Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

Translator: Nox

I Married the Dragon I Killed - Chapter 1I Married the Dragon I KilledChapter 1

Chapter 1

There was once a unique individual who became an archmage through the sheer force of hatred alone.

His name was Ferda Rosnova.

Born as the third son of the Rosnova family, a lineage of knights, he was exceptionally frail from birth.

As the child of a concubine, and possessing blue eyes instead of the brown eyes that had been passed down through the family for generations, even the servants of the Rosnova household often looked down on him.

Eventually, in the year Ferda turned eighteen, his father, Erembalt Rosnova, delivered a single piece of news.

“Your engagement to Duke Valdrova has been arranged.”

One might think it was a simple betrothal, but to the nobility, ‘engagement to the Duke’ was an idiom.

To put it simply, it was a death sentence.

It was a choice between accepting a self-imposed dismissal from the family or facing death.

“I will leave, as per my father’s wishes.”

“I see.”

Ferda, valuing his life more, naturally chose to live, and he had to leave the house while discarding the name of Rosnova.

A great sense of betrayal took root in young Ferda’s heart.

He could not forgive the older brothers who had looked down on him, nor the servants.

But the one who made him angriest was, of course, his father.

‘You knew how hard I was trying…’

To become a member of this family, he had forced his weak body to move.

He practiced every single day until he coughed up blood and his hands were covered in callouses.

His father’s gaze used to watch him as if all those efforts were commendable.

However, as he remained stuck in the same place for several years, that expression gradually changed.

As if he had been raising a cuckoo’s chick all along.

Finally, when he was being kicked out of the house, his father’s expression looked as if he were staring down at filth.

Even after days had passed, that gaze felt vivid.

‘I won’t forgive you.’

His sorrow gradually transformed into the emotion of rage, burning into a flame of revenge.

‘I will never forgive those who despised and looked down on me.’

Ferda clenched his fists tightly.

At that moment, Ferda felt something wriggling and awakening deep inside his body.

It was the moment a circle was formed—mana rotating in a ring within his dantian.

On the day Ferda Rosnova was cast out of his family, he became a mage.

Awakening as a mage is a blessing.

On this Serdes Continent, one’s status changes simply by being able to wield magic.

However, awakening at the age of eighteen, as Ferda did, was a pitiful thing.

It was far too late.

Every mage uses their inner power as a driving force.

To fully master that concept, one had to train from a young age.

If one didn’t start young, they would have to learn that concept while suffering several times more in their old age.

It should have been that way, but for Ferda, the late awakening was not a problem.

The driving force that pulled up his mana was none other than hatred and the desire for revenge.

—To think he’s acting up, trying to be a mage at that age.

—He said he’d do whatever he’s told, so just think of it as having a useful slave until graduation.

Spurring that driving force were the senior mages who ignored him and the young juniors.

Since he had started late, that driving force was scattered everywhere around him.

‘Bark all you want. I’ll make sure you lick every inch of my toes!’

His yearning to become stronger and his obsession with revenge did not fade; instead, they made him stronger with each passing day.

Soon, he not only surpassed the senior mages with promising futures but also easily surpassed the master who had taught him.

For a long while, his toes were polished clean without a speck of dust.

When Ferda finally reached the rank of Archmage—a title held by fewer than a hundred people on the continent who had opened the 6th Circle—his true revenge drama began.

He returned to the Rosnova family, which had cruelly cast him out, and killed everyone just as they were.

He placed swords in the hands of the servants who had insulted him and forced them to kill each other.

He sowed discord between the eldest and second sons, making them hate each other until they eventually met their mutual destruction.

And his father, with whom the rift was deepest, was forced to watch all of this.

At the sight of everything he had built and protected crumbling miserably, Erembalt finally went mad and grew decrepit, as if he had aged decades in an instant.

He became a broken man, like a ghost wandering the world of the living.

Thus, everything associated with the Rosnova family vanished, except for Ferda.

‘The revenge…’

It was the moment the revenge Ferda had craved so much was achieved.

‘…is not over yet.’

However, by the time he realized it, he had already crossed too wide a river.

Ferda, who had needed power for revenge, now began to seek revenge for the sake of power.

‘If there is nothing to avenge, I will create it. If there is nothing to hate, I will make it.’

By forcibly hating and avenging everything, Ferda grew increasingly powerful.

From all corners of the continent, swords were drawn to stop the twisted Ferda.

But trials always made him stronger, serving only as stepping stones for growth.

Thus, Ferda reached the highest state a human could attain.

He was forty-five years old.

At a young age, he reached the 8th Circle, known as a Mana Lord.

His power became so immense that no one could look down on him, and even the Emperor had to bow his head.

‘I must eliminate it.’

Yet, he was still not satisfied.

Even though he held everything beneath his feet, his thirst for revenge did not subside.

‘Everything that rejects me… I will eliminate it all.’

To create a utopia of his own, Ferda began to covet even the realm of the gods.

After five years of research, he discovered the ultimate ingredient to reach that place.

It was the Dragon’s Heart.

Coincidentally, there was one dragon within reach of his hatred.

‘Duke Valdrova.’

His fiancé.

The pretext Erembalt had used to cast Ferda out.

The true identity of that being was a Red Dragon.

—Fate is a truly cruel thing.

The one who spoke those words was, strangely enough, the dragon said to be the strongest on the continent.

Red scales and magnificent horns.

Overpowering eyes and wings that seemed large enough to cover the world were the symbols of its majesty.

But now, it was different.

Scales were torn off in places, and horns were broken and bent, with bright red blood streaming from within.

The one who had driven the dragon—which could easily destroy a nation—into such a corner was none other than a single mage.

—To think my fiancé would come to kill me.

Ferda wore a smile.

That smile was closer to a bluff, a display of his superiority.

As much as he had driven the dragon to the brink of death, his own body was not intact.

“It would be better for you to die quietly by my hand, Valdrova.”

—I know… that I bear the name of a tyrant. However, for these past decades, even before you were born, I have never once shown myself. And I have never harmed a single human. So… I cannot understand why you show such hostility.

“You said you did nothing?”

Valdrova’s calm tone sounded like the words of someone who lived a carefree life.

Irritation welled up inside Ferda.

“You were the culprit who made my revenge begin.”

From the moment he became a victim of the engagement, everything for Ferda had become twisted.

Ferda poured out his emotions heatedly.

“Because of you…! Because of your useless greed in seeking a fiancé, the justification for me being kicked out of my family was completed!”

—Was that… because of me?

“Yes! Because you harbored useless greed! That greed of a ferocious dragon trying to take a human as a companion is what birthed this misfortune, do you know that!?”

Ferda breathed heavily, then let out a bitter laugh.

“But at the same time, I am grateful. Thanks to that, I was able to reach this position.”

—Is that so…

Valdrova’s face twitched strangely.

Was she angry?

She might be preparing a final struggle.

Ferda focused on gathering the external mana and making it his own.

By expressing his hatred just now, his mana had built up.

—Yes, so that’s how it was. I understand now.

Valdrova’s massive body moved.

She showed her claws.

Sharp, hard blades that could tear knights apart with a single swing.

Ferda reflexively prepared a magic circle.

It was late, but he could at least take her down with him.

She raised her claws, but they were not aimed at Ferda.

Where the claws dug in was her own chest.

Thuck!

Ferda could not understand the action.

What was the meaning of that self-harm?

She tore right through the tough hide, and the internal organs inside were exposed vividly.

—You said your magic requires my heart, did you not?

Snap—!

The sound of blood vessels tearing.

Ferda understood.

She was trying to destroy her own heart.

“No!”

Ferda fired a barrage of magic at her face.

“No, you filthy bitch! Stop right now?!”

Ferda could not let her destroy her heart.

It was the one and only chance to reach the 9th Circle.

He could never let this opportunity slip away!

The scales protecting her head scattered like fragments.

But Valdrova’s hand did not stop.

The sound of tearing blood vessels and muscles echoed continuously.

—You said you needed my heart?

With that, Valdrova’s claws were pulled out from within her entrails.

What came out along with her claws was a lump of flesh larger than Ferda’s head.

“…A heart?”

It maintained its form perfectly.

What she had done was not destruction, but extraction.

—Take it.

Valdrova’s half-vanished head spoke.

If it had been the usual Ferda, he would have picked it up with a thank you.

But even the twisted Ferda could not understand her actions and stared blankly down at the heart.

“…Why did you make such a choice?”

Ferda threw out the question.

“If you had moved… you could have easily killed me? There’s no way you didn’t know that.”

—If I had made one last struggle… surely you would have died as well. I know that.

“Then why didn’t you?”

—Because you became miserable because of me.

Ferda remained frozen even at that moment.

Valdrova no longer had the strength to even hold up her head.

—I… have hated myself for a long time.

A thick sense of loathing was buried within her calm tone.

—I hated this ferocious blood flowing through these veins so much. I hated myself for having the impulse to destroy and being angry for no reason. What I hated most was that those things frightened people.

The color faded from her golden eyes.

Something swelled within her eyes and then rolled down her cheek.

It was a tear.

A dragon’s tears are different from a human’s.

Dragons are not emotional creatures that shed tears over something like sadness.

Yet, that tear seemed to be crafted from sorrow alone.

—If I died, everything would be resolved, yet I dared to wish for happiness while alive… My foolish dream has caused trouble for too many people.

“….”

—Since you became miserable because of me, mortal, my fiancé, I hope you will be happy because of me. That is the last thing… I can do for you.

With a final breath, her life faded away.

The hidden tyrant of the continent, Valdrova, had met her death in such a way.

Ferda stared blankly down at Valdrova, who had quietly closed her eyes.

For the first time since becoming a mage through rage, he felt a strange emotion.

‘Why does this feel so unpleasant?’

Ferda instinctively placed a hand on his chest.

Ferda had come this far by stepping over countless corpses.

He had killed everyone who hindered him and seized everything he needed to grow his power.

He knew himself that he was a broken man, lacking a conscience and empathy.

Yet, for some reason, her death was holding onto Ferda’s ankles.

Like a curse she had laid upon him.

‘Don’t think about it, Ferda.’

Move forward.

Take what you sought to achieve.

He picked up the object she had pulled out.

The Dragon’s Heart.

The source that could lead to the 9th Circle, the dream of every mage.

It was an item that could elevate one from an archmage to the rank of a demigod, beyond mere existence.

He would absorb this.

And take revenge on everything.

On everything, even the reasons he had forgotten.

Ferda absorbed the essence contained within the heart.

As the essence of the dragon that had lived since ancient times flowed through his veins, his blood began to boil.

At the same time as the massive power flowed in, Ferda felt an anomaly.

‘This is…’

A sensation that allowed him to feel Valdrova’s life.

‘Is it her emotions?’

Those emotions became a part of Ferda before he could even resist.

“Ah…”

Ferda let out a gasp.

His mind began to clear with startling clarity.

The hatred and desire for revenge, which had been the driving forces of his power, were disappearing.

Had her blood cleared Ferda’s mind?

’No.’

The emotions felt from that heart were closer to negation.

It was an emotion that felt as if he were standing at the edge of an abyss, incomparable to Ferda’s hatred or rage.

A Red Dragon who had lived for thousands of years but had never once been loved.

Rage of uncontrollable power, the Evil Red Dragon, Dragon Slayer…

As titles based on infamy were layered onto her image, Valdrova became a complete tyrant.

These were the curses she had accumulated over the passage of time.

Yet, Valdrova loved those insignificant things.

That was why she chose to hide herself.

Because she loved everyone, she steadfastly endured loneliness and sorrow.

That was why Ferda’s mind had cleared.

Because the rage and hatred Ferda himself was feeling seemed so trivial.

“Ahhh…”

A small gasp spilled from Ferda’s lips.

Not once since becoming a mage had he been in his right mind.

For the first time, he was able to become himself.

“What… have I done?”

Blinded by revenge, he was eventually swallowed by that power and destroyed everything.

Was that what I truly wanted?

Suddenly, he recalled the dream he had as a child.

‘What I truly wanted was…’

Was it to be an archmage?

‘It was to… live a normal life, having a family.’

The image of himself striving for such simplicity now cruelly slaughters Ferda’s conscience, which has grown far too large.

“Ahhh…”

Ferda closed his eyes just like that.

A circle was drawn before him.

As the circles were completed one by one, his life flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

The sorrow of being kicked out of the family when he broke through the 1st Circle.

The rage when he was mocked for having no talent at the 2nd Circle.

Inferiority, resentment, jealousy, betrayal…

All of Ferda’s circles were built upon negated emotions.

To survive, he did not hesitate to betray, and to become stronger, he repeatedly acted like a turncoat.

Thus, Ferda became an 8th Circle Archmage.

And the emotion he felt upon reaching the 9th Circle was.

‘Emptiness…’

It felt as if everything had become meaningless.

At the same time, he felt angry.

Valdrova, that woman had turned everything he had done so far into a mistake.

“You stupid, brainless bitch…”

Ferda tried to resent her.

But there was no feeling of it becoming a driving force as before.

He knew well that those were words he didn’t even mean.

The truly stupid one was himself, for resenting her.

In the first place, being banished from the family was inevitable, and she was merely a pretext.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know that, yet he had taken out his frustration on her.

Valdrova had accepted his foolish sophistry as her own sin.

And she had wished for one person to be happy.

Ferda gave a hollow laugh.

Contrary to Ferda’s heart, the 9th Circle magic circle was shining brightly.

There was only one spell a mage who reached the 9th Circle could cast.

‘Wish.’

It was the absolute crystallization that defied the providence of all things, granting everything one desired.

It was a simple spell that required only a single word.

Though he held what he had craved so much in his hand, Ferda could not speak, as if his throat were tightly blocked.

He reproached himself for having run for decades looking only for revenge,

He loathed his own pettiness for remembering the names of everyone to get even,

And his heart understood that emotion which he could not eventually express in words.

“It is meaningless…”

The magic circle shone brilliantly.

When the light completely faded, the 9th Circle Archmage vanished without a trace.

“…rda?”

“….”

“Ferda.”

No, his consciousness returned.

As the bright light cleared and a voice called his name, Ferda opened his eyes.

Instead of the bleeding dragon, a middle-aged man was sitting in front of him.

“Ferda? Are you listening?”

“…Yes?”

“What do you mean, ‘Yes’? Your father was speaking, yet have you been spacing out all this time?”

The middle-aged man in front of him furrowed his brows.

Ferda knew who this man was.

‘Erembalt Rosnova.’

The being he once affectionately called father.

He looked healthy, unlike the last time Ferda had seen him.

Had he died and come to the afterlife?

For that to be the case, everything felt like déjà vu.

‘Is this… that?’

Ferda could understand it quickly.

The time he was alone with his father, who had never properly spoken with him during his life.

There was only one such time.

“Your engagement to Duke Valdrova has been decided. It is a matter decided by the state, so I hope you will follow it without a word.”

Engagement to Duke Valdrova.

‘I didn’t die, but I returned to this time?’

To that period he had considered the beginning of his misfortune.

To the time that had become the starting point for his uncontrollable desire for revenge.

‘Why?’

He couldn’t understand it with his head yet.

But his heart already knew.

What he had wished for in that emptiness.

“Heh.”

An awkward exclamation escaped Ferda’s mouth.

“You brat, are you sighing while I’m talking?”

“I apologize. It’s nothing.”

“Tell me again what your father just said.”

“You said there is an engagement with Duke Valdrova.”

“You understand well what that means, don’t you?”

“I know.”

Get out of this house.

Ferda, who understood it that way, replied to his father.

“I understand.”

“Yes, you must have suffered a lot in your heart… Huh?”

His father looked at him again with wide eyes.

“Wh-what did you just say?”

Ferda looked down at the documents placed before him and answered once more.

The meaning of this regression is to face what I failed to do in my previous life.

“I will do it, that engagement.”

It was to enter an engagement with the tyrant Valdrova.