Chapter 43
I’m Angry
Luri’s actions in invading the imperial palace might have appeared impulsive.
In reality, however, they were closer to a rational decision grounded in reason.
She had destroyed the magical formations and forced every mage and knight to assemble so they would recognize the gravity of the situation and remain alert.
It was a small warning meant to show them what could happen if a dragon’s consort was injured.
That was why Luri had revealed everything she normally kept hidden.
Her tail, her horns, and even the whites surrounding her eyes.
Once they realized she was capable of communication, the opposing commander would ask whom she served.
Luri would answer that she was an attendant of Dread Queen Valdrova, and they could speak from there.
‘Lord Ferda should be safe anyway.’
Even if he had been injured within the imperial palace, priests were permanently stationed there.
Each of them possessed divine power equivalent to that of a bishop, so healing Ferda’s wounds would be a trivial matter.
‘Even so...’
The thought continued circling in Luri’s mind.
She could not feel at ease.
Just as immortals and mortals were different, so too were Dragon Spawns and humans.
What if his injuries had been so severe that he still could not wake even after being healed?
What if a great demon within the sealed storage facility had placed a curse on him?
What if he had failed to resist its temptation and entered some absurd contract?
Concerns that could lead to Valdrova’s grief tangled Luri’s thoughts.
A master’s worries were also the servant’s worries.
Luri refused to be swept away by that anxiety and maintained her reason until the very end.
She knew well that emotion would not help in this situation.
With that in mind, Luri cut down every section of the palace garden blocking her path and opened a route forward.
Once she destroyed even the wall of rose vines, she saw the knights who had been moving about noisily waiting for her.
Among them, Luri spotted a familiar man.
‘Ferda.’
Gray hair and blue eyes.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, yet possessed a slender body.
And there was that solemn expression far too mature for his age.
Ferda Valdrova.
Everything Luri saw was exactly the Ferda she knew.
Contrary to the report that he had been injured, he appeared unharmed.
‘He is safe.’
For a moment, she felt the worries lodged inside her heart drain away.
With those worries gone, relief should have followed.
But it felt different from the usual sense of release.
It was not the satisfaction of watching stubborn grime finally wash away.
Nor was it the relief of escaping maddening anxiety.
Neither of those feelings occupied Luri’s heart.
‘...I’m angry.’
She was angry.
The vast space once occupied by anxiety and concern was filled by rage.
‘The Regent—the man who calls himself Valdrova’s fiancé—went somewhere he had no business going, caused trouble, and got himself injured?’
The taut thread of Luri’s reason finally snapped, and she released Dragon Fear.
Directed at Ferda.
The innocent knights were being caught in the crossfire without understanding why.
“C-Commander! Give us an order...!”
If they remained locked in this standoff, they would collapse before the battle even began.
The knight orders protecting the imperial palace had to decide whether to fight or retreat.
“A-Att...”
Just as the commander was about to give the signal to attack, someone placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Wait.”
Unlike the trembling commander, the man’s voice was calm.
“I will handle this.”
“Pardon? Forgive me, but who are you, sir...?”
“I am Regent Ferda. I was invited here today.”
Ferda gestured toward Luri with his chin.
“And that maid over there is an attendant of Dread Queen Valdrova.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Some of the tension left the Knight Commander.
The fact that Regent Valdrova was present meant the intruder was someone they could reason with.
“So could you give us a moment?”
Naturally, he had no choice but to agree.
He wanted to know why she had broken through the magical formations and even released Dragon Fear.
But bringing the situation under control came first.
The knight orders maintained their formation as they withdrew, while Ferda walked forward.
With every step he took, the Dragon Fear grew denser.
Wrinkles gradually formed across Luri’s expressionless face, and veins stood out along her neck.
‘It truly feels like I’m walking into a dragon’s jaws.’
He stopped five paces away from her.
Luri traced a circle on the ground with her index finger.
A pure-white wind began swirling around the ground where she and Ferda stood.
The wind rose and formed a hemispherical barrier over the two of them.
Luri, who had kept her lips tightly shut, released a deep breath through her nose.
It was as though she were venting the pressure built up by her rising heat.
“We are cut off from the outside in here. No matter what we say, none of it will leak out.”
“I see.”
“So... I will speak plainly.”
Luri spat out the emotion surging within her.
“Have you lost your mind?”
Utterly candidly.
“You are the Dread Queen’s fiancé. Do you not understand what your position means? Why are you running around doing reckless things?”
“It was necessary.”
“That is not an answer. Even if it was necessary, had this news reached Master, everything would have fallen apart. Are you aware of that?”
“I am. And I also knew you would not tell her.”
“Why?”
“Because you care for your master. You would not want her to take action.”
He had also known that if anyone came from Valdrova Castle, Luri would be the first.
“Yes. I have a duty to serve Master. But it seems you do not love her as much as I believed.”
“I care for her as well.”
“And yet you allow news that you were injured inside the sealed storage facility to be delivered? Fine. Let us say I concede that point completely.”
There was another reason Luri’s anger had intensified as Ferda approached.
Even he had overlooked one thing.
Luri grabbed Ferda by the wrist and brought it to her nose.
“And yet a man who claims to care for her walks around with a woman’s perfume on his hand?”
She shook his wrist as she asked,
“Which bitch was it?”
“...Olivia Arken.”
“You mean the Flower of the Empire with that vulgar body?”
The venom in Luri’s expression deepened.
At the same time, her grip around his wrist tightened.
Ferda wondered whether she might actually crush it.
“...She does have such a title.”
Ferda pretended not to have heard the first part.
As though being injured were not enough, her master’s fiancé had held hands with the most beautiful woman in the Empire.
Luri’s entire body trembled.
Even the gaze she had raised toward Ferda dropped to the ground as though she could no longer bear it.
“Are you the sort of man who grabs any woman’s hand the moment you see one? Did you approach Master merely because you wanted to hold her hand as well?”
“Do not jump to conclusions. That woman grabbed me without permission. I had no choice but to play along if I wanted to speak with her. It was not as though I enjoyed it.”
“...I don’t believe you.”
Luri clenched her left hand into a tight fist.
Watching her seethe, Ferda asked with a resigned expression,
“Do you want to hit me?”
“...”
“You may hit me once, if that is what you want.”
Only then did Luri’s gaze, which had fallen to the ground, flick upward toward Ferda.
She saw his angular jaw and cheek.
That face—the one she had often wished she could strike just once because of the irritatingly casual way he spoke.
Her emotions refused to settle and continued surging upward.
In the end, Luri reached out.
Ferda quietly closed his eyes like a condemned prisoner.
Several seconds passed, but no sharp sting came to his cheek.
Instead, the collar of his clothes shifted and crumpled slightly.
“So... did you obtain what you wanted?”
Ferda nodded.
“There were gains.”
“I see.”
Once she finished straightening his clothes, Luri withdrew her hand.
The place her fingers had passed over was now neat and tidy.
“Please do not disappoint Master.”
“Understood.”
As she spoke, Luri studied Ferda’s expression.
Only after seeing a trace of life return to his previously deadened face did she finally feel reassured.
“Then...”
Luri gestured again, and the hemispherical barrier dispersed, returning the surroundings to normal.
She swept her gaze across the knight orders, then flapped her wings and departed the imperial palace.
The knights and mages, who had been watching with bated breath, stared up at the place where she had disappeared.
“...Situation resolved.”
“Huaaaah!”
“Huff, huff...”
They had allowed an intruder who had barged in as she pleased to simply leave, but no one dared point that out.
Except for one person with no tact.
“Are we really allowed to just let her go? She was an intruder.”
Once the first-class alert was lifted, the commander approached Ferda and bowed respectfully.
“Thank you for resolving the situation.”
“No. I should be the one apologizing. This happened because of my carelessness, and the entire palace was thrown into chaos.”
“Not at all. We should be satisfied that an incident capable of provoking a dragon’s wrath was settled without bloodshed. How would you like this matter handled, Lord Regent?”
If Ferda raised an issue, the Empire could counter every accusation, and it would turn into a long, messy dispute.
But that was not what Ferda wanted.
Now that he had gained Olivia Arken as an ally, it would be unwise to create unnecessary enemies among the imperial family.
“Let us bury it, as you suggested. There is no need to argue over who was at fault. Thanks to this, you discovered that a single Dragon Spawn can break through your magical formations and enter the palace, did you not?”
“That is true. I already suspected those bastards in the Department of Magic were only protecting their own interests. Now I have an excuse to go after them.”
The commander nodded with an expression that suggested things had worked out rather well.
Ferda did not know how court politics operated, but it was clearly no less vicious than any battlefield.
“It seems the matter is settled. May I leave now?”
“If your business is finished, then of course. However, why not spend the night at the imperial palace? You were injured today, and I believe it would be best for you to rest for a day or two while we monitor your condition...”
The sun was still up, but dusk would soon fall.
As the commander said, resting for at least one night would have been the wiser choice.
“My apologies. I am a busy man.”
“Ah, you have another engagement. I understand.”
Ferda had no particular engagement.
He simply wanted to leave this uncomfortable place and return as soon as possible.
“Ah, one more thing.”
Ferda spoke to the commander as though something had just occurred to him.
“Yes?”
“I would like to take one of the knights here with me. Would that be acceptable?”
“One of the knights...?”
It was a sudden request, and not one that could normally be accepted.
Every knight of the imperial palace was an exceptional talent. Even the lowest-ranked among them could become a distinguished knight in another kingdom.
But Ferda was the Dread Queen’s fiancé.
It would be improper to refuse him outright.
“Which knight caught your eye, Lord Regent?”
“I saw him earlier, but I cannot remember his name.”
Ferda looked around in search of the man.
It did not take long to find him.
He was lying face-down on the ground while his seniors berated him.
“Malcolm, you bastard! You were missing when we formed the battle line, weren’t you?”
“You little shit! While the rest of us were working ourselves to death, what were you doing? Sleeping?”
“I-I’m sorry! At the time, I was trying to stop the Regent...”
“You tried to stop the Regent? And did you manage it, you idiot?!”
“I clearly saw him walking through the garden.”
“I failed to stop him! I was told not to lay hands on a noble...!”
“During a first-class alert, don’t you know our orders take priority over everyone except the imperial family?!”
“I-I didn’t know!”
“You think military service ends just because you didn’t know?! Do you really want to be finished?!”
Ferda pointed toward the man sweating profusely as he endured punishment.
“That one.”
“...You mean that hopeless failure?”
The commander looked at him as though asking whether he was serious.
“Is he famous?”
“Infamous would be more accurate. I have no idea how that bastard made it into the Imperial Knight Order, but he is useless. He cannot wield a sword, and all he does is ride around on some donkey-looking beast... Other than that, I cannot imagine how he ever got in.”
“Is that so?”
“I was already considering throwing him out... Do you still want him?”
The commander asked with concern.
He was not worried about losing a valuable recruit. He felt as though he were passing Ferda a live explosive.
Ferda nodded firmly.
“He is perfect. Wrap him up for me.”
“Understood.”
Every knight in the imperial palace was precious.
Malcolm, however, was the exception.
As the sun sank beyond the hazy western mountains and the sky turned red, Valdrova Castle’s official carriage left the imperial capital.
At the same time, a man who had been hiding beneath the carriage finally emerged.
“Phewww! It’s finally over.”
It was Zed.
After leaving the sealed storage facility, he had somehow escaped and successfully climbed aboard the carriage.
“You did well. The item?”
“I kept it safe right here. And I didn’t open it.”
Zed pulled out a golden cloth he had been carrying inside his clothes.
Within the golden silk was a black-covered book bound in silver chains.
Ferda could not break those chains and open it by ordinary means.
He had no intention of examining it immediately, so he wrapped it in the cloth once more and placed it beside him.
“But are we really going to be all right? We stole a book from the sealed storage facility. There is no way things will simply quiet down...”
“It will be fine. We gained an ally, which has made matters easier.”
“Who?”
“Olivia Arken.”
Zed’s eyes widened.
“Oh. You spoke with the Flower of the Empire? I heard she’s incredibly beautiful and innocent. What was she like?”
“She was devious to the core.”
“Well, she is a noble lady... Quite a few of them are secretly like that.”
Zed had dealt with many nobles, but he still could not hide his envy.
She was said to possess a bewitching charm.
Neigh!
As the carriage continued leisurely onward, the cry of an animal came from where the knights were riding.
“Hey, hey! You there! I told you to keep the formation properly! How many times do I have to say that if the mounts get too close, everything turns into a mess?”
“I-I’m sorry! Rosie, you idiot! I told you to stop bothering them!”
Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Zed stuck his head out the window.
He saw a man who had hastily packed his belongings and piled them high on his saddle.
“I’ve never seen him before. Who is that?”
He was dressed like a wandering knight, but his inexperience was painfully obvious.
Not only from his clothes, but also...
“Why is he riding a donkey...?”
The animal beneath him was not a horse, but a donkey.
“His name is Malcolm. He is both an imperial knight and an apprentice knight. I intend to use him as a sample.”
“A sample?”
Zed tilted his head at Ferda’s words.
“Yes. A sample.”
Ferda offered only that simple reply.