Larisa, who had been playing happily with the sylph, was now asleep in Guinevere’s arms. Guinevere, who had been holding Larisa to befriend the sylph, had also fallen asleep with Larisa on her belly, snoring.

“Shh, let’s leave them be.”

Siod didn’t want to wake Guinevere, who had fallen asleep defenseless for the first time in a long while.

“Should we leave them like that? It looks uncomfortable.”

“Do you know how long it’s been since your mother slept like that? Leave her be.”

Despite that, she’s even snoring. William decided to leave Larisa be, as she looked like an angel while sleeping.

“So, how did you calm her down? It didn’t seem easy.”

Siod nodded towards the sleeping Larisa. William hesitated, then said with reddening cheeks.

“I said I would protect her.”

Ahem, William cleared his throat and asked.

“What about mother?”

“I did something similar.”

William felt a strange sense of kinship with Siod. While he wasn’t ready to accept him as a father yet, he felt a sense of camaraderie as men.

William looked at the sleeping Larisa and suddenly asked.

“The other day, you said…”

“Hmm?”

“You said I would live a long time.”

“Ah, yes, I did.”

William continued to ponder. The thought that he was of dragon lineage and might live over a thousand years made him afraid to become attached to anyone.

From the start, William was the type who would never keep a pet even if lonely. He couldn’t even understand how magicians became attached to their own strange creatures.

But a thousand years? It was incomprehensible.

“Is that true?”

“Why would I lie about that?”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

His tone seemed too light for such a serious matter, causing William to sigh.

“Anyway, if that’s true, what should I do?”

“…”

“I always thought I would die before mother. But if that’s not the case… When mother is gone, and Larisa is gone, and everyone is gone, what will I do then?”

Siod gave a bitter smile.

“Well, I’ll still be here.”

“…”

“William, you are my first child.”

William, who had been staring at the edge of the carpet, lifted his head. Their identical gazes met.

“Guinevere is my first love, and you are my first child. I will do my best for you both so that I have nothing to regret. I don’t want to live a long life full of regrets.”

William recalled what Siod had said a few days ago.

‘She must have been scared to love you fully, knowing you would leave first.’

Guinevere was an indifferent mother. Always busy, always strict. He had never even questioned why she was so indifferent…

William tossed and turned that night as he went to bed.

*

This time, the eye level was familiar, so he realized it was a dream a bit late. The realization came because of Guinevere.

Guinevere knelt on one knee before him. She spoke in a serious voice.

“William, you will become a greater magician than I am.”

His mother had never said such things. William felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he looked at Guinevere, who was gripping his arms with sparkling eyes.

“Trust me. From today, let’s study magic together. Then you too can live a long life without aging, like me.”

His mother’s face was full of ecstasy as she said this. William had never seen such an expression on her face before. Just as it was becoming unbearably awkward, Guinevere hugged him tightly and said,

“My son, forgive me for being so indifferent until now. If I had known of your talent earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time…”

Taken aback, William couldn’t respond. His mother’s expectations were burdensome, but at the same time, he didn’t want to ruin her joy.

Unaware of William’s complex feelings as he stood there, Guinevere’s face was full of excitement.

“Ah, what a relief. You’ll live longer than me.”

“Is that so pleasing to you?”

It was his voice before puberty. William realized that the time in the dream was slightly in the past compared to reality.

“What are you saying? Of course it is. What parent would want their child to die first?”

William felt strange. As a dragon hybrid, he would naturally live a long time. But the Guinevere in his dream was talking about his talent, not his lineage.

William probed with a dubious expression.

“Mother, I’ll live a long time even without learning magic.”

Guinevere then said seriously,

“William, humans can barely live a hundred years at most. But look at me. I’ve already lived over a hundred years. Don’t you want to live a long time? Hmm?”

Guinevere’s tone had somehow changed to one used to soothe a child.

“I’ll pass on everything I have to you. You’ll enjoy those things and be happy for a very long time. Please, promise me you’ll become a magician. Okay?”

“Mother… I…”

I can’t use human magic, you said. William was about to say this but stopped, feeling strange. The Guinevere in the dream didn’t seem to know that William was a dragon hybrid.

“Has the professor not told you yet?”

“Professor?”

“Professor Siod.”

Guinevere let go of William’s arms and slowly backed away.

“How do you know him?”

It was a cold voice. William realized something was wrong. Guinevere bit her lip.

“Siod, did he come to see you?”

“Mother?”

“Why now? What did he say?”

“What?”

“Never mind. Tell me now. Where is he?”

She looked ready to kill him if she found him. William gulped. Even knowing it was a dream, his mother was terrifying.

“Mother, wait, please calm down…”

“I see. He came to see you that day, didn’t he?”

“What day?”

“Yes. The day you first met that girl, Lara or whatever her name is.”

William had no idea what Guinevere was talking about. Guinevere muttered in a voice full of certainty.

“He must have come after learning that you turned back time.”

…What?

William doubted what he had just heard for a moment.

“Wait, what did you say?”

“William, you…”

Just as Guinevere was about to say something, William felt the world distorting. William called out urgently.

“Mother…!”

And then he woke from the dream. William exhaled heavily, panting, then rubbed his face.

‘Turned back time?’

Dreams are just dreams. But having heard something so absurd, it kept bothering him. At the same time, something Guinevere had said once struck him like lightning.

‘You’ll fall in love with this child. You won’t listen even if I try to stop you. Even death won’t be able to separate you two. If death tries to take her away, you’ll turn back time even if it costs you your heart…’

The words his mother had spoken on the day of Marina’s funeral. That day, Guinevere had seemed too exhausted to even use teleportation magic.

He hadn’t paid much attention, thinking it was just her mumbling in her sleep before passing out from exhaustion. But as far as he knew, his mother had never lied even once.

‘He must have come after learning that you turned back time.’

Those words suddenly felt like they were choking William. He rushed to his mother’s study in the early morning breeze.

After frantically knocking on the door, Guinevere opened it shortly after. Seeing her son’s expression as he stood there in his pajamas, she hardened her face.

“What’s the matter?”

“…”

“William?”

William’s lips quivered as he stood with a pale, frozen face.

“Did I…”

William took a deep breath and looked straight at Guinevere as he asked.

“Did I turn back time?”

*

Although she had made him warm tea and seated him in an armchair, William remained silent. Feeling like his expressionless face was demanding an answer, Guinevere bit her lip.

It was an unexpected situation. But William’s expression as he asked if he had turned back time was full of certainty. After a long silence, Guinevere finally spoke after much deliberation.

“…How did you know?”

“I had a dream.”

“A dream?”

William set down the teacup he had been holding and said,

“I’m not sure, but I’ve been having dreams every time I hear the professor’s dragon words. At first, I thought they were just nonsense dreams. In the dreams, I was an adult…”

Guinevere listened calmly as William spoke incoherently.

“The first dream was of Larisa asking to be taken out of a glass container, and the second dream was of being on a hill with Larisa, but when I went there the day before yesterday, that hill really existed. Even though it was my first time there…”

“…”

“And now, I had a third dream.”

William paused, unable to continue. He downed the now-cold tea in one gulp, then sighed heavily and said,

“In the dream, mother said that I had turned back time.”

Guinevere lowered her long eyelashes, lost in thought. William had never recalled the past during all this time. The only change was meeting Siod and hearing the dragon words.

If so, it could mean that the more dragon words were taught in the future, the more William would have to recall the tragic past. She bit her lip.

“William, I can’t tell you everything now. But… yes. It’s true that you turned back time.”

“…Ha.”

“You need to learn the dragon words. If you have more dreams each time, come and tell me about them. From what you’ve said, it seems there are differences between your dreams and the past that actually happened.”

“What differences?”