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“Can you put this on for a bit?”

Lucella handed over Giselle’s ring which was adorned with a golden mesh.

“What’s that supposed to be?”
“It’s a ring that allows you to understand dragon speech. I’ll try speaking with you using it from now on.”
“What…?”

Monica was confused, but did as told and put on the ring.

It was a little too loose for her finger. Looking at it, she started rotating her hand in puzzlement. While she was doing that…

“I’m worried… about you.”
“Gh……!?”

Lucella said straightforwardly in Dragonian which she was still bad at.

Monica flinched back as if she was knocked away.

For human ears, the dragon’s words only sounded like a short and incomprehensible series of sounds. However, those sounds carried three-dimensional and profound meanings, and could convey everything including intent, fine nuances, and even the feelings of the speaker, without leaving anything behind.

As Kafal told Lazarus, this language wasn’t suited for telling lies.

“I… just can’t… leave you be.”

No matter how many annotations you added, Monica’s circumstances were still undeniably tragic and cruel.

Having become involved with her by chance, Lucella felt pity and wanted to save her. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Even if Monica didn’t believe it, there was no falsehood in Lucella’s feelings. Thus, Lucella decided to convey those feelings. Using the dragon’s words which could convey even the speaker’s feelings.

She wanted to tell her that it was too soon to despair, that there were still people out there worried for her. Lucella, at least, was one such person.

“Stop! Stop it!”
“Ah!”

Suddenly, Monica spoke up in Dragonian. Naturally, this ring allowed one not only to understand but even speak the language.

Don’t make me hopeful.
I’ll only get disappointed in the end.
Trusting would only bring me pain.
That’s not it. In truth, I’m lonely.
Please make me believe you.
Will you be able to do that?
Don’t touch me.
Don’t go.

A torrent of meaning flowed out through her words of rejection. It crashed fiercely against Lucella, like dammed-up water bursting through and overflowing.

Monica reflexively covered her mouth with a beet red face, and then remembered about the ring she was wearing and hurriedly pulled it off her finger.

“Haah…haah…”

She gently brushed her flat chest. Lucella felt as though she could hear the intense rhythm echoing in her own ears.

After that, she glared at Lucella while trembling.

“…What did I just say?”
“Uhh… if you translate it directly into human words, it was just “stop it!” but…… you ended up conveying everything about why you want me to stop…”
“Waah! Waaaaah!”

Monica started screaming while holding her head. It seemed that she only realized what she said after saying it.

“I’m, uhh, sorry… I only wanted to convey my own feelings… It’s difficult to lie while speaking Dragonian. And there is a very profound meaning in small statements. If you try to hide something, it ends up sounding unnaturally hollow, so it’s easy to notice it.”
“How…could you…shame me so…wh-…!!”

She was beet red as if boiling, and even tears started to form.

The words of the dragons weren’t suited to hiding things… In addition, Monica wasn’t used to speaking it, so she couldn’t even choose what meaning to put in her words. She ended up conveying even the things she wanted to hide, putting all her emotions in the open. It felt awkward.

“Go back! Go back at once! Go!”
“Woah!”

Lucella caught Giselle’s ring that was thrown her way. Monica then started throwing every cushion and plushie she could find in the room at her.

“I’m sorry for troubling you…! I’m going, good night!”

Lucella lightly jumped off the window frame and took shelter in the night.

It was a storm-like period of time.

As Lucella departed, the moon gradually ascended the night sky. In a room where magic lamps were extinguished, Monica lay on the bed, but was not asleep.

She was wide awake. She didn’t feel like she could sleep. Amid the days that seemed painted in dull gray, today had been a day that shone brilliantly and vividly, almost blindingly so.

“A friend, huh?”

While sprawled on the bed, Monica picked up a nearby plushie and held it up in the air.

It was a bear plushie that someone had sent her five years ago, when she had turned nine. She didn’t know who it was and how they managed to get it delivered to her, and it didn’t come with any message card either.

But well, she could care less about who had sent it. She didn’t even feel like thinking about it. And she didn’t particularly like or hate this particular gift, so she had put it as part of the furniture in the room.

“Hey. Do you think I could become friends if it’s with a dragon…?”

Monica asked the plushie. It naturally couldn’t offer any answer.

A mysterious girl who was said to be the foster child of Mount Kuguse’s dragon. She had battled a monster and saved Monica without being asked to by anyone.

She thought that it was just a whimsical action of a strong person and didn’t consider it to be anything special. She thought Lucella wouldn’t have cared whether she lived or died.

She was surprised when she found out her identity later on, but that was it.

However, it was different now. Monica had seen her feelings. She alone wouldn’t make her despair. Lucella didn’t think of Monica as a special human. She merely got involved with her by chance. And yet, even someone like Lucella was genuinely concerned for her well-being.

“No way I can believe it so easily. But… maybe it’ll be alright if it’s her?”

Monica posed her question to the plushie, fully aware that it wouldn’t be able to provide any response.

“…What am I doing?”

She suddenly noticed that what she was doing was childish and threw the plushie at the wall to hide her embarrassment.

The fancy bear slammed against the wall with a dull sound, then slid down and hit the floor, ending up upside down. Monica decided to just sleep like that, but it bugged her too much so she went and put the plushie upright.