Chapter 186
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
That place had been inhabited by elves since ancient times. The difference was that, over the long years, they had chosen “assimilation” instead of harmony.
Harmony meant living while preserving each person’s own domain, whereas assimilation meant living together in one place.
The western elves were the ones who chose harmony.
-They taught magic to humans. Through the expression and control of emotions, it became what you know as the “Red Circle.”
If you go east, you will surely find a way to control your emotions and advance even further.
The man who became the Demon King fell down the wrong path because there was no one to teach him how to control his heart.
Regent, what I have told you may sound like a warning that you, too, could become the Demon King, but please do not fear your emotions too much.
That, too, would mean being consumed by your emotions.
That was what was written on the final page.
“What does it say?”
Erika asked.
“It says to go east.”
“East?”
“It says to do that if I want to use more of my abilities.”
“The eastern lands and the Red Circle… It certainly isn’t implausible. There are definitely many Red Circle mages in that direction.”
The oldest person currently living who possesses the Red Circle was Lucy Philiaz.
There had occasionally been rumors that she was a mage from the east, but they were nothing more than rumors.
‘What I saw back then was definitely an eastern architectural style.’
Would she answer if he summoned her and asked her about it?
He had no idea.
“Do you have no information about the eastern lands?”
“We only began gathering information recently. Until then, we thought no one could surpass us.”
“You were arrogant.”
“Ahem, let’s not talk about that. If you’re done reading, may I read it too?”
Erika reached out to take the letter.
“No.”
Ferda pulled her hand away.
“Say that one more time.”
He could sense the pressure of a threat to use force.
Sensing that she truly seemed ready to do it, Ferda spoke.
“Then please answer one of my questions.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Is it true that the Blue Dragon Iorga had a fiancé?”
“……”
Erika’s expression hardened.
The momentum behind her threat vanished completely.
“……How much did you hear about that?”
“I heard that he fell into a trap and died.”
“……A trap…… That sounds just like those people.”
Erika despised the elves and threw herself back against the seat.
“Fine. You don’t have to show it to me. Just leave that buried. Understand?”
“Understood.”
Was it really so sensitive that she would give up on eavesdropping on the subject?
Now Ferda was beginning to covet the information, wondering if it was truly worth that much.
“Anyway, going east means I don’t need to set any other goals. I can just focus on that. That’s good.”
Yes, it was a good thing. That was all he needed to know.
Thinking that, Ferda carefully folded the letter.
Erika beckoned to Lize.
“Now that I’ve finished reading, give me mine.”
“Y-yes!”
Lize, who had been waiting, immediately handed over the paper.
“All right, then. Let’s see what it says… Huh?”
The expression on Erika’s face gradually curdled as she received the bundle of papers.
“This is blank.”
“I-is it?”
“Or is there writing here that only elves can read?”
“I’m not sure…… It looks blank to me, too……”
“……Right?”
Despite her formal tone, her teeth chattered as she bit down on her lower lip.
Erika swept her hand through the air.
The sky carriage turned around and headed back the way they had come.
“E-Erika? Why are you turning around……?”
“I’m going to make things easier for the old man.”
“What?”
“They say he’s in a precarious state, so instead of making him live in hardship, I thought I’d cut off his breathing.”
“W-what!?”
She genuinely seemed ready to do it.
Ferda cautiously tried to stop her.
“Let’s think rationally. Even if we go back, you won’t get to see anything pleasant……”
“Quiet! Don’t talk as if this were someone else’s business just because you’ve finished what you came to do! Or you can try interpreting it yourself right here!”
Erika hurled the diary at Ferda and threw a hysterical fit.
Naturally, he could not interpret it, leaving him at a loss.
“Huh?”
Lize looked at the diary and reacted.
“The name written here…… Is it perhaps read as Linne?”
“How do you know that?”
Erika was startled as well, and her hysteria vanished at once.
Every High Elf had a unique script, so no one but its owner could interpret it.
“Did inheriting the Grand Chieftain’s blood also grant you the ability to interpret languages?”
“It didn’t. I don’t know the Grand Chieftain’s script, nor do I know the languages of the other High Elves.”
The two of them were left with a question that could not easily be resolved.
Ferda set the question aside for later.
“In the end, you’re saying you can interpret the entire contents of this diary?”
“What?”
When Ferda signaled with his eyes, Lize finally understood.
“Ah, yes! I can do what the Grand Chieftain could not!”
Lize spoke enthusiastically to Erika with a confident expression.
Erika gave her an indifferent look, but eventually turned the sky carriage around.
Ferda obtained the answer he wanted, and Erika obtained the diary’s interpretation. They were both able to return with what they had come for.
Lize let out a sigh of relief and checked the contents of her bag once more.
“Huh?”
She discovered something still remaining inside the bag.
“There was one more sheet left?”
“A letter?”
“Yes, it’s a letter for you, Regent.”
Ferda read the contents of the letter.
Just as she had said, there was more written on the back.
-If you are reading this page, Lize has probably boarded the carriage with you.
She is a child so pure and bright that it is almost frightening to entrust her to anyone.
As much as she feared being cast out by her clan, she must have been deeply troubled by this incident as well.
‘I suppose so.’
Judging by her behavior, she was nothing like a typical High Elf. There was no young lady more innocent than her.
And now that such a daughter was unable even to return to her homeland, her heart could not help but feel heavy.
-Regent, I know I am being truly selfish.
But if I do not ask this of you, there is no one else I can turn to.
Please look after the last son I have left.
After reading all the way to the final page, Ferda folded the letter.
‘……Wait.’
Thinking he might have read it wrong, Ferda unfolded it again.
-Please look after my son.
He had not misread it.
It said “son.”
Seeing that word, he looked at Lize once more.
Long golden hair and green eyes.
Long eyelashes and demure gestures.
Lize was a perfect woman.
Wondering whether the writer had made a mistake because she was unfamiliar with human language, he asked her,
“Lize, the secretary?”
“Yes.”
Lize answered calmly in a high-pitched voice.
“I’m sorry, but may I ask what your gender is?”
Erika frowned at Ferda’s question.
“What kind of question is that? She’s obviously a woman.”
“Y-yes??”
Lize was flustered as Erika declared it with such certainty.
“The elves may hide a lot of things, but this isn’t something to hide, is it?”
“Ah, n-no. As you said, there’s no need to conceal it, but……”
Lize pointed at himself and replied,
“I’m a man, you know?”
“……What?”
“……?”
“……?”
Erika turned her head to look at Ferda.
Without a word, Ferda showed her what had been written.
Even Erika’s eyes clearly saw the word “son.”
“……That can’t be.”
Erika alternated her gaze between the word son and Lize, her expression suggesting that the world had collapsed.
Ferda could not bring himself to say the words, so Erika said them for him.
“There’s no way such a cute child could be a man……?”
* * *
The garden of Valdrova Castle.
Valdrova, a red-haired woman with two pairs of horns, gazed endlessly up at the sky.
‘Mr. Ferda said he had gone to the World Tree, right?’
Since he had gone by sky carriage, he was certain to return by sky carriage as well.
Valdrova intended to go out and greet Ferda when he arrived.
‘Like a lover…….’
Her face grew hot.
They had already met several times and even held hands, so why was doing something like this still so exciting?
Her body no longer felt like her own.
Her feet fidgeted restlessly, wanting to run away, while her hands forcibly pressed down on her legs to keep them from moving.
After a while, a black speck began to appear in Valdrova’s eyes.
‘That’s Mr. Ferda!’
The moment she saw it, Valdrova moved along with the carriage’s course.
She planned to pretend she had happened to come out for a walk, greet him, and then walk alongside him.
The sky carriage stopped in an open area inside the castle.
Isabella, the administrator, and Luri were waiting there.
Luri was fine, but Valdrova was not close to Isabella, so she hid behind a pillar for the time being.
The carriage landed in the clearing, and the people inside climbed out.
‘Iorga’s child and Mr. Ferda…….’
They had said two people went, so only two should have emerged.
But strangely, that was not the end of it.
What emerged behind Ferda was a figure with bright blond hair and pointed ears.
Her skin was so pale that everything looked dazzlingly white, as though she had a light attached to the back of her head.
Even to Valdrova, the beautiful girl looked extraordinarily lovely as she climbed down with an awkward expression.
“Oh?”
She stumbled, her body pitching forward.
Ferda, who was right in front of her, reflexively caught her.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah, yes…… I’m sorry.”
The girl smiled brightly, a blush spreading across her face.
Crack—.
A menacing sound rang out from the pillar.
A fissure formed from the spot where Valdrova’s fingers touched it.
It was quite a loud sound, but Valdrova did not hear it.
She was that completely consumed by distracting thoughts.
‘He brought back such a pretty girl…….’
Valdrova felt her chest tighten.
‘Why does Mr. Ferda keep going around with so many women……?’
Everyone around Ferda right now was female.
The mature and intelligent Isabella and Erika.
The small and adorable Luri.
And now, a High Elf girl who seemed to radiate light.
‘Mr. Ferda isn’t the kind of person who would cheat.’
Valdrova knew how much Ferda liked her.
But what if?
What if Mr. Ferda did not like her that much?
Whenever the word “what if” came to mind, it felt as though she had been slapped across the cheeks again and again.
‘Stop thinking bad thoughts.’
She was afraid her blood might boil over.
As she anxiously watched them, her eyes met Ferda’s.
For a moment, she wondered if she had seen him incorrectly, but Ferda approached with his gaze fixed on her.
This was awkward.
She did not want to meet Mr. Ferda while feeling like this……
Valdrova hid behind the pillar.
“Wald……”
Ferda peeked his head around the pillar where she was hiding.
She was not there.
Wondering where she had gone, he lowered his head slightly and saw her long tail swaying along the wall of the round pillar.
Whenever Ferda tried to move so he could see her, she scurried along the wall.
“Wald……”
“……”
“……rova……”
“……”
“Your Highness!”
“……!!”
Ferda suddenly turned in the opposite direction, nearly colliding with her.
She leaned her head back, afraid she might put two more holes in his chest.
She looked as though she had lost her balance and was about to fall backward.
Ferda instinctively placed a hand on her waist to support her falling body.
In reality, he felt no weight.
Her tail was already supporting her body.
“I’m back.”
It was a voice that not only calmed her boiling blood but also soothed her heart.
Normally, Valdrova would have answered gently, too happy to contain herself, but she merely whipped her head away.
That action hurt Ferda’s heart.
“What’s the matter?”
“……I don’t know.”
“Even if you say you don’t know, isn’t this because of me?”
“……That’s why I don’t know.”
“Please tell me what I did wrong. If there is a misunderstanding, we should clear it up, and if I did something wrong, I ought to apologize.”
I said I don’t know!
She wanted to shove him away and run off.
But when she looked at that face, she could not find the courage.
Perhaps it would not be so bad to say something, as Ferda suggested.
“Since Mr. Ferda is with other women…… I suppose that’s why I feel hurt……”
“Is this because of Tower Master Erika?”
Erika was a beauty with an abundance of grace in her own right, but was this really something worth reacting so sensitively to now?
“No. I mean that small, cute female elf.”
“……What?”
When Ferda reacted as if he did not understand, Valdrova finally let her emotions burst out.
“Because you brought back such a sparkly, cute girl……!”
“……”
“My chest feels so tight, and I hate Mr. Ferda because of it……!”
She placed a hand over her masked face.
Ferda blinked for a long while before answering.
“Is that what this is about?”
“Yes!”
Ferda pondered with an expression that seemed to ask what he should do, then replied.
“First of all…… Lize is a man.”
“You even called her Lize, and I really—wait, what?”
Valdrova took her hand away from her face.
“What did you say?”
“He is a man.”
“A-a man?”
“Yes.”
“A man as in the male of male and female?”
“Yes.”
“……The same gender as Mr. Ferda?”
“That’s right.”
She peeked her head out and examined Lize with an expression of disbelief.
“How can such a cute child be……?”
Ferda felt as though he had heard those words somewhere before.
Valdrova’s face flushed bright red once again.
“I-I made another ridiculous misunderstanding……”
Valdrova was so embarrassed that she really tried to run away.
Ferda did not release her waist. Instead, he pulled her toward him.
Though she was the one with superior physical strength, she could not overcome Ferda’s strength and was held firmly by his touch.
“Did you think I was cheating on you?”
“It’s not that……”
Her lips trembled.
Looking into those blue eyes, Ferda could not lie.
“……I suppose I did.”
“I have no one but Your Highness Valdrova.”
“I know. I know, but…… I made another mistake—.”
“No.”
Ferda cut off her self-reproach.
“That is only natural.”
Ferda spoke in a voice moist with emotion.
“Your Highness has always been the one to approach me first.”
Valdrova was the one who suggested choosing terms of endearment.
And when even that was not possible, it was Valdrova who asked him to choose a name.
It was Valdrova who asked him to wait a little longer, too.
“I was always the one who stepped back from this relationship.”
Ferda was the one who had been afraid.
Afraid that her innocence would be sullied because of him.
She was as precious to him as a blank white page.
Only today had he realized how wrong that had been.
Ironically, the words shouted by the High Elf Elder had given him that realization.
She was not someone who would remain unchanged.
As long as Ferda occupied such a large part of her heart, she, too, would change.
She could become a dragon who, like a wretched human, suspected those around her, her friends, and even the person she loved.
Like Iorga, who had killed her fiancé.
Faced with that cruel truth, Ferda knew exactly what he had to do.
“That’s why I’ve decided.”
To hesitate less and move forward.
“Decided what?”
“That thing you mentioned the other day……”
“That……?”
“Yes. Your name.”
Ferda had answered that he would think about her name.
But in truth, he had not.
It had been decided from the moment she asked him to choose her name.
There were many elegant words that could describe her, but only one word always came to mind when Ferda thought of her—one that only he associated with her.
“Elinore.”
She had always been my light.