Chapter 3

‘Good heavens, what on earth is happening?’

Ever since I brought the baby dragon doll home, I had chattered away to it countless times, but this was the first time it had ever moved on its own or spoken.

I blinked, wondering if I was hallucinating.

‘Am I seeing strange things because I’m overthinking?’

Yet, the sight of it fluttering its tiny wings, shaking its head with a shudder, and stretching its whole body out could hardly be a delusion.

Astonishingly, the baby dragon doll had opened its eyes.

「Yaaawn… How long on earth was I asleep? I have a splitting headache.」

How could it yawn when it didn’t even have a mouth?

While I stood frozen at the unexpected turn of events, the doll I used to call Pepe grumbled as it looked over its own body.

「Oh, dear me. Why are my legs so short? It’s hard to keep my balance. And why is my head so huge?」

After waddling around for a while and hopping up and down on the spot, Pepe looked down at his own hands and let out a scream.

「Wait, isn’t this a crochet pattern? But my hands…? What is this? I became a knitted doll?!」

As if it couldn’t possibly be true, Pepe spun in circles, desperately trying to inspect his own body. The problem was that the sight was extraordinarily adorable.

‘What do I do? I want to hug him.’

A cute doll moving around in bewilderment made it five times as cute. Pressing down on my throbbing heart, I tightly clasped my two hands together.

‘So this doll really is Pepe?’

The majestic, beautiful dragon who had saved me.

The dragon who had suddenly collapsed, bleeding.

I hadn’t even been able to cover him properly with the shawl back then.

‘Did Pepe turn into a knitted doll?’

The moment that thought struck me, my heart—which had been fluttering with cuteness—instantly turned as cold as a glacier. I balled my paled hands into tight fists.

If a great dragon had suddenly turned into a knitted doll, there could only be one reason.

‘It’s my fault.’

I didn’t know how it happened, but the moment I draped the knitted shawl over him, Pepe had vanished and become a knitted doll. Some terrible spell must have been cast.

‘In the end, I couldn’t even warm Pepe up properly.’

Guilt closed my lips shut of its own accord. Spinning around like a dog chasing its tail, Pepe stopped in his tracks, tilted his head, and turned to look at me.

「Who are you?」

“…”

At the sudden question, I had no answer prepared. Feeling a sensation as if my heart were being squeezed, my face drained of color.

The baby dragon tilted its head innocently and asked: 「Could you be… Yvonne?」

“…Pepe?”

Good heavens, seeing as he remembered me, it was definitely him!

I broke into a wide smile and hugged the baby dragon doll tightly. Though, since he was small enough to fit atop my palm, it was really just rubbing my cheek against him.

“It really is you, Pepe!”

「Yvonne! You’ve grown so much while I wasn’t looking. Did you eat a Grow-Big Fruit or something?」

“What are you talking about?”

A Grow-Big Fruit—was there even such a thing in the world?

Giggling, I stroked Pepe’s soft, fluffy head with my index finger and said: “It’s been more than a dozen years since you vanished, Pepe.”

「Ehh? A dozen years? That long?」

I briefly explained everything that had happened in the meantime: how Pepe had suddenly bled and vanished, and how Count Cline had taken me in while I was holding the Pepe doll.

“Sniff, I’m so sorry. It’s all because of me…”

Tears welled up again as I spoke of the past. The dragon gently comforted me.

「Eesh, I don’t remember clearly what happened, but there’s no reason for you to cry. Dragons don’t die easily, you know. This is probably just because I was badly injured.」

Pepe tapped my forehead with his round hand and chuckled.

「It seems that as I was dying, you transferred me here using magic. Thank you, Yvonne.」

“Pepe…”

His tender words made my tears stream down like a broken faucet instead. Pepe shouted in dismay: 「Hey! You’re going to get my body soaked! Don’t cry! I’m a knitted doll, so if water touches me, I get heavy!」

Even so, the tears flowing down showed no sign of stopping. Looking at me, Pepe clicked his tongue.

「I should give a good child a present. So dry those tears.」

“A present?”

Pepe puffed out his round belly boastfully and said:

「As it happens, my mana has recharged enough to perform a small spell. Is there anything you want to see or need help with? I’ll grant whatever it is.」

Magic. For a moment, nothing came to mind, but more than that, my worry for Pepe was greater. He had finally gained the ability to speak after more than a dozen years—what if he used mana again and collapsed or got hurt?

I spoke in a cautious tone:

“…Don’t overexert yourself. If you faint again, I’m going to cry until the corners of my eyes are raw this time.”

I said it out of concern in my own way, but hearing my words, Pepe stamped his chubby foot in annoyance.

「Why, you little…! Just because I couldn’t talk for a few years, you’re looking down on me! Fine then. I shall show you my greatness.」

“Ah! Pepe!”

No, really, I’m fine…

Before I could stop him, Pepe suddenly burst into a brilliant, sparkling light. It was the exact same light that had erupted back when I was a child, wrapping the shawl around him.

“W-Wait!”

Anxious, I hugged Pepe’s body tightly.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the bright light, and when I opened them once more, I was sitting in an entirely different place.

“Huh? This is…”

Leaves fluttered wildly in the wind. It was a bleak wind. Yet, overall, it was a familiar landscape: rolling ridges, vast wheat fields stretching out.

It was none other than Count Cline’s territory.

‘Why am I here?’

It was summer right now, but the wind brushing past my cheeks was chilly. Wearing a short-sleeved dress, I shivered from the chill.

“That’s odd. The weather has been so lovely lately, but it feels like it might snow any second.”

At my words, Pepe—nestled in my palm—puffed out his chubby belly and boasted:

「It’s only natural the weather is different. This place is the future.」

“The future?”

「A dragon is a spiritual entity, so we aren’t bound by time and space. I thought the future would make a fine gift for you, who endured all alone so bravely for so long.」

“The future…”

「Having lived in anxiety your whole life, wouldn’t knowing the future put your mind at ease?」

I met Pepe’s gaze. Pepe giggled and asked: 「Aren’t you curious? You said you received a proposal.」

Well.

‘It would be a lie to say I wasn’t curious.’

Hearing Pepe’s words brought Emile’s proposal, which I had pushed aside, back to mind. Me, who had nodded aimlessly while treading carefully around the Countess.

‘If I get married like this, what kind of future will unfold?’

Nothing special came to mind—at most, days spent living quietly, giving birth to a son who looked like Emile and a daughter who looked like me.

‘Emile will surely make a good husband. And I’ll be a good wife.’

Even if it wasn’t a fiery passion, having spent so much time together meant we knew each other well. So we would be able to live while being considerate of and relying on one another.

‘If there’s any variable in the future, it would be reckless investments or a desire for change, but since both Emile and I are calm, wouldn’t we just live quietly here in the Countship of Cline?’

An unextraordinary future that anyone could imagine came to mind. Just then, Pepe fluttered his wings and shouted: 「There are people over there!」

However, the future Pepe showed me was entirely different from my imagination.

Going over to where Pepe was pointing, there was indeed a huge crowd gathered. Every single one of them was dressed in black.

‘Did someone die?’

Why on earth had we arrived at the very moment a funeral was being held?

‘Who on earth could it be?’

It seemed I was invisible to other people’s eyes. Reassurance settling in, I pushed through them toward the coffin and opened my eyes wide.

‘Huh?’

A woman with a pale face—as if splashed with white paint—lay inside the coffin. Over her, countless lilies fell in a shower. My lips trembled violently.

‘That’s me…?’

My dead body lay inside the coffin. And the man standing in front of it, his brown hair slicked back neatly, was none other than Emile.

My turning-blue lips trembled helplessly.

‘I… died…?’

Aside from Emile, no family members were around the coffin. That meant no child had been born between me and Emile.

‘It doesn’t seem like it’s been long since the wedding…’

There wasn’t a single wrinkle on Emile’s face. I could feel that this was not a distant future from now.

‘I die this early?’

It was a future I hadn’t even imagined. Unable to even blink, I stared into my own face as if spellbound. And soon, biting my lip, I raised my head.

‘What about Emile? Is Emile alright?’