Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Chapter 10 - Dragon’s Breath
One month, just as promised.
Three days before the Engagement ceremony with the Grand Duchess.
Luri pointed at a sheet of paper and a pen with a face full of dissatisfaction.
"Please write a copy of the vow that will be used during the Engagement ceremony."
"Isn’t there a standard one that’s used for formalities?"
"There is, of course, but..."
At that moment, Luri’s throat bobbed.
She forcibly swallowed back the sigh that threatened to escape instead of a breath.
"Since it will be an unofficial Engagement ceremony, Her Grace wishes to keep it free of unnecessary formalities."
"So?"
"She wishes to replace it by having each of you read vows that you have written yourselves."
After hearing that, Ferda calmly nodded.
"How romantic."
"You make it sound nice by calling it romantic. It’s worse than getting married in a stable. Honestly, what is this? Writing your own vows... It’s like some children’s game."
Luri grumbled.
In the end, she could no longer hold back what had been building inside her small chest.
"Haaaaah..."
A breath.
A breath of utter resignation descended as though it could bore straight through the floor.
’An Engagement to a human, held in secret, and now they’re even making them write vows to each other...’
Even a Dragon Spawn who served a Dragon could not help but accumulate emotions.
So it was understandable that she let out such a sigh.
’Still, her loyalty lies with Valdrova herself rather than with the position of ruler.’
If the latter had mattered more to her, Ferda would never have been able to remain here safely.
If she had truly wanted to, Luri could have attempted to kill Ferda or set a trap to ruin his reputation.
Yet she had never resorted to such petty methods.
’If anything, she’s actually been helping me.’
Ferda could sense the conflict within Luri.
She wished for this Engagement to fail, yet at the same time hoped for Valdrova’s happiness.
’Trapped between those contradictory feelings, it’s only natural she’d become this irritated.’
It was truly unfortunate.
Ferda decided to spare her a moment of sincere sympathy.
"What’s with that look?"
"I was merely thinking how pitiful your situation is."
Luri frowned at his heartfelt sympathy.
"I’d rather not hear that from a human like you."
"You’re still technically a guest, so that’s understandable. But in three days I’ll become Her Grace’s husband. What exactly will our relationship be then?"
"It won’t be much different from now. I hope you aren’t under the illusion that you’ll be able to order me around."
"Of course not. That wasn’t why I asked."
"Though if you ask me to hit you, I’ll gladly do it without hesitation."
"I’ll politely decline."
"There’s no need to worry. I’m very confident in my strength, and I’m good at controlling it."
"...No thank you."
Luri raised her tiny fist.
That adorable little fist had once smashed a bed and shattered the floor beneath it.
There was no way he was going to joke about that.
"Anyway, once the Engagement is complete, you’ll need to bring servants into the castle. You’ll also have to appoint officials to govern the territory."
"Servants and officials? I have to do that?"
"Yes. You’ll be responsible for managing the territories under Grand Duchess Valdrova, along with all the other administrative affairs."
Hearing that, Ferda looked puzzled.
"I thought she disliked people who sought power. Yet she’s asking me to take power?"
"It’s not people with power that she dislikes. It’s people who are blinded by power."
The Third Prince of the Arken Empire had lost his life because he had been blinded by power.
"Power should belong to those who have no desire for it. Because they don’t seek greater authority, they concern themselves with the people’s well-being. That’s exactly the kind of person we need right now."
Ferda tilted his head.
"Is life for the people really that bad?"
"If you’d seen the current lords, you’d already know it’s an absolute disaster."
Ferda recalled the nobles who had gathered in the council chamber.
Fat, sluggish bodies.
Terrified that they might lose their heads, they trembled like pigs trapped in a slaughterhouse.
"The people who should be supporting the realm are too busy stuffing their own pockets. Since they’re stationed on the front lines and never know when they’ll die, they’re constantly visiting brothels and indulging in expensive food. Right now, public dissatisfaction is only being suppressed by military force at the front. Someday, it could erupt into a massive rebellion."
"I didn’t realize things had become that serious."
The moment he heard the words the people’s well-being, something suddenly occurred to Ferda.
"Doesn’t Grand Duchess Valdrova wish for humans to be happy?"
"She does."
"Then wouldn’t almost everything be resolved if she simply stepped in and said a few words herself?"
"It probably would."
"Then why doesn’t she?"
"..."
Luri fell silent.
Her face turned icy cold, while Dragon Fear poured out of her uncontrollably.
She resembled a Dragon whose reverse scale had just been touched.
"I’ll refrain from speaking about that for now. You’ll learn everything in due time anyway."
After hearing that, Ferda decided not to press the matter.
"Very well. Then all I have to do is write the vow?"
"Yes. Then, if you’ll excuse me."
Luri gave a respectful bow before leaving the room.
"Haaaaah..."
The sound of another sigh traveled across the floor and reached Ferda’s ears.
Recalling everything Luri had said, Ferda picked up the pen.
’A vow...’
People always said that getting started was half the battle, but Ferda found himself stuck on the very first line.
Perhaps he should have asked exactly what kind of vow he was supposed to write.
It certainly would have made things easier.
’Should I leave it until later?’
Instead of writing the vow, Ferda decided to write several letters.
He had once told the lords this.
—I couldn’t care less about what any of you do.
But now was the time when he needed to care more than just a little.
That was the problem.
’I already told them I had no interest in them. If I start interfering now, they’re bound to resent it.’
Ferda knew his first impression had already been poor.
Now that he had effectively gone back on his word, it would only become worse.
Left with little choice, he decided to send each lord a letter.
The contents simply explained that he might become involved in internal administration.
He ended every letter with the same sentence.
—If you dislike that, then simply don’t reply. I respect your decision.
Every lord sent their reply back that very same day.
***
The day of the Engagement ceremony.
Ferda demonstrated his abilities and proved that not a single word he had spoken had been a lie.
With nothing left to criticize, Luri quietly accepted the Engagement ceremony.
"Your shoulder insignia is crooked. And after I went through all the trouble of pressing your trousers, how could you wrinkle them like this?"
Instead, she began the day by nitpicking every little thing.
"If only I had hands and eyes where you’re standing."
"Why don’t you buy some?"
"I think you’d do just fine."
Luri immediately took a step back.
She even tucked both hands behind her back.
"I don’t want to touch you. I’m merely the Attendant of the mistress I serve, so please don’t expect too much from me."
"Hm. You’re remarkably dog-like."
"Are you trying to pick a fight with me? Just say the word. I’ll gladly fight you with everything I’ve got."
"No. I simply meant you’re loyal."
Though Luri continued growling at him, Ferda accepted every complaint she made and calmly corrected each one.
’An Engagement...’
It still didn’t feel real.
When a man gets married, he usually feels one of two emotions.
The joy of getting married.
Or the sorrow of being sold off.
Ferda felt neither.
’Ever since I returned to this day, I’ve been like this.’
A heart as calm as one would never expect from the owner of the Red Circle.
’Did I agree to this Engagement simply because I believed it was something that had to be done?’
He wondered whether he was acting like a machine that merely fulfilled its obligations.
Now that his overwhelming rage and hatred had disappeared, even his other emotions had grown faint.
’Is it really right for me to face Valdrova with feelings like these?’
A vague sense of unease lingered in one corner of his heart.
’A vague sense of unease...’
Ferda smiled faintly.
Vagueness was a human weakness.
’No matter what, I suppose I’m still human after all.’
For now, that alone was what mattered.
Ferda chose to hold on to that thought alone.
***
The Engagement ceremony was held in front of Valdrova’s Lair.
The inside of the Lair was illuminated by hundreds of bundles of candles.
The ceremony was arranged just twenty paces away from the massive iron door leading deeper inside, where Valdrova waited.
After completing all the preparations, Luri knocked on the door.
"Master, we will now begin the ceremony."
The enormous iron door slowly opened.
Air escaped from the gap, mixing with the outside air before flowing into Ferda’s nose and mouth.
"Ugh."
His breath tightened.
There was none of the killing intent he had felt when fighting Monsters, yet the air itself carried overwhelming fear.
Had Ferda been even slightly weaker, he would have collapsed unconscious on the spot.
Luri examined his condition before speaking.
"You must endure it."
"...I know."
"Then we shall begin the Engagement ceremony."
Ignoring Ferda’s condition, Luri proceeded with the ceremony.
This had already been explained beforehand, so Ferda straightened his posture and focused on steadying his breathing.
"Today, mortality and immortality shall become one, bound together by a golden thread that neither the authority of the heavens nor the ravages of time can sever."
Luri placed the prepared bowl and liquor tray before Ferda.
Carefully lifting the bottle, she poured the clear liquor into the bowl while reciting the ceremonial words.
"May the mortal cast aside the unknown and wash away fear, becoming one."
As instructed beforehand, Ferda accepted the bowl and drank.
The taste was as clean and crystal-clear as its appearance.
’As expected... I really can’t handle alcohol.’
Although he had grown older, Ferda had never once enjoyed drinking.
This was the very first drink of his life.
After finishing his portion, he poured the remaining liquor into the bowl and carried it before the iron door.
"May the immortal erase the futility of endless time and become one."
Now it was Valdrova’s turn to drink.
Srrrk.
What emerged from between the massive iron doors was a claw larger than Ferda’s entire body.
The terrifying weapon that had torn countless Monsters apart.
That enormous claw carefully descended toward the bowl containing the Engagement wine.
Clatter!
It flipped the bowl over.
"..."
"..."
An awkward silence filled the air.
With another clattering sound, the claw quietly retreated behind the iron door.
Wondering whether this was somehow part of the ceremony, Ferda glanced toward Luri.
"...We will begin the ceremony again."
They literally started over.
The vows were recited once more.
Ferda drank first.
Then it became Valdrova’s turn again.
Clatter!
The enormous claw overturned the tiny bowl three more times.
At that point, Ferda began sensing danger.
’After several cups... I’m actually getting drunk...’
A throbbing headache spread through him, and all five of his senses gradually became dull.
He had a feeling the next cup would be his limit.
Crack.
Suddenly, something shattered loudly.
Thinking the cave was collapsing would have been foolish.
If Ferda’s ears hadn’t deceived him, that sound had unquestionably come from Luri’s body.
"Please excuse me for a moment."
Luri slipped through the slightly opened gap and disappeared inside.
Just as Ferda wondered whether she had gone to prepare something—
"What exactly are you doing, Master?!"
Luri’s furious shout echoed from inside.
The alcohol haze instantly vanished from Ferda’s mind.
"It was you who insisted on marrying a Mortal, Master! It was you who insisted on having this Engagement! So what did your loyal servant Luri do?!"
The breath she had swallowed again and again over the past three days...
"I endured it!"
...Finally erupted all at once.
"I endured making the Engagement ceremony private even though, as the Grand Duchess, it should have been held publicly! I even endured conducting the Engagement without the two of you facing each other!"
Her voice grew louder and louder.
She sounded angrier than ever before.
"But you’re too afraid to face your own fiancé?! Hiding like this?! Sabotaging your own Engagement?! Then what... exactly... does... the fiancé standing out there... become?!"
Heavy breathing followed.
Valdrova remained completely silent.
After a long sigh, Luri spoke again.
"Come out proudly and greet your fiancé! If you overturn the Engagement wine one more time, I won’t stand by and watch anymore!"
After shouting at the top of her lungs, Luri came back outside.
Her face had already returned to its usual businesslike, expressionless appearance.
Ferda found himself staring blankly at her.
Through his gaze alone, Luri guessed exactly what he was thinking.
"...Did you happen to hear all of that?"
"I’m fairly certain even the other lords in the distance heard it."
"...Haa. Well... what can you do?"
Luri let out another exhausted sigh before speaking.
"As you’ve probably guessed by now, Master suffers from social anxiety."
"Social anxiety...?"
"She is afraid of dealing with humans."
"..."
"If others heard that, they’d probably find it laughable. The one who saved the world... hiding because she’s afraid of Mortals."
"You’ve just told me something rather important."
"It was something you were bound to learn eventually. We couldn’t keep it hidden forever simply because you might dislike it."
Her silver eyes lowered slightly as she continued.
"You are about to become her partner. Which means her weakness will also become your weakness."
"So... shared responsibility?"
"Isn’t that what marriage is?"
Ferda quietly nodded.
Marriage meant shared responsibility.
For some reason, that thought wasn’t particularly welcome.
The words shared responsibility had never once carried pleasant memories for him.
A short while later, the closed door opened once again.
At first, Ferda expected another gigantic claw to emerge.
Instead, what appeared before his eyes was the figure of a person.
He looked toward the one who would soon become his partner.
"...Huh?"
The surprise escaped his lips before he realized it.
’...Armor?’
A person clad in full plate armor.
The helmet was shaped like the head of a Dragon.
Although it was forged from metal, its craftsmanship was so exquisite and imposing that, for a brief moment, it genuinely looked like a living Dragon.
It looked exactly as one might imagine a Dragon walking upright on two legs.
The astonishing detail of the armor was impressive enough, but...
’She’s enormous.’
More than anything else, it was her height.
Ferda himself stood at 180 centimeters, considered quite tall.
Yet even he had to crane his neck far upward just to meet her gaze.
Judging by her armored height, she stood around 240 centimeters tall.
Without the armor, perhaps around 220.
’I’d heard that a Dragon’s polymorph form was breathtakingly beautiful.’
If that standard of beauty were being applied to humans, then apparently it included a beauty standing over 220 centimeters tall...
Or was the person inside actually a man?
"We shall now proceed with the final part of the Engagement ceremony."
Before he could dwell further on the unsettling thought, Luri resumed the ceremony.
Ferda drank yet another cup of the Engagement wine.
Having already finished three cups, his eyelids felt unbearably heavy from the alcohol.
He wondered whether Valdrova would overturn it again.
Apparently not.
To prevent her from spilling it, Luri simply held up the helmet herself.
Hidden beneath that cold, rigid shell...
Ferda finally saw her.
The face of Valdrova, the Red Dragon, whom he had seen for the very first time—
"Ah..."
A quiet gasp escaped him before he even realized it.
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