Frozen Wolf, Fire Dragon

Chapter 10

“Is there... something on my face?” the man asked, touching his cheek self-consciously.

“N-no, sorry. Please, come in.”

He bowed politely and stepped through the doorway. Our house was small, and it felt like he filled the whole space. I sat staring at him, one child in each arm. Intimidated by his crimson eyes, Sion kept his guard up, staring at him warily instead of saying hello.

Not a sound escaped anyone’s lips. Clearly noticing the suspicious glares of the children, the man finally opened his mouth.

“My name is Noelier Ramier. I have so many questions for you, but first, I want to apologize for what happened in the forest.”

His polite tone surprised me. That was unexpected. Did he not think that I was a wolf?

I waved my hand to dismiss his apparently genuine concern. Honestly, it had been perfectly understandable. Having found his little sister with a stranger in the hostile north, it was only natural for him to think I was a kidnapper.

Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t angry. I’d nearly died, for heaven’s sake. I had almost left my little brother all by himself. Just thinking about it made my blood boil, pushing any remaining chill out of my body. I deserved to be compensated for my troubles, but... I wouldn’t mind giving him a slight discount, since staring at his handsome face made up for it a bit. I could tell he was trouble as soon as he walked in.

I felt my nostrils flare reactively. I may only be half-wolf, but my animal instincts were running wild.

Meanwhile, Noelier looked at me with a worried expression.

“Are you okay? You don’t look very well.”

Shocking me out of my thoughts, I quickly regained my composure. “I’m fine. At the end of the day, I’m still alive, so it’s all okay. I would’ve done the same thing if I’d been in your position. However...” I trailed off, hoping he would get the hint to jump in and talk more.

Seeming to understand, Noelier hurriedly said, “Ah, please excuse me. I still haven’t fully explained why I’m here. I am Rahel’s older brother. You see, she ran away from home and just disappeared, so I came up this far north in my search for her.”

“Rahel?” I said, pretending I didn’t know who he was talking about.

“She’s the child you have in your arms,” said Noelier, gesturing toward Rahel, who I was still holding tightly.

Surprising me, Rahel spoke up then.

“Who are you?”

There was an awkward silence as her brother stared at her. It seemed like he didn’t know about Rahel’s memory loss.

Groaning in confusion, he rubbed his forehead. “Why is she pretending she doesn’t know me?” he muttered, sounding utterly exhausted.

Rahel simply shook her head with a look of bewilderment.

“Eve, this man’s weird! He keeps saying I’m his sister,” she said, starting to cry as she gripped my arm tightly.

“Rahel,” Noelier said softly. He must have been deeply upset by her behavior, for there was no other reason for his handsome face to look so sad.

Feigning ignorance, I pulled Rahel closer to me, as if I was really her guardian.

“Is it true? How can I believe you when she’s so terrified?”

“Yeah! He’s scary,” Rahel cried, clinging to me tighter.

Seeing my look of skepticism, he said quickly, “Really, I’m telling the truth.”

Wanting to prove he was in fact her brother, Noelier reached his hand out toward Rahel. His long white finger touched her fingertips as he said, “This is proof that we are brother and sister.”

A small flame emerged at the end of his finger, and in response, a similar spark ignited from Rahel’s.

Startled, Rahel let out a squeak and burrowed her head into my shoulder, pulling her hand away.

“There’s f-fire coming out of my hand! Eve, I’m s-scared!” she cried.

Oh, poor thing! I quickly embraced her. It appeared she’d even forgotten that she could use fire magic.

“My goodness!” I exclaimed, feigning shock. I mean, I had seen it coming, but it would have been weird for me to not react at all. “Oh dear, did that scare you? Hush now, it’s okay. Here, hold my hand.” I patted her back and held her hand comfortingly, letting the cold magic in my body cool her down.

“Ruby?” said a scared voice beside me.

“Oh, Sion,” I said in concern.

He was looking at Rahel in confusion. I turned my head to see him better.

He must be terrified.

Sion had been clueless up until now about everything that went on in this world. Having only ever seen fire in a fireplace, it was natural that he be completely baffled to see it emerge from their hands.

I opened my mouth to explain to him what was going on. “Sion—”

But then Rahel reached her hand out to him and said, “Hold my hand. I’m really, really scared!”

She squeezed her eyes shut, her face taut in desperate fear. It really felt like she was putting her complete trust in the two of us.

Sion pointed to himself and stuttered, “M-me?”

Seeing Rahel raise her eyebrows slightly, Sion flinched and looked a bit nervous.

The fire from her hand probably frightened him.

I spoke in my most calming voice, saying, “It’s okay, there’s no danger. Hold her hand, Sion. Ruby’s scared.”

“Eve, this is all so scary...” Rahel whispered, as if reaffirming what I had just said.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s going to be okay.”

“But why me?”

At my urging, Sion hesitantly took Rahel’s other hand. She squeezed our hands as if we were her baby blanket.

Noelier kept opening and closing his beautiful mouth, trying to say something, but no words came out.

“What the...”

What could he say? He had come to save his sister but now found himself the fire-breathing monster who had come to destroy the peace of a tight-knit family.

* * *

All Noelier could do was stare at us, stunned.

I kind of feel bad for him.

After all that, I explained what had happened while Rahel was with us. I explained how I had found her lying on the ground all alone in the forest, and how she’d been unable to remember anything, so I’d had no choice but to take her in.

“What on earth happened to her?” Noelier’s red eyes suddenly filled with murderous intent as he considered the possibilities.

I caught him muttering the words “those damn wolves” to himself, but I pretended not to hear anything.

I couldn’t make it obvious how much I was panicking inside. After all, I was just a human that happened to live in the north. I wasn’t a wolf at all. Nope. Yeah, that was it exactly.

I was in the middle of preparing my lies when Noelier, wiping the fury from his face, said cautiously, “So... everything is okay, then?”

“Huh?” Puzzled, I tilted my head and didn’t respond at first, thinking through the meaning of his hesitancy.

Thinking I was a kidnapper, he had tried to kill me initially, and it had been clear at that moment that he’d intended to use all the fire energy in his body. However, he hadn’t been able to because the moment I’d grabbed him, the fire engulfing us had been extinguished in an instant. It was as if nothing had happened.

How the hell did that happen?

I remembered Noelier’s life story as described in the novel. His lifespan had been a tad bit longer than mine.

Being the chief of the south, Noelier was portrayed as a man with unparalleled power, and having been born with only one heart, he’d used his powerful magic to control his heat. It was the reason he had been able to survive so long without a partner. However, that meant that if his emotions weren’t stable, his heat would be untamable.

It’s a wonder that I somehow extinguished a fire that Noelier himself couldn’t contain.

It was just bizarre.

I guess it could be because of my ice magic.

But that also didn’t make sense because the only things I could do were make ice flowers and icicles. That was why I only attacked people with frozen apples. I couldn’t protect myself with my weak ice powers.

Besides, there should be plenty of other people out there with much stronger ice magic than me.

So why had I been able to do that? I was lost in my thoughts just as much as Noelier. His brow was furrowed as he gripped his wrist right where I had grabbed him.

Unable to resist addressing the confusion on his alluring face, I hesitantly opened my mouth.

“It might have been because of my ice magic... As you may already know, there are plenty of wolves with ice magic in the north.”

“Then that means you’re a...”

His eyes quickly darkened as he trailed off. I tried to keep a poker face. If I visibly panicked, it would be like admitting that I was a wolf.

“I know how it may seem, but I’m not...” I trailed off intentionally. When trying to fool someone, it’s best to be cautious but also confident, so I thought about the lies I had practiced countless times before.

I’m a human, not a wolf. My mother and father were both human, and they gave birth to me here. We just got stuck living in this forest because of the wolves.

Okay, I got this. My story might have some suspicious parts, but I thought Noelier might ignore them since I’d saved his sister. The perks of being a savior!

Just as I was about to lie through my teeth, Rahel shouted my name and urgently tugged at my clothes. Surprised, I forgot what I was going to say.

“Bro— I mean, that man is so scary!”