There’s No Way I Can Raise a Dragon Daughter

“I’m done playing; come eat!”

“Mmm!”

Thud thud thud thud.

From early in the morning, the Ryuba tavern was noisy with the sounds of busy footsteps.

Tia, who casually answered Julia’s scolding, made sure to circle around every table in the tavern as she headed for the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Julia was staring at the flames of the stove with dark circles under her eyes.

She must have struggled to get a good three hours of sleep and was now trying hard to keep her eyes focused.

It was probably better to quickly warm Tia’s belly, who was clamoring for food, and go back inside for another sigh.

“Ah, it’s going to stick…”

As the grains of rice began to burn and stick to the bottom of the pan, Julia hurriedly turned off the heat and struggled to lift the pan with both hands.

It was fried rice made from the leftover ingredients from yesterday’s shop.

The smell of meat had been covered with alcohol, and the overly strong seasoning was balanced out with rice—the dish was something Julia had completed after much trial and error.

“What is it? What is it?”

“Go sit at the table. It’s hot.”

“Mmm!”

As she was gently warned once, Tia, who had been annoying her at her feet, quickly dashed to the table and climbed onto a chair.

With Tia plopped down and looking expectantly, she watched Julia coming over cautiously with the pan.

“Trivet!”

“Huh?”

“Over there! That! Yes, that. Put it in the center!”

“Like this?”

“That’s right! Ugh! My arm hurts!”

Julia thudded the pan down and shook her numb arm, letting out a sigh of relief.

If she were a man, she would have effortlessly lifted it with one hand—such thoughts echoed in her sigh.

As Tia peered into the pan, smoke wafting up, she gasped in surprise.

Then, sniffing and taking in the aroma, her surprise peaked even more.

“Great smell!”

“Wait. It’s hot.”

“I’m fine!”

“………”

Watching Tia who was about to eat it with her hands, Julia fell into thought.

Now that she thought about it, Tia’s dad had breathed fire from his mouth, so she wondered if this heat could potentially hurt Tia.

“It’s not fine. Take some out and eat with a spoon.”

“Hing………”

But still, it was something that just couldn’t be allowed.

There were basic manners between people, and she couldn’t let Tia follow her instincts.

Julia hurriedly pulled out a small spoon from the container labeled ‘Tia’s’ and handed it to her.

While transferring the fried rice into a bowl with a spatula, Tia was tightly gripping the spoon, shaking with impatience.

And when the bowl was finally placed before her, Tia was about to jam her nose into it—

“Whoops.”

Julia’s soft voice froze her in place.

“What do you say before eating?”

“Thank you for the meal!”

“That’s right.”

Only then did Tia lean over the bowl and start shoveling in the fried rice.

Rather than shoveling, it was more like she was sweeping it in.

“Is it good?”

“Mmm mmm!”

Without the luxury to properly answer, she just nodded vigorously while puffing her cheeks out, and Julia couldn’t help but chuckle.

After staring blankly at Tia for a while with her chin resting on her hand, Julia stretched and got up.

Now she could finally go to bed.

“Don’t go!”

“What. So what.”

“Let’s eat together, Mom.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“………”

But then Tia’s lips puffed out as she started whining.

Julia let out a deep sigh and gave in, pulling out another spoon to sit down next to Tia.

She wasn’t hungry at all, but decided to have a little snack.

“It’s delicious………”

Taking a small spoonful, Julia’s eyes widened.

Though she made it herself, it was surprisingly tasty.

Having never had anything to do with cooking in her previous life, and now being a woman and getting good at it—that felt quite strange.

As she was nibbling on one spoonful, the large pan was soon left empty.

“Gurgh.”

Suddenly glancing to the side, she saw Tia lying back, patting her bulging belly, and letting out a loud burp.

She had almost eaten it all by herself, a quantity that even a typical adult male would struggle to finish.

For a moment, she wondered if it made sense for that volume to fit in such a tiny belly, but Julia quickly decided to give up on that train of thought and wiped Tia’s mouth with a napkin.

Then she picked up the pan and headed for the kitchen.

Now, if she just finished the dishes, she could go to bed.

Julia’s mind was filled with that thought.

“Mom! What are you doing?”

“Cleaning up after you.”

But even while washing the dishes, Tia clung to Julia’s leg, refusing to let her be still…….

“Now you’re full, right? So let’s go to bed together.”

“Mmm! No! Let’s play!”

“I’m sleepy, Mom………”

“Tia is being too much!”

“………”

That was the case even after the dishes were done.

Julia, now truly on the verge of collapsing, sighed deeply while looking down at Tia.

Tia was sending out a pleading look with her glistening eyes.

Julia squeezed her eyes shut and replied.

“Just for a little while; then we’ll go to bed…….”

“Muhuhuh!”

Now that she was full, just a little playtime should tire Tia out and put her to sleep soon after.

With that calculation in mind, Julia decided to play with Tia.

Just for a little while.

Julia firmly believed she could go to bed soon.

“Okay. Should we play fetch? When I throw the ball, Tia has to catch it and bring it back.”

“Why do I have to fetch? Isn’t it just to catch?”

“……… That’s right. Just catch it.”

With such light thoughts, Julia went on—

“Catch it!”

“Okay. Catch it again.”

“Catch it! Again!”

“Okay. Sure.”

“Catch it! Again! Again!”

“Alright, that’s enough………”

After throwing the ball over a hundred times, she regretted it.

Every time she threw it, Tia would dash out and come back, panting and shouting for more.

There was no way to win against this tireless monster.

If this kept up, her arms would lose all their strength before business even started.

At that moment, Julia came up with a brilliant idea.

“How about we play hide and seek?”

“Hide and seek?”

“Yeah. I’ll hide, and Tia has to find me. But absolutely, under no circumstances, are you allowed to go up to the second floor? I won’t hide on the second floor either.”

“Okay! Yeah! Let’s do it! Let’s do it!”

Julia roughly ruffled Tia’s hair as she energetically responded.

Seeing such a clean face untouched by dirt made her smile with satisfaction.

“One! Two! Three!”

“………”

While Tia closed her eyes and loudly counted, Julia quietly began to sneak up the stairs to the second floor.

She would just rest comfortably up there, and then come down.

She felt no guilt at all.

If there was any blame, it would lie with that tireless physical monster.

As Julia cautiously climbed the stairs, careful not to make any creaks, she froze at the sound of the tavern door slamming open.

“Hey! Tia! What are you doing here?”

“Playing hide and seek with Mom!”

“Really? Julia! Hurry up and come out! We need to get ready to open!”

“Ah………”

Hearing the innkeeper’s voice, Julia slapped her forehead in frustration.

What had started as just feeding Tia and then going to sleep had somehow led her to waste the entire morning.

Now it was too late to sleep.

Resigned, Julia scratched her head and came down the stairs.

Upon seeing her, Tia’s eyes widened.

Tears began to well up in Tia’s big eyes.

“Mommy is a liar!”

“Innkeeper, I’m really sleepy, so I’ll just wipe the dust off the tables and then go to bed.”

“Mommy is a liar!!!”

“Okay, fine. But what were you all doing…? ”

“Nothing much.”

“It’s just a joke!”

Julia felt overwhelmed with emotions as she hugged the tearful Tia and patted her back.

While most sulking could be quickly resolved this way, Tia simply turned her head away, sniffling, without looking at Julia.

It seemed this sulk would last quite a while.

As the time for the employees to come to work approached, Julia adjusted Tia’s puffy cheeks and put a hat on her.

“Mommy is really mean………”

“The mean one is your butt. Wow, what is so heavy? It feels heavier than yesterday.”

She would probably entirely forget this once morning came tomorrow, crying for food again anyway.

Julia took it lightly and began wiping the tables with a cloth while holding Tia with one arm.

While trying not to meet Julia’s eyes, Tia was clinging tightly around Julia’s neck with her tiny arms.

“Julia, did anything happen last night?”

“Hello, Irina………”

Soon after Irina, Sasha and other employees began to arrive one after another.

As they entered the shop and received Julia’s soulless greeting, they all shared the same thought.

‘At this rate, she’s going to collapse.’

Julia had hardly been able to sleep properly because of Tia almost every day.

So it was only natural that, having practically spent the entire night awake, the results would be as they were.

Just when Tia was about to lean on Julia’s shoulder and fall asleep, a tiny hand came down on the dishcloth.

“I’ll clean up. I’ll take Tia to sleep. While I’m at it, Julia, you should catch a little nap.”

It was Sasha.

With her unfocused eyes barely managing to meet Sasha’s, Julia struggled to resist handing over the dishcloth, but it was no use.

“We’re about to open. There’s no time to sleep.”

“I’ll just take her momentarily off your hands, huh?!”

“Let go of my hand.”

As Sasha’s skin was pinched by Julia’s fingers, an odd shriek escaped her lips.

To be precise, it was more significantly affected by the contact with Julia’s hand than by the pinching itself.

Julia’s hand was unnaturally cold.

Along with that, realizing that her delicate and pretty hand was touching her sent more troubling thoughts swirling in Sasha’s head.

She had to exert considerable effort to erase the sudden, rose-colored imaginings.

“Look, I’ll just set her aside temporarily. Hurry, get some rest. If you serve guests like that, they’ll all be shocked.”

“Is that so………? I’ll count on you.”

Julia had no strength left to resist any longer and finally let go of the cloth and turned away.

With Tia held in both arms, Julia yawned as she left, while Sasha stared vacantly at the dishcloth for a moment.

It was the dishcloth Julia had just used.

The dishcloth that had touched Julia’s hand.

The troubling thoughts she had been trying to forget flooded back into Sasha’s mind.

“Hyah?!”

Somehow entranced, Sasha reached for the dishcloth to bring it to her nose but snapped back to her senses and set it back down.

What on earth had she just done?

Startled, she was taken aback by her own behavior.

Glancing around as if to see if anyone witnessed her, Sasha cleared her throat and began to wipe the tables as if nothing had happened.

Comforting herself that no one had seen the moment.

‘What was that just now………?’

Iryna, who had seen the entire scene with her chin resting on her hand, frowned.

Considering that Sasha had been acting strangely often lately, she wondered if something might be wrong with her.

Perhaps she thought she’d need to force her to take a break soon.

“Yawn………”

Julia gently held the sleeping Tia and headed for the stairs to the second floor.

She could hear the sound of the door opening as people began to flood in, likely signaling that they had just opened.

Of course, the fact that Julia would sleep now had nothing to do with that.

No, it should have had nothing to do with it.

“Is there a woman named Julia here?”

“Ah, damn it. What now?”

With a loud bang, the door swung open and a booming voice rang out.

Having already been interrupted from sleep twice, Julia’s frustration peaked, and she turned around, expecting some troublesome customer.

Standing there were a couple of flamboyantly dressed men and women.

They were none other than Heretic Examiners, but Julia, having no way of knowing their true identity, merely stared at them with bleary eyes as if they were local scoundrels.

Before she knew it, the tavern was filled with a tense atmosphere, frozen in place.

“W-what is it?”

“Why are Heretic Examiners here………?”

“Aren’t they here to raid a brothel?”

“Priests frequent this place, so it can’t be.”

“Hey! Shh! Quiet!”

The tavern began to murmur.

As the chatter intensified, the Heretic Examiner made an announcement in a loud voice.

“We have received word that a woman named Julia is hiding a demon! Hand over the demon willingly!”

The Heretic Examiners had come looking for a demon.

With tired heads trying to process the meaning of that statement, Julia felt an escalating gradient of anger rise within her.

She had finally connected the dots about what had transpired.

“Ah! That ninja priest!!!”

“Muh?”

The thought that it was a disaster came second.

Julia first remembered the chain of events where the priest she encountered last night must have spilled everything, and she was now roaring with rage.

The mutual contract had been broken.

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