nim and not Saint-nim…?”

“Ah, no!”

“Ehehe, no? Saint-nim, you still have a cute side to you. It was boring lately because you’ve been acting like such an old soul.”

This time, Sera directly cut Camille’s meat for her.

Well, no matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like she was sulking because her meat wasn’t cut…

Thanks to this, Camille wore a strange expression, unable to laugh or cry.

‘Why are you so uncharacteristically jealous?’

The moment I sighed in bewilderment, my eyes met Camille’s.

“Eut…”

As soon as our eyes met, Camille’s gaze wavered violently.

And not just that.

Her lips were pouting, as if she couldn’t understand.

But she couldn’t voice her complaints to me, only suppressing them internally.

I looked at such a Camille with an indifferent expression.

“…”

I understood why Camille was acting like that, but…

Honestly, the Dragon’s Priestesses and I had already been through everything.

And Camille was the one who had instigated it.

After making us physically intimate, her acting like this now only made me let out a hollow laugh.

‘She’ll really flip out when I bring up the other wives later.’

To think that Camille, who had no jealousy, had changed so much.

It was tiring, yet a fresh feeling.

They say people never change, but…

Perhaps if they receive a shock too great to bear, they change a little?

‘I’m getting my hopes up for nothing again.’

At that moment, my other five wives flashed through my mind.

Had they changed even a little because of my death?

Or were they still the same?

“Hatchling-nim, are you full now…?”

Sera’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

In front of me, the leftover pieces of meat had grown cold.

“Hmm, you don’t seem to have eaten that much. Is it because the meat is cold that you don’t want to eat anymore?”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

Camille was right.

I ate cooked meat, cold meat, or raw meat indiscriminately.

Especially raw meat, which had its own unique flavor.

However, I usually avoided eating raw meat because it sometimes made others look at me with fear, and the process was messy.

“Kiiik.”

“Oh, Hatchling-nim, what are you going to do?”

Whooo!!

I let out a very faint breath, slowly warming the meat.

An extraordinary feat that no one but a dragon could replicate.

Both Sera and Camille wore dumbfounded expressions.

“He’s even grilling it himself so we don’t have to bother…”

“I’ve never seen him do that before either.”

This was a skill I had unexpectedly honed because of my fourth wife.

She was a Fairy, a very mischievous woman.

She treated me like a portable grill, making me do all sorts of annoying things like “grill this” and “grill that.”

Well, looking back now, even that was a memory.

“Kiiik…”

Lost in old memories, I finished grilling and eating the remaining meat.

Smoke curled up from the meat.

It felt as if, if I pushed through that smoke, the times I spent with her would unfold alongside it…

My heart kept tingling.

******

After dinner, night fell.

My first night after regression.

Even though we weren’t a married couple yet, Camille and I naturally ended up sharing a room.

“Helix, can you turn back into your human form?”

“Kiiik?”

Wooong!!

At Camille’s request, I briefly cast Polymorph.

“I can’t stay like this for long. As a hatchling, my Magic is low, so I need to conserve my reserves.”

“Just for a moment.”

Camille crawled slowly over from the bed and lay down beside me.

Her eyes held a look that suggested she had a lot to say.

Camille mumbled with her lips, then with difficulty, began to speak.

“You didn’t bite Sera this time?”

“Because there’s no reason to.”

“You’re not jealous anymore…?”

“Of course not.”

At that, Camille pouted her lips.

“Can you tell me more about what we talked about earlier?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The story about Vivian, that woman.”

“…”

I was silent for a moment, then with difficulty, opened my mouth.

“You won’t be able to sleep if you hear it. Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

“I’m not sure… but I still want to hear it.”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on hiding it forever anyway. Ask me anything you want to know.”

It was inevitable.

Vivian seemed just as nervous, as I heard her Kkolkkak swallow.

“What was your relationship with Vivian there? Teacher and student?”

“No, it was deeper than that.”

Even in the darkness, Camille’s blue eyes sparkled.

But it wasn’t the sparkle of intelligence, but of fear.

Camille was afraid of the answer, even after asking the question herself.

“Then… what was it…?”

“Partner.”

“…!!”

Suddenly, Camille shot up from her spot.

And leaning over me, she pressed her face close…

She interrogated me with burning eyes.

“N-no way…! You’re joking, right!?”

“Does it look like I’m joking?”

“…”

Camille was so shocked she couldn’t even form proper words.

As if she didn’t want to believe it, Camille let out a laugh like a madwoman…

She clutched her cheek, scratching her chin with her fingernails.

“How could you take that woman as your wife…?! She was the woman who deceived you, so how could you possibly…?!”

“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.”

To Camille, who was consumed by anger and betrayal, I calmly stated.

“Listen carefully, Camille. In my second life, you couldn’t awaken me while I was asleep in the egg.”

“…!!”

“But Vivian awakened me while I was asleep. In the same way you did.”

“N-no way…! That demonic woman could awaken you…?”

“I don’t know, but I can confirm this much. Vivian possessed something you didn’t.”

Vivian was a villainess.

An undeniable villainess, leaving no room for argument.

The worst woman in the world, without equal, who had deceived me and tried to betray me countless times.

Yet, there was one thing Vivian was better at than Camille.

‘Possessiveness.’

A fierce desire for only one person…

And furthermore, a yearning to monopolize them.

That was something Camille could never hope to match.