Home/The Reincarnated Hero Is Melancholic/ch20

Chapter 20

Werner von Valentine.

The second son of the Valentine ducal house, a genius mage who inherited his mother Unis's talents and, at just eleven years old, proficiently wielded 4-star magic.

Thanks to the many innate advantages he'd been born with, Werner had rarely ever felt at a loss.

The only wall he'd ever encountered was his older brother, Kizef, who was three years his senior—but after giving up on catching up around the age of eight, he'd felt much more at ease.

So it had been a very long time since he'd felt this frustrated.

"Hah…"

Werner flopped onto his bed and heaved sigh after sigh at the ceiling.

His mood had been terribly complicated since dawn.

So complicated, in fact, that he couldn't sleep and had no appetite—incomparable to how he'd felt when he'd heard Kizef had been offered a grade-skip.

"Right now, even if the little tyke brought me chocolate cake, I don't think I'd want to eat it…"

Muttering to himself, Werner sighed again.

Just as he was exhaling as if to sink the very ground, his gaze drifted to one wall.

Beyond that wall was that carefree bastard… no, sir…

'Hah. The shameless bastard Roel brought home is a dragon…'

Honestly, it still didn't feel real.

A shameless brat who'd appeared out of nowhere and captured Rowena's affection—and upon investigation, turned out to be a dragon, the object of every mage's admiration, and moreover, the Black Dragon Isid, the Empire's Guardian Dragon. The complexity born from that disparity was beyond words.

And more importantly—when had Roel even gotten to know that dragon? And they seemed so close, which made it even more irritating.

"She's always been a bit interested in the Guardian Dragon, though…"

As he muttered, yesterday came back to him.

When he and Kizef had rushed after the two, Rowena was already riding on the Black Dragon's back.

"Tha, you…!"

The shout that had risen to his throat was scattered by Rowena, who was smiling brightly while lounging comfortably on the Black Dragon's back.

Chattering with a face more relaxed than ever—as if there was nothing to worry about—Rowena's appearance had firmly rooted the brothers in place.

As they stood there dumbfounded, the Black Dragon briefly glanced back at them, looking annoyed, and moved his magic. Immediately after, Rowena's chattering stopped abruptly.

Whether his heart had dropped at the famous silencing spell or from the sudden solitude he felt, he still wasn't sure.

All he knew for certain was that he couldn't approach the Black Dragon and Rowena, who seemed isolated from reality, and that his chest had ached dully.

That feeling grew worse after he saw the Black Dragon carefully lay the sleeping Rowena in her bed and stroke her hair with a feather-light touch, as if she might vanish at any moment.

What was it, really?

The Black Dragon had said Rowena was akin to his contractor, but that didn't seem to explain everything.

If not a contractor, then what were they?

"Agh, my head's going to explode!"

It felt like there were a dozen problems to solve, and he couldn't even solve the first one. Or perhaps he'd woken up to find fifty years had suddenly passed, and he was the only one left in the dark.

There was something between the Black Dragon and Rowena that others couldn't understand.

And that made him feel bad.

Werner snorted angrily.

Right. Guardian Dragon or not, the bastard leisurely spending time in the next room was the one who'd caused his precious little sister to pull a midnight runaway—no, a midnight escape.

And now he'd brazenly—though as an imperial subject and a mage, perhaps he shouldn't say this—taken over a room and settled in.

"Why did Father even allow this? Aaargh!"

Werner ended up pounding his poor bed in frustration.

Of course, respecting the Guardian Dragon was only natural! But showing up out of nowhere and acting chummy with Rowena—that, he did not like!

It was an embarrassingly childish conclusion to his agonizing thoughts, but if pressed, it was also the most honest one.

Eventually, Werner sprang to his feet.

Since thinking alone wasn't getting him anywhere, he decided to wake Rowena, who should be getting up soon, and have lunch together.

His plan seemed to be working.

Just as he stepped out, Rowena's personal maid was entering his sister's room—she had apparently just woken up.

Being the good brother he was, Werner waited in the hallway while Rowena got ready.

When he judged it was about time, he knocked.

"Little tyke. Are you up?"

Hmm, excellent. I really am a great brother. No matter how fond she is of her friend—though whether he's even a friend is unclear—family always comes first.

"I'm coming out!"

At Rowena's voice from inside, Werner smirked.

He heard her footsteps quicken. Was she that eager to see me?

Werner cleared his throat, stretched himself as tall as possible, and prepared to easily scoop Rowena up.

Click—

The door opened.

"Good afternoon, Brother Werner!"

Rowena called out like a rapid-fire spell, and then—whoosh—she dashed right past him.

…Huh?

Dashed past…?

Werner blinked. What was this? Why wasn't Rowel in front of him?

His sluggish mind finally pieced it together.

So right now… the little tyke had just ignored me and run off…?

To be precise, she hadn't ignored him—she'd greeted him. She'd just said it so fast it barely sounded like a greeting.

Still frozen with his arms outstretched to catch her, Werner creaked his neck around like a rusty hinge.

Rowena had definitely run toward my room. Maybe she hadn't seen me? So she was looking for me…

"Isid! I'm coming in!"

Before his gaze could even reach that direction, the cheerful voice that slammed into his ears shattered his carefully constructed happy fantasy.

The first person Rowena sought upon waking wasn't him, nor his brother, nor his father—but that uninvited guest who had appeared just yesterday.

Isid— Isid— Isid—!

Crash. The sound of brotherly bonds crumbling, family collapsing, and the world ending echoed in his ears.

No way…

As Werner desperately denied reality—

Click—

"Rowel."

"Good morning!"

The Black Dragon, who had opened the door, exchanged a warm greeting with Rowena—

"Let's go eat first. You must be hungry too, right? Huey's cooking is amazing. Oh, Huey is our head chef—he used to be a knight. He has really pretty energy…"

—and they headed to the dining room together.

"…"

Werner slowly clenched his fist. Flames blazed in his eyes.

Good feelings? Because he's a dragon?

No. From today on, that bastard is my rival.

In that moment, the Black Dragon—the object of respect and admiration—was completely reborn as Werner's mortal enemy.

---

"…"

Werner glared ahead with burning eyes, shoveling food into his mouth with vengeful fury.

His anger was so boiling that he couldn't even tell if he was chewing meat or grass—everything was pulverized in his mouth.

And that Black Dragon bastard kept pouring oil on his fire.

Having naturally claimed the seat beside Rowena, the Black Dragon attended to her with practiced ease.

Every dish Rowena glanced at was immediately pulled closer, and empty plates were pushed aside before the servants could even clear them.

No, why is an arrogant, aloof dragon so good at taking care of her?

And that wasn't all.

"Not that plate."

"Huh?"

"It has something you don't like."

"…Oh, you're right."

"Want to eat it?"

"I could, but… I'll just skip it."

"Alright."

The Black Dragon even knew Rowena's tastes.

Werner glared at the plate the dragon had removed as if trying to bore holes through it.

The braised duck, which looked so delicious it made his mouth water, didn't seem to contain any ingredient Rowena disliked—not that he knew of. In fact, things Rowena disliked were never even served in the first place.

So what exactly was in it that she didn't like?

Actually, Werner wasn't the only one feeling displeased.

"…Rowel. Isn't your seat over there?"

"I'm sitting with Isid today!"

Calips, whose seat beside Rowena had never been taken since she'd learned to walk, remained silent through the entire meal.

"Rowel. Want to take a walk together after lunch?"

"Hmm? Oh, today I… I promised to show Isid around the estate."

Kizef, whose daily walks with Rowena—except on days he was away at the academy—had been stolen, was staring at the Black Dragon with icy eyes.

At the table where five were seated, only two were enjoying a pleasant meal.

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