Mira looked at him, her words hanging in the air, then turned her head.

It was definitely awkward for a stranger to see her in such a disheveled state. If it were her, she wouldn't want anyone to witness such a thing either.

She turned her back, the bridal veil and the skirt flowing behind her as she moved, creating a beautiful arc. Mira lowered her head, examining the intricate details of her gown. The lace edges formed regular patterns, and her fingers traced the delicate borders, sending a soft, tingling sensation up her fingertips.

Back at the Magic Energy Hub, she had never worn a dress of such fine craftsmanship.

This was a wedding dress—originally meant for a princess.

Mira lightly fluffed the skirt, and the incredible sensation still hadn't fully faded.

She had always been an apprentice to a grand mage. At the Magic Energy Hub, apprentices could only wear gray robes that corresponded to their rank.

Mira had many magical robes. Throughout the year, the Magic Energy Hub provided new uniforms to apprentices, according to their level, and Mira always received a new gray robe.

The summer one was light and thin, the winter one had a fur collar, and the spring and autumn ones were regular outfits—always gray.

In the stifling and suffocating environment, gray, rules, and the hierarchical system had smothered the youthful colors that should have belonged to her.

At the Magic Energy Hub, she had never realized how strange it was. Everyone around her lived according to the established rules. No one ever questioned it, or perhaps, those who did were already dealt with.

Had she not escaped the Magic Energy Hub and seen the world beyond the books, Mira could hardly have imagined that the world contained so many colors.

The brownish-yellow land, vast green forests, the endless blue sky, and the pure white clouds, as soft as cotton.

At the Magic Energy Hub, when one looked up, all they saw was a magical blue-purple light curtain. Aside from the dim blue mixed with dark purple, there was nothing else to catch one’s eye.

Mira's mentor was a grand mage.

Grand mages were the closest spellcasters to the high tower mages. Before Mira left the Magic Energy Hub, her mentor was about to break through. If successful, the magical world would soon welcome its eighteenth high tower mage.

But two months had passed, and there was still no news from the Magic Energy Hub.

He had failed, and Mira felt a pang of regret. Her mentor was a good mage.

"You?" Lance's voice interrupted Mira’s thoughts. "It's your turn to answer my question."

The blue dragon surveyed the girl in the complicated white gown. She didn’t have a sword, and the adventurer’s usual rhetoric clearly didn’t fit her.

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"Me?" Mira turned around, the arc of her skirt standing out in the dim light of the tower's base.

"Can't you tell?" Mira lifted her skirt. "This is a wedding dress."

Lance shook his head calmly. His current state was so pitiful that when he made this gesture, it appeared absurd.

Mira felt frustrated.

"Am I a princess?" she asked, forcing the words out. "I’m supposed to marry a dragon."

Lance looked her up and down.

His black dragon cousin was the quintessential rake. Lance had heard about his cousin’s reputation long before he came to live in the tower. That guy hung around various taverns, having affairs with women from different species.

Lance had seen one of his cousin’s previous lovers from a distance during a dragon gathering—an enchantress, voluptuous and striking, with a triangular tail that swayed provocatively.

Lance shuddered at the thought of the enchantress. He preferred studying the magic of blue dragons.

Bringing his attention back to the present, he looked at the girl in front of him, Mira. She was far removed from the words "voluptuous" or "sensual."

Curious, energetic, full of life, her eyes sparkling with an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

His black dragon cousin hated such eyes.

When Lance first took over this tower, he had seen plenty of eyes like hers in his cousin’s collection room.

Eyes cruelly and unnaturally removed using strange magic, still carrying the emotions of the person who had once owned them.

"Dragons don’t like your type," Lance kindly warned Mira. After all, it was her Rebirth spell that had brought him back to consciousness.

"Well, that's just perfect," Mira responded nonchalantly.

She didn’t want to marry a dragon anyway.

She just needed a place to hide from the pursuit of the Magic Energy Hub—somewhere absolutely safe.

"Is the owner of the tower at the top?" Mira asked Lance.

Lance shook his head. "No."

"Did the dragon leave?"

"Probably." Lance was uncertain about which dragon she was asking about. If it was the magic dragon, then he wasn’t here, but it wasn’t so much that he left as that he couldn’t come back.

The tower was now his prize.

"Do you know when he’ll return?"

"The dragon or the tower’s owner?" Lance asked.

"The dragon is the tower’s owner, isn’t he? I meant the magic dragon," Mira furrowed her brow. "I thought he would be here."

"He won’t be here for a long time," Lance answered.

After avenging himself, he had reclaimed the tower from his black dragon cousin. But given his cousin’s personality, he would never allow a "weak" blue dragon to overpower him.

Once Lance healed, his cousin would surely return to try to take the tower back.

Mira seemed satisfied with the answer.

That meant she had plenty of time to prepare her magic circle. It needed to be strong enough, but not to kill or harm the dragon.

Honestly, Mira wasn’t interested in the dragon-slaying legends she had read in books. She just wanted to use the magic dragon’s reputation to live in the tower for a while.

The magic dragon probably wouldn’t want to negotiate with a human mage, but if she had a trump card that made him wary, perhaps Mira could secure the right to use a piece of land.

A space big enough for a bed would be sufficient. If the dragon showed fear or hesitation, she could ask him for space for a table as well.

Her dorm room at the Magic Energy Hub had been just like that: narrow and rectangular, with a bed, a table, a worn-out chair, and a self-made fabric wardrobe full of gray robes.

Lance noticed the contemplative expression on her face. Being a blue dragon, his curiosity was instinctive.

"What are you thinking?"

"What?" Mira was once again interrupted by him. She turned around, gazing down at the blue eyes on the floor.

The blue-haired man lay sprawled out on the ground. His burns were grotesquely severe, but like all spellcasters, even in a life-and-death situation, he still had a curious mind.

Talking to a severely injured person like this felt cruel.

Mira crouched down once again.

"Are you sure you’re okay?"