What does this mean? Did the dragon already imprint on me? Eleanora slapped her hand on her forehead. The baby dragon has already humanized itself.

 “…No!” The witch grabbed her nightcap and screamed at the child, holding onto her calf. “No, you beast!”

“Buh!”

Damn it. Eventually, Noah embraced the child in her arms and fed him with the bottle of milk. Desperate, she tried to rationalize the absurd situation.

It doesn’t make sense to leave a dragon egg at the corner of a street in the first place. It would be more believable that someone intentionally left it on where I often go. Then who?

No one knows me in this world, but I know quite a few who know Eleanora, the true master of this body. The problem is I don’t know those people personally.

Giving up, she tried to ask the child instead. “Hey, do you remember who left you in the streets?”

“Aboo?”

“Yes, I know you were in the egg. But you’re a dragon. Did you hear anything suspicious outside the shell or something?”

The curly, dark-haired child could only blink his big, red eyes at her. Then, the child burst into laughter—a laugh so innocent Eleanora’s heart ached. Frustration flooded her chest.

“You’re laughing now…”

She could not possibly take over the child if she’d like to keep her undisturbed living. The dragon is the pet of the heroine and plays a huge role in the novel.

In Laurent Imperial, there is a legendary egg that is handed down from generation to generation. The dragon’s egg is left as a sign of friendship by Wyrm Lizard, who helped the founding king of Laurent build an empire.

The egg, which had not even shown signs of hatching for over a thousand years, is broken by the heroine who visited the Yellow Sea by accidentally dropping it. It is the first time in 500 years that a dragon was born.

Naturally, the whole world’s attention is focused on who the child will take as its owner. There were many candidates who qualified.

However, it wasn’t the royal family that the dragon imprinted as its owner, but the first heroine, Lenia. It was only natural, of course. The dragon first recognizes the human being who first came into contact with him when the incubation period nears.

Then, Lenia takes the child into her household and receives the spotlight.

With a huge amount of people supporting her from all over the continent, the heroine, who was the daughter of a powerless Countess, Lenia, becomes on par with some of the continent’s most powerful men.

At the same time, they are attacked by Eleonora, the evil witch who is after the dragon, and they form alliances with the male protagonists.

That was the original plot.

Unfortunately, the current Eleonora had not the slightest intention of involving herself with the novel’s course. She even shudders at the thought of being under such a bright spotlight.

“It’s enough to die by a pile of work,” she muttered.

I refuse to trade my peace with death by a dragon.

Besides, the beloved egg that they had been waiting in the palace for its hatching has already disappeared, so the capital must be in complete chaos. What would the bottom line be?

Noah stared at the child in her arms, who was drinking milk.

The final process of imprinting is to give a name. Fortunately, she has not named this dragon yet, nor had she given him her name.

If so, the imprint will not be complete yet. There was still a chance.

“Uh…”

The child took the bottle off his mouth to see if he had had enough milk. He even burped lightly after a tap on his back. The dark red eyes blinked slowly and gradually closed. The child began to doze off with his face buried in my arms.

“…….”

Somehow, she felt guilt in her heart. She sighed. “I’m not abandoning you, baby. I’m trying to take you to your mom.”

You would be much happier to go to your destined mother than to live with a helpless, lazy witch like me. 

Then, Noah left the house quietly lest the child wakes up.

*

A Sorrent in the south, far from the capital Tezeba. It was just a few hours ago that a man arrived in a country village with sheer coastal cliffs to the south, dense forests to the east, and fairy lakes to the west.

“I’m an investigator from Tezeba.”

“Ugh.”

The chief of the security forces of Sorrent, who was dozing off, leaped to his feet. Tezeba. It’s the capital of Laurent. “Tezeba? Where do you belong?”

“Aijet.”

The first district of Tezeba, the capital, was an area densely populated by high-ranking aristocratic mansions, including the great emperor of the Laurent Empire. There isn’t any detective in those places! The manager fumbled about the desk for his glasses.

The man, with his bright boots and black hair, looked down deadpan at the flustered chief, his arms crossed. His figure was reminiscent of a sleek black leopard. The chief glanced briefly again at the man: his aura was not of a criminal.

“Gee, the position…?”

“I’m the head of the investigation security department.”

“Yes?” The chief thought he was joking, though. Finally, he found his glasses. And as soon as he checked the man in front of him, he squealed. “What! Sir Leonard?”

Purple eyes, golden brooch on the left breast of a black uniform, and leather holster in a belt, definitely containing a revolver. The description alone sufficed.

Not a joke but a real boss!