Reason for abandonment.
The entrance of the inn was decorated in a stylish, old-fashioned, and relaxing manner.
Each room was covered with tatami mats and looked exactly like a traditional Japanese inn, with a view of the mountains and river from the window.
It was a small inn with a slightly strange view.
“It’s a very relaxing place.”
Richmond’s eyes narrowed as he said this, and for some reason he was walking around holding my waist, which made me nervous since a while ago.
“It’s small. I want even bigger place.”
Olgen, be quiet.
“Wicked Dragon… Lord Olgen, could you leave Clémence and her parents in this room for now?”
“Mhm.”
The unconscious Clémence and the parents were magically levitated and carried away, and Olgen, as Leo said, put them down in a room just outside the entrance.
“Richmond, Kanade, I am great, aren’t I!?”
The smiling Olgen looked adorable with his 5-year-old appearance.
“As expected of you, Olgen! You are a can-do child.”
“Right. Right?”
When I praised him, he would puff out his chest, causing me to burst out laughing.
And Richmond had a complicated expression on his face.
There was green tea and tea snacks in the inn’s room prepared, so I poured tea for everyone and gave more tea snacks to Olgen, who was hungry, and he was very pleased.
When we return to the village, I will make udon and tempura for him.
“—According to our Father, in the old days dragons had no country and even settlements were rare. Many dragons sought strength, and they lived by instinct. In one such settlement, Father found our Mother, and they became mates.”
After eating some snacks and drinking a cup of tea, Richmond and Olgen began to continue talking.
Richmond was listening with a serious face, and I was about to get up to leave, but decided to stay where I was because he was still holding my hand and would not let go.
Leo looked at me and nodded, then moved to the back room, where Clémence and her parents were sleeping.
“… However, it seems that the settlement was conducting strange experiments. Although our Mother was not a slave, she was tied up to that place, so she could not leave the settlement. Of course, our Father, who was her mate, could not leave Mother, so they had to live in the settlement.
And then we were born. Neither Father nor Mother thought anything of us being twins, but the settlers told them that twins were bad luck and that one of them should be sacrificed.”
Sacrificed… as an offering? They were going to sacrifice Richmond for something!?
“Of course, our Father refused, but as long as Mother was tied to that place, there was no escape. That’s why he thought of a plan, letting you escape from the settlement by proclaiming you a monster, because of your unusually high mana.”
Richmond’s hand squeezed mine.
I squeezed it back and looked at Olgen.
“Father decided to leave Richmond in the care of the humans who used to take care of him. He told the dragons in the village that he had abandoned you in the woods and told the settles to pursue you. The people of the village seemed to believe the words of our parents and gave up on you, now a monster.”
Richmond’s father had to abandon him to save him…
“If you had returned to the village, you will be doomed to a life of slavery as the dragons continue to exploit you for your mana. The only way to let you live freely was to remove you from our home and let the humans raise you. I was told to treat you harshly so that you would not come back to the dragon settlement, even by a mistake.”
Oh my goodness… If it weren’t for that settlement, Richmond would be living happily with his family…
“… The reason both Father and Mother proclaimed me a monster…”
“Because you had to be one. They thought that if they told the settlers that they would be cursed if they came near you, they wouldn’t try to bring you back into the settlement. That’s why, don’t think that those were our true feelings. Father’s, Mother’s, and of course mine.”
“I… so I was being protected…”
Richmond closed his eyes for a few moments and silently thought about something.