Chapter 174
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
The eastern plains of the Arken Empire.
Spring was in full bloom, and a cool breeze carried the fragrance of flowers.
It was a vast and peaceful plateau, but it took only an instant for a bloody wind to sweep across it.
Spring, when new life emerged after the harsh winter.
During this season, dire wolf packs were more ruthless and cruel than ever.
Their prey was a woman walking alone across the plateau in the dead of night.
They formed a familiar encirclement, completely cutting off every avenue of escape.
It was only a matter of time before she became a pile of bones upon this peaceful plateau.
But this woman was different.
She showed no sign of fear or tension.
Grrrr……
As the dire wolves narrowed the encirclement, they suddenly began to emit threatening growls.
They had instinctively realized it.
That this woman, whom they had thought was prey caught only seconds ago, was by no means an easy target.
The woman showed no sign of fear.
Her expressionless face made it seem as though everything were empty.
She stared blankly for a while, then rolled her eyes toward the dire wolves.
Two moons were embedded in her eyes.
The dire wolf that met her gaze shuddered.
These mere beasts saw their future.
The moment they attacked this frail woman, they would become corpses upon the plateau.
The dire wolves broke their encirclement and began fleeing with their tails between their legs.
The woman survived just like that.
Clap, clap!
Applause rang out as soon as the dire wolves withdrew.
Only then did the woman standing on the plateau notice.
That there was someone here besides herself.
“As expected of Yubel. Your wild instincts are still alive and well.”
The woman called Yubel turned toward the source of the voice.
A woman stood there in plain clothes, with a common-looking face dotted with freckles.
The woman smiled faintly at Yubel.
“……?”
Instead of answering, Yubel narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.
The woman responded with an aggrieved “Oh my.”
“Oh my, it’s a little hurtful that you’ve already forgotten me just because we haven’t seen each other in a few years, Yubel.”
“……!”
Yubel’s eyes began to glow silver once more.
The deaths the dire wolf had seen were visible to that woman as well.
Even under that gaze, which stirred her survival instinct, the woman merely sighed as though nothing were wrong.
“Just because I put on a little makeup, you can see even the Eyes of Death. We aren’t so distant that you should treat me like a stranger……”
The freckled woman grabbed her own face, as though she had no choice.
Then she tore it off.
Beneath it, a thoroughly innocent-looking woman unlike the one from before was smiling.
The moment Yubel saw that face, her wariness vanished.
“Sak.”
That was the one syllable that came from her mouth.
“Oh my, that’s harsh. Even so, shouldn’t you have recognized me from my voice alone?”
“Sak.”
“How rude of you to think that. The youth of this Angrem remains nineteen even after decades, you know?”
“Sak. Sak.”
Yubel narrowed her eyes and glared, while Angrem touched her face with a troubled expression.
They decided to leave the trivial matters for later.
“You said you escaped from the Empire, didn’t you?”
“Man.”
Yubel nodded.
“For someone who supposedly escaped, you resolved it rather peacefully. I didn’t expect you to leave without getting blood on your hands.”
Angrem asked as though Yubel had merely forgotten to put on clothes.
Yubel stared at her through half-lidded eyes before answering.
“Man.”
“Man?”
Her index finger was pointing toward the sky.
Following her gaze upward, Angrem saw the moon.
“Ah, come to think of it, it is a full moon tonight.”
The full moon was a merciful moon.
On that day, even those who deserved to die could not be killed.
That was a rule established by Sierra.
“Sak.”
“It can’t be helped. I’ve been serving as one of Sierra’s dancers for over twenty years. I’ve been looking up at the moon and praying for even longer.”
“Sak. Sak.”
“Don’t be angry. What will you do now? You must have been terribly frustrated after being imprisoned for three years. Do you have somewhere to go?”
“Man.”
“Oh my, you do? Where is it?”
Yubel turned her head with a wistful expression.
It was toward the east.
“Ferda.”
“Oh my.”
Angrem was startled by those words.
“I never thought you would mention that name. You must have taken quite a liking to him?”
Yubel did not say anything more, as though embarrassed.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. He is someone you will meet before long.”
The woman’s lips curved into a smile like a waning crescent moon.
“He is the only child of Sierra still remaining on this land.”
* * *
Ferda’s carriage arrived safely near the Grand Duchy.
Isabella met Ferda in front of the village gates right on time.
“Congratulations on obtaining the justification for autonomy.”
“It was the natural result.”
“You say it was natural, but you made so many preparations to achieve that result. I’m happy that they did not go to waste.”
They say praise can even make a whale dance, and it was not unpleasant.
Isabella pushed up her glasses and spoke.
“Please come inside. To celebrate this occasion, there is a gift I would like to show you, Lord Ferda.”
A gift.
When they entered the village, Ferda saw the gift she had mentioned.
The square at the center of the village, which had been left empty during the city planning.
An unfamiliar structure had been erected in the middle of it.
“A fountain.”
“That is correct. The Master of Iorga Tower created this monument together with the artisans within the tower.”
Where a broad square was meant to be, there stood a fountain made of white marble.
It had a hexagonal border, with a palace-like tower in the center.
He could immediately tell what the dragon figure perched on the pointed tip symbolized.
“It represents Lord Valdrova during the extermination campaign.”
“Yes. They said they sculpted her that way because they thought it would be the best representation.”
It was, in fact, a song that had spread widely among the bards, and the hymns of those who still could not forget that sight continued to be sung.
For Ferda, it was a heartening story.
But separate from that, one concern arose.
‘The question is whether I have enough power to operate this…….’
A fountain was a symbol of prosperity, and its requirements were extremely demanding.
The first was a continuous supply of mana to pump the water in the fountain.
The second was a vast amount of water—enough to flow through the city’s water pipes and circulate throughout the entire village.
The third was that the enormous quantity of water had to be clean enough to drink.
If any of these three conditions were faulty or ignored, it would instead become the embodiment of vanity and greed, turning into an eyesore.
There was no way Iorga had sent it here recklessly without considering those conditions.
‘Unless they sent it here intending to catch me off guard…….’
Ferda noticed one more thing.
“It seems you succeeded in purifying a large quantity of the water held in the Demon Lands.”
Isabella could not hide her surprise at Ferda’s guess.
“That is the second gift from the magic tower. I had intended to explain it to you slowly, but you beat me to it.”
“I was being rather thoughtless.”
“Not at all. I am simply glad that the Grand Duchy’s future is bright.”
Isabella smiled, pride evident on her face.
“I would like to show you the second gift, but let us put that off for now.”
“Is there something that must be done immediately?”
“His Highness the Grand Duke is waiting for the Regent.”
For Ferda, it was more important than anything else.
* * *
After washing himself and changing clothes, Ferda headed to the parlor.
A red-haired woman sat demurely across from the balcony.
Valdrova sat there, looking toward the sun as it sank westward and fidgeting with her fingers.
She stared blankly in that direction until she sensed Ferda’s presence and turned her head.
“Ah.”
She sprang to her feet and greeted him.
“Welcome, Mr. Ferda.”
With an excited air, she approached Ferda in quick little steps.
“You must have had a difficult time.”
Faced with this unexpected sense of distance, Ferda forgot what he had meant to say and simply looked down at her.
“Master.”
Luri cut into the awkward atmosphere.
“It is not proper for Your Highness to come out to greet his guest.”
“Oh, right……. I’m sorry. My heart got ahead of me. Did I perhaps seem frivolous?”
Frivolous, did she say?
That was a word that did not suit this woman at all.
“It is the greatest honor that Your Highness came to meet me.”
Ferda politely returned her greeting and took his seat.
Luri, acting as an unobtrusive screen, filled Ferda’s teacup with black tea.
“How was it? My visit to the Arken Empire?”
Ferda recalled what Valdrova had been like during her visit to the Empire and answered.
“You sent a representative.”
Valdrova nodded.
“Yes. I sent Penelope. I heard she was perfect when I was told about it, but did she perhaps make some mistake?”
“Not at all. Penelope fulfilled her role sufficiently. Thanks to her, people must have formed an impression of Grand Duke Valdrova.”
“Even though it wasn’t me?”
“It is common for a king to send a double in their stead. Doubles are often sent to battlefields or on diplomatic missions of little importance.”
It frequently happened at assignments where the risk of assassination was high and the benefits of returning were small.
Of course, it was unnecessary for Valdrova, who was harder to assassinate than it was to breach an impregnable fortress, but he did not bother mentioning that.
One thing was certain: Penelope had fulfilled her role.
Her gait and aura.
To people who had never seen Valdrova, they were enough to make them believe she was Valdrova, especially since she was accustomed to acting like a queen.
“Are you satisfied as well, Mr. Ferda?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Do you really think so?”
At her questioning, Ferda raised his head.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just…… you look terribly disappointed.”
It felt as though a sudden skewer had pierced his chest.
Ferda reflexively touched his face.
He wondered whether he had frowned while saying that.
“I’m fine.”
Ferda hedged.
He said it as though it were nothing important.
Valdrova, however, did not let go of her unease.
“I sent her for none other than you. So I would like you to tell me honestly.”
She was being persistent today.
It was an issue he could have continued to dismiss by saying he was fine and hedging.
But what would happen if he kept trying to gloss over it?
Wouldn’t they only pile up misunderstandings and distrust between them?
Part of him felt that way.
Ferda had to make a choice.
Should he lie to gently comfort her?
Or should he tell the truth and risk hurting her?
“The truth is……”
Ferda made his choice.
“When I heard Your Highness was coming…… I was looking forward to it. A lot.”
What had Ferda felt then, walking in with dignity to greet his partner?
The closest description would be the sight of a groom welcoming his bride at the wedding ceremony.
His expectations had been that great.
And so had his sense of betrayal.
Because the one wearing the red dress and pretending to be a queen had not been Valdrova, but a third-rate demon.
“And the fact that Your Highness became friends with that demon…… made me a little uncomfortable as well.”
“Is that…… a problem?”
If it was a problem, then of course there was one.
That demon was the famous troublemaker of Hestia Village.
Thankfully, the fact that she was a demon had not yet been discovered. If it had been, there would already have been an uproar over a demon living in the Grand Duchy.
Keeping someone like her around as a demon would surely only damage Valdrova’s reputation.
‘……That’s only an excuse.’
Even if she was a famous troublemaker in Hestia Village, she had never once harbored any malicious intent.
He also knew that her various incidents were not enough to seriously harm Valdrova’s prestige.
Everything he was thinking was merely Ferda’s jealousy.
He was jealous that Valdrova could comfortably show her face to Penelope, and jealous that she seemed closer to Penelope than she was to him.
Voicing the ugly feelings in Ferda’s heart would only mean stopping her once again as she tried to step out into the world.
Ferda did not answer.
Valdrova did not press him for an answer either.
They fell silent amid the awkward atmosphere.
“The heart is truly…… strange.”
Valdrova said this as she placed a hand over her chest.
“Actually…… I could have gone out to meet you that day. Strangely, after showing my face to Penelope, that girl, I felt that I was no longer afraid to show it to other people either……”
“But……”
“There was exactly one person for whom that wasn’t true.”
Valdrova lifted her head slightly and looked at Ferda.
He felt as though he were meeting the eyes behind her mask.
“You’re the person closest to me, and the one I’ll have to spend the most time with…… I don’t know why it’s so difficult to show my face to the person I want to spend eternity with. To show it to other people while wearing a mask in front of you. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered whether that was really right. I can’t do it for the person who has done so much for me, yet I do it for other people…… Isn’t that too selfish?”
Ferda understood what that feeling was.
Hadn’t Ferda felt the same way?
Just as Valdrova could not show him her bare face, Ferda could not show her the nature he possessed.
He wanted to present himself in a better light, so he became even more affected.
Because their feelings for each other were so strong, they became equally cautious.
Why had he not realized this before?
In the end, Valdrova and he had been thinking the exact same thing.
The jealousy and resentment swelling in Ferda’s chest subsided.
As the muddy earth settled, clear water rose to the surface, becoming a mirror that reflected Ferda’s face.
He was disgusted by the narrow-minded version of himself he saw.
Ferda reached out and carefully took Valdrova’s hand.
Valdrova looked slightly startled, then clasped Ferda’s hand tightly as though she felt at ease.
“You took courage like this, Your Highness. Is there nothing I can do for you?”
“……”
It was quiet.
But it was not uncomfortable.
The pulse of her fidgeting fingers said that she was thinking.
“Th-then……”
Valdrova made a shy proposal.
“Please…… don’t call me Your Highness.”