As soon as I left the academy, I jumped up excitedly.

If I hadn’t been holding the egg, I might have danced with joy.

“That was so refreshing! I feel like a weight has been lifted!”

Cedar, facing me with a big smile, chuckled and reached out to pat my head. He looked just like an elder brother doting on his little sister.

“What’s so refreshing?”

Having never been doted on by anyone before, I enjoyed even this small skinship.

Like a puppy, I nuzzled Cedar’s palm and answered loudly.

“The professors! They’re the ones who always yelled at me even when they were wrong. But seeing them unable to say a word in front of you was so satisfying.”

At my answer, Cedar shrugged. His normally calm face had one eyebrow raised slightly higher than usual.

“Want me to punch them for you? To make it even more satisfying?”

Imagining Cedar punching the professors, the corners of my mouth curled up involuntarily. I shook my head.

“That wouldn’t be right. They didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Didn’t they neglect and abuse you when you were young? They deserve to be hit. Feeding only boiled potatoes to my wife, they should be hit at least ten times.”

“They probably don’t think they abused me.”

“……”

Cedar, who had been looking down at me intently, ruffled my hair once more. I let out a soft chuckle.

There was no more business at the academy.

As I started walking, holding the egg tightly with both arms, Cedar followed half a step behind me and tilted his head curiously.

“By the way, what kind of egg is that?”

“They say it’s a dragon’s egg.”

“A dragon?”

Cedar’s brows furrowed. He clearly didn’t believe it was a dragon’s egg.

‘I’d be skeptical too. Dragons have been gone from the earth for over 100 years, and suddenly there’s a dragon egg?’

Having never seen a real dragon egg before, there was no way to determine if this was genuine or fake.

I stroked the rough surface. For now, there was only one thing I could believe in.

My ancestor, the great magician Periway, whom I’ve never even seen.

‘He knew, transcending time, that among his descendants, I would be the one to succeed him as a great magician. He deliberately designed the inheritance to be passed on to me three years after my marriage to Cedar.’

The fact that he had foreseen the future so meticulously meant that I could hatch this egg.

‘I have no choice but to believe.’

First magical beasts, and now dragons. My heart was pounding at the consecutive appearances of these unfamiliar beings.

As I fiddled with the dragon egg, I turned to face Cedar.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say your ancestor was a dragon? Are there any oral traditions passed down in your family? Any facts you know about dragons?”

At my question, Cedar’s shoulders twitched.

It would be hard to dismiss dragons as nonsensical beings when Cedar himself was a descendant of dragons. He couldn’t flatly deny it.

“Now that you mention it, that’s right. There might be some records left in the family.”

Cedar, seemingly realizing something about his ancestors after hearing my words, put on a serious expression. I gazed at him with sparkling eyes.

‘If he arranged for the egg to be inherited after my marriage to Cedar, it must mean Cedar is essential for hatching the egg. That’s most likely knowledge about his dragon ancestor.’

With dragons gone from the world and almost no records of them in the academy,

In the end, the man standing before me probably held the most traces of dragons on this earth.

Cedar, receiving all of my expectations, looked a bit perplexed before nodding slightly.

“I haven’t heard much myself… but I’ll look into it when we return to the family. What specifically do you want to know?”

“I’m most curious about how to hatch this egg. I was told good things would happen if I took good care of it, but they didn’t tell me how to care for it.”

“It would have been nice if they had included such information in the letter.”

I completely agreed with that opinion.

Holding the egg, we arrived in front of the horse.

Cedar, who had helped me onto the horse first, naturally examined the egg cradled in my arms and frowned.

“Is it really a dragon egg? It just looks like a stone.”

“If you put your hand on the shell, you can feel warmth. Faintly.”

Hearing my words, Cedar carefully placed his palm on the egg. Then he furrowed his brow.

“That might just be psychological? I can’t feel anything at all.”

“R-really?”

Psychological influence! But since Cedar’s senses were several times more acute than mine, Cedar’s words must be correct.

I tilted my head and stroked the surface of the egg in my arms.

Perhaps because of Cedar’s words, now it felt like a stone again.

‘Will a real dragon really be born from this egg?’

Thinking of dragons made my heart pound.

It felt like an unknown life form might crack the eggshell and greet me as soon as tomorrow.

Soon, I shook my head. As I had felt during my long years of studying magic, getting too excited can ruin even things that would have gone well.

‘Excessive expectations are forbidden. It’s been in egg form for over 100 years, so hatching it won’t be easy.’

It might take not just one or two months, but 10 or 20 years.

‘Thinking about it that way makes it seem so far off.’

And there’s my ancestor who passed this egg to me, freely traversing that future. I let out a deep sigh.

Cedar, who was checking one last time that the bags were securely fastened before departure, lifted his head.

“Why are you sighing?”

I fidgeted with the egg using my index finger.

The dragon egg cradled in my arms most starkly showed the gap between my ancestor and me.

“I was just thinking how amazing our ancestor was. How incredible to foresee the future of a distant descendant. I feel ashamed as a descendant who falls far short of our ancestor.”

“You’re plenty amazing yourself, aren’t you? I don’t think there were many magicians who could turn back time. Being able to see hundreds of years into the future is closer to a god than a human.”

As Cedar said, it might be a realm far beyond human capabilities. Cedar added in a calm tone.

“And I don’t think it’s good to see that far into the future. Because then you’d want to change every bad future you see. Wouldn’t that always lead to the conclusion that you just shouldn’t be born?”

“Cedar……”

At his words, I bit my lip. From my perspective, as someone who could actually turn back time, his words felt different.

‘That’s right. If you keep turning back time to fix things that way, there would be no end to it.’

In any case, I no longer had any desire to turn back time either.

Right now, hatching a dragon from the egg I was holding was what I wanted to do most.

Cedar nodded.

“I guess I’ll have to go back to the family to find records about dragons.”

“Please do.”

Cedar leapt up and mounted behind me.

“I’ll hold onto you, so you just focus on not dropping the egg.”

“Okay.”

I wasn’t worried to begin with. Cedar’s horsemanship skills were incredibly excellent even to my untrained eyes.

Even if he said that, he would notice and catch the egg before me if it was about to fall.

I leaned my head back against Cedar’s chest and looked up at him upside down.

“Please name this egg.”

“Why name it?”

“If we give it a name, won’t we take better care of it with affection?”

“Just call it stone.”

“Don’t answer so indifferently.”

Cedar lightly pushed the back of my head with his index finger to make me face forward. His characteristically calm voice sounded close to my ear.

“You should choose a name you like. You’re the one who’ll be taking care of it, right?”

Even so, I was just at a loss.

“I’ve never named anything before. In fact, Grisha is the only living creature I’ve ever taken care of.”

At my words, Cedar’s body flinched. Curious, I turned my head slightly backwards, and he rebutted in a stiff tone.

“That doesn’t count as taking care of.”

“It doesn’t? Why not? I really did take care of him! I gave him a place to sleep, and made sure he ate.”

“That… well, you and Grisha are about the same age. Rather than taking care of him, you worked together.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Now that I heard it, it did seem that way.

‘To say I took care of him, Grisha actually did more things on his own.’

Later on, Grisha even looked after me.

As I was nodding to myself, understanding Cedar’s words, Cedar suddenly apologized in a small voice.

“…I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was such a petty person.”

“What? What did you do wrong just now?”

“Never mind if you don’t know.”

Without explaining what was petty, Cedar naturally changed the subject.

“How about naming it Sieg (victory)? I thought a strong name would be good for a dragon.”

“Sieg! That’s nice. I’m sure it’ll like it too.”

I thought it might be too light for a dragon’s name, but if Sieg protests, we can add a few syllables later.

Like Siegfried or Sieghart.

‘It’s a good name.’

He told me to just call it a stone earlier, but he really is a kind person despite his gruff words.

“Hehehe.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“You’ll take care of Sieg with me, right? And nag a lot too.”

“Am I just someone who nags at you?”

“I’m happy.”

I knew his nagging wasn’t out of spite but affection, so it didn’t feel bad to hear it.

I smiled brightly and said.

“Let’s take care of it together.”

“…Alright.”

Cedar, seeming a bit embarrassed, pulled the left rein to make the horse walk a little faster.