Morning had not yet reached the apartment when Erza's consciousness was pulled into a place she had spent centuries trying to forget.
She stood alone beneath an enormous white pillar. At first glance, it resembled a tower, but the longer she stared, the more impossible it became.
Its pale surface stretched endlessly into the heavens, piercing layer after layer of golden clouds until even her draconic vision could no longer follow its summit.
Ancient runes covered every inch of the structure, glowing with a soft divine radiance beneath a sky where neither sun nor moon existed. It was a world of endless light, yet strangely devoid of warmth.
Erza's expression slowly hardened. She remembered this place. She remembered every step she had taken beneath that pillar, every gaze that had fallen upon her, every word that had carved itself into her soul.
Above her, beyond the sea of golden clouds, countless thrones floated across the heavens. Upon them sat beings whose true forms refused to be understood by mortal perception.
Some vaguely resembled humans, while others possessed shapes that language itself could never properly describe. Great wings overlapped one another, halos revolved behind faceless heads, and countless eyes watched her from every direction without blinking.
The gods. Thousands of divine gazes rested upon a single dragon standing beneath them.
For a long moment, no one spoke. The silence itself was heavier than any mountain.
Finally, a voice descended from the highest heavens.
"How disappointing."
Erza's fingers twitched slightly, but she said nothing as another divine figure leaned forward upon its throne.
"Little dragon... we expected much from you."
There was no anger within its voice, only disappointment, and somehow that calm judgment hurt considerably more.
"You carry the blood of Seraphina, one of the primal dragons once chosen by the True God. You possessed the strength, the will, and the potential to walk farther upon the path of transcendence than almost any dragon before you."
Erza remained silent as another voice continued.
"Even the Seven High Gods recognized your potential and permitted you to approach the final threshold of divine ascension. You stood only one step away from receiving Heaven's recognition, and yet..."
A heavy silence passed through the divine realm before the accusation finally descended.
"...you allowed yourself to become bound by mortal desire."
For the first time, genuine disbelief crossed Erza's face as her violet eyes widened.
"What?"
Quiet whispers immediately spread among the countless thrones. Some gods watched her without emotion while others appeared disappointed, yet Erza merely looked across the heavens in confusion before her expression hardened.
"I have done no such thing. I have never allowed mortal desire to interfere with my path."
"Enough."
A single word silenced the entire divine realm as a presence greater than all the others slowly manifested above the highest thrones. It possessed neither a visible face nor a comprehensible form, yet its existence alone caused the golden heavens to tremble.
"You carry new life within you."
Erza froze as those words reached her. For several seconds, she simply stared upward without understanding before one hand slowly moved toward her stomach.
"Life...?"
The word escaped almost soundlessly. There had been no lover, no husband, and no man whom she had willingly accepted into her life, making the accusation seem completely impossible.
"I don't understand. There has never been anyone."
Then something surfaced within her memories.
It was fragmented and distant, almost impossible to separate from imagination. She remembered a strange night, a presence beside her and sensations she had dismissed upon waking because none of it had seemed real. She had believed the entire experience to be nothing more than an unusually vivid dream and had never allowed herself to think about it again.
Erza's pupils slowly contracted as realization began settling across her face.
"No... it can't be."
Her fingers pressed against her stomach as her breathing became increasingly uneven.
"It was him... I thought it was a dream."
The gods remained silent, and that silence only made the terrible realization more real. Erza suddenly raised her head toward the divine thrones as anger and confusion replaced the shock upon her face.
"I never chose this! I never willingly gave myself to anyone, and I didn't even know what happened that night was real!"
No explanation came from the heavens. The countless gods merely continued watching her until another divine voice calmly spoke.
"You stood upon the final threshold of transcendence. Your body had completed its preparation, your soul had approached divine recognition, and you had severed the worldly attachments required to walk beyond mortality. However, another life now grows within your mortal vessel, binding you once again to the world you intended to transcend."
One by one, the glowing runes covering the enormous pillar began disappearing. Erza stared upward as centuries of effort seemed to vanish alongside those fading symbols, and the first trace of fear entered her eyes.
"No... wait."
More divine light disappeared from the pillar.
"You are no longer eligible for ascension."
"No!"
Erza's aura erupted before she could control it. Golden clouds scattered beneath the pressure of her roar as draconic power swept across the divine realm, yet the countless beings seated above her remained unmoved.
"I DIDN'T CHOOSE THIS! I spent centuries preparing for this moment! I fulfilled every condition placed before me, abandoned everything you demanded, strengthened my bloodline and soul until even you recognized me! You cannot take everything away because of something I didn't even know had happened!"
The heavens offered no answer, and Erza's anger only grew beneath their silence.
"ANSWER ME!"
The highest presence slowly raised a single hand, instantly stilling the entire divine realm.
"Judgment has been passed. Erza Veyla Dragomir, your ascension is denied, and your path toward divinity shall be severed."
Color slowly drained from Erza's face as she stared upward. Centuries of cultivation, war, sacrifice, and suffering had brought her to this place. She had tempered her body, strengthened her bloodline, refined her soul and reached a height almost no dragon in history had ever touched, only to have everything disappear when she had been a single step away.
"No..."
Her voice was quieter now as desperation began replacing anger.
"Reconsider your judgment. I fulfilled everything you demanded of me."
The heavens remained silent.
Erza's hands slowly began trembling. Her pride fought against the words threatening to leave her mouth, but watching centuries of effort disappear before her was more than even she could endure without trying one final time.
"Please... reconsider."
For perhaps the first time in countless years, the Queen of Atlantis lowered her pride enough to beg.
Before the final light could disappear from the pillar, seven thrones suddenly began glowing brighter than all the others. Erza immediately recognized the Seven High Gods who had originally acknowledged her potential, and for the first time since the judgment began, a small trace of hope returned to her eyes.
"There remains one path."
Erza immediately looked toward them.
"What path?"
The answer came without hesitation.
"End the life growing within your womb, and Heaven will reconsider your ascension."
For several seconds, Erza didn't understand what she had heard. Her violet eyes remained fixed upon the heavens while the meaning slowly settled into her mind, and when it finally did, the desperation that had covered her face disappeared beneath stunned disbelief. Her hand instinctively moved toward her stomach again, fingers resting against a place where she could not yet feel movement or recognize the presence of the tiny life the gods claimed existed within her.
"You want me to... kill the child inside me?"
"You have spent centuries pursuing transcendence. Your body, soul and bloodline have already reached the final threshold, and the Seven High Gods themselves recognized you as worthy of consideration. Do not surrender eternity for a mortal life that has barely begun."
Erza lowered her gaze toward her stomach as the divine words continued surrounding her. Only moments earlier, she had screamed that none of this had been her choice. She had demanded that Heaven reconsider its judgment, and she had even swallowed enough of her pride to beg before thousands of divine beings. Now they were offering everything back to her. The future she had sacrificed centuries to reach was still there, waiting only a single step away, and all Heaven demanded in return was the life growing beneath her hand.
"No."
The answer escaped so quietly that several of the surrounding gods seemed uncertain whether they had heard correctly. Erza slowly raised her head, and the desperation that had consumed her only moments earlier was nowhere to be found. Her hand remained against her stomach, but the trembling in her fingers had stopped completely.
"I said no. I will never kill this child."
A strange silence spread throughout the divine realm. The Seven High Gods watched her from their thrones, seemingly studying the Dragon Queen who had begged for another opportunity only moments earlier yet now rejected the very path being offered to her.
"Understand what you are refusing, Erza Veyla Dragomir. If you preserve the life within you, your candidacy will end here. The path you spent centuries building will be closed to you, and Heaven will not offer this choice a second time."
"I understand."
Erza slowly raised her violet eyes toward them, her hand never leaving her stomach.
"I said no. I begged you to reconsider your judgment because I did not choose what happened to me, but this child did not choose it either. Whatever happened that night is not the fault of the life growing inside me."
One of the Seven responded calmly.
"You would surrender centuries of effort for a child you never intended to create?"
Erza remained silent for several seconds. Moments earlier, she had desperately begged Heaven not to take away the future she had spent centuries pursuing, and now that very future had been returned to her. All she had to do was end a life so young that she had not even known it existed until moments ago.
Her fingers gently curled against her stomach.
"I did not choose how this child came to exist, but I can choose what happens to my child now. I will not take an innocent life simply so that I may call myself a god."
There was no desperation left in her voice. The Queen of Atlantis had returned, and when Erza raised her chin toward the thousands of divine beings above her, there was not the slightest hesitation remaining within her violet eyes.
"If becoming one of you requires me to kill my own child, then I no longer want your Heaven."
The Seven High Gods said nothing more. The highest presence merely watched Erza for several moments before its final judgment descended across the divine realm.
"So be it."
The remaining runes upon the enormous pillar began disappearing, but Erza no longer tried to stop them.
"Erza Veyla Dragomir, by your own choice, your path toward divine ascension ends here. From this moment onward, Heaven shall no longer recognize you as a candidate for transcendence."
Erza watched silently as the future she had pursued for centuries disappeared before her eyes. The loss still hurt more deeply than she would ever admit, but this time she neither shouted nor begged them to reconsider. Her hand remained protectively against her stomach as the thousands of divine thrones slowly faded into golden light.
"Your judgment is complete."
The enormous pillar disappeared, the golden heavens shattered, and the divine realm collapsed around her until nothing remained.
Erza's violet eyes snapped open.
"Hah...!"
She shot upright, drawing a sharp breath.
Her heart hammered violently against her chest.
For several seconds, she didn't know where she was.
Her violet eyes moved rapidly across the unfamiliar ceiling, the curtains, the strange human furniture surrounding her.
"Where..."
Her breathing remained uneven.
Then she noticed someone beside her.
Yuuta.
He was asleep on a chair several feet away, his body folded into such an awkward position that Erza couldn't understand how any creature could possibly rest like that. His head hung slightly to one side while one arm rested uselessly across his stomach.
Erza stared at him.
Slowly, everything returned.
Earth.
The apartment.
Elena.
Yesterday.
Their argument.
Her expression darkened.
"Oh."
She looked away.
"I'm still in this fool's home."
Her breathing gradually returned to normal, but the heaviness inside her chest remained.
Erza looked toward the window.
The first traces of sunrise had begun appearing beyond the buildings.
She should have forgotten that day centuries ago.
Yet she couldn't.
Not when the consequence of it was sleeping only a few feet away from her.
Her eyes returned to Yuuta.
That mortal.
Everything she had lost...
Her ascension.
Her standing before the gods.
The respect she had spent centuries building.
All because of something that had happened to her without her knowledge or consent.
Her jaw tightened.
And somehow, despite everything...
She hadn't killed him.
Erza looked away immediately.
"Tch."
She didn't want to think about it.
A small movement beside her caught her attention.
Elena was still sleeping peacefully.
The hardness in Erza's expression weakened.
Carefully, she slipped one arm beneath the little girl's back and another beneath her legs before lifting her against her chest.
Elena stirred slightly.
"Mmm..."
Erza stopped.
For someone capable of crushing armies beneath her authority, she remained perfectly still until Elena relaxed again.
Only then did she continue.
Without waking Yuuta, Erza carried Elena out of the room and quietly entered the hall.
By the time the sun had fully risen, golden morning light had begun pouring through the apartment windows.
It passed through the intact window easily, while the other still covered with plastic after everything that had happened allowed only distorted patches of sunlight through.
Eventually, the light reached Yuuta.
A golden stripe fell directly across his closed eyes.
His face tightened.
He turned away.
Another beam found him.
Yuuta groaned.
Slowly, painfully, consciousness dragged him back into existence.
Then his eyes opened.
He stared blankly at the ceiling.
One second.
Two.
Three.
His eyes widened.
"SHIT! I'M LATE FOR COLLEGE!"
Yuuta launched himself out of the chair
And immediately regretted every decision he had ever made.
His body screamed.
Muscles he didn't know existed protested violently. His back felt like someone had replaced his spine with a warped board. His neck crackled with the fury of a thousand tiny knives.
Wait.
He blinked.
Why am I..
He looked around.
Chair. Desk. Books. Morning light.
Why am I sleeping in my chair?
Then the memories crashed back.
Yesterday. The college. Erza's entrance. Elena calling him Papa in front of everyone. Coming home. The warmth. The steak. Dinner together. The way Erza had looked at him across the table. The way Elena had laughed.
Oh. Right. That.
Yuuta's eyes snapped toward the bed.
Empty.
Neat. Clean. Sheets smoothed. Blanket folded. Pillows arranged like no one had ever touched them.
His heart stopped.
No.
He scrambled or tried to. His legs, asleep from hours in that terrible chair, refused to cooperate. He tumbled forward, catching himself on the desk, knocking over a stack of papers that scattered across the floor.
"No no no no.... wait.."
The bed was empty.
The blankets were cold.
He pressed his hand to the mattress. Nothing. No warmth. No impression. No sign that anyone had slept there at all.
Had it all been a dream?
The thought crashed into him like a physical blow.
Had his broken mind finally snapped? Had the loneliness that had followed him since childhood finally won, conjuring dragons and daughters from the depths of his desperate soul? Had he imagined the entire thing, the queen, the child, the warmth of coming home to people who waited for him?
Was he still in this chair?
Still asleep?
Still alone?
He sat there for a long moment, staring at the empty bed.
And then..
A strange feeling washed over him.
Not panic. Not grief.
Relief.
If it was a dream, then none of it was real. The chaos at college. The ruined reputation. The death sentence hanging over his head. The terrifying queen who could kill him with a thought.
All of it.
Gone.
He should be happy.
He was happy.
Wasn't he?
Yuuta blinked.
Why did his chest feel so hollow?
Why did the thought of it being a dream make him feel... empty?
He Start remembering Elena's laugh. The way she had wrapped her small arms around his leg. The way she called him Papa like it was the most natural word in the world. The way she had clapped her tiny hands when he carried her on his shoulders.
He remembered Erza's expression when she tasted his steak. The way her eyes had widened. The way she had said it's so delicious before her pride could stop her. The way she had sat at his small table, in his small apartment, like she belonged there.
He remembered the warmth.
The feeling of coming home to people who were waiting for him.
The feeling of not being alone.
If it was a dream, he had lost all of that.
And somehow..
That hurt more than any death threat ever could.
Yuuta pressed his hand to his chest.
His heart was beating fast. Too fast.
I want them to be real.
The thought surfaced before he could stop it.
I don't care if she kills me. I don't care if I only have one year. I just want them to be real.
He looked toward the door.
The living room was just beyond it. The kitchen was just beyond it. The spaces where they had been last night.
He hadn't checked.
He hadn't looked.
He tried to stand. His legs were still asleep, pins and needles shooting through them with every movement. He stumbled, caught himself on the desk, knocked over more papers.
Didn't care.
He forced himself forward, one painful step at a time, toward the door.
Then he heard it.
Faint. Muffled. But unmistakable.
Sound from the television.
His heart stopped.
Then started again—faster, harder, hopeful.
Someone was watching TV.
Someone was in his living room. Someone was in his apartment.
Someone
He tried to stand. His legs buckled. Pins and needles shot through his feet like electric fire. His muscles screamed. His body betrayed him.
He didn't care.
He crawled.
Out of the bedroom. Across the floor. On hands and knees like some desperate caterpillar, dragging his useless legs behind him. The hallway stretched forever. The living room seemed miles away.
But he kept moving.
Kept crawling.
Kept hoping.
And then...
He saw her.
Elena.
Sitting on the living room floor. Cross-legged. Tiny wings relaxed. Silver hair catching the morning light like spun moonlight. Her violet eyes fixed on the TV, where some colorful cartoon played.
She was real.
She was there.
She was his.
Yuuta collapsed against the doorframe, relief flooding through him so powerfully his vision actually swam.
Thank you, he thought to no one. Thank you thank you thank you....God.
Elena turned.
Her eyes found him crawling, pathetic, tears threatening to spill and her face lit up with the kind of pure joy only children possess.
"PAPA!" She scrambled to her feet. "What are you doing?"
Yuuta opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
What am I doing? He looked down at himself. Crawling. On the floor. Like an idiot.
Think. Think. Excuse. Excuse.
"Papa is..." He grasped desperately. "Looking at your cute face from a different angle!"
Elena blinked.
Then she giggled a sound so pure, so sweet, so alive that Yuuta felt his heart grow three sizes.
"Papa is weird again!" she announced happily.
"Yeah," Yuuta agreed, grinning despite everything. "Papa is definitely weird."
A sound from the bathroom.
Water running. Then stopping.
Footsteps.
Yuuta looked up
And felt the temperature drop.
Erza stood in the bathroom doorway, towel in hand, her face still damp from washing. Her silver hair was slightly tousled the only sign she'd slept at all. Her violet eyes swept over him with the warmth of a glacier.
Crawling. On the floor. Like an idiot.
"Tch."
That was all.
One sound. One dismissive, contemptuous sound that conveyed more disgust than most people could manage in a full sentence.
Yuuta's smile froze.
"What," she said flatly, "are you doing?"
"I....my legs....they were--"
"I didn't ask for an explanation." She dabbed the towel against her face with elegant, measured movements. "I asked what you're doing. Crawling on the floor like some sort of insect. It's pathetic."
Yuuta's mouth opened and closed.
Elena, oblivious to the tension, tugged at her mother's dress. "Mama! Papa was looking at my cute face from a different angle!"
Erza glanced down at her daughter.
Then back at Yuuta.
One eyebrow arched.
"That," she said, "is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of stupid things."
Yuuta finally found his voice. "I...I just woke up and Your highness weren't in bed and I thought..."
"You thought what?"
"I thought you left.....My Queen."
The words came out smaller than he intended. Quieter. More honest than he wanted them to be.
Erza stared at him.
For a long, terrible moment, she simply looked. Her expression didn't change still cold, still dismissive, still utterly unimpressed.
Then she laughed.
Not a warm laugh. Not a kind laugh. A short, sharp, incredulous laugh.
"Left?" She repeated the word like it offended her. "Do you think I traveled across dimensions, tracked you through worlds, spent a year searching for the father of my child just to leave in the middle of the night?"
She stepped closer.
Towered over him even though he was taller, even though he was standing now, even though he'd finally managed to get his legs under him.
"Listen carefully, mortal." Her voice dropped. "I am not your so called friend. I am not your companion. I am your judge. You exist on borrowed time. The only reason you're still breathing is because my daughter has grown attached to you."
She leaned in.
Close enough that he could feel the cold radiating from her skin.
"Do not mistake my presence for affection. Do not mistake my tolerance for kindness. And do not ever assume that I would run away like some coward."
She straightened.
Turned.
Walked toward the kitchen.
"Elena is hungry. Feed her. And stop crawling on the floor like a wounded animal. It's embarrassing to watch."
Yuuta stood there.
Legs trembling finally awake now, finally functional.
Heart racing but not with relief anymore.
"Papa?" Elena tugged his sleeve. "Food?"
He looked down at her.
At her hopeful face. Her innocent eyes. Her complete obliviousness to the ice queen currently invading his kitchen.
And despite everything..
He sighed.
"Yeah, little one. Papa will make food."
Elena cheered.
In the kitchen, Erza heard it.
Heard the cheer. Heard his quiet response. Heard the way his voice softened when he spoke to her daughter.
Their daughter.
She pressed her lips together.
Reached for a cup.
Poured herself water.
And told herself the strange feeling in her chest was nothing.
Nothing at all.
An hour later, Yuuta's legs had finally woken up.
The pins and needles were gone. The embarrassing crawl across the floor could be forgotten or at least buried deep enough that he could pretend it never happened.
His first priority?
Feed his hungry little dragon.
Elena.
Standing in his tiny kitchen, Yuuta felt something dangerously close to happiness as he worked. The morning light streamed through the window. His daughter's laughter drifted from the living room. Even the Dragon Queen's presence cold as it was couldn't ruin this moment.
He grabbed vegetables from the fridge.
Carrots. Onions. Leftover meat from last night's dinner. Rice that had cooled perfectly in the cooker.
Meat rice balls, he decided. Elena will love these.
His knife moved with practiced precision.
Slice. Slice. Slice.
Carrots became tiny orange cubes. Onions transformed into translucent confetti. The leftover meat some kind of pork he'd bought on sale went onto the cutting board next.
He ground it.
Chopped it.
Smacked it with the flat of his blade until the fibers broke down into perfect, tiny pieces.
Mix with rice. Shape into balls. Deep fry until golden.
Perfect.
In the living room, the TV murmured.
Yuuta glanced over his shoulder as he worked.
Elena sat cross-legged on the floor, completely absorbed. Her tiny wings twitched occasionally the dragon equivalent of bouncing with excitement. Her tail curled and uncurled behind her like an excited puppy's.
Beside her, on the floor because she absolutely refused to sit on his worn couch like some common peasant,
Erza watched with equal intensity.
Her violet eyes were fixed on the screen.
Unblinking.
Fascinated.
Yuuta blinked.
Was the Dragon Queen... enjoying National Geographic?
On screen, a herd of wildebeest thundered across the savanna. The narrator's deep voice explained migration patterns, predators, the circle of life.
Elena bounced.
"Mama! Mama! See this beast! It has horns!" She pointed at a wildebeest. "And this beast looks like a kitty!" She pointed at a lioness lounging in the grass.
Yuuta smiled, still cutting.
Even in her world, he thought, they have kitties. Some things are universal.
Then Elena added:
"But Mama, it has one head! Where are the other six?"
Yuuta's knife stopped.
His brain stuttered.
His soul briefly left his body.
Six... other heads?
He turned slowly toward the living room.
On screen, the lioness yawned. One head. Perfectly normal. Exactly as many heads as a lion should have.
But in Elena's world
In Erza's world
A "kitty" apparently came with seven heads.
That's not a kitty, Yuuta thought faintly. That's not even a monster. That's a demon straight out of hell.
He looked at Erza.
She was watching the screen with an expression he couldn't read. Curiosity? Confusion? Disappointment that Earth's "beasts" were so pathetically under-headed?
She must have felt his gaze.
Because she turned.
Looked at him.
Then, without breaking eye contact, she spoke.
"You, mortal."
Yuuta tensed. "Y-yes?"
"How come your Earth doesn't have fairies? Or nightmare creatures? Or monstrous beasts?" She tilted her head slightly a gesture that might have been curious on anyone else. On her, it felt like an interrogation. "How is it so... peaceful here?"
Yuuta blinked.
Peaceful.
She thought Earth was peaceful.
He looked around his tiny apartment. At the cracked walls. The secondhand furniture. The city outside his window with its millions of people and its pollution and its wars and its quiet, ordinary human dangers.
Peaceful.
Compared to a world of dragons and demons and seven-headed kitties
He supposed it was.
"Well," Yuuta said carefully, "let's say our world was created by a God of peace."
The words hung in the air.
Erza stared at him.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Yuuta shifted uncomfortably.
Did I sound stupid? he wondered. Does she not believe in God? She's probably the strongest being in her world, why would she believe in something greater than herself?
But then..
"That's... amazing."
Yuuta's jaw dropped.
Erza's expression had shifted. The cold disdain was still there it was always there but beneath it, something else flickered.
"There is also a God for this tiny planet?" she said. "I am amazed."
Yuuta gaped.
"Wait...Your Highness believe in God?"
Erza's eyes narrowed.
"Of course I am." Her voice carried the weight of absolute certainty. "What fool doesn't believe in God? Those who have knowledge and a brain will surely never deny His existence."
Yuuta opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
If Earth's scientists ever heard her say that, he thought faintly, they'd have nightmares about her voice for years.
"Well," he managed, "to be honest... our world is already destroying itself. By our own kind. So I don't think God needed other creations to rival us."
Erza considered this.
"Hmm."
She turned back to the TV.
"Such a strange world," she murmured. "No predators. Humans are at the top. Yet they march straight toward their own end." Her eyes followed the wildebeest on screen. "Interesting."
Yuuta didn't know how to respond to that.
So he went back to cooking.
Meat rice balls. Focus on meat rice balls.
The oil heated. The first batch sizzled. Golden brown. Perfect.
"Papa!"
Elena's voice cut through his thoughts.
He looked up.
She was standing now, pointing at the TV with desperate excitement. On screen, a elephant trumpeted.
"Papa! Mama! I want to see that beast!" She bounced on her tiny feet. "I want to see all of them! The horned ones! The one-headed kitties! The big grey ones with the long noses!"
Yuuta smiled.
It was such a normal request.
Such a child request.
And for a moment just a moment, he forgot that his daughter was half-dragon, that her mother wanted him dead, that his life had become an isekai nightmare.
He just saw a little girl who wanted to see animals.
"Of course," he said warmly. "Let's go to the zoo."
Elena screeched with joy.
Behind her, Erza raised one eyebrow.
"Zoo?"
"It's a place, your highness.. where they keep animals," Yuuta explained. "For people to see. Learn about. It's safe. Educational."
Erza's expression didn't change.
But something in her eyes something almost imperceptible softened.
"Interesting," she said quietly, her voice edged with quiet curiosity. "In our world, beasts are… different far more dangerous. One does not seek them out… one flees."
Yuuta's chest tightened.
He looked at Elena, still bouncing, still excited, still completely unaware of the darkness her mother was describing.
"Well," he said. "Here, she can look. As long as she wants. Safely....My Queen,"
Elena's eyes widened, a spark of excitement lighting up her face. "Mama… Elena can see the beasts of this world too, right?" she asked, her voice filled with eager curiosity.
Erza let out a soft sigh, her expression settling back into calm indifference. "Of course you can," she replied. After a brief pause, her gaze shifted slightly, thoughtful for a moment. "In any case… I find myself somewhat interested in these creatures as well."
From the kitchen, Yuuta's voice carried over, warm and eager. "That's great," he called out. "Then let's go together as a family."
Erza studied him.
That long, unreadable gaze.
"Tch."
She looked away.
"Don't expect me to thank you, mortal. I'm only coming to ensure Elena's safety. Not because I'm interested in your primitive animal displays."
Yuuta hid his smile.
Sure, he thought. Not interested at all.
"Food's ready," he announced.
Elena's face lit up instantly, and she rushed toward him without hesitation, her small footsteps echoing across the room.
Yuuta smiled faintly at her energy, while Erza watched in silence her gaze lingering just a moment longer than usual.
And just like that, in the simplest, most ordinary way, the Kounari family found themselves planning a trip to the zoo together.
To be continued...
End Credit
Erza: "This story is moving so slow… it's actually making me sick."
Yuuta: "My queen, patience. This isn't slow. it's setup. The kind that decides everything later."
Erza: "Setup? Or just wasted time?"
Yuuta: "Once you reach chapter 74… you'll stop calling it wasted. Every second you hated will start making sense."
Erza:clicks her tongue "Hmph. Convenient excuse."
Yuuta: "Not an excuse. A promise. Even this moment you're complaining about… will become a key you'll need to understand the future awakening."
Elena:spinning happily "I don't understand anything… but I like it! Slow stories feel warm!"
Erza: "…Tch. Only a child would enjoy this pace."
Yuuta:softly "Or someone who hasn't forgotten how to feel the story… instead of rushing to the end."