Sunlight streaming down like a river.
Branches and leaves surrounding the tower as if to protect it.
Two knights made their way through this fairy-tale-like scenery and drew their swords.
The reason they had come here:
To rescue the princess kidnapped by the dragon!
Driven by that mission, the knights had stayed up for several nights and now were finally breaking into the dragon’s tower.
BANG!
“You dragon-headed bastard! How dare you kidnap the princ—”
KAAANG!
“Urgh!”
…Kaaang?
Was this the power of a dragon? The knight who had just shouted was smacked unconscious on the spot.
And then—
“Another damn knight? Trying to get killed?”
“Wh-What?!”
One knight was slammed against the wall, and another was being choked by a merciless…
…soft touch?
Startled, the knight turned his head as best he could despite the hand pressing on his neck.
In the dark interior of the tower, he barely made out the silhouette of a woman with long hair.
‘C-Could it be… the dragon?!’
But what gleamed in her eyes were the icy irises unique to royalty.
“P-Princess?”
That’s right.
The one who had ambushed him as soon as the door opened was none other than the kidnapped princess.
“You too?”
“Pardon?”
“You came here to slay the dragon too?”
According to rumors, the princess was supposed to be a delicate but beautiful woman…
But this overwhelming presence made the knight’s body tremble in fear.
Still, the princess had to be on his side. Pretending not to be afraid, the knight gave her a strained smile.
“Y-Yes! I came to slay the dragon. So, if you could please stop choking me…”
“…Ha. What a dumbass.”
“Sorry?”
“Listen up.”
Suddenly, that soft hand grabbed him by the collar.
“If you really want to kill that so-called ‘dragon,’ you’ll have to get through this princess first, you bastard knights.”
“H-How could I possibly…”
That’s when a young voice chimed in.
“Unni, don’t be so mean to the uncles. They’re not bad people.”
The terrifying tension was interrupted by a child’s innocent tone.
Come to think of it—
Something small and plump was wriggling behind the princess.
Whoooosh—
A breeze blew, pushing the half-open door fully ajar.
“They even gave me pretty jewels, so don’t be mean. Even Sir Velix yelled at Luru at first, but he smiled later!”
A little girl, who looked about four years old, picked up a gem lying next to the unconscious knight.
It was a cheap gem, prepared to lure the dragon.
She bent over and picked it up with the practiced ease of someone who’d done it many times before—
Wait, no! Focus!
So this child picking up gems was…
“W-Who are you…?”
Was someone else kidnapped along with the princess?
The knight’s brain froze, overwhelmed by this surreal situation.
“Are you okay, Mister? Unni’s really scary, huh?”
Yank.
The child, having tucked the gem into her pocket, stood up and beamed brightly.
Her smile made the knight smile faintly in return.
“It’s okay. The princess just doesn’t understand us yet, that’s all…”
“But you know, Mister…”
POP.
Suddenly, wings burst out from the little girl’s back.
“My unni isn’t dumb enough not to know who came to visit our home.”
A thick tail, covered in scales like those of a crocodile, appeared beneath her innocent smile.
The supposed demon who kidnapped the princess…
Was the dragon.
“Did you do something bad?”
“AAAAAAGH! IT’S A DRAGON—!”
The terrified knights rolled their eyes back and fainted.
Once upon a time, long ago…
A princess walking through the forest found a dragon crying its eyes out.
The baby dragon had lost its parents while being chased by evil villains.
Hearing the tragic tale, the princess asked,
“Would it be okay if I became your sister instead?”
“…Unni?”
And so, the baby dragon lived happily ever after with the princess.
“Luru, time to wake up! Stretchy-stretch exercise time!”
Shffff.
The sound of curtains being pulled open. Harsh sunlight pierced through her eyelids.
Wiggle wiggle.
Luru tried to retreat into the blanket, but quick hands caught her chubby ankle before she could.
“If you’re up, time for stretching, remember?”
“Mmm… Luru wants to sleep a little more.”
“It’s already midday, sleepyhead. Time for breakfast!”
“The sun’s sleepy too, that’s why it’s cloudy.”
Regardless, the firm command followed:
“Luru, start stretches.”
“Just a bit more sleeeep… stretch, stretch, stretch.”
No matter what her unni said, Luru was determined to fall back asleep.
But the moment the command for stretches came, her butt wiggled instinctively.
Because her unni insisted she do stretches at least three times a day.
So she could grow up to be an 8-meter dragon someday!
“Mmm… streeetch, streeetch, streeetch!”
She surrendered to the perfect routine.
Well, if that’s how it was going to be, she might as well grow tall!
Her pouty cheeks puffed out, but she furrowed her brows and stretched her legs hard.
“Aigoo, our Luru… so sleepy but won’t skip her stretches. Stretching while yawning, huh?”
“Mmm. I’ll protect unni when I grow up…”
When a dragon transforms into a human as a child, it becomes very difficult to return to its original form.
That’s because they don’t have enough magic power.
So baby dragon Luru had one big dream.
To grow into a full-fledged dragon and travel the Toun continent with her unni!
Having lost her parents and memories, Luru was abandoned in the forest.
Her unni, who brought her to this remote tower, said the outside world was dangerous and hid her away.
But if she grew big enough to fly?
Then she could visit her homeland—Toun Continent!
“If Luru stretches and grows to 8 meters, she can proudly explore the world.”
Luru cherished every day with her unni.
In fact, before she met her, she didn’t even know what kind of life she had lived.
Her last memory was of crying, flapping her tiny wings helplessly.
Only her unni had reached out a hand to her back then.
Such a beautiful and magical unni—why did she live in such a shabby tower?
Luru wondered sometimes, but she was happy every day.
Well, except for one annoying thing lately.
Her unni kept reading her the same fairy tale over and over!
Just before bedtime one night…
“Time for a bedtime story! The title is The Princess and the Baby Dragon.”
Again!
The same old story she’d been hearing since she first entered this tower!
“Luru already knows it.”
At first, she liked it because the baby dragon in the story reminded her of herself.
But after hearing it every single day for a year, even the cover made her yawn.
“Oh my? You know this story, Luru?”
Her unni asked innocently, with a sweet smile.
Luru unconsciously puffed out her cheeks and folded her chubby fingers.
“You’ve read it ten times, a hundred times, a ba… ba-hundred times…”
“After a hundred, it’s a thousand.”
Oho! New vocabulary acquired!
“T-Then a thousand times! You’ve read it that much! Read me a different story now!”
Luru crossed her arms in protest and pouted.
This time, she wasn’t backing down.
“Hm… but we don’t have any other storybooks, do we? So how about we just read this again tonight?”
“No!”
“What do you mean ‘no’? This is your favorite story! Now then… ‘When the princess heard the baby dragon’s tragic story—’”
Gasp! She’s ignoring me and reading anyway!
Luru wanted to protest, but sadly, she was still just a weak baby dragon.
Forced into her unni’s arms, Luru unwillingly listened to the story she’d already heard a hundred—no, a thousand—times.
‘Ugh. So boring…!’
Her stubby little hands covered her ears.
‘Why won’t unni let me read other books?’
There had to be a way.
Wasn’t there somewhere she could find other fairy tales?
Luru’s eyes suddenly shot open.
Her unni’s secret basement under the tower…
Surely, she could find another book there.
