Chapter 65
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The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Bang!
A deep boom reverberated 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 escaped Luri's lips.
She thought.
This was all a dream.
In reality, she was in bed, and a demon had secretly entered her bedroom to show her this nightmare.
Yet she did not wake.
The more she concentrated on waking, the closer cold reality came.
“Ahh….”
Luri staggered toward where Abel lay.
She turned over his collapsed body.
There was no focus in his pupils.
His pulse was gone.
His body temperature was growing cold.
She tried to use healing magic.
But she knew it was impossible.
His heart had been shattered.
Once a heart was shattered, no Dragon spawn could survive.
Ferda must have known this too.
Ferda had no intention of leaving him any chance at life.
The sensation of this catastrophe, unfolding in a cold, dark place amid a raging blizzard, was seared into her mind.
A Silver Dragon spawn had died.
Another of Father's children had died today.
She could see what that other child had seen.
And the man was standing right in front of her.
“Now….”
A voice forced its way out through her constricted throat.
“Do you know… what you've done, Lord Ferda?”
“I know.”
Ferda answered flatly.
“Murder.”
It was as cold as the air in the North.
“It isn't just murder… Lord Ferda.”
Luri's hand trembled.
“Silverwind's child has died. You killed one who inherited his blood. Do you know what that means?”
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
Luri raised her head.
She walked toward Ferda.
“You killed one who carries a dragon's blood. They will never stop seeking revenge.”
“I know.”
“They will never stop… until you die.”
“I know.”
“If you know that!!”
Luri seized Ferda by the collar.
Everything she had built—
“Because of what you did!”
Because of Ferda's actions,
“The peace I protected for Valdrova has been shattered!”
It had crumbled into nothing.
“You… because of you….”
Luri lowered her head.
Her hand gripping his collar trembled.
Her legs shook, barely supporting her body.
She thought.
Can this be salvaged?
Can we let this pass as though nothing happened?
What on earth will happen?
She tried to gauge what would happen, but she couldn't.
This was beyond her.
There was no way it could be resolved amicably.
“Hah, hah….”
Tension tightened around her throat.
She panted, breathing hard.
Her vision was turning yellow.
“It's because of you….”
What spilled from her lips was resentment.
“Lady Valdrova had been perfectly happy even without you.”
Bitter words she did not mean poured out.
“Because you…! Because you tried to enter her life…!”
Yet Ferda did not flinch.
Ferda looked down at her.
With eyes like those of someone looking at a pitiful child.
“Luri.”
“Don't say my name with that mouth! With that mouth…!”
“Luri.”
His cold voice seized hold of her in her confusion.
“Look at me.”
Luri raised her head.
Her lost, directionless silver eyes looked up at Ferda.
“Abel must die. This choice was unavoidable.”
“There was a choice. And I made it.”
“The choice to give up on yourself was the worst one.”
“Does it matter whether I'm here or not? You only need Lady Valdrova, don't you? Couldn't you just protect the peace that way?”
“There was no peace to begin with.”
“There was! It was right there, clear as day! The peace I created!”
Luri snapped back.
Doubt swelled in her chest that she might be wrong, but she refused to acknowledge it.
She did not want to make everything she had done meaningless.
“Luri.”
Ferda asked.
“Did I break the peace you created?”
“Yes.”
It was true.
“Did I put my fiancée in danger?”
“Yes.”
That was true as well.
“Then was I wrong?”
“…….”
Luri could not answer.
She couldn't understand why she hesitated over that answer.
He had definitely killed Abel.
Peace had been shattered because of it.
Valdrova was in danger.
So did that make him wrong?
No.
Somewhere in her heart, she felt otherwise.
“You… were wrong.”
She lacked the courage to admit it.
She threw another tantrum.
“Is that so.”
Ferda removed her hand.
At his gesture, Luri's hand was drawn along with it.
Luri's eyes widened.
It moved a little higher than his collar, making her hand encircle his neck.
“Then kill me here.”
Luri asked in a trembling voice.
“Do you… mean that?”
“That was what I asked you to do.”
Luri recalled something she had left in the far reaches of her memory.
Around the time Ferda had recruited all the talented people,
the last thing he wrote was his own name.
And he asked her this:
“If I put my fiancée in danger and act wrongly, don't hesitate to kill me.”
Luri had not believed him, of course.
No living creature wants to die.
Not humans, of course, nor Dragon spawns.
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 in his eyes had never once faltered.
Luri spat out the question she had never understood and had kept in her heart.
“Lord Ferda… do you not regret what you did?”
“I do not regret it.”
Ferda had thought it over countless times.
He had thought about it before acting, while acting, and even at this very moment.
The conclusion was always the same.
“Even if I could turn back time a thousand times, I would save you.”
“Why?”
Unlike her own wavering pupils, his shone clearly.
It was a light Luri did not possess.
“Because I have no doubt that this is for my fiancée, Valdrova.”
That light caressed Luri's cheek.
“She needs you more than she needs me.”
At those words, everything that made up Luri crumbled.
“Why… why?”
The hand that had been gripping Ferda's neck loosened and slid down his body.
“Why… even though I've lived longer… even though I've served Lady Valdrova longer….”
Her voice was thick with tears.
“Why is it that you, a human….”
Luri hated humans.
Human greed had always done nothing but cause Valdrova pain.
Ferda was different from those humans.
And yet.
She hated Ferda more than any of them.
Why?
He cared for Valdrova.
He even had the power to truly protect her.
Yet she hated him so much she wanted him dead.
“Why can't I… be like you….”
Luri's body crumpled forward.
She did not want to lean against a man she hated.
But she hated showing him that she was crying even more.
“Hngh, sob….”
Luri desperately tried to swallow her sobs.
But knowing she couldn't, she buried her face in his clothes and forcibly muffled the sound.
As she shed tears uncontrollably, Luri caught a faint scent.
A village burned to the ground in a great fire long ago.
The man who had taken in the girl who alone had survived there.
It was the scent of that man.
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