I Raised A Black Dragon

"No, I meant, I was just going to be nicer to him. Adrian has a soft spot for me." Noah quickly clarified.

"What if something really bad happens?”

"Um…"

“'Trust me, I know what I'm doing’… If you give me an answer like that, I'll never see you again." Kyle was so relentless that Noah had to nod her head in silence. "Okay, I won't."

"The fact that you thought of doing it itself shows that Miss Noah's thinking is problematic…”

"I will not touch a strand of Adrian's hairs, I swear."

In the meantime, Noah felt a subtle satisfaction. Perhaps it was because there was a chance that she wasn’t stuck in an unrequited crush. For a moment, she thought of poking Kyle a little more, but realized shortly after that it was enough, and snickered inwardly.

"So, where are you going on a business trip?”

"…Noviscosha."

"If it's Noviscosha… The Northeast?”

Kyle replied stiffly with a disgruntled look. "Yes, when I dismantled these fragments and identified their origin, it was a magical ore from one of the mines in Western Noviscosha. Among the minerals that come from the mine, the Mane Ore is especially precious and is directly reviewed by the Ministry of Magic.”

"Oh. Then, the content of the collection and usage would be certain, but the records of the Magic Department did not say that it was used to make this kind of machine man?"

"Yes, I'm going to go to Noviscosha first and search for illegal routes through which the Mane Ore is distributed. There are cases that need to be solved there anyway."

To make at least five such sophisticated machines, there must be a manufacturing plant somewhere that processed and assembled gemstones.

If Kyle followed the route where Mane Ore was secretly extracted from Noviscosha, he would find a factory or a lab that created them. He could also rob them and discover where the finished products were delivered, Noah thought.

If he traces their tails, Kyle would eventually find out who designed the machines. Was it really Adrian who did all this? If so, what was he planning to achieve?

"Miss Noah, if you're thinking about something weird again…”

"No, I’m not. I just chose the wrong word before. Seriously, why would I do such a nuisance?"

With Noah’s persuasive words, Kyle gradually stopped his nagging, although he was reluctant. As they stepped out of the glass door, Noah’s thoughts still lingered on Adrian. But soon she inadvertently stopped when she glimpsed a video that was flashed on one side of the room.

“….?”

The bottom of the video was covered with blood. It seemed Kyle’s hand was wiping the recorder to remove the blood off the lens.

I don't think it's edited yet. But…

"Wait a minute."

Noah didn’t want to leave just yet, feeling strange. She passed by Kyle, who was trying to lead her out of the room, and went straight to the tape recorder. Without hesitation, Noah turned up the volume of the video.

“…Just tore off your waist just as much as you broke my shoulder. Even if you say that, you can't be fine. Am I right?”

"It's not hard to move my limbs, unlike you with your right arm blown away."

Before the conversation could continue, Kyle, who came in a hurry, turned off the tape recorder. Noah blinked for a moment, and then her gaze landed on Kyle's waist. She wasn’t able to notice because he had been wearing a black shirt for days…

"Sir, you’re hurt…"

"It wasn't a big deal." Kyle hastily interrupted.

At his feeble excuse, Noah didn't spare a response. Instead, she grabbed Kyle by the collar of his shirt.

*

After a long scuffle, it was already late at night that they had returned to Eleonora's mansion.

Kyle had looked around Noah's bedroom for the fifth time. She had insisted that her room was in shambles, but it was exactly what he had left the day before yesterday. If anything differed, it was only a loose quilt and a rug with a folded corner.

…I'm not in my right mind.

Kyle kicked the folded rug to straighten it out.

In fact, he had sworn to himself several times not to enter a lady’s bedroom as much as he could. As he had realized on the ferry to Tezeba, it was not polite to intrude freely into the most private space of unmarried women.

No matter how courteous he was, and no matter how… Even if Noah didn't have any s*xual meaning in bringing a man into the bedroom.

However, he was in Noah’s bedroom today as well. Kyle frowned and thought, “Why am I here?”