The child morphed himself into a dragon and flew back to his master's house, the witch. However, around the villa on the cliff side, there exists a thick barrier too powerful that a baby dragon cannot break with his own magic.
"I hate it…"
The child eventually broke into tears. He resented his owner for having abandoned him, but if he could not return to her, he would have nowhere to go.
As the incubation period nears, imprinting begins from the moment when the initial contact with the outside is made. It was the proof that growth was taking place rapidly.
The witch can't get away from him now.
But if the child actually returns, without a doubt, the witch would be furious.
"Huh…"
I guess I am really abandoned
The child was overcome with sorrow. He buried his face in his hands and began to sob.
"I'm doomed to die less than a week after coming out of the shell…"
After his eyes could no longer shed tears, he wiped his cheeks when he saw a figure walking toward him. The child looked up, struggling to see clearly with his swollen eyes. He assumed it was a human man.
"Who…who?"
The little dragon asked timidly as the man bent down on his knees. He could see the stranger's face properly now. It was a man with black hair and pretty violet eyes.
"Did you get lost?"
"No…"
Instinctively, the child shrank back, cautious of the man. The man paused for a little while; soon, his mouth curled, and he laughed. His cold and intimidating presence has changed into a calm, friendly one. The child relaxed a little bit.
The stranger asked affectionately. "So, you lost your mother?"
"Mom…"
The child hesitated for a moment and then nodded slightly. The man held out his hand as if he had waited.
"Shall we go find her?"
***
Knock.
Few people know the country house of Eleonora, which is in the remotest place on the southern side of Sorrent. Surely, no one will come at such an early hour.
"Don't tell me…"
Did the dragon come back?
Eleonora quickly extinguished her assumptions. It was only yesterday that she personally left the child into the butcher's care, who was a regular client. Uncle Walter runs the largest butcher company in Sorrent, often supplying supplies to the capital, Tezeba.
Sometime in the morning, Walter leaves for the capital, and Eleonora had left the child on her way home.
"With a guardian and a watchman, he couldn't have escaped as easily as he used to. Plus, a barrier has been activated around the house in case," she thought and breathed a sigh of relief.
A knock was heard the second time.
Then, who is behind the door of my house on the crack of dawn?
Knock.
"Wait a minute!"
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Oh, I'm going out now! Stop knocking!"
Exasperated, the witch wrapped herself with a robe and made her way downstairs, almost slipping down the spiral staircase. Meanwhile, the uninvited guest kept thumping on the door.
"Clearly, the guest needs to be educated about what manners he should have when visiting someone else's house," she fumed.
"Oh, I'm still sleepy." Finally, she reached the door and pressed her forehead against it, positioning her eye on a small hole.
"Uh…"
And then she saw it.
The child she sent away—blinking his round red eyes innocently behind the door.
"Ah!"
An audible gasp escaped from Eleonora's lips. She took a step back, her heart beating furiously.
That was him! The little dragon I left to Uncle Walter yesterday! How?! Why are you interrupting my rest, you son of a bitch!
Eleonora was beyond livid at this point. She thought of taking him to his mother personally.
According to the original plot, it is the dragon who burns Eleonora, who is helpless against the heroine. Why are you coming to me? I'm going to die from hypertension!
The witch rolled her sleeves up, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
"Hey! Why are you back again?"
Ready to scream at the child, she was greeted with a man unfamiliar to her instead.
"Who the hell are you?"
The dragon boy did not come alone today. Eleonora looked, baffled, at the tall stranger and the child in his arms.
What?
"Hh…"
A little older than yesterday, the boy stared at her.
His mouth trembled, and his eyes welled up. Eleonora could see how devastated the child was, and she was guilty.
Eventually, as if a balloon reaching its limit, the little dragon exploded into tears.