Father, I Won’t Do Anything

“Misunderstanding is such a petty word.”

Scorn spilled from his mouth. His coldly frozen, indifferent eyes, and his firmly closed heart.

In that moment, Jaina could realize. The fact that Diamid had an unshakable wall built up.

A wall that wouldn’t be persuaded by anyone, wouldn’t compromise with anyone, wouldn’t cherish anyone.

She could tell without him saying it.

That no matter what she said now, he would not take it at face value.

“…”

Jaina closed her mouth. There was no point in chattering away to someone who had no intention of listening.

No matter what she said now, it would sound like an excuse to Diamid. It would only needlessly provoke him.

‘All I heard from the dragon clan was some petty words telling me to just take shelter under a father like this…’

Jaina felt wronged. On one hand, she felt foolish for unknowingly harboring a glimmer of expectation towards the man before her eyes.

Indeed, even that young Taylor knew that ‘that human male is cruel and arrogant’… what had she hoped for?

Jaina decided not to swallow her words, but to simply offer a plain apology.

“I’m sorry for coming in without a word. But I only came to pick flowers in the garden. I won’t come in again.”

As she politely lowered her head, Diamid was silent for a moment. He had clearly run out of words to say.

But his gaze on Jaina was still unwavering.

“How can I trust those words? How do I know that you too, like your mother, aren’t a brazen swindler and a materialistic person.”

Diamid took a step closer to Jaina. As he leaned his body and reached out his hand, Jaina’s small face fit in one hand.

At a distance where they would touch if they breathed, two pairs of blue eyes faced each other.

“I thought I would feel somewhat moved since you’re that woman’s daughter, but I don’t feel anything at all.”

The cold air flowing in the garden, cold enough to freeze.

Only the physical distance between the two had narrowed.

The white garden, which had looked like paradise before, now looked rather coldly emotionless, as if it had no color.

“Even if you were my biological daughter, nothing would change. Don’t ever approach me or expect anything from me again.”

Diamid removed his hand and turned away mercilessly. Steps that were firm and cold, with not a shred of lingering attachment.

As Diamid walked straight ahead with his back straight, he thought.

‘She doesn’t seem like a child of that age.’

There were very few humans who could handle Diamid’s overwhelming presence. Moreover, if it was a child rather than an adult, it wouldn’t be strange for them to faint on the spot.

But the child before his eyes was completely unfazed. He tried to provoke her, but far from crying, there was not a single tremor in her breathing.

Diamid found such Jaina to be very curious. To the point where he unwittingly looked back again.

‘Even when we first met, she was unusually quiet.’

Peculiar. His gaze was strangely drawn to her once more.

But that too ended today.

Because seeing his own face reflected in her eyes that were quiet to the point of being excessive, memories he had forgotten were starting to surface one by one.

Memories that were happy, fun, thrilling… and painful.

‘She really resembles her mother.’

Diamid didn’t want to face that past full of scars again.

That child too, was a dragon like that woman.

Dragons are not serious with humans.

She must be trying to take advantage of him as her relatives had taught her, in an extremely selfish way like her mother.

Was she really his biological daughter?

Even if the age matched, aside from her black hair and blue eyes, there was not a single resemblance.

And above all… there was no way Bezrice would have given birth to his child.

-Dragons can only give birth to the child of the one they love. That’s why all dragons are the fruit of love.

In the past, there was not a shred of falsehood in Bezrice’s eyes as she said that.

* * *

That evening, Mikael, who met Jaina, received an unexpected gift.

“It’s nothing much, but please accept it.”

“Huh…?”

“It’s a bouquet of Leshanne flowers.”

Mikael blankly accepted the object held out to him.

Even for him, who was in his late teens but had a physique larger than most adults, it was a bouquet large enough to fit in one armful.

Hit by the fragrance wafting strongly from the Leshanne flowers, Mikael unwittingly blinked and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them.

“It’s a token of gratitude. I felt like I had only been receiving from you and hadn’t given you anything.”

“…Did you make this yourself by any chance?”

“Yes. You could tell at a glance. It is certainly crude.”

Mikael began to examine the bouquet in detail.

Each flower was arranged harmoniously with delicate skill and tied with a pretty ribbon.

How long did it take the little kid to make such a large bouquet?

“Uh… what happened to your hands?”

“It’s nothing.”

And Mikael’s sharp eyes even caught what Jaina had wanted to hide.

She quickly hid them behind her back, but Mikael didn’t miss it.

On her small hands, which were less than half the size of Mikael’s, there were distinct scratches.

Touching the flowers with her delicate and tiny hands, it would have been impossible not to get hurt.

Normally, he would have sneered that she had stupidly cut herself on the flowers, but for some reason, he was at a loss for words.

‘Is it because they happened because of me?’

Mikael, unusually finding it difficult to open his mouth, scratched his reddened cheeks and blurted out bluntly.

“Well, it’s pretty decent. It’s certainly the first gift I’ve received.”

“It was your first?”

As Jaina smiled brightly, Mikael momentarily held his breath with a gasp.

His large eyes contained only Jaina before him.

‘Is it the first time the kid has smiled?’

A dimple firmly etched on her left cheek on her white face. A short, clear sound of laughter. The corners of her eyes and mouth curving softly enough to feel ticklish.

‘I didn’t know she could smile like this…?’

She always had an expression that was as insensitive, dry, and barren as an old soul, and even when he tormented and sneered at her, she showed little reaction, so he thought she didn’t know how to make any other expressions.

‘But what’s making her change like this?’

It was absurd to the point of making his previous threat, that he wouldn’t let it slide if she cried in front of someone else, seem meaningless.

But for some reason, it wasn’t too bad to see the little kid smiling. Rather, on the contrary…

‘But why are you smiling? Because I said the bouquet was decent?’

He couldn’t understand it based on his own values. No matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t figure it out.

Indeed, this little kid had been a strange child from the beginning.

“You, it would be best for you to quickly gain the recognition of the Tower Lord and be protected by him.”

Words of advice suddenly spilled out of Mikael’s mouth without him realizing it.

“You’re not an official member of the Magic Tower. For now, even if you suddenly disappear one day, officially they can’t look for you. Although everyone is refraining themselves because the Tower Lord dislikes disputes…”

Jaina silently looked at Mikael’s unfamiliar face.

Had his eyes ever had such a heavy light in them?

Mikael was looking at her without smiling, joking, or saying sarcastic words.

“With your mother gone, your father should at least properly pay attention to you.”

“I don’t agree with all aspects of dragon culture, but there is one thing I like.”

Mikael felt for a moment that Jaina’s eyes were transparent enough to be chilling.

“The fact that dragons have no concept of a father.”

“What? Why is there no father? There wouldn’t even be children without a father.”

“If you put it that way, the land we’re standing on right now, and the food and water we’ve consumed so far… are also beings that allowed me to exist. There’s no reason to call him something special when it wasn’t the father who carried me for ten months.”

Jaina recalled her previous life as Min Pobae. Born in Korea, which places great emphasis on filial piety, she was as shocked as Mikael upon first encountering dragon culture. However, she soon began to ponder whether the existence of a father figure was truly special. After all, she had been killed by her own father.

“So, I don’t need a father. From the very beginning, he never existed for me.”

Jaina concluded matter-of-factly.

“I’m the only one keeping myself alive.”

Mikael, who had been listening quietly to her words, furrowed his brow and turned away.

“…I don’t know about that crappy philosophy. That’s all I can say.”

Mikael abruptly turned and walked away briskly.

However, Jaina merely gazed at his retreating back, making no move to follow him.

Nothing would change.

It would remain the same in the future.

Seven years from now, when she turned seventeen, she would be killed by her own kind.

At that time, just as described in the book, Diamid would say:

[Just as your birth brought me no emotion, your death will hold no meaning for me.]

Diamid Bellafanian, the final boss of this novel’s world, possessed blood so cold that not even his own daughter could sway him.

Jaina, the illegitimate child of the final boss, a half-breed born of dragon and human who was ostracized and killed.

That was the fate destined for her and him.

So the mold in the corner of the storage room, the malnutrition from eating only a limited variety of food – none of it was a major issue.

‘Those are only concerns for people with long lives.’

She would meet her demise at the blossoming age of seventeen.

And it was at that time, after Mikael had completely disappeared and time had passed.

“Hm, how strange for the great Mikael to be receiving something like a bouquet of flowers.”

A sudden voice made the hair on her skin stand. An ominous premonition trickled down her spine.

Jaina whipped her body toward the direction of the voice.

A familiar face.

The only person Jaina knew at the Magic Tower besides Mikael and Hilvenzia, having no other acquaintances among the tower’s residents.

“Long time no see. But when did you arrive here?”

“So you remember me. I’m honored. I thought I was an insignificant existence to you.”

“…”

“I really wanted to see you. I wanted to talk to you, but you were always around other people.”

A chilling sensation flowed down her spine.

“But you’re finally alone?”

In a spot she hadn’t noticed at all, Moben was standing there.