Chapter 11: What Did You Do to My Dad?

On the other side, the very same story — when told from the Dragon Mother’s perspective — becomes something entirely different.

Because after that incident, the two of them had completely fallen apart.

They never even gave each other the slightest chance to explain.

Each believed that the other had betrayed their love.

So when they met again, both carried only the thought of revenge.

According to the Dragon Mother’s version, she had long suspected that her husband — Yuyan — was acting strangely.

At first, he slowly stopped being affectionate toward her.

Later, he even spent less and less time talking with her at all.

Yuyan gradually began spending long hours at home.

Unless it was for essential things like hunting — something that required him to go out once every few days — most of the outdoor work was left entirely to the Dragon Mother.

And then there was…

The sudden appearance of many strange jewels and treasures at home.

Every time she asked Yuyan about them, he would give her the same half-hearted excuse — “I snatched them from humans.”

It sounded weak and unconvincing every single time.

By then, the Dragon Mother had already guessed most of what was going on.

But she still held on to hope, believing that Yuyan would one day come back to his senses.

Most importantly, she had already realized that she was carrying Yuyan’s dragon egg — the one that would later hatch into Sal.

That battle they fought — it was the Dragon Mother who won.

As for Yuyan’s loss, part of it was because his power had weakened after turning into a female for too long.

The other part was guilt — knowing he was in the wrong, he couldn’t bring himself to fight with full strength.

Even so, the Dragon Mother still took a kick to the stomach from Yuyan.

Normally, that kind of attack wouldn’t even tickle her…

But she had only just become pregnant with Sal at the time.

That one careless kick — meant only to push her away — landed right where it hurt the most.

Feeling the sharp pain in her belly, the Dragon Mother said nothing more.

She slapped Yuyan twice — hard enough to knock her senseless — and burned the “human lovers” nearby to ashes with dragonfire before leaving without looking back.

Before she left, though, as compensation for the love she had wasted all those years, she took every single gem and coin that Yuyan had ever “given” her.

After that came the part Sal already knew — the Dragon Mother was prepared to lose the egg entirely.

But unexpectedly, some time after moving into her new castle, the egg hatched early.

She had already given up on it, believing it was dead.

Yet as she turned to continue her usual work, the egg suddenly began to stir — signs of life flickering from within.

That’s why, when Sal was finally born, the Dragon Mother muttered in disbelief:

“I can’t believe it actually hatched.”

Every time Sal thought about this ridiculous story between his parents, he couldn’t help but groan and hold his head.

He really couldn’t understand why, after traveling to another world, the first major event in his new life wasn’t an adventure or romance…

But cleaning up the mess between his derailed father and his furious mother — just to somehow give them both a halfway decent ending.

But…

Sal downed his drink in one go.

Under the strange looks from the nearby adventurers, he set the wooden mug down on the table.

It was already evening.

Most of the customers had gone, and Sal had been sitting there for seven days straight — still with no sign of that scruffy man, Rayne.

(Don’t tell me… he really killed Yuyan and ran off with my payment?)

But when Sal remembered Rayne’s suspicious behavior — and especially that look in his eyes when he told him to leave —

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.

As the sky outside dimmed, Sal was just about to order another drink and finish the now-cold meal before him when…

A hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

He turned — and saw none other than the man he’d been searching for: Rayne.

But Rayne didn’t look like his old, shabby self anymore.

His clothes were neat, his hair tidy — he looked like a completely different person.

“Who’s that handsome guy?”

At another table, a female elf — part of a three-person adventuring team — nudged the half-orc next to her, pointing at Rayne.

The half-orc looked up from his meal, squinting toward Rayne’s direction.

But since he could only see part of Sal’s face from the angle, he couldn’t make out who it was.

“No idea. But there’s someone behind him — wearing a cloak.

Wait, is that… a maid outfit?”

Rayne looked refined — more like a noble than Sal did.

Maybe something had happened, forcing him to stay in this little tavern.

But for Sal, sitting face-to-face with him, things weren’t nearly so simple.

At first, he stayed calm — motioning for Rayne to sit across from him.

They started with some small talk, pretending it was just a normal meeting.

Then, as the next round of drinks arrived, Sal’s eyes wandered briefly to the cloaked figure standing behind Rayne — the mysterious woman barely recognizable beneath a maid’s uniform.

And just one look was enough to ruin all the careful words Sal had practiced for seven whole days.

“…You didn’t do anything to her, right?”

It took Sal everything he had to ask that question — terrified of what the answer might be.

Because deep down, he feared hearing the words: “I already took care of your father.”

From the Dragon Mother’s story, Sal already suspected that Yuyan’s “purity” had probably been taken long ago by some human.

But still… he couldn’t shake the thought.

It was all just too much — especially seeing how, in only seven days, Rayne had managed to make his once-proud father so obedient and compliant…

Even dressing him up in that humiliating outfit — and taking him outside like that!

…

At the very last moment, Sal hesitated.

He thought and thought — and decided that maybe, instead of admitting who Yuyan really was, it’d be better to keep it secret forever.

Was it even worth saving a father like this?

He almost seemed to be enjoying it!

But before Sal could make up his mind, Rayne answered his question.

“I’m not interested in her.”

Sal let out a sigh of relief.

But then — maybe it was his imagination — he could’ve sworn Rayne’s gaze, as he said that, was fixed not on Yuyan…

…but directly on him.

(Wait… did he just figure out who I am?)

Sal tensed up instantly, his hands clenching inside the cloak.

What he didn’t know, though, was this —

Rayne’s true interest was indeed not in Yuyan.

It had always been…

in Sal himself.