“Smooth sailing? Nothing happened?”
I wanted to go back five seconds and smack my past self for being so careless.
I had just insulted my favorite character by calling him a “bone-headed stick,” and now I was reaching out my hand. What I touched with my smooth fingertips was the quill stuck in an ink bottle.
The soft white feathers swayed gently under my hand.
“What the—”
My hand, moving on its own, suddenly grabbed the quill. Ink dripped from the sharp nib.
It splattered across the parchment like blood spreading.
My heart skipped.
“No way. That’s not it, right?”
But Shuen Felicita went far beyond my “no way.”
The hand holding the quill lifted high, as if to stab someone.
Right in front of Izrael and Hiser, I forced a bright smile.
“You won’t be able to dodge this.”
Inside, I was dead serious.
‘This guy is real! He’s seriously trash!’
I strained with all my strength. The hand holding the quill trembled violently.
A penalty message felt imminent. I was already prepared to black out.
But at that exact moment, my eyes met Izrael’s.
There was no hatred or fear in his gaze.
A strange light flickered in his violet eyes.
In that frozen moment, my arm moved on its own.
‘No!’
Just as the quill was about to strike, its smooth texture changed into something else.
Something wriggled beneath my hand. I screamed and flung it away.
“Kyah!”
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
The quill had turned into a white pigeon.
“Kuuk! Koo koo koo!”
The pigeon flapped violently after escaping my hand.
It fluttered around the desk, then took off again.
Its landing spot was—my head.
“Koo!”
It perched there like it had built a nest and cooed happily.
Hiser covered his mouth.
“Pfft…”
<<Hiser, the dragon who counts the passage of time, fails to hold back his laughter.>>
Only then did I realize what had happened.
Hiser had used magic to turn the quill into a pigeon.
My face turned bright red.
My fist clenched in humiliation and anger.
But inwardly, I sighed in relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
The pigeon on my head was one thing, but at least I hadn’t stabbed Izrael with the quill.
Ding!
<<Auto mode canceled due to external interference.>>
<<Penalty applied for cancellation.>>
<<You will faint.>>
Wait, what?
‘Why am I getting a penalty for external interference?!’
While I was feeling unfairly treated, strength began leaving my body.
The pigeon’s cooing grew distant.
Through my fading vision, I thought I saw my tutor smiling faintly.
‘Technically… he’s not even a human, he’s a dragon…’
And then I blacked out.
*****
Like a puppet with its strings cut, Shuen’s body collapsed sideways.
“……”
Izrael reflexively caught her as she fell, then frowned.
He looked down at her face.
Her closed eyelashes were neat and calm.
Her plump lips and peach-colored cheeks looked almost angelic—like she was simply asleep.
He recalled past memories.
In her previous life, Shuen Felicita had always been annoyingly healthy.
She wasn’t weak, nor had she ever suffered a serious illness.
And yet, this was already the second time she had fainted.
And each time…
Last time, she had tried to pour boiling water on him and ended up burning herself unconscious.
This time, she tried to stab his thigh with a quill and fainted.
Even before his regression, similar things had happened.
Back then, he was writing a letter for an errand from a physician when Shuen saw him and insulted him, trying to snatch the quill.
He had blocked her with a nearby book on instinct.
And because of that, he had been beaten until his face swelled and locked in a storage room—later regretting his actions.
Coming back to the present, Izrael clenched his teeth.
Her actions were the same.
But her eyes were different.
There was desperation and longing in them—something he couldn’t understand.
That bothered him.
He recalled the recent surge of magical power.
He recognized it immediately.
It was the magic of the great dragon Akartean, his former contract partner in his previous life.
So Shuen Felicita had formed a contract with a dragon.
That explained why the dragon who “measures time” had suddenly appeared as a tutor.
Everything had changed too much from before.
Shuen Felicita was hiding something.
“How interesting.”
At the calm remark, Izrael turned his gaze.
Hiser sat relaxed like an observer, watching everything unfold.
The pigeon that had flown from Shuen’s head landed on Hiser’s arm.
Smiling faintly, Hiser stroked it.
“About the curse on her.”
Izrael frowned.
“A curse?”
“I’m really glad I came here…”
Hiser ignored the question.
Izrael pressed.
“Tell me what kind of curse it is.”
“Why are you so curious?”
Izrael hesitated.
Because…
He didn’t know what role Shuen would play in this life.
If she became a threat, she would need to be eliminated.
A cold voice inside him whispered:
‘Then just kill her.’
He shook the thought away.
There was no need to go that far yet.
Putting on a worried expression, he lied.
“I’m worried. She’s like an older sister to me.”
A dry laugh escaped.
Hiser leaned back, laughing.
Izrael didn’t understand why.
His expression and tone had been perfect.
Then Hiser looked at him directly.
His eyes curved gently, but his sandy-colored gaze was sharp.
“Advice.”
He paused.
“If you’re going to act like a child, you should fix that tone of yours.”
The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.
An unfamiliar pressure filled the space.
Like a violent desert wind scraping against the skin.
Izrael’s eyes turned cold.
He dropped his mask in an instant.
Expressionless.
Hiser smiled lightly.
“You didn’t think I knew?”
“….”
“That you’ve regressed.”
*****
“I’m fine… there’s nothing unusual…”
“I don’t understand… why did she collapse…”
The voices sank like stones into a pond.
Then silence returned.
My consciousness slowly rose to the surface.
I opened my eyes.
“……”
I was lying in my bed.
I had clearly fainted due to the penalty…
Someone must have carried me here.
A small voice came from under the bed.
“Kyung.”
The blanket at my feet was being pulled tight.
I lifted it—and Akartean was hanging from it by his claws.
“Aka!”
“Shushu!”
The baby dragon jumped into my arms.
I freed his claws one by one.
“Did you hide well?”
“Yup! I wasn’t found!”
“I told you to stay still. Why did you come out?”
“Uu… sorry.”
He apologized with drooping eyes, licking my fingers affectionately.
I couldn’t even stay mad.
I patted his head firmly.
Even though his face squished like rice cake, he purred happily.
Feeling his warm body pressing into mine, I calmed down.
At least I hadn’t lost the coins I earned from the quest.
Just then, a message popped up.
<<Watch or pay: Episode 1>>
<<Watch or pay: Spend 100 coins to read the latest chapter.>>
<<Owned coins: 100>>
This time there was no special gacha mention.
I looked around the dim room.
It was silent—no footsteps, no voices.
Now was the perfect time to check the “watch or pay” option.
