I Raised A Black Dragon

“Must be nice for him. To have such a woman like that.”

At those words, Kyle gave Adrian a look. His eyes definitely possessed a different emotion from before, not the indifferent gaze he always had. Seeing that Noah hadn’t let go of his hand, Adrian could tell they had the same feelings for each other.

“...it’s true that I am jealous.”

Perhaps Noah heard him, she stuck her head up from behind Kyle’s back, and then she met Adrian’s gaze. After a long staring contest, Noah grabbed Kyle’s hand and shook it. “I have to tell him something,” she said.

“Never. I know what he’ll try to do.”

“Nothing will happen. I am ten times stronger now,” she insisted.

“Your magic abilities, yes. But your physical strength and agility are depleted, so no.”

“Hey! But still!”

A few quiet scuffles between the two ensued. Adrian tried to place Eleonora’s face over hers. It wasn’t difficult to do. Noah's languid, indifferent expression was surprisingly similar to hers. Frankly speaking, there were times when he wished Noah, who had only worn Eleonora's body, was just her. He didn't have to bring her back to life, all Noah had to do was just pretend she was Eleonora. Then all he had to do was think of her as her… Though Adrian had always protested and expressed his vigilance, Noah was not as cruel to him as Eleonora.

“Then I’ll be with Muell. Going with him will increase my agility by double. Right?”

“How do you expect...”

It would have been nice if Eleonora had looked just half as much as her. Adrian’s head spun like crazy. It hadn’t been that long since the soul division, so the bond between the still unstable soul and the body gradually began to shake. Adrian had a splitting headache and dropped his head down, his sense drifting away.

“Hey, Adrian.”

At the calm voice, his mind returned. Someone was hunkered down next to him. It was Noah and Muell who managed to win the scuffle with Kyle.

“Come have a little chat with me.”

***

Sitting in the same position Muell was, Noah tore Adrian apart.

Looking back, the atmosphere that had surrounded Adrian on the first floor and Adrian on the fourth floor were strangely different. On the first floor, he had looked extremely unstable, much more insanity than usual. On the other hand, Adrian, who had threatened her with an explosive switch on the fourth floor, was relatively dry and his usual slickness was gone.

When Noah asked Muell which side was the ‘real’ Adrian, he pointed to the left without hesitation. It was the Adrian who had pushed Noah on the fourth-floor balcony on the fourth floor, a gunshot wound to the arm and chapped lips. Kyle also understood that and pulled Adrian's clone, who had been ragged by Muell's sharp blows, out into the hall.

The Adrian left in the room was glancing at Noah. As he was looking at her with watery eyes, Noah sighed because he looked like a puppy in the rain.

Though he was the real Adrian, he was not in his normal condition. First of all, it was surprising that the human being who had split his soul in half had remained sane. Maybe Muell's magic was minimizing the damage to his soul.

“You were supposed to kill yourself?”

“...I thought that it wouldn’t be bad.”

“Why all of a sudden? You acted like you didn't know what to do because you missed Eleonora.”

Adrian leaned slowly against the wall. The man who was always as beautiful as a God-made sculpture murmured with a gloomy face, “Actually, my original plan was to kill that thing. That terrible lump that has fallen from me. Hate, inferiority, pain; all those things. I thought I’d be comfortable after separating those from me and getting rid of them. That's why I turned towards soul division.”

“But?”

“But now I am not entirely sure. Which one was really cut out.” Noah didn’t stop him from speaking. As she remained silent, Adrian’s voice became low and deep as if he were talking to himself. “I guess there was nothing left of me in the first place except for the things related to Eleonora. I am not wrong. Because it’s no different from devoting my whole life to that bitch to get a little love one time.”

More silence from Noah.

“I am not sure now. What exactly it is that I want. What I am going to do now that I’m caught here and all the money from the project is gone. I am sure this is now what I wanted. I don't think this is it.”

He had been living his life to the fullest, but he didn't think this was the answer. There were times when Noah also thought like that. If Adrian was wandering in a bitter void like she had been, maybe this was an extremely depressing burnout.