Chapter 3 Meeting the Evil Dragon Together as Parent and Child
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Life in the Underground Temple was lonely and desolate.
Because of the miasma the evil dragon gave off, the only one who could remain here was the Head of the Shiryuin Clan. I spent almost the entire year maintaining the barrier that sealed her, with outside contact limited to a single telephone line.
It wasn’t as though I lacked for anything—daily necessities, luxuries, even entertainment were supplied the moment I wished for them, and through the internet I was always connected to the outside world. Still, as the head of the family, I was forbidden to step beyond this place. It was nothing less than a life of imprisonment.
A human pillar to bind the dragon that could destroy the world—
That was the true role of the Head of the Shiryuin Clan.
”Well, at least the outside world can’t see in… it gives me the chance to focus on raising Sakuya.”
”Papa! Hold me!”
Because outside contact was so restricted, I could raise Sakuya safely. She was the forbidden child born from the sealed dragon’s bloodline—my daughter. At only one month old she had already grown into a toddler who could run on her own two legs. Bright and clever, Sakuya was full of life. Wrapped in a pale-pink kimono, her long black hair trailing, she smiled sweetly in my arms.
The black spiral horns on her head looked more like those of a Western dragon than her mother’s. She was innocent, the very image of a child, yet for some reason—perhaps due to her bloodline—her presence carried a dreadful, ominous weight.
’She’s just like any other child… so why does her aura alone feel so much like her mother’s?’
”Oops, it’s about time for your studies. What do you want to learn today?”
”Onmyōdō! I want to learn all kinds of spells so I can become Papa’s Shikigami!” [T/N: Onmyōdō – traditional Japanese esoteric cosmology and magic. Shikigami – a spirit familiar that serves an onmyōji.]
She was only a month old, yet Sakuya’s hunger for learning was terrifying. The saying goes “hear one, know ten,” and that was exactly how she was. Within a week she had mastered language and arithmetic, and she could copy techniques simply by watching. She wasn’t just a prodigy—she was a genius born of the evil dragon’s blood.
At this rate, within a year she would surpass even me, the Head of the Shiryuin Clan. Her growth was so rapid I worried her mind wouldn’t keep pace with her abilities. If a child’s heart held the violence of an evil god, what tragedies might come if that power burst loose? As her father, I couldn’t help but fear it.
That was why I had to drive a wedge deep into her heart, to anchor her.
”Sakuya, as my Shikigami, I ask you: how do you intend to use the power you’ve learned?”
”Yes! As Papa’s Shikigami, I’ll use it only to serve you!”
”That’s right. The power is too strong for someone as young as you. You must never forget that.”
”My everything is for Papa! I’ll never forget it, ever!”
Sakuya puffed her chest out and declared her Shikigami spirit. From the moment of her birth, her soul had been steeped in devotion, bound in affection that was both subjugation and enchantment. The innate evil of the dragon’s bloodline was drowned in the joy of dedicating herself wholly to her father. To her, giving everything to me was her supreme mission and her greatest happiness.
Someday I would have to remove that collar. But until she grew a spirit strong enough to master her great power, I would hold her reins firmly—even to her very soul.
”Well said. Let’s begin your lesson, then.”
”Please take care of me today as well, Papa!”
Sakuya, young yet already the perfect Shikigami. I stroked her hair, black as night and gleaming as though it swallowed the light, and she narrowed her eyes in bliss. As always, she sat in my lap, her scent like sweet blossoms filling the air, and together we opened a textbook.
Not that I had much to do—her brilliant mind absorbed everything at a glance. My role as father was mostly to keep her motivation high, by stroking her head and holding her close now and then—
”By the way, you’ve been meeting with your mother, haven’t you?”
”Yes. Mother is… very interesting.”
”Interesting? Hm. Well, I suppose that’s how it is when it’s you she’s dealing with…”
”It’s fun. Spending time with Mother is—so very fun.”
For just an instant, with that faint smile, I felt like Sakuya showed a glimpse of her dragon’s blood. But it was gone in a heartbeat, replaced by the usual daughter who adored her papa. I told myself it was only my imagination and kept her company with her studies.
Even Yaten, who had cursed Sakuya as a monster and an unwanted child, might change her mind once she spent time with her.
I didn’t pry into what kind of conversations passed between mother and daughter. But if Sakuya, who was such a good child, expressed joy toward her mother, their relationship must be going well. Unlike with me, whom Yaten could only greet with insults and scorn. That only made me more curious about what she was like when she faced her daughter.
”Papa, won’t you come meet Mother with me?”
”…Is that alright?”
Sakuya caught the hesitation in my heart immediately and gently pushed me forward. When I answered, she turned back to me with a smile blooming like a flower. Her little body hugged my larger frame, pressing her head into my chest, peering up at me with pleading eyes.
”I wanted us to spend time together as a family. But when you go to see Mother, you never let me join you.”
”Well… your mother has plenty of things she wants to say to me.”
I was not only the heir who bore the clan’s duty of sealing the dragon—I was also the man who had assaulted Yaten in her sleep and forced her to bear my child. There was no way that left a good impression. Naturally, she hated me like poison. Whenever we met, she unleashed only insults, curses, even death threats—though the seal prevented them from reaching me. Things no papa-loving daughter like Sakuya should ever have to see.
That was why, when Sakuya made the suggestion, I couldn’t answer right away.
If I ruined the good relationship they had built as mother and daughter because of my presence…
In Sakuya’s eyes, her father was everything. If Yaten cursed me in front of her, that bond would surely crumble. Yaten might be the embodiment of evil, but if she held any motherly feelings for her child, that was something I wanted to protect.
To be hated by your own child—that thought alone was unbearable. As a father, there was a line I could never allow myself to cross.
”Don’t worry, Papa! I’ll talk with Mother beforehand so nothing bad will happen!”
”Even if you warn her, I doubt she’ll sheath her fangs so easily…”
”It’ll be fine! Mother is very kind!”
”…If you believe that much in her, maybe I can trust you on this.”
”Yes!” Sakuya’s confident reply overflowed with conviction. It was proof of her trust in her mother. The evil dragon, embodiment of malice, turning motherly in front of her daughter—it was a picture I could hardly imagine.
When she had carried Sakuya in her womb, she had done nothing but spit curses at her unborn child. But giving birth—gaining the awareness of being a mother—might have awakened something in her. I wouldn’t know unless I saw them together.
”Mother is most afraid… of being hated by me!”
Her smile, so lovely a moment before, twisted into something wicked, like a scheming enchantress. Perhaps it was the manifestation of her dragon’s blood. Toward anyone but me, Sakuya’s emotions carried the same innate evil as her mother’s. Sadistic, curious, a wicked delight that curled her lips into a grin she couldn’t contain.
As her father, I considered scolding her. But first I had to understand this evil nature of hers. She was clever, and she thought only of me. If I ordered her, she would suppress her feelings—even kill her own heart. That would not solve the problem.
What I wanted was for her to come to terms with this inborn evil herself. She had to face it, and learn to steer it the right way. I wanted to ensure that when the day came she left my hands and lived among humans, she wouldn’t be cast out as her mother had been, despised, and ultimately sealed away.
She was the child of a dragon and a human, my daughter whom I had brought into this world. I wanted Sakuya to know love, to live happily.
I cradled her small body gently, pressing my forehead to hers, letting our eyes meet.
”Let’s go see your mother, Sakuya.”
”—Y-yes… Papa…!”
Even as sharp as she was, she was still a child who couldn’t always read her father’s heart. When I held her close and met her gaze up close, Sakuya couldn’t keep calm. Her wicked smile dissolved instantly into pure, innocent joy, uncontainable delight spilling out of her.
I hugged my adorable daughter tightly in my arms, wishing only that she might someday share a fraction of that affection with others as well—
Yaten… for Sakuya’s sake, please, hold back your hatred of me.
The only one in this Underground Temple who drew out Sakuya’s darker side was her mother. Before she went out into human society, Yaten had to be the one to teach her how to feel for others. I could only pray she wouldn’t do anything that would make her own daughter despise her.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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