Chapter 21: Chapter 21
Chapter 21 - The Reason She Is an Evil Dragon
Late at night, beneath a brightly shining moon, Ferda walked down a corridor illuminated by candlelight.
’It has truly been a busy day.’
Having been neglected for several decades, it was no easy task to deal with the mountain of accumulated administrative work.
’Still, thanks to Mori, everything has been progressing smoothly.’
Her work efficiency had already surpassed that of any human by a vast margin.
At this pace, it looked like everything could be finished within a year.
’My role is to assist so that the Lady never has to concern herself with such matters.’
Remembering that, Ferda devoted himself wholeheartedly to fulfilling his duty.
Before heading to his bedroom, Ferda made his way to the study.
If his prediction was correct, Mori would be waiting there.
’She should be waiting by now. I should tell her to return to her room.’
She was a child who could not even breathe unless she was permitted to.
Without forgetting that, Ferda intended to order her back to her room.
As he entered the study, he came face to face with someone he had not expected.
"Good evening, Lord Ferda!"
The gloomy Witch, Echidna, greeted him with an awkward smile.
"Address me as Regent."
"Ah! I will. But you have to call me Echidna, okay?"
"I will."
"Hehehehe..."
Echidna wore an awkward, gloomy smile.
Thinking nothing more of it, Ferda walked past Echidna and approached Mori.
Just as he had expected, she was quietly waiting there.
"...?"
Mori looked quite different from how she had appeared that morning.
She wore a flowing dress, and her hair had been carefully brushed until it shone like silk.
She had already been beautiful, but now that she was properly dressed, she looked like the noble daughter of a distinguished family.
"Was this your handiwork?"
"Hehe, yes. I called her, but she didn’t respond and just stood there like a doll... I got bored, so I played around with her a little. Is that alright?"
Echidna shyly fidgeted with herself as she spoke.
Ferda recalled the Golems Echidna had created.
They all had unnecessarily large sparkling eyes and tiny heads, looking like drawings made by a child.
’Perhaps her sense of aesthetics isn’t warped when it comes to girls because she’s one herself?’
It had been a pointless thing to do, but it wasn’t bad.
’In fact, it’s rather good.’
Even if Mori was merely a tool, she was undeniably a living being.
And living beings required much more delicate care than ordinary tools.
Since she could not take care of herself, it was only natural that someone should look after her.
"If you have the time, would you be willing to take care of Mori?"
Echidna’s eyes sparkled as she nodded vigorously.
"Of course! T-To be able to touch such a beautiful girl with my own hands... Hehe... Hehehe...!"
"I hope you won’t do anything strange. She’s an indispensable person."
"N-No, I don’t do things like that. I’m not the kind of evil Witch who devours children or men. I simply cherish them, brush their hair, and feed them!"
Because everything she said sounded so eerie, even innocent words came across as suspicious.
Still smiling gloomily, Echidna absentmindedly brought Mori’s hair to her nose and inhaled its scent.
’She really is strange.’
Ferda decided not to doubt his own judgment.
Meanwhile, Mori simply looked up at Ferda as if nothing had happened.
Her face waited only for his next command.
"That will be all for today. Return to your room and get plenty of rest for tomorrow."
Mori nodded, stood up, and began walking away.
Just then—
BOOOOM—!
The castle shook violently once.
Mori lost her footing and fell flat on the ground.
"Oh my! Mori!"
Echidna hurried over and helped Mori back to her feet.
Wondering if another tremor would follow, Ferda held his breath and waited.
Fortunately, there wasn’t a second one.
Breaking the silence, Echidna spoke in a flustered voice.
"W-What was that? Does this happen often here?"
"This is the first time."
The castle occasionally trembled, but it had never shaken like this in the middle of the night.
’And never this violently.’
As the Regent, Ferda needed to find out what had happened.
"Echidna."
"Yes?"
"Put Mori to bed. She is someone we will need tomorrow. Then return quietly to your own room as well. Understood?"
"Y-Yes, understood!"
Echidna picked Mori up in her arms and left.
After watching her go, Ferda stepped out into the corridor.
’The sound must have come from the Lair.’
Ferda decided to head down there.
After walking for some time, he noticed a gentle light glowing in the middle of the corridor.
It was Luri, holding a lantern.
"You’re going the wrong way."
With her usual calm, expressionless face, she pointed in the direction he had come from.
"Your bedroom is the other way."
Though she pretended to be merely giving directions, Ferda saw through her intentions.
"You’re hiding something from me."
"Yes."
She did not deny it.
"So, would you please return to your room?"
"I cannot. As the one who will become the master of this castle, I need to know what has happened."
"You are not the master of this castle."
"But I soon will be."
Her silver eyes met his blue ones.
Neither side showed the slightest intention of backing down.
It was Luri who finally yielded.
"Master is suppressing her bloodlust."
"...What do you mean?"
"There is no need for you to worry. What happened just now is extremely rare. Normally, this doesn’t happen. The rest of the time, she is occupied with her daily routine—"
Ferda stepped closer until he stood directly before Luri.
His eyes twisted into a fierce glare.
"What do you mean?"
His voice carried irritation and anger.
It was an emotion he had never once shown, not even toward Luri despite her repeated insolence.
Luri frowned.
"What else could I mean? What do you think someone does to suppress the overwhelming urge to destroy everything?"
"..."
"Master constantly fights the desire to break through that massive iron gate and overturn the entire world. That urge—to crush absolutely everything—builds up inside her every single day. Because that is her very nature."
An Evil Red Dragon would forever remain an Evil Red Dragon.
The reason she could never be called a Guardian Dragon was not merely because of slander.
Ultimately, it was because she could never completely withstand her own destructive impulses.
"Master has lived by relieving that destructive urge through killing Monsters. If those Monsters were no longer there... what do you think would happen?"
Ferda recalled the memories of Valdrova engraved within his heart.
The answer escaped his lips.
"...She would destroy herself?"
"Yes. If there is nothing left to destroy, that is exactly what she does."
Having watched over her for so many years, Luri knew this better than anyone.
It was a natural disaster beyond the power of even the most loyal Attendant to stop.
"The woman you entered into an Engagement with is someone like that. Unable to control herself, she has already wounded many people."
That was why Luri warned the young and stubborn Ferda.
"So please don’t keep insisting that you want to meet her. If your selfish desires only end up hurting Master—"
Please stop.
Luri, who had been rebuking Ferda, suddenly found herself unable to continue.
Her eyes widened as she stared at him.
Something completely out of place had fallen from Ferda’s face.
’A... tear?’
That thick-skinned man, Ferda...
A tear had rolled down from his eye.
Just a single drop.
His expression had not changed in the slightest, yet tears flowed down his face.
Luri was utterly stunned.
There was no doubt he had cried because of what she had just told him.
Feeling the tear slide down his cheek, Ferda finally realized it himself.
"Ah."
Even Ferda was surprised by his own condition.
He brushed it away with his index finger before apologizing to her.
"I’ve shown you an unsightly sight."
Unlike his eyes, his voice carried no trace of emotion.
It was as though dried-up tear ducts had forcibly squeezed out the last remaining drop of moisture.
"I understand now... what you were trying to tell me."
Ferda gave up on investigating the disturbance and turned back toward his room.
"Sorry for troubling you. I’ll return."
Luri silently watched as Ferda walked away.
Only after his figure had nearly disappeared into the distance did she finally manage to speak.
"What an impossible man to understand..."
After living for countless years, Luri believed she understood humans well.
Yet the more she came to know Ferda, the less she understood him.
He was the kind of man who would even break the fingers of his own allies in the name of fairness, and who would kill nobles simply because they might become future problems.
A man without blood or tears...
Had shed tears.
’Simply because he heard about Master’s suffering... Is that really possible?’
It had not even been a full year since the two had become aware of each other’s existence.
So how could he already harbor feelings that ran so deep?
No matter how many times Luri asked herself that question, she could find no answer.
***
"Tears..."
Even Ferda himself was surprised by that fact.
To think that he was capable of shedding tears.
Those tears had not been born from his own emotions.
’While we were having that conversation... her feelings seeped into me.’
The moment he realized that the massive tremor had come from Valdrova, and the moment he learned that she had been hurting herself, Valdrova’s emotions seeped into Ferda.
’Self-loathing.’
Whenever she failed to control herself, she nurtured nothing but self-hatred.
She would willingly throw herself into the filth she had buried deep within the pit of her emotions.
She listened to the cursed voices echoing through the endless abyss and slowly strangled herself until she suffocated.
She suppressed her destructive impulses by allowing that self-loathing to crush her.
She wanted to exist...
Yet at the same time, she wished she did not exist.
That was the battle she fought every single day.
That indescribable emotion churned violently beneath Ferda’s Dantian.
’The Red Circle is spinning.’
It still was not enough to advance to the next stage.
If Ferda focused on it and devoted several sleepless days to cultivating, he would undoubtedly reach the Third Circle.
It was an extremely dangerous method...
But it would allow him to achieve astonishingly rapid progress.
’No.’
However, Ferda forcibly halted the spinning Red Circle.
’Not this time.’
He recalled how he had felt when he reached the Second Circle.
The strange sensation that had been tickling him had disappeared the moment he attained that breakthrough.
’...I must not forget this.’
He had decided to live this life for her.
His vow back then had been simple.
Even if he could not make her happy...
He would never let her become sad.
These emotions were directly connected to her sorrow.
He did not want to let her sadness disappear together with another achievement.
’I have to resolve this first.’
Only after that would he continue moving forward.
That was the reason he stood here.
***
The following morning.
Ferda went to see Mori, who was waiting near the study.
After Echidna had worked on her appearance, she looked beautifully dressed once again.
Ferda asked her,
"How much do you know about Dragons?"
What resided inside her mind was the Library of All Things.
It contained knowledge about everything in existence.
Naturally, she nodded.
"Even about the Red Dragon, Valdrova?"
Nod. Nod.
"Could you explain it to me?"
Mori nodded once more and picked up her pen.
Instead of the elegant cursive used by scribes, she deliberately wrote in neat, easily readable print.
—The existence of Dragons began with those who fought to transform primordial chaos into order. Those who survived were each granted one of the fundamental essences that make up the continent. The Blue Dragon, Morgan, was granted dominion over Mana and water, while the Silver Dragon, Silverwind, was granted the power to command wind and ice.
It was a passage from the history books he had studied during his childhood etiquette lessons.
—The Red Dragon was granted authority over strength and fire. In terms of pure combat ability, she surpasses every other Dragon.
"Is that why she has been slandered with titles like Tyrant and Demonic Dragon?"
—She was consistently described as an object of awe throughout history. However, her official designation as an Evil Dragon is relatively recent in Dragon history.
"Since when?"
—After the Dragon-Demon War. In other words, after Godwin’s death.
The Black Dragon.
The embodiment of darkness.
It was the first time a Dragon of the continent had ever died.
—The Black Dragon, Godwin, was originally known as the Dragon who ruled darkness. However, only later was it discovered that chaos itself had also been one of the essences granted to him, after he revealed his ambition. Pursuing that ambition, Godwin became the source of all demonic power and plunged the continent into chaos. In the end, the other Rulers united against him, and he was slain by the Red Dragon, Valdrova.
"And then?"
—The most widely accepted hypothesis is that, during the process of killing him, Godwin’s power destabilized Valdrova’s own. As a result, the Aspect of Strength could no longer suppress her own power, leading to catastrophic secondary damage.
Valdrova’s rampage.
Countless people had died because of the appearance of the Demon King.
But just as many had perished in her uncontrollable rampage, burned alive beneath her flames.
’Innocent humans... innocent creatures... and even Silverwind.’
It was a tragedy she would spend eternity atoning for.
"Is there any way to suppress it?"
Mori quietly closed her eyes.
She was searching through every book stored within her mind.
After meditating for five minutes, she slowly opened her eyes again.
She shook her head.
"I see."
Ferda accepted the answer calmly.
From the beginning, the question itself had been contradictory.
If there truly existed a method capable of suppressing the Red Dragon—the very embodiment of Strength—then could she still be called the Aspect of Strength?
She was destined to suffer beneath her own power forever.
’Is there truly nothing I can do for her?’
Ferda felt helpless.
He could picture her tearing away her own scales until blood flowed.
Helplessness weighed upon him like a thousand-pound burden.
Emptiness became a thousand spears piercing straight through his heart.
The pain was almost identical to what he had felt when he absorbed her Dragon’s Heart.
’If only there were something... anything... I could do for her...’
Just then, he felt a small tug at his clothes.
Mori, still holding her pen, had gently pulled on his sleeve.
A tool never moved of its own accord.
If she had moved, it meant one of Ferda’s commands had been activated.
"Has something happened that allows you to provide an answer?"
Mori nodded.
She moved her pen once more.
—Based on the available information, I have identified a hypothesis capable of suppressing it.
The moment Ferda read the next sentence, it felt as though the dense fog inside his heart had completely cleared, allowing the sun to shine through.
Mori looked directly into Ferda’s eyes.
—According to this hypothesis, Ferda Valdrova... you are capable of suppressing her.
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