Living My Fourth Life as the Dragon's Daughter

Hyazelki reached the stairs while they were arguing for nothing.

“Lihan is going to be really strong, right?”

“Yes, I’ll be strong.”

The eyes full of conviction weren’t bad.

“That’s cool.”

Thinking so, the two began to slowly go down the stairs.

“Miss! Look at this! It’s so pretty!”

“Hey, Yuri, don’t make a fuss.”

The dress that Yuri flashed up and shouted was definitely pretty.

The dress, which combined light yellow and sky blue colour, was made of thin material as if it was for summer vacation.

“Wow! So pretty!”

Hyazelki, who found Yuri on the stairs with the dress, clapped both her hands and said.

“Welcome Miss! I think it’ll be prettier if you try it on!”

“Yes!”

Hyazelki took an excited step.

Every day in the castle was fun. She was so happy that she couldn’t even think about leaving the castle.

But

[I curse you.]

“……… Huh?”

“Hia!”

It sounded like a voice she had heard before. But it was obscured by Lihan’s voice before she could look back on the memory.

A momentary lapse of darkness, and the feeling of something grabbing her ankle.

[I want you to die.]

Why? What the hell did I do? The stairs, which always were made up and down thoughtlessly, looked like a sharp blade.

[I want you to be in pain.]

Watching it getting closer, Hyazelki reflexively closed her eyes.

“Ah! Miss!”

Yuri found Hyazelki falling and screamed in a panic.

The moment she rolled down the stairs was long but short.

“Ugh…”

Hyazelki, who frowned at the painful feeling all over her body, lifted her head with difficulty.

“Mr. Albert! Oh, doctor!”

“Miss, Lord Lihan! Are you all right?”

Yuri ran to find the butler and the castle’s doctor.

At Lisa’s trembling question, Hyazelki felt her mind go blank.

“Lihan…”

When she looked sideways, she saw a child who had fainted and collapsed a little away from her.

“Ah…”

Come to think of it, when she heard his voice calling her, it seemed that Lihan grabbed her hand and hugged her.

In an instant, her view was blurred with something hot.

‘Because of me…I’m sorry.’

Hyazelki gave an apology to Lihan, who had closed his eyes.

[You too, will be stuck in this hell with us.]

Finally, with a creepy voice ringing in her ears, Hyazelki lost consciousness.

* * *

Walter was the only doctor who stayed at the castle. He was primarily responsible for keeping tabs on people who worked on a regular basis.

He didn’t have much to do unless someone got hurt, so he always read medical books in his room or went out to tour around the town.

It happened just when Walter was back in the castle.

“What about a messenger? Is there a messenger I can send?”

“Has the Master ever left the messenger behind? He hasn’t.”

When Walter asked nervously, Albert also answered with a distorted face.

Walter hasn’t seen much of Hyazelki. The degree to which he checked her health regularly was less.

However, no matter how much she was away or confined to her room, Walter wasn’t unaware of how much his Master valued her.

“Mr. Albert, I will go to the Temple of Light immediately.”

One servant, who spoke as if to inform Albert, ran out of the castle without hearing Albert’s answer.

It was clear that it would take months to get to the Temple of Light, which is at the end of the southern land, but the fact didn’t seem to reach his mind.

In addition, there was a doctor, so Hiel didn’t have to come. They don’t know if Hyazelki’s life was in danger, but it wasn’t even that situation now.

It was not life-threatening, but it would take a long time to recover. Thanks to Lihan, Hyazelki was only bruised in some places, but Lihan could not avoid a fracture.

It was hours after the accident that Hyazelki opened her eyes.

She just got a bruise, so she quickly regained consciousness.

“Miss, are you awake?”

Yuri, who was sniffing beside her table, found a pair of slow blinking amber eyes opening and rushed to her.

“Are you all right, Miss?”

Walter asked, examining Hyazelki’s condition scrutinizing with his eyes.

She nodded a little and tried to get up, Yuri quickly helped.

Yuri was like a crybaby while growing up among the knights and doing well enough to think that she was a strong-willed person seeing what she does with her body as an all-arounder.

“Don’t cry, Yuri.”

Besides, she was crazy about pretty and cute things.

“…… Yuri, water…… can you bring it to me?”

“Oh, yes, Miss. I’ll be right back.”

Yuri hurried out of the room, and Hyazelki looked up at Walter from her position.

“What about Lihan?”

“Oh, I’ll go there and check when Yuri comes back.”

“I’m fine now, so go ahead. I’ll go there when Yuri comes back.”

“Really? Well, then I’ll go ahead.”

Walter left the room in a hurry, perhaps because he was worried about Lihan.

Hyazelki was left alone in the room as intended, so she lowered her legs from the bed. Then she bent her upper body and looked at her ankle.

Just before she rolled down the stairs, she got the same feeling of being caught again.

But now, it was apparently fine.

‘Even then… it was fine before that thing touched it…….’

Hyazelki reached out slowly.

She paused for a moment when she found a bandage wrapped around her hand, but soon reached to her ankle. As her hand brushed her ankle slightly, black marks were revealed and disappeared as if waves were hitting the calm lake.

‘……again…’

It was the same mark as then.

Hyazelki was now convinced that this was the ‘curse’ that Ciel was talking about.

Her amber eyes sank deep.

Then, the door opened and Yuri appeared with a glass of water in hand.

“Miss, I brought you water.”

“Thank you.”

Hyazelki carefully took the water from Yuri and drank it. She felt much better after she had wet her throat.

She slowly left the bed holding Yuri’s hand.

“Miss, it’s better if you don’t move yet……!”

“I need to see Lihan.”

Yuri seemed to want to say something, but she closed her mouth seeing Hyazelki’s determined expression.

Biting her lips, she walked a little slowly.

Yuri grabbed her arm from the side, but Hyazelki retracted her hand, saying it was okay. She didn’t know why it felt so long to reach Lihan’s door since it’s right next door to her room.

Hyazelki opened Lihan’s door with trembling hands and entered.

Walter, who was inside the room and examining Lihan’s condition, left the room, leaving a message to Lisa, who was next to him, that he would go to bring the medicine.

When Walter, who was moving busily, left, silence sank in the room.

“Miss…”

Lisa quietly called Hyazelki with a worried face.

Hyazelki walked slowly and approached the bed where Lihan was lying.

His head was bandaged, and the cheeks were also bandaged.

The broken arm wrapped around his shoulder was boarded up and bandaged carefully.

“…….”

Hyazelki looked down at his bandaged arm and felt sorry and different emotions at the same time, because Lihan was more hurt to save her.

Hyazelki stood firm for a long time and stared at Lihan’s sleeping face.

Lisa and Yuri couldn’t say anything and were restless. It was all the more so because they had never seen her with a sinking expression.

“………Where is Owin now?”

“Oh… he must be on the training ground.”

Hyazelki, who opened her mouth after a long time, nodded slightly at Yuri’s answer.

Then he reached out slowly and swept Lihan’s head.

“……I’ll be back, Lihan.”

Whispering softly, she soon moved on.

“Oh, where are you going? To find Owin?”

“……I’ll be walking alone, Yuri.”

“But…”

Yuri, who was about to follow because she was worried, stopped walking seeing the expression on Hyazelki’s face that she had never seen before.

Hyazelki straightened her back and moved forward slowly. The sunken gaze stared straight ahead.

There were many people she encountered on her way to the training ground, but no one spoke to her hastily.

Entering the training ground, she saw Owin sitting against the wall right next to the entrance.

He trapped himself in the training ground to soothe his anxiety due to Hyazelki and Lihan’s injury. That’s the most calming place for Owin.

“……Owin.”

The expressionless Hyazelki called Owin in a low voice.

“Are you all right, Miss?”

With a startled face, Owin jumped to his feet.

There was something strange about the way she was looking at him.

Because there was no answer, no change in expression.

“Miss…”

At Owin’s uneasy call, Hyazelki slowly blinked. Then she immediately opened her mouth.

“……Teach me, Owin.”

“Yes…?”

“I don’t care what it is. I want to…… at least I can protect my own self as I please.”

“Miss, what is that…….”

Hyazelki closed her eyes tightly, her finely shaped eyelashes trembled as she released a long breath.

“………I’m not the one who needs to be saved by someone, I’m not the one who needs to be protected by someone…… I want to protect myself.”

It was the reason why she wanted to learn swordsmanship in the first place.

The power to defend herself.

Once upon a time, Kael asked.

‘But are you satisfied with being protected?’

No, she was not satisfied. Hyazelki was not happy with that.

She didn’t want her happy life in this castle to be disturbed by anything or anyone, and she didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of her.

Since she could never be satisfied. She came to Owin.

The knight looked perplexed. But Hyazelki had no intention of backing down.

Now, no matter what anyone says. She had no intention of backing down.

* * *

It was around sunset when Kael returned to the castle after his work.

And it was Hyazelki, who greeted him with a gauze around on her head and a bandage on her arm.

“Hia…!”

Kael approached the child with a distorted face.

“What, what’s going on?…!”

“………Papa.”

Unlike usual, Hyazelki didn’t run to Kael or hug him or welcome him with a smile. Instead, she called him in a low voice.

“How did you get hurt like this, why…….”

“Well, I want to learn swordsmanship.”

“What…?”

Kael twisted his face at the words. Next to him, Albert quickly explained what had happened.

“Miss fell down the stairs and got hurt. Lord Lihan was hurt a lot while saving the Lady.”

“From the stairs?”

Kael quickly skimmed through the stairs and looked at Hyazelki.

“Master, is it okay to send a messenger to Lord Hiel…….”

At the butler’s worried voice, Kael reached out and called out the black messenger without looking back.

“……come to the castle right away.”