The words "return," "school," and "together" echoed in the mind of one extremely caught-off-guard dragon.

In that very short moment, Orien was certain those words bounced straight through his body and directly into his heart before his eyes even fully focused on the scene in front of him.

And honestly?

For one terrible moment, he truly wished they hadn’t.

Grubby little human hands were all over the bed. Someone’s arm was wrapped around the little sprite’s neck, flowers were being shoved everywhere, and faces were practically rubbing against those cheeks without shame.

Orien’s golden eyes immediately sharpened like a detective desperately piecing together clues during a life-threatening crisis.

Orien Vathros, the de facto rising star of the tragically unpopulated golden dragon clan, could not believe what his extremely enhanced eyesight was witnessing.

The little sprite!

H-how could he be surrounded this easily after insisting on becoming HIS knight?!

And just where were these suspicious little humans planning to take him?!

School?!

Why would Liam need school when someone as capable and knowledgeable as Orien was already teaching him all the important things in life?!

However, the deeply alarmed golden dragonling never got the chance to voice any of these very valid concerns because the dubious dragon knight in question suddenly leapt off the bed and rushed straight toward him.

Heads turned as Liam practically launched himself at Orien and wrapped him in a hug.

"Everyone! This is my partner-in-crime, Lord Orien!" Liam introduced proudly, looking ridiculously happy as he beamed at everyone in the room.

The children and adults alike stared in obvious surprise.

Understandably, they recognized Liam as an ordinary human child and had known him as such for years, while the golden-haired boy standing near the door was very clearly the young dragon featured all over the recent news reports.

But if they were confused, then Orien was in an even worse state.

Because before he could even recover, the shameless little sprite suddenly added, "Isn’t he super cute?"

Orien nearly felt his ears detach from his head.

His entire body flushed bright red so quickly it looked like he’d spontaneously combust.

"W-who’s cute?!" the golden dragonling screeched in utter disbelief.

Meanwhile, Liam simply looked innocent. Innocent, proud, and genuinely delighted as he answered without hesitation,

"You, of course!"

The children watched the interaction with sparkling eyes.

Like tiny sponges absorbing forbidden knowledge, they silently arrived at one extremely dangerous conclusion.

Liam had somehow successfully tamed a dragon.

And not just any dragon either!

A cute, powerful, and apparently very huggable dragon!

It was at that exact moment that all hope of appearing intimidating, majestic, and terrifying died for Orien Vathros, the golden dragonling who had just been publicly declared the cutest of all.

The children who had initially been hesitant and nervous immediately lost all fear.

Then they rushed forward excitedly alongside Liam.

No!

"Nooooooo!"

Orien let out frantic, distressed noises as he found himself swarmed by a group of fanatical and equally unhinged children who had all dreamt of seeing a dragon in person.

How had it come to this?!

This was an absolute disaster!

__

Meanwhile, on the other side of the allegedly flimsy curtain sat not one, but seven adults desperately trying to keep themselves together.

Contrary to the golden dragonling’s assumption that there was only one suspicious person behind the partition, there was actually an entire group gathered there today for the sake of backup.

Honestly, there were far more important matters demanding attention.

More criminals to apprehend.

More investigations to oversee.

More disasters waiting to happen.

But today was a special exception for several reasons.

Because while this looked like nothing more than a harmless and heartwarming visit, there was absolutely no way anyone would simply allow a group of young and fragile human children to freely roam around the MBE of all places without reliable supervision.

Especially not when several factions were eager to advance their own interests.

Children were curious. Curious children touched things. Curious children wandered. And inside the Ministry, even the smallest mistake could easily spiral into a tragedy that they honestly didn’t need any more of.

And so, there they were.

Five dragons. One drake. One adult human.

All carefully suppressing their naturally oppressive presence so the children could enjoy a peaceful visit without bursting into tears.

More importantly, they were there because they wanted to observe how a dragonling like Orien would behave around children in his developmental bracket.

And yes, that actually mattered a lot.

For one, the complete collapse of the Nest had made it painfully obvious that the dragons’ educational system needed to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Honestly, if they were already being forced to overhaul everything, then why not modernize it while they were at it?

Wouldn’t it be better to have functional immortals who benefited society rather than conceited ones completely detached from it?

Of course, that was still a pipe dream, and they likely wouldn’t be able to overhaul everything overnight since most dragons were resistant to change. But nothing would ever move forward if they didn’t start somewhere. And for this, Orien was the perfect test case.

Still, if they were being completely honest with themselves, administrative concerns weren’t even the real reason they were here.

It was actually simpler than that. They were just worried.

Worried about Orien. Worried about Liam.

While that was ironic considering those two could probably fend off half the people at the MBE if they really tried hard enough, the adults huddled within that cramped space still felt the need to protect and watch over them.

See, neither of them had properly interacted with children their age for months now.

And Riley, in particular, kept glancing toward his own mate because possessiveness practically ran through dragon bloodlines like a hereditary disease.

And unfortunately, the golden duckling just happened to be related to one Kael Dravaryn.

Which meant there was always a nonzero chance that Orien might get upset enough to accidentally (decisively) set someone’s hair on fire.

Oh please, gods.

So, with such ticking time bombs around, the ex-mortal had long since learned to pray for patience, deliverance, and emotional resilience.

Still, even he hadn’t expected Liam to be this effective.

Apparently, his baby brother was simply built differently because somehow, someway, the boy had managed to lower Orien’s guard enough that the other children no longer seemed afraid to approach him.

Actually...

Maybe Liam lowered that guard a little too much.

Because now the adults were struggling not to burst out laughing at the golden dragonling’s current predicament.

"I said it already! I’m not cute!"

The screech echoed throughout the room before being followed by what was clearly supposed to be an intimidating roar.

Unfortunately for Orien, however, the dragon-obsessed children only looked even more amazed afterward.

"Whoa!"

"That sounded so cool!"

"He roared at us!"

"Do it again! Again!"

Next to Riley, the red dragon who was technically the legitimate patient occupying that room had started visibly shaking.

His shoulders trembled violently as he fought for his life not to laugh out loud.

Unfortunately, judging by the expression on his face, the battle was not going very well.

But honestly, this kind of battle was infinitely better than the one they’d faced just days ago.

Moreover, being haunted by laughter was far more preferable to being haunted by one’s own mind.

Simon Mercer.

No, Orryn Vathros, who had since gone through absolute hell trying to recover his memories, looked far healthier today at the very least.

And honestly, it became increasingly obvious that surrounding him with the children was currently the fastest way to improve both his mental and physical condition.

After all, despite the overwhelming risks, the red dragon had stubbornly insisted on being freed from the restraints placed on him.

Even while fully aware there was an extremely high chance he could lose control and go insane.

Still, Orryn insisted he needed to do it.

Because according to him, if he truly wanted to start living again and properly make amends, then he needed to regain enough stability to remain beside his child for a long time.

And in his own words, a dragonling courageous enough to stand against a mature dragon deserved a father capable of risking everything just the same.

Riley still remembered the look on Orryn’s face when the red dragon first woke up.

Of course, there had been confusion initially. Shock too.

The disorientation of someone piecing themselves back together after spending far too long shattered apart.

Then came the frantic questions about his mate even while his head seemed moments away from splitting into pieces.

But before Orryn could even fully process any of that, he suddenly froze in stunned recognition after realizing there were two children holding onto his hands.

And honestly, his reaction had been extremely understandable.

Because one child looked almost exactly like his beloved.

Meanwhile, the other looked nothing like either of them, yet possessed an unbelievably familiar and painfully missed mana signature.

"Ilyss and I..." Orryn had croaked out in utter disbelief. "Did we actually have two kids?!"

"..."

"..."

Ah.

Yeah.

Riley definitely remembered how catastrophically long that night became afterward.