Chapter 171
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
It was during the monster extermination campaign.
The young noblemen had gone off on campaign, while the young ladies and their escort knights remained in Valdrova Castle.
What was there for the young ladies to do?
Women who had never so much as gotten a drop of water on their hands could do little more than huddle together in their rooms.
Some young ladies with nimble fingers expressed their feelings by embroidering the clothes of the young noblemen they favored.
In any case, having sent the men off, they were in an extremely anxious and lonely situation.
Even if they believed they would win, the possibility of defeat whispered constantly in their ears and shook their hearts.
It was an ideal environment for beings that slipped through the cracks in those hearts.
As it happened, one such being lived in this castle.
“This is boring.”
Penelope muttered this with an empty expression.
“Even though I achieved the long-cherished goal I wanted to accomplish in the mortal realm, why don’t I feel any sense of fulfillment?”
Creating the ‘garden’ she had called her cherished goal.
Even though she had succeeded in making it out of precious, innocent young ladies, she felt no sense of achievement.
It was inevitable.
What Penelope had done was merely throwing a net into a fishpond packed with fish or shoving a spoonful of food into her mouth.
‘That’s it.’
Penelope suddenly thought, as though she had just awakened.
‘If I aspire to be a first-rate demon, I should be able to do things myself too!’
She clenched her fist and made a resolution.
‘Next time, I’ll infiltrate the Imperial court and create a garden!’
She was so confident that the thought of getting caught never crossed her mind.
With that resolution, she wandered around inside the castle.
“Come to think of it…… where am I?”
After wandering around like a loafer, she no longer knew where she was.
Valdrova Castle was large.
Wandering around thoughtlessly also meant being ready to get lost at any moment.
That was why she ended up at a place she would never have seen otherwise.
“Is this the throne room?”
A place where the king of a nation officially received his subjects.
Since it was the throne room of a dragon, not just any king, its scale rivaled the Emperor’s.
“Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen anyone use this place.”
It was the throne Valdrova was supposed to sit on, and Ferda could not sit there in his capacity as Regent.
They could have come up with sufficient justification, but Ferda refused and chose to meet people mainly in the reception room or his own office.
Thus, few people knew what the inside looked like.
“Hmm…….”
Penelope narrowed her eyes.
A light called interest dwelled within them.
“Shall I take a little look around?”
Penelope boldly opened the closed door and stepped inside.
“Whoa……!”
What burst from her was an exclamation of admiration.
Since no one used it, she had imagined furniture covered up and dust piled thickly over everything.
But even without a king, the place was being meticulously maintained.
It was designed so that once the chandeliers were lit, the interior would become as bright as day.
The mural of a red dragon behind the throne had been painted with such majesty that visitors would feel intimidated.
“As expected of a dragon, it’s so gaudy?! Why have they left something like this untouched all this time?”
Penelope’s gaze, sweeping over the throne room, fixed on the throne.
She imagined it.
If she sat on that throne, it would surely be incredible.
“Hmm…….”
When one wants to sit, one wants to lie down, and when one wants to lie down, one wants to sleep.
Her feet fidgeted as they carried her forward,
“Oh, whatever.”
In the end, she chose to be true to her desires.
She climbed onto the throne without permission and sat down.
“Ohhh, whoa-ohhh!”
The moment her rear hit the throne, Penelope shuddered.
“Is this the air kings breathe……?!”
It was incomparable to the sense of achievement she had felt when creating her garden.
It felt as though every desire she had been deprived of was being fulfilled.
Penelope recalled the past.
Why had she fearlessly stolen her mother Sitri’s life vessel?
To drive out that archdemon and become the new archdemon of Hell.
But since her plan had ended at wondering what would happen once she stole the life vessel, she had ended up being chased by her mother.
What mattered was that her ambition was still alive.
Lost in playing queen, Penelope could not hold back and shouted.
“Ohoho! You there! Is no one here?”
Her clear, ringing voice resounded through the throne room.
“I wish to proclaim the Penelope Harem Kingdom from this very spot! Which maiden wishes to become the first concubine of Lady Penelope, this archdemon?”
She luxuriated in imagining beautiful fictional maidens begging her, seated upon the throne.
“You? Or you? Anyone will do, come closer to me…….”
Her words trailed off.
“……Huh?”
The imaginary maidens surrounding her scattered like smoke, and she returned to reality.
Yet at the tip of her finger was someone who had not vanished.
A woman with red hair and an ordinary woman’s build.
However, she had two pairs of horns far removed from anything ordinary.
Golden eyes and vertically slit pupils.
Though they had never met even once, even a dull-witted child could realize it immediately.
It was Valdrova, the owner of this throne room and the very subject of the mural behind her.
Penelope had not only barged into the throne room and sat on the throne, she had even pointed her finger at its owner.
“Uh, um…….”
Her slender finger curled like a fern, and her gestures gradually became more polite as well.
“Ah, ahaha!”
She laughed loudly as though nothing had happened.
“Well, this is awkward…… I’m terribly sorry! I was wandering around looking at everything without knowing any better, and before I knew it, I’d come to such an impertinent place and started talking to myself!”
Penelope tried to sneak past Valdrova and leave.
“Th-then, I’ll be taking my leave!”
Just as she tried to scamper away over Valdrova’s shoulder,
“Wait.”
Penelope was caught before she could cross the entrance.
She had uttered only three syllables, yet Penelope could no longer move.
It felt as though the flow of mana, her heart, everything had been caught in that grasp.
Penelope learned it for the first time then.
That she was a dragon.
Valdrova said this to Penelope, who was trembling like a defenseless prairie dog.
“Could we…… talk for a moment?”
Penelope instinctively sensed what would happen afterward.
‘Zed……. I’m going first.’
She left a silent last will.
‘I spent your money well. Thanks to you, I’m leaving after meeting so many people. It’s impossible in this life, but if you come to Hell, I’ll pay you back then. Come to think of it, if I go to Hell, I’ll die there too.’
Penelope lamented.
‘Damn, if I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just spent all that money.’
* * *
Ten minutes earlier, at Valdrova Castle.
‘It’s quiet.’
Valdrova was walking through the castle.
Normally, she would have been walking around in armor, but now she was wearing a dress.
Since the Spring Welcoming Festival, she had decided that walking around the castle without armor was something worth trying.
‘Still, meeting people is difficult…….’
Ironically, the person Valdrova found hardest to face was Ferda.
She was afraid that his considerate way of listening and caring for her might instead become a burden to her.
She focused on areas where people rarely went.
The throne room lay along that route.
‘This was where I was supposed to sit, right?’
When she first became engaged to the Third Prince, she had had only one throne made.
She had never intended to rule this place in the first place.
The seat had originally been intended for the Third Prince.
Though she had acquired the title of Grand Duke, she thought it would be better for the prince to reign than for her, who had done nothing.
She had dreamed that the Third Prince would be the one who reigned, while Valdrova supported him as his wife.
‘But…….’
Reality did not unfold that way.
The night the Third Prince arrived in the Grand Duchy, he said this to Valdrova.
-You’re spouting pathetic nonsense about love. I knew it was true that you were nothing but a watchdog.
His kind demeanor from that morning was nowhere to be seen; he scowled and spewed abuse.
-I only came to use you. I planned to flatter you a little, then put a dog collar around your neck. Did you really think I would love you? You’re a butcher from the Dragon-Demon War. Dogs should act like dogs.
He had hurled those hurtful words without hesitation.
There was no doubt that magic had made him say them.
Nevertheless, what did not change was that they represented the Third Prince’s true feelings and innermost thoughts.
Hearing those words, her blood boiled.
Valdrova could not control the emotions raging through her like a storm.
In the end, she killed the Third Prince with her own hands.
Once again, unable to overcome herself, she had killed someone.
She hated the sight of herself after losing her reason.
She blamed herself, believing she did not deserve happiness.
Even so, just a little.
Selfishly, but she wished for the chance to be a little happier.
She vowed that if she had been mistaken this time too, she would no longer harbor the dream of becoming happy, for everyone’s sake.
The final person to approach her like that was that man.
-It’s a pleasure to meet you, my heart.
The man named Ferda was the exact opposite of the Third Prince.
When she first met his eyes, they had looked clearly at Valdrova.
He seemed much more like a man who ruled in order to marry than one who married in order to rule.
Why had she not met a man like him from the beginning?
‘If only I had met Ferda a little earlier…….’
She would not have needed to be so afraid of meeting people…….
She could have found the courage to help Mr. Ferda more and accomplished more…….
She wanted to cast off this fear and help Mr. Ferda.
Valdrova yearned for that.
-Ohoho!
Then, out of nowhere, she heard laughter.
The sound was definitely coming from beyond the door.
‘What is that?’
Valdrova cautiously entered the throne room.
There, a demon with pink hair was seated on the throne, utterly absorbed in her role.
‘That girl…… was the one Ferda brought here, wasn’t she?’
Her name was Penelope, and she was a demon.
Luri had told her that she did not know what the girl’s role was, but that she was important enough to keep around.
‘……That girl?’
No matter how she looked at her, she did not seem like it.
She looked like an immature child.
“You? Or you? Anyone will do, come closer to me…….”
She pointed at herself with her finger like that.
“……Huh.”
She froze.
After that, Penelope tried to sneak away, but Valdrova did not let her.
“Wait.”
Normally, she would have pretended not to notice someone and let them go, but for some reason she could not simply let her leave.
Without even knowing why, Valdrova said this.
“Could we…… talk for a moment?”
* * *
Penelope and Valdrova sat side by side on a bench bathed in vivid blue moonlight.
The two sat demurely.
Neither said a word.
‘I want to run away.’
Penelope felt as though a bed of thorns had been laid beneath her.
Though she was driven by instinct, she could not easily move even in this situation.
Penelope struggled to open the conversation to escape the situation.
“Um…….”
“……”
“I have committed a sin worthy of death.”
“……”
“But now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem worthy of death. I only sat on the throne, didn’t I? Right?”
“……”
“No. Come to think of it, it does seem worthy of death. I’m running my mouth like this, after all!”
“……”
“Oh dear, I was being ridiculous, wasn’t I? I’ll shut up.”
The saying that the mouth is the gateway to calamity suited Penelope perfectly.
Silence began piling up again.
Along with the silence, Penelope felt as though her heart was gradually stopping too.
“Um…….”
“Yes, yes! Please speak!”
This time, Valdrova opened her mouth.
“It’s just……. I didn’t stop you because you came in here and were about to say something.”
“I-is that so? Oh my! Of course, since you are the generous and merciful Lady Valdrova, you must have the magnanimity to show mercy to a lowly person’s mistake!”
“Hmm……. It’s just that I was a little curious.”
“Something you were curious about!”
An escape route had appeared.
Penelope beamed and thumped her chest.
“This Penelope will answer anything if I can!”
“Then…… what is this Harem Kingdom?”
“Huh…….”
Penelope had run into a huge obstacle right from the start.
A question that was difficult to answer to a woman.
More importantly, hadn’t she pointed at Valdrova and offered to recruit her as a harem member?
“A-a harem is…… You could think of it as polygamy.”
“Polygamy? What does that mean?”
“It means one man has multiple wives. I suppose you could call it an ideal paradise that any man would dream of at least once?”
“Hmm? Were you a man?”
“No, I’m a woman.”
“Then what meaning does that have?”
Indeed.
“Oh my, what I mean is that I intend to build a Harem Kingdom for you, Lady Valdrova!”
“But I’m a woman?”
“It would be a Harem Kingdom where women rule over women too!”
“Hmm……. Women…….”
She imagined herself surrounded by countless women.
She tried to imagine what women usually did when they gathered together.
‘Something like a tea party?’
She imagined herself enjoying chatting with them.
Her heart felt light, as though she were becoming the young lady she had dreamed of being.
“A Harem Kingdom is a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Pardon? Ah, o-of course it is!!”
She had surely misunderstood something, but that did not matter.
Penelope laughed, “Ahaha!” and brushed it off.
“You said you were Sitri’s daughter…… so you’re a demon of lust, right?”
“Th-that’s right?”
“Then…… do you know much about men too?”
“Uh…….”
To Penelope, men were like rocks strewn along the roadside.
They were beings she did not care about, but if she happened to trip over one, they pissed her off.
That was true of most of them, unless they were as conspicuously handsome as Zed.
“I know what an attractive woman is!”
Penelope dodged the unfavorable question with a different answer.
“An attractive woman…….”
But perhaps that had been the right answer, because Valdrova’s reaction was favorable.
She stroked the chin her mask did not cover.
Just as Penelope anxiously wondered whether she had stepped in shit,
“Do you really know much about women?”
“Oh, of course. I know all about the kind of beauty that drives men wild!”
“I see…….”
Valdrova pondered something deeply, then
“All right.”
She nodded.
Contrary to the resolute tone suggesting she had made some major decision, what she did was very simple.
She removed the mask she had been wearing and revealed her bare face.
“How about me……?”
She asked shyly.