Father, I Won’t Do Anything

“Shorty, open your mouth. If you keep it closed, you’ll spill this expensive stuff.”

At Mikael’s words, Jaina was startled and opened her mouth to receive the potion. Knowing the value of the potion, she absolutely couldn’t bear to see it go to waste. Even if it wasn’t her own.

“Ah…”

And after drinking all the potion, a change occurred.

Mikael smiled brightly with a sparkling face.

“You should have obediently drank it from the start. But I understand your desire to act spoiled too.”

Mikael patted her head, pretending to act like a good older brother and younger sister, but Jaina couldn’t feel it.

It felt like an ion drink bursting inside her body. As the refreshing and invigorating energy spread throughout her body, the thoughts that filled her head flew away.

“Wow…”

Jaina cleared her throat, her voice having become fine after drinking the healing potion. Amazingly, her cold symptoms had completely disappeared.

As she came to her senses, she caught Mikael muttering with her sensitive ears.

“Despite being blessed with magical power, holy power affects her the same as humans. Different from evil spirits full of just mana. But the efficiency is lower than humans…”

Even though he said she wasn’t an experimental subject, Mikael of course didn’t do anything that would harm her.

Mikael, who had been staring at her with a very interested gaze, smiled at Jaina as if noticing something.

“Now that your cold is all better, go to the madam.”

Mikael smiled and pushed Jaina.

Seeing that Mikael had even used an expensive healing potion on Jaina, the madam laughed even more than before and spouted all sorts of beautiful phrases at Jaina, like how cute and dignified she was.

“How old are you, young lady? Eight? Nine years old?”

“I’m ten.”

Mikael immediately frowned and whispered softly so only Jaina could hear.

“Come to think of it, why are you so small when you eat so much? Did you deliberately transform that way because you like small things?”

“No, I just transformed. I was always smaller than other dragons.”

“Why?”

“If I knew that, wouldn’t I have grown taller?”

In her previous life too, she was shorter than her peers. At this point, it felt like her fate, but Mikael further furrowed his already wrinkled face at Jaina’s answer.

“What about you is even normal?”

Arms crossed, standing crookedly. Anyone could tell he was extremely annoyed.

Jaina didn’t understand why her small height would upset Mikael’s mood.

Mikael quickly turned his head and spoke to the madam.

“So, you’re saying custom-made clothes will take a while? Then give me all the ready-made ones for now.”

“Pardon?”

The situation itself of receiving something from someone else without giving anything in return was uncomfortable, but receiving custom-made clothes on top of ready-made ones?

“Everything that would fit her.”

There were so many varieties of ready-made clothes too!

Jaina blankly looked down at the clothes she was wearing.

Low saturation purple color, frills and lace added without hesitation.

Even Jaina, who didn’t know much about clothes, could immediately tell. These were very expensive clothes.

“They’ll do.”

However, Mikael simply evaluated these magnificent clothes.

Was that the end of his praise in front of the person who made the clothes?

Thinking it was too much, she looked at him, when suddenly something caught her eye.

‘Why are the tips of his ears red?’

Not knowing that Mikael had complimented her, not the clothes, and was embarrassed about it, Jaina approached him to resolve her question.

“Um…”

But Mikael didn’t give Jaina time to ask questions.

“Hey, catch!”

Jaina unknowingly received the flying pouch with both hands. And she opened it to look inside.

“It’s annoying to divide and bring the clothes.”

“Then I’ll return them to you later…”

“It’s fine, I don’t need them. You think I only have one dimensional storage pouch?”

“Did you just say ‘dimensional storage pouch’?”

Mikael had just stuffed the clothes into a ‘dimensional storage pouch’, a very expensive magic item, and handed it to Jaina.

‘While I’m happy to get new clothes…’

From now on, she didn’t have to worry about wearing wet clothes, and she didn’t have to lug heavy things around either. However, Jaina found the current situation very awkward. This wasn’t what she had wanted.

‘I wanted small luxuries, not to splurge recklessly.’

But even if she refused, she was sure to get the same answer as before.

-You think I’d end with just a few outfits so stingily? That would tarnish my reputation.

Of course, to him, it may not be much money.

But it wasn’t like that for Jaina. She kept feeling bothered by receiving one-sidedly.

‘I can’t repay it now, but I will return it someday.’

Jaina made a deep resolve inwardly and began to ponder if there was anything she could give Mikael as a token of sincerity.

Mikael was incomparably richer than her. Was there anything she could give someone like him?

‘Not having money is sad. You can’t even give gifts to others.’

But she hadn’t been able to bring anything from the dragon village except a few sets of clothes. So right now, Jaina had nothing to give him.

Moreover, Mikael seemed like he already had almost everything he needed.

‘Let’s change perspective.’

Jaina decided to think about what she wanted to receive instead.

‘I… wanted a bouquet of flowers the most.’

Flowers were the pinnacle of luxury by her standards. Because they had no use other than being pretty.

Her father from her previous life, who didn’t even buy her necessities, had never once bought her flowers. So even at graduation, Min Pobae had empty hands.

And since she had no boyfriend or girlfriend, there was no occasion to receive a bouquet.

‘I also wanted to hold an armful of flowers at least once.’

Some called it burdensome, but Jaina had never even had such worries.

She hesitated for a moment before getting up from her seat.

The flowers blooming in the Magic Tower’s garden were likely seen often by Mikael too, and most of them were flowers from flowering trees, making it difficult to weave them into a bouquet.

‘Ah, come to think of it…’

Pondering, Jaina recalled a place mentioned in the novel.

Just as there was a way to go outside the Magic Tower without going through the gatekeeper, there was a garden that could only be reached by a hidden method.

The white garden where the villain Diamid would often get lost in thought alone in the novel.

‘But since he’s on a business trip today…’

It didn’t seem like it would be a problem to secretly go in and pick a few flowers.

After deliberating, Jaina decided to put it into action.

Whistling and imagining the garden, she turned the doorknob, and the white world that appeared was…

“Wow.”

At first, she thought it was snow. The waves of white flowers covering the garden were so dazzling.

The champagne flowers filling her vision were smiling at her, blooming their beauty in full.

White petals flew into the sky and drifted up and down.

It was as if she had come to a world of snow, not the Magic Tower where she had been staying. It was a scene so beautiful it didn’t seem real.

The scent of the champagne flowers made her dizzy for a moment.

‘It’s the prettiest flower I’ve ever seen.’

A world where white waves flow gently.

Herself situated within it.

‘Has there ever been such a peaceful time in my life?’

Jaina hummed softly as she picked flowers in the garden and made a bouquet.

Perhaps Mikael had also never received a bouquet of flowers, just like herself.

The more she touched the flowers, the more elated she felt. It was the first time she made a bouquet and gave it as a gift to someone.

Her small hands and clumsy movements made her actions slow. Her desire to make it pretty made it even slower.

But as time passed, the bouquet took on a pretty decent shape.

‘Even though I made it myself, isn’t it quite pretty?’

A beautiful flower with pure white petals wrapping around the center in several layers. Thin and faint, but with a sadder beauty because of it.

And it was then, as Jaina was engrossed in the bouquet she had made.

“Who would have thought a mouse would enter my garden.”

Jaina was startled by the presence she felt and turned around.

‘What the…’

Inorganic, light blue eyes were gazing at her with contempt. Her molars clenched tightly at the heavy, crushing pressure.

“Why are you here.”

Jaina couldn’t understand.

The reason why her father was standing in front of her right now.

Clearly, she had come here because the Lord of the Magic Tower was away on a schedule.

“You came here because you want something from me.”

Diamid looked down at Jaina, who had intruded into his garden, with sharp eyes.

“I thought I made it clear the first time. You are not my daughter.”

Saa-

The wind that blew in time made the white petals flutter.

The champagne flowers she had found beautiful just before now felt like an icy storm of eyes pouring down on her.

“It seems they’re trying to use my power through you, but do I look that soft?”

Jaina mulled over what he just said. She couldn’t immediately understand who was trying to use whom.

It was such a nonsensical thought that she had to think again.

‘Are you saying the dragons are using me as bait to move Diamid?’

Naturally, Diamid’s words weren’t true. She had never heard anything from the dragons.

Even if they had given her a heads-up in advance, considering the oppression she had received from the dragons, she had no intention of moving for their sake.

Didn’t even young Taylor sneer at her, asking if she thought she could get along with her father?

“That’s…”

But before Jaina could answer, Diamid opened his mouth faster.

“Using a child to fulfill their own greed, humans and dragons are the same.”

It was truly a preposterous thought. Jaina shook her head.

“You’re misunderstanding right now. The dragons and I…”

“Misunderstanding?”

Jaina closed her mouth upon seeing Diamid’s sneer.

It would be nice to have clear evidence, but right now, Jaina’s hands had no key to unravel this deep misunderstanding.