Chapter 63
What met their eyes was unlike an ordinary prison.
A typical prison was divided into sections by iron bars.
There, coffin-shaped temperature-controlled chambers stood at an angle, each containing one person.
Not only humans were confined there.
Orcs, elves, goblins, and even rarely seen races all lay quietly, utterly drained of color.
The knight observing them discovered one fact.
“All these people are alive. Every one of them is still breathing.”
“Let’s rescue them quickly!”
Zed stopped the knight who was about to open a temperature-controlled chamber.
“What rescue? The one we need to save is a single demon.”
“Must we stand by and watch innocent people die? That goes against chivalry!”
“And you still call yourself a knight, Sir Zed?”
Zed looked at them with a pitiful expression and said,
“They’ll either die slowly in the blizzard or explode and die with a squawk. The latter is better, at least. I’m going to look for the demon bastard.”
As Zed was about to leave the room, he added,
“And those are all parachutes.”
Don’t waste time on pointless sympathy.
They had no choice but to admit that Zed was right.
They left carrying guilt, but Zed had no such trivial sentiments left.
They examined the rooms with the temperature-controlled chambers one by one.
Yet despite their careful observation, they were able to identify the target immediately.
Bang, bang, bang!
“Waaaaah! Let me out! I said let me out! What did I do wrong to be locked up in a place like this!”
Bang, bang, bang!
The loud voice of the woman rampaging noisily echoed through the corridor.
“Doesn’t that sound like the one?”
“I want to pray it isn’t.”
They headed toward the source and found one temperature-controlled chamber shaking violently.
“Open this!! Open it right nowww! Do you not know who I am? I’m Penelope, daughter of Sitri the Great Demon!”
“Damn, it is.”
Their faces were displeased despite having achieved their objective.
Thus, the three knights opened the chamber door with bitter expressions.
The demon who had been causing a commotion by pounding on the door was flustered.
“What, you really opened it? Wait, time out! Time out! Waaah! Please don’t hit me! I’ll be quiet this time! Really, really this time… Huh? What? You’re not guards?”
Penelope slowly opened her eyes and watched the men surrounding her.
“You—”
“Where are the real guards? Who are you? Did you come to kill me?”
“You’re Penel—”
“Wait! I didn’t do anything! I have nothing to do with those bastards! Please spare—guhk!”
Zed clamped a hand over Penelope’s mouth.
The sound that had filled the temperature-controlled room died instantly.
“From now on, only yes or no is allowed. Nod if yes, shake your head if no, got it?”
“Mmph.”
“Shut up, you bitch.”
“……”
Penelope quieted down when he pointed a knife at her.
She nodded.
“Your name is Penelope, correct?”
Nod, nod.
“You’re sure?”
Nod, nod.
“I made a deal with your mother, the Great Demon Sitri. I infiltrated this facility on the condition that I get you out of here. Come quietly.”
“Mmph?!”
“Ah, right. I told you only yes and no.”
“Mmmmmph! Mmph!”
“She’s resisting awfully fiercely.”
“Doesn’t she have something to say?”
“Is that it? Hey, pink hair. I’ll take my hand off for a moment. Answer concisely within three seconds.”
With that warning, Zed removed his hand from her mouth.
“Wait, listen to me, I mean, the reason I was captured here is that I wasn’t actually captured, it’s just th—mmph!”
“That was pointless. Gag her and let’s take her.”
“Right.”
The woman had been spitting out words like a machine gun, but in the end she could not say a single thing and was carried away bound.
Meanwhile, she struggled so much that a knight hit her once and knocked her unconscious.
* * *
While walking through the blizzard,
Ferda felt a strange current above his head.
It wasn’t simply his imagination.
Consilius, who had been walking ahead, turned around and asked,
“Did you just feel that?”
“Ah, I did.”
“What did you feel?”
Marco, who was having trouble walking, had no chance to pay attention to his surroundings.
“Wind other than the wind.”
“Wind other than the wind?”
“Silver Dragon spawn. They’re looking for intruders in this mountain.”
Marco, whose complexion had already been pale, turned even bluer.
“Then aren’t we in serious trouble?”
“Not necessarily. The fact that it passed over our heads means it hasn’t found us yet.”
It was concerning.
If combat strength equal to two knights dropped from the sky like meteors right now, they would have no hope.
“We’ll pick up the pace.”
Ferda moved along the path Consilius had cleared.
After a while, a black shape approached through the white field of vision.
They had returned to the cave they had come from.
Six people, including Zed, were waiting there.
“You’re back?”
“The target?”
“We brought her.”
Zed nudged the unconscious pink-haired woman beside him with his foot.
Pink hair and white skin.
Unlike a demon, her skin shone white as jade.
Yet her ram-shaped horns, black irises, bat wings, and long spade-tipped tail proclaimed her unequivocally a demon.
“That was quick.”
“The research building had been emptied. No one was there. I could have gone alone. What about the residential building?”
“There was no major trouble. It seems there were no unusual developments on either side. Let’s return.”
After confirming that each of them had completed their mission, they began stepping onto the gate.
Ferda thought about the situation.
‘It ended easily.’
About three minutes remained.
It was exactly enough time to finish and return.
It wasn’t rushed, but it wasn’t ample either—just enough.
As if everything had been calculated.
‘It went too smoothly.’
The balance of the deal had fit perfectly.
It was strange.
Demons only made deals that benefited themselves.
“We need to move quickly.”
The mage guarding the gate spoke.
“What is it?”
“The Silver Dragon spawn that was circling overhead is approaching this way.”
“It’s coming here?”
“Yes. It seems to have noticed us.”
“Erase our traces! Erase them and escape immediately!”
They could not let it discover that someone from the Grand Duchy of Valdrova had come here.
They busily began erasing their tracks with the tools they had brought.
Only two minutes remained.
Ferda thought.
He had to resolve why he felt uneasy within the time remaining.
“Mmm…… mmm?”
Penelope woke up and looked around.
Then, seeing Zed’s face, her eyes flew open.
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
“Hold still. I’ll make you comfortable.”
“Mmph! Mmmmmph!!”
As Zed raised his dagger, Penelope shook her head desperately.
With tears and snot streaming down her face, she unmistakably looked terrified.
Ferda found the sight puzzling.
“Wait.”
Zed’s dagger stopped.
“Why?”
“Remove the gag. I should hear what she has to say.”
“I don’t think there’s anything to hear….”
As he said so, Zed removed the gag.
“Mmph, phew! Thank you. No, more importantly, I need to elaborate on what I said earlier! I—”
“Shut up. I decide what you say. Otherwise, I’ll cut your throat.”
“Eek! Don’t! Don’t kill me! I’ll answer anything! Yes!”
“That.”
Ferda gestured toward Penelope with his chin.
“Why are you afraid to die?”
“I-Is there any being that isn’t afraid of dying?”
“A demon who dies in Cerdes is merely reverse-summoned to Hell, isn’t it? It may hurt for a moment, but for you, it’s just going home. Isn’t that so?”
“Th-that’s true, but my situation is a little different! If I go back, I’ll really die!”
Penelope shouted as if she were having a fit.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean my mother wants me dead rather than rescued! I can’t go back to Hell!”
Penelope struggled and cried as she begged for her life.
“Then tell me why she’s trying to kill you.”
“Because I, well….”
Penelope chose her words carefully.
“Don’t play games. Tell me the truth.”
“No, I can’t tell you the truth! I’m not allowed to tell the truth! Waaah! This is so frustrating I could go insane! Why is my brain so stupid!?”
There was something she could not tell the truth about.
She knew it, but it was something she absolutely could not reveal.
And the Great Demon Sitri was trying to kill her.
What could point to all of it?
Ferda thought.
There was definitely an answer.
A story he had probably heard once before.
Something he would have let pass like meaningless small talk.
But thinking back, it was a truly important story.
Never make a deal with a demon.
“Right.”
At that moment, a flash of insight entered Ferda’s mind.
Ferda looked down at her and muttered,
“It was you.”
“Regent!”
Zed yelled at the top of his lungs.
He had one foot on the gate and was the last one waiting.
“You must come quickly! There’s not much time! How many minutes? Thirty seconds!”
Having watched the conversation between Ferda and Penelope, he urged him on.
Having made all his judgments, Ferda rose.
“Sir Zed.”
“Yes?”
“Take good care of this baggage.”
“What? What does that—”
Ferda threw his bag to Zed.
“Whoa?”
Zed caught the suddenly thrown bag.
His excellent reflexes allowed him to catch it successfully.
But soon, another object flew toward Zed.
It was a pink-haired body.
“Ukiyaaaat!?”
“Guhk!”
It collided with Zed and went straight into the gate.
The one who had shoved Zed was Penelope.
Zed caught her and his eyes widened.
This Bending Bridge could only allow eight people to escape.
“Regent—”
The dimensional door closed.
Zed’s shout was cut off.
Only Ferda remained in the cold mountains.
If he had truly been left completely alone, it would not have been a major problem.
He only had to wait for rescue.
But things would not go as Ferda expected.
It was coming.
That bastard.
At that moment, astonishingly, the sound of the raging blizzard began to recede.
Instead, he heard the sound of footsteps on snow.
Soon, a figure emerged through the white blizzard.
Though there was not even a trace of moonlight, his form could be sensed clearly.
“Oh? This is a situation I really didn’t expect.”
Silver hair, pointed horns, and silver eyes.
There was no doubt that he was a Silver Dragon spawn.
He was definitely the one that had been circling above Ferda’s head.
“I was told there’d be a rat here when I heard about it… but there’s a somewhat different rat here?”
He grinned.
Like a cat that had spotted a rat in a trap.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Regent of Valdrova.”
* * *
Upon returning to Valdrova Castle, Luri immediately began cleaning.
They had left it unattended for a full twenty days.
She had left the basic cleaning to the spirits, but without supervision, they did not work hard.
Thus, she cleaned late at night.
“Have you finished cleaning?”
-Kkyuung.
“Good work. You may return.”
-Kkyuung!
The spirits were delighted by the words ‘quitting time.’
The spirits that had been helping Luri clean were reverse-summoned.
Soon, she alone remained in the room.
Luri looked around the room she had cleaned.
It was a bedroom.
More precisely, it was where Valdrova and Ferda would hold their wedding and share a room.
As fiancés, that was still a distant matter.
But Luri did not neglect it.
Luri was a maid.
A maid’s job was to arrange and adjust the environment surrounding her master.
Creating that environment required more than fifty attendants to reside there.
If one desired perfection, at least a hundred were necessary.
Yet in this castle, there were no attendants besides Luri.
Yet it was enough.
Unlike weak human maids, she was a Dragon spawn.
Among the Silver Dragon spawns, she was one of the strongest.
Her abilities made it possible to perfect this castle.
She could keep it immaculate for decades without any major renovations.
‘That is what I can do.’
Maintaining perfection.
To be perfect meant to be within expectations.
To be within expectations meant to be controllable.
There was no element in this castle that she could not control.
Her life formed a perfect circle.
‘Ferda….’
At least until he appeared.
‘Ferda Rosnova.’
When Luri first met Ferda, he was a weak human.
At most, he was a rookie noble barely older in appearance than herself.
One of those third-rate humans with nothing to look forward to.
‘No.’
Ferda was different from what she expected.
But it wasn’t that he was the exact opposite of her expectations, either.
She could not see even one step ahead of him.
He acted arrogantly, but always seemed to take responsibility.
He looked like a psychopath without emotions, but when he stood before Valdrova, he looked like an ignorant boy.
Unsuitable for his age, yet suited to it.
Impossible to define even when she tried.
An incomplete whole.
‘A variable….’
That was right.
It was because of that variable that even now the calm flow was being disrupted.
Luri hated variables.
Things she could not control made her helpless.
She disliked being helpless.
So she had to eliminate them.
But she could not eliminate Ferda.
Because he was Valdrova’s fiancé.
Thus, everything began to change, creating a situation beyond her control.
‘It wasn’t bad.’
That meant good change.
The stagnant domain began to develop, and Ferda was gradually solidifying his recognition and reputation.
He was changing everything, boldly doing things Luri would never have done.
Her feelings about those remarkable achievements were complicated.
Luri already knew what that feeling was.
‘Impatience.’
Compared to that kid who had lived only eighteen years,
I had lived several hundred more,
and served for several hundred more years.
She feared that a man might change everything in less than a year.
She feared that he might take everything away.
That was why she wanted to meet Silverwind.
While everything was changing, hadn’t they changed too?
And even if they had not changed, couldn’t she have done something about it?
‘There was nothing I could do.’
She was powerless.
In her circumstances, in her strength—in everything—things had slipped beyond her expectations.
‘And I….’
The fuse that had been stretched taut finally caught fire.
By pointlessly contacting Silverwind,
and pointlessly making Ferda face Goz.
Of course, perhaps the situation could have been resolved more gently.
If Ferda had not spoken so harshly,
if he had not openly displayed hostility, perhaps things would have proceeded amicably.
Yes.
Ferda was the one who had escalated things.
It would have been easier if she could simply blame someone else and feel better, but Luri could not.
‘If I hadn’t stepped forward in the first place… none of that would have happened.’
The starting point of everything was Luri.
Yet the words she had spat out were,
“Who… asked you to help?”
Clench.
Her grip tightened.
They were awkward even now, but that awkwardness would last even longer.
How she should look at him, how she should face him from now on.
Luri had no idea what she should do.
A variable she could not control.
As it even burrowed into Luri’s emotions, she was confused.
Wind rippled before Luri, who stood blankly.
A wind spirit hastily manifested and stood beside Luri.
-Kkyuung! Kkyuung!
The spirit fidgeted in confusion.
Luri realized that it was the spirit she had sent to Count Consilius’s castle to monitor the situation.
“Speak.”
The wind spirit reported in a flustered voice.
She tried to listen calmly, but could not bring herself to.
“Is that… true?”
The variable was moving ceaselessly.
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance