I Raised A Black Dragon

“Morning, Noah! Did you sleep well?” The little dragon chirped, crawling closer to place itself on her arm.

Smiling softly, Noah placed her other hand on top of the little dragon’s back. It was true. After all, she’d slept well without dreaming this time. Usually, waking up during the morning was harder because her body only felt limp and lifeless but, right now, her head felt refreshed. She wondered if it was because the void between her body and soul were finally repaired. To put it short, she was in the best condition that she had ever been.

With a groan, she opened her eyes and started blinking them rapidly, in an effort to wake herself as a yawn escaped her lips. Just then, Kyle’s voice seeped into the room.

“Are you awake?”

I should’ve just pretended to go back to sleep, Noah thought as she stopped her actions. Without thinking about it, she pulled the blanket back over her head without answering Kyle’s call. Sleep some more. I have hypotension. I can’t hold a pulse in the morning.

However, Kyle Leonard, who had eyes like a ghost, walked in towards the bed then placed his hands under Noah’s back and knees, immediately lifting her off of the bed, giving her no time to gather her thoughts. Just like that, she had been lifted then set back down in a sitting position in an instant. He didn’t stop there and even pulled the blanket off of her head.

“I know you’re awake.”

“You cruel man.” She felt a bit humiliated.

Kyle was right in front of her, with a speckle-free face despite it being so early in the morning, compared to her, who looked awfully disheveled in his purple eyes. Kyle took her right hand out of the blanket and placed a glass of water in it.

“We have quite a lot to do today. We have to stop by the post office, stop by the shop. We have to buy our tickets at the train station. And we also have to go to the hospital.”

“I have low blood pressure, so…”

“Then let’s start by going to the hospital. Though it’s a hassle, we have to leave together today.”

Kyle’s voice was no different from any other normal day. Noah drank the water and read the atmosphere. The strange atmosphere that had been lurking right after they’d entered the hotel yesterday was now gone.

He waited for her to finish the water. Taking her cup and setting it down, and did exactly what he usually did, including carrying her into the bathroom while she was still wrapped in the blanket.

“Don’t get in until the water has cooled down. You’ll get sick. I put your change of clothes over there,” he reminded.

Soon after washing up, the bed was perfectly made, and breakfast was set on the table. While Noah and Muell ate together, Kyle caught up on the last two days of newspaper articles and, every now and then, wrote some notes on a memo pad.

Curious, Noah asked, “What are you writing?”

“It’s a password that Penelope and Paul sent. It's one of the ways we use to communicate when we're in a situation where we can't contact each other during an investigation – delivering a message using the daily newspaper's wanted ad.”

The method was skipping over two letters in one sentence and pulling out the second letter of the third word. It revealed a one-line message from the two-paragraph-long job advertisement: Secretary Rossinell returns early. Nothing out of ordinary.

“It looks like the secretary is in the city now. There's something awfully quiet about this…”

Kyle flicked his pen around, frowning slightly. Noah admired the handsome man wearing glasses and naturally disheveled hair in agony. Why is he so handsome this early in the morning?

Kyle spoke, interrupting her trance. “You disappeared, you're not supposed to be this calm. Noah, if you don't finish eating, we can't leave.”

Begrudgingly, she nibbled on the mushroom soup. The innkeeper's cooking skills were slightly worse than Kyle’s.

“I thought by now they would have dispatched wizards to Novischosha or Fujian to find her. Awfully quiet. I feel disgusted,” Kyle continued.

“Disgusted, how?”

“When there’s no sign that I have to follow, the reason I can guess is that the other party has already seen what I expected and has intentionally not responded, or that there was no reason to do so. It’s one of those two… But I hope it’s not the latter. Noah, don't put down the spoon. If you don’t eat, I’ll have to feed you.” Kyle’s forehead crinkled when she pushed the soup dish away. His eyes shot open, then he pulled his chair up right next to Noah.