Father, I Won’t Do Anything

Jaina dusted and removed cobwebs. And when she placed things she had gathered here and there on the walls that had severe drafts, the chill seemed to lessen too.

After cleaning alone for a while, Jaina looked at her room with a satisfied face.

Her own space that came into existence for the first time.

And her own belongings that would fill this place bit by bit…

Jaina thought living like this, indulging in small luxuries until she turned seventeen, wouldn’t be so bad either.

She had thought such an ordinary daily life would continue, but…

“Why are you here?”

Inorganic blue eyes were gazing at her with contempt. Molars clenched tight at the heavily pressing oppression.

Jaina couldn’t understand.

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

* * *

It wasn’t that Jaina, even if she went crazy, abruptly sought out Diamid who thought unfavorably of her.

She had nothing she wanted from him, nor did she wish to interact with him, so why would she?

After coming to the Magic Tower, Jaina tried to live ordinarily. To avoid standing out as much as possible.

However, in life, problems often came from unexpected places.

‘How will I wash and do laundry from now on?’

Issues that inevitably came with living had caught her ankle.

Since the Magic Tower was a place only for skilled magicians, everyone knew basic magic like laundry magic and cleaning magic.

They were always suffering from research and exams, but the reason they looked neat on the outside was all thanks to that.

But Jaina didn’t know how to use those basic magics. Of course, it wasn’t that Jaina, as a dragon, had no clue how to use magic at all.

Even though she was looked down on by relatives, she had seen some things over their shoulders after all.

The magic she learned like that was superior to even her cousin Taylor, but that didn’t change anything.

Because she learned easy magic first, Jaina of the Black Night clan that handled darkness only knew magic to the extent of hiding her body in the dark.

‘Clothes weren’t necessary in the dragon village. Bathing was taken care of at the riverside too…’

Since maintaining human form continuously was difficult, young dragons always lived in their true forms unless it was an unusual occasion. As a result, there was no need to wear clothes or do laundry like humans.

In other words, Jaina too hadn’t worn anything since her previous life, so she hadn’t thought about laundry at all. It was a huge mistake.

‘Should I try asking Mikael or Hilvenzia?’

No, no way.

Jaina criticized herself for trying to rely on others for a moment.

They may treat her kindly now, but recalling how the two initially treated her, she shouldn’t let her guard down.

The two people vying for second and third in the Magic Tower had no reason to be nice to her, who had nothing and was weak.

They could leave her or betray her at any time. Or one day suddenly she could become the subject of their research.

‘I can’t get used to receiving something from others.’

Jaina clenched her mouth shut. Since it was her own matter, she had to solve it herself.

‘It’s a bit dangerous, but I’ll have to go outside the Magic Tower.’

It wasn’t explored in depth in the novel, but something she vividly remembered was the spell for leaving the Magic Tower directly without passing through the gatekeeper.

With her eyes closed, she alternately tapped her elbows three times, hopped once, and spun around eight times while…

“Igriche Youngam, let me out.”

As she chanted the spell, she felt a gentle breeze wrapping around her body.

When she opened her eyes a moment later, she was outside the Magic Tower. Jaina blinked her eyes.

‘Fortunately, I remembered it correctly.’

If she used magic to cloak herself in darkness, no one would notice she had gone out.

At night, Jaina snuck out and transformed into a dragon, flying through the sky. She then found a nearby lake to bathe and wash her clothes.

Although it was cumbersome and bothersome, she was relieved that she could solve her clothing problem.

However, on one fateful day when she thought the problem was resolved…

With only ten days left until the exam, the magicians were keeping an especially keen eye on the Magic Tower.

They engaged in strange behaviors like tumbling on plain ground or falling headfirst onto the ground.

‘They must be desperate, as they could get expelled from the Magic Tower depending on the results.’

Though she wouldn’t be taking the same exam, Jaina vaguely recalled her past life’s memories and felt sympathy for them.

But that feeling quickly dissipated.

“Hey, you bookworms. Are you sleepy?”

It was an audacious act. Even though Diamid was absent today, someone dared to shout loudly in the middle of the Magic Tower.

When one magician shouted loudly, everyone responded boisterously to the magician upstairs. It wasn’t just one magician who had reached their limit due to the exam.

“You know full well, why even ask!”

“Can’t you see everyone swaying like jellyfish?”

Angered by the response, the upstairs magician snickered and his eyes glinted dangerously.

“I’ll wake you up right now!”

As he chanted something and moved his hand, a large puddle suddenly appeared on the previously empty ceiling and immediately poured down.

Sshhhaaaa!

It was a veritable waterfall. The stream of water gushing down was exhilarating. However, the magicians downstairs who were drenched by the waterfall erupted in fury.

“You brat, you’re dead!”

They created an uproar, vowing to take revenge on the upstairs magician, while others laughed and placed bets on who would win.

However, Jaina, who was inadvertently caught up in the chaos, couldn’t laugh.

“…What is this?”

For the other magicians, it may have been an amusing prank to refresh their weary minds.

But it was not so for Jaina.

Unlike the other magicians, she couldn’t instantly dry herself with a spell.

Jaina stood in the hallway, wringing out her drenched hair. Her hair would eventually dry on its own, but the problem was her clothes. She had no spare clothes to change into. Coincidentally, she had washed all her other clothes, so they were also wet.

In the end, Jaina had no choice but to remain in her cold, damp clothes all day.

And unsurprisingly, she caught a cold the next day.

“Cough, good morning to you.”

“…Are you trying to act cute? What’s with your voice?”

The next day at the dining hall, Mikael was aghast when he saw her. Jaina sniffled as she explained earnestly.

“I’m not acting, I caught a cold.”

“Huh, a dragon caught a cold?”

“Yes.”

Jaina furrowed her delicate brow.

After Mikael questioned if she was trying to act cute, she tried speaking slowly and clearly despite her cold, but it was no use as her cold was quite severe.

Upon hearing that Jaina had caught a cold, Mikael began probing relentlessly.

“Why did a dragon catch a cold? Why?”

“Because my body is frail. I’m only half a dragon…”

“Even if you’re only half a dragon, how can a dragon catch a cold like a weak human? There must have been a reason.”

“Nothing in particular…”

“Tell me everything that happened yesterday. If something caused a dragon to catch a cold, then something must have happened at the Magic Tower.”

“I don’t remember.”

“Then I’ll have to take a look inside your head. To prevent you from catching colds again, we need to eliminate the cause. You’re too foolish to understand.”

Was he trying to use mind magic on her?

Jaina mumbled and tried not to answer, but Mikael was persistent. As expected of a master magician, he seemed unable to let go of his curiosities.

Seeing that he wouldn’t relent until his questions were answered, Jaina decided to give a vague response.

“I slept in wet clothes.”

“You slept in wet clothes? Even if your knowledge pales in comparison to mine, you should know the basic common sense of changing out of wet clothes immediately, so why?”

“I did laundry, so I had no clothes.”

“There’s a laundry spell, you know. Ah, now I remember, you can’t use water magic?”

It seemed Mikael knew a bit about the innate abilities of dragons.

“Hmm, they keep blabbering about how humans are inferior races and whatnot, but dragons aren’t so special either.”

Mikael scoffed while looking down at the sniffling Jaina with his arms crossed.

“For a noble dragon to catch an illness just from getting wet?”

Mikael tried to suddenly scoop Jaina up, but immediately let out a pained cry.

Crack.

Despite her appearance, Jaina was considerably heavy.

A loud cracking sound came from Mikael’s arms and waist as his bones ground against each other.

“Owww! You should have warned me beforehand that you’re so heavy!”

“I did mention it at the dining hall last time. Surely the great magician Mikael would remember.”

Due to her poor physical condition, she was having difficulty adjusting her weight, so she had left it at several hundred kilograms.

“And by the way, isn’t causing a disturbance at the Magic Tower forbidden when the Tower Lord is present?”

“Ah, argh… When did I say I’d use you as a test subject?”

A sharp jolt traveled through his waist. Mikael was about to let out a scream but immediately clenched his teeth instead.

“Those who stay at the Magic Tower for an extended period are required to undergo mandatory health checkups, you know? Since I thought dragons wouldn’t get sick, I let it slide, but now that you’re ill, I need to take you for an examination.”

“Dragons don’t get sick?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the dragon.”

While dragons may be sturdier than humans, that couldn’t be true. Yet Mikael showed no signs of uncertainty.

“Dragons don’t fall ill or get cursed. The Tower Lord said so himself. It must be something your mother told him?”

‘So Diamid still believes that lie.’

Her mother, Bezrice, had died from the Demon King’s curse.

A chuckle escaped Jaina’s lips.