Ch#28

Episode 28

'The dragon who fell in love with the princess at first sight, attacked her wedding procession, and abducted her.'

This is an extremely famous story.

One I used for my marriage with Arpad.

And also a myth that Evangeline and Ludwig exploited before regression—the story of Dragon Artanus and Princess Istride is fact and history.

The existence of Arpad before my very eyes was proof of that.

The descendant who inherited the dragon's bloodline so thickly.

But aside from the founding story of the Istride Imperial Family, tales of dragons kidnapping princesses and knights trying to rescue them were common.

Not just on Earth, but in this world too.

However, people usually don't question this.

'Why do dragons always abduct princesses?'

In most stories, the reasons largely fall into two categories.

First, to take them as wives.

Second, to devour them.

But I know these two reasons actually stem from the same cause.

Because of the existence called the 'Dragon's Bride'.

The Dragon's Bride was a being that could make a dragon's power and body even stronger.

"Like a part of the dragon that should have originally been one has broken off and is separate."

Thus, dragons sought to claim their respective brides in different ways.

Some took them as lifelong companions.

Some devoured them.

Though the methods were polar opposites, the fact that dragons desired brides was the same.

Desperately so.

To the point of losing reason.

Even making an entire nation his enemy and waging war for years, Artanus never gave up on Istride.

Couldn't give up.

'Meaning Princess Istride was that important an existence to Artanus.'

The side effect of the power possessed by a 'Bride' is making even dragons lose reason and become mere beasts.

Then what kind of existence would a 'Bride' be to mixed-bloods who cannot overcome the dragon's blood?

Especially to those who might go mad and die at any moment?

I think I already know the answer to that.

Because I've seen Arpad completely maddened by Madness.

In the first life, if his neck hadn't been severed by the Emperor's sword before he could kill me, Arpad would probably have killed me.

To devour the 'Bride' driven by instinct, having become a mere beast dominated by Madness.

Tension and anxiety stretched taut like a bowstring drawn to its limit.

* * *

I learned this fact a long while after meeting Arpad in the first life and seeing him die.

Specifically, in the previous life, the third round.

Even for me who experienced it three times, the moments of death are horrific and dreadful memories each time.

Among those, there were moments etched in memory as horrifying as, or even more than, death.

The moments spent with 'that man' were such.

'Mage Tower Lord Gaspar.'

He was a peculiar person even among those following Evangeline.

He wasn't swayed by Evangeline's abilities, charm, or specialness like others.

'He joined hands with Evangeline solely for personal gain.'

In a word, he was like a mad scientist.

Change the scientist from dramas and movies who conducts all sorts of crazy experiments on humans into a mage, and swap the madness for scientific experiments with magic experiments—that's Gaspar.

And the field he was most insane about was precisely anything related to dragons.

He wanted to create a dragon with his own hands, and imperial family members inheriting the dragon's bloodline were the experimental subjects he desperately desired.

'That's why Gaspar cooperated with Evangeline in exchange for Arpad's corpse.'

This is why I couldn't suspect that Evangeline might like Arpad.

Because each time, to secure the Mage Tower Lord's cooperation, Evangeline handed over Arpad's corpse.

And what the Mage Tower Lord received from Evangeline wasn't just Arpad's corpse.

It also included humans he could freely use for magic experiments.

Most of the experimental subjects Evangeline provided to the Mage Tower Lord were death row inmates.

And among them, I was included too.

Evangeline secretly smuggled me out of prison, where I was imprisoned for adultery and treason charges, and gave me to the Mage Tower Lord as an experimental subject.

Gaspar treated me specially among the experimental subjects, cackling.

"Please, please stop! It hurts too much!"

"Can't be helped. Eva specially asked me to take good care of you."

The change during those days of continuous cruel and painful experiments happened purely by chance.

While trying to escape the pain, I couldn't get outside and instead entered an even more dangerous place.

There, I met Arpad. To be more precise, I met a being that 'had been' Arpad.

I had met Arpad several times across multiple lives. As Crown Prince Arpad, or as Mercenary King Gerald.

But seeing him as a corpse moving alive, transformed into a monster, was the first time.

Even though I knew Arpad's face, at the time I didn't know that being was made from Arpad's corpse.

Because the body was grotesquely transformed.

Covered in black scales all over, with one incomplete wing sprouting from its back. Claws and talons had grown like hooks, crushing bricks.

The appearance of a monster seemingly mixing dragon and human was just horrifying.

A monster chained up, devoid of reason or anything else, charged at me. I thought I was dead for sure.

"Kraaah!!"

"Kyaaah!!!"

But no.

I was alive, and the monster made from Arpad's corpse was holding onto me, staring at me with red eyes.

A monster no different from an animal devoid of reason.

"...?"

"Grrr......"

And the next moment.

The monster began licking the wound on my knee from falling.

Soon I could realize.

"It's... drinking my blood?"

The monster licked my blood as if it were nectar.

Then, realizing there was no more blood to lick, it tried to bite my neck to drink my blood.

It was the Mage Tower Lord who stopped it.

"Oh my! That won't do! Eva said she absolutely wants this experimental subject returned alive!"

The monster made from Arpad's corpse flew away by the Mage Tower Lord's magic and slammed into the wall.

Mage Tower Lord Gaspar tilted his head.

"Hmm? But why didn't it kill this experimental subject? It always tore to shreds anyone who got close."

And through numerous horrific experiments, Gaspar was able to deduce a result.

"Ah. It's because of your unique constitution! Your blood and flesh strengthen the dragon's power and compensate for its incompleteness."

"That's why mixed-bloods with high instability would want to devour you to obtain your ability."

"Aah. My hypothesis was correct. Princess Istride was a special being. Like you! That's why a great being like a dragon needed her."

He cheered and used me for all sorts of experiments for half a year.

The nickname he gave me was precisely this.

"Dragon's Bride. No other nickname suits you better."

To the dragon-obsessed Mage Tower Lord, I was the ultimate experimental subject.

He always lamented.

"Aah. I'd love to see what result would come from meeting Crown Prince Arpad while alive with you, truly regrettable."

And when Evangeline said she needed to publicly execute me and asked for me back, he even resisted.

"I haven't finished all the experiments yet! Give me a little more time!"

Yet, wanting to monopolize the experimental results, he didn't disclose my constitution to Evangeline.

Thanks to that, it took half a year to return from the Mage Tower to the Imperial Palace dungeon.

Probably after my death, they must have arranged to receive my corpse.

Since Evangeline executed me immediately after getting me back, I don't know what happened after.

My third life was truly a horrific existence in many ways.

Among those, the half-year at the Mage Tower was especially dreadful.

If there's any advantage, it might be that I learned what ability I possess as a 'Dragon's Bride' and how to use it.

No, thinking again, it still doesn't seem like an advantage.

From that experience, I learned that I, as a 'Dragon's Bride', am a very useful existence to the living Arpad.

But at the same time, I couldn't help but learn one fact.

"When a dragon meets its bride, to compensate for its own incompleteness, it tries to claim the bride."

"There are many methods. The most primitive and violent method would be... devouring, of course."

Gaspar would keep muttering incessantly even when I didn't want to hear.

About dragon ecology he had discovered.

And about my abilities as a Dragon's Bride.

Even hypotheses about how those with dragon bloodline would behave towards me.

Each time, I would shudder in horror yet play along.

Because while conversing, my mind would be distracted and experiments would stop.

"Then do all dragons want to devour me when they see me?"

"Not all. Look at Princess Istride. She didn't die. Saw descendants too, right?"

At Gaspar's words, I muttered while looking at Arpad's corpse pinned to the wall like a butterfly specimen.

"The Imperial Family."

"Right. That's it. The Imperial Family. Noble lineage inheriting the great dragon's bloodline."

"Then would they also try to eat me if they saw me?"

"They might. But I said not all would try to eat the bride, right?"

He whispered in a low voice.

"Or they might try to mix bodies."

* * *

And now, before my very eyes stands the man with the thickest dragon blood since the first emperor in the empire's 300-year history.

The living Arpad.

With crimson reptilian eyes gleaming.

Translator: Nox