Chapter 119 - My daughter-in-law likes it

“Hmm? The butter is very savory.”

“It’s yak Butter.”

Is that so? But why are you staring at me instead of eating? Where did your usual beastly appetite go?

I opened my eyes wide.

Izek, who was watching me eat, soon realised what I was thinking about. He put the meat stew on one side of an empty plate and placed it in front of me.

“It tastes better if you eat it like this.”

“Like this?”

“Look, put the bread here….”

“That looks strange.”

“No, just try it.”

It was a little suspicious, but I didn’t want to play with food, so I tried it.

A spoonful of mushy buttery bread and stew crumbs was shoved into my mouth.

“It’s delicious…”

“Right?”

His triumphant smile makes me feel awkward.

I think he was excited for some reason, but I suddenly felt sorry for him.

What in the world had I shown to this man to like me this much?….

“You should hurry up and eat too. Don’t just eat meat all the time.”

“What the… Fine.”

When I handed him a stir-fried vegetable plate mixed with sausage, Izek quietly accepted it.

He did just claim to be more innocent than anyone else, so he couldn’t back out now.

“Ahem, ahem!”

“Are you coughing again, Father?”

Instead of answering his daughter’s question, the solemn duke began to take the pork plate his son had worked hard to cut.

Of course, Izek was amazed by this tyranny, but for some reason, he didn’t say anything.

The meal somehow went by peacefully, followed by dessert.

Rich and sweet bubbling hot cocoa with marshmallows and a cream cake as white as snow. Wasn’t this the perfect dessert for a snowy morning?

However, I was the only one who thought so.

Even Ellenia had a shocked look on her face.

“Is this to your taste?”

“What are you dissatisfied with? My daughter-in-law likes it.”

“Since when did you become so…”

“Didn’t you like it when you were young too?”

“Why are you talking about it now?”….”

“I seem to recollect the past today.”

My father-in-law, who responded leisurely, sipped from his glass and gestured gracefully toward the servants.

The servants, who were walking around with pale faces, hurriedly left.

I was a little worried that Izek, who was staring at my cocoa glass as if it were poison, might turn the table upside down, but fortunately, it didn’t happen.

Although the bulging veins on his temple looked terrifying.

“Are you having fun, Father…?”

“Why should you be the only one? More than that, tell me why your Leader is making such a fuss early in the morning.”

“Why would I report it to Father?”

“Who told you to report? I’m merely asking.”

What is this?

I took a bite of my cake and froze, looking at the siblings.

“What happened?”

“It’s not like something happened…Damn it, I was going to tell you on my own, but why are you interrupting us?”

“I don’t want to be involved at all, but how can I report to the King if you don’t give me the details?”

“You can hear it directly from Lord Barons. You’ve already heard half of it.”

“He has a bad habit of exaggerating from a long time ago, so everything is unreliable. Daught… Ruby, did you hear a strange sound from that cave last night?”

That cave? The place where my dragon cub’s hideout was?

Izek, who was rubbing his forehead irritably, looked back at me with a calmer expression.

“I’ve been watching it since the palace raid, and heard a sound all of a sudden last night. Should I call it a groan? The Leader claims that it’s clearly the dragon wailing.”

“Is the dragon hurt?”

“There would be only one such situation where it could have gotten injured, but the timing is not right… Anyway, it’s a priority to figure out what happened, but I might come to pick you up after cleaning up the area today. You’re the only one who’s ever been there.….”

“Isn’t there a possibility of it pretending to be sick on purpose? To make Ruby come visit it.”

I stared at Ellenia with my chin wide open for a moment.

Ellenia had a fierce look in her eyes.

“Ruby, dragons are much smarter than they look. You can’t let this slide.”

“That’s what I’m saying. No matter how much you look at this, it’s obvious that the b*stard is pretending, but Lord Barons keeps…… What does Fathet think?”

“You have a point. Considering the ugly mess that the spoiled brat made…”

Should I feel the warmth of the family nodding their heads together for the first time in forever?

Since when did they get along so well?

Also, what if the dragon was really sick?

Well, I was not just worried because it was my dragon, but wasn’t it also endangered?

To make matters worse, my beautiful sister-in-law took another step.

“If it’s really sick, why don’t we take this opportunity to let it stay ill and die?”

“I also want to do that, but it’s difficult since it is an endangered species. I’m also worried that the dragon will be out of control again under the pretext of being sick.”

“You’re right. So what did your leader whine about?”

“He can’t get close to the entrance because two golden-breed monsters, who don’t know what they’re doing, are holding out the entrance. In other words, they may be blocking other beings who lurk around to try and steal wealth from inside while the dragon is sick. That just points out that the Frost Dragon must be really sick.”

“Were they that close to each other? It didn’t look like that.”

“I don’t know, maybe the three of them planned it together. I was going to ask if we could just burn.…”

“You’ll what?”

When I opened my mouth while swallowing a sigh, the bizarre conversation stopped in an instant.

Then, not only my proud husband, but also the poker-faced sister-in-law and solemn father looked at me in unison.

I didn’t like this scene.

“… oh, of course it’s a joke. Isn’t it?”

“Of course, it was a joke. Right , Father?”

“Hmm, I only said it because I was angry by the loss I suffered.”

There was no credibility in their words, but I decided not to say anything.

Instead, I smiled at Izek, who pretended to inspect his wine glass.

“Then you might be going there today, right? With me, to the cave?”

“Huh? Yes, of course. Never meet them alone in case there’s a risk we don’t know-“

“Good, it’s like a joint couple mission. I was afraid you’d say you’d take a look at it by yourself. It must also be really sensitive at the moment, right?”

Izek blinked his eyes for a moment and said nothing.

I thought I heard a ‘Who cares about..…’ when he suddenly gulped down the hot cocoa.

What was with this sudden change?

I was at a loss for words.

My father-in-law clicked his tongue while Izek held his head, which had become dizzy thanks to the rise in his blood sugar, slamming it on the table and trembling.

“Did you burn your mouth?”

“…Arck! D-Damn it….”

“The more time passes, the more you choose to do irrational things.”

“Shut……Ahem! This…”

“Iz, are you okay?”

Instead of answering my question, Izek leapt to his feet.

Then, he held his face with his palm, barely showing his eyes and groaning.

“Anyway, I’ll go and clean up first, so…”

“I should go to the palace too. I hope that naughty brat is feigning illness. If that’s the case, I’d like to…….”

“Didn’t you say you were going to leave?””

“Why aren’t you leaving now? Do you want more?”

Ellenia and I exchanged gazes for a moment, then laughed at the same time at the large, beautiful backs of the squabbling father-son.

“Have a safe trip, everyone. See you later.””

“Have a safe trip.”

The two magnificent men looked back at us one last time in a similar way, but soon left like a storm, talking about what all was wrong with the plan.

“… Ruby, would you like to have my dessert?”

“What about Ellen?”

“I’ll have them serve me some other dessert.”

The first breakfast with the entire family ended peacefully.

* * *

“You need to get your winter clothes fitted.”

“Let’s take it slow. By the way, does winter usually come this early in Elendale?”

“This year it’s especially early. Come to think of it, how is the winter in Romagna?”

“It’s hard to see snow, I guess. I thought it was this early because it’s the north.”

“I think they need to hurry up and check the the cave. I don’t know what this has to do with the dragon, but…….”

I really don’t know.

Was the Frost Dragon, the rarest dragon to live in the north and the most powerful?

Ronja, who had covered me with a cold blanket, left after a while.

I didn’t look in the mirror and smiled at Ellenia.

“Doesn’t Ellen feel weird about me?”

“What do you mean…?”

“I’m probably the first person to not mind monsters and be able to talk with them. To be honest, I thought there was nothing I could do even if you were a little scared……. It’s not wrong if someone misunderstood me as a witch.”

Ellenia stared at her hands with her head down for a moment, then rose from her chair and came close.