Chapter 6 Let’s Look at the Family Tree with the Evil Dragon!
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
A month had passed since we broke Yaten’s seal. In that time, she had become the very picture of a doting mother.
Ever since the incident at the Sealing Seat, when Yaten scolded her so fiercely, Sakuya had reformed herself. She’d learned what it meant to anger her mother—and that even her innate darkness could be subdued. Now she looked up to Yaten as her ideal. The glimpse of awe-inspiring majesty Yaten had shown, as the dragon who could end the world, had pierced her daughter’s heart.
”Mother! Please teach me the arts of the evil dragon!”
”So be it. You are my child, born with dragon’s blood. If you wish it, I shall pass everything I have down to you.”
When Sakuya begged, Yaten couldn’t even try to hide her joy. She wore a black kimono embroidered with crimson spider lilies, her long hair tied back, her golden dragon eyes glowing with maternal warmth. She hadn’t changed her nature—she was still the evil dragon—but before her daughter, she revealed nothing but motherly tenderness.
She pulled Sakuya—grown now to about the age of an older elementary schooler—into her arms from behind, then showed her hands. In her palms manifested the arts born of dragon’s blood: a ball of pitch-black mud, jagged crystals of blood like a mountain of needles, a swirling cloud of mist etched with tortured faces. Horrific, blasphemous techniques, conjured like fleeting bubbles. And Sakuya, at a single glance, absorbed them all.
By pure talent, she imitated every technique at once. Her palm mirrored her mother’s exactly. So gifted was she that even Yaten, destroyer of worlds, could only declare her daughter’s future terrifying—with a mother’s proud approval. Bias or not, it was chilling to behold.
The more skill she gained, the more I knew my job would be emotional guidance.
Yaten’s role, as mother, was to teach technique. Because Sakuya bore dragon’s blood, she would always be a target. For her own protection, Yaten wanted her to inherit every art she had ever created. Yet those arts—though powerful—were dangerous, each one capable of disaster if misused. With her immense talent, Sakuya risked being drowned in power. She needed discipline of the spirit.
And that was my role, as father. As head of the Shiryuin Clan, I carried all the authority tied to the seal of the dragon. If Sakuya inherited the power to destroy the world, she had to learn the restraint to guide it rightly. The clan’s thousand-year discipline, forged to preserve the seal, was my curriculum for her. I had failed in mastering it—but the tradition itself proved effective.
”Father, look! A poison mist that drives its victims to madness and death!”
”Incredible. To grasp the theory and reproduce it with a glance… But listen—that art is dangerous. You must never use it against people.”
”Yes! Your words are absolute! I’ll only use it for self-defense!”
The black mist filled the room, faces of torment writhing within it. It made my chest tighten just to look at it. The Shiryuin were naturally resistant to curses and poisons, which was why Sakuya dared to show me. But I had to teach her not to wield such horrors lightly. Still, when she smiled at me so innocently, it was hard to scold her. Too easy to spoil her. My worst habit.
――”Husband, if you don’t scold her, who will?”
From behind Sakuya came Yaten’s sharp glare.
We had agreed beforehand: I would handle all discipline. During the Sealing Seat incident, Yaten’s scolding had left a trauma in Sakuya’s heart. From then on, mother would spoil, father would chastise. That was our child-rearing pact. Dragon or not, our feelings as parents were the same.
To distract from the awkwardness, I pulled out a scroll I had found in the study and handed it to Sakuya.
”This is… our family tree, isn’t it?”
”Exactly. You too are heir to the Shiryuin Clan. Tracing the steps of your ancestors, learning where you come from—that’s important.”
Genealogy wasn’t common in Japan, but overseas family trees were well known. I wanted Sakuya to see her place in history, to understand that she existed because of those who came before. A chance for her to feel kinship with humanity, to shape her self-awareness. Judging by the way her eyes lit up, the plan worked.
We spread the scroll across the floor, names filling the parchment in endless succession. The lines of descent stretched unbroken, generation upon generation. A thousand years of duty. Some heads had been forced to bear children as early as fifteen, making this genealogy far denser than most.
”Ho. The Shiryuin family tree.”
”You’re interested, Yaten?”
”Of course. For I was sealed by this clan for a thousand years. I can’t help but be drawn to such a history of obsession.”
She scanned the scroll with interest, then let out a scoffing laugh.
”So indiscriminate! They wed into every famous spiritual family they could. Some names I don’t know, but by now you must be kin to nearly every notable spiritual house!”
”Are they really that famous?”
”All names that stretch back a thousand years. As if breeding livestock, they worked to create spiritually superior heirs. In a sense, husband—you’re their crowning success.”
Her words weren’t wrong. To resist the miasma of the dragon, the clan had built ties with every powerful family they could—on the continent as well as in Japan. Not marriages of love, not even of politics. Breeding marriages, designed only for bloodline. Like creating a thoroughbred racehorse, they had forged a perfect human. The result was the Shiryuin line itself.
And Yaten smiled with wicked amusement.
”In the end, the humans’ thousand-year bloodline, built to resist me, has been absorbed into me.”
”Then… that means our child have the strongest human blood and the dragon’s?”
”Just so. A thousand years of resistance, all harvested to raise you. The most gifted human, the father, and the evil dragon together—her bloodline is the fruit of everything written on this scroll!”
Yaten laughed in delight. To her, it was hilarious. A millennium of sacrifice, stolen by the very enemy they’d tried to contain. In truth, she had only been impregnated while she slept, but still—she had claimed it all.
”Father… what feelings should I hold toward our ancestors?”
”Gratitude. You exist today because they continued the line. I am your father because of them. Honor them, and live so that you bring no shame to their gift.”
”Yes. I understand Mother’s view, but as a descendant, I will give thanks. My existence—and yours, Father—is proof that they passed down life. As one of the Shiryuin, I will never forget that.”
”Good. You carry both human and dragon blood. Honor them both.”
Sakuya was learning to reconcile with her own dark nature. She didn’t deny her instinct for malice or cruelty. She acknowledged it, controlled it. She felt a dim joy at having nullified a thousand years of ancestry—but also gratitude for the lives that had been passed down. She voiced her thanks, then closed her eyes and offered silent prayer.
”…W-well, I suppose. Since our ancestors made it possible for you to exist, I too shall… offer some gratitude. Just a little!”
Yaten, flustered, scrambled to match her daughter’s sincerity. In truth, she felt sadistic pleasure at seeing the fate of her enemies. But she feared letting Sakuya glimpse that side. Even a destroyer of worlds could, for her child’s sake, suppress her wicked instincts.
”S-so then, shall we have supper? Surely you’re tired from all this study, and hungry too. Today’s cooking duty is mine. Sakuya, what would you like to eat?”
A blatant change of subject.
And yet, it was true: Yaten threw herself into housework, especially cooking. Because she was feeding her daughter, she worked with real passion. In no time, she had become the best cook in our household. Next best was Sakuya, showing again the “specs” of dragon blood.
”Today… let’s skip meat. Mother, do we have ingredients for sushi?”
”But of course! Sushi, is it? I’ve been keeping the fish frozen perfectly!”
”Then sushi, please.”
”Very well! I’ll put all my skill into it. Husband, why are you just standing there? Put away that scroll and set the table at once!”
In our house, she ruled supreme. Shikigami or not, I found myself getting whipped into motion, tidying the scroll away, preparing the low dining table. Yaten, now in an apron, set about the kitchen, with Sakuya by her side to help.
And that was life with the evil dragon—equal parts terror, awe, and warmth.
Their backs lined up before me—mother and daughter—both marked by the curved horns of dragons. That sight alone reminded me that, however human they looked, they were not of this world.
”If you’ve got time to stare, then set the dishes! Pour the drinks!”
Without even looking my way, Yaten fired her rebuke straight at me. Whether it was a dragon’s keen senses or simply eyes in the back of her head, I couldn’t tell. Either way, I scrambled to prepare the table.
* * *
”At last, it’s ready!”
She set the meal before us: trays of sushi, neatly arranged in wooden buckets. Perfectly sliced fish atop vinegared rice—presentation as elegant as any restaurant’s. Her skill had advanced terrifyingly fast in only a month.
And yet, for some reason, a separate bucket had been placed just for me. I glanced inside. Every single piece was an aphrodisiac: eel, anago, fatty tuna, salmon roe, sea urchin, oysters. My eyes flicked up to Yaten.
”You are not permitted to leave a single grain behind. Husband—you’ll eat it all, and build your strength.”
She licked her lips like a predator, her golden eyes flashing with a seductress’s allure. The meaning was clear. Tonight, I was the feast.
* * *
The evil dragon and the clan sworn to bind her—ancient enemies—had, by fate’s trick, come to share a bed.
And once our daughter was asleep, until the break of dawn, it became a death march. A nightly battle against the bottomless lust of the dragon.
So I shoveled down every last piece of “strength-boosting” sushi, bracing myself for the fight to come.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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