Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 4 - The Qualifications to Become the King’s Consort
Luri emerged from the Dragon’s Lair and guided Ferda to a certain place.
It was a castle built halfway up a mountain, visible even from afar.
There was a path leading directly up from the cave that connected to the Lair, and following that road brought them straight to the main entrance hall.
"It’s immaculate."
Ferda could tell that Valdrova had been more sincere about marriage than anyone else.
Otherwise, she would never have gone through the trouble of building such a magnificent castle above her own Lair, nor would she have designed everything according to human standards.
’She said it was built for the Third Prince’s engagement.’
If the Third Prince married Grand Duchess Valdrova, he would gain the power that came with the union.
He would, for all practical purposes, become the king of the Eastern Region, so it made sense that a residence befitting such a position had been prepared.
However, that incident in which he had literally been torn apart into individual consonants and vowels had occurred.
As a result, the place had effectively become one that no one would ever use.
After the Third Prince died, Ferda had naturally assumed it would be left abandoned.
Yet, strangely enough, it had been meticulously maintained.
It didn’t feel as though someone had hurriedly cleaned it because Ferda was arriving.
Rather, every detail suggested that it was cared for consistently on a daily basis.
"Who maintains this castle?"
"I do."
"Besides you?"
"I alone attend to my mistress."
"Then all of this..."
"I take care of everything myself. That should answer your question."
Luri replied curtly without pause.
It seemed she truly couldn’t stand the fact that the engagement had been accepted.
’She’s like a dog.’
It wasn’t meant as an insult.
She genuinely reminded him of one.
A dog that growls because the affection it once received is now being directed toward someone else.
That was why Ferda simply let it slide.
’As long as she doesn’t bite me, it’s fine.’
If she was a guard dog, then all she needed to do was guard the house well.
Luri led Ferda to an enormous bedroom.
’It’s about the size of five of the rooms I used to have combined.’
It rivaled not only his father Erembalt’s chambers but even those of the Emperor of the Empire.
"This is the guest bedroom."
"A guest room is this luxurious?"
"The guest is none other than one invited by a Dragon—a ruler."
At the very least, Dragons were beings equal to the Emperor of an Empire.
The fact that he had been shown to this room alone made his current standing perfectly clear.
"So for now, I’m merely a ’guest’?"
"Yes. Since you’re not yet the fiancé, you’re nothing more than a guest."
"Do you always show this much hostility toward guests?"
He asked out of genuine curiosity.
"No. I simply dislike humans."
"You’re honest."
"And among them, I dislike you the most."
"You’re unnecessarily honest."
"There’s no reason to hide it."
Luri shrugged with a blank expression.
Her smug demeanor almost seemed to be begging someone to hit her.
"Fine. It’s better not to hide it."
Ferda truly believed that.
It was a hundred times better than smiling sweetly like the nobles while planning to stab someone in the back.
Every time Ferda accepted her attitude without complaint, Luri looked at him with even greater dissatisfaction.
"I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Aren’t you afraid of me?"
Ferda tilted his head.
"Why should I be?"
"I tried to snap your neck. Had my mistress not signaled me to stop, I would have broken it."
Crack.
As Luri slowly clenched and unclenched her delicate fist, an ominous cracking sound echoed through the room.
’I would have died...’
Ferda had already known that Luri harbored killing intent toward him.
Even so, he had never intended to avoid her hand.
’If the engagement failed anyway, I would have had no reason to keep living.’
Back then, he had truly believed dying wouldn’t have been so bad.
Concealing his true thoughts, he changed the subject.
"Let’s postpone pointless discussions about hierarchy. So, when is the engagement ceremony?"
"It will be held one month from now."
"Will it be an official ceremony?"
"If you consider inviting people we don’t even care about and making a spectacle of it ’official,’ then no. It will be a simple ceremony in the Lair. Just the three of us."
"The three of us?"
"My mistress, myself... and the guest."
She gestured toward Ferda with her chin.
"I understand. One month from now."
"Since we’re already discussing it, there’s one more thing."
Luri continued.
"The engagement ceremony taking place in one month is also your deadline."
"What kind of deadline?"
"The deadline for proving that you possess the qualifications to be my mistress’s fiancé."
Ferda pondered for a moment.
Getting married is ridiculously difficult.
"Was this Grand Duchess Valdrova’s order?"
"No. This is my own decision."
"So you’re acting on your own. Is a mere attendant allowed to do that?"
"If it’s necessary, then I must. To be honest, my mistress is far too soft for someone with her reputation."
She’s unbelievably honest.
"You already know that yourself, don’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have stood before the Tyrant, Valdrova, without bowing your head. Throughout history, you’re the only human who’s dared show such an attitude before a Dragon."
"I see."
"My mistress overlooked it because she chose to become engaged to a human. But unlike her, I am not so lenient."
Luri’s eyes gleamed sharply.
It was as though the edge of a finely honed sword had been pressed against his throat.
"I believe that the consort of one with such magnificent status must possess dignity worthy of that position."
A Dragon and a human.
The gulf between them was incomparably greater than the difference between an emperor and a beggar.
In other words, she was demanding something utterly unreasonable.
"So? You’re telling a mere human to become as powerful as a Dragon immediately?"
"As if that were possible."
Luri snorted.
"I don’t expect you to become strong overnight."
"I simply want you to prove that you possess the potential."
She clenched her small fist as she spoke.
"I don’t need determination. Determination alone doesn’t solve everything. What’s important is proving, within one month, that even someone as frail as you possesses even the faintest thread of potential."
She emphasized every word with absolute clarity.
"That is the first trial for the fiancé who will inherit the name of House Rosnova."
After listening to everything she had said, Ferda came to a single conclusion.
’My fiancée has found herself a truly remarkable servant.’
Although she had a foul mouth and despised him to the core, Ferda found himself liking Luri.
She hated humans, yet she didn’t conceal what was required of him as Valdrova’s fiancé.
Which meant she was even more loyal to Valdrova than she was consumed by her hatred.
’If she’s this loyal... why did I never see her before?’
When Ferda had attacked Valdrova’s Lair, Luri hadn’t been there.
The thought puzzled him, but since it wasn’t important, he set it aside.
"I understand. Suppose I prove my worth. How far must I rise? Must I become someone on the level of the Emperor of the Empire?"
Luri shook her head.
"At the very least, enough that the other beings of great status won’t look down on you."
In other words, he would need power that easily surpassed the Emperor of the Empire.
"I see."
"...?"
Seeing Ferda respond so calmly, Luri tilted her head.
"Don’t you think you’re being far too arrogant? Are you stupid? Or do you simply look down on Dragons? Either way, I don’t like it."
"Neither."
"Don’t think this will be easy. Especially not for a weak human like you."
"As it happens, I don’t think it’ll be easy either."
"Then why are you acting like this?"
"Don’t concern yourself with my attitude. All I have to do is display enough ability within one month to convince you, isn’t that right?"
"..."
Luri puffed out her lips.
After all, he had merely thrown her own words back at her, so it was only natural that she found it irritating.
’He’s overflowing with confidence.’
No matter how much Luri thought about it, she couldn’t understand where that confidence came from.
She already knew how Valdrova’s fiancé was treated throughout the Arken Empire.
The title had become nothing more than a polite excuse for driving away incompetent fools.
How could someone like that possibly possess talent comparable to beings of great status?
But Ferda was different.
’It’s enough.’
He had become the youngest person on the continent to reach the Eighth Circle, and he had once been a Grand Mage who cast a wish spell of the Ninth Circle.
The Emperor of the Empire was already someone he had once forced to kneel at his feet.
’Obtaining dignity that stands equal to a Dragon is entirely possible.’
If something was possible, then to Ferda, it was nothing extraordinary.
Confidence settled firmly across his face.
"What an irritating human."
Luri muttered with a look of complete exasperation.
***
Valdrova Castle, built atop Valdrova’s Lair, was named after her.
Ferda stayed in Valdrova Castle for a week.
Overall, life there wasn’t bad.
There was just one thing.
He had to take care of almost everything by himself.
A noble always traveled with servants to attend to them.
If they didn’t have at least one attendant, it would damage their dignity as a noble.
If someone had told the old Ferda to live without attendants, he would have exploded in outrage, asking whether they were looking down on him.
But even that wasn’t a problem for him anymore.
’I’ve grown used to living on my own.’
In fact, having someone come over just to dress him would only make him uncomfortable.
Having become accustomed to standing on his own, Ferda found life at Valdrova’s residence comfortable overall.
’It’s actually better than when I lived at the estate.’
Back when he lived in House Rosnova, he had never been able to relax.
He was already hated, and there wasn’t a single person he could truly trust.
Anyone who seemed friendly was always eager to drag him into another swamp.
’That girl Luri may hate me, but compared to back then, she’s practically a saint.’
At the very least, Luri didn’t put strange things in his food or play childish pranks like rubbing soap onto marble floors.
That alone made her no different from an adorable little puppy.
’Though who knows how long that’ll last.’
Luri had given Ferda a single assignment.
He had to prove that he wasn’t a hopeless halfwit—that he possessed potential.
’The deadline is one month.’
What could he possibly accomplish within that time?
Ferda considered everything he was capable of.
But every path led to the same conclusion.
’Magic is my only option.’
Ferda possessed talent for magic.
If he could show Luri even a fragment of that talent, she would acknowledge him, if only a little.
’To use magic, I first have to open a Mana Circle.’
A Circle was created by gathering the chaotic Mana flowing throughout one’s body and revolving it into a perfect ring, forming a circuit.
The problem was that Ferda didn’t know how to create one.
’No... I do know the method.’
All he needed was overwhelming vengeance and hatred.
If he walked the same path he had in his previous life, he would become an Eighth Circle mage even faster than before.
’But I can’t do that.’
Ferda recalled something his master had once told him.
"The very first step is the most important. Whether your first Circle is Red or Blue determines the course of a mage’s entire life. Though I suppose you won’t have to worry about that."
His master had been a lecherous fat man obsessed with money.
Even so, when it came to teaching magic, he had fulfilled his role perfectly.
A Red Circle was a mana circuit formed through violent emotional upheaval.
A Blue Circle was a mana circuit formed through calm meditation.
Each had its own strengths and weaknesses.
A Blue Circle took a long time to form, but it was stable.
It allowed a mage to remain calm and assess any situation rationally, which was why nearly eighty percent of mages cultivated Blue Circles through disciplined training.
A Red Circle, on the other hand, formed rapidly but was unstable.
Unlike the Blue Circle, which emphasized composure, the Red Circle drew its Driving Force from turbulent emotions.
As a result, one could become powerful much more quickly.
But those very emotions often consumed the mage, driving them into madness.
’What I need is to open a Blue Circle.’
If he wanted to avoid repeating the same future, that was the correct choice.
Unfortunately, the situation wasn’t on his side.
’I was told it takes at least three years for a Blue Circle to form.’
He had to produce results convincing enough within the remaining three weeks.
The time was painfully short.
Yet Ferda didn’t panic.
Because somehow, he would make it work.
***
"Have you made any preparations?"
For the first time, Luri—who usually only delivered breakfast in silence—asked him a question.
Quietly spearing a piece of salad with his fork, Ferda replied,
"I have."
"Then it’s strange that I haven’t seen any change at all."
"I’m simply working under the assumption that something will work out if I keep at it."
"I see."
Luri didn’t sound the least bit hopeful.
Over the past few days, Ferda had been researching every possible method of opening a Mana Circle.
Yet the only thing he had learned with certainty was that, despite using the same Mana, the two types of Circles were fundamentally different in nature.
’At this rate, I won’t even qualify by the time of the engagement ceremony.’
Boasting confidently and then accomplishing nothing wasn’t like Ferda at all.
Still, he calmly intended to continue searching for a solution today.
Just as he was about to welcome another morning—
Rumble!
A deafening crash and violent tremor shook both heaven and earth, echoing throughout the castle.
It had happened nearby.
"What’s going on?"
Luri answered,
"My mistress is carrying out a monster subjugation today."
"A monster subjugation?"
"She’s wiping out the creatures crawling in from the Land of Demons, at the far eastern edge."
BOOM!
Ordinarily, Ferda would have simply accepted the explanation and moved on.
But today was different.
’Perhaps...’
A feeling struck him.
Perhaps the answer he had been searching for was there.
"I’d like to see that battle."
"...What?"
Luri answered with her usual expressionless face.
"I wouldn’t recommend it."
"Why not?"
"The minds of Mortals are fragile. Not a single person has remained sane after witnessing my mistress fight."
Ferda remembered his former self.
Back then, he had been consumed by madness.
He had encountered Dragons—those known as rulers—countless times.
Yet among them all, the one who had chilled him to the core was the Red Dragon.
’Perhaps it was because it regarded me with hostility.’
Even so, there was such a thing as overwhelming status.
Even as a Grand Mage, he had felt fear.
What would happen now, in his current state?
He might wet himself.
He might even let out a pathetic scream.
"So don’t indulge in pointless curiosity."
"No."
Ferda shook his head at Luri’s warning.
This wasn’t pointless curiosity.
It was the pursuit of an answer.
"I want to witness that battle."
It was the duty of one who sought to become her consort.
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