Chapter 3
What I Want
—There is nothing the Empire cannot conquer.
That was what people said of Grogan, the central region that could be called the heart of the Serdes Continent.
It was complete nonsense.
In fact, one of the first things Ferda had been taught while living in House Rosnova was that the claim was nothing more than empty boasting.
The eastern region was one of the clearest examples.
The Demonic Lands.
The east had once become saturated with demonic energy following the appearance of the Demon King.
The Demon King had eventually been stopped, but the aftermath caused the vegetation to grow at an abnormal rate, while the animals became several times more ferocious.
Thus, the Demonic Lands were created.
Valdrova was the ruler who reigned over the front line of those lands.
Was that why they also called her the Demonic Dragon?
Whatever the reason, the public perceived her as a savage dragon.
Some claimed she was increasing her power by absorbing the Demon King’s energy, while others said she was secretly building armies of monsters.
She has far too much infamy for someone who has done so little.
Countless conspiracies painted her as someone who deserved to die, yet not a single person had ever openly condemned her or seriously raised the issue.
Even a fool understood that touching a dragon’s whiskers was an act of suicide.
Rustle—
As they walked along the path, the sound of something moving reached Ferda’s ears.
The moment Ferda subtly directed his attention toward it—
“There is no need to worry.”
The maid walking ahead of him spoke first.
“As long as I am beside you, those creatures will not recklessly attack.”
It appeared they really were monsters.
More importantly, did this woman have eyes in the back of her head?
Well, she is a servant of that dragon. Of course she would be on an entirely different level.
Ferda slowly observed her from behind.
Her features were doll-like.
The maid uniform fitted closely to her body, revealing the contours of a girl still clearly in the midst of growing.
Had he met her anywhere other than Valdrova’s territory, he would have assumed she was merely a beautiful young maid.
“What is your name?”
“Luri.”
She answered in a dry, emotionless voice.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Luri. How much farther must we walk?”
“It will take another two hours.”
“......”
Two hours compared to ten seconds.
The difference in efficiency was obvious.
“Then why don’t we travel to the lair using that method?”
“Would that not require me to carry you, Lord Ferda?”
“You need not worry about me. I can withstand something as simple as flying.”
“No. I simply do not want to.”
“......”
It was an extraordinarily insolent response.
Had an ordinary maid wearing a servant’s uniform said such a thing, she probably would have been slapped across the face immediately.
“If you don’t want to, then it cannot be helped.”
Ferda did no such thing.
There were already plenty of nobles who traveled to unfamiliar lands, clung to their pride, and ended up dead.
More importantly, there was her true identity.
A dragon spawn.
Dragon spawns were created through a ritual commonly called the Ascension Ceremony, in which a dragon selected an individual and bestowed its blood upon them.
Merely accepting that blood caused them to instinctively awaken to magic and gain tremendous strength.
Even with such a small body, she likely possessed enough power to subdue two or three knights with ease.
And she can even conceal her tail and horns...
That meant she was far stronger than an ordinary dragon spawn.
Thus, Ferda silently followed behind her.
Even that was not easy for someone with Ferda’s terrible stamina.
His pace gradually slowed, and the distance between him and Luri steadily widened.
Once he had fallen far enough behind, Luri turned her head.
“Are you tired?”
Ferda nodded.
“Yes, I am. Could we rest for a moment?”
“We do not have time to waste. Please hurry. Master is waiting.”
Silver hair and silver eyes.
Unlike her youthful face, her eerily gleaming draconic eyes urged Ferda’s feet onward.
“Haa... Very well.”
Ferda tried to steady his breathing as much as possible.
Apparently, even getting married was no easy task.
The Red Dragon’s hiding place, commonly called her lair, was located beyond even the region known as the Empire’s front line.
After passing through an overgrown forest that had never been properly developed, one would find a solitary mountain.
A castle had been built halfway up its slope.
It was enormous enough to be seen from a great distance on a clear day.
Some people mistook that castle for Valdrova’s lair.
But Valdrova did not live in the castle.
The entire mountain was her lair.
Upon reaching the entrance, Luri turned around and casually recited a few warnings.
“It is somewhat dark inside, but there is nothing beneath your feet, so please refrain from making an unnecessary fuss.”
“Understood.”
“Stalactites occasionally fall as well... You should avoid them on your own. Assuming you are capable of doing so.”
Luri gave the explanation carelessly.
Instead of responding to her provocation, Ferda simply nodded.
“Understood.”
“Then follow me.”
Luri once again took the lead and entered.
Before long, an enormous iron door blocked their path.
It bore no elaborate carvings and was remarkable only for its immense thickness.
It resembled a sealed gate created with every possible measure to prevent whatever lay beyond it from escaping.
Luri lightly knocked on it.
“Master. Your fiancé has arrived.”
No answer came.
Instead, an enormous movement beyond the door caused the ground to tremble.
Every hair on Ferda’s body stood on end.
Even with the heavy iron gate between them, he could clearly sense it.
An extraordinarily terrifying dragon lived beyond that door.
Something hard tapped against the iron gate.
Luri turned her head toward Ferda.
“I will receive her message.”
She opened a smaller iron door beside the enormous one and went inside.
It was deathly silent beyond the door.
Ferda waited patiently.
Three minutes later, Luri emerged and spoke.
“I shall deliver a message from the Dread Queen Valdrova.”
Luri cleared her throat and began.
“I am aware that you have come here under the orders of the Arken Empire to become engaged to me. For that, I commend you.”
Ferda did not like where this was going.
Judging from the context, something negative was undoubtedly about to follow.
His prediction proved correct.
“However, I have no intention of forcing you into an engagement against your will. Therefore, return to the place from which you came.”
For someone who had expected to die, it would have been the best possible outcome.
He was being granted his freedom.
The Ferda of his childhood would undoubtedly have celebrated, bowed deeply, and withdrawn.
But the current Ferda was different.
“Is that so? Then go back and deliver this message.”
Luri’s eyebrow twitched.
She stared directly at Ferda after hearing his words.
Her expressionless face might have seemed cold and unsettling to others, but not to Ferda.
“Are you not going to deliver it?”
“...Understood.”
Luri opened the iron door again and went inside.
Ten minutes later, she emerged carrying several bundles in her arms.
“I shall deliver her response. ‘I hold your decision to come here of your own accord in high regard. I shall grant you some of my treasures so that you may establish yourself. Take the money and begin anew in a new land. A new—’”
Clatter—
The pouch contained gold, silver, and precious jewels.
There was no doubt about it.
Ferda looked down at them.
However, his gaze was no different from that of someone staring at a pile of stones.
“Go back and tell her this: ‘I have no interest in power. I came here solely because I am interested in becoming engaged to the Dread Queen Valdrova.’”
“......”
“You keep losing your composure.”
Without answering, Luri stepped through the iron door.
“...Haa.”
Or rather, she placed one foot inside, let out a sigh, and then slammed the door shut.
Luri’s previously businesslike face remained expressionless.
However, Ferda had spent years harboring hatred and a desire for revenge.
He could easily read the emotion contained in her eyes.
It was disgust.
“It is true that the Empire selected you, but the one who stepped into this place was Ferda Rosnova of his own—”
“......”
“I will not waste any more words. Turn around and leave this place.”
Emotion seeped into her command.
But Ferda was not flustered.
“That is rather brief for a message from the Dread Queen Valdrova.”
“No.”
Luri slowly approached Ferda.
Her appearance changed with every step she took.
A pair of horns rose from her head, pointing toward the sky, while the skirt that reached her ankles swelled outward.
She revealed the form of the dragon spawn she had concealed and used it to threaten Ferda.
Is this Dragon Fear?
He had already suspected that she was no ordinary dragon spawn, but this exceeded his expectations.
A dragon spawn serving as a mere attendant was capable of using Dragon Fear.
Ferda felt his throat constrict and cold sweat run down his body.
Nevertheless, his mind remained perfectly calm.
He had witnessed far worse things.
To him, this was little more than a child’s performance.
“I know people like you very well.”
“What kind of person am I?”
“Those who only believe in themselves.”
Her words carried a disgust founded upon experience.
“You are filth who cares nothing for Master and is filled only with thoughts of the power and ambition you can gain.”
Ferda felt a sense of familiarity in those words.
He wondered where he had heard something similar before, and then remembered the answer.
It had come up only a few hours earlier during his conversation with Huren.
“Was that why the Third Prince died?”
Luri nodded.
“Yes.”
Ferda quietly muttered to himself.
So that was the reason.
Ferda had consumed Valdrova’s heart and understood her emotions.
At the very least, he knew she would never have killed the Third Prince merely because he had failed to meet her standards.
The Third Prince had been envisioning something far too grand.
The only reason he had stepped away from the imperial throne was that he intended to seize even greater power and usurp it later.
More importantly, he was far too arrogant.
“So while Master is still offering you money, hurry up and leave this place.”
Her disgust had a reason behind it.
At the same time, it was not something Ferda deserved to receive.
Even so, Ferda did not become angry.
He had realized too many things to be shaken by such trivial contempt.
“I, Ferda Rosnova, will speak here with complete sincerity and not a single trace of falsehood.”
Ferda looked down at her with serious eyes.
“I, Ferda Rosnova, did not come here because anyone pressured me to do so.”
He recalled the emotions he had learned through Valdrova’s heart.
She had dreamed countless dreams, only for every one of them to be crushed.
She had endured slander and hostile gazes from others while fighting against her own murderous impulses within.
Not even Valdrova herself had been on her own side.
Even so, she had continued fighting.
It was something even Ferda could never have accomplished.
“I, Ferda Rosnova, desire neither power nor treasure.”
Valdrova might not remember, but Ferda did.
He remembered how Valdrova had sacrificed her life while wishing for someone else’s happiness.
He remembered the astonishing generosity with which she had given her heart even to the selfish Ferda.
Therefore, even if the current Valdrova did not know him—
“I, Ferda Rosnova, came here solely as the man who intends to become Valdrova’s fiancé.”
As long as he remembered—
He would stand on her side.
“Tell her that since we are to become husband and wife, we should speak with our own mouths and listen with our own ears instead of communicating through a servant, so that we may clear up this misunderstanding.”
Luri’s patience finally reached its limit.
“You insolent bastard! Do you even know who Master is, daring to utter such nonsense—?!”
Her small, delicate hand shot toward Ferda’s throat.
The moment she grabbed him, his neck would snap like a reed in autumn.
Tap.
A sound came from the iron door.
Luri immediately regained her composure.
At the same time, the Dragon Fear vibrating through the air vanished.
The girl who had shown clear murderous intent toward Ferda bowed to him.
“Excuse me.”
“Very well. Go.”
Ferda remained calm until the very end.
After receiving Valdrova’s intentions, Luri emerged once more.
Her doll-like face looked strangely dissatisfied.
Ferda instinctively knew it was good news.
“She said that she understands your intentions and has agreed to proceed with the engagement.”
As expected.
No matter how insolent a servant might be, she could not defy her master’s wishes.
“I see. Understood.”
“Then, this way.”
The murderous conversation they had shared moments earlier vanished as though it had never happened, and Luri returned to her businesslike manner.
Ferda followed behind her again.
Late that night, beneath Valdrova’s castle—
Luri, Valdrova’s attendant, returned to the dragon’s lair.
She passed through the firmly sealed iron door and entered.
Inside, an enormous dragon covered in red scales lay gracefully coiled upon the ground.
—You have returned?
Golden draconic eyes shone through the darkness.
Luri greeted her with graceful yet disciplined formality.
“I stand before one of the great Twelve Rulers, the absolute embodiment of power. Truly, the world itself—”
—Is that so? I am merely lying down.
“True elegance appears hideous when someone merely attempts to imitate it.”
—Does it...?
Luri’s eyes sparkled as though she meant every word.
Valdrova responded as if she could not understand her.
“Do you truly intend to become engaged to a mortal?”
—Was that not what I desired? He respected my wishes, and—
“You may still change your mind.”
Luri stubbornly continued urging her to reconsider, but Valdrova shook her head.
—I have no intention of changing my decision. Even now, that remains my only desire.
“Tch...”
Luri clicked her tongue with a deeply dissatisfied expression.
Valdrova paid no attention to the disrespectful gesture and asked her a question.
—Tell me. What kind of man was the one who will become... my mate?
Luri shook her head repeatedly.
“Do not even ask. He is an incredibly weak human.”
—How weak?
“He has a terribly frail body.”
—And?
“He is also extremely ugly. I was told he was eighteen, but perhaps because he has neglected his appearance, his face resembles that of an old man.”
—Luri.
“......”
—That is not what I asked, is it?
Luri knew what answer Valdrova wanted.
She did not want to say it, but she had no choice.
“He is no ordinary man.”
—No ordinary man?
“I am a dragon spawn, one who has inherited the blood of a dragon. Therefore, I can instinctively stir the fear of mortals.”
Luri recalled Ferda from her memories.
“That man did not fear me even once. Therefore... he should be able to look directly at you as well, Master.”
—Is that so?
Luri frowned.
A human being able to meet a dragon’s eyes directly was something that should never happen.
—That is wonderful.
In contrast, a smile appeared on Valdrova’s face.
—To think there is someone capable of facing me normally.
“Nor... mally?”
—Yes. Normally.
It was far removed from what Luri understood as normal.
It was normal for one human to face another.
But for a human and a dragon to face one another as equals was impossible.
A dragon ruled, and a human obeyed.
That was the natural relationship between them.
Luri had many things she wished to say, but she could not bring herself to speak.
In any case, as long as Valdrova was satisfied, that was all that mattered.