After another hour and a whopping twenty minutes, Bunny opened her eyes with a heavy, gloomy expression.
She spread her hand wide, and a pure white light drifted upward before popping with a soft sound.
“Oooooh!!”
Exclamations erupted from every corner of the room.
*Thud, roll, roll.*
As the light faded, something tumbled to the floor, rolling until it came to a stop right at Bunny’s feet.
The murmurs of admiration cut off instantly.
An egg…
No, it was a quail egg.
‘This is a total disaster.’
The queue of “daddy” candidates Bunny had conjured in her imagination smirked, turned their backs, and marched away.
“No way…”
*Thump.*
Bunny couldn’t help but collapse to her knees before the tiny, pathetic egg.
***
The moment Bunny had touched the orb, her hand was drawn in, and the world flipped.
She was flying high above the clouds. Strange, radiant lights gathered around her, drifting over a vast sea of mist. They were beautiful, pulsing with every color imaginable.
‘This! The light!’
Bunny realized then that these were the same lights the other children held. Her eyes sparkled as she waded through the glow. She knew it instinctively: a dragon was here.
‘The super big light!’
To navigate the sky, Bunny stretched her right fist forward and kicked her feet, paddling through the air like a swimmer. She zoomed ahead, dodging the countless swarms of light that seemed inexplicably drawn to her.
“Luri, what is a ‘black flame dragon on the left arm’?”
“Pardon? Ah, the black flame dragon? Well… it’s a super-duper strong, pitch-black dragon that stays by the Great Demon King’s side. If a black flame dragon dwells in your left arm, immense courage wells up and you can do anything.”
“Wow…”
A black flame dragon on the left arm!
Bunny’s eyes shone with ambition. If it was a black flame dragon, it had to be a pitch-black light.
Driven by that single thought, she scrambled through the clouds, ignoring the brilliant lights that kept trying to creep toward her.
How long had she been paddling?
Finally, Bunny spotted a single pitch-black cluster of light perched on a phantom tree in the distance. It was small, but undeniably dark.
“Found it!!”
Black flame dragon on the left arm! Wait for me!
Just as Bunny reached out, her eyes locked on the darkness, a flash of pure white and bright red light streaked in and nested firmly into her palm.
“Huh…?”
*Blink, blink.*
Bunny blinked her clear eyes, dazed.
She turned her head to look at the pitch-black light, which seemed to be trembling, then glanced back at the white-and-red light forcibly shoved into her grasp.
“No way!!”
The moment she tried to let go, the world flipped again, and her small body was pulled downward.
“Waaaah! My black flame draaagon…!”
Bunny’s sorrowful cry drifted over the sea of clouds.
Of course, the black flame dragon—or what she assumed to be one—remained out of reach.
***
*Sniffle. Sniffle.*
Bunny swallowed back tears, clutching the egg—no, the quail egg—rolling on the floor.
“Black flame dragon…”
Each word was heavy with misery.
“Bunny… is a total failure…”
*Waaah.*
As Bunny curled into a ball and buried her face in her white uniform, sobbing, Roden Heiner looked at Jessie, completely at a loss.
[Trust this Luriel. Our baby is surely going to summon something incredibly cool and amazing.]
Luri, you liar.
It wasn’t amazing at all. Even though the light had felt massive, the prize was smaller than Bunny’s palm—smaller than any egg she had ever seen.
“Baby, you know? Once you’re in the orphanage and get adopted, you must find a guardian. It doesn’t have to be a dad; any human adult who will stay by your side until you grow up will do.”
Daddy plan: failed.
‘Bunny… can’t even read human letters, has no dragon… and it’s a secret that I’m to become the Great Demon King…’
…Does this mean Bunny is completely ordinary?
No daddy would want her. None of the stories Luriel told featured a super-strong demon daddy who loved a child with no ability.
‘Because Bunny isn’t the real one, but the future Great Demon King…’
Still, Luriel said a guardian was necessary.
If I can’t have a daddy, I’ll just make a guardian. A fake has to do her best, just like a fake should.
‘Can’t be helped.’
*Sniffle.*
Bunny scrubbed her eyelids and shook off the sorrow. Her tear and snot stains remained vivid on Roden Heiner’s pants.
‘Then next is the Money-Money Operation!’
The logic was sound: any child with lots of money would be liked by everyone.
Like *The Hated Illegitimate Demon is the Richest Person on the Continent?!*, *Telling the Story of How I Became Rich at 4 Years Old*, or *A Self-Made Tycoon Life Starting as a 3-Year-Old Small-Fry Demon*—all from the 28 Selected Romantic Fantasy Stories For Young Demons that Luriel recited every day!
Bunny wiped her nose on her sleeve and peeked up. As expected, no daddy candidates were lining up.
She let go of the leg she had been hugging and scanned the room. If they wouldn’t come to her, she would go find one herself!
*Sniffle.*
Bunny recalled Luriel’s words, her nose flushed a bright, indignant red.
[No matter how long the line is, the criteria for choosing are simple: someone handsome or beautiful. The importance of the role depends on who is the most attractive.]
Someone handsome or beautiful…
Bunny rolled her eyes, scanning the hall, then paused as she made eye contact with a man in the seat of honor.
Her eyes widened.
Sparkling red pupils.
Jet-black hair.
And…
‘He’s handsome…!’
Pass!
Bunny stamped the “Pass” seal in her mind with a resounding *thump, thump, thump*.
In every fairy tale, every super-duper strong daddy had black hair and red eyes. Since he was also handsome, he was a perfect match.
‘Bunny’s guardian!’
Since she had nothing special to offer, he might not be a “daddy,” but surely he would suffice as a guardian?
While Bunny was lost in her fantasies, the hall remained unnervingly quiet, reeling from the unprecedented summoning of a divine beast’s egg that hadn’t even hatched.
Salame Yudia squinted, then rose from his seat in silence.
“Everyone, thank you for your hard work in performing the summoning ritual. I will have separate interviews later, so let us conclude here for today.”
At the Duke’s command, the observers stood.
“Also, I would like for everyone to attend the evening banquet if possible. There may be those meeting their children for the first time in a while; it would be good to share your reunions comfortably.”
With a cold, detached voice, Salame Yudia turned and vanished in a flash.
As soon as he left, the children began to bolt from their seats. Simultaneously, those in the surrounding chairs descended the stairs.
It was the moment Bunny turned her head with a puzzled expression.