My baby daughter is a dragon

The dragon princess

Eri had woken up a little earlier, but she was no longer sleepy. Living in dad's world was so fun and exciting that she didn't want to spend the day asleep anymore. Things were confusing; sometimes it seemed like grandpa owned that world, but dad had brought her to live there. It made no sense for it to belong to anyone else. Maybe mom's... yes, surely, because dad never did anything without consulting her.

How big the castle was! It could fit many strangers, and Eri loved meeting new people. They had told her not to talk to strangers, but... How else was she going to meet them? The coachman, grandpa, the man with the big belly, Mrs. Queen... was that her name? It must be, because Eri was the queen, the door man always told her she was the dragon queen...

She didn't understand anything; the green dragon had called her "traitor" and "deformed." She didn't know what any of that meant, and dad hadn't wanted to explain. No one would treat a queen so badly, so she decided that she was not the dragon queen, that was someone else, she was "Verrim Draconis," the dragon princess. What a beautiful sound, although her name sounded silly next to dad's, but still, it felt nice to say it out loud. Erifreya, Erifreya, it always made her smile.

She put on her blue dress, her crown, and her green necklace, looked at herself in the mirror, and pouted. Without her horns, the crown fell off when she ran, and the back of her dress looked lonely without her wings. Besides, she wanted to keep trying to fly; she had been trying since the first time she saw the sky, but she wasn't going to achieve it if she didn't practice. So, she left the necklace in her drawer next to the baby sword dad had given her. She wanted to carry it, but mom always got angry, she had done something strange to it, and now she couldn't take it out of its sheath. Better to obey, or dad would frown, and that scared her a lot. At least they let her dance with the wooden sword if dad had the day off. Eri wanted to be as amazing as him. Anyway, she tucked her doll into bed to rest from taking care of her all night and left.

It was candy time. People liked to give her sweets, especially Mrs. Queen, whose honey candies were exquisite—she had even taught Eri that word. Then she could run off to have breakfast with mom; dad was there half the time, but never two days in a row. The portly king and grandpa were never at breakfast, but always at dinner.

"Are you going to train with dad today, Eri?" Mom asked while eating those purple fruits she liked.

"No, he only takes me to dance with swords when he has breakfast," Eri replied. Dad had missed out on a delicious chicken again, which was like exquisite but tastier.

"That's true, he'll be busy again today... Are you going to play in the castle courtyard?"

"I want to go to the city, mommy, can I? The gentlemen with hats always take care of me if I get lost." Eri had gone out alone a few times; everywhere there were gentlemen with metal hats and sticks, they always recognized her and helped her if she needed anything.

"That's fine, love, come back before dinner time, and take your emerald necklace with you."

Eri pouted. "Do I have to? I want to try to fly today."

"Yes, Eri, you have to get used to it, we're soon going to a place where people don't know you. Plus, I don't want you jumping from high places again, I know you don't get hurt but you already ruined your pink dress. Go put it on and I'll tell the guards to watch over you today."

She made faces at mom when she wasn't looking; they wouldn't let her burn things or fly, just because they couldn't. It wasn't fair. She went back to her room to find that the maid had made the bed wrong again, she had left her doll on the pillow but without tucking her in. How was she supposed to sleep? She fixed it and looked for the necklace in her drawer, put it on, and her crown fell off. Better leave it, but if she couldn't wear her crown... she put on her dagger belt around her waist and ran out before mom saw her.