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“Raon.”
The black dragon raised his head when he heard his name being called. It was a soft and affectionate sound from the ones he loved and loved him. So he reacted immediately to it.
However, it was a call from two different people.
From either side of the room, the red-haired man and the woman with white hair looked at each other awkwardly.
In those few brief seconds, many thoughts ran through the heads of the two adults as they stared at each other.
‘I didn’t mean to do that.’
That was one of the first thoughts.
They were all at Raon and Lord Sheritt's castle for a day off.
Cale at that time was still sitting comfortably on the sofa and reading a book, completely entrusting the children to play among themselves in the middle of the room. At the wall opposite him, in that large room, was Sheritt who was also on another sofa and chatting with the dragon half-blood, occasionally watching the children play puzzles and eat cookies and trying to not be so loud, and every now and then a smile bloomed on her face.
Even though she had only seen him for a few years, he was her child after all. During those few short years, compared to the nearly ten thousand long years trapped in the ruined castle, she was very happy. Her child, Raon Miru. The dragon she loved most in the world, Raon Miru, and she was his mother.
Although their relationship that had never met each other was a bit awkward at first, but over time, that young but mature child gradually opened up to her, and that was enough to make her the happiest Dragon in the world.
Of course, since Sheritt was a dragon, she had more greed than just that. But now, she knew that Raon still loved her, and that he was still alive, eating delicious food, having all the best sleep ever, growing up well, and still being very happy with his new family. That was enough to make Sheritt feel somewhat relieved and satisfied.
Speaking of which, she was also very grateful to Cale, the child of the Henituse family. She never thought she would have this much respect for a human, other than a certain person from the past, but Cale was truly an extraordinary human. In addition to the side thing like saving the world or the big thing like fighting the Demon race, he was also the one who saved and raised her child, without any wicked intentions, with a love that was not inferior to the level of a parent.
She was very grateful to Cale Henituse, who gave her child a chance to live happily until he could meet his mother, and for continuing to take care of the boy for her, an incompetent mother who could not step out of the big world out there.
She was very happy to know that out there, there were not one, but many people that were ready to love her child, ready to protect him for the rest of his life, even though he was also a strong dragon; and all of that, were thanks to a human child who hadn't even gone through a third of his life.
However, at times when she had to send them out of the castle, and resumed her secluded life with the child in the form of a Dragon’s bones, wondering when they would come back, she couldn't help but feel jealous of Cale Henituse.
Sheritt was no longer a Dragon. She was just a magical remnant of an ancient Dragon that lived a long, long time ago, and as such, her life was limited to the black gate of this place. She couldn't go any further outside, she couldn't continue to be the one raising Raon, she couldn't talk to her yet-an-adult child more and more. She couldn't protect him except for a few minor protective spells, and couldn't even keep watching her Raon grow day by day.
And that human could do all of them.
Raon would then continue his life alongside his humans, completely out of her reach.
And when those humans reached the end of their short lifespans, for someone who would live a long life like Dragons, Raon would definitely feel the pain of losing loved ones at such a young age. Sheritt didn’t want that.
She knew it was really just selfish thoughts, because Raon was happy enough for the moment, but she couldn't help it.
Although she still loved the dragon half-blood, her other child was no longer there. And with how possessive Dragons were, she couldn't help but feel like multiple parts of her were always missing and bleeding like new wounds.
It was Sheritt's deep pain that would never heal.
And Cale knew that.
He had always been an orphan since he was very young. He also never knew what it felt like to have a child of his own.
(Cale, or Kim Rok Soo, barely experienced what was known as familial affection, didn’t know he could understand it with Raon, and even when he saw Sheritt, he still couldn't recognize his own feeling still.)
So he ‘guessed’ it.
Regardless of the world, a parent's love for their children could not be underestimated. Of course, he also knew there were always cases of bad adults beating, neglecting, or abusing their children, but Cale believed that there were always other people that were different from them, and he knew it.
When he first met Sheritt, a little anger grew inside him. As he remembered that wounded child in that dark cave, he thought for a moment, how could she let him experience that out there?
He had always disliked, and also felt sad, for those who couldn't protect his people.
Like himself.
However, he listened.
He listened to her story.
In the end, the one to blame was still another bastard, and Sheritt was just a poor, miserable mother.
Sacrificed the rest of her life to protect her children.
Witnessed her past deeds unwittingly creating a monster that stole her children without being able to do anything about it.
Waited for a seemingly endless time to be able to meet one of them again, and learn that the other has died tragically.
And after all of that, the surviving child was more clinging to a strange human and not her.
Cale could understand those things, and he couldn't help it either.
He didn't regret saving that child and raising him, nor regretting giving him a good name just for him only.
Although this newborn dragon sometimes brought him trouble, scared him with his vicious words, or always cried for him and that made him feel pain in his heart, Raon had already become a part of his life.
As for Raon, he always respected his decision, and he wasn't surprised when the dragon chose to follow the one who saved him and gave him food, so Cale couldn't stop him from doing that. Who dared to stop a Dragon's decision? Only crazy people that weren’t afraid of being blown up into dust.
But as expected, a child should still stay with his mother, right?
Although he had been with Raon for a few years, he was only a temporary guardian after all. He still l, loved him also, but if it could make Raon feel any happier, he thought that he should suggest to him about starting to separate and spend more time with his mother, like a decent adult should advise the young.
(Of course that advice failed when Raon began trembling and asked if Cale hated him, which of course wasn't, and said that he would still be with his mother but Cale was not allowed to leave the great and mighty Raon because the human would die if he did, which of course was not true, but Cale still had to immediately comforted him that no one hates each other and that he can do whatever he wants, only then the Stone Villa stopped shaking.)
That was also part of the reason why he still went to this castle whenever he could, bringing Raon, On and Hong with him. Sheritt herself said that she didn't mind a little more noise, so he had nothing to worry about.
He hoped that by spending more time together, their relationship could improve even more, as well as make up for the time that was not possible before. And indeed, the result was very satisfying to him, especially when he saw Raon and Sheritt's lovely and happy smiles together in every moment with a novel feeling.
Even so, if he had to be honest, the fact that Raon was always by his side and spoke into his head in that high and clear voice, always calling him ‘human’ instead of Cale, always commenting on his scamming smile, always saying that he is great and mighty... has become somewhat a daily routine for him. When the time passed, and Raon made a decision about the future without him in it, he would feel lonely and… sad.
Cale knew well that every child would always grow up and leave their home, and he would always respect Raon's thoughts. Before that moment, he had selfishly wished he could spend more time with him.
So this was how a guardian felt.
Of course, he couldn't monopolize Raon like that, Cale corrected himself. Raon was a child, and he should spend a lot of time playing with his peers and with his biological family. In conclusion, as long as Raon was happy and it didn’t hurt anyone, Cale would definitely do it.
And the thoughts that had tormented them like that for the past few years, quickly ran through their heads again after they accidentally called out to Raon at the same time.
Beside Sheritt, the dragon half-blood tilted his bony head in surprise when he saw the two of them in unison, and he also had a sudden thought in his mind.
‘Who will Raon answer first?’
And immediately realized the seriousness of that question. That was something that Cale and Sheritt both realized from the moment they called out at the same time.
But no one dared to think about it.
Cale suddenly remembered a moment in his previous life, when a colleague asked him, ‘who do you love more, Choi Jung Soo or Lee Soo Hyuk?' and he immediately replied, ‘team leader’, just so he could see Jung Soo's funny expression, but this situation was completely different from that time.
Raon was still tilting his head to look at the two of them in two different corners of the room for exactly three seconds, when Cale decided to open his mouth.
“Go to Lord Sheritt first.”
“Just go to Cale first.”
A human and an adult dragon glared at each other across a room in utter horror, because they were saying the same thing at the same time, but solving absolutely nothing. It was like two people walking in opposite directions accidentally blocking each other's way, and both apologized and moved aside to continue walking past the other, but both went in the same direction. They turned to the other side immediately, so in the end they both looked at each other but neither of them could move on. It was that kind of awkward situation.
By that time, both On and Hong realized that something strange was going on, and they also raised their heads to watch the event going on. The dragon half-blood froze, not daring to move or make a sound.
There was a silent war going on in the heads of the two adults, and it seemed like everyone noticed.
I can't let the children see this, Sheritt thought urgently. Having been an adult dragon with a lot of pride, she also knew when to be humble and deal with problems properly.
Sheritt was about to stand up, and at the same time Cale also stood up from his chair. It was that moment of horrified realization that they knew they were going to do the exact same thing again.
Right at that moment.
Cale felt himself floating in the air.
“... What—”
After a moment of dumbfounded shock, he realized that what was sending him flying was a jet-black mana.
Before he could finish his sentence, Cale flew across the room, and was dropped gently beside Sheritt. Both of them looked toward Raon.
Raon retracted his chubby paw, then flapped his wings to fly over to the two of them, before dropping himself to sit between them.
Those big blue eyes looked up at both of his adults, whom he loved.
His clear and innocent voice could be heard by everyone else.
“What do you two want to say?”
Raon furrowed his brows in confusion as both of them looked at each other for a moment and burst out laughing.
Raon had already known what the other two had been thinking, but right now, he only thought that he wanted to hear these two share what they were going to tell him.
Then, both Cale and Sheritt opened their mouths at the same time.
“You first.”
They didn’t mean to do that.