As it turned out, even a dragon’s naturally tough scales had their limits.
Especially when another dragon kept hitting the exact same spot over and over again.
On the other side of the cavern, their mother opened her eyes once more.
Her golden slit pupils calmly swept across the two hatchlings tangled together on the ground.
She didn’t stop them.
She didn’t even make a sound.
A moment later, she simply closed her eyes again.
Chromatic dragon hatchlings fighting each other?
Perfectly normal.
As long as they didn’t actually bite each other to death, there was no reason for her to interfere.
...
A little while later, the fight finally ended.
Or rather, the one-sided beating finally ended.
Evelyn sat comfortably on Darrien’s back, keeping him pinned beneath her while leisurely chewing on the piece of eggshell she had stolen earlier.
Crunch.
She chewed a few times, and her eyes lit up slightly.
“Hm?”
It actually tasted different from her own.
Her eggshell had carried a faint salty flavor.
Darrien’s was a little bitter at first, but after chewing for a while, it left behind a strange hint of sweetness.
“Not bad.”
Evelyn nodded in satisfaction.
Then she lowered her head and looked at the little black dragon trapped beneath her.
“My stupid little brother,” she said, deliberately copying his earlier tone. “Now do you understand who’s in charge?”
Darrien looked miserable.
His scales had protected him from any real bruising, but the proud little head he had held so high after hatching had visibly lost most of its spirit.
At Evelyn’s words, he bared his teeth.
“You savage! One day, I’ll make you pay for...”
“Hm?”
Evelyn lowered her head.
Her golden eyes narrowed.
One claw slowly rose.
Darrien stopped talking immediately.
After a brief silence, the newborn black dragon changed his tone with remarkable ease.
“Dear Evelyn. You’re in charge. Of course you are.”
Evelyn nodded with satisfaction.
Smart.
He knew when to give in.
Meanwhile, Darrien desperately tried to comfort himself.
The Draconic Inheritance had taught him that dragons were the greatest race in the world.
A noble dragon would never casually submit to another creature.
But...
The one who had beaten him was also a dragon.
And a bigger one at that.
So there was no problem.
Temporarily yielding to a stronger member of his own kind wasn’t real submission.
It was...
Respect for strength.
Exactly.
That was the wisdom a proper dragon should have!
Once he thought of it that way, Darrien immediately felt much better.
Evelyn had no idea how hard her brother was working to justify his defeat.
Now that she had gotten the answer she wanted, she finally showed him some mercy and hopped off his back.
Then she went right back to eating eggshell.
Freed from Evelyn’s weight, Darrien scrambled to his feet.
He stretched his aching limbs and glared at her with obvious resentment.
Just wait.
She had only won because she was bigger right now.
Once he grew up...
Once he learned Dragon Breath and magic...
He would pay her back for everything she had done today.
Darrien silently swore it.
Then he grabbed a piece of his own eggshell.
Eat.
He needed to eat.
The more he ate, the faster he would grow.
And the faster he grew, the sooner he could beat that awful Evelyn!
Filled with renewed determination, Darrien opened his mouth and prepared to bite down.
A chubby black claw suddenly reached in from the side.
Snatch.
The eggshell disappeared.
“?”
Darrien froze.
Slowly, he turned his head.
Evelyn had already stuffed his eggshell into her mouth as if it belonged to her.
Crunch.
“Mm.”
She chewed and nodded approvingly.
“Yours really does taste better.”
“...”
Darrien’s eyes widened little by little.
“That was mine! Don’t you still have your own?”
Evelyn stopped chewing.
She turned her head and looked at him.
“What? You have a problem with it?”
“I...”
Darrien looked at Evelyn.
Then he looked at the spot where she had just pinned him down and beaten him senseless.
His claws tightened.
Relaxed.
Then tightened again.
In the end, he could only stomp one foot in frustration.
“No!”
The moment the word left his mouth, he grabbed another piece of eggshell and bit down viciously.
Crunch!
Judging by his expression, it was almost as though he wasn’t chewing eggshell at all.
He was chewing Evelyn.
“Heh.”
Watching him fume without daring to do anything about it put Evelyn in an excellent mood.
She had to admit...
After becoming an evil dragon, a surprising number of questionable behaviors suddenly seemed perfectly reasonable.
Stealing food from her brother, for example.
The Draconic Inheritance even provided a complete justification for it.
The stronger dragon had the right to choose food first.
Evelyn found that argument extremely convincing.
So, under Darrien’s wary stare, she slowly reached out again.
Darrien immediately shielded what remained of his eggshell.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Evelyn calmly grabbed the largest piece.
Then she pulled.
Half of it ended up on her side.
Darrien stared at her in silence.
His eyes looked like they were about to catch fire.
Unfortunately, he remembered the beating he had just received.
In the end, he still didn’t dare jump her.
After holding it in for a long moment, he muttered under his breath.
“Keep eating like that... I hope you get so stuffed you can’t walk...”
His voice was too quiet.
Evelyn didn’t hear him at all.
Even if she had, she probably wouldn’t have cared.
She was having far too much fun.
A bite of her own shell.
A bite of Darrien’s.
Switching between the two flavors was surprisingly enjoyable.
Darrien could only watch in silent agony.
To keep the rest of his food out of that thieving dragon’s claws, he stopped caring about the taste entirely.
He opened his mouth and started devouring everything as fast as he could.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Within moments, he had stuffed the remaining shell into his stomach.
Once he finished, he gave Evelyn another cautious look.
Only after confirming that the food was safely inside him did he finally relax.
Evelyn looked at his empty claws with clear disappointment.
“Why’d you eat it so fast?”
Darrien immediately backed away two steps.
Was she serious?
If he had eaten any slower, he wouldn’t have had anything left.
Not wanting to watch that bandit of a sister enjoy the spoils she had stolen from him, Darrien turned away.
He found a relatively dry corner and lay down.
He had only just been born, had already survived a brutal “battle,” and had eaten a large amount of eggshell.
Exhaustion quickly caught up with him.
Before long, the little black dragon closed his eyes and fell sound asleep.
Once Darrien finally quieted down, the dragon lair returned to silence.
The only sound left was the crisp crunch of Evelyn eating.
Crunch.
Crunch.
She stuffed the last piece of eggshell into her mouth and swallowed with satisfaction.
Then she raised a claw and patted her slightly rounded belly.
About one and a half dragon eggs’ worth of shell had filled her completely.
Now that she was full, a warm feeling began spreading through her body.
It felt as though her flesh, bones, and scales were all absorbing the power contained within the eggshells.
Sleepiness followed soon after.
Evelyn, however, didn’t immediately lie down.
She turned her head and looked deeper into the lair.
Her mother was still sprawled across the glittering treasure hoard, eyes shut and breathing slowly.
She showed absolutely no interest in either hatchling.
Darrien was already fast asleep as well.
The cavern had grown so quiet that Evelyn could hear the occasional drop of water striking the stone floor.
She blinked.
Then her gaze slowly drifted toward the cave’s exit.
Ever since hatching, all she had seen was this underground dragon lair.
As for what Aersk actually looked like...
She had never seen it with her own eyes.
The Draconic Inheritance had taught her plenty.
Swamps.
Forests.
Mountains.
Cities.
Humans.
Elves.
Magical beasts.
Even distant oceans and continents.
The knowledge was clear and detailed.
But knowledge was still only knowledge.
In her previous life, someone could have placed a perfect battlefield map in front of her, but it still wouldn’t have compared to actually setting foot on the terrain herself.
Evelyn suddenly felt restless.
She only wanted to go outside and take a quick look.
That should be fine, right?
She glanced back one more time.
Her mother was still asleep.
Darrien was asleep too.
Perfect.
Evelyn lowered her body and began creeping toward the exit on four short legs.
She moved so carefully that it almost felt like she was carrying out a covert mission.
After getting some distance away, she looked back again.
No reaction.
So she picked up the pace.
The dragon lair had been built in an underground cavern beneath the swamp.
The route outside wasn’t a normal tunnel.
Instead, it was a natural passage completely submerged in water.
Evelyn stopped at the water’s edge and stared into the black surface.
The Draconic Inheritance immediately told her what to do.
Black dragons were natural hunters of swamps and wetlands.
Swimming came almost as easily to them as walking.
Even a hatchling fresh from the egg didn’t need anyone to teach it.
Evelyn stretched out one claw and lightly touched the surface.
Cold.
A moment later, she took a deep breath.
Splash!
Her small black body plunged straight into the water.
Her limbs began paddling on instinct.
Her long tail swayed gently behind her, helping her steer.
To her surprise, it felt completely natural.
Evelyn quickly adjusted to moving underwater.
She raised her head and followed the direction provided by the Draconic Inheritance, swimming steadily upward.
The light above her...
Was growing brighter.
Little by little.
That was the outside world.