Chapter 47: Chapter 47
Chapter 47 - Dragon Eyes
The Dragon Dragoon Armor revealed beneath the moonlight.
Standing over two meters tall, it was adorned with intimidating ornaments designed to overwhelm any opponent.
Yet to Ferda, who had seen that armor more often than Valdrova’s bare appearance, it felt like a part of her, and because it was a part of her, he could love it as well.
He had thought that even encountering Valdrova in that form without warning would make him happy, but reality was different from what he had imagined.
More than joy, he felt bewilderment.
Have I gone mad with desire and started seeing things already?
Just as that thought crossed his mind, she stopped in front of him.
"....."
"...."
They simply gazed at one another in silence.
After a long stillness, it was Valdrova who finally spoke.
"S-So, um... well..."
She struggled to find her words as though picking a pearl from a sandy beach.
"I... wanted to take... a little walk... so I came out."
"Is that so?"
"Y-Yes, exactly!"
Ferda knew it was a lie.
But it wasn’t something that mattered much to him.
After answering, Valdrova fidgeted with her neatly clasped hands.
Clank. Clank.
The steel of her gauntlets scraped together with a metallic sound.
She looked visibly uneasy.
Was she uncomfortable because she had suddenly run into Ferda?
Then, unable to hold it in any longer, she spoke again.
"T-That’s actually not it!"
"Pardon?"
"I... knew Mr. Ferda... would come out... so... that’s why I came!"
"I... see."
"Yes."
She let out a sigh as she placed a hand over her chest.
It looked as though she had just confessed a sin she had been carrying inside her heart.
Ferda paid it no mind.
The important thing was that she had come because she knew he would be here alone in the corridor.
Which meant...
She had come because she wanted to see him.
She wanted to see me.
The moment he became conscious of it, his heart began to race.
Did I brush my teeth before coming out?
Do my clothes smell?
I was in that sealed room with nothing but a candle. Maybe the smoke clung to me.
Those worries lasted only a moment.
Ferda suddenly remembered something far more important and lowered his head.
"I greet Grand Duchess Valdrova."
"Ah, yes. Welcome... um... Ferda... Ferda..."
As she called his name, her words trailed off.
Because of the voice-modulation device built into her helmet, her unfinished words echoed like a mournful cry.
"Were you trying to say ’Regent’?"
"Ah, right! That!"
She clapped her hands together, and her voice brightened.
"That’s right. Regent Ferda. I really wanted to try calling you that. That’s what they call the king’s fiancé, isn’t it?"
"Actually, that’s... no, yes, that’s correct."
He stopped himself from correcting her.
If he kept touching that sparkling innocence because he found it adorable, it would eventually become tainted.
"So should I call you Regent from now on?"
"That won’t be necessary. It’s only a title used in official settings. When we’re alone, please just call me Ferda."
"Ah, then I shall do that... Mr. Ferda."
Ferda... Ferda...
Valdrova repeated his name over and over inside her helmet as though practicing it.
It felt as though she were whispering directly into his ear, making it itch for no reason.
"I... wanted to see you again, Mr. Ferda, but somehow... I couldn’t gather the courage."
"I understand."
Ferda quietly sympathized.
Perhaps her feelings had grown just as much as his.
"Um... I... actually came because of Luri."
Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
"Luri?"
Valdrova nodded.
"Luri has seemed very troubled lately."
Ferda remembered refusing Luri’s request to accompany him.
The last expression he had seen on her face had been one of anger.
"I don’t think I’m very good at understanding emotions... but I know very well what that child’s sad face looks like. She is... undoubtedly hurting right now."
Her helmet turned toward Ferda’s face.
"If anyone knows... why she’s suffering... I thought... perhaps it would be you, Mr. Ferda."
Ferda’s lips moved, but no words came out.
It was difficult to speak.
How could he explain when he himself was the cause?
Would she come to hate me if I told her the truth?
But in the end, he told her honestly.
"The change is probably my fault."
"My fault?"
"Luri asked me to let her attend the Grand Ducal Council, but I refused. That’s the only reason I know of."
"Why... did she want to go there?"
"She said she wanted to speak with Silverwind."
Valdrova’s body flinched.
But then, as though she finally understood, she gave a small nod.
"If it’s only to talk... wouldn’t it be alright to take her?"
"Because it is a futile hope."
"A futile hope?"
"What that Attendant intends to do is no different from picking at a scab. If you scratch a wound that hasn’t healed, the flesh tears open again and the wound widens. That’s exactly what this is."
"Ah... that... hurts a lot."
"Yes. It hurts very much."
Valdrova gave a small nod, as though she understood.
She wrapped one hand around her own forearm.
"But... what if that futile hope... isn’t actually futile?"
Valdrova finished her question without confidence.
"Silverwind still harbors resentment."
"I know that too. But... perhaps not toward Luri?"
"Do you think simply talking will solve everything?"
"At the very least... she would have a place to return to."
"A place to return to?"
Realizing she had said too much, Valdrova answered with quiet resolve.
"Ah... I suppose you didn’t know, Mr. Ferda. Luri isn’t my Dragon Spawn. She’s the Silver Dragon’s Spawn."
"Ah..."
"She has always been loyal to me, so I can understand why people would misunderstand."
"I see..."
It was something Ferda had known from the beginning.
What surprised him was the phrase return to.
"Dragon Spawn are families connected by blood. For Luri, her family is Silverwind’s Spawn."
"Are you saying Luri should return to her family?"
"Isn’t there anything more precious than family?"
A precious family.
It was a subject far removed from Ferda.
He had been abused by his family.
In the end, they abandoned him.
The source of Ferda’s desire for revenge had always been his family, and eventually he had repaid them for everything they had done to him.
Now that every emotion had finally run its course, he no longer cared about them.
But Luri?
Ferda didn’t know how she truly felt.
She cared deeply for Valdrova.
But compared to the blood that connected her to Silverwind, perhaps that bond meant very little.
Perhaps this was her chance to sever her ties with Valdrova.
After all, Luri had never appeared even until the future Ferda tore out Valdrova’s Dragon’s Heart.
Maybe that was why.
"Luri may wish for that..."
Looking up at Valdrova, Ferda asked,
"But... is that what you wish for?"
Instead of answering immediately, she raised her head toward the night sky.
The hand resting on the railing slowly curled into a small fist.
It was not an easy thing to say.
"It was I who kept that child bound here. If there’s a path for her to return... then I have to let her go."
"....."
"And..."
Valdrova looked down at Ferda.
"After all... don’t I now have a proper fiancé?"
An indescribable heaviness tightened around Ferda’s chest.
It made him question a matter he had already thought settled.
Should I really take Luri to the Grand Ducal Council?
In the end, Ferda made his decision.
"Very well."
"Will you take Luri with you?"
"Yes. After hearing your wish, how could I possibly refuse?"
"Ah... yes. Thank you."
Still looking somewhat dazed, she gave a small nod.
With that topic finished, another heavy silence began trying to settle between them.
"The Grand Ducal Council..."
Valdrova carefully kicked that silence away.
"I’ve heard that it’s held every time, but I’ve never even known what actually happens there."
"Are you curious?"
"Very much so. It’s the place where every race gathers to discuss the peace of this continent, isn’t it? Of course I’d be curious about what they talk about there!"
Valdrova suddenly turned her helmet toward Ferda.
"If you return safely, Mr. Ferda... could you tell me about what happened there?"
Though hidden behind her helmet, he could clearly sense what she was hoping for.
Like a child listening to tales of heroes who gathered beneath the light to drive away the darkness.
Like a field of untouched snow lying silently through the cold winter.
It was a dazzling kind of innocence.
"I’m afraid they won’t be pleasant stories."
"W-Why not?"
Confusion filled her voice.
Ferda realized he had made a mistake.
But there was no taking back what had already been said.
It was too late to remain silent or make excuses.
So he simply told her what he knew.
"They’re not people who discuss admirable things. They’re too busy looking after their own interests."
"Is... that really how it is?"
"Yes. So please... don’t expect too much."
He finally finished speaking with difficulty.
Valdrova silently looked down at him.
What expression is she wearing?
Is she standing there with her mouth open in shock?
Or has the disappointment become too much, leaving her on the verge of tears?
"Mr. Ferda..."
The reply that came back was calm, dry, and gentle.
"Do you know what happened when Godwin rose to destroy this world?"
There was no way he could know.
It had happened one hundred and fifty years ago—a time even Ferda’s grandfather had never lived through.
"When Godwin plunged the world into chaos, the first ones to give up... were us."
"You mean the dragons?"
Valdrova nodded.
To Ferda, it was merely an interesting story.
But if a scholar from Escolleia had heard those words, the entire academic world would have been thrown into upheaval.
Valdrova seemed to realize she had said too much and quickly covered her mouth.
After nervously glancing around, she leaned in and whispered,
"Everything we’re talking about right now... is a secret, alright?"
"I’ll take it with me to the grave."
"Anyway... back then, everyone concluded that compromising with the chaos was the most sensible solution. Even the long-lived races, like the dwarves and elves, were inclined to accept that compromise."
But that could not have been what truly happened.
Had such a compromise been reached, the Demon Race would never have been driven to the far eastern edge of the world, forced to dwell in a land that endlessly spewed miasma.
"But there was one race that refused."
This part was something Ferda already knew.
"It was the humans who stood up first."
She gently folded both hands against her chest.
"Because they refused to compromise... because their swords would not forgive the Demon Race... we realized that hope still remained on this continent. And because of that... peace eventually returned."
Ferda understood what Valdrova was reminiscing about.
It was admiration.
Dragons and humans.
The long-lived and the short-lived.
The immortal and the mortal.
It was only natural for humans to respect and revere dragons.
But for dragons to admire humans—that should have been impossible.
Yet Valdrova was different.
"Even if they are blinded by greed now, when the most important moment comes... they will still fight for the Demon Race. So..."
Valdrova lowered her head slightly to look at Ferda.
Beneath the moonlight, her crimson armor shone with incomparable nobility.
"I will continue to love them."
At that moment—
A strange chemical reaction surged through Ferda’s mind, leading him into an unknown realm.
The helmet, crafted in the shape of a dragon’s head...
For the first time, he could see the delicate woman hidden within it.
Hope dwelled in her eyes.
And that hope was smiling.
"Ah..."
A foolish gasp escaped Ferda’s lips.
It felt as though he had soared high into the heavens before plummeting straight back to earth.
The impact of falling from that boundless sky was beyond measure.
"Mr. Ferda?"
"......"
"Are you alright? You’re not saying anything..."
Flustered, Valdrova anxiously studied his expression.
Ferda, who had been staring at her without moving, finally spoke.
"Just once."
"...Yes?"
"Would you show me those Dragon Eyes just one more time?"
"M-My Dragon Eyes? Y-You mean... my face...?"
"Yes. Your face."
Almost unconsciously, Ferda reached out toward Valdrova’s helmet.
Startled, she hurriedly grabbed it to protect it.
"N-No! I-I... I can’t show you my face yet!"
"I beg you. Please... let me see your Dragon Eyes just once more..."
"I-I said you can’t!? Don’t come any closer!"
Every time Ferda stepped forward, Valdrova took a step back.
The chase looked as though it might continue forever.
The one who finally put an end to it was Valdrova herself.
"I’m sooooo sorry!!"
With that apologetic cry, she vanished into the darkness.
All that remained was the lingering warmth where she had been standing.
Intoxicated by that fading warmth, Ferda stood there with the flushed face of a man burning with fever, absentmindedly staring at the place where he had seen her last.
A breeze drifted in through the open window.
It was nowhere near enough to cool the heat consuming him.
He looked up at the moon once more.
The full moon.
But there was no room left in his burning heart for thoughts of his mother to force their way in.
Unlike before, however, there was nothing to worry about.
The emotion dwelling within Ferda’s heart was spinning in brilliant crimson.
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