“But…”

Rubica, who had been floating like a lone island on that ocean called complicated deduction, carefully spoke. There was one thing she had been wondering but Minos and Edgar weren’t talking about.

“Why did Iber kill Seris?”

“I couldn’t find out that much.”

Rubica also wanted to know why House Claymore had been stopping the dragon from waking up, but she didn’t ask.

“Then, the first thing she would do after waking up would be to slaughter this family.”

He laughed bitterly. Why were so many bad things happening to him?

He had managed to find the woman who gave him joy and trust, but now everything was unstable.

He couldn’t give up since he now had Rubica. What would happen to her if they failed to break his curse and he just died one day? She would be left alone. He didn’t even want to think about that.

“Snow told me your mother was a nymph who came to the continent in secret because she was worried that Iber was not waking up for too long.”

Minos had to offer so many bottles of wine to Snow to get to that, but he didn’t care about the money he had spent. The duke was going to pay him well soon.

“Then she must have met my father to convince him not to gather any more mana quartz.”

“Probably.”

Minos was about to add that must have been how they fell in love and got married, but he quickly stopped.

Edgar’s eyes were burning dangerously. The blue flames looked like they could burn the entire mansion and the land it stood on.

“My father knew she was a nymph.”

“Edgar.”

Rubica ran to him. Although Minos found Edgar quite fearful, to her, he was just a poor soul with great wounds. She didn’t hesitate to embrace him as she could feel his deep sorrow and anger.

“My mother must have begged him to not mine mana quartz, just like you did to me. And my father, that bastard…”

“Edgar.”

“Presented a mana quartz sculpture in her shape, saying it was proof of his love for her.”

However, that was also some kind of warning to the nymph that he didn’t care even a bit about what happened to Iber and that she should stop trying to convince him. He then created the background of a princess who came from a faraway kingdom for his wife. He didn’t want to take risks and endanger his status because of her.

That was the most selfish kind of love. No, had he loved her at all? He wanted to confront him and ask if he could turn back time.

If only he could turn back time… he wanted to tell her mother to leave that horrible man and run away.

No, run away? That was what a human would think. She had been a noble nymph, and it would be more right to ask her to kill that bastard and destroy his house.

“What did my mother feel at seeing him not giving up anything for love? When she gave up everything for him…”

And, he even betrayed her. Edgar wanted to throw up at recalling how his father talked of true love to Carl but easily denied it when confronted. He hated he was that man’s son.

Half of the blood that ran in his veins had come from him. No Claymore could escape the fate of being called selfish.

He himself had been called selfish and cold countless times. Maybe he was about to become like his father who took his mother’s love and betrayed her.

Moreover, the first Claymore had made sure Iber would never be able to wake up, despite the fact she enabled them to get mana quartz and bring glory to Seritos. Of course, he was fine for now, but what if he was like his father more than he wanted to admit it?

“Edgar.”

She gently stroked his face, waking him out of his confusion. His eyes, that had always looked blue and calm like the deep ocean, had storms within them now.

She knew what was tormenting him, and her heart ached for him.

“You’re not him.”

Her strong man was about to break. She could whisper so only barely. Although her voice was shaking, her eyes were still as they looked at him.

“But…”

“My father and uncle are completely different, although they are brothers. The fact that he is your father doesn’t mean you will become like him. I promise, you are different.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because, even now, you are not afraid that you might become like your father, not that I might betray you.”

“Yes, I’m afraid. I’m afraid I might change.”

“Nothing lasts forever. That is why trying is important. As long as you try not to be like him, you won’t change.”

She spoke firmly and he started to calm down. His anxiety and fear, which just had clouded his heart, started to fade away. He knew he would be able to live as a good man for the rest of his days, as long as she was by his side.

“Anyway, it would be impossible to talk to Iber’s underlings.”

The matter wasn’t just about a few years. It was centuries old. Edgar decided not to be optimistic about the situation. Minos nodded, “For now, yes.”

“You’ve found out something, haven’t you?”

However, Rubica was not like Edgar. She had always kept her hope, even in the darkest times. She had survived far more devastating situations.

Good deeds shone even brighter as inhumane things were done in every part of this chaotic world. In her previous life, she had realized everyday miracles were not that far away.

“Maybe, maybe not…”

Minos took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Rubica.

Why was he giving it to her when he had Edgar who would immediately understand? She unfolded it with curiosity.

“This is…”

To her surprise, it was a page from Gabriel’s ‘The Little Bird’s news’.

“All dragons love pretty things. Their underlings are no different, although some of them were not that enthusiastic as the others.”

Moreover, he already knew Rubica had a remarkable talent for pretty things.

She had been able to see the true value of the roses Sesar wanted to make and win Ios’s heart with them. He believed Rubica would be able to find out a good solution for this.

“Ios has a great love for plants. But as Iber has been slumbering for so long and didn’t express her feelings like Ios even when she was awake, it was hard to find what she likes. But then, I found this.”

“This article is about clothes.”

“Yes, and I decided to look into why they bother to use Jackal Bank.”

They had to be using a bank that managed human money to use human money.

Of course, they could just rob it, but Iber’s underlings were comparatively mild and moral. They were known to be vicious to the people of Seritos, but they were just punishing outlaws who dared to trespass into their master’s land.

“Although they don’t go to any clothes shops, they buy a lot of fabrics.”

“Are you saying… they like pretty dresses?”

Edgar recalled what Iber’s underlings, that he had been reported about or seen dead bodies of, had been wearing, and was greatly shocked. They had all been wearing rags.

Well, thinking about it now, those rags had been made of good materials, but he still couldn’t imagine them liking pretty dresses.

“Yes, it’s just that they lack the skills to make them.”

Even Minos had doubted it when he found the magazine and pamphlets hidden in Snow’s room, but then he found needles and thread…

But at the same time, he could understand why they were all wearing clothes so poorly. Their hands were just too big and thick to make neat clothes, but they had splendid dress designs for noble ladies as their examples, so of course, the results were, well, rags.

“Then what, we should lure then in with dresses?”

“Yes. For now, it seems our best way. Dragons tend to easily forgive their enemies for pretty things.”

Minos said he couldn’t understand it at all, but Rubica could, at least to some extent. To be honest, she also tended to be a little, no, very generous to people of beauty. For a second, she wondered if she was related to any dragon.

“What should we do…”

She read the piece of paper thoroughly. It was the article she had written about how to reform an old stomacher.

“But Minos, why are they buying only fabrics instead of directly buying clothes in shops?”

“As their master is slumbering, they can’t keep their human form for long.”

Buying fabrics at fabric shops didn’t take long, but going to the clothes shop was different.

To begin with, making a dress required a lot of handworks. It took a handful of skilled workers at least a week to make one dress.

No clothes shops sold dresses that had been made in advance. They showed samples to their customers, measured their size, and made a new one. They also had to discuss which fabric and ornament to use, which required even more time.