Chapter 55
The Turncoat
After the conference ended, Luri slipped away without Zed and Arwon noticing and headed somewhere on her own.
She already knew the layout of the Grand Duke Council hall.
She knew where the humans gathered, and she also knew where the Dragon Spawns congregated.
Unlike humans, Dragon Spawns had little interest in socializing.
They were not so weak that they needed to flatter others to build their influence, and such behavior also went against their pride as descendants of dragons.
Luri headed to the second floor.
When she climbed the spiral staircase, twelve doors came into view around the central landing.
They represented the twelve dragons of the Cerdes Continent.
Evil dragons and guardian dragons alike—every dragon had a place there.
Godwin, of course, had one as well.
Luri looked up at the great door carved with Silverwind’s likeness.
The sharply protruding horns.
The sleek, streamlined body.
It was a figure whose valor no one could deny.
Even though more than a century had passed since Silverwind left this world, that image remained vivid in her mind.
The memory made Luri’s heart grow weak.
The loyal maid of Valdrova Castle—
the composed maid who commanded the wind and firmly declared that wrong was wrong—
was nowhere to be found.
Only a frightened girl remained, clutching her pounding heart with both hands as she struggled to open the door.
Creeeak—
The sound of the hinges stretched out.
Beyond the door was a long corridor.
Warriors stood guard at its far end.
They were Silverwind’s warriors.
Their boisterous chatter abruptly ceased.
Every gaze turned toward Luri.
The entire hall froze in an instant.
“Who are you, brat?”
One of them, ignorant of her identity, swaggered toward her.
“You smell like someone carrying Lord Silverwind’s blood, but I’ve never seen you before. Where did a little spy like you come from?”
“…”
“When someone asks you a question, you answer. Or do you want to play rough with this big brother of yours? Hmm?”
“Enough.”
The one who broke the mounting tension was a man seated nearby with a staff in his hand.
He was the leader of the group.
“Don’t worry, Captain! Do you really think I’d cause trouble by killing someone inside Blancaros’s territory?”
“Be grateful this is Blancaros’s territory. Had we been outside, there wouldn’t have been enough of you left to bury.”
“What are you talking about? Do I look like an idiot who couldn’t even beat a little girl like this?”
“You could beat a child.”
The captain’s eyes shifted toward the maid.
“But I don’t believe you could defeat the commander of the Mobile Brigade.”
“The Mobile Brigade commander…?”
Fear entered the formerly confident man’s eyes.
“Don’t tell me she’s… Luri of the Bladed Wind…?”
He turned back toward her with an expression of disbelief.
He had never seen her face before, but her reputation was renowned.
Any Spawn of the same Silver Dragon bloodline would have heard enough to fear her name.
The man retreated, frozen stiff.
The hand he had extended trembled as he pulled it back.
Luri walked through the path he had opened and approached the man with the staff resting across his shoulder.
Their eyes met.
They had known each other for a very long time.
“It has been a while, Percival.”
“It has. Commander of the First Mobile Brigade. No, since you retired, should I call you the former commander? No, that wouldn’t be right either.”
The friendliness in Percival’s voice dried up.
“I think the word ‘turncoat’ suits you best.”
Turncoat.
That single word seemed to stab into Luri’s chest.
But she had come prepared to hear it.
“So, what brings you here?”
“I came to see Lord Goz…”
“Then you came for nothing. Leave.”
“I wish to speak with him.”
Clang!
The black staff in Percival’s hand struck the floor.
“It seems you have forgotten a great deal over the past two hundred years, Luri Silverwind. Since when did Silverwind’s proud children settle matters through something called conversation?”
“…”
The Silverwinds were warriors by nature.
They had hunted demons and frost giants in lands beyond even the Ice Wall.
Action came before words.
They were far more accustomed to communicating with their bodies.
“Understood.”
Luri knew that well.
She bowed politely and withdrew.
She turned around and began walking away.
“Wait.”
Percival stopped her.
Her foot, already half-raised, froze in place.
“Go inside.”
“The chief has granted you permission.”
She could hardly believe it, but she soon realized it was true.
The door she had believed would never open for her began to move.
Luri turned forward once more and walked inside.
A pressure far heavier than the one she had felt at the entrance bore down upon her.
The hostile gazes directed at her felt like spears piercing her body.
Under those stares, she forced her heavy shoulders forward.
The chamber resembled a royal audience hall.
A single throne faced the main entrance, and seated upon it was a man as large as a bear.
He was unlike the warriors guarding the entrance.
He wore an expensive fur coat and gold rings.
Wherever his clothing failed to conceal his skin, ritualistic magical tattoos densely covered his body.
Everything about him matched the Goz Silverwind Luri remembered.
‘No. Something is different.’
The pressure she felt now was on an entirely different level.
There was a hierarchy among Dragon Spawns, but it was never absolute.
Yet what stood before her now possessed absolute authority.
The instincts sleeping deep inside her supplied the answer.
‘Lord Silverwind’s… essence?’
After Silverwind’s death, Goz, the leader of the Silver Dragon Spawns, had absorbed the dragon’s essence.
‘But it is unstable.’
He carried the essence within him, but it had not fully merged with him.
His body had failed to absorb all of Silverwind’s power.
That was likely why he could barely remain standing on two legs.
“Valdrova.”
He spoke.
There was no greeting after their long separation.
“Is Valdrova well?”
He swirled the whiskey in his glass.
Luri nodded.
“Yes. She works day and night to drive the monsters from the Far East and protect the continent.”
“I see. I suppose that was only possible because you took such good care of her.”
“…Yes.”
“Are you proud?”
Luri could not answer easily.
Goz’s cold gaze remained fixed on her.
“Was that a difficult question?”
“No.”
“Yet you have not answered.”
Her answer finally came out like a rope snapping after enduring a relentless storm.
“…It is something to be proud of.”
“I see.”
Crash!
The glass in his hand shattered.
The already frigid atmosphere froze completely.
Luri’s body stiffened beneath his gaze.
“Then would you care to explain what gives a turncoat who served that bitch so faithfully the audacity to show her face here?”
Everything surrounding Luri was hostile toward her.
Even so, she opened her mouth.
She had come for this moment.
She had to speak.
“Do you still… hate Lady Valdrova?”
Goz’s eyes grew savage at the question.
“I understand why your master would speak that way. But when you mention that woman before me, do not attach the title ‘Lady’ to her name. You are a Spawn who inherited Silverwind’s blood. Your master is Silverwind, and Silverwind alone.”
“I may be a Silver Dragon Spawn, but Lady Valdrova is now my master.”
“Before that woman ever became your master, Lord Silverwind was your master. Who was Lord Silverwind?”
“The great master of wind and steel.”
“Exactly. He was the master of speed whom no one could overcome. He was one who could never be shaken.”
The veins in Goz’s neck bulged.
“But…”
Luri sensed it beneath his calm voice.
“But…!”
He was still sharpening the blade of vengeance.
“She tore out his throat! That bitch! She sank those teeth into his neck and severed his artery! I witnessed that slaughter with these very eyes! I felt it in this heart!”
“…”
“You asked whether I hate her? My hatred for that bitch still burns fiercely within my chest.”
Luri squeezed her eyes shut.
Each time he shouted, the emotions rising inside her became harder to control.
Goz snorted as he watched her suffer.
“His death remains vivid in this heart, yet it seems that is not true for you.”
“I saw it and felt it as well. And that pain also remains… vivid within me.”
Luri had also participated in the Dragon-Demon War to kill the demons.
And she had witnessed Silverwind’s death.
As his Spawn, she too had felt her master’s death and mourned him.
“I also resented my master.”
It could not be helped.
To Luri, Silverwind had been a father.
She could not help but hate Valdrova, who had driven her father to his death.
“But… I cannot hate her.”
“No. That is not true.”
Goz rejected her words.
“If you had truly felt what we felt, you would have abandoned your place at her side.”
“…”
“You were only separated from us for a short while, yet that bitch has already corrupted you. You have forgotten your roots.”
Goz picked up a new glass and poured himself more whiskey.
“Valdrova remains our enemy. As long as she exists upon the Cerdes Continent, our hatred will never end. This is the will of all Silverwind.”
“I see…”
It was what she had expected.
She had already known her hope was futile.
“However… I will give you an opportunity.”
An opportunity.
Luri raised her head.
“What is it?”
She allowed herself to hope that perhaps she could ease even a small portion of their hatred toward Valdrova.
Goz extended his hand toward her.
“Luri Silverwind. Return to the embrace of your clan.”
The thread of hope snapped.
“By returning to the clan… do you mean that I must leave Lady Valdrova’s side?”
“Now that she has a regent, you no longer have any reason to serve that woman.”
“You have completed every task Lord Silverwind gave you. Return to the clan and become a warrior once more. Luri of the Bladed Wind, reclaim your position as commander of the Mobile Brigade. Crush the vermin pouring in from the north and serve us again. If you do, I will erase the disgraceful name of turncoat from you.”
That name had pierced her heart.
But the pain it caused was nothing compared to the responsibility she carried.
“I cannot…”
The natural refusal was about to leave her lips.
At that moment, Luri’s body staggered violently.
“There will be no refusal, Luri Silverwind.”
The force radiating from Goz’s body directly crushed her.
“Lord Silverwind’s authority now dwells within my blood. You know what it means for a Dragon Spawn to oppose that authority, do you not?”
Death.
For a Dragon Spawn who defied that authority, there was only death.
“Nothing good will come from resisting it. Therefore…”
Goz pointed his index finger toward the floor.
“Kneel before me and submit.”
Goz was not bluffing.
Luri, who had not so much as blinked until now, broke into a cold sweat.
It felt as though someone were choking her while crushing her heart in their grasp.
If she refused his command, the pain would be akin to tearing out her own heart.
And this was despite Goz having absorbed only a tiny fraction of Silverwind’s essence.
‘I must not shrink back.’
Luri resisted desperately.
She clutched her apron with both hands and forced strength into her trembling legs.
That was the best she could do.
And even that was barely enough.
“You endure well.”
It was genuine admiration.
Any other Spawn would have fallen to their knees long ago under such pressure.
“Yes. That must be why Lord Silverwind cherished you.”
But Goz disliked her resistance.
He did not want to force her submission through authority alone.
That was far from the complete obedience he desired.
“If leaving her is so difficult, perhaps I should make the decision easier for you.”
Goz tilted his head.
“That regent must know your true identity. But does he also know why you went there in the first place?”
“…!”
The composure on Luri’s face shattered.
Her sweat-soaked hands dampened the apron in her grasp.
“Do you believe he will still protect you after learning the truth?”
Ferda Valdrova.
He loved Valdrova.
And he was merciless toward anyone who threatened her.
‘If Lord Ferda learns the truth…’
What would Ferda do?
The determination that had withstood the pressure began collapsing beneath doubt.
“I…”
Fear overwhelmed her.
It tightened around her throat so completely that she could not even scream.
“What am I supposed to…”
She sank completely into a thick mire.
A silent scream tore through her.
Please.
Please, someone help me.
“Forgive me for barging in unannounced.”
The answer that reached Luri’s ears came in a familiar voice.
“What are you doing to my attendant?”
***
Ferda had gone looking for Luri.
Finding her was not difficult.
She had said she intended to speak with Silverwind.
Then she was undoubtedly beyond the great door carved with Silverwind’s likeness.
Ferda stood before it and considered the situation.
‘Am I interfering unnecessarily?’
She was Valdrova’s attendant.
But she was also a Spawn who carried Silverwind’s blood.
They undoubtedly held rage toward Valdrova, but perhaps they bore no ill will toward Luri.
Ferda had no reason to interfere in a family reunion.
And yet—
No matter how he tried to convince himself, he could not dismiss his unease.
He recalled Goz Silverwind’s expression during the Grand Duke Council.
At the same time, Erika’s warning came to mind.
—The enemy you truly need to watch is someone else. Silverwind.
Dragons were immortals.
Once they embraced vengeance, they never released it.
The same was true of Silverwind.
‘Was allowing this a mistake?’
Even if Luri had insisted—
Even if Valdrova had asked him—
Should he have refused?
Ferda could not erase the thought.
That was why he had come to the Dragon Spawns’ lounge.
Silverwind’s warriors stood guard before the inner chamber.
And beyond them, he could feel an intense Dragon Fear.
There was no doubt.
This was not unnecessary interference.
Ferda walked toward the center of the oppressive presence.
“Are you Regent Valdrova?”
Percival, the Dragon Spawn carrying a staff across his shoulder, rose and asked.
“Is Luri here?”
“Answer my question.”
“I asked whether Luri Silverwind is here.”
Percival refused to move and blocked his path.
“She is.”
“Then step aside.”
“This is a family matter, Regent. It is not your place to interfere.”
One did not meddle in family affairs.
Especially within dragon society, it was considered inviolable territory.
But Ferda had no intention of respecting that boundary.
“If you intend to stop me, you will have to break something.”
Ferda’s blue eyes stared directly into his.
“Then Blancaros’s Hands will restrain you. Can you bear the disgrace of having Silverwind’s descendants blamed for causing trouble?”
“Go ahead if you are confident. I have already prepared myself for the consequences.”
Percival stepped aside.
With a glance, he also ordered his subordinates to withdraw completely.
Ferda opened the door.
He saw Luri.
She was on the verge of falling to her knees before Goz.
She was clearly in pain.
At that moment, every stray thought vanished from Ferda’s mind.
His vision focused sharply upon a single point.
The delinquent pretending to be a king.
“Forgive me for barging in unannounced.”
Ferda spat out the anger he had been holding back.
“What are you doing to my attendant?”