“You’re not being serious, right?” I asked.

“S-She reflected a lot. Really…” Dialugia stuttered.

“We don’t know whether she actually reflected on what she had done or she’s just depressed because our plans went down the drain,” I responded.

I had an idea about what happened at the nest, even though I wasn’t there. At first, Dialugia agreed to the punishment I bestowed on Smartie, and I even recall her nodding when I told Smartie was grounded, but after returning to the nest, I was sure she eventually felt bad when Smartie kept crying with tears rolling down her face. Even I had to look away from Smartie when she started crying earlier, so Dialugia’s feelings toward her crying daughter could easily be deduced. Seeing that Dialugia had come all the way here to see me, I knew what she told Smartie. Maybe…

‘I’ll talk to your father.’

Or...

‘I’m sure he didn’t mean it. Don’t cry, Dialuria.’

If not those, then…

‘I’ll help you. Trust your mom.’

The situation may have been a bit different, but right now, Smartie was no different from a child lying in the middle of the market and throwing a tantrum until she got what she wanted. That worked before, so she probably thought it was going to work again.

‘It did work…’

Dialugia was the type of parent who would give her daughter whatever she wanted every time she got on the floor and threw a tantrum, and I finally understood why Smartie was looking down on her mother.

“I didn’t actually mean it when I said she was grounded,” I told her.

“Oh, really?” she asked.

“Yes, but after seeing your response, I think we should continue it,” I added.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying…” she said.

“We need to teach Smartie that she can’t always get what she wants. I know very well that I’m not in the position to say anything to you, but up until now, our Smartie has been doing whatever she wanted. She has to know that throwing tantrums won’t always work,” I explained.

“I-I agree with you, but…”

“So you agree…” I pointed out.

“But… Our Dialuria seems like she has been really looking forward to going out together… You promised her before we left for the expedition. I know Dialuria better than anyone and she has reflected enough on her actions. How about you go and reason with her…” she responded.

“You’re too soft,” I commented.

“I’m sure you know that Dialuria likes her father very much,” Dialugia continued.

Of course, I knew that. I couldn’t even help but think that it could be dangerous whenever I looked at her habit.

I did feel bad, and when I looked at Dialugia quietly, she continued.

“I’m sure of it. It’s because you haven’t visited the nest since she was young and didn’t give her any love. You had been neglecting the child thirsty for her father’s love… Of course, what Dialuria did today is her fault, but I believe we have to provide some space so that the child has room to breathe.”

“Is that so? I’m asking because it seems like you just don’t want to see Smartie cry,” I asked.

“H-How dare you think of me that way?!” she shouted.

I guess I hit the mark because she started blushing, unlike her usual self. However, she wasn’t wrong. It was true that I left the parenting to Dialugia when I brought them here because I was so busy I couldn’t even sleep properly. At the time, seeing Smartie once a week was already too much and when I entered the training center, I couldn’t see her for over a month. I didn’t really have a say in this, however…

‘Dialugia is definitely the problem.’

Her unique habit was The Giving Tree, so I was sure she had poured all her love and attention toward Smartie. Even when I was with them, she treated her as if her daughter was her master. Dialugia felt like she had no life of her own, as her attention was solely on Smartie. I knew she had the heart of a noble mother, but Dialugia was overdoing it to the point that it was making her look bad. I thought letting her take care of herself first was the right thing to do, but the issue was I had no idea how to go about that.

‘Parenting is hard.’

I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t have a child back on Earth, and I never really took child-rearing lessons and learned theories about it. The only knowledge I had about parenting was from the show, ‘Our Children Has Changed,’ but I didn’t really enjoy watching it, and I was sure Dialugia also hadn’t learned anything about parenting.

‘We need an expert who can give us realistic advice.’

I had a lot on my plate, but there was nothing more important than Smartie’s growth, so I had no choice but to lower my voice.

“Return for now. I’ll visit tomorrow morning.”

“Are you saying that…”

“No, I’m not saying that I’m taking back the punishment I gave her… I think our family has to go through a proper diagnosis,” I replied.

“What?” Dialugia asked.

“Anyway, that’s all you need to know,” I told her.

I had no choice but to quickly write a letter, so I left the confused and curious Max behind.

***

The next morning.

I saw Dialugia and she seemed to be in a bad mood.

“So, you’re saying that… we’re going to consult an expert, right? I don’t really understand. We’re the ones raising our child, so why do we need someone else’s help? And our Dialuria is a dragon, not a human,” Dialugia complained.

“Well, I don’t really know if it’ll be effective, but I’m sure it won’t get any worse than the current situation. Whatever it is, advice from an experienced individual is always helpful,” I told her.

“That’s… true, but…”

“Ah… Did Smartie behave yesterday?” I asked.

“Yes. She fell asleep when I told her that her father was coming and she seemed really excited when I saw her this morning. By the way, has this expert raised many children?” she asked.

“No, not really. You can think of them as someone who had received specialized education in the subject. They’re not limited to just early childhood education, but they’re experts in other fields as well. Back on Earth, I was told they were a family therapist. And when they arrived here, they earned the title ‘Monster Behavior Analyst,’ and they have been helpful in many raids,” I answered.

“Dragons aren’t monsters.” Dialugia pointed out.

“Of course, I know that, but we should still look into it. Actually, I called them here because I’m trying to find a way to make this work,” I added.

As expected, Dialugia wasn’t happy about all this, and it was probably because she was unsatisfied about receiving help from this so-called expert. Since things like psychotherapy didn’t really exist here, I could understand her reaction.

‘We belong to different races as well.’

Basically, she disliked this situation and she seemed uncomfortable with it as well.

My expectations also weren't that high because it seemed that dragons had their own different parenting method. In addition, the dragon race was far more intelligent than humans, so they couldn’t really be called monsters.

‘Smartie seems to be moving based on her instincts.’

I didn’t have time, so I asked Lee Ji-Hye for help to quickly hire someone. Lee Ji-Hye was confident that they would be helpful, but I would have to see if that was really the case. Anyway, I had no choice but to expect even a little bit of help from this person.

‘If we don’t know it, we just need to learn.’

Keeping this to myself would only slow us down, so it was more realistic to get help from someone more knowledgeable than us.

While Dialugia and I were waiting at a place not too far from the nest, we saw someone walking toward us from afar. It was a nice-looking man.

“My name is Kang Hyun-Wook. Miss Lee Ji-Hye has introduced me…”

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Ki-Young.”

“I’m Dialugia.”

“It’s truly an honor to meet such famous people. I had never imagined we would meet like this… Haha. It’s really amazing because you really never know what might happen in your life. Whenever I’m in the city, I would always look at this large and magnificent, but I didn’t think I’d end up here,” Kang Hyun-Wook explained.

“It’s just money,” I commented.

“I’m sure people like me can’t even imagine the amount. Haha. Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ll be helpful, but I’ll do my best,” he said.

“I look forward to working with you, Doc,” I said.

“You don’t need to call me that. Please call me Mr. Hyun-Wook, Sub Guild Master of the Blue Guild,” he requested.

“Ah… Sure. Just call me Mr. Ki-Young, then,” I told him.

“Haha. Since it’s a bit awkward for me to call you that, I’ll call you Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” he said.

He was nicer than I thought. He didn’t seem that trustworthy when I first saw him, but after talking to him, he didn’t seem like such a bad guy.

‘I think he’ll be helpful…’

Dialugia had to have felt the same way because she lowered her guard.

When we entered the nest together, he looked around as if it was interesting, but he had to have considered this as part of his work because he was maintaining a serious expression.

“So, what should we do, Mr. Hyun-Wook?” I asked.

“Ah, don’t worry about me. Just spend time with your daughter like how you usually spend time with her. I think it would be better for me to see what the problem is first,” he replied.

‘He seems like the real deal…’

He was already writing something down in his unknown notebook. It did bother me, but because Smartie started running toward me, I actually forgot he was even here.

“Pant, pant… Kyah! Kyaaaaaaa!”

Dialugia approached Smartie first, but as usual, she ignored her mother, and the way she wagged her tail while trying to get hugged made me realize that she hadn’t reflected on yesterday’s incident at all.

“Dialuria.”

When I spoke in a low, soft voice; she started whining, making her look pretty cunning.

‘She’s more problematic than I thought…’

I wanted to tell her to stop, but since someone else was watching, I had no choice but to show them how I usually acted around Smartie. When I looked at Dialugia as if to prove my point earlier, she looked worried, as she once again realized that our daughter hadn’t properly reflected on her actions and simply fooled her mother with her tears. However, I guess she was still happy to see Smartie being so excited because she took a step back and watched us from the side.

After eating, talking, and playing with her, I realized that a lot of time had passed and when the stuffed Smartie started to fall asleep, Trainer Kang Hyun-Wook approached me with a serious expression. I was curious about what he was going to say and that was when he bluntly laid down the facts. I was already aware of them all, but Dialugia seemed stupefied.

“The child is acting as if her mother doesn’t exist. To make things worse, it seems like she’s completely ignoring you.”

“Ah… well…”

“And it’s impressive how she only looks at her father,” Kang Hyun-Wook added.

It was an obvious fact, and it was important for us to know why she was acting that way.

“Is there a reason why?” I asked.

“There’s a reason behind every child’s actions, especially if they’re still mentally immature. I saw many problems and from my point of view, I think the biggest problem is that her parents don’t seem to be getting along,” he replied.

“What?” I asked.

“The fact that you two aren’t getting along isn’t the real issue—it’s the fact that you don’t seem interested in each other at all. It’s so obvious that even I and your daughter noticed it. Did you know that during the past few hours, the conversation between you two lasted less than thirty seconds?”

“Ah…”

I had never realized that…

“I’m sorry to say this, but I think the root cause of your daughter’s problem is her parents. I will never consider this type of family as normal,” he commented.

The way he bluntly laid down the facts made Dialugia’s face turn pale.