‘If we run away, Grisha will naturally become Duke Granite.’

Then I, who can no longer return to the empire, will not be able to meet him again.

‘Yet I naturally think of leaving with Cedar.’

Not only that. From the moment Cedar embraced me, Grisha had disappeared from my mind.

I had been so worried until he returned.

‘Does this mean Cedar occupies a larger space in my heart?’

Not knowing what I was thinking about, Cedar stroked my head and smiled.

“Thank you, Nelly. I feel at ease thinking we can run away if needed.”

His arms slowly unwrapped. The slightly higher body temperature than mine also drifted away. That sense of distance felt disappointing.

‘When Grisha hugged me, I only felt uncomfortable.’

His confession was more troubling than joyful.

It was a completely different feeling from when Cedar expressed his emotions to me.

As the two experiences formed a perfect contrast, I realized a new fact.

Even someone as emotionally dull as me couldn’t fail to notice.

I grabbed Cedar’s clothing as he was moving away. Then I blurted out what I had just realized.

“…I like you.”

“Huh?”

Cedar looked alternately at the clothing I was holding and my face, seemingly perplexed.

It’s quite strange indeed.

Usually when I realized something new, I would feel refreshed and excited like I could float on air, but now my heart was racing as if being chased by someone and my face felt hot.

I lifted my head and said loudly.

“I like you too!”

“Nelly.”

As if my heat had transferred to him, Cedar’s face also turned bright red.

He who had unwrapped his arms and stepped back took a step towards me again.

His hand reached out towards me but stopped hesitantly in mid-air.

He shook his head and turned his body away from me.

“Wait. I think I’m misunderstanding.”

“It’s not a misunderstanding.”

“Well…”

How is it that someone who swings a sword without a moment’s hesitation becomes so flustered when standing in front of me?

Feeling frustrated, I tugged at his clothes forcefully and shouted loudly.

“I’m saying I like you too! In the same way as you! There’s nothing to misunderstand!”

“…This woman is really.”

Cedar, who had half-turned away, faced me squarely again.

His silver-gray eyes, which always seemed cold, now seemed to spark with fire.

“If you say later that it was a joke, you’ll be in trouble. For messing with someone’s heart like this.”

“I don’t joke about things like this.”

Who was the one backing away until now? I shouted bravely.

“You’re the one who shouldn’t run away!”

As if pushed by my words, Cedar suddenly walked towards me. Overwhelmed by his force, I unconsciously stepped back.

Thud!

At that moment, my hand that I had unwittingly stretched behind me hit something.

“Ah! Zeke!”

No matter how hard its surface is like a rock, it might break if dropped on the floor.

Flustered, I turned towards the egg with an agility rarely seen in me.

Fortunately, it hadn’t hit hard, so the egg wobbled back and forth like a roly-poly toy before settling back on the cushion.

Instead of sighing in relief, I looked down at my palm.

“Huh?”

Even though it was just a brief touch, I clearly felt something strange.

“The egg just absorbed magic.”

“What?”

“Wait a moment.”

I carefully placed my palm on the egg again.

Like a broken river flow reconnecting, the magic surging through my body flowed into the egg through my palm.

Only Cedar’s magic absorbed through the kiss, leaving my own magic pooled in my heart!

“Oh? It’s not my imagination. It absorbs your magic.”

“My magic?”

“Your heart really must be different from others! Try directly infusing magic yourself!”

“Even if you say that, I don’t know how to do it.”

Cedar approached the egg as I instructed and placed his palm on it. Then he tilted his head and at his fingertips…

“Eek! No! Are you thinking of cutting Zeke?!”

The moment Cedar’s fingertips glowed blue, I quickly hugged the egg and moved it away from his hand.

My heart pounded loudly.

The blue energy, it was none other than aura. The very thing that can split rocks when overlaid on a sword.

‘The precious egg almost got cut in half!’

The chance to awaken a dragon that no one had seen for a long time with my own hands almost vanished futilely.

As I glared at the reckless Cedar as if scolding him, Cedar also pouted as if wronged.

“You said to infuse magic. So I just used it as usual.”

“How is that any different from Aura Sword! You just drew out sword energy with your finger!”

“That’s right! Swordsmen use magic like that. How else should I use it?”

“Try doing it like when you transfer magic to me.”

When we kiss, doesn’t magic flow in smoothly? Like that feeling, gently.

The magic rushing into me was such a natural thing that I couldn’t explain how to do it. And it was the same for Cedar.

“Even if you say that. I’m not consciously doing anything to transfer in the first place. You’re just taking my magic as you please.”

“Well… now that you mention it, that’s true.”

I wanted to tell him to recall the feeling of magic decreasing, but Cedar said he didn’t even feel his magic decreasing when transferring it to me.

After failing to convey the method in various ways, I pressed both hands to my cheeks and muttered.

“Then is there no other way but for me to absorb and transfer the magic?”

Cedar nodded. Only then did I solve all the puzzles.

Why my ancestor didn’t hatch the dragon himself and passed it on to me in the distant future. Why he handed over the egg after Cedar Granite became my husband.

‘What exactly did you leave me, ancestor!’

A distant ancestor left me a dragon egg.

It seems that dragon magic is needed to hatch a dragon egg.

But in this world where all dragons have disappeared, only their descendants possess dragon magic.

Cedar’s magic appears to be the key to hatching the dragon.

However, since Cedar doesn’t know how to transfer magic, a conduit is needed.

For example, someone like me.

‘Using a great magician as a magic conduit, I suppose that’s fitting for a dragon.’

After a long time, I opened my eyes in my room in the mansion.

Even though I slept deeply without dreaming, for some reason my body felt heavy and my eyes wouldn’t open easily.

Sitting on the bed, I lazily rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and yawned widely.

‘Yesterday really was something else.’

It was truly over the limit.

Grisha’s confession, Duke Granite saying he would pass the duke title to Cedar, my realization of my feelings, and on top of that, the secret of the egg.

‘But at least I learned one thing. That the egg will hatch if we keep transferring magic.’

Instead of Zeke being like a stone, I might be able to see Zeke wriggling around.

‘I got too excited and went overboard, but…’

Wanting to transfer as much magic as possible, I kept kissing Cedar, but in the end Cedar ran away from me and yesterday’s magic transfer ended.

Recalling Cedar’s broad back as he fled, I laughed.

‘Cedar is too fussy.’

He says he likes me and I like him too? Then our hearts are in sync. What’s wrong with kissing a lot?

‘There’s no problem at all. It’s not like our lips will wear out from kissing.’

But Cedar didn’t seem to think so.

Cedar shouted with tears in his eyes like someone who had been completely swindled by a great con artist.

‘What’s wrong with being after your magic? There’s no one else in this world with magic like Cedar’s anyway.’

Is there really a need to separate Cedar and the magic he possesses? As someone insensitive, it was difficult for me to understand the sensitive Cedar’s emotions.

‘But I should apologize first. I must have done something wrong.’

Whether intended or not, if someone is hurt, shouldn’t the person who hurt them apologize?

‘I need to coax him gently to absorb magic too.’

It’s true that my intentions aren’t completely pure either.

After washing up in the bathroom on the second floor, I went downstairs dragging my slippers.

I planned to casually apologize to Cedar while having breakfast. But the person bustling around on the first floor wasn’t Cedar.

“My lady! It’s been a while!”

“Sir Hail!”

At first, I thought I had mistaken the person.

A bright face, neatly cut short hair, and much lighter attire than when I last saw him.

There were many changes in various aspects.

I approached him curiously.

“Your face looks much better?”

“It’s all thanks to you, my lady!”

“I heard you’ve been selling magic potions diligently.”

“Diligently… that word makes me feel guilty. I just enjoyed feeling handsome while walking around.”

“Pardon?”

It’s true that his impression has changed a lot, but his appearance hasn’t changed dramatically? As I tilted my head in confusion, Hail bowed deeply.

“I, I got engaged! It’s all thanks to you, my lady.”

“What? What did I…”

“When I sprayed the charm potion you made for me, everyone said I became handsome! So I gained confidence and was able to actively pursue the lady I had my eye on.”

“Ah.”

I was surprised.

I thought I had accidentally made a love potion, but it seems he gained confidence from compliments thanks to the charm potion, just as its name suggests.