Four months had passed since getting married and moving into this new house, and significant changes had occurred. Despite still needing a lot of work, the house was looking and functioning better than before. Esmond used his personal funds to hire workers and purchase necessary materials to complete the majority of the work. He even chipped in from time to time from the few things he had learnt while being in the military. He was feeling proud of his work and how far things had come. Even the garden had improved significantly now that Jeanna and others were working on it. Although Jeanna has been working on bits in the garden, she wasn't doing much for the house itself. She didn't care much about the appearance or state of the house, except for a few interior choices. This irked Esmond, as he felt she wasn't putting in as much effort or didn't care about the appearance of the house they lived in. Instead, she would spend most of her days away from the house, visiting various farms. Esmond wasn't sure which, and he didn't care, but when she got home, she would either do some work in her office or it was too late, and she would go to bed. They never spent much time together. Even though they were now living together, it felt as though they had never been married at all. Esmond knew that he had to give it more time as they were strangers not that long ago, but something didn't sit right with him, so he tried to shrug it off. He wanted to concentrate more on the house and organise one of the rooms so he could finally have his own space. While sharing a bed was sometimes pleasant and convenient on certain nights, he had never shared a room with anyone before. Other than sharing a tent during his military service, he had never shared a room before. Even his mother and father had separate rooms, and he aspired to emulate them. Fortunately, completion was not far off. Jeanna also appeared to dislike sharing a room, frequently expressing her dissatisfaction if he placed something incorrectly or omitted it. When he first met Jeanna, he initially thought she was someone he could get along with and that she was a sweet girl. However, as time went on, she began to get irritated at the smallest of things and felt generally unhappy on some days. Perhaps her parents had also coerced her into the marriage similar to his own parents, but the sudden change in her personality caught him off guard. The first argument they had stemmed from a comment Esmond made about the state of the house, which he understood as the reason for her anger. However, it seemed that she never forgot those words.

Esmond sighed while looking out the window; it was heavily raining, and Jeanna was once again outside. She always brings Sweet Pea with her, so he's uncertain about where or how far she goes. relying solely on her words. Watching the raindrops slide down the glass gives him a feeling of sadness. While Jeanna was often away with Sweet Pea, Esmond hadn't been around Dionaea much. His focus was to ensure that this house was not only more livable for him but also for everyone living there. At least the house had improved from its previous state, and he could observe the increased happiness and contentment among the residents. Watching the rain more, he wished time would pass a bit faster. He was waiting for his mother to arrive, who apparently had something important to tell him that she wanted to say in person. Because of the rain, work had been halted, so all he could do was sit around and wait. Esmond then realises he could do some drawing. At least it would pass time quicker, and he wasn't feeling sorry for himself while looking out of a window. He goes into a drawer and pulls out his drawing pad and a pencil. He returns to the window, settles into the chair in front of it, and begins to sketch a scene of the rainy country side that he could see out of the window.

Jeanna sits on a hay bale in a barn sheltering from the rain, observing a young man at work. This is not a new experience for her, as she has done it frequently in the past. However, she has noticed an increase in its frequency recently, even though she is not engaging in any inappropriate activities. Frequently, she lends a hand at the nearby farms, as she has always done, but occasionally, she visits this farm for relaxation and to see an old friend. At least that's what she tries to tell herself. And a friend he must stay now, as much as she does not like it. The young lad gathers straw with a pitchfork and shuffles it around the stable to create a perfect bed for the horse, which is not yet inside. He also remains silent but looks deep in thought, which only worries Jeanna. She plucks a strand of hay from the bale she's sitting on and plays with it for a moment before sighing and flicking it out of her hands. The rain helped cover how silent the two were being, yet it was like it wasn't raining at all with how deafening the silence was.

Jeanna turns to face the young man who is working; she's known him for a long time and once believed he was the man she would marry. Harry is his name, and they had been together since she was 12 years old. However, the year before, her parents forced her to break up with him, insisting that she marry someone of dragon rider blood. She thought it was stupid, not only is her own mother a normal person, everyone knows their house is on the verge of collapsing. She was surprised herself when the king sent a letter allowing her to find a dragon herself, she was certain that they would not allow her with the current state of the house and how long it took them to allow her. Despite her deep love for Sweet Pea, all she wanted was to be a normal person. She does not want to be a noble, carrying the burden of being one and being sent off to fight in wars on dragons' backs if there was ever one again. She does not see being part of nobility a good thing. Not in this era anyway. Nearly all nobles had to learn to fight in some way, they were the protectors after all, yet she was not taught. Only recently has she had a few lessons now that their family wasn't looking so close to collapse. She never got into it, though, and has been trying to dodge them ever since.

Harry's voice interrupted Jeanna's thoughts. "You know you shouldn't be coming here anymore, even if we're not doing anything. People speak."

Jeanna turns to him with a sad look on her face. "You were my friend before anything else. I feel sad that we must split this way."

Regrettably, this is the way things must remain going forward. I also don't want to be the dinner of your husband's dragon when he finds out what we had."

"That would be against the law. He knows better than that."

"His power surpasses that of your family. If not eaten, he may just think my farm is better in someone else's hands."

"I would not allow such a thing. As the heir, I control everything in that house and land."

"Jeanna, his family has the power to devastate yours with ease. I know who they are and I'm not stupid." He pauses and turns turn's to face her. He rests his fork against the wall, approaches Jeanna, and places his hands on hers. "We cannot be seen together again. I love you, but I have respect, and so should you. You're married now, and I need to find someone else. It's just how it's supposed to be." Harry lets go of Jeanna's hands and turns around to go back to work, saying nothing else.

Jeanna looks over to him with tears in her eyes, but she doesn't let them fall before jumping off the bale and running outside of the barn. The heavy rain hides her tears as she stands there sobbing to herself. She knows better than anyone that she shouldn't be doing this, but she has been feeling distraught ever since the day she was made to split up from Harry. Over the months, she has attempted to maintain her composure, but she is increasingly aware of its deterioration. She ponders whether she will ever be able to adapt to the new life she must lead.

Meanwhile, Esmond guides his mother Rena through his house and into the lounge area. She takes a seat on the sofa, holding an old book that has caught Esmond's attention from the moment she entered. It looks well used and similar to the other note books she uses as a diary. Esmond sits down and is curious, so he asks, "What's the book?" Rena smiles, opens the book, and flips through a few pages. Esmond almost got up to ask for tea, but Rena stopped him before he could. She seemed excited and wanted to say what she came all the way here for.

"This is one of my old diaries. It's what I came here for."

Esmond was puzzled, but he allowed her to proceed. He knew she always wrote in her diary after because before he was born she had an accident while on Miasma, which caused her to have memory problems, so she always writes down what she has done every day just in case she needs to remember or go back to something.

"Since you returned with Dionaea, I've thought she looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. She's quite distinct, so I know I haven't seen her around here. Anyways, let me read and explain."

Rena was flying on Miasma, she was pregnant with Esmond at the time, but not heavily. Rena was tasked with guarding the island, as some unknown individuals had been attempting to steal eggs. All she needed to do was patrol the area to ensure that no suspicious activity was occurring. Others from various locations were also engaged in similar activities, albeit in different areas. Rena decided to take on this mission because only she and her husband knew she was pregnant at the time, and she felt it was going to be something easy to do while getting a lot of money from the royal family. She thought it would be fine since it was only flying around the island. The individuals who had attempted theft in the past lacked dragons, making it impossible for them to inflict harm on anyone riding a dragon. Unfortunately, they were not alone this time. On the night she was on guard duty, they tired again, but this time they were accompanied by two dragon riders. They were smaller dragons, but Rena couldn't risk getting herself injured. Despite Rena's best efforts to halt the attack, she was forced to retreat, hoping to reach the other guardians and seize control. However, due to her location on the opposite side of the island, she chose to take a shortcut across it rather than a more direct route. Despite the risk of potential attacks by wild dragons, Rena felt compelled to take this risk. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened, or so she thought. The two riders were gaining on her as Miasma was tired from already flying a lot before meeting them when suddenly they were attacked by another dragon. Suddenly, a large dragon appeared out of nowhere, seized a small dragon with its talons, and swiftly eliminated one of the riders, tearing him from his saddle and hurling him away. The dragon it had a hold of in its talons screamed and tried getting away, but the bigger dragon only threw them away towards the ground like it was nothing. The other dragon and its rider looked like they were about to retreat but had no time as this strange, aggressive dragon breathed its fire all over them, killing the rider. Although the dragon's tough scales are resistant to fire, the fire threw it off course, causing it to flee in a different direction. This wild dragon kept following Rena and Miasma. Rena could tell Miasma was scared and panicking but also exhausted, she herself felt the same, but she must protect Esmond. The dragon appeared determined to pursue Rena and Miasma, exhibiting less aggression than before, yet it continued to growl as if they shouldn't be fleeing. Rena didn't give it much thought because she was still certain it would try to kill them. However, she managed to reach her destination, where some other riders quickly came to her rescue and attempted to distract the wild dragon so she could escape. She could see the struggle the others had trying to stop the beast, but there was not much she could do in her condition. After that night, she left the mission early and vowed never to do anything like that again while pregnant or with young children. Which she ended up keeping.

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Rena closes the book and places it to her side. Esmond is left a little confused but waits for his mother to carry on.

"Maybe its all an coincidence but I have a feeling that on that day Dionaea knew you were around and in trouble and had already chosen you. Perhaps you were never chosen after all this time because you already had one."

Esmond was in shock but wasn't sure what to believe, on one side it could be a rare coincidence, but on the other it seemed impossible.

"How would she have known I was there? After all, she wouldn't have been able to smell or see me." Esmond says trying to speak reason into her.

"Dragons don't need that. They know who they want from the get-go. Did Dionaea sniff you and examine you before deciding that you're the one?"

"I mean no, but she could have smelt me from afar when I was out looking for her."

"Dragons are unlike humans or other animals. In a way, they're out of this world. Something that shouldn't be. It wouldn't be surprising to me that when I got near her with you inside me, she knew you were the one."

"Yeah, I don't know; I am just not sure how."

"You're asking how about an animal can breathe fire out of its mouth." Rena rolls her eyes.

"I guess you're right." Esmond laughs but is still unsure, although the thought of it does make him feel good. That he never was without a dragon. Through this time that has been a little hard on him, he feels his mothers crazy stories has brought his mood back up again.

Rena starts speaking up again. "Anyways, I will have to go as I have business elsewhere that I need to attend to. It brings me joy that my son has always had a strong dragon."

Esmond stands up first and offers to assist her, which she accepts. The past has been hard on her, so she's not as strong as she used to be, but Esmond still sees her as the strongest woman he has ever known. He leads her to the door and says his goodbyes as he watches her leave the premises. Just as he was about to shut the door, Jeanna came rushing in, pushing the door into Esmond a bit and startling him. "whoa! What are you doing?" Esmond yells at Jeanna, but she doesn't respond, instead running up the stairs and disappearing from view. "What a way to ruin my day, eh?" Esmond muses to himself, fed up with her recent antics.

Esmond finds himself lying on the sofa in the lounge. Jeanna wouldn't come down to eat, and now she wouldn't let him into their room. Since there were no rooms ready for him, he had to sleep on the sofa. He begins to question whether this is his new normal, sleeping on sofas and never seeing his own wife. It's not like he was away at war or anything either, which annoys him more. Jeanna's recent actions have left him feeling lost and down. He doesn't know why she is acting like this. He first thought it might have been something he had done wrong, but she says he hasn't, and he doesn't know whether to believe her or not. The only certainty he has is that this situation cannot continue, and he plans to ensure she is aware of this by tomorrow morning. For now, though, he only wishes he could fall asleep in this uncomfortable position.

Morning time comes, and Esmond catches Jeanna at the table. He's exhausted and grouchy, so he wants to shout, but he holds it in. He sits down opposite her with his arms crossed, thinking of what to say first, but before he can say anything, Jeanna speaks up.

"I'm sorry, but can you please forget about yesterday?"

"And how can I do that? You know it's not just yesterday. It's all the other times as well. You have been acting weird, different than when I first met you."

"Yes, I know. It won't happen again, but I don't want to talk about it."

"And why is that? You've been treating me like some enemy. What have I done wrong?"

When Jeanna remains silent, Esmond becomes even more enraged. He gets up from the table and storms out of the room. He knows something is wrong but doesn't know what. He begins to ponder numerous potential issues, but then his thoughts turn to her frequent outings and avoidance behaviour. Thinking about it only intensifies his anger, but then an idea dawns on him. Maybe her parents know something. They would never outright spill a secret of their own daughter, but let's say he somehow found out. It was a risk to go and tell a lie to see her parents reactions, but in his state, it was worth it. He quickly leaves the house and heads towards the nearby stable barn. It was something old that needed repairing when they first moved in, but Esmond got to it right away as he wanted his old horses to come with him, even if he has a dragon now, he can't always use her just for transportation. He grabs the tack of the fastest horse he has and brings it over to the stable. A small bay horse with a white blaze sticks its head out to greet Esmond, and he strokes its nose and scratches her forehead. He tacks her up quickly and jumps on before riding off toward his in-laws house.

When Esmond arrives, he quickly ties his horse up to a post and strides himself toward the house. Since no one was expecting him, he opened the door and let himself in, startling a maid on the other side. "I wish to see Todd." Esmond says in a demanding voice, and she quickly leaves to go and get him. It wasn't long later that he was guided, by Todd himself, into another room with his wife. They all sit down, and Esmond notices they looked concerned, but he doesn't start with greetings or small talk. He gets straight to the point.

"Was Jeanna with someone before me? Or is this new?"

"I-I don't know what you mean?" The sudden question startles Todd. Patricia, on the other hand, looks away with her head hung low, like she's trying to cover her expression.

"I'm talking about the other man." Esmond attempts to conceal his uncertainty about the existence of another man, giving the impression of posing a question.

Todd looks towards Patricia with a worried expression and then gets a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

"What do you know?" Esmond leans in, trying to exert more pressure on the elderly couple. Eventually, after some stuttering, Todd sighs and gives in.

"I didn't think she would go back to him. They were together before you two got married, but I made her split up since he was only a common farm boy and I wanted better for her."

"You know, I wouldn't have cared if you two had told me beforehand there was someone else, but hiding it has made this different."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't think a man like you would want someone who was not pure. She promised me she wouldn't ever be with him again."

Esmond looks at him in disgust and gets up to leave. He can't believe everything he's hearing. "Who is he?"

"His name is Harry, and he resides at Little Meadow Farm." Todd tries to follow Esmond to make him stay, but nothing is holding him back now. "Please don't hurt her or Harry! She promised she wouldn't. She never breaks her promises!"

Todd's words only exacerbate Esmond's irritation. He initially arrived with a falsehood but subsequently revealed the truth. Although he doesn't know for sure yet if she has done anything, her actions are only making her look guilty. Esmond jumps back on his horse and rides away, unsure of where to go first, but what he does know is that he doesn't want to go back home. He has multiple thoughts going through his head. He feels like he could kill someone.