“In the end, no one among the dragon race used time-reversal magic. Then it means the culprit is among humans… There’s only one person with such a possibility.”

A heavy silence hung in the dark conference hall. In that place where no one stepped forward, Siod calmly took a step and said.

“I will go.”

It was quite an impulsive decision. He could feel the heavy-bottomed dragons watching him intently. Though they didn’t show it, they all seemed to welcome someone volunteering.

However, Lord was looking at him with a dubious expression.

“It’s strange that you would volunteer for such a task.”

“What do you mean?”

“You must know the result we want.”

Siod chuckled.

“Isn’t it to find and eliminate the culprit of the time reversal?”

“You have a connection with that human woman.”

It was Lord himself who had initially sent Siod to investigate the transcendent Guinevere Rodante. Lord sank deep into his chair and sighed.

“Could you eliminate her if she turns out to be the culprit?”

“Yes.”

“You seemed to have met her with good feelings.”

“For a fleeting moment, yes. That’s why I think I should go all the more.”

‘He’s not one to tell lies.’

Lord thought this, but still didn’t release his suspicion towards Siod.

“There are victims among the dragon race in this incident. I don’t know how that child will turn out if someone turns back time once more.”

“I understand.”

Lord’s daughter was incubating an egg. Usually, a hatchling would break out of its egg after a hundred years, but this time, the egg hadn’t hatched even after a hundred years had passed.

No dragon in the Dragon Valley was affected by the time reversal magic. Their own magic protected them. So during the repeated time reversals, the dragons could leisurely sleep.

But the egg couldn’t do that. Lord’s daughter Cassandra was fuming, asking how she could wait another 50 years.

“I hope the matter will be resolved smoothly while Cassandra is quietly incubating the egg.”

“It will be.”

Siod sincerely believed so. It was a shallow emotion. He had left before it could deepen. He hadn’t seen that woman for a while, but he felt nothing.

Moreover, though he didn’t say it, Siod knew Guinevere’s magic. During the three time reversals, he too had suspected Guinevere, but having seen her up close, he knew.

Guinevere is not the culprit. The feeling of the magic was similar but different. Perhaps not Guinevere herself, but someone close to her, maybe even her child.

‘I did hear news that she had a child.’

Siod was almost certain. That the child was the culprit. The child of a woman he had briefly met once, but a relationship that meant nothing to him. What could be difficult about it?

As he left the barrier of the Dragon Valley with Lord’s permission, Siod took a deep breath.

“Even the air feels different.”

The air of the human world. He whistled as he leisurely descended the mountain. The weather was nice, and his steps were light.

Usually, dragons find their human form uncomfortable and dislike going outside the barrier, but he was different.

‘Guinevere Rodante, I wonder how much she has changed?’

The human world was always interesting. While the dragons’ time flowed slowly and lazily, humans’ time changed quickly and radically.

So Guinevere must have changed a lot too.

‘About… 60 years have passed? No. For Guinevere, it would be about 15 years.’

If it weren’t for the consecutive time reversal incidents, Siod would have continued sleeping. He had thought that when he woke up after a few hundred years, Guinevere would have turned into a handful of dust.

But to meet again so soon like this.

‘Is it fate?’

He chuckled at the ridiculous thought. Still, thanks to this shallow connection, Guinevere’s life was spared, so she should be grateful to him.

If it were other dragons, they would have killed Guinevere first without bothering to investigate properly.

‘Even if I explain that I saved her life, she probably won’t be grateful…’

It doesn’t matter. If I don’t say anything, that’s the end of it. After secretly dealing with Guinevere’s child…

‘Will she cry?’

He had never seen her crying before. His steps halted. Siod hesitated for a moment.

‘We don’t necessarily have to kill, right?’

There might be a better way than killing. Though he had impulsively volunteered to come out because he didn’t want Guinevere to die, the more he thought about it, the more complicated it seemed.

He resumed walking. This time, his steps were a bit heavier. After pondering for a while, he came up with a good idea.

‘Ah, yes. We can make that child take a magician’s oath.’

It would be fine as long as the culprit doesn’t use the time reversal magic again. Then the egg will hatch, and the dragons will go back to sleep without interfering in the human world, just like before.

Siod thought carefreely as he walked towards the direction where he sensed magic. His mood improved again at the thought of seeing the human world after a long time.

*

There were still 11 years left until Larisa became an adult, so the two decided to prepare for the immediate tasks at hand.

Larisa would prepare to attend elementary school, while William would prepare to enter the Knight Department of the Academy.

Although it hadn’t been long since he decided on majoring in the Knight Department, William wasn’t worried at all.

He was born with superior physical abilities to begin with. Especially, his sense of danger was well-developed, so even in his first sparring, though attacking was difficult, he could dodge well.

“At this rate, you’ll pass without any problem.”

The retired knight that Hedel had brought in as a swordsmanship instructor said with a hearty laugh. Larisa asked.

“Grandpa, is William doing well?”

“Of course. He’s excellent.”

“You’re not just praising him because he’s Young Master Rodante, are you?”

“Haha, while I’m not entirely without such feelings, he genuinely seems to be above the passing line. He dodges so well, like a little mouse.”

“A little mouse?”

William was standing with one leg when the swordsmanship instructor hit the back of his knee with a wooden sword. William, who almost fell forward, burst out.

“Ah, why did you hit me!”

“It’s a test. A test. Try dodging sudden attacks like this too. Hahaha.”

William’s sparring with the swordsmanship instructor lasted a full day. Although William mostly just dodged and never succeeded in a proper attack even once.

Still, from the old knight’s perspective, William was a very annoying fellow. He was a knight who had trained with a sword all his life. At first, he thought it was absurd that someone who had never held a sword before was now aspiring to join the Knight Department, but later…

‘He dodges this too? He even dodges something like this?’

It was amazing. Moreover, his strength was so good that when he decided to attack, his sword strikes were quite fierce. The most frustrating thing was that as time passed, the boy was still full of energy while only the old man himself was getting tired.

‘The world will be shocked and turned upside down.’

He couldn’t understand how the bloodline of the Great Witch had no talent for magic but instead had superior physical abilities… Indeed, the world was full of surprises the longer you lived.

In the end, the old knight left after just one day, saying he had nothing more to teach.

“William, what are you going to do with the remaining time?”

Originally, it was time to study alchemy. But judging by her expression, Larisa seemed to have something she wanted.

“I have no plans. Why?”

“Then… can you help me learn letters?”

“What? You don’t know how to read?”

“…”

William regretted the words he had thoughtlessly blurted out. Of course, a kid from the slums wouldn’t know how to read.

“Then how did you read picture books until now?”

“There are pictures, you know.”

“Hmm, then I’ll teach you how to read… Sigh, why did Mother bring you here and not even pay attention…”

“Mother said I should get plump first. Then learn things after that.”

“That’s true, but…”

Skinny Larisa was cute enough with her big round eyes, but she would probably be even cuter if she became chubby.

“For now… shall we study with picture books? From tomorrow, you choose a book for this time.”

These days, the two were naturally spending all their schedules together.

They have breakfast together, take a morning walk, have lunch, Larisa watches William study, they have tea time, take an afternoon walk, have dinner, and then part ways.

Now William’s study time became Larisa’s reading lesson time.

“But William, why don’t you come to my room anymore?”

“You know all the ways now, don’t you?”

“Yes. But you don’t come to play? I always go to play at William’s…”

William furrowed his brow and said.

“Lara. A man shouldn’t freely enter and leave a lady’s room.”

“But I’m not a lady, I’m just a kid?”

“Hmm. Anyway, that’s how it is. And this isn’t my room either, it’s the reception room.”

“What?”

Only then did Larisa look around and realize there was no bed.

“Then am I the only one who doesn’t know William’s room?”

Larisa said with a shocked face. William scratched his cheek, feeling bewildered, and said.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Then what if I have a scary dream while sleeping?”

William covered his face with both hands. The thought of Larisa coming to find his room, trembling after having a scary dream, was cute just to imagine.

But he desperately held back the urge to squirm. He couldn’t become a pervert like this. And he calmly explained.

“In that case, you can pull the bell rope in the room and a maid will come.”

“But… the maid sisters have to work in the morning too, and if I wake them up, they’ll be tired.”

“That’s true. Then I guess there’s no choice.”

William, who had answered thoughtlessly, inwardly screamed.

‘No choice, my ass!’

William thought. All this madness was Mother’s doing. It’s because Mother said she would marry her to me… told us to have children. Therefore, Mother should solve this.

“In that case, go to Mother’s laboratory.”

“To Mother?”

“Mother doesn’t sleep in her room and always stays in the lab, so you can go to the lab anytime and she’ll be there.”

“But it’s a bit scary…”

“Think about it, Lara. There’s nothing scarier in this world than Mother. So there’s no safer place than beside Mother.”

It was an invincible logic.

“Th-That’s true!”

Larisa was convinced.

And that’s how Larisa ended up visiting Guinevere’s laboratory that night.