I was summoned to be interrogated by a jealous dragon (Part 1)

The dragon let me down on the ground before his castle safely and then took off again to the sky. I was looking after him until his silhouette completely dissipated in the clouds. With a sigh, I returned to the castle.

“Did you give the bead back to the weasel?” I asked Korvan.

“Yes,” he said. “And I also left the Firebird prince the healing plant you requested from me.”

“Firebird prince?”

“The person you were with. He is a Firebird,” Korvan explained. “He lives nearby.”

“Such a womanizer,” I said.

“He is popular with the ladies,” Korvan said. “He likes to go on a hunt and sometimes ends up drinking too much beer in the village and sleeping over there. None of the villagers knows his true identity, but I heard that young maidens are very fond of him.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, you don’t say.”

“He never brought one back, though,” Korvan added.

I did not explain to Korvan that men do not need to bring any ladies home to have fun with them. Instead, I bit into my lip and went inside the hallway, going to rest in my chamber. Why was I even angry at some random flirtatious prince I did not care about? Surely, I did not fall for that “you are different” trick.

I saw two yellow glowing eyes in the dark, greeting me. It was Vesna again. She was looking at me, carefully investigating my appearance as if I was about to sprout animal ears or tail now.

“You are back,” she said. “And you were not cursed to be turned into an animal.”

I am not sure why this cat disliked me so much, but it was probably because I was also a bride for the dragon. And I was not a cat now, obviously, even though I left not only the castle, but the entire outer courtyard, returning safely without being transformed.

“Yeah, thanks for your concern,” I said. “So what, will you try to curse me instead?”

The cat blinked at me, not expecting me to be so snappy. Up until this point, I usually ignored her remarks or tried to be friendly with her.

“I cannot curse anybody,” she said, “nor do I want to. It never brought happiness to curse someone.”

“So, will you tell me now, why are you always behaving so rudely in my presence? I never hurt you, nor do I want to live in this castle, anyway. It was never my choice from the beginning. It is not my fault I ended up here.”

“I know,” the cat said and came closer to me. “That is the thing which is strangest to me. You are not here voluntarily, and yet you can move freely here without being cursed, not like a prisoner.”

I opened my mouth, wanting to ask another set of questions, but she just flicked her tail and disappeared into the hallway. I was still standing there, stunned. Did she just confess right now that she came here voluntarily? This was getting more and more confusing.

I turned to face Korvan, a multitude of ideas swirling in my head, but he opened his beak first.

“I will keep quiet,” he said. “His Highness values his privacy, and I promised not to tell anything about his past. If you want to know more, you will have to ask about it yourself.”

I clicked my tongue.

“More importantly, can we finally start with our reading lesson?” he asked.

He really was looking forward to learning how to read. I just had an exhausting experience, and he did not care a bit. Instead, he dragged me to the library and sat me down in the upholstered chair behind the desk, with lots of paper and ink there.

“Do you know a lot of books in the library?” I asked him.

“I know some of them, which His Highness told me about,” Korvan said. “I cannot read, but I remember if he showed me once.”

“Do you know if there is any book with the children's fairy tales?” I asked. “Those should be fairly easy to read. Some simple stories should work fine. No need for any difficult words now.”

Korvan jumped down off the desk and started looking at the back of the books. He did not know how to read, so it would probably be quicker if I did it, but I just wanted to have some time to think.

I took the quill and dipped its tip into the ink. Then I wrote some marks on the paper to get a hold of the pen. The modern ballpoint pens were more convenient, even the fountain pens with metal nibs were much better than this quirky feather, which was now struggling in my hand.

Struggling?

I let go, and the quill was still standing on its tip, ready to write by itself. Okay, let me take back that this is not convenient.

“Can you do the few test lines?” I asked it.

And sure it did.

Astounded, I lowered my voice. “Let me write out about what I am thinking now.”

The pen moved its tip accordingly. On the blank sheet of paper, several lines started to form, in my handwriting, even though I never showed this pen how I write. My thoughts were now flowing freely onto the paper.

There lives an evil dragon in this castle, who needs to eat a maiden regularly. That is what villagers believed in, but in fact, there are now two brides existing in this castle. One was cursed and turned into a black cat, but the second one is able to move freely within this world.

Who told the villagers that the evil dragon needs to eat someone?

Why is the black cat here voluntarily?

What is the difference between us?

What happened to the first dragon’s bride?

I hoped to clear my mind by writing down thoughts that were swirling in my head. Instead, I got even more confused. Why was I able to leave the palace? And really, how did the dragon’s curse even start? If I wanted to know, I would have to go to the beginning of this story.

“I think I got one,” I heard Korvan.

I quickly took the quill off the paper and turned it around to its blank side. I took the book from Korvan and looked at its cover.

“Yes, that is the correct one. Now, get back up onto the table, and we will start with some letters. You have a good memory, so that will be fairly easy.”

The day went fast with activities to do. Near the end of our first reading session with Korvan, I felt exhausted but content. He was an extremely smart student and remembered everything well. He was just missing someone who could explain the basics to him. That I was able to manage.

“I think this should be enough for today,” I said at the end. “We can continue tomorrow. There is nothing else we have to do, anyway.”

“I am going to prepare dinner,” Korvan said.

He went out of the library, and I just let my head rest on the table, propped by my hands. I have eaten only breakfast, and we skipped lunch because of that incident with the falcon, but I did not feel one bit hungry during our lessons. Now I felt like I could eat a whole cow.

I lowered my lashes, letting tiredness take over.

I felt a soft nudge on my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw the weasel sitting on the table and patiently waiting.

“Hey, small friend,” I smiled. I reached out with my hand and petted it with my fingers. “Are you happy now, once your magical bead is in your paws again?”

It nodded excitedly, but then put its paws down next to the small wooden box on the desk. In it was now sitting the magical crystal bead.

“Why did you bring it back to me?” I asked.

The quill standing on the paper sheet moved by itself. I looked at the words appearing on the paper.

I think you will be able to protect the bead better.

“So you want me to have it and take care of it?” I asked.

The weasel nodded.

“I cannot take it. What if I lose it?” I said.

You will be fine.

I finally raised my head from the desk. I took the small wooden box into my hands. It was a fairly small box. It was maybe even smaller than the ones in which rings were sold in my original world. I hid it in the pocket of my apron.

“Thank you, then. I will take care of it,” I smiled.

The weasel beamed.

“Is that all?” I asked.

It shook its head. Then it moved to another object lying on the desk. It pushed it towards me with its nose. It was an old metal key, decorated with intricate swirls and motifs.

I took it into my hand.

“Is this for me?”

The weasel nodded again, enthusiastically. Happy that it completed its task, it jumped down the table and scurried out of the library.

“Wait! Which door does this key unlock?” I asked and stood up out of the chair.

It did not respond, of course. It was too far away from the quill now. But instead, its eyes gleamed as it ran away. I swear I could see mischief in it.

I sat back down and looked at the key. It was an old key, so it was the key to this castle. But which doors? Oh, then I remembered. There was only one room, where Korvan refused to take me – the His Highness’ chambers.