Heine and Juliet, who were standing behind Irene, glared angrily at Selene.
"What do you mean by that?"
Irene's eyes narrowed sharply, like a hawk's, and the atmosphere instantly turned tense.
Selene, however, did not care about Irene's scrutiny at all.
She even folded her arms beneath her chest with pride, then raised an eyebrow at Irene.
With a tone that made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world, Selene said, "As a human, shouldn't you properly receive your guests?"
The tense atmosphere around Irene vanished completely.
She looked at Selene teasingly and said, "Is it really appropriate for you, a dragon, to say something like that?"
After taking human form, Selene still carried a faint dragon scent.
Irene had not smelled it outside the lord's manor earlier, but now Selene was sitting right across from her.
The distance between them was barely two meters.
If Irene still could not smell it, she would be unworthy of a Dragon Slayer's nose.
The scents of a true dragon, a Dragon Slayer, and a dragonified Dragon Slayer were all slightly different.
Irene was certain the woman sitting across from her was a true dragon, though she had no idea which remote corner this one had crawled out from.
Selene's sharp tongue seemed to have come from nowhere.
"I wish to become human. Besides, can a dragon not be a guest? Is that something you, who once made a contract with the Sage Dragon Belserion, should be saying?"
"Wishes to become human..."
Irene's eyes changed slightly as she murmured those words in an extremely faint voice.
Irene did not know what Raizel and Selene's goal was.
She had only grown slightly curious about the two powerful Mages who had suddenly appeared in her city.
Yes.
Even after learning that Erza was still alive, Irene had never tried to investigate anything about Erza.
She did not know that Erza had joined a guild.
She did not know that Erza had a close relationship with Raizel, who was sitting across from her.
If she investigated, would that not prove she still cared about Erza?
Irene lightly tapped her staff, and three white porcelain cups of steaming black tea appeared before the three of them.
"Now this is how one receives guests."
Selene picked up the black tea and took a small sip.
Raizel did not drink the tea.
Instead, he said, "We come from the Magic Guild Fairy Tail in Ishgar. I am Raizel."
"I am Selene."
Selene gently opened her folding fan and nodded.
Irene curiously studied Selene, Raizel's hand, and the very eye-catching Fairy Tail guild mark beneath Selene's collarbone.
Then Irene looked at Selene with an unreadable expression and asked, "A dragon joined a guild?"
"Why not? I already said it. I want to become human."
Irene did not dwell on it any further and instead turned her gaze back to Raizel.
"Very well. Fairy Tail. I have heard of it. So? Why have you come to me?"
In truth, it was not merely that she had heard of Fairy Tail.
Irene knew about Fairy Tail.
After all, Fairy Heart was Zeref's target.
She simply could not say that.
"It is very simple. Because of her. Erza Belserion."
Raizel took a photograph from his pocket.
The person in the photo was Erza, smiling brightly like a blooming flower.
Ur had taken the photo.
Irene lost focus for a brief moment when she saw Erza's picture.
However, she adjusted herself extremely quickly. In the next instant, she returned to her usual elegant composure.
Her pink-painted lips curved into a half-smile that was not quite a smile.
She crossed her legs gracefully, placed both hands over her knee, and said,
"So? Ah, I remember now. August mentioned this to me before. Unfortunately, I have no interest in acting out some touching mother-daughter drama."
She did not try to pressure Raizel with Magic Power.
Just by looking at his consistently calm demeanor, Irene knew that Raizel was not afraid of her.
Although she did not know what he was relying on—perhaps Selene, perhaps his own unusual strength—it did not matter.
Whatever the reason, Irene knew Raizel was different from the people who had faced her before.
As though she had discovered something interesting, she folded her arms and leaned back against the sofa.
"She's rattled. She's definitely rattled!" Selene whispered from the side, hiding her lips behind her folding fan.
Irene clenched her back teeth, and the hands hidden beneath her crossed arms faintly tightened.
Her voice remained as cold and distant as ever.
"I will say it again. I do not consider her my daughter."
"I also have a child. Dragons give birth but don't raise their young. I did not raise my child much either, but he is still my child."
Selene had only looked after Kurnugi for a period of time.
After that, her attitude toward him had basically been: as long as he was alive, that was enough.
But if someone killed Kurnugi, she would avenge him.
Then Selene's tone changed.
"However, sometimes I wonder whether that was wrong."
Selene had been influenced by Ur.
As the guild's expert at raising children, Ur had once shared photos of little Ultear, Erza, and the others with Selene.
At that time, Selene had faintly felt that perhaps she had been mistaken.
'She really is becoming more and more human.'
Raizel could not help sighing inwardly.
The current Selene could truly be described as graceful and dignified, yet still charming.
Irene was affected by Selene's words.
For no clear reason, she stared at the teacup, then at the photo, then at her own reflection in the tea.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Raizel's voice interrupted Irene's thoughts.
"Let's make a deal."
Irene returned to her aloof, queenly posture.
"A deal? That depends on what you can offer."
"I can tell you how to resolve the side effects caused by Dragon Power. As for my condition—"
Before Raizel could state the condition, Irene interrupted him.
She leaned forward, resting her chin on one hand.
With a smiling gaze fixed on Raizel, she asked softly, "Where exactly did you learn all this? Not just about Belserion, but also about Erza being my daughter. I disappeared from people's sight a full four hundred years ago."
Their faces were extremely close.
Raizel could even see the faint layer of fine hair on her face.
'...'
Meeting Irene's eyes, Raizel was rapidly brainstorming what excuse he should use to brush past the question.
But before he could think too much, Irene withdrew the smile from her face, leaned back again, and spoke to him in a tone that was almost an order.
"You may think whatever you like. I cannot be bothered to interfere. But don't casually guess what I'm thinking. I hate it more than anything when people do that."
At that moment, Raizel clearly felt the resemblance between her and Erza.
This mother and daughter sometimes handled things in almost exactly the same way.
The difference was that when Erza was serious, she resembled a princess accustomed to giving orders.
Irene, on the other hand, gave him the impression of an unfathomable queen.
She was what that princess might become after growing up, or perhaps what remained after all innocence and kindness had been erased from a cold ruler.
Irene's expression was ordinary, and her tone carried neither sadness nor joy.
"I don't know where you learned this information or this method, but you are telling me you found a solution I failed to find after four hundred years of searching?"
The atmosphere in the reception room suddenly became strangely indescribable.
Raizel calmly asked in return, "Have you ever tried searching in the northern continent, Guiltina?"