The next day.
As always, Lulu’s sister began her morning with her stretching routine and a fried egg. She reminded Lulu:
“Lulu. I’m going to the market today, so don’t cause any trouble and stay quiet, okay?”
“Okay!”
But inside, Lulu thought differently.
‘Nope. Lulu’s definitely going to cause trouble today.’
While saying one thing and thinking another, Lulu let out a sly smile.
“Now, remember. Play on the third floor only. You must never go into the basement, okay?”
“Okay!”
‘Nope, Lulu’s going into the basement today.’
“That’s my baby. Mwah, mwah.”
Even when her sister, completely unaware, kissed her cheeks, Lulu’s sneaky smile wouldn’t fade.
After saying goodbye to her sister, Lulu adjusted her slipping socks and dashed toward the stairs.
There, hidden beneath the staircase, was a dark basement storage room.
Her sister had told her never to go in there.
‘But if she reads that same fairy tale again tonight, Lulu might die of boredom forever.’
Just thinking of the story brought her sister’s voice to mind—“Once upon a time…”—and Lulu shuddered without realizing it.
Though her sister had locked the basement tight, unlocking it was actually pretty simple.
She had installed one artifact on each side of the door, but perhaps thinking Lulu wouldn’t be able to open it, they were only simple, basic defensive spells.
‘I already drew the spell to disable the defenses, so there!’
Lulu took out a piece of paper on which she had clumsily copied one of her sister’s magic circles.
She placed the paper over each artifact and focused—
Click.
The sound of the basement doorknob unlocking echoed.
“Yay, got it~!”
Mimicking her sister’s speech, Lulu tiptoed and reached for the doorknob, finally opening the basement door.
Thump-thump.
The forbidden door her sister told her never to open…
She felt a twinge of guilt, but also excitement at doing something all on her own for the first time.
“…Whoa.”
Lulu’s mouth dropped open in awe.
In front of her, beyond the same old fairy tale she had read for three years, lay a whole library filled with hundreds of books.
Drawn toward the shelves like she was in a trance, Lulu looked up at the book titles.
“Fairy tales…”
And they were all…
“Fairy tales that aren’t The Princess and the Dragon!”
Her excited voice trembled.
Jumping around with glee, Lulu browsed the books and pulled out one titled The Princess, the Knight, and the Dragon, which had a similar name to her usual story.
“Heehee! I’ll read it before Sis gets back!”
If she read fairy tales secretly like this, maybe she could endure her sister’s boring nightly readings.
Full of anticipation, Lulu opened the book.
“Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess. But one day, a dragon kidnapped the princess…”
Her tiny finger, tracing the words, froze mid-sentence.
A dragon kidnapped the princess?
But in the version her sister always read, the princess lived with the dragon, didn’t she?
Feeling something was off, Lulu decided to keep reading.
“The king said that whoever rescued the princess could marry her. So the knight took his sword and stormed the tower to defeat the dragon… Hic!”
The next line startled her so much, her finger recoiled.
“The knight defeated the dragon and rescued the princess…?”
The dragon… was the villain?
In the book her sister read, the baby dragon was so sweet—it even got praised!
“What a weird story. I want to read another one.”
A creepy tale that painted her as the villain?
Lulu stood up and picked a different book.
But—
“…The dragon kidnapped a baby…?”
In every fairy tale, without fail, the dragon was always the bad guy.
“…The dragon burned down the village…?”
Seeing that line, Lulu covered her mouth with her palm.
Come to think of it… sometimes when she burped, flames did come out…
These books… they knew way too much about her!
“Then… is the dragon really a bad villain? But Lulu is a dragon…”
Hic.
“Then does that mean… Lulu’s a bad villain?”
DONG—
It was as if a giant bell rang in her head.
At that moment, the baby dragon who had lived her whole life in the tower realized her true identity—the one her sister had hidden away.
…So then, what should Lulu do?
“If I’m a bad villain… won’t the knight come to capture me?”
At four years old, Lulu was experiencing her first identity crisis. She ruffled her hair, looking around.
First, she had to put the books back in place.
If she didn’t even clean up after herself, then she really would be a terrible villain!
“But the villains I knew weren’t like this… I’m still just a baby dragon…”
Her maple-leaf-sized fingers busily slid books back into place, but her face drooped.
“Lulu. If you go outside, there are scary villains out there who will hurt you. So no going outside until you’re grown up.”
Whenever she looked out the window with curiosity, her sister would point her finger sternly and say that.
Yes.
Villains weren’t small, adorable, and weak like Lulu.
Villains were supposed to be big, violent, strong, and make a loud booming sound when they appeared—
BOOM—!
“Yeah, villains always show up with sounds like that!”
Lulu, nodding with her eyes closed, suddenly snapped to alertness.
“Wait a second! Our house is exploding!?”
The ground shook like an earthquake. Something heavy was crashing outside the basement door—again and again.
Thud, thud, thud!
Being underground, the vibrations made even Lulu’s body shake.
Someone had definitely come.
But Sis said there were strong barrier artifacts in place, so no one should be able to get in…
Lulu’s big ruby-colored eyes trembled like an earthquake.
Swallowing hard, she placed a pot on her head like a helmet, grabbed a broom, and carefully opened the door.
Even if Sis says I’m still a kid, I have to protect our house.
If it was a burglar, she’d blast them with a fireball!
She even activated her fiercest triangle-shaped glare!
Mouth open like she was ready to breathe fire, Lulu cautiously crept up the stairs.
“Who’s there?”
When she reached the first floor, a deep voice rumbled beside her.
Oh no… they were already here.
Lulu’s not scared at all!
“Who are you, villain…!”
Lulu was about to shout, but stopped mid-sentence.
Standing inside the house was a towering man in armor, just like in the fairy tales.
His neat black hair framed a sharp brow, and his deep red eyes were intense enough to make someone shrink away.
…Wooooow.
He was so tall—over 190 cm—that Lulu had to crane her neck just to see his face.
Her chin raised so high it felt like her neck might snap.
His entrance had seemed villainous, but upon seeing him, she instinctively knew—he wasn’t a bad person.
There was a calm, proper air about him.
And when he looked at her, his eyes softened a bit. This wasn’t a villain…
“…A knight?”
The word slipped from her mouth before she realized it, and Lulu’s eyes widened.
The man furrowed his brows, slightly confused, and brushed back his hair.
“…A knight, huh… well, I guess you could call me that. I came to rescue the princess, after all.”
“Huh?!”
“So, kiddo. Where’s the villain who kidnapped you and the princess?”
The knight glanced around with a sharp gaze before kneeling down to meet Lulu’s eyes.
“You know, like a dragon or something—just like in the fairy tales.”
…Oh no!!
In Lulu’s head, the emergency alarm was blaring.
At that moment.
“I bought only Lulu’s favorites. Angela, get some for yourself too!”
“Lulu barely eats anyway, so I’ll just eat what’s left. It works out.”
“Ugh, take more. There aren’t any visitors these days because of the monsters anyway.”
“…Thank you, ma’am.”
“What’s there to thank me for? Just tell me how Lulu liked it after you two try it!”
“Hmm, I’ll think about how dramatic I should be with my compliments.”
As Angela’s lips curled into a smile under her hood, the nearby merchants burst into laughter.
This was the village of Shadowm, near the edge of the Shadow Forest.
Strangers rarely visited this place, but then a young woman named Angela suddenly appeared.
With her unique charm and easygoing nature, she quickly grew close to the townsfolk—but no one really knew where she had come from or what she used to do.
There were only two things they could say for sure:
She lived right next to the fearsome Shadow Forest with her young sister—and her name was Angela.
Of course, even that wasn’t true.
“Oh, right. Angela.”
At that moment, the bakery owner, Mary, spoke up.
“Yes?”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, but make sure to lock the doors and windows tonight.”
“Did something happen?”
Angela’s round eyes widened.
Let me guess… another monster from the Shadow Forest?
To the villagers, it was a terrifying place. But to her, monsters were no more than passing squirrels.
That was because she had layered protective magic artifacts all around the tower.
Unless a high-level mage attacked directly, neither people nor monsters would be able to find the tower.
Even knights tended to avoid the forest.
“No, a knight said he had to find someone, and just walked straight into the forest.”
…But that shouldn’t be possible.
“I tried to stop him because it’s dangerous, but he insisted. Said the missing princess might’ve been kidnapped by a dragon or something.”
“……”
And then—
Buzz—
A faint vibration rang out from her worn leather bag.
When Angela peeked inside, a red warning artifact was glowing and shaking.
Someone had broken through the barrier and entered the tower.
