Chapter 101
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Boom!
The situation ended with a sound that shook Hestia Village.
Those who had gathered to eliminate the remaining monsters ended up surrounding Waldrova.
All their gazes were directed down at her.
“What in the world is this…….”
“Urgh…….”
Those with weak stomachs gagged when they saw the scene.
Some of them also knew what this was.
‘Berserker.’
People consumed by rage who destroy everything.
Their rage could not be controlled, and without a mage capable of casting a calming spell, they were treated as nothing more than small ogres.
The residents could guess why someone capable of such outrageous strength was here.
Though that guess was far from certain, fear quickly spread.
Everyone was afraid of Waldrova.
Waldrova did nothing.
She merely raised her head slightly to look around, then sat still in that spot.
Everyone glanced at one another and hesitated.
No one dared enter the depression the single blow had carved into the ground.
“Are you all right, Knight?”
The man wearing the chief of security’s insignia.
The man who had bravely confronted the monster approached and asked.
Waldrova could not answer.
“Can you stand? Shall I help you?”
William held out his hand, but Waldrova did not even look at it.
She remained there as though she had died.
A voice was what finally awakened her mind.
“Sir William.”
It was Ferda.
She raised her head and looked up at Ferda.
“Yes, Regent.”
“I heard an enormous crash just now. It seems this was the source…….”
Ferda was looking at her.
Those cold eyes.
They were not the warm eyes that had looked at her so kindly.
“You……”
Ferda could not continue.
Waldrova knew why.
‘I…….’
Because I was a monster.
Ferda walked toward Waldrova.
Unable to bear looking at his expression, she lowered her head.
With her vision blocked, the sound of his footsteps grew even clearer.
Ferda approached and opened his mouth.
“Come to the castle. I have something to tell you.”
The warmth he had always shown her was gone.
* * *
She had seen this place several times before, but it was very different from then.
Back then, she had looked around as its owner. Now she had come as a guest.
It was ridiculous.
The owner of the castle coming as a guest.
Ferda did not know that.
He prepared and poured the tea in the reception room himself.
“Normally, a maidservant would do this, but she’s busy dealing with the situation outside, so I have to do it myself. Please understand even if it doesn’t taste good.”
“……”
“Still, consider yourself lucky. I established a rule that every knight has to come in and wash, so that would only have wasted time.”
Ferda held the teacup out toward Waldrova.
Whether it tasted good or not did not matter.
‘Tea Mr. Ferda brewed…….’
That alone made it seem incredibly special.
I want to drink it.
But if she removed her helmet, he would see her face.
Ferda would be shocked.
Then she would have to explain what she had been doing all this time, and things would become complicated.
He would be disillusioned.
She did not want to face such a tragedy.
‘Let’s stay still.’
Waldrova silently set down the teacup.
Ferda watched her quietly, then began another conversation.
“I heard you took a vow of silence.”
Nod, nod.
“It’s a convenient excuse, though. If you say you took a vow of silence, you only have to answer questions directed at you, and you don’t have to say anything unnecessary. Isn’t that right?”
Ferda’s cold gaze seemed to pierce through her.
“It may work on the ignorant masses, but I was raised in a knightly family. A vow of silence is normally taken only by holy knights. And if you truly served someone, it would have shown in your bearing.”
“……”
“But you served no one. All you possess is strength and fighting ability greater than that of knights. So why did you tell such a lie?”
He spoke cynically.
“It’s obvious. You hid your identity to escape your past.”
Waldrova clenched her fists.
Though Ferda had missed the mark in some respects, he had grasped the essence of the matter.
Waldrova hated herself.
She hated herself more than the demons who had driven so many people to their deaths—the part of herself that had to make others tremble.
“Tell me.”
Ferda asked as he lifted his teacup.
“Have you ever killed someone while consumed by that anger?”
Nod.
“So you fled here?”
Nod.
“I see.”
A brief silence.
Ferda thought for a moment before asking her,
“Do you regret that day?”
Regret.
How could she not regret it?
For decades, she had been sunk in grief, loathing herself and suffering from nightmares.
She had prayed for God’s mercy and salvation, but no one answered.
Instead of moving forward, she had stopped and continued to hate herself.
Whenever she thought of the people sacrificed in the Dragon-Demon War, she had only one thought:
If only the people she had killed could live again, she would not care if she became an evil dragon that made the entire world her enemy.
Waldrova nodded.
“I see.”
That calm affirmation seemed to create the silence before a storm.
She expected curses to fly at any moment.
A monster like you isn’t needed in this city.
Get out right now.
“You……”
But there was no storm.
“Do you like this village?”
It was an absurdly easy question.
Waldrova nodded.
“Do you also wish to protect this village?”
Nod, nod.
“Then…… would you be willing to accept the knighthood I am prepared to offer you?”
“N—.”
Waldrova raised her head.
‘If I were a knight…….’
A position that protected the people and guarded the king.
The dream of rural boys was knightly romance.
Waldrova was also interested in the position, since she liked the word ‘protection.’
‘But why?’
She could not understand.
People saw her as a monster.
Even those girls had trembled in fear of her.
I am an evil dragon—no, an evil person.
Someone like that should not become a knight.
“Do you think you are unqualified?”
Nod.
“What a foolish thought.”
Blunt verbal abuse.
Tender-hearted Waldrova was hurt.
“Do you know how many adventurers participated in Hestia Village?”
Shake, shake.
“Twenty-three parties came here. In terms of headcount, that was seventy-three people. Every one of them possesses both strength and wisdom.”
“……”
“And yet only four parties participated in the defense. Do you understand what that means? It means nineteen parties did not care whether people died or the village was destroyed.”
Ferda leaned forward as he spoke.
“But you didn’t. You could have hidden alongside those idiots, but you moved to protect this village.”
“……”
“That is because you understand that the people before your eyes are more precious than the past.”
Something disappeared from Waldrova’s heart when she heard those words.
She had thought she was looking at an utterly cold monster, but that was not the case.
It had been her misunderstanding from the beginning.
Though he was not warm, his eyes held respect.
“If you truly wish to protect this place, then your past has no meaning to me.”
You are not at fault.
And you only need to continue moving forward.
‘What is this……?’
She felt a strange emotion.
She had had conversations like this many times while receiving Ferda’s mana.
Back then, Ferda had always been kind.
‘But I wasn’t at ease.’
When Ferda handled her, he acted as though she were a delicate flower that might break at any moment.
His delicate, gentle hands merely brushed against her skin before moving on.
Waldrova could not believe what he said, and so that comfort remained nothing more than a fleeting emotion.
‘This is different.’
His unkind tone and gaze.
His attitude toward someone he treated like a complete stranger.
‘It feels as though we’re meeting for the first time.’
He did not hesitate to touch her, and drew deep empathy from within her.
All of it felt like she was seeing another side of Ferda.
Her heart began to pound.
This feeling, deeper than what she had felt when she first saw him, was undoubtedly love.
“Do you think I’m a very understanding person?”
At his question, Waldrova nodded.
“Unfortunately, I am not that kind of person. I only pretend to be this understanding because you resemble someone I once saw.”
Who could that be?
As she wondered inwardly, he said,
“That person is truly beautiful.”
Beautiful.
Ferda smiled as he said that.
At the sight, Waldrova felt a tightness in her chest.
‘I heard Mr. Ferda has never smiled at anyone but me…….’
That was what Ruri had said.
That he was kind because she was Waldrova, and smiled because she was Waldrova.
Who in the world was that person, to make him act like this?
“I only saw that person’s face once, and even then I can’t say I saw it properly.”
‘Could they really have been such a wonderful person, even though he only saw their face once?’
“Besides, the first face I saw was covered in tears.”
‘Were they really that beautiful when they cried……?’
“I want to see their face every time, but I can never bring myself to say anything.”
‘What a jerk. They won’t even show me their face…….’
“Still, just thinking that they are resting without a care beneath this castle is enough to comfort me.”
‘Beneath this castle…….’
Wait.
That person…….
‘Could it be me?’
Only then did Waldrova realize.
As she went back over everything he had said, wasn’t it exactly the same situation she had been in?
‘Ah…….’