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The remnants of the ancient dragon had laid an egg inside my eye.

I had suspected the creature had some ulterior motive, but I never expected this.

‘So it’s willing to use any means necessary to take over my body.’

Well, it makes sense—no being wants to be used and discarded.

It must have been desperate to find a new method.

And this is the proof of that method.

Now I finally understood the feeling I’d sensed from Sharin and Isabel.

It was hunger.

To an ancient dragon, humans are nothing more than an energy source, ready to be consumed.

The same applies to dragonkin, who are modeled after the ancient dragons.

The dragonkin's egg stirred my appetite, making me crave the energy of my companions.

That damned thing had been urging me to consume my own friends.

Am I just going to sit and wait for the dragonkin to hatch from the egg?

Or will I gouge out my right eye?

The answer was clear.

The moment my hand moved without hesitation, Isabel rushed toward me.

“No!”

She grabbed my hand tightly.

I spoke as seriously as I could.

“Isabel, if this continues, a dragonkin will hatch from the dragon’s egg. It’s better to remove my eye now while it’s still new.”

“Do you even understand what you’re saying?!”

I was making a purely rational decision.

“Listen carefully.”

Isabel held my hand firmly.

“You’ve lost your ability to love. That includes self-love. What you’re doing now isn’t something someone with normal emotional function would do.”

It was a pointed observation—too rational.

Sacrificing a lesser danger to prevent a greater one.

That summed up my approach.

Understanding her point, I lowered my hand.

Isabel sighed in relief, like her heart had finally settled.

“But Isabel, as long as the dragon’s egg is there, there’s no other way.”

Eventually, the dragon’s egg will hatch.

That much is unavoidable.

I can’t suppress it with the Flame of Ash like last time.

The egg is lodged inside my eye.

Burning it would be no different from removing it myself.

To destroy the egg, I must destroy the eye.

That fact remains unchanged.

“More than anything, now that I’m aware of it, I can see just how dangerous my current state is.”

“Dangerous in what way?”

“Isabel, I want to eat you. Right now.”

Isabel froze.

Her face turned red slowly, then practically exploded with steam—literally, it seemed.

What…?

I stared, not understanding at first, then realized my poor choice of words.

The word "eat" could also be slang for sexual activity.

It wasn’t strange for Isabel to misunderstand.

“Isabel, I didn’t mean it that way—”

“A-ahh, I know! You meant hunger, right? Just… appetite! I got it!”

Isabel shouted, trying to hide her flushed face.

Her body trembled slightly.

She was clearly embarrassed about the misunderstanding.

I felt bad for putting her in that position.

“Anyway, that’s the issue. Before realizing it, I didn’t notice, but now… I’m not sure how long I can suppress this urge.”

As Isabel took deep breaths to calm down, I continued speaking.

Her face was still red.

It would take time for her to fully recover.

“Sorry for making you misunderstand.”

“…It’s fine. It was my own misinterpretation.”

Isabel hugged her arms and glanced at me, then bowed her head shyly with reddened cheeks.

“And… if it’s you, I wouldn’t mind.”

That sentence carried several implications.

“Just to be clear, I meant hunger in the literal sense.”

At this rate, Isabel’s ears might end up permanently red.

If I still had love left in me, this situation would’ve been seriously dangerous.

Any normal guy wouldn’t be able to ignore such suggestive words.

Creak—

In the silence that had somehow settled between us, the door behind us suddenly opened.

Seron stood there, dragging a sleepy Sharin.

“What, you’re still talking?”

It seemed she had deliberately brought Sharin here while she was still asleep.

As Seron closed the door and entered, Sharin slowly lifted her head.

Her sleepy nose twitched.

Then, lazily opening her eyes, she stared at Isabel and me.

“Were you two trying to make a baby?”

What the hell is she talking about?!

“W-what?”

Seron’s jaw dropped, and she snapped her head toward us.

With her face turning red, she was about to scold Isabel—until her eyes landed on me.

“Whoa, Prince Sweet Potato, what happened to your eye?!”

Guess it’s time to explain.

I quickly tried to steer the mood by launching into an explanation.

Meanwhile, Sharin’s sharp glare made Isabel retreat into the corner of the bed.

Once I finished the story, Sharin was the first to check my eye.

“Hmm… it’s fully embedded now.”

There was a hint of frustration on her face.

Even she could tell that the only option was to remove the eye.

“Rin, isn’t there anything you can do?”

“Yeah, you’re a magic girl! Even if nothing else works, your magic is like a miracle!”

Urged by Isabel and Seron, Sharin looked at me with genuine concern.

“But still, this isn’t really magic-related, is it? It’s more like a parasite.”

Parasites aren’t removed with spells.

You either use medicine or extract them.

So of course, she had no solution.

“Seriously…”

Sharin lightly thumped my chest in frustration.

It was the softest punch imaginable.

“Why’d you go and stick something like that in yourself?!”

When Seron headbutted my side, it felt like my right eye was about to pop out.

They were all looking at me with clear worry in their eyes.

I couldn’t let this drag on. I had to find a way.

Then, someone came to mind.

“There’s one person… who might know something about this.”

A boy with no clear identity—yet full of knowledge beyond comprehension.

Midra Fenin.

I need to meet him.

* * *

The civil war in the Kingdom of Panisys had yet to end, and the time had come for a new emperor to rise.

The world was in chaos.

At this moment, the entrance exams for Zerion Academy were being held.

People from all over the world gathered to apply.

Among them were individuals from kingdoms beyond the Empire.

Because the prestige of Zerion Academy was so immense, even foreigners came to take the exam.

Thanks to that, the entrance to Zerion Academy was swarming with people.

An endless stream of applicants poured in.

Even after the first round had eliminated those below the standard, this many remained.

Among them were several well-known students.

If one had to name the most renowned of them all, it would be the one who, not long ago, had wiped out a secret cult alongside the Duke of Whitewood—

Xenia Niflheim.

A user of Celestial Magic, with rumors claiming she is a descendant of Zerion himself.

At that moment, a carriage from the Niflheim Count family stopped at the academy's entrance.

Naturally, the students’ gazes were drawn toward it, and soon the carriage door opened.

Out stepped a petite girl.

But her smallness was only in height.

Her white hair fluttered in the breeze, and her amber eyes shone like embedded jewels.

Even the most beautiful students were captivated and stared at her in awe.

She resembled a fiercely proud white hamster—one you could love even if it bit you.

Yet everyone there knew one thing:

Among all current applicants, she was the undisputed strongest.

Xenia walked forward, completely unfazed by the attention.

As a perfectionist, she held herself more confidently than anyone else.

It was the natural bearing of the heiress to the Niflheim family.

“That's Lady Xenia, who wields Celestial Magic.”

“She’s so beautiful…”

“Didn’t she have an older brother?”

At that moment, upon hearing the murmur among the children, Xenia flinched slightly.

A man who had once stood guard at the entrance of the Demon Dungeon to rescue the prince of Panisys and never returned—

Vikamon Niflheim.

He was her older brother, and also her burden of guilt.

“Shh, don’t mention him—”

“Ah…”

The children quickly hushed each other.

But it was too late.

She had already remembered Vikamon.

A dull ache filled her heart.

There had been a time when she resented him.

In fact, she hadn’t opposed her father when he cast Vikamon out.

But now she realized how irresponsible that was.

If her silence had contributed to Vikamon's overexertion and ultimate disappearance, she never would have stayed quiet.

‘No…’

Xenia also carried guilt for his exile.

Vikamon hadn’t been able to establish himself in Niflheim because of the stark difference in talent between them.

No one can thrive beside a light that shines too brightly.

That’s why Xenia clung even more tightly to her role as heiress of the Niflheim family.

Because she had taken a place that once belonged to her brother, she had to prove she deserved it.

Xenia took a shallow, painful breath.

The weight of Vikamon’s death crushed her.

And then, one person came to mind.

A boy who had once claimed to be her brother.

Despite being close in age, he shone more heroically than anyone else.

A boy like a bright, burning star.

Hannon Irey.

Xenia still remembered how he had fought fiercely against Vulcan.

Even for a perfectionist like her, he was worthy of being called a hero.

She admired him.

So much so, it felt odd to think they were the same age.

But what about herself?

Overwhelmed by her brother’s death, she had broken down crying in front of him, showing him her most pathetic side.

He had even called himself Vikamon just to comfort her.

Perhaps that’s why, without realizing it, she began to wish he really were her brother.

She had even said it out loud.

‘He must think I’m weird…’

As the memory came back, Xenia’s face turned beet red.

She wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

Since that day, she often found herself thinking—

‘It would’ve been nice if he really had been my brother.’

Xenia clenched her small fists and let out a trembling breath.

Her expression wasn’t good.

She felt a sharp prick of guilt deep inside.

To think such things about her real brother Vikamon—how shameful.

Ever since his death, she felt unable to regain her composure.

‘Focus.’

Today’s exam was her chance to redeem herself from the disgrace of that day.

She would absolutely come in first and show how she had changed.

With that resolve, Xenia took another step forward.

And just behind her—

A woman with long, dark brown hair walked slowly.

She had once had silver hair, now concealed, but the intelligence in her eyes couldn’t be hidden.

“From junior student to teaching assistant, and now… senior.”

A faint smile curved beneath her eyes.

“You’re still such a little troublemaker.”

She was a powerful and unexpected contender for the top spot in the exams.

Even in the Department of Magical Studies.