Erza disappeared into the bathroom with the measuring tape.
Yuuta waited.
Elena waited.
The TV played some cartoon about a yellow sponge who lived in a pineapple. Elena was absolutely captivated. "Papa! This creature lives under water! In a fruit!"
"Yeah," Yuuta said absently. "That's... that's exactly what happens."
The bathroom door opened.
Erza emerged.
She walked with the same regal grace as always—back straight, chin high, eyes cold as winter. In one hand, she held the measuring tape. In the other, a small piece of paper she'd found somewhere.
She didn't look at Yuuta.
Didn't acknowledge him.
Simply held out the paper like she was handing a command to a servant.
"Here Pathetic Mortal."
Yuuta took the paper.
Read it.
"Okay...Your highness height is..... five foot ten... weight, seventy kilograms... chest..."
He stopped.
Blinked.
Looked up at Erza.
Looked back at the paper.
"Seventy kilograms?" he said slowly.
Erza's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. "Is there a problem?"
"No, no problem, it's just..." Yuuta did the mental math. "Your highness is five ten and seventy kilos? That's... that's actually really..."
His tablet slipped from his fingers, without even knowing.
CLATTER.
It hit the floor.
"Oh my," Yuuta breathed. "Your highness so heavy for your height."
The room temperature dropped twenty degrees.
Erza's expression didn't change.
It remained perfectly cold, perfectly composed, perfectly deadly.
But her fist moved.
CRACK.
Yuuta's head snapped sideways. He hit the floor for the third time that day at least his skull ringing like a church bell. Stars exploded behind his eyes. The taste of copper flooded his mouth.
"I am perfectly well -weighted," Erza said coldly, towering over him like an executioner. "By my world's standards. Your primitive human measurements mean nothing to me."
She didn't shout.
Didn't raise her voice.
That was what made it terrifying.
Yuuta groaned from the floor, clutching his head. "Ah… Your Highness, could you please stop hitting me?" he said carefully, trying to keep his voice respectful. "It really hurts."
"Then stop talking rubbish in my presence." Erza crossed her arms, frost curling visibly from her fingertips now. The air around her shimmered with cold. "Just because I tolerate your existence does not mean I tolerate your opinions. You are not my equal, mortal. You are not my friend. You are not even my host. You are a variable I am currently observing. Nothing more."
Her violet eyes bored into him.
"Do not confuse my temporary patience with permission to speak freely."
Yuuta, still on the floor, still clutching his head: "...Noted."
Elena watched from the couch.
"Mama hit Papa again," she observed.
"Yes." Erza didn't look away from Yuuta's crumpled form. "That Idoit mortal said something stupid. Again."
"Papa says stupid things a lot," Elena agreed cheerfully.
Yuuta, voice muffled by the floor: "I can hear you Princess."
"Pathetic." Erza's lips curved not a smile, but something sharper. "Then you know I expect better. Now get up. Order the clothes. And if you comment on my weight again, I will remove your tongue and feed it to whatever beasts inhabit your pathetic 'zoo.' "
Yuuta got up.
Very quickly.
He entered the measurements with trembling fingers.
No comments. No reactions. Just silent, terrified data entry.
Chest size: entered.
Waist size: entered.
Height: entered.
Weight: mentally filed under "things to never mention again or die."
"Okay," he said, voice carefully neutral. "Orders placed. Should arrive soon."
Elena bounced. "Soon! Soon! My sparkly dress is coming!"
Erza said nothing.
She simply took a seat on the floor still refusing the couch and resumed studying the phone. Articles about Earth's animals. Absorbing information like a scholar preparing for war.
Yuuta watched her for a moment.
She's always learning, he realized. Always watching. Always calculating.
A queen didn't survive without understanding her environment.
And right now, Yuuta's tiny apartment was her environment.
The thought was... unsettling.
Thirty minutes later
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
Yuuta's head snapped up.
"That's fast," he muttered, crossing to the door.
He opened it.
A young man in a uniform smiled at him, holding two neatly packaged boxes.
"Package for Yuuta Konuari?"
"That's me."
Yuuta signed, took the boxes, and closed the door.
He turned around.
Erza and Elena were staring.
Both of them. Frozen. Eyes locked on the boxes in his hands.
Elena's expression was pure wonder.
Erza's was something else entirely.
She studied the boxes like they might explode. Like they might contain a trap. Like this entire situation might be some elaborate human scheme she hadn't yet deciphered.
"It... came," she said slowly. Not a question. An observation. Testing the words.
"THE CLOTHES CAME!" Elena shrieked.
Yuuta carried the boxes to the table. Elena scrambled onto a chair, vibrating. Erza rose gracefully and approached not with Elena's excitement, but with the careful wariness of someone who trusted nothing.
"Open it," she commanded.
Yuuta sliced through the tape.
Opened the first box.
Inside, nestled in tissue paper, was a dress of deep violet dark purple with sparkling white droplets scattered across the fabric like stars in a night sky. The material was soft. Elegant. Perfect.
Erza's expression didn't change.
But her eyes... her eyes studied it. Every detail. Every stitch. Every sparkling droplet.
She reached out.
Touched the fabric.
Once. Lightly. Like she expected it to burn her.
"...Acceptable," she said flatly.
Yuuta hid his smile.
Acceptable. Sure.
He opened the second box.
Elena's outfit exploded out in a puff of white fluff.
A puffy rabbit costume. White. Fluffy. With long floppy ears attached to the hood and a tiny pom-pom tail on the back.
"PAPA!" Elena screeched. "PAPA LOOK! IT'S HERE! IT'S THE SAME ONE!"
She grabbed the costume and hugged it like it was made of starlight.
"When Elena clicked, it became real! " she shouted, eyes wide with wonder. "PAPA, IT'S MAGIC!"
Yuuta laughed.
Couldn't help it.
Watching his daughter clutch a fluffy rabbit costume like it was the greatest treasure in existence—it warmed something inside him.
Erza watched too.
Watched Elena's joy.
Watched Yuuta's smile.
Her expression remained cold, but something flickered behind her eyes. Something she quickly suppressed.
"This is..." She held up her dress again. Studied it with those calculating eyes. "High quality fabric. Intricate stitching. Precise coloring." She looked at Yuuta. "How much did this cost? Did you pay gold for it?"
Yuuta blinked.
Then laughed again.
"Gold?! No no, Your highness.... it's just regular money. Paper money. Digital money."
Erza's eyes narrowed.
"Then why is the quality so high? In my world, garments of this craftsmanship require gold. Or favors. Or blood."
Yuuta's laugh died.
Blood? For a dress?
"It's... it's just how things work here," he said carefully. "You pay money, you get clothes. No blood required....My queen."
Erza stared at him.
Long and hard.
"Your world is strange," she finally said. "You have no magic. No monsters. No blood debts. Yet you produce garments that would cost a minor noble's ransom in my realm." She shook her head slowly. "I do not understand it."
"Please Your highness, You don't have to understand it," Yuuta said. "Just... wear it. Enjoy it."
"Enjoy." She repeated the word like it was foreign. "I do not 'enjoy' things, mortal. I assess them. Determine their value. Decide whether they are worthy of my presence."
She looked at the dress again.
"This... may be worthy."
Yuuta counted that as a win.
"Elena," Erza said crisply. "Put on your costume. We have a zoo to observe."
"YAY!"
Elena grabbed her rabbit costume and ran for the bathroom.
Yuuta turned to Erza.
"Your Highness is really coming with me?"
Erza's eyes flicked to him.
Cold. Dismissive.
"I told you already, Idoit mortal. I am not coming for you. I am coming to ensure Elena's safety. And..." She paused. Barely perceptible. "...to observe these 'beasts' your world has produced. For research purposes."
Research purposes.
Yuuta nodded solemnly.
"Of course. Research."
"Do not mock me, mortal."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Erza's eyes narrowed.
But she said nothing.
And as she turned away, dress in hand, Yuuta could have sworn
Just for a second
Her lips twitched.
Probably imagined it, he decided.
Definitely imagined it.
(FEW HOUR LATER).
Erza stood before the mirror.
The modern clothes felt strange against her skin lighter than her imperial dress, less restrictive. The deep violet fabric draped elegantly over her frame, the white sparkling droplets catching the light like scattered stars.
She turned.
Then turned again.
For the first time since arriving on this miserable little planet
Erza acted like a normal girl.
Adjusting the shoulder. Smoothing the waist. Tilting her head to see how the fabric moved. A small, almost imperceptible smile tugged at her lips.
Not bad, she thought. For primitive human clothing.
Behind her, in the doorway
Yuuta forgot how to breathe.
He'd seen Erza in her imperial dress. He'd seen her in moonlight. He'd seen her asleep, vulnerable, soft.
But this?
This was different.
The violet dress hugged her curves in ways that made his brain short-circuit. Her silver hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall of starlight. Without the formal robes, without the queenly armor of her usual attire
She looked...
"Beautiful."
The word escaped his mouth before he could stop it.
Erza froze.
Yuuta froze.
Their eyes met in the mirror.
His face was crimson.
Hers
Her eyes widened. Slightly. Barely perceptibly. But enough.
That strange feeling.
That overwhelming feeling.
It crashed into her chest like a wave, so powerful she nearly placed her hand over her heart to slow its sudden racing.
What IS this? she thought desperately. What is he doing to me?
She spun around.
Eyes cold.
Voice colder.
"You cast a spell on me again, didn't you?" She pointed an accusing finger. "How DARE you use magic on a queen!"
Yuuta blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Oh, come ON... YOur highness." He threw his hands up. "Do you really think I learned black magic just to cast spells on you? The Being who can literally end this world with a thought?!"
Erza's eyes narrowed.
"Then why do I feel this way?!"
The words burst out before she could stop them.
Silence.
Yuuta stared at her.
Erza stared back.
Why did I say that? she thought desperately. Why did I admit that? What is wrong with me?!
Yuuta scratched his cheek nervously.
"Uh..." He shifted his weight. "Maybe Your highness... have period or something?"
CRACK.
Yuuta hit the floor.
Again.
"IT WAS JUST MY ASSUMPTION MY QUEEN!" he shouted from the ground.
"It was a STUPID assumption!" Erza's face was burning now with embarrassment, with anger, with emotions she couldn't name and refused to acknowledge. "It was my FOOLISHNESS to ask YOU anything in the first place!"
She crossed her arms.
Turned away.
"Hmph."
Elena, who had watched the entire exchange while wearing her rabbit costume, knelt beside her father.
"Papa," she said seriously. "You should stop teasing Mama."
Yuuta groaned, rubbing his head.
"I'm sorry, Elena," he muttered. "Papa is... Papa is trying his best."
He pushed himself up.
Looked at his daughter floppy ears and all and managed a smile.
"Come on." He raised his hand. "Let's go to the zoo!"
Elena's face lit up.
She copied his gesture perfectly, tiny fist in the air.
"TO ZOOO!"
Behind them, Erza watched.
And for just a moment
She smiled.
A tiny thing. Unconscious. Uncontrolled.
She caught herself immediately. Slapped a hand over her mouth.
What...!
I was smiling?!
Why was I smiling?!
"Mama! Come!" Elena grabbed her hand. "We go to zoo! Together! Family!"
Family.
The word hit Erza like a physical blow.
She looked at Elena's eager face.
At Yuuta's stupid, earnest, annoying back as he walked toward the door.
And despite everything
She followed.
They descended the stairs together.
Elena held Yuuta's hand, swinging it back and forth with the boundless energy of a child who had discovered that "zoo" meant "animals" and "animals" meant "happiness." Her tiny rabbit costume—the one Yuuta had ordered specifically because she'd pointed at it with sparkling eyes—bounced with each step.
Fluffy ears. Soft brown fabric. Little paws on the sleeves.
She looked ridiculous.
She looked perfect.
Erza walked behind them, maintaining her regal distance. Her new clothes a simple white blouse and dark pants that Yuuta had estimated into existence fit surprisingly well. She'd complained about the lack of gold embroidery, the absence of imperial symbols, the peasant-like simplicity of it all.
But she wore them.
And she hadn't frozen him.
Progress, Yuuta thought.
Her violet eyes watched everything the narrow windows on the stairwell, the flickering light on the second floor, the graffiti on the wall near the exit. This strange concrete world. This human city. She drank it in with the same intensity she'd given the National Geographic channel.
Soon they reached the parking lot.
Yuuta stopped.
Before them sat a car.
It was blue. Faded in places. The paint had long since given up hope near the driver's side door. A dent adorned the rear bumper like a beauty mark on an aging actress. The tires were slightly worn. The windows had a permanent haze.
The kind of vehicle that screamed second-hand and barely hanging on and please don't look too closely at the rust.
Yuuta approached it like it was an old friend.
He placed his hand on the hood.
"My sweetheart," he said softly. "It's been a while since I took you for a walk, right?"
Silence.
Absolute, deafening silence.
Erza stared.
Elena stared.
The wind blew. A leaf tumbled past.
"Did I hit you too hard earlier?" Erza asked slowly.
Her voice carried something new a flicker of actual concern. It was buried deep beneath layers of ice and disdain, but it was there.
"Are you... hallucinating? " she continued. "Talking to inanimate objects?"
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
Her bottom lip trembled.
"Mama..." she whispered. "Papa has gone crazy..."
"BOTH OF YOU STOP!"
Yuuta spun around, his face burning crimson.
"It's just my old companion! It's called sentimental value! "
Erza looked at him like he was a patient in a mental hospital.
That specific look. The one that said I'm observing a fascinating case of human deterioration and taking notes for future reference.
"Don't look at me like that!" Yuuta protested. "Before you two showed up, this car was the only thing I talked to! I shared my feelings with it! It listened! "
"It's a machine, mortal."
"It's a friend! your highnesss "
Erza pinched the bridge of her nose.
Hard.
"I have officially lost control of this situation."
Yuuta turned back to the car. His voice softened not the defensive shout from before, but something quieter. Something older.
"This was my eighteenth birthday gift."
His hand rested on the hood. Gentle. Familiar.
"From Father Elijah."
Erza's hand stopped mid-pinch.
"At the orphanage."
The words landed like stones in still water.
Orphanage.
Yuuta continued, not looking at them.
"No one adopted me." A small, humorless laugh. "Guess I wasn't cute enough. Or maybe my eyes freaked people out. Either way." He patted the hood. "When I turned eighteen, I had to leave. That's the rule. You age out. You're on your own."
Elena's grip on his other hand tightened.
"Father Elijah gave me this car. Said every man needs a companion." His voice roughened slightly. "I slept in this car for months. Until I saved enough for that apartment."
The words hung in the air.
Heavy.
Real.
Erza's throat tightened.
Orphanage.
No one adopted him.
Slept in a car.
She looked at the vehicle with new eyes.
Not a machine. Not a joke. Not a punchline for her cold commentary.
A lifeline.
The only thing between a boy and the cold streets.
Like me.
The thought came unbidden, unwelcome, impossible to stop.
Alone. Surviving. No one to rely on but yourself.
She remembered her own childhood. The weight of the crown before she was ready. The endless lessons. The expectations. The loneliness at the top of a frozen palace where everyone wanted something from her and no one just... saw her.
This mortal.
This child.
He'd been alone too.
The burden in her chest grew heavier.
Why?
Why did his pain feel like her pain?
Why did knowing he'd suffered make her want to..
"PAPA!"
Elena's cry cut through her thoughts like a knife.
The little girl still in her rabbit costume, floppy ears and all had wrapped herself around Yuuta's leg. Tears streamed down her cheeks, cutting tracks through her silver-fair skin.
"Papa! Papa! I'm sorry!" She sobbed. "Papa was lonely! Papa had no one! But Elena is here now! Elena will never leave Papa alone!"
Yuuta's face crumbled.
Whatever wall he'd built around that memory whatever distance he'd tried to maintain. Elena's words shattered it completely.
He knelt down.
Gathered his daughter in his arms.
Held her tiny, fluffy, perfect body against his chest.
"Hey," he whispered.
His voice was rough. Broken. Human.
"Hey, little one. Papa's okay."
Elena sniffled against his shirt.
"Papa's not lonely anymore. Look."
He pulled back slightly. Gestured at Erza.
"Papa has you. Papa has..." He hesitated. "...Mama. Papa has family. "
Family.
The word hit Erza like a physical blow.
"Really?" Elena's voice was small. Hopeful.
"Really."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Elena hugged him tighter.
Over her head, Yuuta's eyes met Erza's.
She didn't look away.
Couldn't look away.
Something passed between them fragile, unnamed, terrifying. A thread pulled taut across the distance. A question neither of them knew how to ask.
Then Erza straightened.
"This is sentimentally inefficient," she said coldly.
Her voice was ice.
But beneath it—beneath the frost and the distance and the queen—something else trembled.
"The zoo will close if we continue wasting time."
She didn't move to separate them.
Didn't mock.
Didn't sneer.
She just... waited.
Yuuta smiled.
A real smile. Not his usual nervous grin. Not the desperate humor he used as armor. Something warmer. Something that reached his eyes.
"Right." He stood, still holding Elena. "Let's go. Zoo awaits."
He opened the car door.
Elena scrambled inside, rabbit ears flopping, tears already forgotten in the excitement of new thing new place new adventure.
"This... vehicle is safe?" Erza asked.
"Safe enough."
"That is not reassuring."
"It's all we've got, Your Highness."
Erza sighed.
A long, suffering, universe-why-me sigh.
She got in.
Yuuta slid into the driver's seat. Turned the key.
The car roared to life.
Then sputtered.
Then made a sound like a dying demon gargling gravel while being strangled by a very angry cat.
"See?" Yuuta said cheerfully. "She's greeting you."
Erza closed her eyes.
"I have made a terrible mistake to let this fool spare."
In the back seat, Elena bounced.
"ZOO ZOO ZOO ZOO ZOO!"
The car pulled away.
Rattling. Sputtering. Definitely on the verge of collapse.
And somewhere in the back of her frozen heart...
The Dragon Queen smiled.
Just a little.
_________
Yuuta drove.
Silently. Carefully. Both hands glued to the wheel like his life depended on it which, considering the ice queen currently occupying his passenger seat, it probably did.
The zoo was nineteen kilometers away from Luna City.
Nineteen kilometers of highway stretching like a concrete river through the urban landscape. Nineteen kilometers of buildings rising like steel and glass forests. Nineteen kilometers of Elena squeaking at absolutely everything she saw from the back seat.
"PAPA! LOOK! BIG BUILDING!"
Yuuta glanced in the rearview mirror at his daughter's face pressed against the window. "That's an office complex, sweetie."
"PAPA! LOOK! TALL BUILDING!"
"Same one, Elena."
"PAPA! LOOK! DIFFERENT TALL BUILDING!"
Yuuta suppressed a smile. "That's... actually the same building from a different angle."
Elena gasped like he'd just revealed the greatest magic trick in existence. "THE BUILDING MOVED?!"
"No, we moved."
"THE BUILDING STAYED?!"
"...Yes."
"AMAZING!"
Yuuta's heart did something complicated in his chest. Everything was amazing to her. Everything was new and wonderful and worthy of celebration. He'd forgotten what that felt like seeing the world through eyes that hadn't yet learned to be bored by it.
He glanced in the rearview mirror again.
Erza, however, was not having a good time.
She sat rigidly in the passenger seat, her white-violet imperial dress pooling around her like frozen water, her silver hair somehow still perfect despite the car's questionable air conditioning system. Her face was pale paler than usual. Her jaw was tight enough to crack diamonds. Her violet eyes darted around like a trapped animal searching for escape.
"How," she said through clenched teeth, her voice barely above a whisper, "do humans build such infrastructure without any trees?"
Yuuta blinked. "Pardon Your highness?"
"There are no trees!" She gestured sharply at the passing cityscape the endless rows of buildings, the concrete sidewalks, the metal streetlights. "No forests! No greenery! Just... boxes everywhere! It makes it so hard to breathe in this tiny planet!"
Yuuta sighed.
Can't argue with a queen, he reminded himself firmly. Especially not about urban planning.
"It's called a city, Your highness" he said carefully, keeping his voice neutral. "Lots of humans live close together. Trees are in parks and stuff."
"Parks?"
"Places with trees. Inside the city."
Erza's expression suggested she found this concept deeply suspicious like someone had told her water could be dry and she was waiting for the punchline.
"Primitive," she muttered, turning to stare out the window.
"You're wearing our primitive clothes," Yuuta pointed out without thinking.
The temperature in the car dropped ten degrees.
Erza's head turned toward him. Slowly. Deliberately. Her eyes had gone flat and cold in that way that meant someone was about to die.
"Did you just talk back to me, Pathetic Mortal?" Her voice could have frozen the highway solid.
Yuuta's brain finally caught up with his mouth.
Oh no.
Oh no no no no.....
He'd forgotten. Forgotten who she was. Forgotten the ice spear through his window. Forgotten the chain around his throat. In the chaos of Elena's excitement and the normalcy of driving, he'd treated her like a person like any other passenger making conversation.
Mistake.
Huge mistake.
Ice crackled around Erza's fingers. The passenger seat began to frost over. Yuuta's seat his actual seat started freezing beneath him.
"I....My Queen...." Yuuta's voice cracked. "Remember the promise! The Bet you agreed Equal Treatment."
Erza stopped.
The ice halted mid-spread.
She looked at him.
Then, without a word, she hit him.
Crack.
Her fist connected with his skull hard enough to hurt, not hard enough to kill. His head snapped to the side. Stars exploded behind his eyes. The car swerved slightly before he corrected it.
"Your promise never said I couldn't harm you," she said coldly, crossing her arms and turning to look out the window like nothing had happened. "It only said I couldn't kill you."
Yuuta rubbed his head with one hand, still steering with the other.
Ow.
Ow ow ow.
He really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut.
In the back seat, Elena remained completely oblivious to the violence that had just occurred centimeters from her mother's fist. Her face was still pressed against the window, her breath fogging the glass, her tiny clawed hands splayed against it like starfish.
Then she screeched.
Not a scared screech. An excited screech. The kind of sound only children and very enthusiastic seals can produce.
"MAMA! PAPA! LOOK!"
She pressed her face harder against the window, squishing her cheeks into adorable pancakes. One tiny claw pointed desperately at the sky.
"DRAGON! MAMA, THAT'S A DRAGON LIKE YOU!"
Erza's head snapped up.
Her violet eyes narrowed, scanning the clouds with the focus of a predator identifying potential threats. Her posture shifted still cold, still royal, but now alert in a way she hadn't been since they left the apartment.
"What," she said slowly, her voice carrying a note of genuine curiosity, "is that creature?"
Yuuta followed her gaze.
A plane.
Just a plane. Soaring through the clouds at thirty thousand feet, leaving a white contrail behind it like a scar across the blue. The afternoon sun glinted off its wings metal wings, wings that didn't flap, wings that carried hundreds of humans through the sky like it was nothing.
"It has wings," Erza observed, her tone shifting from suspicion to something almost like respect. "But it doesn't flap them. And it's using fire to fly." She tilted her head, studying the distant aircraft. "A wingless dragon that breathes fire backward. Fascinating."
Yuuta choked.
"That's...." He coughed. "That's not a dragon. That's a plane. "
Erza turned to him.
Slowly.
Her eyebrow arched with regal skepticism.
"Plane?"
"Yeah. Human technology." Yuuta patted his dashboard, the familiar motion grounding him. "It runs on fuel, a special liquid that burns to create energy. Just like how this car runs, actually. Just... bigger. And with wings."
In the back seat, Elena's eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates.
"PAPA!" Her voice rang with pure, unfiltered wonder. "Humans are so GREAT!"
Yuuta puffed up slightly despite himself. A warm feeling spread through his chest the kind that came from impressing his daughter, from being seen as impressive by someone who mattered.
"I know, right?"
"They build flying metal beasts!"
"We call them planes."
"FLYING METAL BEASTS CALLED PLANES!"
Yuuta grinned.
Then....
"Great?"
Erza's voice cut through his moment of paternal pride like a blade through silk.
She laughed.
Not a warm laugh. Not a kind laugh. A sharp, incredulous, dismissive laugh that stripped away every ounce of warmth Yuuta had been feeling.
"Delusion," she said flatly. "Pure delusion."
Yuuta's grin faded. "Pardon?"
"If a dragon wanted to learn..." She stopped. Corrected herself with a slight tilt of her head. "No. If I wanted to learn, I could master your so-called 'technology' within an hour. And then I could rule this entire planet by sunset."
Yuuta stared at her.
The highway hummed beneath them. Elena's excited breathing filled the back seat. But in the front, time seemed to slow.
"You could learn centuries of human innovation in one hour? "
"Correct."
"How?!"
Erza tossed her hair a motion so dismissive, so inherently royal, that it somehow made the question feel stupid for even being asked.
"Dragons have a knowledge-stealing ability. We can understand any knowledge instantly and apply it in reality." She searched for the human word, her brow furrowing slightly. "It's called... comprehension absorption. Yes. That's the closest translation."
Yuuta's mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
No words came out.
"Tch…" he clicked his tongue softly, shaking his head with a weary sigh. "This world really isn't fair… Dragons live for centuries, wield unbelievable power, and now you're telling me you can just absorb knowledge like a sponge… instantly?"
"And I bet your highness never forget anything either."
The words left his mouth before he could stop them bitter, envious, honest in a way he hadn't intended to be.
Erza went still.
Not frozen-still like before, when she was preparing to attack. Different. Wrong.
"What do you mean, Mortal?"
"Long memory....Your highness." Yuuta shook his head, staring at the road ahead. "Your highness probably remember everything perfectly. Never forget a single moment. Every conversation, every face, every detail just... stays." He laughed, but there was no humor in it.
"That's even more blessed than the knowledge thing. Humans spend their whole lives trying not to forget the important stuff taking pictures, writing journals, making memories and your highness just... do. Must be nice."
Silence.
Long. Heavy. Dangerous.
Erza's expression shifted.
Something flickered in her violet eyes something that looked almost like pain before she crushed it beneath layers of ice.
"It's not a blessing," she said quietly. "It's a curse."
Yuuta frowned. "Pardon? My queen, How could perfect memory be a curse?"
"Nothing."
"No, but Your highness...."
"I said nothing. "
Erza's eyes snapped to him.
Cold. Hard. Dangerous.
"If you don't want to lose a limb," she said, her voice dropping to something that could freeze oceans, "focus on the damn path."
Yuuta opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Looked at the road.
He drove.
But in the corner of his eye, he watched her. The way her hands had tightened in her lap. The way her jaw had clenched. The way she stared out the window not at the buildings, not at the city..
At nothing.
Curse, she'd said.
What could be cursed about never forgetting?
He didn't ask.
Something told him he didn't want to know.
Elena, completely oblivious to the tension that had just crackled between her parents, bounced in her seat like a tiny silver-haired spring.
"Papa! Are we almost there?!"
"Soon, little one."
"Will the one-headed kitties be there?!"
Yuuta smiled at her reflection in the rearview mirror. "Lions? Yeah, they should be."
"Will they be sad about having only one head?!"
He glanced at Erza.
She was still staring out the window. Still silent. Still wrapped in whatever memory had stolen her voice minutes ago. Her profile was sharp against the passing cityscape beautiful and untouchable and somewhere else entirely.
"I don't think they know any different, Elena."
She considered this with the intense seriousness only a four-year-old could muster. "Oh." A pause. "That's good. They can't miss what they never had."
Yuuta's chest tightened.
They can't miss what they never had.
Such a simple thing for a child to say. Such a profound thing.
He wondered if Erza felt the same way. If she looked at the world at him and saw only things she'd never had. Or if, like the lions, she missed everything and simply didn't know any different.
He didn't ask.
The car drove on.
After a long, exhausting journey—nineteen kilometers of highway, demonic car noises that sounded like dying animals, and Elena asking "Are we there yet?" approximately every forty-five seconds—the Yuuta family finally reached their destination.
Manlee Zoo.
The famous City Zoo loomed before them like a green oasis in the middle of urban chaos. Giant banners hung at the entrance, advertising exotic animals, conservation efforts, and overpriced snacks. Palm trees lined the walkways. Ticket booths gleamed in the afternoon sun.
Also, unfortunately..
Crowds.
Lots and lots of loud crowds.
Yuuta circled the parking lot three times before finally spotting a space near the back. Tourists swarmed everywhere like ants at a picnic families with screaming children, couples taking selfies, groups of students on field trips, vendors shouting about cold drinks and souvenirs.
The noise was immense.
"Finally," Yuuta muttered, killing the engine. Sweetheart shuddered gratefully beneath him. "We're here."
He looked at his passengers.
Elena had pressed her tiny hands against her ears. Her face was scrunched up like she'd bitten into a lemon. Her wings were pulled tight against her back, and her tail had curled around her own leg a defensive posture he'd never seen before.
"So loud," she whimpered. "Papa, so loud."
Beside her, Erza looked ready to commit mass murder.
Her jaw was clenched so hard he could see the muscles jumping beneath her porcelain skin. Her violet eyes had narrowed to dangerous slits. Frost was literally forming on the window next to her, crystalline patterns spreading across the glass like winter vines.
"Why," she said through gritted teeth, her voice barely controlled, "won't these disgusting humans shut their fucking mouths? It's insufferable."
Yuuta blinked.
Then it hit him.
Oh no.
He remembered something a documentary he'd watched years ago about animal senses. The bigger the animal, the more sensitive their hearing. Elephants could communicate across miles. Whales sang across oceans.
And dragons?
Dragons were way bigger than elephants.
Of course the crowd noise was torture for them. Of course every shout, every scream, every vendor's cry was like nails on a chalkboard amplified a thousand times. They weren't being dramatic they were suffering.
"I'm so sorry, My queen" he said quickly, guilt flooding through him. "I didn't realize..your hearing I can find another zoo! A quieter one! There's a smaller place outside the city, it's farther but—"
"No need."
Erza raised her hand.
Between her thumb and finger, she made a sharp gesture a click so subtle he almost missed it.
The effect was immediate.
The noise around them... faded.
Not completely. Yuuta could still hear birds singing. The wind rustling through the palm trees. The distant roar of what might actually be a lion. But the crowd noise the shouting, the chatter, the endless human sounds vanished like it had never existed.
It was like wearing noise-canceling headphones.
But better.
Magical.
Yuuta's jaw dropped.
"That's..." He looked around wildly, searching for any sign of how she'd done it. "That's awesome. How did you do that?! Is there some law of magic I don't know about? I didn't hear any chant! In anime, they always say something dramatic before using spells!"
Erza stared at him like he'd grown a second head.
"Anime?"
"Never mind." He waved the question away. "But seriously.....HOW? "
She pinched the bridge of her nose that familiar gesture of exhausted patience he was starting to recognize.
"Don't waste my time, mortal. Just show us the beasts."
Yuuta puffed his cheeks out in frustration.
"Yeah, yeah. I know, my queen. Your highness don't have to be so cold all the time."
Erza opened her mouth to deliver a scathing response...
And stopped.
Something flickered in her eyes. Something uncertain. Something almost... embarrassed.
"...I will tell you after the zoo."
The words came out before she could stop them.
Her eyes went wide.
What.
What did I just say.
WHY did I just say that.
She clamped her hand over her mouth a gesture so human, so un-queen-like, that Yuuta almost laughed.
Stupid! Stupid! her mind screamed. What was that?! Why would I promise him anything?! Why would I....
Her thoughts spiraled into chaos.
Her face stayed perfectly cold.
But inside, the Dragon Queen was panicking.
Yuuta blinked at her.
"Wait, really? Your highness will explain magic to me?"
Erza didn't answer.
Couldn't answer.
She yanked the car door open and fled.
Strode toward the zoo entrance like she was marching into battle back straight, chin high, absolutely not running away from a conversation she'd accidentally started.
Yuuta watched her go.
His mouth curved into a confused smile.
"...What was that about?"
Elena tugged his sleeve, her ears no longer covered, her face bright with renewed excitement now that the noise had vanished.
"Papa, Mama is weird."
"Yeah," Yuuta agreed, climbing out of the car. "Mama is definitely weird."
He stretched his arms above his head, feeling his back pop after the long drive. The afternoon sun warmed his face. The silenced crowd moved around them like ghosts. Somewhere inside the zoo, animals waited.
He looked at the entrance again.
"Sometimes she's almost normal," he muttered to himself. "Sometimes she's ruthless. I officially don't understand girls at all."
He paused.
"Even if they're dragons."
Elena grabbed his hand, her tiny fingers warm against his palm.
"Papa! Come on! BEASTS!"
Yuuta smiled down at her at this impossible, wonderful, loud little creature who had somehow become the center of his world.
"Coming, little princess."
They walked toward the entrance together.
Toward Erza's rigid silhouette waiting by the gates.
Toward whatever adventure waited inside.They walked toward the entrance.
Toward the animals.
Toward whatever chaos awaited.
Behind them, in the parking lot
A luxury van pulled into a spot nearby.
Black. Tinted windows. Expensive.
The door slowly opened.
A man stepped out of the darkness, polished shoes clicking softly against the floor.
No one looking at him now would have recognized the person he used to be. The ugly, ignored man who had once signed a desperate contract was gone completely.
Now, he was one of the city's fastest-rising celebrities.
Aaron Muru.
His hair was perfectly styled. His jawline sharp. His expensive coat fitted him like royalty itself. Everywhere he went, people stared with admiration. Women chased after him. Cameras followed him.
He had become everything he once dreamed of becoming.
And yet… his eyes remained empty.
Behind him walked his assistant in a black suit. Calm smile. Straight posture. Golden pupils that glimmered faintly beneath the light.
Not human.
The demon who had offered Aaron the contract now followed quietly at his side like a loyal servant.
Or perhaps a handler watching over his puppet.
"The zoo," Aaron said lazily as they approached the massive entrance gates. "Didn't expect this place to still exist."
His assistant smiled faintly.
"A wonderful place for entertainment, my master."
His voice was soft. Polite. Almost elegant.
But something beneath it felt wrong.
"A place where humans abandon themselves so easily," the demon continued. "Greed, lust, jealousy, violence… all gathered in one place."
The smile on his face widened slightly.
"A perfect place for sin."
Aaron felt a faint chill crawl down his spine hearing those words. Sometimes, when the demon spoke like that, he remembered exactly what kind of creature stood beside him.
But he said nothing.
He had already crossed too far to turn back now.
And truthfully… he did not regret it. Not even a little.
Without the contract, he would still be a worthless nobody hidden from the world.
Now the world adored him.
The two continued walking toward the entrance.
Toward the same place where a silver-haired queen had entered only moments earlier with her family.
Toward a collision neither side yet understood.
To be continued...