(From Carmila)

We were introduced to Alyssa Greenhood a few days after Rosanne had woken up. She has been in the mansion for some time, but this was the first time we actually got to interact with her in any manner. Until recently, our movements had been restrained due to the investigation.

Our eyes crossed for an instant, and she drew a smirk on her face. I felt a chill on my back, something that reminded me of the time when I met Rosanne for the first time. This time it hadn’t been quite as strong though.

Maxwell told us she was going to work as Rosanne’s bodyguard, and that she would keep her and the young lady completely safe from that moment. This announcement was shocking. I hadn’t been informed of any new hiring, but I could ignore that for the moment. What I couldn’t ignore was that we had just been betrayed by someone who had infiltrated our family for more than two years, lying to us each and every day.

—Can we really trust her? —I bluntly asked.

I wasn’t suspicious of Maxwell, he had shown to be quite reliable and dependable. Rosanne might not be with us anymore if it hadn’t been for his medical expertise. But I still needed to hear his reasoning.

—I can guarantee that she will keep them safe, and that she won’t betray us. If she wanted to kidnap or hurt them, she could do it right now and we could do nothing to stop her.

—What? How can that be?

—Because I’m a dragon —the woman said with a grin—, a fire-breathing dragon disguised as one of you. I could level a town and destroy an army with ease.

—A dragon? —I said, not really understanding what she meant.

Of course I have heard the legends, there were even people who said Rosanne’s ancestors were dragons. And there were even tales about a dragon appearing out of nowhere in a battlefield a decade or so ago. But that’s what they were, tales and legends, right?

—She is a dragon, I can confirm that. And… —the doctor paused, and looked back at Rosanne, who gave him a slight nod— and so is Rosanne.

—What?! —I said in shock, alongside Nora and Gabby.

—I think it is only fair that you know about it —Rosanne spoke, her voice even more quiet than usual—, I was only told this recently, by Alyssa, and I still can’t really believe it. But…

She winced, and took her hand to her forehead. The doctor moved to help her, but she stopped him.

—I-I’m fine, I just got a little headache —She put her hand over the head of her daughter, who was sleeping at her side—. I don’t remember much of what happened that night, but apparently it was me who stopped… the kidnappers. Alyssa thinks I somehow woke my ancestral powers in a moment of desperation.

That was rather difficult to accept. But there was no one else, aside from Violett herself, who could have confronted them. The barrier’s record didn’t show anyone entering the property, and the investigation didn’t find evidence of anyone else.

—Once I recover, Alyssa is going to try to teach me how to use these powers, but I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself. In any case, I’m going to trust her to keep us safe —Rosanne paused for a moment—. I… don’t know exactly what “being a dragon” entails. I imagine them as terrible monsters that cause devastation and bring misfortune, incarnation of natural disasters.

—You are not that far off —Alyssa said with a smirk.

—So… if any of you want to resign, I will understand it.

Nora shook her head.

—The madame is the madame, this doesn’t change a thing.

—Y-yeah! It is not like you are going to start hoarding gold and treasures, right? —Gabby added.

Sophie looked a bit confused.

—Well, I always knew that was the case, so it really doesn’t change a thing for me.

—W-wait, you knew?? —Rosanne asked, almost jumping from her bed.

—Yeah, you are the descendant of the mother of all dragons, Lilith. Your mother must have mentioned it a million times.

—I… I suppose she did, but I never expected her words to be literal. That was never in the original material… —she said, murmuring the last sentence.

—What about you, strict-looking lady? —Alyssa said, directing her glare to me.

I took a look at Rosanne. She had broken her body trying to protect the daughter of Arthur. How could I abandon her?

—I swear I will serve you, and correct you, for as long as there is life in me.

—Ah… thank you —Rosanne said, smiling nervously.

She definitely had caught on to my intentions. Just because I had decided to support her didn’t mean I was going to let her do whatever she wanted. Dragon or not, she was still the lady of the house that had belonged to the Cygnus family, she needed to act as such.

And thus, Alyssa became a part of our family, so to speak. I still had my doubts, so I kept a close eye on her. Of course, I had learned my lesson, and didn’t judge her as harshly as I had judged Rosanne. I was just collecting information. And I have to say, I wasn’t impressed with her. She would wake up pretty late, dress pretty sloppily, and didn’t seem to even be around Rosanne half of the time. By all accounts, she just seemed to be a freeloader. We didn’t receive any sign of another attack for weeks, but it was pretty soon to declare it was due to Alyssa’s presence. Also, they had lost their access to the house through Iridia.

Some time after that, we got the visit of Victor Haggard, the botanist that provided Rosanne with plants for the greenhouse, including the monster ones. I wasn’t quite fond of this aspect of their hobby, but I can’t say I find him disagreeable. He was quite polite and knowledgeable in many topics. By this point, Rosanne had gotten the permission of the doctor to leave the house, so the plan was for them to chat and brunch in the shade of the gazebo. The problem was that since Rosanne was still quite weak it had become Alyssa’s duty to help her move around, and despite it being almost noon, she was still fast asleep. She was still holding the romance novel that she had been reading up until pretty late in her hands. We somehow managed to wake her up, though I’m pretty sure she was still half asleep when we explained the situation to her, even after she had washed her face.

—So I just have to take Rosanne outside, and then I can go back to sleep? Got it —she said, and walked out of her room.

It took me a moment to notice she intended to go outside, where our guest awaited, while still wearing her sleeping clothes. Granted, it wasn’t a gown or anything similar, in fact it was pretty much her everyday clothes, but she was still showing too much skin. I tried to stop her, but she was already carrying Rosanne, who was in turn carrying the young lady and the rose nymph, and barrelled through the aisle and down the stairs.

—There you go, have a good time. I’m going back to my bed —Alyssa said.

—Ah hahaha, thank you, I guess —Rosanne said nervously.

—I see that you haven’t changed at all, Alyssa —the botanist said with a smile.

The woman looked confused, and had to come close to the man’s face.

—V-Victor?! What are you doing here?

—He is a friend of mine, and helps me with the greenhouse —Rosanne spoke—. Do you know each other?

—Y-yeah, we met a long time ago —Alyssa blurted.

—Indeed, I was traveling with Maxwell and his tutor at the time. We found her practically starving in the woods, so we had to take her with us.

Alyssa looked a bit embarrassed.

—I see. Do you want to join us? —Rosanne asked her bodyguard.

—If… If you insist, b-but, give me a moment, I’ll be right back! —she said and dashed to the interior of the mansion.

She came back after some time, still dressed in her own style, but at least looking more presentable.

—Sorry for keeping you waiting —she said while looking away.

—Not a problem, take a seat —Rosanne said, and she obliged, but sat next to the botanist.

The conversation continued as it had until then, Victor was giving a lesson on mythological plants and trees, while showing them very elaborated botanical illustrations that he had prepared on his own.

—This one is known as the Huluppu tree, legends say that its roots reach the very core of our world —he said—, a giant snake rests on its shadow, while two birds, Anzu and Lamassu, live on its branches.

In the meantime, I was just confused at how the tomboyish Alyssa had changed her attitude as soon as she had noticed Victor. I added this to my list of things to observe. Through the years I see the usually abrasive bodyguard mellow down every time the botanist came to visit us, yet neither of them seemed to be aware of the reason. Rosanne also seemed oblivious of it, which made me start to wonder if dragons were just dense in terms of romance.

Alyssa did try to teach Rosanne to use her powers once she recovered, but there was just no progress. Our little lady on the other hand was quite the prodigy, and soon Alyssa was practically training her instead of her mother. Rosanne instead focused on studying conventional magic and trying to write her own spells, with the help of Neil, one of the adventurers that she had befriended.

—This is quite a unique way to organize a spell —he said when he was inspecting the first one she had finished.

—Uh… I thought most of the examples that you showed me were set up very confusingly. I tried to streamline it, as if I was coding in a comp —she replied, stopping mid sentence—, nevermind that, did I screw it up then?

—No, I don’t think so. In fact, I think this is a pretty good way to formulate spells, but there is only one way to be sure —Neil said, placing the paper in which the spell had been written on the ground, and touching it with his wooden staff.

The paper started to glow, and a magic circle appeared surrounding it, full of symbols that I couldn’t discern. Apparently this was how magicians integrated their own spells to the world, but not every attempt was successful. From what I happened to hear, the magic formulas needed to be properly formulated, but I had no idea what this implied. After a few seconds, the light show stopped. Neil looked a bit exhausted.

—D-did it work? —Rosanne asked.

—Let’s see —the mage said, recovering his breath—, Venus’ Lantern.

A glowing orb appeared in front of him, barely visible in the day, but there was no doubt, that was the spell that Rosanne had come up with on her own. It followed the person who conjured it and it could change colors. And according to Neil, it didn’t consume too much of his own mana. All that was left to do was to register it publicly at the capital, and she would receive a small monetary compensation anytime someone used it.

That would be just the first of several spells that Rosanne managed to develop on her own through the years. They were pretty mundane, but unlike more grandiose ones, they were used pretty often daily. Not a bad income opportunity, if you ask me.

The adventurers kept visiting us, but eventually Anna and Neil started to come on their own. Their grandfather’s age was weighing him down, he couldn’t run as fast, nor even walk for a long time. This didn’t mean he was feeble or weak, he still came during celebrations, and he looked like the image of health. He apparently retook his work as a blacksmith, at least as a hobby, since he gifted Rosanne several sculptures that now decorated our garden. They were a bit too abstract to my liking, but they were pleasing to the sight.

Five years have gone by since our young lady was born. I was dealing with the state’s accounting, while the radio was playing in the background. I have to admit, I might have monopolized it a bit too much. My only complaint was that moving it from room to room was quite a hassle, it wasn’t too heavy, but it was big enough that it required two people to be carried.

Someone knocked at the door of the study room, despite it being open. To my surprise, Violett was the one calling for me.

—Carmila, can I speak to you? —the little girl said.

Her gaze was determined, but there was something about the tone of her voice that made her sound… Sad? Scared? I couldn’t completely discern. The etiquette lessons that I personally had given to her had paid off, a little too well.

—Of course. Is there a problem? —I said, getting up and coming to where she stood.

—I… —she furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched her nose a bit— I’m worried about mother.