Chapter 178
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Valdrova Castle, underground.
“Would you like to cultivate a friendship with the young lady?”
“With a young lady?”
Valdrova, who had been studying her writing, turned her head.
Luri did not like the sight of those golden eyes shining.
“W-what kind of person is she?”
She asked cautiously, suppressing her growing excitement.
Feeling exasperated at how utterly unlike an emperor she looked, Luri answered calmly.
“Apparently, she is much like you, my lord.”
“If she’s like me…… will we have things to talk about?”
“Indeed, my lord.”
The words rose as far as her throat.
“There is no need to worry. They say she is witty and lively, so she should have no trouble conversing with you, my lord.”
“Then isn’t she unlike me?”
“Indeed, my lord.”
Who would ever approach a dragon first and try to make pointless small talk?
A dragon was a being who reigned above all creation, a crystallization of wisdom and experience gained over several hundred times as many years.
To a dragon, human politics was child’s play, and even matters of grave importance ended as trivial chit-chat.
Yet that was only the human assessment; Valdrova liked the trivial conversations women shared even more.
‘Small talk with a human young lady.’
Why was she so nervous about something like this?
Fear took precedence, and a strong desire to refuse welled up.
But if not now, she did not know when another opportunity might arise.
“I-I’ll do it.”
She asked, suppressing her pounding heart.
“When should I do it?”
“I hear she is coming right away, so I believe you should prepare.”
“R-right away?”
“If it feels like too much, we can reschedule.”
“N-no! Let’s do it! They say you should take a steamed bun out while it’s hot!”
“Then I shall make the preparations.”
Luri bowed and withdrew.
Watching her leave the room, Valdrova remembered something she had not considered.
‘Come to think of it, Luri was the one who suddenly suggested this.’
Luri did not like Valdrova associating with humans.
After all, drawing close to humans only benefited them, and they might even try to use the dragon.
In particular, because naive Valdrova had often been subjected to such treatment, Luri was not pleased by the prospect of Valdrova directly interacting with humans.
Even with her fiancé Ferda, how long had it taken before he suggested their first tea party?
‘Could it be that Luri trusts humans a little more now?’
The thought that the serious, expressionless, doll-like little girl was becoming more human.
Such a change delighted Valdrova.
* * *
But Luri had not changed.
‘A tea party with humans…….’
She still found the prospect distasteful.
But Luri had no choice.
When Ferda contacted her out of the blue and said he intended to bring Lyudmila Purity, Luri had responded as follows.
-Have you lost your mind?
Luri had genuinely turned stern.
-Valdrova is a dragon. That young lady is a worthless human. Do you really think I would permit her such a casual audience?
-I understand.
-If you understand that, why are you saying something so absurd?
-Of course, I know we must act with proper decorum. Even so, it must be done.
The pain was evident in Ferda’s voice.
He swallowed his pain repeatedly before saying this.
-Penelope.
-…….
-That damned demon woman…… is His Highness the Grand Duke’s first friend.
Penelope.
A pink-haired demon whose conduct was exceedingly frivolous.
If Ferda had not repeatedly insisted that she was important to him, Luri would have twisted her neck long ago.
-She’s my friend…….
When he had shyly introduced her, Luri had felt as though she had been struck hard.
It was the feeling of seeing a daughter one had raised to be beautiful and proper announce that she intended to marry some street punk picked up off the road.
She had bitten her lip so hard that blood had poured down it.
-And now you expect me to stand by and watch that woman, who even pursues women rather than men, cling to her?
-…….
-If you remember the tears of blood we shed that day, you must find her a new friend as soon as possible.
Only then did Luri understand.
Now was no time for such complaints.
-I shall make the arrangements.
She had to tear that demon away.
At all costs.
* * *
“Sir Ferda has arrived. It seems he will come with the young lady, so I shall show them in.”
“O-okay!”
Valdrova wore a dress, and the table was piled high with snacks.
Since this was not tea with her fiancé, it was held in a spring garden rather than the game room.
The rich floral scent made the occasion feel all the more real.
I’m really having a ladies’ afternoon.
“My lord. The young lady of House Purity is entering.”
The main gate opened, and a woman came inside.
She was a cute person with a smile on her lips.
“It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness. I am Lyudmila Purity.”
Valdrova could not bring herself to answer properly and merely nodded.
Lyudmila cautiously entered and sat on the opposite side.
For the first time, someone other than Ferda had taken the seat across from her at this table.
“This is our first proper greeting. I should have greeted you when we first met.”
Valdrova tilted her head.
“Have you…… seen me before?”
“I saw you at the Beginning-of-Spring Festival. You danced with the Regent, didn’t you?”
“Ah…….”
Valdrova’s face flushed.
No matter how it had looked to others, barging in that day out of jealousy was a shameful memory.
Thank goodness she had been wearing a mask.
This time, Valdrova tried to start a conversation.
“I heard that…… you got engaged.”
“Yes. I’m going to become the lady of House Consilius now.”
“Congrat……ulations.”
“It is an honor that Your Highness would bless us. And please, speak freely with me.”
“Speak comfortably……?”
“Yes! Just call me Lyudmila and speak to me as casually as you would a friend!”
“A-a friend…….”
The exceedingly lively atmosphere practically pushed her onward.
If she used honorifics one more time, it would seem she was drawing a line between them, so she had no choice but to drop them.
“Lu-Lyudmila……?”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Lyudmila clapped her hands in delight.
Seeing that radiant smile, Valdrova felt at ease as well.
She thought she understood why Luri had uncharacteristically allowed this.
“May I ask you one question?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Why do you wear a mask?”
What an incredibly bold question.
“Does this look strange?”
“No. Rather than strange, I was just curious whether there might be a story behind it. I’m sorry if that’s a sensitive question.”
“No, it’s not sensitive…….”
She was surprised, but did not think Lyudmila rude.
If anything, wasn’t Valdrova the rude one here?
Lyudmila was showing her face so openly, while Valdrova refused to show hers……
“Do you…… want to see what my face looks like, Lyudmila?”
“Oh! We get to see Your Highness’s face?”
“You don’t have to if it would make you uncomfortable.”
“No, no, no! I really want to see it.”
Seeing how emphatically she denied it, Valdrova felt she could no longer withdraw the offer.
Valdrova carefully removed her mask, revealing her face.
Lyudmila, who had been holding a hand over her pounding heart, dropped her jaw.
“I hope you won’t think me presumptuous, but…… are you wearing makeup or something?”
“Hmm? No.”
“My goodness. I never imagined you could be this beautiful without even wearing makeup…….”
At last, Valdrova grew embarrassed.
She had a powerful urge to put her mask back on.
“I’m not saying that just to flatter you—you’re more beautiful than Princess Olivia.”
“I don’t think I’m that beautiful…….”
“With just a little more adornment, you’d be more than lovely enough, you know? Put on a few accessories and a light dusting of powder, and you’d be sooooo much more beautiful than Princess Olivia.”
Luri had always handled her adornment for her.
Unlike Luri, who had been raised as a warrior, Valdrova had no reason to know such feminine arts, and adding anything to a perfect dragon was itself an irreverent act.
Unlike Luri, Valdrova was interested in such adornment.
“Are you good at that?”
“Of course! I was always the one who braided my sisters’ hair! They’re incredibly fussy, but ever since I started doing their hair, they’ve always been bossing me around, you know?”
“Hmm…… That must have been hard.”
“No! I like this sort of thing, so it was fine. I also like packing lunches for my brothers!”
“You can cook, too?”
Valdrova’s eyes lit up.
Lyudmila read that look.
“Are you perhaps interested in cooking?”
“Well…….”
After hesitating, she answered shyly.
“A little.”
Valdrova wondered if there was anything she could do for Ferda.
Something that could tell him she loved him deeply even if she did not show him her face.
One of the things that came from that thought was cooking.
“I’ve thought that I’d like Ferda to eat something I made…….”
“I know that feeling……!”
Lyudmila drew her clasped hands up to her chest, and tears finally welled in her eyes.
Valdrova was flustered.
“W-why, why, why are you crying?”
“No. I’m just so glad I said I really wanted to talk with you, Lady Valdrova. There truly aren’t any people I can have conversations like this with.”
“What are the other young ladies like?”
“They’re completely different from you, Lady Valdrova! Do you know what they say when I tell them I like cooking? They say it in a tone that looks down on me, as if cooking were something only commoner maids do! They go on like that, saying I should start preparing to marry into some shabby household that doesn’t even have a cook!”
“That’s too harsh.”
“I’m making food for the people I love, so I can’t understand what they’re so unhappy about! They say creatures that only know how to receive and never how to be grateful are beasts, and that’s exactly what beasts do, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And wealth and family background aren’t everything, either. Even if our families pushed us together, if we’re willing to understand each other, couldn’t that become love too?”
Valdrova felt Lyudmila’s words resonate in her heart.
They were exactly the feelings she held for Ferda.
She felt that with this girl, she might be able to share those feelings more freely.
“Lyudmila…….”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I-I was wondering……. This might sound a little strange, but…….”
“It won’t be strange at all! You can tell me anything!”
“Then, would you be my friend?”
She thought Lyudmila might be stunned, but the girl’s eyes sparkled like the sun floating in the sky.
“Of course! I was going to ask you that! I kept thinking it would be nice to become friends with Your Highness!”
Lyudmila rose from her seat and clasped Valdrova’s hand tightly.
“I’m so happy I can be Your Highness’s friend.”
Valdrova was flustered by her enthusiastic behavior, but only for a moment.
Unlike the other young ladies, Lyudmila’s hands were a little rough.
“I’m very happy I can be friends with you too, Lyudmila.”
She liked those rough hands so much that she kept stroking them as if they were silk.
* * *
While the ladies were spending time together in the garden,
Ferda was meeting with Arwen and Zed in his office.
“Bwahahaha!! That’s absolutely hilarious!”
Zed laughed so loudly the castle seemed ready to fall.
Arwen asked with a frown,
“What’s so funny about this?”
“Of course it’s funny. Your brothers-in-law were relentlessly aiming for your groin, the one place you absolutely mustn’t target in sparring. How could I not laugh?”
They say life is a comedy when viewed from afar and a tragedy when seen up close.
To Zed, it was comedy; to Arwen, it had nearly been an absurd tragedy; to Ferda, it was a matter of complete indifference.
“Still, you look fairly intact for someone who went through something so brutal.”
“I may look intact, but I passed out three times. They avoided my face and relentlessly targeted my groin, so guarding it became rather difficult…….”
“Wow, the young master of House Purity is quite the capable man—if nothing disqualifies him, he can even create life himself.”
Zed burst out laughing.
“To think a woman would ensnare you, good grief…… For a man, no less.”
Zed kept needling Arwen without pause.
Ferda looked at Zed with exasperation.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to talk about others.”
“What did I do?”
“Aren’t you completely under the thumb of the Merchant Guild Master?”
Zed flinched and trembled.
“What are you talking about? When have I ever done that? I still go around seducing women. Just like before…….”
“When I saw you last time, it looked like you were asking permission. Or was that my imagination?”
“Oh dear, I’ve just remembered something I didn’t finish! I’d better be off. I had a wonderful time today!”
“Yes, your missus is calling. You’d better go.”
Sensing he was at a disadvantage, Zed quickly fled.
Ferda watched him go with a look of exasperation.
“……Regent.”
Arwen, who had lowered his head, called out to Ferda.
“Yes?”
“Could you perhaps keep a secret……? You seem like someone who can keep his mouth shut, and I have nowhere else I can say this…….”
“Go on.”
“The thing is…… I’m only telling you this, Regent, but…….”
Arwen stammered, quite unlike a knight.
“That thing back then…… it wasn’t done by mutual consent.”
“……What are you saying? You mean you really forced yourself on her?”
“……Yes.”
He struggled to continue.
“The only thing is…… I wasn’t the one who forced myself on her…….”
“…….”
Ferda understood what he meant and discreetly looked Arwen over.
He was sturdy enough to be subdued only with difficulty even if ten fully grown men attacked him simultaneously.
It was unbelievable that such a man had been pounced on by a woman.
“Was she really that strong?”
“No. She was delicate. That’s why I was a little…….”
“You mean you couldn’t use your strength. Still, you should have been able to subdue her, shouldn’t you?”
“Lyudmila said this to me……. She said that if I didn’t embrace her right then, she would assume I didn’t love her and go get engaged to someone else, chivalry be damned…….”
“……That was blackmail.”
“So…… yes…….”
“…….”
Hearing that, Ferda could picture the scene.
‘No way…….’
What if there was a young lady’s calculation hidden within the purity he had sensed from Lyudmila?
A young lady of a ducal house and a knight from the frontier.
What if Lyudmila already knew there was an insurmountable gap between them?
If he had simply introduced Arwen as the man she had feelings for, the two of them, as well as Valery Purity, the head of the house, would have opposed them.
Other young ladies might have chosen some childish protest, such as running away from their family.
Instead, Lyudmila had chosen to cause a scandal.
She already knew it was easier to be forgiven than to ask permission.
Ferda thought.
If this engagement’s smooth progress had all been part of a plan she had laid out……
No sooner had the conversation ended than the garden door where the young ladies had been talking opened.
Valdrova and Lyudmila emerged side by side, still chatting as they came out.
Their conversation continued until they spotted Ferda, at which point they fell silent.
Valdrova awkwardly brushed her hair back, her body shrinking in on itself.
Delighted by Valdrova’s youthful reaction, Lyudmila did not know what to do with her hands, then cleared her throat.
“I had a wonderful time today, Your Highness. I hope we can arrange another occasion like this.”
“Anytime is fi……ne…….”
Valdrova answered in an awkward royal manner.
With other people around, she could not help feeling self-conscious.
“When would be good? No, it would be rude of me to decide, wouldn’t it? Whenever you like, Your Highness! Just send me a letter without hesitation, and I’ll come running like an arrow!”
“O-okay…….”
Valdrova smiled at her lively, bold manner.
Lyudmila waved until the very last moment even as she boarded the carriage.
Valdrova waved back and saw her off.
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
Valdrova nodded.
“Yes, very much. Lyudmila seems to be good at everything I’m interested in.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”
It felt similar to when she had mentioned Penelope.
Ferda felt relieved.
At last, she seemed to have made a true friend.
“Lyudmila says she’s getting married this year.”
“She is of marriageable age, and, considering that…… several things have happened.”
“I see.”
Her every breath came out tinged with envy.
“Lyudmila is.”
“Yes.”
“They say if you want to get married quickly, it’s a good idea to force yourself on Ferda.”
“……”
“What could that mean?”
“……I don’t really know either.”
Maybe having a friend wasn’t something to be happy about after all.