How To Break Qaq If The Dragon Catches The Wrong Person? Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Fairy Tale

“Brother!” Loria was pleasantly surprised to see her brother suddenly appear at her room door. “Don’t you have to work today?”

After all, the King’s exploitation of the Prince was obvious to everyone in the Royal Palace. Normally, Kairis should still be handling State Affairs in the Royal Study.

“Mm.” Kairis answered calmly. “I shouldn’t be busy for quite a while now.”

“Then do you have time tonight?” Loria asked expectantly.

Kairis nodded.

Loria’s eyes lit up. She quickly got up and then scurried into the inner room under their watchful gaze.

Before long, she poked her head out, holding a thick book.

Before her father turned her brother into a workaholic, Kairis would set aside one or two evenings a week to read stories to her.

Although her brother was usually cold, somewhat serious, and often disciplined her, Loria still liked him very much, and their relationship was close.

But since her brother became busy, it had been a long time since he had come to tell her a story.

This made Loria miss it quite a bit.

“You didn’t finish the last story for me,” Loria said excitedly. “Brother, please continue telling it to me now.”

The book was thick, making it a bit strenuous for a child to carry. She held the book with both hands, walked up to Kairis, and struggled to lift it up slightly.

Kairis reached out and took the collection of fairy tales, which was extremely popular and well-known to all Velen children. He caught sight of his sister’s hopeful eyes and felt a little helpless.

After a moment of silence, he pinched the bridge of his nose and conceded, “Fine, we’ll stop once we finish the story we started.”

Loria nodded vigorously.

The Princess’s toy room was covered with a thick carpet featuring intricate patterns, soft and comfortable to the touch. Loria sat cross-legged, looking up at Kairis, signaling him to begin.

Kairis, not minding the formality, sat down on the floor next to his sister. He opened the fairy tale book and found the story he had only started previously.

Mian was not particularly interested at first.

Loria had many kaleidoscopes, each showing scenery from a different place, which was very interesting. He watched them by himself, finding them novel.

But as he watched, he was slowly drawn to the human voices beside him.

Kairis’s voice was actually quite pleasant.

—Although his status meant that few people usually noticed this, this quality became especially apparent when he told stories.

Kairis’s voice was low and steady, reading the lines of the book at an unhurried pace. In the quiet environment, it sounded calm and patient, making one involuntarily drawn to the speaker, wanting to listen closely to his words.

It was a very different feeling from how he usually spoke.

Mian’s movements gradually ceased, and then, unconsciously, he slowly moved toward them, finally sitting down next to Loria.

Loria was currently leaning next to Kairis, propping up her head and looking up at her brother, listening very intently.

Kairis’s long legs were slightly bent. The knuckles of his left hand steadily supported the open pages of the book. His other hand occasionally helped turn the page when he reached the end of a section, and when not in use, it rested beside him, as if the book’s weight was nothing to him.

The night was not yet warm, and the fireplace was lit inside the room. The wood crackled as it burned, making the atmosphere even more peaceful and serene.

It was a very heartwarming scene.

Kairis was reading the contents of the book with his eyes lowered. As if sensing something, he looked up and saw a Little Dragon had appeared beside them at some point.

The sky darkened quickly. Since no servants were allowed in, the lamps in the room had not been lit, and the only light came from the nearby fireplace.

Mian was looking at him with focused attention, seemingly lost in the story.

The flickering orange-yellow light reflected in his emerald green eyes, like a few fish swimming beneath a clear lake, lively and beautiful.

The firelight shone on his dark black hair, giving him a soft, fuzzy glow.

Kairis’s voice paused almost imperceptibly, then he retracted his gaze and continued reading without missing a beat.

It seemed like nothing more than a casual glance.

The story was a bit long.

Kairis continued reading for a while, when a soft breathing sound suddenly came from beside him.

He lowered his eyes to look.

Perhaps because it was too warm by the fireplace and the room was too quiet, Loria had laid down on the floor and fallen asleep without him noticing.

Kairis stopped speaking, closed the fairy tale book, and placed it aside.

A knock on the door sounded at that moment, and Kairis quietly told the person to enter.

“Little Prince, you should…”

The person who entered was the nanny responsible for the Little Princess’s daily life.

Seeing the situation in the room, she instinctively lowered her voice.

“Perfect timing.” Kairis gestured toward Loria, who was sound asleep on the floor, and quietly instructed, “Carry her back to bed.”

The maid bowed, then quickly entered the room, swiftly and skillfully picked up the sleeping Little Princess from the floor, and left the toy room.

After they left, only Kairis and Mian remained in the room.

As Kairis withdrew his gaze, he saw Mian staring intently at him.

Kairis: “?”

“And then what?” Mian asked.

It took Kairis two seconds to realize Mian was asking about the rest of the fairy tale’s plot.

Kairis: “…”

The night had unknowingly deepened, but unlike Loria, the Little Dragon in front of him seemed not to be sleepy at all.

In fact, he seemed to be getting more energetic the more he listened.

Kairis was silent for a moment.

“You said you were an adult?”

His tone was neutral, seemingly just a simple question.

Mian: “…”

Was he trying to call him childish in a roundabout way? Did he think Mian wouldn’t notice?

The Little Dragon in front of him always wore all his emotions on his face; he was very expressive and easy to read.

Seeing his expression, Kairis pursed his lips, and a faint smile flickered in his slightly lowered eyes.

Mian silently curled the leg that had been casually stretched out in front of Kairis, intending to pull it back.

He seemed to be trying to express his displeasure in a concrete way.

“Leave it.” Kairis noticed the movement and suddenly spoke to stop him.

It was his usual commanding tone.

…It was nothing like when he was telling a story.

But it made Mian feel pressured.

So Mian’s leg stopped halfway, stuck in place.

“Let’s apply the medicine one more time,” Kairis said, pulling out the small jar that Mian was very familiar with.

After several days of rest, his injuries had improved significantly, now only faint purplish bruises remained.

By the flickering firelight, Kairis methodically applied the medicine, his expression no different from when he was reading the fairy tale book.

A layer of paste slowly covered his knee. The ointment felt slightly cool, and Kairis’s hand was also cool, but this coolness was gradually warmed by the firelight, slowly becoming cozy.

“You seem different.”

Mian watched him for a while and suddenly said something out of the blue.

Kairis’s movements didn’t change. He casually asked, “Different how?”

“You and those princesses in the stories…” Mian carefully considered his words before continuing, “You don’t seem quite the same.”

The princesses in the stories all seemed beautiful and delicate, the type that needed a lot of protection.

And they were all very gentle.

But Kairis was different; he was a bit fierce.

And he didn’t look like he needed Mian’s protection very much.

Hearing this, Kairis let out a soft chuckle, a laugh that seemed devoid of any emotion.

He silently finished applying the last bit of ointment before speaking again.

“Of course I’m different,” he said.

Mian was quiet for a moment.

Kairis put the jar away and calmly ran through what the Little Dragon was about to say next in his mind, confident he had guessed correctly.

But Mian’s response was unexpected.

“…It’s okay to be different.”

Mian looked at him, paused, and then said hesitantly but earnestly, “You’re good this way too.”

This kind of Princess was also good.

She could even help him apply medicine.

Thinking this, Mian secretly glanced up at Kairis again.

Their eyes met, and neither looked away for no apparent reason, yet neither spoke.

After an unknown amount of time, Kairis was the first to speak, breaking the silence.

He neither confirmed nor denied Mian’s words, but instead said, “Your injury will be healed tomorrow.”

Mian was slightly confused by the sudden change of topic. Hearing this, he subconsciously nodded.

He looked like a student in an academy obediently listening to his teacher.

Kairis couldn’t help himself and rubbed Mian’s black hair, which looked quite soft under the firelight.

“Let’s go,” he said. Mian wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but Kairis’s voice seemed to carry a hint of tenderness and a slightly harder-to-catch trace of amusement. “Time to go back to sleep.”

“Wait… wait a moment,” Mian suddenly said.

“?” Kairis raised an eyebrow slightly. “What is it?”

Mian: “Can you really not finish that story for me? It seems like it’s almost at the end…”

Kairis: “…”

In the end, he had no choice but to reluctantly finish reading the story for a certain illiterate Little Dragon.

…And then successfully read another one to sleep.

Mian was swaying left and right, his eyes slightly narrowed, looking like he was about to fall straight asleep at any moment.

Kairis lightly coughed.

“I… I’m listening,” even when his consciousness was hazy, Mian was still polite, knowing his current behavior was inappropriate.

However, his words lacked any real conviction.

“Is that so?” Kairis asked flatly. “What was the last sentence I read?”

Mian: “…”

He parted his lips. His chaotic mind had to both think about Kairis’s question and fight off sleepiness. The struggle between the two finally resulted in a complete shutdown.

Mian completely closed his eyes.

Kairis paused, looking at the Little Dragon who had fallen asleep without realizing it, and closed the fairy tale book for the second time.

The fire in the fireplace flickered on its own, reflecting on Mian’s unconscious face.

From this angle, his eyelashes were long, his lips were full and beautiful, and his dark black hair fell beside his face, making him look somewhat docile.

Kairis watched him for a while, then lowered his eyes, seemingly hesitating about something.

After a moment, he let out a soft sigh, abandoning the idea of waking him up again. Then, with practiced ease, he picked the Little Dragon up horizontally once more and carried him back to the sleeping chamber.