Cyrene : Queen of Magic Dragons

Byur!

The splash of water on my face reflexively made me stand up. I stared at the culprit who had thrown himself into the water. I knew he did it on purpose.

"Hey! What do you mean, getting me soaking wet like this?"

Feeling no guilt, Vrael, the culprit, just smiled triumphantly. He became even more excited with his wings, making me even wetter.

"Come play! Aren't you tired of daydreaming?" he said casually.

I looked at Vrael irritably. It seemed like he would continue acting like a child if I didn't obey him. But I just wanted to daydream while lying on a rock. Vrael thought he was the only one who could sleep all day.

"Fine, I give up. You're the best at making me feel defeated."

I followed Vrael, who was having fun in the pool. The pool water felt cold and refreshing when I entered it. Huh! No wonder Vrael liked to stay here for so long. It turned out to be fun to be here. I regretted not joining him sooner.

I turned into a dragon when I was about to go into the water. Yes, I am a dragon. I still don't understand why I, a dragon, have a fairy as my guardian. It's not right. I used to think my guardian would be a phoenix or maybe a griffin? But it was useless, this little fairy came instead. Fortunately, she can transform into a human-sized form.

"Don't stay too long! Your wings will disappear."

I spoke to her telepathically. When I'm in dragon form, I can't speak directly. We usually use telepathy when I'm transforming.

Vrael looked at me cynically. "No way!"

I chuckled at her reaction. She is sensitive when it comes to her wings. For Vrael, the most important thing in the world is her wings. Fairies cannot be called fairies if they don't have wings. And if someone doesn't have wings, they won't be recognized by their own kind.

"When are you going to the human world?"

Good question! I smiled when I heard that question.

"That's unusual for you to ask that. Why? Do you want me to leave your life immediately?" I said, trying to charm Vrael.

"No, Cyrene! I actually want you to stay away from humans. That's not your place. You should know that," Vrael warned.

Vrael's eyes stared intently at me. But I thought it looked cute with his round eyes. Indeed, Vrael had always forbidden me from going to the human world. He said it was dangerous. Moreover, Vrael couldn't follow me there.

"I'm just helping them, nothing more. I hope you understand!" I said, not wanting to be blamed.

Vrael sighed in exasperation. She climbed out of the pool to end her activity. "You'd better go back to the palace. You belong there because that's your place."

I shook my head vigorously. "No, I don't want to. My duty is here. There will be a time when I go there," I said, which annoyed Vrael.

Vrael flapped his wings so that no water remained. Then his wings emitted a dazzling light until his body shrank back to its small size. I stared at him, my eyes always sparkling when I saw Vrael do that.

"Huh, you're always like this. You naughty fairy!" I grumbled, looking at Vrael, who was back in her small form. I knew she must have heard my rant. It's just that she pretended not to listen.

Seeing Vrael just circling me from above made me furious. I splashed water at her. But it turned out that Vrael was more agile than I thought. He managed to fly away as fast as lightning so he wouldn't get wet.

"You can't hit me!" Vrael said, as if mocking me.

Fine! This time Vrael won. I wouldn't let myself lose again next time. Satisfied with playing in the water, I followed Vrael, who was on a rock near the pond where I had been sitting. It turned out that Vrael was afraid I would spray him again, so he stayed away from me.

My feet came out of the water at the same time as my body transformed into a human. And as I expected, Vrael surrounded me when I transformed. I myself didn't know why he did that. He said he was always fascinated by my transformation. But I preferred to see Vrael transform. He looked cute and funny at the same time.

I should mention that Vrael has fair skin. She has round eyes and brown hair. Vrael also has pointed ears like most fairies. Moreover, every time she transforms, her clothes change. I always look forward to that because I want to know what style she will wear next.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked Vrael, who was now on my shoulder. She casually sat on my shoulder.

"You're beautiful!"

"Are you not angry anymore?" I was curious as to why the fairies' feelings changed so quickly. Vrael hadn't wanted to talk to me earlier.

Vrael shook her head. She seemed to enjoy sitting on my shoulder.

"You're beautiful! Why do you have to be exiled like this? I'm a woman and I enjoy looking at your face."

I don't know how many times that question had come out of Vrael's mouth. Sometimes I even got annoyed responding to it.

"You already know the answer. Don't make me angry!"

Vrael laughed softly, looking pleased with my anger. Her small hands poked my neck until I felt ticklish.

"I'm actually confused as to why I have a guardian like you. Why don't I have a guardian like a phoenix so it can burn you with its fire!" I said threateningly.

We both found the pond in the forest behind the exile house. There were only the two of us there. So I often went on adventures to places I had never been before. Including that pond.

First I found the waterfall, then not far from there I found the pond. The water looked refreshing. Even though it was in the middle of the forest, Vrael and I made it our resting place or just a place to play.

The forest seemed quiet. Still, I always loved the atmosphere of the forest like this. Unlike Vrael, who sometimes got scared if I went alone. For her, she had to always be by my side.

"You're so mean to me. Even though I always look out for you."

Come on! Besides having mood swings, Vrael is also good at drama. Sometimes I don't even bother responding to him. But no matter what, he's my only friend here. It's impossible for us to ignore each other when we're fighting.

"Just imagine a dragon having a little fairy as a protector. That's so ridiculous. I even wanted to chase you away when I first saw you."

I might as well make him angry. After all, I often think that way. All this time, I've understood his feelings by not asking questions that might hurt him. I even know that Vrael hides many things from me.

"Heh! Don't get me wrong. Even though I'm small, you can count on me. Stop talking about this, I'm angry with you!"

I laughed contentedly at Vrael. After a journey that was not exactly short, we finally arrived home.

This house has been my place of exile since I was six years old. It is an ordinary house, not even as luxurious as the palace. I was here with the elves and wizards. It was very far from my habitat as a dragon.

I was the Princess of the Mallwore Kingdom. I was exiled here because of an incident. An incident that disfigured my face. There were even rumors that my father and mother were ashamed to have a child like me, so they exiled me.

Actually, that's not true. There was a traitor in the palace who caused my accident, leaving my face disfigured. I was exiled at that time to receive treatment and to catch the palace traitor.

The culprit has been caught, but I've grown comfortable here. So I asked to stay here longer. Fortunately, my father agreed. He only gave me until I turned 20 before I had to return to the palace.

Many people think I was abandoned. But I don't mind because what they think is not true. In fact, my family often visited me here. Especially when the treatment I underwent here was successful. I was no longer ugly. The genes of nobles are indeed different from those of ordinary people. Previously, my family was pessimistic because the palace physician said my face would never return to normal. Remembering that makes me want to tear their mouths apart. Because of them, my mother fell ill worrying about me.

I am now 20 years old, minus two months. I only have two months left here. Even though I am far away from them, I always have a coach. Of course, he is not a traitor. He will not reveal that I am here.

"Hey! Where have you been? I've been waiting for you."

And yes, that's the annoying man assigned as my trainer. At first, his father taught me. But because that man had already learned so much that he was almost surpassing his father, he took over the process of teaching me to train.

"Can you be polite, Aelar? I'll report you to your father if you're rude to Lady Cyrene."

It wasn't me, but Vrael. I did tell Aelar to just call me his friend. Of course, the reason was so that no one would recognize me. I didn't want my identity to be revealed after everything I had done so far.

"Why are you interfering? Besides, I didn't call you!"

"Hey! If you mess with the Princess, you mess with me. I'm her protector, in case you didn't know."

"I didn't ask!"

I chuckled softly at the annoyed look on Vrael's face. This was the first time he had lost. With me, I was usually the one who gave in when we argued.

"Don't waste time! Let's practice archery now."

I nodded, not wanting to keep him waiting too long. Come to think of it, I felt sorry for Aelar if he had to wait for me to finish arguing.

"Now try that arrow!"

Aelar's index finger pointed at an apple tree not far from my yard. It was easy, I was used to learning archery with Aelar for a long time.

I stared at the apple that was my target this time. Even though it swayed in the wind, I tried to focus on my target.

Blastt!

Jleb!

Bullseye! I hit the target right on the mark. "Don't doubt my abilities!"

I heard Aelar chuckling as he walked towards me. He laughed while holding his stomach.

"What's wrong? Isn't that right on target?" I asked, confused, seeing him laugh.

"It's okay. Next time, would you like to come hunting? Maybe you can get some game."

I nodded. It had been a long time since I had been hunting. Maybe my skills were better than the last time.

This time, Aelar gave me a sword. I knew what he meant; he was telling me to fight him. One on one. Who's afraid! I even taught myself when Aelar wasn't here. Don't call me Princess if I can't do everything.

We both practiced until Vrael, who had been watching, looked sleepy. Since losing the argument with Aelar, Vrael had isolated himself in a mango tree near the training ground. I knew he was still watching me from afar.

"Are you sleepy?" I asked, seeing that Vrael was having trouble opening his eyes.

Vrael just nodded when I asked him. He must have been very sleepy. Even though he slept all day every day, he still looked sleepy all day long.

"Okay, let's end today's training. Your training is getting better, Princess. It seems you are ready to return to the palace."

I was silent as I watched Aeral tidy up the training equipment he had brought. "I'm leaving. See you the day after tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you very much."

Aeral nodded and left as fast as lightning. He was a dragon like me. You could say she was my subject. However, dragons were rare in this region, so they didn't change their form when they were here. Some of them used vehicles such as horses to get here. Aeral was one of them.

I turned around after making sure Aeral had left. And I don't know since when, but this little fairy was on my shoulder with her head leaning against me. It seemed that even Vrael had trouble falling asleep.

"You naughty fairy! Aren't you afraid of falling because you're sleeping here?"

I moved her to my hand so she wouldn't fall. After all, Vrael is my protector. We are the same, so I must also protect Vrael and take care of her just as Vrael takes care of me.