I always wondered why people think being a royalty is easy.

You need to mind your etiquette, play political games, attend dozens of tiring events every day and you're not even allowed to have some privacy.

Your bodyguards always follow you around outdoorsy, maids help you get dressed, cleaned up and seem to never leave your side.

Today was another dreadful day, in fact my birthday was today but I was not looking forward to it in the slightest.

sigh another day getting dressed up like a doll and pretending to enjoy the gifts and company of those snobs.

Why must every day be so troublesome? Dance lessons, history lessons, fencing, horse riding, politics, philosophy, music and other things which a princess like me are expected to excel at.

And sadly my parents force me to learn all that every day without any breaks. sigh I don't even see them much - they're always busy with their duties and never have time for me other than criticising me if I start slacking off.

I dreadfully walked towards the ballroom to start greeting the guests. well dreadfully is just my feelings inside - outside I look confidently walking with a sweet smile - learning how to put on a mask in public is one of basic skills for nobles after all.

Entering the ballroom I start greeting guests with a smile as my birthday gifts pile up in the corner - the gifts I get are all the same anyways, jewellery, perfumes, boring books and similar things which I don't really care for getting. Still I need to keep my smiling mask on and pretend to like it all.

The ball continues as I need to dance with neighbouring countries' princes and listen in to various blabbering and rumours. A few rumours did seem interesting - apparently few barons kept telling how they saw a dragon flying by last week, dragons are quite rare though I wonder if I will ever get to see one. —

Finally near midnight I'm finally back in my room - finally some alone time, really the only alone time I get is for sleeping, though I'm not really sure I'm alone - maybe there's some skilled bodyguards hidden. I look at the pile of gifts near my bed and get even more tired by the realisation that I will need to write thank you letters for all of them.

Suddenly a blue shiny box catches my eye - not because it's shiny, but simply because I don't remember receiving it. Afraid of scolding I pick it up to see if hopefully there's a note on the gift.

As I take the box it seems to tremble as if something alive is inside. Panicking I drop it on the bed as I also notice some guards appearing from shadows with worried looks.

The box starts tearing as a cute creature appears, but everyone tenses up on the sight of it. it's the thing I always wanted to see - a dragon!

Everything seems to slow down as I see in slow motion that tiny dragon glowing and growing in size, my guards start dropping to the ground as if asleep and I feel my eyes getting heavy as well… The last thing I see is the dragon smirking at me as if amused.

— yawn I wake up fully rested and wondering why no maids woke me up yet I clearly feel the sun's warmth on my skin and I was supposed to have my fencing practice an hour before sunrise.

Suddenly what happened last night came to me and my eyes snapped open. This is not a place I have ever been before. I stand up and look around. It seems I'm in some sort of cave - did that dragon kidnap me??

Fear takes over me as I remember all the stories I hear about princesses disappearing never to be seen again. Suddenly a fragrant smell enters my nose - it seems like spices chefs use for food. I try to scream but somehow I make no noise.

Suddenly a nearby door opens and I see a dragon head looking my way. "bump". Scared I fall back to the bed, though now that I think about it why does a huge dragon have a human sized bed? Dragon smirks as if amused by my reactions.

"I suppose some explanation is in order - first I apologise for kidnapping you so to say but looking over your life over past few weeks you looked like a suitable candidate"

"You see, us dragons have a very low chance of getting children of our own, so we usually just adopt some human ones."

I look at it weirdly - how come I'm hearing the voice but he's not moving his mouth? Also adoption? Don't I already have parents? poor ones but still.

" I speak with the help of magic, and yes your mind defences don't seem very good, don't they teach Occlumency to royalty anymore?"

"Anyways, you can call me Azurax, if you still want to go back to that dull live you had, I can let you go, but if you decide to stay here I will give you a new life - there's a ritual we dragons invented to convert humans to our kind, as a dragon you can have as much freedom as you so long for - we can freely change our size, change our form, learn magic and have very long lifespans among other abilities "

He suddenly shifts to a middle aged man with azure hair as if to prove his point.

" So what is your choice? "

Thinking back to all the annoyances of noble life I so wished to escape from it does not take long to came to a decision.

" I see you have made up your mind, daughter. Happy adoption day"