A pair of round red eyes looked attentively as the witch lectured the baby dragon.
"And the fire that you made earlier, you don't take it out when there's someone else. You have to keep it in mind."
"Yes…"
"And no one will ever find out that you are a dragon, not a human being. Especially that man before, never get caught. That's the condition if you want to be with me. What do you say, do you want to do it?"
"Together?"
"Yes. Together."
"I'll do it!"
The child nodded instantly, his lips curling into a grin.
"My name is Noah. Call me Noah. Don't call me master."
"Noah…"
Hope filled the child, thinking he was about to be given a name. However, the witch immediately extinguished his optimism.
"That doesn't mean I'll give you a name now. I'm not going to imprint with you."
The gleaming eyes lost its sparkle. Guilty, she held the child in her arms and tucked him into bed, muttering.
"But I'll be with you for the time being."
"...Really?"
"Yes, I'll let you stay with me until you feel like you are capable enough to fly to the ends of the world."
I'm getting sleepy. I slept soundly last night, but I think I've been feeling a little weak lately.
The witch hugged the child warm and pulled up the blanket to cover him.
"And watch me while you're with me, and then make a decision. Am I really a human being worthy of being your master?"
"But…"
"I won't allow any more refusal. And, a kid like you shouldn't be awake at this crack of dawn. Close your eyes now. Let's go to sleep. Noah is very tired."
The witch chatted away, shutting her eyes close, trying to clear her mind from thoughts about the man she dumped somewhere in her living room.
"If you're not going to sleep…don't disturb me.."
And with that, she fell asleep.
***
It took Kyle Leonard just half an hour to get out of the fetters of the weird blankets and curtains which trapped him. Eleonora Asil's magic was very tenacious, resembling its master.
"Annoying…"
Leonard was only able to free himself from their spell after he apprehensively cut the blankets and curtains into pieces.
Only then did he catch sight of the witch's house.
Eleonora Asil's cottage was a small, simple two-story house. Compared to Tezeba's magnificent mansions, it was shabby.
Besides, it's messy.
Kyle Leonard has visited Eleonora's mansion several times.
The elegant word "visit" may be true, but the number of people who have raided her to handcuff her amount past ten fingers. Anyway, the mansion he saw at that time was immensely clean and dust-free, preventing his conscience from stepping on the floor.
On the other hand, this house has all sorts of furniture scattered along in the living room.
The investigator merely laughed and scooped up ladles, scissors, kitchen knives, and so on in front of him. The far-flung kitchen knife bounced back into the air, aiming exactly at him, which shrilled in the air eerily.
"Thousands of illegal goods."
Leonard casually dodged the menacing kitchen tool's attack with a slight tilt. The kitchen knife hit the wall instead.
From his point of view, Eleonora's cottage was subject to a thorough shutdown.
Leonard kept his guard up and moved cautiously.
Everything in the witch's house is enchanted with her magic. He didn't know what hideous magic lies creeping, waiting to entrap, in her seemingly ordinary house.
The investigator still trembled as he recalled the time he had been wandering around Laurent for about two months to collect a rat trap that had almost cut off his ankle.
The hairpin, which was said to curl hair, burned down the hair of dozens of noblemen. There are also several young people with fatal burns on their necks. Even then, she was a woman who had fallen out of favor; there was no time to rest assured.
Except for the attack by the kitchen knife, however, the living room was as still as a mouse. Leonard glanced around the small kitchen and some of the rooms inside the living room and realized that the house as a whole was a very unruly lawless area.
To his eyes, cleanliness was the first value of life and the master of neatness; this house was as good as a jungle. His face creased.
Would the second floor be such a sight?
The woman, Eleonora, tied him up with blankets and curtains and yawned and went up the stairs. The little boy he found in front of the butcher's place must have gone up with her, he thought.
Leonard climbed the stairs, stealthily. Eleonora seemed to think that his only weapon was a revolver, but it was different. He was a man who lived with all sorts of weapons hidden in every corner of his body — especially when dealing with her.
He stood in front of the door at the end of the stairs, gently pressing on the dagger hanging from the inside of his uniform so that he could take it at any time.
The door hung open.