I Raised A Black Dragon

Noah turned around as she saw her moving away and said, “Go. Pack your bags.”

“Right now?” asked Kyle.

“That’s right. Your vacation starts today,” replied Noah.

“…I was going to take a vacation anyway. The amount of vacation I’ve accumulated is already over 100 days.”

“Why are you pretending not to like it when you do? You can’t even be frank about it.”

Muell smiled brightly as he clung to Kyle’s leg. Kyle, who struck a few more words, eventually admitted, holding Muell, “Alright. That’s good. My first vacation since entering the Protection Bureau. I haven’t taken a rest like this in a long time, so I should think about how to hand over the duties…”

“Shouldn't you thank me first?”

Instead of replying, Kyle leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. The light pecking sound echoed sweetly in Noah’s ears. She tried to stop the corners of her mouth from curling, and forced a straight face.

“Well, there is no need to thank me. I spent so much time working this morning that I'm tired. I want to go home and rest today,” she said.

“You told me to pack my bags.”

“He will do it for you.”

“…When will you stop being so lazy?”

Whether it was a groan or a joke, Kyle sighed and pushed Noah on the back. But when she stood there not moving, he tapped her shoulders.

“Let’s go. Don’t tell me you’ve grown tired of walking too… Noah?”

Instead of replying to him she quietly hid behind him. After quickly whispering a few words into Muell’s ear she held her breath while holding his black conquest jacket embroidered with golden thread. Kyle turned to her with a bewildered look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

But he became as stiff as her as soon as he turned to where she’d made an eye gesture. It was because he’d discovered, far down the hallway, a man standing with his back leaning against the wall, looking this way with a smile on his face.

It was obvious who he was. It was the elegant, noble Duke Leonard.

“Long time no see, my brother.”

Kyle’s voice sounded like he was choking. The duke straightened his back as if he was about to respond.

He soon started to come this way, but the closer he got the more Noah could see the lines thickening around his neat mouth. It was clear that he was watching everything, including the physical affection shared between the couple.

Kyle opened his mouth as he hid Noah behind him.

“What is the matter? All of a sudden?”

“What do you mean ‘all of a sudden’? I'm upset again. After all this time your personality is still irritable. How can you be so cold?” The duke grumbled, but the cold investigator had built a high iron wall.

“Is Duchess Leonard well?” Kyle coughed awkwardly and tried to change to subject, but his attempt was blocked by a series of complaints. His face showed fatigue.

“Your exaggeration is severe. Don't we often see each other in the Imperial Castle?”

“Don’t go making up stories like that. You just nod even when you pass by from a distance or if we run into each other. Do you know how much that hurts me each time you do that?”

“It’s because I am busy…”

The duke scoffed, “Excuses.”

Noah observed with interest the brothers’ conversation. It was a very unfamiliar sight for her to see someone who nagged in fear be pushed back.

“…right. That was my fault.”

When Kyle closed his mouth with a faint sigh, his brother raised his voice with momentum.

“While we’re at it, Mother said that you send a letter once every two or three months. But why don’t you send me any? Looking back, I raised you more than she did.”

“And you sent me to the military academy when I was 10.”

“Aaaaanyways… I did that to find out your aptitude. Do you think you would adjust well there? And I apologized several times saying that it was my mistake.”

“Anyways, as a result, you opened up the starting point on the path to hell for me.”

Not really. Noah quietly withdrew that last thought. Kyle seemed not to be pushing back but reluctantly accepting his brother's whining.

The duke pinched his forehead as he groaned.

“Cold-hearted bastard. No-good bastard. How weird it is that you are in a relationship.”

His purple eyes—the same color as his young brother’s eyes—fell on Noah, who was watching the scene from behind Kyle. When she smiled awkwardly, the eyes of the duke, who had removed his disappointed face, sparkled.

“Sooooo. I hope our reunion greeting ends here… And now I want to talk to today’s judge. What do you think, Noah Leonard?”

This is it. He’ll tease me until the end, Noah thought. Muell pulled gently on the hem of her dress. The teleportation portal she’d asked from him flashed below her feet. Noticing it, Kyle cut off the words of his brother, who tried to talk forever.

“Hey, Brother. I’ll see you later. We have work to do.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll visit home later on. Please give the duchess my wishes. To stay healthy and live well.”

“Hey! Hold on! …bastard!”

The portal launched them away from his final cry. The mercilessly frowning duke and the hallway of the Department of Justice were wiped away from the front of their eyes.

It was a successful escape!