Chapter 65
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The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Boom!
A deep explosion rang out from inside Abel’s body.
At the same time, Abel’s body went limp.
The groans of pain and trembling all vanished.
“Ah……”
An exclamation burst from Luri’s lips.
She thought
that all of this was a dream.
That she was actually lying in bed, and a demon had secretly entered her chambers to show her a nightmare.
But she did not wake up.
The more she concentrated on waking, the closer the cold reality came.
“Ah……”
Luri staggered toward where Abel lay.
She turned over his collapsed body.
There was no focus in his pupils.
His pulse had vanished.
His body temperature was growing cold.
She tried to use healing magic.
But she knew it was impossible.
His heart had been destroyed.
Once a heart was destroyed, no Dragon spawn could survive.
Ferda must have known that as well.
Ferda had never intended to leave him any chance at life.
The sensation of this tragedy, unfolding in a cold, dark place amid a blizzard, was seared into her mind.
A Silver Dragon spawn had died.
Another of her father’s children had died today.
She could see what that other child had seen.
And that man was standing right in front of her.
“Right now……”
A voice forced its way out through her constricted throat.
“Do you know what Lord Ferda has done?”
“I do.”
Ferda answered impassively.
“Murder.”
His voice was as cold as the air of the North.
“It isn’t just murder…… Lord Ferda.”
Luri’s hand trembled.
“A child of Silverwind has died. You killed one who bore his blood. Do you know what that means?”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
Luri raised her head.
She walked toward Ferda.
“You killed someone who carries the blood of a Dragon. They will never stop seeking revenge.”
“I know.”
“They will never stop…… until you die.”
“I know.”
“If you know that!!”
Luri grabbed Ferda by the collar.
“You would never have made a choice like this!”
Everything she had built
“Because of your actions!”
Because of what Ferda had done,
“The peace I protected for Lord Valdrova has been shattered!”
it had come crashing down for nothing.
“You…… because of you……”
Luri lowered her head.
The hand gripping his collar trembled violently.
Her legs shook as they barely supported her body.
She thought,
Can this be salvaged?
Can I let this pass as though nothing happened?
What is going to happen?
She tried to gauge what would happen, but she could not.
This was beyond her control.
There was no way it could be resolved amicably.
“Haa, haa……”
The tension constricted her throat.
She panted as she struggled to breathe.
Her vision began to turn yellow.
“It’s because of you.”
What spilled from her mouth was resentment.
“Lord Valdrova…… was perfectly happy even without you.”
She poured out venomous words she did not truly mean.
“Because you……! Because you tried to enter Valdrova’s life……!”
But Ferda did not move.
Ferda looked down at her
with eyes that seemed to be looking at a pitiful child.
“Luri.”
“Don’t call my name with that mouth! With that mouth……!”
“Luri.”
His cold voice seized hold of her confusion.
“Look at me.”
Luri raised her head.
Her silver eyes, having lost their destination, looked up at Ferda.
“Abel had to die. This choice was unavoidable.”
“There was a choice. And I made it.”
“The choice to sacrifice yourself was the worst one of all.”
“Does it matter whether I’m there or not? All you need is Lord Valdrova, isn’t it? Couldn’t you preserve peace that way?”
“There was no peace to begin with.”
“There was! It was right there, clear as day! There was peace that I created!”
Luri snapped back.
A doubt that she might be wrong swelled in her chest, but she refused to acknowledge it.
She did not want everything she had done to become meaningless.
“Luri.”
Ferda asked,
“Did I break the peace you created?”
“Yes.”
That was the truth.
“Did I put my fiancé in danger?”
“Yes.”
That was also true.
“Then am I wrong?”
“……”
Luri could not answer.
She could not understand why she was hesitating over that answer.
He had clearly killed Abel.
Because of that, peace had been broken.
Valdrova was in danger.
So was that wrong?
No.
Somewhere in her heart, she knew it was not.
“You’re…… wrong.”
She did not have the courage to admit she was wrong.
She stubbornly pressed the point again.
“Is that so.”
Ferda pulled her hand away.
At his gesture, Luri’s hand followed along.
Luri’s eyes widened.
He moved it a little above his collar and guided it around his neck.
“Then kill me here.”
Luri asked in a trembling voice,
“Do you mean that……?”
“That was what I asked of you.”
Luri recalled something she had left in the back of her memory.
When Ferda had finished selecting all the talented people,
the last thing he had written was his own name.
And then he had asked this.
“If I put my fiancé in danger and act wrongly, kill me without hesitation.”
Luri had not believed him, of course.
There was no creature in the world that wanted to die.
Not humans, nor Dragon spawn.
Not even Dragons.
“If I die, the peace you protected will return.”
Ferda was different.
There was no wavering in his eyes.
From the moment he killed Abel until now,
the resolve within him had never faltered even once.
Luri voiced the question she had been unable to understand and had kept buried in her heart.
“Lord Ferda…… don’t you regret what you did?”
“I do not regret it.”
Ferda had thought about it again and again.
He had thought before acting, while acting, and even at this very moment.
The conclusion was always the same.
“Even if I turned back time a thousand times, I would save you.”
“Why?”
While her eyes wavered, his shone clearly.
It was a light Luri did not possess.
“Because I have no doubt that this is for Valdrova, my betrothed.”
That light caressed Luri’s cheek.
“You are more necessary to Valdrova than I am.”
The moment she heard those words, everything within Luri collapsed.
“Why…… why?”
The hand gripping Ferda’s neck loosened and slid down his body.
“Why…… have I lived longer…… served Valdrova longer…….”
Her voice was wet with tears.
“Why is it you, a human……?”
Luri hated humans.
Human greed had always done nothing but hurt Valdrova.
Ferda was different from those humans.
And yet.
She hated Ferda more than any of them.
Why?
He cared about Valdrova.
He even had the power to protect Valdrova.
Yet she hated him terribly.
“Why, why can’t I…… be like you……?”
Luri’s body collapsed forward.
She did not want to lean against the body of a man she hated.
But she hated showing him that she was crying even more.
“Ghk, hng……”
Luri desperately tried to swallow her sobs.
But she knew she could not, so she buried her face in his clothes and forced herself to muffle the sound.
As Luri wept uncontrollably, she caught a faint scent.
Long ago, a village had burned to ashes in a great fire.
The man who had taken in the girl who was its sole survivor.
It was the scent of that man.
Ferda returned to Count Consilius’s castle with Luri.
“Thank you.”
“……”
Luri did not answer.
She had not spoken since then.
“Go back now.”
There was neither affirmation nor refusal.
Instead, her hand gave him the answer.
She could not let go of his clothes.
The anxiety remaining in her heart seeped through that hand.
“Luri.”
“……”
“Are you afraid that war will break out?”
She gave a small nod.
She was worried, but that was not all she meant.
“There’s no need to worry. If I’m right, war won’t break out.”
“……”
“Return to your fiancé’s side. Go back as though nothing happened and prepare a tea party.”
“……”
“Can you do that for your master?”
Only then did Luri release his collar.
In the end, she flew away without saying a word.
Ferda straightened his clothes and opened the balcony door.
The castle was already in complete chaos.
“Kill that demon bitch quickly!”
“Don’t just kill her. Burn her to death with holy light!”
Furious knights.
“Waaaaah!! I don’t want to dieee!!”
A pink-haired demon crying loudly enough to shake the castle.
“No, calm down and listen to me!”
And Zed, sweating as he tried to mediate between them.
“Sir Zed, step aside!”
“Have you been bewitched by that demon bitch!?”
“You damn parachute knight! Can’t you hand that woman over right now!?”
“Good grief, these people have no filter! I’m not protecting her—I was ordered to do this, I tell you!?”
“Waaaaah, kniiight! Save meee!”
“You crazy woman! Stop clinging to my leg and get off! Damn, seriously, what the hell am I going through because of that man!!”
They say no work is high or low, but accepting this job had been a mistake.
Zed regretted it again and again.
“Kill her already!”
“Waaaaah!!”
“What on earth is going on?”
“That demon bitch, lower than a cur, hijacked the gate the Regent was supposed to return through and caused all this…… huh?”
“R-Regent?”
The Regent at the center of the commotion appeared, and the castle fell silent in an instant.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. My ribs and a finger are broken, but there’s nothing seriously wrong.”
“That demon claimed you were the one who let her in, but she was lying…….”
“Waaaaah! It’s not a lie!!”
“It isn’t a lie. I did let her in. So withdraw your murderous intent and return.”
“Ah, yes. If you say so…….”
“See! I told you it was true! Why are you treating me like a liar? My life as a demon is so miserable, really—uwwb!”
“You’ve been so damn noisy this whole time!”
Penelope was trying to pour oil on the fire.
Zed gagged her with a rag.
“It’s fortunate that everyone returned safely from this sudden operation. I’m fine, so go and rest.”
Thus, the commotion came to an end for the time being.
Ferda turned his gaze.
Two people came into view.
Zed, sweating profusely.
And Penelope, with tears and snot streaming down her face.
“There is something else you two need to do.”
* * *
It was early dawn at Count Consilius’s castle.
The black sky was beginning to take on color.
It was twilight, just before dawn broke.
Ferda waited without sleeping.
His ribs had been broken and a finger dislocated.
He had used healing magic to restore his body, but the aftereffects left him more exhausted than ever.
Even so, he endured his drowsiness and waited.
A short while later, Ferda sensed an invading presence nearby.
“Our darling, you’re back?”
The Great Demon Sitri crawled out of the darkness.
“I was so worried that things had gone awry, but it looks like you managed somehow?”
“……”
“Why are you looking at me like that? It wasn’t my fault, was it?”
“No, it wasn’t your fault.”
Ferda leaned against the backrest and folded his arms.
“But it seems you were hoping I wouldn’t return safely.”
“As if. You can’t do business with a dead man, can you? I was waiting for your safe return more than anyone.”
Sitri smiled seductively.
But her expression was markedly different from the one Ferda had seen a few hours ago.
It was impatience.
“Your dog is dead, Sitri.”
“My dog? Who are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know Abel Silverwind is one of your dogs.”
“Oh my, that’s really too much. Are you saying everyone who dislikes Darling is on the demons’ side? I hate that kind of prejudice……”
She brazenly denied it.
Her eyes curved like crescent moons.
“Even if that Abel were my dog, you have no proof, do you?”
Sitri gave a deep laugh.
She was right.
There was no proof.
If someone made a deal with a demon, a seal or traces of magical power would normally be left behind.
Abel had nothing of the sort.
“Do you think you can flatly deny a demon’s involvement without evidence and get away with it? If you deny it that vehemently, they’ll try to make me a witness. And I’ll deny it.”
“Then I’ll be in trouble.”
“It’ll look like Regent Ferda, who trespassed and committed murder, is blaming everything on a demon to evade responsibility…… And then……”
Sitri crept closer.
“Darling will look like he’s merely struggling to stay alive. Even if it doesn’t look that way, there’s no way the humans will leave Darling alone.”
She whispered into Ferda’s ear.
“And the one who actually joined hands with a demon was Darling, wasn’t it?”
Sitri revealed her true colors.
“You borrowed a demon’s magic to sneak into the territory, and then rescued a demon.”
She had surely already secured that evidence.
From the moment she offered to provide a Bending Bridge, she had set up layer upon layer of traps, leaving Ferda no choice but to fall into them.
“Our poor, adorable Regent.”
Sitri caressed Ferda’s face.
“Isn’t it strange? Why does the warning never to make deals with demons remain unchanged after all these years? Because no matter how often people emphasize it, they make the same mistake every time.”
“……”
“The moment Darling used my Bending Bridge, he had already crossed an irreversible river. If you’d asked another child for help sooner instead of me, perhaps this wouldn’t have happened?”
She mocked every one of Ferda’s decisions as a mistake.
The tide was turning.
Demons always preyed on such openings.
Sitri opened her mouth to make an offer.
“If……”
Ferda spoke first.
“The word ‘if’ is an escape for those who regret their actions.”
Ferda raised his head.
“If you don’t regret something, there’s no need for the word ‘if.’”
The atmosphere Sitri had thought belonged to her changed in an instant.
Sitri sensed something alien in his eyes.
He was far too calm for someone who had been cornered.
She might have taken him for an idiot incapable of understanding the situation, but he was not that, either.
It was unmistakably conviction forged by resolve.
“Are you planning to start a war? Or break off your engagement with Valdrova? Either way, nothing good will come of it for you.”
“There will be neither war nor a broken engagement.”
Ferda spoke with ease.
“Abel was a demon worshiper, and the fact that he collaborated with them remains unchanged.”
“Were you listening to anything I said?”
Sitri was dumbfounded.
“I told you, didn’t I? There’s no evidence. How can they believe Darling when there’s no evidence? Do you think they’re idiots?”
The situation was overwhelmingly in Sitri’s favor.
She had been holding many cards in her hand for this very moment.
She was fully prepared to counterattack no matter what move he made.
Ferda was no fool, either.
He had also made thorough preparations to prevent the backlash from his deal with a demon.
“Yes, there’s no evidence.”
But by killing Abel, all those cards had slipped from his hand.
He had nothing to play against Sitri’s cards.
“So,”
what he held instead was,
“you will make one from now on.”
A dog collar that would bind a demon.