chapter 28
28 – Claiming Ownership (1)
The fact that the tail can pound,
This was the first thing I learned about today.
Although blue blood vessels like my skin were not visible here and there,
Nevertheless, it was definitely running on my body.
Like a heart.
Red scales on top, and white scales on the bottom.
What had always been embraced in my arms was now holding me down.
Sometimes –
“Huh…”
With a heavily wet breath being released between the gently opened mouth,
The end flutters – while trembling.
The tail, covered only with scales over bare skin, finally moved once again.
Between the arms and the body,
Both sides of the neck,
And all the way to the widest chest.
As I was combing through the clothes that were loosely removed,
“hehehe…!”
I immediately tore my clothes in half,
Something harshly placed its tail, wet with shiny liquid, on my body.
That weight,
And those eyes looking at my body,
It was horribly scary.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you.
Well, more than that –
What do you think? Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Please, mom… Why are you doing this all of a sudden…!”
Struggled with strong hands that cannot be heard,
Twisting its body as it continues to be wetted by the tail,
I wanted to end this situation somehow.
“Stay still!!”
A body that froze with a sound loud enough to make the forest cry.
Literally, my eyes became even more wet as I couldn’t even close my mouth.
With those yellow eyes filled not with sadness, but with anticipation –
“Stay still.”
Mom just kept touching my body.
To the point where she couldn’t even properly wipe away the saliva that dangerously flowed from her mouth and just dropped it.
It was as if it had been boiled hot and it just fell onto my stomach and flowed out.
“I still get angry when I think about the way those b*tches look at you.
Those people who are reaching out their dirty hands to try to do something to you with their dark intentions, right now…!”
Sharreuk,
The sound, like a broom scraping the floor, came from the tail that had begun to twitch again.
It was bent here and there, trembling, but soon straightened out –
“But, I can’t do that anymore.”
With a sound like a wet towel hitting my body, it crawled over my body once again.
From time to time, while gently stroking your cheek as if your hand was touching your face,
“Ugh – “
I kept applying something transparent at the end of it all over my body.
Mom’s face gets redder the more it happens,
Shoulders keep shaking.
No matter where I looked, there was no thought of stopping or letting me go.
So in the end, I hung my head back,
I could only stare blankly at the black leaves that occasionally fell from the sky.
Even if the tail tickles the parts that make my body tremble sometimes,
“…Is this place sensitive?”
Even if I hear an eerie sound coming from above my body,
Even if long fingers slip across the moist liquid –
“Ugh, town…”
Letting go of the tears that are leaking out,
I just hoped that this moment would end quickly.
***
“…”
I silently pick up and cover up the pieces of cloth that I would be embarrassed to even call clothes.
Mom handed me the new clothes without saying a word.
Something that looks exactly like what I used to wear.
Somehow, the mother put on her armor once again and tried to hide her red face.
Wipe off something sticky little by little with your hands,
Looking at the things that are too slippery to be called sweat and dry easily to be called anything else –
I fastened my buttons and dressed my disheveled clothes neatly.
…The black dirt came off easily just by hitting it with your hand.
The more I did that, the more I felt like something precious was disappearing along with it.
I feel like I did something I shouldn’t have done.
To the dragon who called me “Mom,”
This unpleasant feeling, as if something bad had happened.
Even though I covered my body, the uncomfortable feeling did not go away.
Now take your eyes off me completely,
“…”
Even when I see the black-haired ‘Madame Tutuère’ quietly pointing the way to me,
My heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it was going to burst, and it showed no signs of calming down.
Even the tail that was bothering me,
Even though all the sweaty bodies that crushed me fell from me,
I cannot bear this unpleasant feeling that seems to be crushing my body…
“…Russell.”
I couldn’t even shake off the warmth that embraced me.
Perhaps what made me feel this way was –
“It’ll be okay.
This is for you.
If you want to keep your third promise, I helped you do it more easily.”
Because it was a dragon with yellow eyes that didn’t know how to get away from me.
Once you gave me warmth.
Because now it was a ‘woman’ who was trying to give something different and dirty.
Everything I felt implicitly was speaking to me.
Even now, ‘Mom’ is holding me and gently moving her mouth close to the nape of my neck.
That I am no longer a mother.
“…Are you very surprised?”
My body was shaking, unable to respond to the hug.
On a cold winter day, seeing me shaking as if I was in a house with the lights off,
‘Mom’s’ face was becoming increasingly hard.
“You sure you don’t have a cold, right Russell?
Oh my god, this won’t work. I have to go back – “
The hand that grabbed my arm said, “Tup.”
Before any power goes into it,
Before those big wings cover all directions,
“No…!”
I raised my hand and grabbed ‘Mom’s’ wrist.
I spoke to those eyes that were looking at me in surprise.
“Work isn’t over yet –
I don’t really have a cold.”
Then he picked up the magic book lying on the ground and shook off the dirt that had been sprinkled on it.
It was ‘Mom’s’ hand carefully shaking off the dirt from my shoulder,
I… Couldn’t accept that gratefully.
“…Let’s go. And,
Because I have something to talk about when this is over.”
He refused the offer to hold his body, which was twisting due to his shaking legs,
The busy steps that try to get ahead of me –
“…”
Even though there was no way I could win, I just kept getting busier in order to win.
Without the chirping of birds,
And in the forest without the friction of the wind,
I continued to move forward with discomfort covering my entire body.
The hand holding the magic book continued to tremble.
***
“Russell,”
Even though my name was called,
Even though he looked at me gently and gently and spoke carefully,
I just responded to that without saying anything.
I just follow the pointing finger and try to see what it is.
I am not at all interested in what ‘Mom’ thinks and feels –
“Human…Human?”
“It looks like they were taken away from a successful raid.”
There were people who were crawling on the floor, holding their bodies up with their swords as they were about to fall.
Man in armor,
A woman dressed normally,
Fancy decorations and even someone wearing purple clothes.
Everyone was trembling and coming towards me.
“Are you ready…?”
“Jun, are you ready? What are you preparing?”
“It’s like a wild dog.”
Those words could not have sounded so cold.
It was so cold that it felt like my body had been stabbed by a sharp icicle.
“Russell, there is no way to save them.
Look at those eyes. “You’re already out of your mind because you’ve been manipulated by them.”
Black water flows from purple eyes,
They are looking this way, with all the blood vessels that should be protruding blue colored purple.
“The only thing you can do for me is to take their lives cleanly.”
“There must be a way to save it – “
“Russell, listen.”
As if to block them, pour fire on the floor –
‘Mom’ placed her hands on both of my arms.
“Huh…!”
Before it reached me, my body moved first.
The yellow eyes that were trying to match mine shook and found me again.
“Uh… Russell?”
“I’ll listen to what you said. I hope you don’t put your hand on me.”
But I couldn’t bring myself to match it.
Now that I know what those eyes contained.
The love I was talking about,
The love my mother talked about was horribly different,
Because I realized that we can’t be together.
The tail I held,
The tail my mother gave me is different,
Because I have felt it now.
When I was held in my mother’s arms,
The way my mother held me was so different,
Now that I have learned it.
“Ah, ugh.”
With the sound of the wind escaping,
A heavy iron was stuck in the floor.
“What do you mean, Russell?
Don’t touch it, that means – “
I was shaking.
It was shaking.
But I didn’t stop.
“I don’t like touching you like that. A lot.
I still don’t know what they did to me,
I am still a mother and a child.
I don’t quite understand, but…
At least I know that what they did to me was similar to the women my mother told me to leave behind.”
That’s why it was collapsing.
‘Mom’s’ heart, posture, light,
Everyone.
Her knees trembled, and she almost fell to the ground.
Like that terrible feeling I felt,
My mother seemed to feel it too.
“Well, like that,
No, no.
How do I like them – “
As I tried to move away from the outstretched hand again,
I could see flickering purple eyes beyond the fire.
To those who approach without hesitation, as if they will step on fire at any moment –
“…I’ll talk about it later, later.
For now, let’s save those people first.”
I immediately moved my feet.
Without even looking at those hands that have nowhere to go,
Avoiding the arms that tried to embrace me, I ran straight into the flames,
I tried my best to ignore the eyes looking at me.
“Like the cold that pushes and breaks the window,
Like the breath of winter that creates a white sand breeze!”
Then he immediately pushed the purple people away.
…Just like she had pushed her mother out of her mind.