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I Spoke Baby Dragon, and the Dragon King Made Me Queen
Novelix
Completed
I enter the Dragon Palace for one reason: to earn enough money to save my sick mother. On my first day, the royal healers declare baby dragon Frost is dying. Everyone is ready to let him go. Then I hear him screaming inside my head. “I’m not sick! That new nest is killing me!” I’m the only human who can understand dragons. I save Frost, expose a poisoned nest, and suddenly the Dragon King is looking at me differently. But the woman meant to become his queen blames me for everything. And when she uses my mother to lure me into a trap, saving one spoiled baby dragon may cost me my life.
Chapters (2)
第1章
On my first day caring for the royal baby dragon, everyone thinks he's dying.
But I can hear him screaming that he's perfectly fine.
“There’s nothing more we can do.”
Dr. Corvin, the oldest Royal Dragon Healer in the palace, slowly lowers his hands.
His face is grave.
“The hatchling is too weak. He hasn’t eaten for days, and his condition is getting worse. If we keep forcing treatment, we’ll only make him suffer.”
No one in the dragon nursery dares to speak.
King Kaelen stands beside the enormous white nest, his face colder than stone.
Even in human form, there is something terrifying about him.
He was wounded in the last border war and still walks with a slight stiffness, but no one would ever mistake that for weakness.
And me?
I’m the new human caretaker kneeling at the very back.
I’m biting the inside of my cheek so hard I can taste blood.
Because while everyone around me looks like they’re attending a funeral, the “dying” baby dragon is swearing nonstop inside my head.
“I’m not dying!”
“That old man is an idiot!”
“My head hurts because this stupid nest smells disgusting!”
“And why does everyone keep touching me? Stop touching me!”
I lower my head before anyone sees my expression.
This is bad.
Very bad.
My name is Seraphina.
I’m human.
And for as long as I can remember, I’ve been able to understand dragons.
Not guesses.
Not instincts.
Actual words.
Growls, chirps, snarls, tiny angry squeaks, I hear all of them as clearly as human speech.
When I was little, I made the mistake of telling people.
No one believed me.
After enough laughter and enough frightened looks, I learned to keep my mouth shut.
That secret has followed me all the way here.
Three weeks ago, my mother’s condition got worse.
The doctor told me she needed medicine we couldn’t afford.
Then I saw a notice outside the palace gates.
ROYAL PALACE HIRING.
CARETAKER NEEDED FOR A YOUNG DRAGON.
HIGH PAY.
ROOM AND BOARD INCLUDED.
I applied the same day.
I didn’t care that everyone in the city had heard stories about the royal hatchling biting servants, setting curtains on fire, and chasing one caretaker into a fountain.
Three months of palace wages could pay for my mother’s treatment.
So I came.
And on my first day, the baby dragon is apparently about to die.
Perfect.
Frost lies curled in the center of the nursery.
He is small for a royal dragon, no bigger than a large hound, with snow-white scales and pale silver horns that are only beginning to grow.
His wings are folded tightly against his sides.
His head rests on his front claws.
He looks weak.
Too weak.
If I couldn’t hear him, I would believe Dr. Corvin too.
King Kaelen does.
His gaze never leaves Frost.
“He ate nothing again this morning?”
A palace servant bows quickly.
“Nothing, Your Majesty.”
“And water?”
“Very little.”
Kaelen’s jaw tightens.
Beside him, Lady Ravenna presses a handkerchief to the corner of her eye.
She is beautiful, perfectly dressed, and already treated by half the court as if she will one day be queen.
“Kaelen,” she says softly, “Frost has suffered enough.”
His eyes turn cold.
Ravenna’s voice trembles.
“I know what he means to you. I know he’s all you have left of your sister. But if there really is no cure…”
She doesn’t finish.
She doesn’t have to.
The room becomes even quieter.
Frost suddenly lifts his head.
His pale eyes narrow.
“I hate her.”
I almost choke.
Ravenna takes one careful step toward the nest.
“Poor little thing.”
She reaches out.
Frost pulls his head away at once.
To everyone else, it probably looks like he’s too sick to be touched.
Inside my head, he is furious.
“Don’t touch me!”
“You smell almost as bad as this nest!”
I clamp my lips together.
Do not laugh.
Absolutely do not laugh.
Kaelen looks at Dr. Corvin.
“Check him again.”
The old healer hesitates, then kneels beside Frost.
He checks the baby dragon’s eyes, mouth, breathing, scales, and wings.
Frost complains through every second of it.
“Cold hands!”
“Stop opening my mouth!”
“I swear, if he touches my wings again...”
A moment later, Dr. Corvin rises.
His expression doesn’t change.
“Your Majesty, my answer is the same.”
Kaelen says nothing.
Dr. Corvin lowers his voice.
“He’s fading. Keeping him alive like this may only prolong his pain.”
Ravenna looks down.
A few servants begin to cry.
My palms turn damp.
Because Frost isn’t fading.
He is furious.
And frightened.
“I told you, I’m not sick!”
“I don’t want to sleep in this horrible thing!”
“It smells wrong!”
“My head hurts every time I lie here!”
I finally look at the nest.
It is enormous.
New.
Expensive.
Layers of dark velvet surround Frost, trimmed with gold thread and stuffed so thickly that his small body nearly disappears into it.
Too luxurious for a baby dragon to hate.
At least, that is what everyone else must think.
I stare for one second too long.
Frost stops yelling.
His head turns.
Slowly.
Those pale silver eyes lock directly onto me.
My stomach drops.
No.
No, no, no.
I immediately lower my head.
Too late.
A sharp little voice explodes inside my skull.
“You.”
I freeze.
“The new human in the back.”
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Maybe if I don’t move...
“Stop hiding!”
My heart nearly stops.
“You can hear me, can’t you?”
第2章
“Stop pretending! I saw you trying not to laugh!”
Frost’s voice rings through my head.
“You can understand me! I know you can!”
I stare at the floor.
Somehow, he catches me among twenty people.
Dr. Corvin speaks again, more urgently this time.
“Your Majesty, you need to make a decision. I can prepare something that will let Frost pass peacefully. He won’t feel any pain.”
Kaelen’s hand tightens at his side.
For the first time since I entered the nursery, his stepmother, Dowager Queen Elowen, speaks.
Her voice shakes.
“Kaelen, if your sister were still alive, she wouldn’t want her son to suffer like this.”
She looks toward Frost.
“If you truly love him, let him go peacefully.”
Ravenna wipes at her eyes.
“She’s right. Look at him. He can barely move.”
She steps toward the nest and reaches for Frost.
Frost jerks his head away.
To everyone else, he probably looks too weak to be touched.
Inside my head, he nearly blows the roof off.
“Don’t touch me!”
“I hate you!”
“Keep your hands off my scales!”
Kaelen’s eyes darken.
He takes a slow breath.
Then he looks at Dr. Corvin.
“Then...”
“No! No, no, no!”
Frost’s scream explodes inside my head so loudly that I almost flinch.
“I can’t die!”
“I’m still a baby!”
“I haven’t even grown my full horns yet!”
“I’m supposed to become the biggest, strongest dragon in the whole kingdom!”
His small head rises with obvious effort.
His silver eyes lock on me.
“You! New human!”
“Save me!”
My heart jumps.
Frost keeps going.
“If you save me, I’ll make Uncle Kaelen give you gold!”
“A lot of gold!”
“And a house!”
“A huge one!”
“With a garden!”
I swallow.
Gold?
A house?
If Kaelen really rewards me that much, I can pay for Mother’s medicine.
Maybe I can even move her out of our cold, leaking room.
Frost’s voice goes shrill with panic.
“Why are you still standing there?”
“What do you want? Just tell me!”
Then he suddenly glances at Kaelen.
“Do you like my uncle?”
I nearly choke.
“He’s handsome!”
“He’s rich!”
“He won the border war!”
“Okay, his leg is still hurt, and he looks angry all the time, but that makes him more interesting!”
Stop talking!
Please stop talking!
Frost seems encouraged by my horrified expression.
“You save me, and I’ll help you get him!”
My face burns.
Absolutely not.
I want money.
Not a Dragon King.
Frost lets out another desperate whine.
“Fine! Pretty human! Sister! Wait, no... Mom!”
I almost look up.
“From now on, you can be my mom!”
“Please save me, Mom!”
At that exact moment, Kaelen speaks again.
His voice is low and rough.
“Then do what you have to...”
“Wait!”
The word flies out of my mouth before I can stop it.
Silence.
Every person in the dragon nursery turns toward me.
Dr. Corvin frowns.
Dowager Queen Elowen slowly lowers the handkerchief from her face.
Ravenna looks at me through wet lashes.
For one second, something cold flashes in her eyes.
My legs feel weak.
Still, I force myself to stand.
I walk toward Frost’s nest.
“Your Majesty…”
My voice comes out smaller than I want.
“What if Frost isn’t dying from an illness?”
Dr. Corvin’s expression changes immediately.
“What did you say?”
I glance at Frost.
His eyes brighten.
“That’s it, Mom!”
“Tell them!”
I quickly look away before anyone notices.
I point toward the huge new nest beneath him.
“What if something around him is making him sick?”
Dr. Corvin stares at me as if I have lost my mind.
“You’re a caretaker.”
His voice hardens.
“I have treated royal dragons for more than thirty years.”
“And you think you can walk into this palace on your first day and tell me I misdiagnosed a hatchling?”
Ravenna’s expression turns cold.
“That nest was made by the best craftsmen in the capital.”
She looks me up and down.
“The materials alone are worth more than you would earn in ten years.”
My face burns.
But I don’t move.
Dr. Corvin steps closer.
“Every second you waste is another second Frost suffers.”
Dowager Queen Elowen turns sharply toward the head steward.
“Who hired this girl?”
The steward immediately bows.
“Your Grace, she started today. She was hired as one of Frost’s new caretakers.”
Ravenna lets out a short laugh.
“Of course.”
Her eyes return to me.
“Dr. Corvin has treated royal dragons his entire life.”
“And some human girl who walked in this morning thinks she knows better?”
She lifts her chin.
“Take her out.”
Two palace guards move toward me.
Ravenna doesn’t stop there.
“And make sure she learns not to interrupt the King again.”
One guard grabs my arm.
The other takes the other side.
Frost loses his mind.
“No!”
“Don’t take my mom!”
“If she leaves, I’m actually going to die!”
“Mom!”
“Save me!”
“Save me!”
“Save me!”
I want to cry.
How am I supposed to save you?
I said one sentence for you, and now I’m already being thrown out of the palace.
The guards start dragging me toward the door.
Then Kaelen’s voice cuts through the room.
“Stop.”
Everyone freezes.
The guards release me immediately.
Kaelen’s eyes settle on my face.
Cold.
Sharp.
Suspicious.
“How do you know Frost isn’t dying from an illness?”
My heart pounds.
Obviously, I can’t tell the Dragon King that his nephew has been yelling in my head for the last half hour.
So I force myself to think.
I have spent my entire life listening to dragons.
Even if I can’t explain how I understand them, I have learned how a healthy dragon looks.
I lower my head.
“Your Majesty, a dragon this sick should have more than weakness and loss of appetite.”
I look toward Frost.
“His eyes are still clear. His breathing is steady. His scales haven’t lost their color.”
Dr. Corvin’s face tightens.
I take a breath.
“And…”
