The story features three main characters.
Libra, a curious commoner boy who is the son of a locksmith and regularly travels to the royal city.
Alcia, a strong-willed and intelligent young woman who is the direct heir to the throne and a candidate for queen.
And Chris, an orphaned girl who has been separated from the royal family since childhood and lives in a secluded, expansive courtyard with her dragon companion, acting as its caretaker.
The story begins with the discovery of an abandoned infant by the royal city's gate guards.
It wasn't uncommon for parents to abandon their infants with the hope that they would have a better life in the royal city, claiming they were unable to raise the child. The soldiers reported the incident to the minister as a routine "disposition" matter.
However, the minister, who was searching for someone who was "untainted" and "wouldn't complain about being secluded," saw an opportunity in this child.
She could be utilized as a dragon caretaker.
If it were a slave, they would already be tainted by the world. Even if someone untainted from the royal family were to be tasked with it, that person would have to live in isolation afterwards.
Moreover, the royals would leave the city upon reaching a certain age, and it would be impossible to determine if they had been tainted. The blood of the royals is pure and untainted, but once they come into contact with the world, that boundary becomes ambiguous.
Ideally, a child born to royalty would be isolated from birth—of course, the child's parents wouldn't allow it.
So, this newborn infant abandoned at the city gate, who hadn't yet been tainted by the world and wouldn't have any relatives to object or complain, was perfect for the role of dragon caretaker.
Fifteen years have passed since then.
Libra, the son of the locksmith living outside the royal city, travels to the capital with his parents. The royal city is where his parents have long-standing customers, and to prepare for his future inheritance of the family business, Libra joins his parents on this trip to learn the trade.
While learning locksmithing in the royal city, Libra makes friends with Alcia, the princess—they are childhood sweethearts.
Both Libra and Alcia are fifteen years old, a time of boundless curiosity and boundless energy.
Their curiosity naturally gravitates towards a certain place.
The restricted area, as they expected, held torture devices from the past and forbidden books containing spells capable of destroying the world—of course, that was not true. It was simply a large hidden space that had been closed off to visitors due to its age, deterioration, and the royal family's concern for their image.
The two, of course, had no idea.
Finally, finding a chance to slip away from their parents and the watchful eyes of the ministers, they used Libra's locksmith skills to open the ancient space.
Although the sights before them were more ordinary than they had hoped for, the sense of exploration filled them with joy, and they wandered around the city.
At the end of their exploration.
They opened a door that they had been told never to open, a door that led to a courtyard.
There, they encountered a pure white dragon with colossal wings, and a girl with skin whiter than the dragon, a girl isolated from the world and utterly innocent—
“These stories are truly beautiful.”
Like her other short stories, this one is scattered with the fairy lady's style.
These novels allow one to forget time and immerse oneself in a world of fantasy.
To share in the joy of the novel's protagonists is the highest praise for its quality.
My hand, flipping through the manuscript, wouldn't stop.
After this, the story took a serious turn.
—After their meeting with Chris, the two were caught by the adults and taken away. Libra, as an outsider, was imprisoned in a dungeon.
As the dragon's caretaker, Chris must stay away from "taint." For Chris, contact with Libra, who is not a direct descendant of the royal family, would be considered "taint." How to handle this situation, how to cleanse the "taint"—Libra awaits his judgment.
Then, Alcia's father, the king, reached a verdict— "To cleanse the taint, we will offer Libra as a living sacrifice to the gods."
This was a political decision, adorned with embellishments for public announcement, but in essence, it was an execution.
Raising the dragon was a major national project. The preparation of the courtyard environment, not to mention obtaining a young dragon, required immense resources.
To prevent all that effort from being wasted, even the slightest risk must be avoided. If there was even a chance to cleanse this "taint," that plan had to be implemented.
Therefore, execution. That was the judgment of the king.
But then, his daughter, Alcia, spoke softly.
“—Father, don't you remember?”
“Remember what?”
The king's eyebrows twitched.
“How many illegitimate children did you have outside the city?”
“Alcia, what are you talking about?”
“Excuse me, then let's keep this fact secret from the people. But in return, I have a request. As far as I know, Libra is also one of your illegitimate children, making him a direct descendant of the royal family. Therefore, he would pose no ‘taint’ to the dragon—“
Alcia's bluff worked, and the two went from childhood sweethearts to a false "brother-sister" relationship.
Now that Libra was Alcia's brother, there was no "taint" for Chris. His execution was pardoned.
After that, Libra was taken to the royal city to take care of Chris. To put it another way, he was given a trivial, meaningless position as a means of avoiding execution.
Chris, isolated from the world, formed a connection with Libra and Alcia, and the story oscillates between moments of high drama and ordinary life as it heads towards its conclusion.
“Whether it's the story of humans hurting mermaids to obtain gems made from their tears, the story of a man and a beastman talking across a border stone in a secluded cave, the story of a werewolf yearning for humans while intoxicated by the beauty of the moon reflected in a lake, the story of a nobleman's robot assistant falling in love with a tin toy, or the story of ‘How to Fly, Something I Don’t Know,’ which seems unfinished.”
“Okay, okay, I’m blushing, I’m blushing…” Kikuchi Kazuka looked like her CPU had overloaded as she reacted to Kinoshita Kazuya's words, like that moment when you get socially crucified after your middle school self's gospel is read aloud to the whole class by your friend in high school.
“Sorry, I just…don't worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Strictly speaking, this would be a violation of privacy.
It wasn't intentional on Kinoshita Kazuya's part, it was all a series of coincidences. First, he was curious about what kind of novel the fairy lady was reading, he didn't intend to read what she wrote; then, he saw the top chapter, it was interesting, and he wanted to know what happened next; finally, he thought, "Wow, that's interesting, I wonder what happens next," and it just wouldn't stop, like he'd just chugged an energy drink…