I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 46
Leaving Bernel behind with a face of hollow shock, Ferda spoke with Count Consilus.
“Regarding the Grand Council….”
The topic of conversation was the Grand Council, a gathering attended by all high-ranking nobles.
“I have received word that they wish for us to participate,” the Count replied.
“Ah, that is good news. To think a voice representing the Far East will finally be heard….”
A single tear rolled down the deep wrinkles around Consilus’s eyes.
“My apologies. As I age, my tears seem to flow more easily.”
“I do not mind. I heard that only those of Ducal rank may attend. Do you have more information on that?”
“I cannot say I know everything, but I shall rack my brain to answer your questions as best I can.”
“What do you expect my standing to be there?”
At that question, Consilus let out a breath and chose his words carefully.
It was clearly not going to be anything pleasant.
“To be honest, it will not be good. The Regent has been in power for less than a year and is young. Furthermore, your status is that of a proxy, not a co-ruler. To interpret that….”
Consilus toyed with his beard, acting out the part of an arrogant noble as he answered.
“It would be like handing a real sword to a greenhorn who should still be playing with wooden toys… just to see what happens.”
“Is that how you see it as well?”
Ferda threw the question sharply.
Consilus let out a hollow chuckle.
“How could that be? Though there may be areas where you are inexperienced, seeing you seek my advice for the development of the Dukedom tells me all I need to know—that you sincerely wish for its prosperity.”
“I appreciate you saying so.”
“At any rate, only five people, including attendants, are permitted to enter the White House, Blancaros’s neutral territory. They strictly forbid bringing an unnecessarily large entourage.”
“There is nothing more unsightly than someone trying to show off in front of those who know better. Do most nobles fill those slots?”
“They do. Attendants dressed as attendants, scions dressed as scions—they use them to flaunt their prestige. If the Regent desires, I can arrange for my knights to serve as your escort so you may enter with as much splendor as possible.”
“There is no need for that.”
While a noble’s face was important, Ferda had no desire to compete with artificial smiles and decorations.
“It matters not if you already have people in mind, but… would it be possible to take just one of my boys? He will not bring shame to the Grand Duke’s name.”
Ferda furrowed his brow.
He was sick of the way nobles spoke—hiding their true intentions while trying to slide someone in.
“I dislike talking in circles. If you trust me and I trust you, then speak plainly. What is your goal? Are you asking me to take you?”
“What wealth or glory would this old man seek by showing his face at the Grand Council? Ahem….”
Ferda had thrown a direct strike, and Consilus cleared his throat with an embarrassed expression.
“The knight named Arwen—you know him, do you not?”
“Your knight, you mean.”
He was a knight Ferda had encountered often, from their first meeting when hunting a bear monster to the time Arwen had escorted him to the Empire.
“I wish for that boy to witness the Grand Council.”
“You want to give a mere knight that kind of experience?”
“He may be a mere knight, but he is loyal and possesses a magnificent chivalrous spirit. Perhaps because he has spent his entire life serving only in the Far East, his horizons are narrow, which is a pity. He has never seen the world as it truly is. I believe showing him the wider world at the Grand Council would serve as a great stimulus.”
Count Consilus’s request was unusual even by noble standards.
Taking a mere knight to the Grand Council just to broaden his horizons….
A suspicion crossed Ferda’s mind that they might be related by blood.
“What exactly is your relationship with Arwen?”
“Haha, we are strangers, of course. We are merely bound by a connection from a battlefield long ago—forgotten by me, perhaps, but never forgotten by the boy.”
Count Consilus had no family.
To be precise, they were all dead.
After his wife died and his son passed away as well, he had given up on remarriage.
Then, he had stepped into the Far East of his own accord.
To the childless Consilus, Arwen must be like a son.
“Very well. I shall take Arwen.”
“Thank you for indulging an old man’s useless stubbornness. Is there anything else you are curious about?”
“What do you think about me raising an agenda at the Grand Council?”
“An agenda…. Of course, you have equal authority, so no one can stop you, but….”
The look on the Count’s face was even worse than when Ferda had asked about his standing.
“It might go beyond being ‘not good’ and actually backfire. You are more likely to make enemies than allies.”
“It does not matter.”
Ferda looked as though he had already made up his mind.
“Forgive me, but may I ask what that agenda is?”
“I intend to ask whether it is truly right to label Valdrova an Evil Dragon.”
“Valdrova….”
Consilus reflexively brought a finger to his temple.
“You know she is not truly evil, do you not?”
“Of course. I cannot say I know her well, but I know her nature is by no means as wicked as the rumors suggest.”
“The reason she was designated an Evil Dragon is that she cannot suppress her true nature. Is that not so?”
“Based on what is known… yes.”
“But what if she could suppress that boiling nature?”
“If she can suppress her bloodlust and has no intention of harming humans, then she could easily clear herself of such a false charge. However, it would be best not to get your hopes up too high. There will be no one at the Grand Council who will take Valdrova’s side.”
“Then I just have to change that. Of course, if they insist on being stubborn even after hearing my explanation….”
A murderous glint entered Ferda’s eyes.
“They will have to provide a fitting answer or pay a corresponding price.”
Consilus’s Adam’s apple bobbed heavily.
It was that suffocating sensation he had felt when they first met.
Those were the same eyes that had killed Thessalos Walcher without so much as a blink.
“The meeting place is Blancaros’s territory. I pray there will be no incidents involving violence.”
“Do not worry. I am no fool.”
Ferda rested his chin on his hand.
One month to go.
Those attending the Grand Council were nobles of Ducal rank or higher, and Kings.
‘And the dragon spawn.’
The representatives of absolute beings who could flip an entire nation upside down.
He was diving into human society and dragon society simultaneously.
It would be a lie to say Ferda did not feel the weight on his shoulders, having to handle both.
Yet, he had to do it.
For that was the very reason Ferda existed here.
Ferda decided on his companions.
First, as Count Consilus had requested, the knight Arwen.
Then Zed Swallow, who was excellent at acting as a figurehead.
‘With me, that makes three. That should be enough.’
While it was customary for nobles attending the Grand Council to take three more people to fill the slots, Ferda did not bother trying to make up the numbers.
Bringing other lords did not suit his temperament, and none of them dared to ask.
Just as he was thinking the three of them would go, an unexpected person approached him with a request.
“I shall accompany you to the Grand Council as well.”
It was Ruri.
Ferda said to her, “There won’t be anything delicious to eat there.”
“Do you take me for some kind of glutton?”
“A pig—.”
“If you say something strange again, I will scrub your skin raw during your bath.”
Ferda shut his mouth.
She was a woman of her word.
“At the very least, I will not do anything to damage your dignity, Ferda-nim. So, will you give me your permission?”
“I am telling you again, nothing good will come of you going there. I heard Silverwind participates regularly.”
The Silver Dragon, Silverwind.
Ruri was not Valdrova’s spawn, but a Silver Dragon who carried Silverwind’s blood.
The Silver Dragon spawn harbored a deep hatred for Valdrova.
Because she had killed Silverwind.
If they already looked unfavorably upon the Regent, how would they view Ruri, a Silver Dragon spawn?
To them, Ruri’s existence was nothing short of a traitor’s.
There was no reason for her to involve herself in a place where she would only hear insults.
Contrary to Ferda’s thought that she would understand, her reaction was different.
“That is exactly why I am going.”
Hearing that, Ferda’s expression grew more serious as he asked, “Then state your purpose clearly. Do not think of hiding it from me.”
Ferda’s voice turned harsh.
“……I simply wish to exchange information.”
Ruri mumbled something under her breath before answering.
“I have lived too disconnected from Silverwind until now. I need to find out if they still hold a grudge against my Master.”
“Is that not something you do not even need to check?”
Ruri was a dragon spawn.
Specifically, a spawn of the Silver Dragon.
That meant she understood the way Silver Dragons thought better than anyone.
“They will not harbor any goodwill toward Valdrova.”
“Since so much time has passed, perhaps that hatred has subsided.”
“When a dragon holds a grudge, they do not stop. You know that, do you not?”
Dragons do not give up on revenge.
Even if the party they hold a grudge against dies, the descendants become the targets of that vengeance.
Silverwind would never forgive Valdrova.
A dragon spawn as skilled as Ruri could not possibly be unaware of that.
“That is why I simply wish to speak with them.”
Ferda looked into Ruri’s eyes.
She, too, wanted to bet on a hope named ‘maybe.’
“No.”
Ferda’s eyes drew a cold line.
That was exactly why she couldn’t go.
Because he knew that hope had no chance.
“The three of us will go, so you stay here quietly and guard this place.”
Ruri’s body wavered visibly.
She tried to hide her inner feelings with an expressionless face.
However, a deep resentment could be felt.
“……Understood.”
Ruri turned and left without even a goodbye.
Ferda occasionally attempted his cultivation method again.
Entering a state of concentration and reaching awakening was perfect.
However, there was no rotation of the Red Circle to support it.
‘What am I lacking?’
If he lacked a sense of vengeance, he could fill it.
To that end, Ferda had envied those stronger than himself and strived to fight against their status and power.
But how was he supposed to fill this heart?
Every year, every month, every day, every hour, every minute, every second.
Must he look only at her to be satisfied?
‘Satisfaction….’
It was a laughable word.
Greed is not a thirst.
When one thirst is quenched, an even greater thirst simply takes its place.
If one repeats the cycle of quenching and filling that thirst, at some point, reason is reduced to a mere tool for satisfying that desire.
Ferda had sought revenge for the sake of revenge and had killed countless people.
Emotions stemmed entirely from Ferda’s own heart.
That was why the more he tried to resolve this emotion with haste, the more he was bound to stray into the wrong path.
‘What exactly is missing?’
Closing his eyes, he quietly entered his mental world.
Her face.
His greatest desire was to see the face of the woman he had met only once.
But Valdrova would not show her face.
She suffered from social anxiety, after all.
So, he cleared that thought from his mind.
This would eventually consume him.
“……As I thought, meditation is not in my nature.”
He was a man more accustomed to filling his heart than emptying it.
Better to fill his mind with other thoughts through a walk than to sit and dwell on delusions.
With that, Ferda stood up.
It was late at night, and the moon was tilting toward the west.
The silent hallway was filled with pale blue moonlight.
Ferda stood by the window and looked up at the moon.
It was a full moon.
“Anna Rosnova.”
A name that flowed out like a breath.
It was his mother’s name.
On nights with a full moon, he always thought of his mother.
When Ferda was young, he hated the night.
He used to imagine monsters lurking in the dark shadows, waiting to pounce on him.
Of course, he still did not like the night.
Because whenever Ferda found himself in danger, it was always at night.
Even though he hated the night so much, looking up at the moon provided him with some small measure of comfort.
The thing that shone brightest in the darkest of places was the only way he could recall his mother’s faint smile.
Until the very moment he was consumed by his obsession with revenge,
He had found his solace there.
‘Mother….’
A beautiful mother with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Ferda filled himself with those thoughts.
He filled himself with his mother’s existence so that he could distance himself from his obsession and view himself objectively.
It was then.
The sound of walking began to echo down the long hallway.
Clink, clink.
In any other castle, one might think it was a guard or a knight on patrol.
But the only one who could patrol Valdrova’s castle was Ruri.
And Ruri wore a maid uniform instead of armor.
‘Which means….’
Ferda doubted his own thoughts.
He told himself there was no way such an impossible thing could happen at a time like this.
However, the sound grew closer, and the emerging silhouette made Ferda certain.
What emerged from the darkness was the armor of a Dragon Dragoon.
There was only one person who could wear that and walk around this castle.
My fiancée.
Valdrova.
She was standing right before his eyes.
