While Noirelle organized her belongings and cleaned around the lair, the three of them were still battling against Blanchielle.
Even until the moment when Noirelle wrapped up her packing and prepared a table filled with delicious food, the three of them had to run to stay alive.
And then, when Noirelle finally finished setting everything up and snapped her fingers to teleport them to the table, the three of them just laid on the table, too exhausted to eat. Their entire bodies were black from their clothes being scorched and their hair was a mess. The three of them seemed too overwhelmed to even eat as their chests heaved up and down. In this midst of all this, however, Blanchielle still seemed excited as they chittered excitedly.
How could they be so loud and raucous while they were just taking care of Blanchielle? Noirelle gave them a pitiful stare before she smiled and, with a flick of her fingers, filled their empty glasses with wine.
"Now….. Can I go back? I probably have a lot of work to do."
"Should I send you back now?"
"Yes."
Hylli was breathing hard with Blanchielle resting on his lap. As if they understood his words, Blanchielle stuck themselves onto Hylli's wrist and tried their best to stick themselves onto him. Hylli quietly watched Blanchielle and hesitated before he left for the capital, promising to return again.
Seeing the sight in front of her, it seemed like Hylli had volunteered to take care of Blanchielle instead of being forced into it by Noirelle. Even if he looked exhausted.
Shuraina and Hestia stared as Hylli's shoulders slumped from exhaustion and then straightened before he headed back to work in the palace, feeling pity well up for him. But what were they going to do? That was his destiny.
Once Hylli was gone, Blanchielle wandered around Shuraina and Hestia before heading back to their nest and sleeping from exhaustion.
Once Hestia and Shuraina were alone, they remembered the existence of the other dragon in the room. Hestia swallowed and stared at Noirelle with a nervous expression.
Noirelle glanced at Hestia. In the normal timeline, Hestia was the one that came over to their lair and hung around, but this was the first time in this timeline that Hestia had come to her lair. Noirelle had prevented Hestia from finding her before the empire-related situation was taken care of, so the time had been pushed back quite a bit.
Seeing Hestia made her feel happy. After having to see her for hundreds of times, it seemed as if she had missed her quite a bit. Noirelle's lips curved upwards as she smiled.
"Hestia?"
"Yea...? Yes!"
"So you're here to swipe everything from my lair?"
"Ye….. Yes! N….. No! No, this is..."
Hestia just let her fork stab the plate of spaghetti in front of her. Shuraina looked at how overwhelmed Hestia looked before speaking for her.
"Hestia said that she's going to swipe everything and make sure there's not even a single speck of dust left once she's done."
"No, when did I! Shushu!"
Hestia stood up, sat back down, and repeated those steps again and again as she seemed confused how to proceed. Noirelle placed her hand over Hestia's forehead. She read through Hestia's memories and rested her arm around Hestia's shoulders.
"You graduated and became a hobo, Hestia. You're living on the streets, huh?"
Noirelle snickered and pinched Hestia's cheek before she gently brushed her hair.
"You were thrown away by your family, you don't have a house, you don't have money. Oh, you poorthing."
Noirelle spooned a bit of warm soup and slipped it into Hestia's mouth.
"Should I help you, Hestia?"
Noirelle grinned and took a seat on Hestia's lap before placing her face close to Hestia's. Shuraina was busy stuffing her face with food with Blanchielle, who had woken up from their nap.
"You've believed that a dragon was going to grant your wish every since you were young, didn't you? And you always looked for fairy tales with dragons and looked for me."
Hestia hunched her shoulders as she looked at Noirelle, who seemed to know her very well. Maybe it was because she was a dragon–but she knew her situation down to a tee. Hestia hung her head, her shoulders shaking from the intense aura emanating from Noirelle.
"In most fairy tales, there's a dragon and a knight. The knight takes care of the dragon and is granted power and love. Are you going to use me like that?"
The first emperor was someone who had killed her and had been hailed as a knight and a hero from the country he had built. His cruel deeds had even been glorified in children's fairy tales.
To the citizens of the empire, the hero was the emperor. If Shuraina was Swanhaden's hero, then Hestia was Noirelle's hero. Even if Hestia couldn't remember her, Hestia was the one that had found her and stayed with her after her descent to madness. Because of this, Hestia was precious to Noirelle.
Even at Noirelle's seemingly random question, Hestia slowly blinked and thought deeply about the question.
"Even if I want to use you, are dragons so easily used....? I'd just be thankful that I'm not eaten."
Noirelle laughed at how Hestia shook in fear but said everything she wanted to say.
She didn't even say anything that funny, but the dragon held her shoulders, burst into laughter, smacked her as she hunched over laughing before she rubbed her face on hers. Hestia felt goosebumps rise on every inch of her skin before she looked at Noirelle, scared stiff and unable to move.
"Hestia."
"Y…. Yes."
"Stand up."
Noirelle stretched out a hand, one arm still slung over Hestia's shoulders. When she held out her hand, a black blob of magic stretched out into an incredible size. Noirelle finished preparing for her large-scale spell before she pulled Hestia close and smiled.
"First, let me gift you a beautiful home."
Noirelle clenched her open hand. The entire area began to vibrate. The walls of the cave shook violently before they began to crumble, and the floor split in half with a large sound. Everything around them suddenly seemed to crumble, but Noirelle, Blanchielle, and Hestia and Shuraina didn't receive any damage. It was because Shuraina had set up a protective spell just in time.
From where the smelly nest had been, a beautiful, expensive-looking bed appeared. The spot where they had been eating suddenly changed into a full kitchen, and a flight of stairs popped into existence in the middle of an empty space and a massive library appeared at the end of it. Noirelle created another set of rooms and created a magic circle that allowed people to teleport to whichever room they wanted.
After that, a fireplace that held wood that never burned appeared. Then, a beautiful carpet over a jade floor, and a very plush-looking sofa appeared at the snap of Noirelle's fingers.
Then, when the lair was completely unrecognizable from its previous look, Noirelle moved her hand back and spread her magic.
In that short moment, a beautiful home, one that was the same if not better than a royal home, had been created. Noirelle looked satisfied as she looked around Hestia's new home before she walked into the 'treasure room' and opened a small door the glass floor. She grabbed any accessory she could reach. Noirelle came back holding a green bracelet. She slipped the bracelet onto Hestia's wrist and added a spell.
"This bracelet is the key to your home."
Hestia just nodded, too shocked to respond otherwise.
"No matter where you are, you can use this bracelet to come here and eat and sleep. There's plenty of entertainment and money here, so don't sleep on the streets and sleep here. Oh, do you want me to cancel the time magic in this place?"
Noirelle had made time pass more slowly within her hair to make sure that she would be able to experience time like the humans around her.
At Noirelle's sudden question, Hestia slapped herself on the face to be able to answer properly.
"…..I'd be grateful if you would leave the time magic on here alone. It means that I'd have more time if I was here."
Hestia said, thinking about how she still had to work on her manuscript.
"But why are you being so nice to me?"
"Dragons are fickle. I'm moving houses soon, anyway, so it'd be nice to have you take care of a new home, right?"
Hestia didn't really understand Noirelle's kindness towards her, so she pinched herself.
"Hestia. Noirelle isn't doing this because she's planning something. You can just receive this."
Hestia was finally able to be happy about the situation she was facing. Even Shuraina had told her that it was okay, after all. She thanked Noirelle again and again. Hestia finally became excited–she was now able to believe that everything was actually happening.
"Um, can I look around the house?"
"Do whatever you want. It's your house."
There were countless flights of stairs and rooms in her home. Hestia grabbed Shuraina's hand and ran around her home like a child. It had everything. It even had a food storage room which had a special preservation spell on it to ensure that nothing rotted or ran out.
Blanchielle quietly watched as Hestia looked around and ran around as they wrapped themselves around Noirelle's neck. Noirelle snickered at Hestia's excitement.
"This is a small gift from me. Do you have a wish of any kind? If it's something that I can actually make happen, I'll make it happen."
If Hestia wanted, Noirelle was even willing to use a large-scale memory manipulation spell. Before she left this continent, she wanted to do anything for Hestia–anything she wanted.
"A wish…..?"
She was already so, so grateful to Noirelle, no, the dragon's generosity. But a wish, after all of this...
Hestia belatedly realized that Noirelle didn't have an ounce of hate or ill will towards herself or Shuraina–quite the opposite, in fact–and looked towards Noirelle with shining eyes. She had already received so much that she thought that she shouldn't be greedy, but Hestia decided that if a dragon wanted to be generous to her, then she didn't need to refuse.
"Then, um….. Come this way please..."
Before Hestia told Noirelle her wish, she wanted to create some distance between herself and Shuraina. She had a single wish that she wanted to accomplish without Shuraina's knowledge.
She grabbed Noirelle's shoulders and placed her mouth near her ears. Hestia's heart felt like it was going to explode. She had no idea how she was so blessed, but she needed to focus on the opportunity in front of her now. Her mouth opened and closed before Hestia inhaled.
There had been something that she had wanted to ask if she ever met a dragon. It was something only a dragon could accomplish, so she had buried her wish deep, deep down in her heart and had told herself that it couldn't happen. But now, everything was different.
Hestia inhaled once again and blurted out her wish.
My wish is...
"Send every single person who wants to stand between me and Shuraina onto a deserted island."
"...?"
Noirelle had been amassing her magic to prepare for a large-scale memory manipulation spell before she just let her magic scatter again. Noirelle had thought that Hestia would ask for human perception to change... She had always asked for something similar to that, though?
"If there was anyone who tried to stand between us, then throw then there, and throw them onto the island if there's anyone who's going to bother us in the future."
"Just toss them there?"
"Yes, just toss them there."
Hestia pleaded, thinking of one particular white-haired individual as she said this.
"Just toss them there. Just exile them! Exile them out of the empire!"
She yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. Her face was flush with excitement as she smiled gleefully.
Her actual goal would be accomplished within her lifetime as she lived on, but having leeches like Swanhaden and more disappear from her life was something that couldn't be accomplished, no matter what. Hestia decided to borrow the dragon's powers to peel them away from Shuraina.
"A world just for me and Shushu!"
Hestia looked gleeful as she said this.