Chapter 36
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
The man who had stopped the carriage approached Ferda.
He drew out something he had been hiding.
Ferda was about to fire the mana sphere coiled around his hand.
But then he reconsidered.
Just as the mana sphere was about to fly, Ferda stopped.
What the man held was not a weapon but a piece of cloth.
“The emperor has betrayed the faith of his subjects!”
The attack on the carriage had been a protest.
“Ignoring the suffering of his subjects, he fills his own belly and continues his incompetent rule! Those who suck our lifeblood are not the sons of Light!”
The man's actions drew everyone's attention, just as he intended.
Knight Commander Marco shouted, veins bulging in his neck.
“What are you all doing!? Subdue him at once!”
“Yes, sir!”
The armed soldiers climbed onto the carriage, dragged the protester down, and began beating him with clubs.
“Aagh! Aagh! Subjects of the Empire! Rise up! We are not slaves!”
“You bastard! Shut your mouth!?”
The man was beaten mercilessly and hauled away.
He left the main avenue with blood streaming down him.
The people in the capital turned away as though nothing had happened and began going on their way.
“Oh dear, haha! I apologize for showing you such an unpleasant sight.”
Knight Commander Marco apologized.
The knight tried to smooth over the situation with a smile.
Rather than play along with that smile, Ferda kept his eyes on the man being dragged away.
“What is that man? He looked as though he had been wronged.”
“Looked wronged? You mustn't be taken in by appearances like that. They're demon followers.”
“Demon followers?”
“Yes.”
Marco spoke seriously.
“As the Empire enters a golden age, demons are trying to gain power. They are shamelessly slandering His Majesty the Emperor with baseless incitement.”
That was how Marco explained it.
Yet both Ferda and Marco knew the truth.
‘That man is not a demon follower.’
He looked as though he had not eaten properly for at least three days.
He had been starving, and with nothing else he could do, he had come out risking his life to cry out against the atrocities.
Ferda decided to react no differently from any other noble.
“I see.”
He neither feigned surprise as though he had been unaware nor showed any sign of understanding.
Ferda merely made an indifferent gesture.
That was how he put them at ease.
The surprise protest had failed, and the carriage began moving again.
Ferda thought as he watched the prosperous capital pass by.
‘Does an empire like this need to exist?’
In truth, Ferda did not care what happened.
Whether it fell, continued to rot away, or sparked a revolution.
He would simply let events take their course.
But Valdrova was different.
Who was she, anyway?
She possessed a body forged through harsher trials than anyone else's, one that had protected the continent of Serdes, yet her mind was like a flower grown in a greenhouse.
She was an innocent woman who wished for everyone to be happy.
To her, the Empire's actions were evil and intolerable.
‘Yet she does nothing.’
Because she focused her mission solely on keeping monsters at bay.
Forcing her to deal with matters this complicated would be tantamount to abuse.
‘The affairs within are mine to handle.’
Ferda had to make the decision for Valdrova's sake.
That was why he had written three letters.
Every one of them was scum; trying to compare them and choose the lesser evil was foolish.
‘I would rather roll the dice.’
Ferda had used three letters in their place.
He would go with whoever reached out first.
That was all.
The carriage entered the imperial palace, and Ferda got out.
Before him rose huge granite pillars and a magnificent palace.
Everything was so unrealistically immense that it could have been the dwelling place of a god.
The Imperial Guards stood lined up to welcome their guest.
And at the far end stood a scion of an exalted bloodline who had come to welcome Ferda.
The moment Ferda saw that person, his expression froze.
Surely not.
That could not be.
Those words of denial struggled to hold back the reality forcing its way in.
‘The one I didn't even deliberately choose... is the one who came...’
The reason was that the person who had come to greet Ferda was not the emperor.
Nor was it the First Prince.
Nor was it the Second Prince.
“Greetings, Regent Valdrova.”
The princess of the Arken Empire—the one to whom he had deliberately sent not a single letter.
“I am Olivia Arken.”
It was Olivia Arken.
“It is an honor to meet Your Imperial Highness.”
Ferda instinctively offered a formal greeting.
As he bowed his head, Ferda still felt as though he were being tossed about in the grasp of a colossal hand.
‘Fate.’
The mana fatalism that held all mana to be determined by fate.
Ferda had recently been thinking a great deal about that fate.
So now he wondered:
Could fate truly be predetermined?
A princess to whom he had not sent even a single letter had answered him.
‘As I thought…’
His suspicions tilted toward certainty.
‘The Empire must be fated to fall.’
* * *
Olivia Arken.
This woman, called the Empire's Golden Rose, was truly beautiful.
Golden hair and blue eyes.
Her large breasts and narrow waist, inherited from her mother, captivated men's hearts,
while her innocent gaze and actions stirred their protective instincts.
Her appearance alone radiated such irresistible allure that men would covet her even without her status.
Every man would dream of receiving Olivia Arken's attentions.
“I wasn't sure what to prepare for you, so I will serve you my favorite black tea. I don't know whether it will suit your taste.”
Olivia offered him a teacup with an apologetic expression.
“His Majesty the Emperor and my brothers are busy with state affairs, so I came out myself. I hope you weren't offended?”
She slightly lowered her head and looked up at him with blue eyes.
She wore the expression of a pitiful young girl.
They were not busy with state affairs to begin with.
They had simply discarded Ferda's letter as though it were beneath them, while the princess had eagerly snatched it up.
“Not at all. It is an honor to meet Olivia Arken, called the greatest beauty on the continent of Serdes.”
It was something he did not mean at all.
“I am simply grateful that you would say so. Though I may be lacking, I will do my best to keep the conversation moving.”
Olivia smiled sweetly and clenched a fist as if encouraging them both to do their best.
“I heard that you said you wished to attend the Grand Council. Do you happen to know where it is?”
“Yes. The White House, as it is commonly called—the absolute territory of the White Dragon, Blancaros?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
The absolute neutral zone created by Blancaros, the White Dragon and master of order and creation.
It was a place where wars were mediated and matters concerning the entire continent were discussed.
‘My name was once the subject of gossip there as well.’
People almost never discussed an individual in a place focused on the problems of nations or organizations.
And yet Ferda's name had become the subject of gossip there.
If he had been officially marked by the Grand Council, Ferda would certainly have been singled out and subjected to concentrated attacks.
Even Ferda, whose trials only made him stronger, would not have survived there.
Yet Ferda had escaped unscathed.
‘Emperor Arken.’
The emperor was useful in many ways.
He seemed incompetent, but whenever his own power was involved, he was a man who used his head with uncanny sharpness.
The emperor had sided with Ferda, and in return, Ferda had shored up the emperor's hold on power.
“Officials of ducal rank or above may attend the Grand Council. Your spouse, Valdrova, is a king—and a Red Dragon at that—so you may participate as her representative, Mr. Ferda!”
“If I attend as a representative, no one will look favorably on me. Will that be all right?”
Ferda tested the waters, pretending to be slightly unsure of himself.
Olivia nodded vigorously.
“It will be fine! You are the guardian of the Far East, after all. You are more than entitled to voice your opinion there!”
Olivia, as expected.
She was good at saying things that immediately made people feel good.
Even though he might have taken offense at it with a little thought, he could not bring himself to be angry.
Olivia had that kind of bewitching charm.
“And in any case, dragons generally send representatives.”
“If they're representatives… then they must be Spawns.”
“Some are Spawns, and some are ordinary humans.”
Ferda knew that much, but not enough to understand it fully, so he asked her.
“Which dragons send representatives?”
“Hmm… I wonder. It varies so much. As you know, dragons are the sort who never know what is coming next, aren't they?”
As she said this, she suddenly covered her mouth with her hand in surprise.
“Oh my, I just badmouthed them. I didn't mean to!”
“It's all right. Please continue.”
“Uh, um, well… The ones who attend regularly are Silverwind, Orosagrado, Iorga, and Storeus, I suppose.”
The Silver Dragon, master of steel and wind.
The Gold Dragon, master of faith and light.
The Blue Dragon, master of magic and water.
The Thunder Dragon, master of storms and lightning.
‘The Gold Dragon, Orosagrado, must be the one who appoints a human rather than a Spawn.’
Orosagrado was the dragon who had built his holy kingdom in the central-western region, and he himself was faith incarnate.
Since he believed anyone could put their faith in him, he created no Spawns.
“Thank you for your answer.”
“Not at all. I am the one who should be thanking you.”
Olivia's brows arched coquettishly.
“The fact that the King's consort will be attending will be a great boon to our Empire.”
“I am only a regent for now. I do not hold such a lofty position.”
“Once you marry His Highness the King, won't you gain that position too, Mr. Ferda?”
“Even after I marry, I will remain a regent.”
“Oh my, why?”
Olivia covered her mouth with her hand and made her eyes sparkle.
“I did not come here for power. I took this position purely to look after our kingdom.”
“Ah, I see. Mm, mm…”
For an instant, Olivia's gaze turned sharp.
But she soon returned to her airy demeanor, as though it had all been an illusion.
“You are such a devoted husband. I wish I could meet a partner like you, Mr. Ferda.”
Olivia let out a deep sigh.
“His Majesty the Emperor—my father, that is. He doesn't seem to want me to marry. Everyone else is arranging their marriages, but I'm still alone… It makes me so sad.”
Pouting her lips and pretending to cry, Olivia gazed at him with languid eyes.
Her gestures suggested she might even be within reach of a man like him.
Of course, none of it had the slightest effect on Ferda.
“You will meet someone. A good relationship comes at an unexpected moment, after all.”
“Hehe, thank you, even if it's only words.”
Having heard about the Grand Council, Ferda decided to move on to his true purpose.
“On my way here today, I saw some people the Empire calls demon followers launch an attack.”
“Oh my, is that so? How frightening…”
Olivia trembled.
“I had heard things have been very ominous lately. I used to sneak out with the maids to buy snacks, but they started tightening security, saying the demons were gaining power.”
“The situation certainly has not improved.”
“But we are under the protection of Alte, the great Light! As long as that Light watches over the emperor, nothing threatens the Empire.”
She sounded like a woman with flowers growing in her head.
“But subversive elements are like monsters. Unless they are dealt with in time, they often contaminate the land and render it unusable.”
“Hmm… I admit that. To protect our subjects, demon followers need to be eradicated.”
Olivia nodded, looking tense.
Ferda seized the opportunity to make her a proposal.
It was time to lay the cornerstone of his plan.
“Then why not take this opportunity to deal with those demon followers?”
“Of course, it would be wonderful if we could, but… We searched high and low for their hideout and found nothing.”
The Empire's sheer size was a greater problem than the imperial soldiers' incompetence.
Unless they launched a surprise attack all at once in a concentrated area, suppressing a faction was difficult.
That was why Ferda had prepared for it.
“There is a demon follower in my territory as well. We found this among his belongings.”
Ferda took out a piece of paper wrapped in cloth and placed it on the table.
Strange characters were written on the paper.
Olivia picked it up without hesitation and examined it.
“What… exactly is this?”
“Demon language.”
“Eek!”
Olivia dropped the paper in shock.
She wiped her hand with a perfumed handkerchief as though it were filthy.
“Why is demon language here…? This is something only demon followers could use, isn't it?”
“Yes. When I showed it to the scribe in our castle, he said it was demon language. Its full translation is something we must leave to a magic investigator.”
Olivia looked down at the paper covered in demon writing, then made a troubled expression.
The innocence she had displayed moments earlier was nowhere to be seen.
She knew this was no time to act foolishly or play coy.
After thinking it over, Olivia subtly raised her hand.
The butler, who had been standing behind her like a folding screen, bowed his head.
“Speak.”
“Summon the magic investigator at once. This is urgent.”
* * *
Demons were forbidden beings on the continent of Serdes, without exception.
Thus, few could face demon language without flinching.
Within the Empire, only the magic investigators who investigated heresy and demonic sorcery, and the senior scholars who recorded, archived, and studied all information, could do so.
The man who introduced himself as Yuren, a magic investigator, looked at the paper Ferda had handed him and spoke gravely.
“This… is definitely demon language.”
“Oh my…”
Olivia let out a groan.
Though her body trembled, her eyes remained utterly steady.
“Do you also know what this means?”
“Yes. It indicates a location. And that location is…”
Yuren took a map from a subspace storage and unfolded it, pointing to one spot.
“It indicates, precisely, the depths of the underground sewers beneath the imperial capital.”