In the night, the forest was like a peaceful echo of the ocean. The lushes leaves of the trees followed the wind like the calm waves of the sea, howling softly upon the blissful dark. The luminous glow of the white moon shone down stirring up the night creatures from their sleep to begin their nightfall roam while the creatures of the day took it as a sign to venture to their homes and rest for the night.

The night flowers created an enchanting pathway through the forest ground, leading the ancient wolf and the human with a fairy resting on his shoulder towards the cosy cottage that stood firmly upon the little hill as the smoke flew up from the chimney on the roof top. The orange light flickered from inside the cottage as seen from the windows.

The stream glowed a shimmering blue reflecting the dozens of the stars above it and the lonely moon. Tonight, the water was quite only the sounds of the water frogs and crickets chirped every now and then.

Each step was like walking through the heavens during the night.

As the three came upon the few cobblestone stairs lashed on by thin vines and moss that grew on it as it lead up to the cottage, Alaric had stopped.

Ciel felt the sudden stop of the ancient wolf's movement, stopped himself and turned around. His ocean blue eyes stared into those forest eyes that glowed a vibrant green and the keeper looked puzzled in his spot, titling his head to the side, and questioning the wolf. "Is this where we part ways for tonight?"

The wolf nodded his head, eyes blinking once but gentle to answer Ciel's question.

Ciel smiled in returned "I see". The keeper was grateful for the ancient wolf's kindness as well as the patience he had with the human. Ciel reached out a hand towards the ancient wolf and softly he asked Alaric for his permission to touch him. "May I?"

Alaric took a step forward towards the orange haired human and accepted the humans gesture, moving his head towards the palm that waited for his touch and letting skin come in contact with his fur on his head. With a touch Alaric could sense the kindness coming from those calloused hands that seemingly spent years on hard work.

It was the deep warmth of gentleness in the humans heart that Alaric could see that attracted him. It was similar to the female human who had come this way weeks ago. Her cold hands that would turn warm whenever she caressed the side of his head. The love hidden deep in in her icy blue eyes that inflicted any emotions that dared to come forward whenever who looked into her eyes. Ciel had the same look in his eyes, but the only difference was that his showed and hers didn't.

"I hope to see you in the morning Alaric" said Ciel.

The rings of sweet bells rang softly, and gold dust surrounded the ancient wolf. The blond fairy flew around the wolf whose green coat of fur glowed dimly in the night sky. The water fairy halted her fly in front of the wolf, her petit little body an inch away from Alaric head. The glow of her blue dress and wings dazzled the tip of Alaric's snout.

The blond fairy bowed gracefully showing her curtesy to the ancient wolf. Alaric huffed a warm breath to the fairy whose light tunes of bells rang out with glee.

With that, the fairy and Ciel watched the ancient creature turn around and gracefully walk his way to the dark outlined forest as his coat blended into the night sky before he disappeared into the forest, becoming one with it.

"Shall we get going too" Ciel asked the water fairy with a smile as he patted his shoulder. Her response was the ring of her bell like sound that was an indication of agreement. She plopped herself back on his shoulder making Ciel chuckle lightly and he walked off making his way up the few stairs with the fairy twiddling her hands shyly and her face flushing with a pink glint.

The keeper reached the front of the house and opened the door softly in case the witch would crack it at Ciel for being so loud. Another reason for her to call out Ciel for a lousy reason.

The old wooden door creaked and squeaked making Ciel cringe and he stopped, waited for the witch to pop out with a wooden spoon and wack him for opening the door to loud but nothing had happened. He peeked his head inside and scanned the area as if he was a thief.

Ciel heard loud dry cracking rumbles coming from somewhere. It was like nails being scrapped against hard wood. Looking behind the door the expression on Ciel face came down into a deadpanned, feeling that sweat droop from the side of his face.

Elisaria was slumped on a chair, head hanging down the back rest and her nose pointing straight up. Left hand slopped down the chair while the other laid on her up rising stomach. Her mouth was opened as the horrid snoring screeched out probably causing a massive earthquake somewhere.

The witch was sound asleep on a chair.

"Well, that...That is unpredictable" Ciel deadpanned at the sight he was seeing. It wasn't something the keeper was expecting from the witch of legends. A loud snoring old woman who slept all sloppy on a chair.

Her croaking snores made the fairy tingle uncomfortably, she covered her ears with her little hands and scrunched herself into a ball upon Ciel's shoulder. The tune of the ringing bells from the fairy was ugly, it was unpleasant to the ears of Ciel who heard it very clearly.

"You must be very sensitive with sound" said Ciel.

The fairy nodded her head quickly, her shy little face still a shade of light pink.

With a soft smile beginning to form, Ciel tip toed off to the room the witch had given him to stay for the time being as well as making sure to not wake up the witch with the soft creaks he was creating with each step on the old wooden boards of the floor and cursing words under his breath whenever a creak escaped.

When it felt like an eternity of walking silently to prevent from waking up that angry old hag from her sleep, Ciel came face to face with the door of the room and heaved a sigh of relief as he placed a hand on his chest. The feeling of the heart inside his rib cage beating wildly, enough for Ciel to feel it against his palm. Who knew it would be quite the adventure to tip toe across the dangerous old wooden floor that would probably wake up the witch with just a creak.

But Ciel thanked the gods her snores were loud enough to consume the creaks and croaks of the floor.

Twisting the doorknob then to push the door open, Ciel was welcomed back with the displeasing smell of old mushroom and wet moss. The air inside the room was moist and chilling to breath in.

The fairy frowned sending distasteful rings of her bells as response.

"It's not too bad for a cottage inside the dark forest" Ciel tried to persuade her with unreasonable words that didn't satisfy her one bit. She raised an eyebrow at stared at Ciel doubtfully.

The keeper looked over to the room and began to reconsider what he told the fairy.

A lonely single bed stood in the middle of the dark humid room, while a four-legged bed side table stood beside with unkept scrolls lying flat on the surface of the table while a single burnt off candle rested in the middle.

Jars filled with uncertain objects or plants sealed tightly were placed on shelves that defiantly didn't seem sturdy enough. He cringed when he came to notice that one jar had big green toes. It made Ciel's stomach swirl, and he jerked back.

Looking at the only window that brought in the beautiful luminous glow of the moon in the room, weird yet dangerous looking plants grew from pots that sat on the only windowsill, and masks and skulls of all sorts hanged upon the walls.

He didn't know why he didn't realise this before but something with the room made him uncomfortable in the skin. "I take back what I said" Ciel spoke to the fairy who gave a lawful look towards the nervous dragon keeper who continued to stare inside the room with regret. "It's bad"

The water fairy tinkled in agreement.

Ciel placed a hand on his hip and shuffled the back of his head with the other hand "But it's either this room or the one with the witch" he said.

The two cringed harder as the snores became louder that it may have rattled the jars.

Without any further question the fairy leaped off Ciel's shoulder and flew inside the dark humid room as the gold pixie dust trailed behind before disappearing forever.

"Yeah, I thought so".

Ciel followed the fairy into the room and shut the door behind him, cutting off the rumble of snores coming. The room went dark the moment the keeper closed the door, but the light of the moon outlined only where it touched. Ciel's blue eyes shifted over to the bed where an only blanket covered the whole bed and a pillow laid on top. He felt sudden guilt wash over him.

Everyone told him he was too kind for his own good.

Ciel snatched the brown blanket from the bed and pulled it from its place, ruining the ready-made bed before he walked out of the room with the brown material wrapped around his arm while leaving a confused water fairy behind in the room.

The keeper placed the blanket on the witch, slowly and carefully so he wouldn't wake her up. Her loud snores rang in his ears, but he ignored them and continued to tuck her inside the blanket properly before he left her alone on the chair, asleep.

Softly, Ciel sat himself on the bed without the blanket and the old wood creaked. He looked over at the fairy who did exactly what he done. Her little feet barely dangling down the edge of the bed that was far too thick for her.

He wondered where the little fairy was going to sleep in this creepy old room.

Ciel rose his hand to eye level and instantly it sparked with a burst of orange flame that startled the little fairy from her spot. The flame crackled around his hand and the shades of orange began to dance around the room creating unwanted and disturbing shadowy figures.

His blue eyes darted around the room but could find nothing useful as well as comfortable to make a little bed for the little fairy. The keeper didn't want the water creature to sleep on the same bed in case he rolled on top furthermore, the keeper was a little shy sleeping with the opposite sex not like he was going to do something to fairy. It was a weird thinking that he a male human was shy to sleep with a little female creature.

Creature with human like features.

Nevertheless, he was more concerned for her safety.

When he didn't find anything, Ciel sighed a huff of disappointment and ruffled the back of his head. Getting up and strolling softly towards the bed side table, he began to clear out the mess on the table, placing the papers and books on the floor before igniting the black string sticking up from the cylinder wax, sparking a dim light of wailing orange.

The fairy only watched from her spot in curiosity at what the handsome human was doing. Her sapphire eyes reflecting the orange light making her eyes glimmer as she watched Ciel pick up the huge pillow on the huge square bed and began to softened it out.

Ciel gave up his pillow to the fairy because it was only thing in the witches room that was completely normal than the rest of the objects.

The candlelight flickered beside the pillow, it was the only source of heat he can provide the fairy so she wouldn't get cold and freeze to death. He didn't want to wake up to a fairy popsicle beside him.

"What do you think?" Ciel said with a smile as he patted down the pillow to ease the stiffen cotton inside.

The fairy twinkled brightly. Her dazzling blue eyes glowed and so did the swirly patterns of her wings that instantly perked up like a dog wagging its tail when it gets excited or happy. She flew her way to the pillow and dropped on the soft cushion and lay soundly in the middle.

Seeing how happy and comfortable the fairy was getting by laying on the pillow, Ciel flashed a small soft smile before he decided to give in for the night and let his exhausted body collapse on the hard mattress. Every stiffened part of his muscles relaxed when he had laid down, letting all the exhaustion from head-to-toe take over him.

He lay on the bed like a star, limbs spread apart except for his for left hand that rested on the brow of his head. He stared at the flickering orange lights that danced upon the wooden trails of the ceiling as if he was watching a war of light and darkness fight for dominance. A few of his sense shut down on him for the night not including his hearing.

He let the sounds around him be his lullaby, calmly the keeper listened closely to things around hoping it could at least send him to a deep thoughtless sleep. Everything around him was quite except for the howling wind that bashed against the only window and the faint creaks of the stream.

For a moment he felt at ease again, he let himself fall deep in calm sensation of peace. However, it was futile. No matter how mentally and physically drained he was, how his body refused to move from the lack of energy and the heaviness of his eyes, his mind continued to race with overwhelming thoughts. He couldn't sleep with Demarcus, his brother and Rebecca rushing around his mind like a swirling tornado. All these devastating thoughts clenched his heart tightly as if something grasped a hold of it and wouldn't let go and would constantly tightened if he dared to think further. It was like stab in his heart that bled inside creating a pool of grief while leaving a wound that cannot repair itself.

He felt like he would suffocate in this endless agony of despair.

He failed Demarcus and lost him to those monsters who call themselves human, he lost his brother and his friend, Rebecca.

He failed them all and now he doesn't know what has become of them.

Tears had begun to creep from the corners of his eyes, but he shut his eyes to stop them from escaping. His throat tightened, clenching its walls in a tight squeeze.

He could still hear Demarcus' cries echo in his ears and deafening him from the other sounds, the blood he had lost because from the fierce dragon that torn him from the sky and massacred his wings like hungry dogs.

But the look in those green eyes that looked at into his blue eyes, pleading to be released from this eternal suffering had torn the keeper in shreds.

Atlas, Ciel was to emotionally drained to keep his misery hidden and gave in, letting everything he felt race down his cheeks in the form of tears. His hand trailed down his face to cover his eyes with the back of his hand. He wanted to hide away the pain away from the rest of the world.

He didn't want them to see.

"Demarcus" Ciel sobbed softly, murmuring quietly to himself. "I'm sorry"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"





"Come out Demarcus." Ciel creeped slowly, taking one step at a time along the hay straw covered ground. He didn't want the baby dragon to hear him coming. Ciel's blue eyes darted from place to place, searching around the armoury for the sneaky little hatchlings that decided not to corporate with it's keeper and play games with him instead. "You know you can't hide forever" he grinned.

The sounds of blades clattering from behind the keeper resulted Ciel to instantly turn around. The cloth in his hand fisted tighter. The long swords were still in place against the wooden rack but were moved to be wonky as one leaned against the other. It was a sign that Demarcus that little rascal was here not seconds ago.

"Come on Demarcus, it just a little bath," Ciel said. "You don't want your siblings pushing you away because of your horrible stinky self. Do you?" he coaxed, still searching left and right for any signs of movement.

It was always like this. Demarcus would instantly hide away whenever he or another keeper speak of giving the hatchlings a wash then play hide and sneak to prevent getting a bath. It made Ciel begin to wonder if this hatchling is a cat instead a fire breathing reptile.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a gold tail quickly disappear from the stacks of shields. He swiftly turned towards the direction and rose a thing eyebrow when saw a glimpse of his gold wing peeking from a small, opened space between the two shields.

The keeper already knew that this playful and sneaky little dragon would continue to hide and run if Ciel were to continue on with his game. Especially if Ciel was to jump at him right now the little hatchling was quick and small making it an advantage for him to escape.

So, with his last tactic, the keeper acted upon on it.

"Fine." He mimicked a long-defeated tone. "If you don't wanna come out from your hiding place then I guess I will go and have fun playing with your older brother, Pythios" he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head and then to walk off slowly not even glancing back.

There was silence.

Ciel glance back and watched carefully towards the shields.

"I'm leeeaavvingg" he called out again, his thumbs grasping tightly against the holes in his brown vest as he began to whistle and stroll slowly towards the door.

He heard the low grumble of Demarcus, a cute little growl that squeaked out of defeat. It made the keeper snicker behind his gloved hand. He waited just a little more as he continued to tempt the little dragon to come out of it's exposed hiding place. "I'm going to enjoy playing catch the mouse with Pythios and the others".

Complete silence.

Immediately Ciel sensed a rushing presence, turning around he rose his wrist against his face. The little golden reptile pounced playfully towards Ciel, letting out a baby growl as he snatch shut its mouth on the leathery gauntlet the keeper wore.

It's small sharp teeth held firmly on the leather gauntlet, but it wasn't strong enough to go through the think material. Demarcus' body dangled down like a hooked meat in display as his two front limbs scratched the leather aggressively. He grumbled and growled while it bit over and over again at the gauntlets as it was prey that wouldn't die.

Ciel pulled his arm up higher to get a better view at the dangling dragon that refused to let go of his arm and began to laugh. "You're not just a cheeky little dragon but a jealous one too. Aren't ya bud?".

Demarcus stopped biting, his mouth still in the same exact position as if he was still biting and his emerald eyes glanced up innocently as if he didn't hear anything his keeper had said and that Ciel should repeat his words again. His little drools were left on the leather while some continued to seep out of it's mouth.

Ciel smiled and raised an eyebrow.

Demarcus pulled his mouth away from the biting position and his brown claws dug into the leather then the hatchling pulled itself up, his little wings flapping for helping balance. He sat obediently on Ciel's arm, and his wings retreated back.

"Come on let's get you washed up. You stink" Ciel chuckled, pinching his nose to humour the little dragon that immediately got excited and began to leap and run around Ciel's body like a snake twirling it's prey.

"Hey" Ciel said cheerfully, twirling his body after Demarcus. The hatchling peeked out his little golden reptile head from behind the keeper's shoulder and let another baby growl.

"Ok, Ok. I'll play with you once I finished giving you a bath" Ciel scratched the hatchlings cheek with his index finger resulting Demarcus to shake happily.

"Alright let's get going before John throws my ass into the stables to clean horse shit"









_____________________________________________________________

Hello my lovely readers of Wattpad.

It is I Yuki Okami.

Here with a very important notice.

I know I have disappeared out of nowhere and hadn't updated for nearly a month.

I'm sorry.

I'm very sorry.

Please forgive me.

I know you must be thinking this chapter wasn't worth the disappearance and the come back for it but I promise the next chapter will reveal the whole plot twist of the story and what is happening with Artemis and Daisuke as well as her mysterious power and where it came from.

However with school, school work and my job that I previously just got hired, it has been difficult keeping up with writing chapters as I actually tried to juggle all 4 at once.

Yeah not such a good idea.

So sorry again if the next chapter will take bit longer to be released but I'm really trying to finish it.

I don't wanna rush either because I know I wouldn't write good if I did.

So sorry again for the very late chapter update. I hope you liked it.

Anyway that's not the very important notice I want to share.

So recently, well a few weeks back. I was reading through my whole book and realised how bad the first parts and were inconsistent and it felt like I didn't know what I was writing and the way I written it was terrible I nearly died from the amount of cringe I was consuming.

And it was around this month that I was like no fucking way. It left me to think for days and the decisions I would make for this story.

I would go nights without sleep (I'm just exaggerating) and just think and think. I couldn't take it anymore and just died on the spot.

So in the end I came to a decision that by the end of 2022 'The Villainess only wants to go home' is going to be no more.

I'm taking it down from Wattpad .

But fret not my loyal readers, the novel will rise up as a new and improved story called 'The Black Dragon's Reign'

It will continue on with the same plot line and story of Artemis/Diana. Same characters and world however it's just going to be written with more care and accurate spelling, grammar and story line.

There is going to be a few changes there and there but it's still following the same Isekai plot line and Artemis is still going to have this quest to go home with Jackal and Homura. Everything is mostly the same but the first parts is going to change a little. I want to add more interaction between the characters and to make everyone understand and know the characters much more then just reading part by part.

You know.

I just didn't like the way I started it and realised I was just rushing my way to the adventure part and didn't take my time with the characters.

I will continue to write the next chapters and continue on with the story but I will also restart the story at the same time and by the end of December I will take the original down and upload the new with the chapters so you could just binge read it.

I hope you guys understand and not hate me for making this hard decision. I just want to make my story worth the read from start to end.

But still I can't thank you readers enough for reading my story and giving it chance.

From the bottom of my heart, I love every single one you.

Thank you so much for the nearly 500K readers and the lovely and supportive comments you guys left on this novel.

Anyway I also created new covers for the new and improved 'The Villainess only wants to go home' however I'm stuck on which one to choose so I want to know what you guys prefer and vote which should be the new cover.

I also made a slogan.

~A Dragon is no slave. A Dragon has no master~

You people like it?



So these are the covers. Images don't belong to me by the way just the cover designs.













































Yeah that's it for now. Hope you liked it and stay tuned for the next long chapter that would probably take a while to be updated.

Ok bye bye