I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 111
- I Don’t Want to Give Up
It was right when Erembalt was heading toward the Rosnova estate.
Inside the carriage, he thought to himself.
‘Yes, this was the right choice.’
He told himself that choosing to declare a final break was the correct path.
There had been days when his hair fell out in clumps because he couldn’t withstand Erdes’s constant surveillance and pressure. Now that he had received confirmation that Ferda had nothing more to do with him, they were strangers.
No, rather, Erembalt would remain the victim.
“I won’t have to get involved with that damn brat anymore. This is enough.”
“What brat?”
“Gah?!”
He looked up at the familiar voice.
This was inside a carriage. The seat across from him should have been empty.
Yet, a teenage girl was sitting there.
Platinum-blonde hair and blue eyes brimming with mana.
Her name was Erdes Roton.
President of the Serdes Continental Magic Association, a living disaster, and a magic-wielding hell-raiser.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
She grinned like a mischievous child.
“Tell me what you were just talking about. I’m curious too.”
“I—I have committed a mortal sin. To speak so insolently of the President—”
“Do you think I’m here to hear a confession for some petty backstabbing?”
She was famous for holding long grudges. However, Erdes hadn’t actually come for that reason.
“Tell me what you talked about with the Regent.”
“The conversation wasn’t much.”
“Not much? If it wasn’t much, why are the Regent and Valdroba’s servant moving together?”
Erembalt was startled.
“W-where are they going?”
“I don’t know. Looking at the direction, it seemed like they were heading toward the Rosnova estate?”
She smirked.
“Maybe he’s going to destroy the family himself?”
Erembalt’s face went pale. Cold sweat poured down his neck.
Seeing Erembalt’s reaction, even Erdes, who had been talking nonsense, became flustered.
“What? Why that reaction?”
“It’s…… nothing.”
“Nothing? You’re acting like that because you think I’m right, aren’t you? It sounds like a very intense conversation took place.”
“It’s nothing. I simply spoke with Regent Ferda and told him he is no longer related to the family. He just overreacted on his own.”
“……What?”
Hearing that, Erdes neither smirked nor got angry. She simply stared at Erembalt with an expressionless face.
That made it even more terrifying.
“As I said, I told him that Regent Ferda does not share our bloodline. I informed him that he is a child who shares nothing with us except for his gray hair.”
“Hmm, so you disowned him?”
“That is correct.”
“Hmm…….”
Erdes merely tapped her chin with her index finger.
Erembalt felt he had to say something to break this uncomfortable silence.
“And…… it is certain that Ferda uses black magic.”
“……Why?”
“When I told him I was cutting ties, he used black magic to create a hand! To strangle me!”
Erembalt pretended he hadn’t noticed the truth of the situation until the end. If he had shown he noticed, he surely would have died on the spot.
Her eyes shifted slightly.
“So, did he strangle you?”
“He didn’t…… he withdrew it…….”
“How virtuous.”
“P-pardon?”
Erembalt was baffled by her response. She, who hated black magic more than anyone, showed no concern for it.
“I’m saying he’s virtuous for not even strangling the father who wanted to cut ties.”
No, more than that, she was defending him. Erembalt had no choice but to ask her directly.
“What are you going to do about Regent Ferda?”
“What am I going to do? I’m not going to do anything.”
“Even though he tried to kill me with black magic?”
“Yeah. Whether you die or not has f-all to do with me.”
The arrogant voice of the young girl let out a long sigh.
“Ah, really, making so many blunders like this makes me feel so much self-loathing. Heaven is truly helping that brat~.”
Erdes stood up from her seat.
“I’m sick of you. Don’t let me see you again. If I catch you pulling any more nonsense, I don’t know what I’ll do to you then. Got it?”
“Yes, I will live…… humbly.”
As if he wasn’t even worth talking to anymore, she left the spot. Silence returned to the inside of Erembalt’s carriage.
“Phew…….”
Erembalt reflexively placed his hand on his neck. Only after confirming his head was still attached did he let out a sigh of relief.
He felt a pang of guilt for casting out his son, but it vanished like a passing breeze. Either way, he was just relieved that he would never have to face that brat and that filthy thing again.
The President’s Office of the Serdes Magic Association.
A circular gate opened, and Erdes stepped out. Sitting in the President’s chair, as if it were natural, was her secretary, Ru, processing her work.
“Where did you go this time, abandoning your work?”
Ru asked with eyes shadowed by dark circles. Erdes snapped her head around and glared at Ru. She looked irritable.
“I went to lay the groundwork for the Far East, why?”
“Didn’t you say you hated that Regent?”
“I did, damn it. This is f-ing ridiculous.”
Erdes threw herself onto the sofa while swearing.
It had been a good idea to coax the workers into forming a labor union to create an opposing force. But the opponent was more powerful than she had imagined.
“Stefan Pascal, wasn’t that guy supposed to be a loser?”
“He’s the future chairman of the Pascal Merchant Guild.”
“What?”
Erdes looked up. She looked like she was hearing this for the first time.
“Since when? Besides, weren’t there two formidable competitors?”
“How old is the news you’re following? The eldest daughter vanished to a western village with her husband, and the eldest son caused a ruckus about gaining independence before handing over the management rights of the mercenary company to Stefan.”
“Why didn’t I know this?”
“Because you weren’t interested in that field to begin with.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you weren’t interested in that field to begin with?”
Erdes glared fiercely. Ru, who had been retorting, looked troubled.
“Uh…… is that my fault?”
“If you’re a secretary, shouldn’t you handle things cleanly on your own? Even if I’m not interested, you should have pushed it in front of me.”
“What kind of baby-feeding logic is that…… Fine, I’ll learn mind-reading magic starting now.”
Ru replied with a look of utter disbelief.
“And Erembalt!”
The second element that had irritated her.
“I didn’t know he was such a coward. A man from a knight family, cowering before a single magician?”
“Those who didn’t cower died at your hands, President. You have to understand.”
“Even so, does it make sense to cast out his own son?”
“Didn’t he say they don’t share blood? And he has two perfectly fine sons. Besides, he was willing to offer him up as a sacrifice, so it’s a bit much to expect paternal love now.”
Erdes crossed her arms and grumbled discontentedly.
“Still, if they lived together for 18 years, there should be some affection, right? If it were me, I’d have felt something for the time we spent together.”
Ru’s eyes widened in horror.
“You, President?”
“What? Got a problem? Do you think you survived all your backtalk because you’re talented?”
Ru backed away, whimpering.
“Anyway, I couldn’t even find a weakness. If there had been even a bit of affection or a bond, I could have used it as a weakness to black-mail that brat…….”
Instead, she had only learned how tragic his life was. Erdes didn’t like that.
“Blue-kun.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“Am I really that bad at judging people?”
“Have you finally opened your eyes?”
“Do you really want to die?”
“If I’m being serious…… you’re not exactly good at it.”
“The Association is running fine, isn’t it? Is that because I’m doing a good job?”
“That’s because you’d take off their heads if it didn’t run properly. It feels like it’s running because everyone is terrified.”
“Hmm, I see, I see. I guess I need to change this time.”
“Yes. Why don’t you organize the personnel and do a clean sweep? Just like when you hired me.”
When Ru suggested that subtly, Erdes stared intently at his face.
“No matter what you say, I’m never releasing you from your life sentence as my secretary.”
“Damn it.”
Ru, the secretary to the President of the Magic Association, failed his escape attempt again today.
After confessing his anxiety, Ferda returned to work.
The wound left by Erembalt had settled to some extent, but the aftereffect lingered in his mind in the form of uncertainty.
‘In any case, it is a fact that my power is unstable.’
It was unprecedented for another emotion to intervene rather than moving by a single emotion. If it were the Ferda from before the regression, he would have thought it a great opportunity and tried to exploit it somehow. To a magician with a Red Circle, other emotions were nothing more than a braking mechanism.
Ferda knew well about that balance.
‘Losing control leads to tragedy.’
He would end up going against Valdroba’s wishes, and Ruri, as her servant, would make Ferda pay for his sins. Being killed by Ruri’s hand would undoubtedly be a tragedy.
‘But what’s more tragic than that…….’
Was that he might end up killing Ruri, who came to kill him.
‘If I end up killing the only child Valdroba trusts…….’
The feeling of isolation Valdroba had felt surged vividly. After the Dragon-Demon War, she had lived for 150 years feeling guilt and loneliness. But there was a glimmer of hope. Valdroba knew that Ruri was still on her side.
In his previous life, that version of her had disappeared. That meant there was no one in Valdroba’s life, only despair.
‘If it were me, I would have gone mad long ago.’
But she didn’t go mad. In the end, she even gave her heart to Ferda, who hated her. Not a self-abandonment leading to despair, but a new hope through a final sacrifice.
‘Such a woman…….’
How could he leave her be? How could he hurt her?
It felt as though she didn’t even know the rope she had thrown into the pit of despair was actually rotten. Instead of saving her from it, he would only leave a deeper scar.
Just like.
That image of him strangling her in his dream.
Don’t be anxious.
Whenever that happened, a sweet voice pierced his ears.
There’s no reason to worry like that. Because you’re strong. You’re just doing what you’re good at.
Ferda did not answer that voice. He ignored it and ignored it again until it subsided.
‘I have to keep my wits about me.’
He had to pull himself together to avoid giving in to the great temptation.
Ferda Valdroba.
Because he was a man who had always found an answer to everything, he decided to have faith that he could find an answer this time as well.
‘In the worst case…….’
He could give up his life as a magician. It would be much better than clutching a bomb that could go off at any moment.
‘If that happens, what is left for me?’
Ruri had demanded one thing from Ferda. To become a fiancé worthy of Valdroba’s status.
Contrary to his thought that things would get better over time, he only realized how insignificant he was. All he had was meager information about the future and magical knowledge. By the conditions Ruri wanted, he was out.
It was a dire situation. The moment he abandoned one side, the balance would break, and everything would collapse.
He didn’t want to give up. Just as she had never given up on him no matter the situation.
Ferda also did not want to give up on her.
Boom!
It was then. A vibration large enough to shake the castle rang out.
‘Valdroba’s bloodlust?’
No. The amplitude flowing through his feet was different. This was a vibration occurring inside the castle. He wondered if someone had caused a major accident.
‘Was there an experiment large enough to cause this much vibration?’
Ferda stood up and headed toward the research wing. The castle corridors were already filled with confused people.
“What is this commotion?”
“We were just coming out because we were curious too.”
“Isn’t it an explosion from your lab?”
“An explosion of this magnitude couldn’t possibly happen in our lab.”
The people who could have been the culprits of the explosion all looked like they had no idea. Even Ferda had come assuming it had happened in Bernel’s lab.
‘If it’s not here…….’
There was only one element that could cause an explosion.
“Ferda-nim.”
Ruri came and reported.
“There was a massive movement of mana. The location is—”
“The library?”
“How did you know?”
Ruri asked, narrowing her eyes. Her question implied, Was it you, Ferda?
“Because other than here, Echidna is the only one who could cause an explosion of that magnitude.”
This week was her turn to take care of Mori. That Echidna would be in the library, savoring Mori’s company.
He headed to the library with Ruri. When he opened the library door, he saw a mess inside.
Mori was sitting there. She was silently doing her work, clearing away papers that had showered down like late autumn leaves. She didn’t seem to care about the massive explosion.
“Mori.”
Hearing her name, she stopped her pen and looked up. Her eyes shone purely even at this moment. No, she seemed to have a strangely refreshed expression.
“What happened?”
Mori wrote the answer on a piece of paper.
-Echidna has been annihilated.
It was a clean and concise summary, but the content was grave.
