I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 55
Chapter 55: Traitor
After the meeting ended, Ruri slipped away from Zed and Arwen to head somewhere else.
She already knew the layout of the Grand Council Chamber.
Thus, she knew where the humans socialized and where the dragon spawn gathered.
Unlike humans, dragon spawn were far from social. They were not weak enough to need to build influence by fawning over others, and at the same time, they possessed the pride of dragons.
Ruri headed for the second floor.
As she climbed the spiral staircase, she saw twelve doors arranged around the center.
The twelve dragons of the Serdes Continent.
From evil dragons to guardian dragons, every dragon was represented.
Among them, of course, was Godwin.
Ruri looked up at the massive door carved with the image of Silverwind.
“…….”
The sharply protruding horns and the sleek, agile body.
It was a form whose bravery no one could deny.
Even though more than a hundred years had passed since Silverwind left this world, the image remained vivid.
That lingering presence made Ruri’s heart feel fragile.
The loyal maid of Valdrova Castle.
The sharp-witted maid who commanded the wind and spoke her mind was nowhere to be found.
Instead, there was only a young girl, clutching her trembling chest with both hands, struggling to push the door open.
Creeeeeak—.
The sound of the hinges stretching out was long and heavy.
What lay ahead was a long corridor.
And the soldiers guarding it.
They were the warriors of Silverwind.
The chatter among the warriors died down instantly.
They turned their gaze toward Ruri.
The atmosphere froze in a heartbeat.
“What are you, kid?”
One of them, oblivious, approached Ruri with a swagger.
“I smell the blood of Silverwind-nim on you, but I’ve never seen your face. Which side are you spying for?”
“…….”
“If someone speaks to you, you should answer. Or do you want to play rough with this oppa? Hmm?”
“Knock it off.”
The man sitting with a staff broke the rising tension. He was the leader of the group.
“Don’t worry, Captain! Do you think I’d be stupid enough to cause an accident and kill someone in Blancaros’s territory?”
“Be glad this is Blancaros’s territory. If we were outside, you wouldn’t have a bone left unbroken.”
“What are you talking about? Do I look like a moron who can’t even handle a little girl like this?”
“You could beat a little girl.”
His eyes shifted toward the maid.
“But I don’t think you could beat the Mobile Brigade Commander.”
“The Mobile Brigade Commander…?”
Terror flickered in the confident man’s eyes.
“No way… Ruri of the Blade Wind…?”
He turned his head with a look of disbelief.
He had never seen her face, but her reputation was legendary.
As a fellow spawn of the Silver Dragon, he would have felt the fear that came with that name.
The man backed away, frozen. His outstretched hand trembled as he pulled it back.
Ruri walked past the space he had cleared and approached the man with the staff slung over his shoulder.
Ruri and the man locked eyes.
They had known each other for a long time.
“It has been a while, Percival.”
“It has, Commander of the 1st Mobile Brigade. Or should I call you former Commander, since you’ve retired? No, that won’t do either.”
The hint of friendliness in Percival’s voice withered away.
“The word ‘traitor’ suits you much better.”
Traitor.
The three syllables felt like a stake through Ruri’s heart.
But she had come prepared for this.
“So, what brings you here?”
“I have come to see Goz…-nim.”
“Then you’ve wasted your trip. Leave.”
“I wish to speak with him.”
Clang!
The black staff the man held struck the floor.
“It seems you’ve forgotten many things in these two hundred years, Ruri Silverwind. Since when did the proud children of Silverwind start settling things with ‘talk’?”
“…….”
The Silverwind spawn were born warriors, rugged by nature.
They were the ones who hunted demons and Frost Giants beyond the Frost Wall.
Actions spoke louder than words for them.
Physical confrontation was their preferred language.
“I understand.”
Knowing this well, Ruri gave a polite bow and began to withdraw.
She turned on her heel to walk away.
“Wait.”
Percival stopped her. Her foot, halfway lifted, froze in place.
“Go in.”
“?”
“The Chief has granted permission.”
She could hardly believe it, but she soon realized it was true.
The door she thought would remain closed to her began to open.
Ruri walked forward again.
A pressure far more intense than what she felt at the entrance began to weigh her down.
Hostile glares pierced her like spears.
Enduring those gazes, she moved her heavy shoulders forward.
The room resembled a king’s audience chamber, with a single throne facing the main entrance, and a man as large as a bear sitting upon it.
He was different from the soldiers guarding the entrance.
He wore a luxurious fur coat and gold rings.
Magic tattoos, etched through rituals, covered every inch of his exposed skin.
Everything about him belonged to the Goz Silverwind she remembered.
‘No, something is different.’
Ruri was feeling a level of pressure that was on a completely different dimension from back then.
While there is a hierarchy among dragon spawn, it is usually not absolute.
But now, she felt as if she were standing before an absolute authority.
The instincts slumbering within her provided the answer.
‘Silverwind-nim’s… Essence?’
After Silverwind’s death, Goz, the leader of the Silver Dragon spawn, had absorbed the Dragon Essence.
‘But it’s unstable.’
He held the Essence, but it hadn’t fully merged with him.
His body had not been able to completely absorb Silverwind’s power.
That was likely why he was barely able to remain standing on his own two feet.
“Valdrova.”
He spoke.
There was no greeting, no inquiry about how she had been.
“Is Valdrova well?”
He swirled the whiskey in his glass.
Ruri nodded.
“Yes. She is working tirelessly day and night to drive out the monsters of the far east and protect the continent.”
“I see. I suppose that is only possible because you’ve looked after her so well?”
“…Yes.”
“Are you proud?”
“…….”
Ruri couldn’t easily find the words.
Goz’s cold eyes stared her down.
“Did I ask a difficult question?”
“No.”
“And yet, there is no answer.”
Her response finally came, sounding like a rope that had finally snapped under the strain of a violent storm.
“…It is something to be proud of.”
“Right. I see.”
Crash!
The glass he was holding shattered.
The chilly atmosphere froze completely.
Ruri’s body also stiffened under his gaze.
“Then will you tell me with what face you, the traitor who has served that woman so well, have come here?”
The very environment surrounding Ruri was hostile to her.
Nevertheless, she opened her mouth.
She had come for this moment, so she had to speak.
“Do you still… hate Valdrova-nim?”
At her question, Goz’s eyes turned predatory.
“I understand your master speaking that way. But do not use the suffix ‘-nim’ when you refer to that woman in front of me. You are a spawn born of Silverwind’s blood. Your master is Silverwind, and Silverwind alone.”
“I am a Silver Dragon spawn, but she is my master now.”
“Before that woman was your master, Silverwind-nim was your master. Who was Silverwind-nim?”
“The great Master of Wind and Steel.”
“Yes. He was the Master of Speed, whom no one could break. He was a being who never wavered.”
The veins in Goz’s neck bulged.
“And yet…!”
Ruri felt it within that steady voice.
“And yet…!”
He was still sharpening the blade of revenge.
“She bit into his throat! That woman! She dug her teeth deep into his neck and severed his artery! I saw that scene of slaughter with these two eyes! I felt it with this heart!”
“…….”
“You ask if I hate her? The hatred for that woman is still burning fiercely in this chest.”
Ruri squeezed her eyes shut.
She couldn’t control the emotions that surged every time he shouted.
Goz snorted as he watched Ruri suffer.
“His death is still vivid in this heart, but it seems that isn’t the case for you.”
“I also saw and felt it. And I too… feel that pain vividly.”
Ruri had also participated in the Dragon-Demon War to kill the demons.
And she had witnessed Silverwind’s death.
As a spawn, she had felt her master’s death and mourned.
“I also resented my master.”
It was something she couldn’t help.
To Ruri, Silverwind was a father.
She couldn’t help but hate Valdrova for driving her father to his death.
“But… I cannot hate her.”
“No, that is not true.”
Goz denied it.
“If you felt what we felt in its entirety, you would have given up standing on that side.”
“…….”
“You were only away for a short while, and yet you’ve been dyed in her colors. You’ve forgotten your origins.”
Goz picked up a new glass and poured more whiskey.
“Valdrova is still our enemy. As long as she exists on this Serdes Continent, our hatred will not end. This is the will of all Silverwind.”
“Is that so….”
She had expected this.
She already knew it was a vain dream.
“However… I will give you a chance.”
A chance.
Ruri lifted her head.
She held a flicker of hope that perhaps his hatred for Valdrova could be softened, even just a little.
Goz reached out his hand toward Ruri.
“Ruri Silverwind. Return to the fold of the clan.”
The thread of hope snapped.
“By returning to the fold… do you mean leaving Valdrova-nim’s side?”
“Now that a Regent has been appointed, there is no longer any reason for you to serve that woman.”
“…….”
“You have fulfilled all the tasks Silverwind-nim gave you. So return to the clan and become a warrior. Ruri of the Blade Wind. Take up your position as the Commander of the Mobile Brigade again and serve by crushing the filth swarming from the North. If you do, I shall wipe away the stigma of ‘traitor’ from your name.”
It was a name that had pierced her heart.
But that suffering was nothing compared to the responsibility she bore.
“I cannot…,”
A natural refusal was about to leave her lips.
At that moment, Ruri’s body swayed violently.
“There is no refusal. Ruri Silverwind.”
The spirit radiating from Goz’s body was directly crushing Ruri.
“Silverwind-nim’s authority now dwells within my blood. You know what it means for a dragon spawn to defy authority, don’t you?”
Death.
For a dragon spawn who does not submit to authority, there is only death.
“Nothing good will come of you resisting that authority. So.”
Goz’s index finger pointed to the floor.
“Kneel before me and submit.”
Goz’s words were no bluff.
Ruri, who hadn’t even blinked before, was now breaking out in a cold sweat.
She felt as if someone were strangling her and clutching her heart.
If she rejected his words, he would inflict a pain akin to her heart being ripped out by her own hands.
Even though he had only absorbed a tiny fraction of Silverwind’s Essence, it was that powerful.
‘I mustn’t shrink back.’
Ruri resisted desperately.
She gripped her apron with both hands and forced strength into her trembling legs.
That was the best she could do.
And it was barely enough.
“You hold out well.”
It was a sincere compliment.
It was a force that would have made any other spawn kneel long ago.
“Yes. That must be why Silverwind-nim favored you.”
Goz didn’t like that attitude.
He didn’t want to make her submit through authority alone.
That was far from the total submission Goz pursued.
“If it’s so hard for you to leave, shall I make the decision easier for you?”
Goz tilted his head.
“That Regent likely knows your true identity. But does that man know the reason why you went to that place?”
“……!”
The composure that had been on her face shattered.
Her sweat-soaked hands drenched her apron.
“Do you think he will still protect you even after hearing who you really are?”
Ferda Valdrova.
He loved Valdrova.
And he was a man who was merciless toward anyone who posed a threat to her.
‘If Ferda-nim finds out about that….’
What would Ferda do?
The will that had been withstanding the pressure was crumbling under doubt.
‘I….’
Fear overwhelmed her.
It tightened around her throat so much she couldn’t even scream.
‘What should I….’
She was sinking completely into a thick swamp.
She let out a silent scream.
Please.
Someone, please help.
“It’s a bit rude of me to barge in, but.”
The answer that reached Ruri’s ears was a familiar voice.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing to my attendant?”
Ferda had been on the move to find Ruri.
Finding her wasn’t difficult.
He was told she had gone to speak with the Silverwind clan.
So, she would be behind this massive door carved with Silverwind’s image.
Ferda stood before it and thought.
‘Am I meddling unnecessarily?’
She was Valdrova’s attendant.
But she was also a spawn with Silverwind’s blood.
There would be resentment toward Valdrova, but they might not hold any ill will toward Ruri.
There was no reason for Ferda to interfere in a family reunion.
And yet.
He tried to think that way, but it wasn’t easy.
Ferda remembered Goz Silverwind’s expression during the Grand Council.
At the same time, Erika’s warning came to mind.
—The enemy you should be watching is different. It’s Silverwind.
Dragons are immortals.
A grudge once held is never let go.
The same applied to Silverwind.
‘Was it a mistake?’
Even if Ruri insisted.
Even if Valdrova asked, should he have refused?
Ferda couldn’t shake that thought.
That was why he had arrived at the spawn’s lounge.
What he saw were the Silverwind soldiers guarding the inner chamber door.
And a thick Dragon Fear.
It was certain.
This wasn’t unnecessary meddling.
Ferda walked toward the center of that energy.
“Are you the Regent of Valdrova?”
Percival, the dragon spawn with the staff over his shoulder, stood up and asked.
“Is Ruri here?”
“Answer the question.”
“I asked if Ruri Silverwind is here.”
Percival didn’t back down and blocked his path.
“She is.”
“Then move.”
“This is a family matter, Regent. It’s not something you should interfere in.”
One should never interfere in family affairs.
Especially in dragon society, it was an inviolable domain.
But Ferda did not respect that domain.
“If you’re going to stop me, you’ll have to break something.”
Ferda’s blue eyes stared straight at him.
“And then Blancaros’s hand will sanction you all. Can you handle the dishonor of the children of Silverwind causing trouble?
“…….”
“If you’re confident, go ahead. I’ve already prepared myself for whatever I might lose.”
Percival stepped aside.
He signaled his subordinates to fully withdraw as well.
Ferda opened the door.
He saw Ruri.
He saw Ruri about to kneel before Goz.
He saw her suffering.
In that moment, all of Ferda’s stray thoughts vanished.
His vision focused clearly on one spot.
On the face of the brute playing king.
“It’s a bit rude of me to barge in, but.”
Ferda spat out the anger he held.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing to my attendant?”
