Page 41 of The White King's Favorite

“I can’t believe you made such a fuss, all for that!”

Ignoring her, Krai was meticulously licking its snout and paws, and sniffing around the cart, as if hoping to find a fourth fish hidden somewhere. Cessilia turned to Nana and her brother.

“K-Krai likes it!” she exclaimed happily.

“G-good...” muttered Nana, her body still half-frozen.

“Let’s grab our stuff while he’s here,” said Tessa. “Now that we know where we will be staying, I don’t want to have to call that guy too often, or they’ll start to think we’re ready to barbecue their castle...”

Cessilia nodded, and the two girls had Krai lower its body again to grab their luggage. In fact, the cart they had brought the fish with was put into use again to carry their bags and unload everything from the dragon’s back. Luckily, they just had to take off some covering layer to be sure their belongings wouldn’t stink of raw fish. The triplets, doing their best to regain their composure, helped the best they could and took charge of the cart once again.

When everything was taken off of its back, Krai shook with a satisfied expression, and extended its large wings to the side, as if to stretch them. Still, the dragon didn’t take off, and instead, lowered its head to Cessilia’s level once again. The bond between them was so clear, it could almost be seen with the bare eye. Nana was surprised to feel a bit of jealousy while seeing such a magnificent creature completely subjected to the young woman’s every move. She couldn’t really understand what this creature really was or why it acted so obedient toward a mere human it could have killed in seconds, but the Black Dragon visibly wouldn’t have touched a hair on the Princess’ head, just as she had said. In fact, it acted almost like her cat at home, asking for attention and pets from the young woman, wrapping its tail and body around her.

“We can’t keep him from flying around, but at least he won’t eat your cattle now,” said Tessa, turning to the siblings.

“Are you sure...?” asked Sabael, his eyes still on the dragon, visibly unsure.

“Yeah, he’s learned to stay away from the humans’ farms and such. He just probably went on a hunt because he was hungry and unfamiliar with the types you raise here. Back home, he usually hunts away from the human villages, or we find him his meat.”

“M-maybe he will start fishing b-by himself now,” added Cessilia.

This wasn’t actually very reassuring to Nana. Not at all. Since childhood, she had learned the patterns of fishermen and how to keep the fish near their fishing zone without scaring them away, so there would always be plenty in their nets no matter what. She could only imagine what would happen to their fishing industry if all the fish in the bay realized there was now a predator this size in the area...

“We will feed him!” she exclaimed with a smile she hoped looked confident. “I-I will let my uncles know we need to keep some prizes for your dragon, and we can give him delicious ones too!”

“Th-thank you,” smiled Cessilia, unaware of her troubles.

Nana nodded, relieved the Princess agreed to that small arrangement. Moreover, the Princesses looked like they had enough money to pay for a decade’s worth of meals for the dragon! Perhaps they could keep the unsold fish of the day for the dragon, and get it used to that? Nana was already thinking of dozens of ways they could keep the carnivorous beast satiated, resolute to find a solution that would prevent anyone from being killed, or emptying their coasts.

“Alright, I think that’s it,” said Tessa as they were done, checking the cart to see if everything was secured. “I guess we can go back now.”

“It would be better,” noted Sabael, looking around. “I think we might have gathered a bit too much attention now, we should hurry back to the Inner Capital, it will be safer for us all.”

Cessilia nodded, and turned to the dragon, gently patting its snout. Krai emitted a low, quiet growl in response.

“You should st-stay away from th-the human habitations, K-Krai. Alright? G-go to the beaches or where they c-can’t see you. There’s a c-coast under my room, you c-can visit me when you want.”

The dragon growled back. Nana wondered if it was just in response to her voice, or because it could actually understand the Princess’ language...

Soon enough, the dragon pushed its snout against Cessilia one more time and sat up, looking around while spreading its wings. Once it stood up in all its glory, that dragon was even taller and scarier. Nana felt her heart skip a beat. It was scary, very scary, but also impressive and amazing. The gigantic creature flapped its wings twice before taking off, leaving a large swirl of dust and wind behind. Cessilia looked up, protecting her eyes from the sun and smiling at the dark figure until it was too far up, and going farther away. Then, the Princess casually walked back to the little group.

“A d-d-dragon!” a man on the side who had been petrified by fear all this time suddenly screamed . “A dragon!”

He ran away screaming a bit ridiculously. Tessa sighed.

“Sometimes I really forget they have this effect on people. And we only came with one...”

“Do you have a lot of dragons in the Empire?” asked Nana, whose curiosity had seemed to chase all the fear away.

“J-just a few,” replied Cessilia, “b-but Krai is the b-biggest.”

“I see... Are they all black? Do they all fly? Oh, and are the others smaller because they are young then? Do you ride them all whenever you want? How high can they go?”

While Nana kept her long list of questions going without rest, their little group began leaving the place, in the same formation as before. Cessilia didn’t mind Nana’s questions at all and managed to give an answer here and there where she could. It was a bit funny to follow their conversation, one’s speech being incredibly fast and restless, while the other was slowed down by her stutter, but did her best to answer happily and calmly.

Meanwhile, Tessa kept stealing glances at Sabael, walking closer to him with her hands behind her back, a mischievous look in her eyes.

“So... You’re the first of Nana’s older brothers to become a Royal Guard instead of a fisherman?”

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