“Your dragon sure does treat you well, Noah. Nothing could come between you two.”

It was a bit of a shame that the heat had faded. His gaze, which stayed on Noah for a while, was tingling with a similar look. Gathering Noah’s hair to one side, he put his hands behind her neck to tie her ribbon. The skillful touch raised questions that she had never thought of before.

Noah lowered her voice to scold him so that Muell wouldn’t hear it.

“Tell me. Besides me, how many women have you been with? You are very strange.”

“Women?” Kyle made a face like he was getting ready to hear a bunch of strange things from her. “Go catch all of the investigators at the Protection Bureau and ask them if I have ever once had a relationship with a woman like this.”

“What about before you worked there?”

“Didn’t I tell you that I joined the military academy at ten years old? Did I not? It has a dormitory system, and dating there is prohibited.”

“And before that?” Noah inquired, rather persistently.

“Before I was ten years old? Well, you can ask my older brother about that time. Since Duke Leonard has been begging for me to get into a relationship for over fifteen years.”

Noah still couldn’t wipe the suspicious look from her face. Kyle, turning off the oven, discovered her expression and laughed.

“Why? What are you so curious about?”

“…why are you so skilled? Like someone who’s taken off a lot of clothes.”

Kyle’s ease was a little shaken by those words. He replied one beat too late.

“I am good at most things. Whether it’s with my brains or my body and Noah, just in case you didn’t know, you shouldn’t talk in front of others that way.”

“Talk how?”

“…I’m done.”

The heat that had been surrounding and piercing Noah’s whole body had disappeared peacefully. And the potpie that Muell had thought was about to burn had actually cooked just right. All that remained were embers, like the red eruptions that permeated Kyle’s lips and neck.

He cut the pie into two slices and placed them on saucers. The sweet, savory pie was tailored to Noah’s taste. She spoke as she saw him giving her a big piece that she could never finish.

“Let’s go together. To where I used to live. But it isn’t really a fun place.”

“Not a fun place— But I have thought about it.”

“About what?” asked Noah.

With saucers in both hands, he pushed her with his waist, sitting her down then set the two saucers on the table. What ensued were words that never ever fit the mood of an evening dinner: “Does your world allow ordinary people to carry weapons, like guns?”

“Huh..?”

“It troubles me to have to give up my weapons.”

Briefly bewildered by his random question, she soon burst into laughter. Kyle always chose to speak a certain way.

“What is this? In the world I used to live in, you are arrested if you walk around with a weapon. I don’t want to be an ex-convict anymore.”

“So I can’t, right? Such a boring world.”

“But I won’t change my mind. Later on, I will go back to Maobiana.”

Through that short and convincing promise, it felt like the thorn in her heart had been picked out.

Thanks to the book that had fallen into her hands by chance and the miracle that had happened with the probability of one out of one hundred billion, she had found two people most treasured in her life.

A cute dragon that would love her no matter what she looked like or whoever she became, and a man who had given her the greatest sense of stability that made her heart flutter.

It became clear at that moment that she had only vaguely thought about it. What she wanted to give to Adrian was not beyond her ability, such as new love or reconciliation with an old lover.

“When the trial is all over, you will go receive your very first health check-up. Now you know how I’ll come out if you’re diagnosed with malnutrition at that time. I won’t let you sleep tonight unless you eat all of that.”

“You know that can be misunderstood, right? Please be careful what you say in front of Noah or anyone,” interjected the little kid.

“Muell… your spoon is upside down.”

“Look at you, changing the subject.”

Noah wanted to give Adrian a chance to catch the same miracle that had come to her.

***

Adrian’s special interrogation was scheduled for the next day.

But the one thing different was the location. With the trial just around the corner, the defendant had to move to an underground cell in the main building of the Ministry of Justice. So the only time Noah had to see Adrian was when he was transferred from the basement of the Protection Bureau to the Ministry of Justice.

“You have… up to one hour. Is that all right?”

“That will be enough.”

Kyle had anxious eyes the whole time. He held Muell and whispered something to him, and when Muell answered back with a big smile, Kyle flicked the child’s forehead.

“Noah, if something happens — I don’t think anything will happen, but call Mue—”

“If something happens, I’ll teleport back to the Ministry of Justice right away,” said Noah, taking a peek inside the interrogation room. She caught a glimpse of blonde hair inside the window seen just past Kyle’s shoulder. Kyle sighed, realizing that all of Noah’s attention was there.

“I’ll be waiting outside.”

And with those final words, he took one step back. Noah, after patting his hand for comfort, opened the door of the interrogation room.