TAPGB - Chapter 19
The Abandoned Prince's Ghost Bride
I and Lucian were shocked.
[What, What! Why are you crying!]
"Handkerchief! Handkerchief!"
Caesar burst out laughing when he saw me and Lucian fidgeting. When Lucian tried to wipe away his tears with a handkerchief he had found somewhere, Caesar stopped him and took out a small bottle from subspace.
Then he put his tears into a bottle.
" I live and shed all my tears. You know that? These are my first tears?"
Of course, when he was younger, Caesar was busy crying every day, but after he gained some sense and his head grew, he stopped crying.
Not only do they have no reason to cry in the first place, but compared to other races, dragons have different emotions, so they tend not to react that much to most things.
That is why dragon tears are precious. Even if it is just a tear, it can be used as an ingredient for an elixir.
In particular, the older a dragon's tears become the more their value skyrockets. As if it was a lie that he cried, Caesar ran around excitedly holding a bottle filled with his tears.
[But why were you crying all of a sudden? Did you miss me that much?]
At my question, Caesar stopped and tilted his head.
"Well. I don't know either."
Question marks floated over me and Lucian's heads.
"For some reason, looking at your face made me feel really sad."
In response to the weighty words, I put the words I had been thinking about.
"And I've missed you so much! But it's surprising that it's better than I thought."
[What does it mean to be better than you think?]
"Well, since you're a ghost, I thought you wouldn't look fine. I thought you were missing an eye, one of your arms was tattered, or your whole body was rotting?"
Despite the refreshing tone of voice, the content was anything, but Lucian's face turned pale as if he had imagined what Ceasar said.
"You're pretty."
[Both you and Lucian say I'm pretty.]
Strangely.
"Right! Leah is so pretty! But Leah doesn't believe it?"
"Eh? You can see it when you look in the mirror. Are you pretty or not? Of course, you can't match my beauty, but you're pretty for a human, right?"
[Say something that makes sense. Have you ever seen a ghost reflected in a mirror?]
"Oh, is there such a thing?"
[Of course not. And even if I can't see it, there is no problem in living.]
Caesar and Lucian said that they were more disappointed and that they wanted to show Leah her full face.
"Ah! Caesar, do you know how to draw? If Caesar is good at drawing, you can draw Leah!"
"Heh, Lucian. This body doesn't do such trivial things. Dragons don't do things like that themselves, but they prey on other races."
[You go on at length about saying you can't draw.]
Caesar's shoulders twitched as if my words had stung him. Soon he puffed out his cheeks and started shaking.
"It was so bad! It was bad! He says he thinks I'm pretty! Why do you say such mean things! I'm going to tell my mom!"
[Ugh, mama's boy.]
"Mr. Woo. hey! Have you always said that to me?"
As Lia averted her eyes, Caesar froze. He lay down on the floor again and made a fuss, saying it was too much. Lucian, seeing this for the first time, did some self-reflection.
"I'm sorry. Leah. I won't use it too much from now on."
It seems that he realized how ugly Caesar's tantrums were. It was an unintentional opportunity for Lucian to mature.
***
After the commotion was over to some extent, Caesar returned to his normal self. The three of them sat around the sofa and talked about various things.
"But really, why do I suddenly see you? Am I seeing other ghosts now?"
Caesar said as he chewed the cookie he brought.
[Well, I don't think so. Last time, some ghosts passed by the mansion, but Lucian didn't see them.]
Lucian, who had been carefully eating cookies while observing Caesar's gaze, froze in surprise.
"Are there any more ghosts?"
[Huh. But it would be better not to see it. It's hard to see a normal cooking ghost like me.]
"So that means you see ghosts?"
[That's because I'm a ghost too. Look, there's still a ghost far away.]
When I pointed to the tree outside the window, Lucian and Caesar visibly stiffened. After looking around the tree, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hey, I can't see anything."
[It's true.]
There really is a ghost over there. Also, a female ghost with both tattered arms. Because of my strong spirit, other ghosts tend to be unable to enter the mansion. The ghost that was snooping around here also immediately headed to another place.
"So that means we can only see Leah. Is there a special reason?"
[Well, but this is certain. You both started watching me after eating the food I made.]
"Come to think of it..."
"Oh, definitely. The moment I ate the soup, I heard your voice."
They both nodded that it made sense.
"Maybe your cooking has become a medium that connects us."
[Is it?]
"Okay, and you! Did you know how to use magic? I thought you lifted this and that because you were a strong ghost!"
Caesar's eyes lit up as he said that I was a subject of research since he was a ghost who knew how to use magic.
"No one other than us has seen Leah so far, right?"
[Yes.]
If I had known that I would be seen after feeding food, I would have tried it a long time ago, But what ghost would think of cooking?
This is not just a coincidence. It happened because Lucian came and brought about a change in my daily life.
I looked at Lucian and stroked his head. Lucian, who didn't know what was going on, just smiled.
Caesar who was watching, stuck his head in and asked me to pet him too. I roughly ruffled his hair and pushed him to the side. Caesar's eyes turned into triangles.
"How about we try an experiment?"
[Experiment?]
"Yes, make sure that other people can see Lia when they eat your food."
"Oh, that's a good idea. It doesn't make sense to look at you when you haven't done anything weird with your food. Clearly, some other conditions must be met."
[It doesn't matter to me, but is it okay?]
"What?"
"What?"
[Who are you going to test on? There are no other humans here except you.]
The two people, faced with the most important problem, racked their brains.
"Ah! How about James?"
[The messenger?]
"Who is James again?"
"I have an older brother who comes once a month. I'm giving him the food Leah made. Then you can check."
[Surely... It might be possible.]
I really liked a person named James, but I can't believe they chose such a person as their test subject.
I watched Lucian and Caesar chatting as they matched each other. They were already thinking about what experiments to do with James.
It looks like that person is scared of ghosts and all...
[Well, I guess it doesn't matter.]
It's not like you have to worry about it. I'm not even sure if he can see me. All I can do is pray for the rest of his soul as he became a victim of Lucian and Caesar's experiments.
I quietly prayed to James.
At the same time, James, who was working in the palace, shivered from an unexplainable chill.
***
"Eek! Are you asking me to run an errand and come back?"
When Leah asked him to run an errand, Caesar was disgusted. Besides, he said he was bored.
[Let's go to town with Lucian and buy some things. I'll give you money.]
" I have money too, right? And why should I do you a favor! If you're going to order something, just let him do it!"
Whining as a child was better than as an adult, but somehow the annoyance doubled. Should I say that I want to punch that idiot who always says no when I ask for something?
"W-what are those hands! Hit me if you can!"
Oh my, I guess my hand went up without me realizing it.
The sight of him trembling and sticking out his buttocks was quite pitiful and made me laugh.
I shook my head and pointed at Lucian.
[Lucian has never been to the village. That's because I'm worried about sending him alone. Are you the great dragon?]
Caesar, who had crossed his arms and showed his will not to listen, pricked up his ears at those words.
[How scary is the world these days? On the way, he might encounter a pack of wild dogs, a kidnapper might appear, or someone might scam him. But if you are there, nothing dangerous will ever happen.]
"Hmm. because I am great... ?"
[Okay. Who on earth could beat a great dragon? If you come with him just this once, Lucian can go alone next time.]
Caesar silenced the twitching corner of his mouth and glanced at Lucian. Lucian also spoke to his tune.
"Let's go together, brother! I wonder what the village is like!"
The corner of his mouth twitched again at the word 'brother'. Perhaps because their mental ages were similar, the two soon formed a friendship. Having no brothers, he especially liked Lucian calling him older brother.
No matter how hard he tried to calm down, the corners of his mouth turned up so much that it was only a matter of time before he fell for my words.
"What are you asking me to do?"
It was good.
I and Lucian clenched their fists knowingly or unknowingly and scolded Caesar.
"I just need to buy everything of the highest quality, right?"
If I just sent him away, I would have been in big trouble. For a moment, I forgot about the dragons' sense of money.
[There is no need for the highest level. Just go to an ordinary store and buy it. I'll give the money to Lucian. After buying everything you need, eat whatever you want with the remaining money.]
Caesar narrowed his eyes when he saw 5 gold being handed to Lucian.
"Whose nose are you going to put that on?"
[Humans don't spend a lot of money like dragons. And when you become an adult, you too will live a playful life. Wouldn't it be good to know about human society from now on?]
" I understand."
After grumbling, Caesar jumped up and down for a moment and returned to his adult appearance. Lucian looked at that and tilted his head.
"Why do you change your appearance?"
"There are a lot of people who look down on a child. And my beauty is so outstanding, right? If you're young and have great looks, it's easy to attract flies..."
Caesar stopped speaking and looked at Lucian. Lucian blinked his round golden eyes and looked cute.
Skin as white as Jade, hair as white as the first snow, and even beautiful golden eyes. Lucian's body hair and eye color alone made him stand out, and he had quite an outstanding appearance.
Because he is still young, if you put her in a dress, he will be mistaken for a girl. Caesar spoke to me with narrowed eyes.
"I understand why you're worried."
[Right?]
"Why? What is it? What's on my face?"
"Nothing. I think it would be a bit dangerous if you just left alone. Even if you don't look as good as me, you also have quite a striking appearance."
When Caesar snapped his fingers, mana rushed around Lucian and his appearance changed. His striking hair and eyes were changed to a plain brown color, and a hat was placed on him to hide his beauty as much as possible.
When I showed him the mirror, Lucian opened his eyes wide and played with his hair and cheeks.
"My appearance has changed! Did you do it?"
"Okay."
"Amazing! My brother is good at magic too! I want to learn magic quickly!"
When Lucian pouted that it was cool and that he could become like his brother, the corners of Caesar's mouth trembled again. Now, Caesar will no longer abandon Lucian.
***
[Well, goodbye.]
"I'll come back and tell you what happened!"
Lucian waved both hands at me who was standing in the doorway and followed behind Caesar, who had gone ahead.
Because Caesar polymorphed into an adult, the difference in stride length between the two was large. Seeing Lucian continuing to chase him at a fast pace, Caesar slowed down his pace a little.
"Lucian, did you take care of the note and money?"
"I made sure to put it in my inner pocket!"
"The village is not far from here, but it is still quite a distance, so memorize the route well. From what I heard, it sounds like you will have to go back and forth alone from now on."
"I can do it on my own! I'm 8 years old now."
"After all, humans are too young."
Caesar tried to remember what he was like when he was eight, but it was such a long time ago that he couldn't remember much.
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