"How far you'd gone with our daughter?" Crona asked me teasingly, with her arm still drapped around my shoulder like a drinking buddy.
"Why's that even a question?" I groaned. "You already heard about my embarrassing thoughts, didn't you?!"
"Well," she said lightly, "I still want to hear it directly from you."
Realizing that dodging would only invite more teasing, I steeled myself. I lowered my hands from my face, brushed her arm off my shoulder, and stood straight. Then I met her gaze head-on and gave her the answer she clearly wanted.
"Like you had heard from my super embarrassing thought process earlier! I made her moaning in pleasure under my touch!"
The effect was immediate.
Crona's cheeks flushed faintly.
I glanced at the others—and found similar reactions.
Even Verd looked away, visibly flustered.
For a few long seconds, no one spoke…
"..." ← this is Crona, still processing in silence.
"..." ← this is Verd, forcing a smile, with his brain malfunctioned.
"..." ← this is Lydia, calmly averting her eyes, cheeks visibly flushed.
"..." ← and this is Nyxia, giggled lightly in under her palm, looking down to hide her flushed cheeks.
"Why don't any of you say something?" ← this silence breaking chad was me. "I just confessed my sin in front of you all."
"…W-we're simply taken aback by your boldness and honesty," Crona replied. "No wonder our daughter fell for you."
""Agreed,"" Nyxia and Lydia said together, nodding in unison.
"Didn't any of you have anything to say?" I demanded in disbelief. "A boy who has—by all reasonable definitions—defiled your daughter is standing right here!"
I gestured at myself, just in case they somehow missed the culprit.
Normally, when a mother finds out that her daughter was doing some… secret 'extracurricular' activities without her knowing, isn't she supposed to scold the boyfriend? Threaten him? Or at least, menacingly bored a glare at his 'nether' area with a sandal gripped hard on her dominant hand?
Am I just dumb for expecting those kind of reaction?
Or was this because I'd only ever met with Asian mothers before?
Or were dragon mothers simply built on a completely different engine?
"We can hear that, you know," Lydia said calmly.
…Oops, my bad.
"You are not doing anything wrong," she continued, unfazed. "If anything, you're doing the right thing. She chooses you, that alone was more than enough reason to—you know…"
She straightened.
"And since the Draconia Empire no longer exists, there are no traditions or obligations she must uphold. She is free to live as she wishes."
"G-good to know. I thought I had to kneel, submit paperwork, and ask for formal approval to court her," I muttered.
"My, my," Nyxia said warmly, still radiating that unmistakable ara-ara aura. "What an honest boy you are. I find myself liking you even more."
"I don't know how to react to that…" I replied, my smile twitching.
With the tension finally easing—and to stir the conversation away—I decided to ask the question that had been gnawing on me.
"I'm curious… why does Verdra have three mothers?"
"My," Nyxia blinked several times. "She never told you?"
"She did tell me a story about her mother," I replied, "just without the plural implication. I only learned the full picture after Seth summoned your souls."
"The answer is simple," Lydia said, her tone perfectly even. "We formed a Draconic Contract with the same man."
"…What?" I froze. "…So her dad ran a full-on harem?"
"What a terrifyingly efficient way of living," I muttered under my breath.
"You sound interested," Lydia observed calmly—so calm it felt intentional.
"Nope," I replied instantly. "I doubt I'll ever meet anyone more captivating than Verdra."
"I see." Lydia nodded once. "So if someone equally captivating appeared, you would not be interested."
"…That's not what I meant to say."
"Then allow me to rephrase," she said, folding her hands politely. "You would remain loyal—unless tempted beyond your current threshold."
"That somehow sounds worse."
"No," Lydia said gently. "That is merely accurate."
She tilted her head. "Tell me—am I wrong, or are you simply uncomfortable with being correct?"
"I-I— I…"
I lost the ability to speak.
My eyes darted around, desperately searching for a safe answer, legal counsel, or a time rewind skill.
"No comment," I finally said.
Nyxia covered her mouth, giggling.
Crona laughed heartily outright.
Lydia smiled faintly—like a judge who had already reached a verdict—her smug was so obvious, even with one-third of her face was covered under her bangs.
And there's also Verd, who tried his best to hold back his laughter.
C'mon, Mr. Verd! As a fellow man, you should understand, right?!
"No comment," he replied directly into my head, his tone far too composed to be innocent.
Traitor of men-kind!
Nyxia tilted her head, eyes sparkling with barely restrained amusement. "My, my… even your inner thoughts are lively. How refreshing."
Crona slapped her knee, laughing openly. "Hahaha! See? Even your support unit has abandoned you."
"This is emotional bullying…" I groaned.
Lydia adjusted her sleeve calmly. "On the contrary. This is a valuable learning experience."
"Learning what exactly?" I asked weakly.
"That silence," she replied evenly, "is sometimes the most honest answer a man can give."
"…I feel personally attacked."
Verd cleared his throat, still not quite meeting my eyes. "For the record, Yuu. I sympathize with you."
"Oh? Finally?"
"Yes," he continued serenely. "In theory."
"In theory?!"
Nyxia giggled. Crona laughed harder. Lydia simply nodded, as if the matter had been conclusively settled.
I exhaled and slumped my shoulders. "Dragons are just too terrifying in every aspect."
"So?" Lydia asked, her tone as calm as ever. "From the perspective of someone so thoroughly captivated by our daughter… what is your opinion of us? I must admit, my pride as a woman was slightly pricked by your earlier honesty."
I did my utmost to erase the giddy embarrassment from my face—as if absolutely nothing questionable had just happening—then straightened my posture and cleared my throat with far too much seriousness.
"I-I didn't mean that you aren't captivating," I rushed out. "Not at all. You're all… impressively charming—in your own ways. There's that saying, right? That women become even more beautiful after marriage, and even more so after giving birth? I-It's… something like that."
"Oh my," Nyxia chuckled softly. "You truly have a talent for making women happy with your words."
"W-well," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck, "Verdra tells me that a lot. So I'll just… take it as confirmation."
I'd heard that excessive humility would only devalues you—and that mothers-in-law were apex predators, so one that actually complimenting you were a rare breed, three was a miracle. Hence, I accepted the compliment with open arms.
"I see," Lydia said calmly, closing her eyes. "Then I forgive you."
"So… there was a possibility I wouldn't be forgiven," I murmured with a strained smile.
"Depending on your answer," she replied flatly.
"Glad to hear that…" I laughed dryly.
"So you named her Verdra. What does that even mean?" Nyxia asked out of the blue. "is there some deep meaning behind it, perhaps?"
"It's not that deep actually—shallow even, to be completely honest." I shrugged. "Back then, we couldn't communicate properly. She's vermilion—my favorite color—and a dragon. So, 'Verdra'. sounds catchy. She liked it. Settled. End of discussion."
"Simple is best," Lydia said matter-of-factly. "Our husband agonized over our names. After forming a contract with me, he even explained why he named me Lydia… I've long since forgotten the meaning—let alone the philosophies behind it."
"Ahaha…" I laughed dryly—yet again.
"And your name?" Nyxia asked gently. "What does it mean? I'm merely curious, your name sounds alien to me."
"I'm not from this world. I was summoned here quite a while ago—I guess… I literally am an equivalent of alien in this world," I explained.
"it's a given Japanese names wouldn't be familiar to you. My full name is Yanagi Yuu. Yanagi—my family name—means 'willow,' and my given name, Yuu, means 'kindness'… though it can also mean 'superiority' or 'excellence,' depending on how it's interpreted."
"An otherworlder…" Nyxia murmured, lowering her gaze. "To think that I'd meet one."
She looked back up at me. "...I can see that your name suits you perfectly."
"I don't know if I deserve it," I admitted. "But… I think I've done more than enough to feel like I haven't betrayed the name my mother gave me."
I decided to keep my revenge plans to myself. That burden was mine and mine alone.
"Speaking of mothers," I shifted topics quickly, "who's Verdra's real one?"
"…Couldn't you guess?" Crona finally spoke again.
"Hm…" I placed a hand under my chin. "First of all, it's definitely not Lady Crona."
A vein twitched on her forehead, but I ignored it.
"The appearance and personality simply don't match—w-well, the occasional arrogance was quite similar."
The vein bulged further, still, I ignored it.
"Considering how badly Verdra handles the cold, Lady Nyxia is also out of the question."
"Oh, my."
"That leaves Lady Lydia. Similar red hair, with demeanor that remind me a lot of her. So it has to be Lady Lydia"
Lydia sighed, "You're wrong,"
"…What?" I squinted.
"T-then it must be Lady Nyxia, because Lady Crona definitely isn't."
Crona's vein throbbed violently. "It sounds like you're picking a fight with me, boy."
"So… are you her real mother?" I asked flatly.
"I-I'm… not."
"See."
"God," Crona snapped. "This boy is irritating—yet somehow…"
She hugged her arms beneath her chest, shuddering. "Kind of exciting. And the way he froze my body during our fight earlier—mmh… haah… haah… haah…"
She panted softly, squirming.
I slowly turned to Lydia and Nyxia, with questioning gaze written on my face.
"Don't worry," Lydia said calmly. "She has a peculiar preference where she got 'excited' at pain and humiliation. She gave our husband considerable amount of trouble as well."
"Hey!" Crona protested.
"I-I see…" I forced a smile. "The world truly is vast. My horizons have broadened—against my will."
"As for why my daughter looks very different than me," Nyxia explained, composed as ever, "True Dragons' human forms are not inherited genetically. They are shaped by their master's deepest desires of woman's beauty."
"That is why," she continued. "our appearances are not that different from one another."
"…Because you all formed a contract with the same man?" I asked.
"Correct."
Now that I looked closely, their features were remarkably similar. Their face were identical, exactly the same height, about 170 cm tall (5.57 ft), had very long hair—reached down to behind their ankle—with hourglass figure that hard to obscure even in their loose robe—objectively speaking, the man in question had impeccable taste—If they're also had the same hair color, it'll actually be quite difficult to distinguish them from one another.
"…Shaped by their master's deepest desires of woman's beauty…" I muttered behind my hand. "No wonder resisting her temptation feels like trying to fight gravity."
"That's the whole point," Crona said, clearly having heard me anyway. "If our appearance was a 'turn off' to our master, he wouldn't desire us, and without that desire, the contract itself would be meaningless."
"But isn't the contract far too disadvantageous for the dragons?" I pressed. "Your appearances are shaped by someone else's will, and on top of that, you can't resist your master's orders. That doesn't feel like a fair contract—it feels… cruel."
And more than that, it felt wrong to imagine Verdra bound by something she never truly wanted.
Nyxia looked at me quietly for a moment before smiling, her voice gentle but firm. "Your name truly suits you well. Few men bother to even consider about feelings once power and beauty enter the equation."
She continued, "The answer is simple; Humans have no right to choose a True Dragon. We choose our own master. That is why we must be cautious—why we test, observe, and hesitate. If the one we bind ourselves was to proves fraud, greedy, or unworthy… then the fault lies with our own judgment."
"I see…" I exhaled slowly. "So that's why Verdra looked so conflicted right before forming the contract with me..."
Because in that moment, she wasn't choosing power or survival—she was choosing, 'me'.
Man… I love her even more.
"…That explains her hesitation." I muttered.
"Yes." then she giggled. "Oh my. You're such a sweet boy."
…This forced telepathy sure is annoying, I simply didn't have privacy—even in the peace of my own mind.
She giggled softly once again. "Let me ask you something, Yuu,"
"What is it?"
"How long since you formed the contract? The shift on your mark looks very recent."
"This?" I showed my right hand—where the Contact's mark carved. "Just over four months, the design changes earlier this morning. Why'd you ask?"
"Oh, my," Nyxia smiled, eyes narrowing with unmistakable intent. "What a late-blooming daughter I have."