I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 56
Chapter 56. This Isn't Right
Ferda stared at Goze with clear, unblinking eyes.
Silver hair and silver eyes, just like Ruri.
His face was exactly the same as when they had first locked eyes at the Grand Council.
「Welcome, Regent of Valdroba.」
「Leader Goze.」
They addressed each other by their titles, maintaining a veneer of formal etiquette.
However, there wasn't a single shred of respect in their gaze.
「I didn't realize such an esteemed personage was entering. Normally, my subordinates would have opened the door for you.」
He was asking why Ferda had barged in as he pleased.
「I told them there was no need for that.」
Ferda replied that it was his choice.
Goze's eyes shifted toward the entrance.
Even so, all his subordinates could do was bow their heads.
「This is a matter of our kin. A family affair, so to speak. An outsider should not interfere in family business.」
「I have no desire to get caught in a family feud myself.」
Despite his words, Ferda took another step forward.
Ruri felt a light weight on her shoulder.
It was Ferda's hand.
「However, this child is someone cherished by the one I love. Am I supposed to just watch a cherished child get hurt over a mere family spat?」
Ferda did not back down an inch.
It was an open challenge to Goze's authority.
And Goze loathed such challenges.
「I felt it when I first saw you, but you certainly have guts.」
Goze rose from his seat.
In that instant, the aura he exuded grew even more oppressive.
Ruri fell to her knees and bowed her head low. All the other Silver Dragon spawns followed suit in submission.
Goze gestured toward Ruri with his chin and asked.
「So, Regent of Valdroba. How well do you actually know Ruri Silverwind, the attendant of your beloved?」
「The attendant of my one and only fiancée.」
「And?」
「That is enough.」
「I see. That is all you see. It seems this girl hasn't told you everything.」
A rough hand, hardened by martial arts and battle, pointed a finger at Ruri.
「This girl is a spy sent by Lord Silverwind.」
He exposed Ruri's identity.
「She was planted to monitor Valdrova and identify when she becomes weak. Until the moment Lord Silverwind passed away, she was ordered to maintain regular contact.」
「Is that so?」
「You look quite unconvinced. Do I look like I'm lying?」
「Do I look like a fool who trusts the words of someone showing hostility?」
「True, I agree. Then why not ask her yourself? Ruri Silverwind.」
At that call, Ruri felt her head grow even heavier.
「Tell him the truth. Is anything I said wrong?」
「I... that is...」
「Answer properly. Did I say anything false?」
Goze allowed no room for excuses. Ruri eventually spoke the truth.
「I was... acting on Lord Silverwind's orders... to monitor Lady Valdrova.」
「And what was the purpose?」
「...As Goze-nim said, it was to monitor Lady Valdrova and identify her weaknesses.」
Silence fell.
Ruri felt so suffocated she could barely breathe.
But what was even more painful was the fact that, unable to lift her head, she couldn't even see what kind of expression Ferda was making.
Finally, Ferda broke the silence.
「I'm not surprised.」
His tone was cynical.
Ruri's toes went cold. She felt as if the floor had vanished and she was being cast into an abyss.
「When a spawn bearing the name Silverwind showed loyalty to Valdrova, I assumed there was naturally a reason for it.」
Contempt. Betrayal. Negative emotions became a thick swamp, threatening to swallow Ruri whole.
But that only lasted a moment.
「So?」
At that question, the pressure surrounding Ruri vanished like a mirage.
Goze furrowed his brow.
「What do you mean, 'so'?」
「So, what is the problem?」
Ruri lifted her head and looked at Ferda.
He wore the same stubborn, unchanging face as always.
Goze looked irritated by the unexpected reaction.
「She is a spy planted by Lord Silverwind. There's no way you misunderstood that.」
「Yes, a spy. But even so, she is my fiancée's favorite attendant.」
Ferda clasped his hands behind his back and squared his shoulders.
「Even in the moment everyone turned their backs, this child was the loyal attendant who stood by my fiancée. She is a spawn who has been more devoted to Valdrova than anyone else. That is her value now. Do you think that value would be shaken by the words of someone I met for the first time today?」
Ruri's hands, resting on the floor, reflexively tightened. Her emotions nearly burst at those words.
「Fine, believe what you want. I can't force a human who doesn't even carry Silverwind's blood, but...」
Goze's eyes gleamed with a sharper intensity.
「You've been quite arrogant for a while now.」
The air fluctuated violently. The fuse of a bomb capable of wiping out a nation had already been lit and was burning down.
Goze's face showed his patience had reached its limit.
Dragon spawns are not dragons, but they are not humans either. They are dragon-kin supremacists who believe they are superior to humans.
There was no way he would tolerate a mere human talking back to him.
An ordinary human would have bowed, and a wise human would have stepped back to de-escalate the situation.
「Isn't it you, not I, who should be showing respect?」
However, Ferda neither backed down nor bowed.
A blue light flickered in Ferda's eyes. As the Regent of Valdrova, he stood tall on equal footing and confronted him.
「You, who tried to intimidate and drive a wedge between another's attendant, think you can lecture me on manners?」
He spoke clearly, as if to say Goze wasn't the only one whose mood had been soured.
The veins in Goze's neck pulsed.
Ruri knew. He was a man far better suited to being a hot-blooded warrior than a cool-headed leader.
「The only reason I'm not snapping your neck right now is Lord Blancaros's mercy and my own patience.」
「Does Silverwind call cowardice 'patience'? You're too afraid to face my fiancée directly, so you try to act tough against her attendant and her fiancé...」
Deep contempt mirrored in Ferda's narrowed eyes.
「Aren't you ashamed?」
It was the final blow in their battle of wills.
At Ferda's provocation, a fierce gust of wind rattled the windows. Goze, who had been sitting rigidly, stood up.
「Yes, I am truly ashamed. To think I have to sit here and watch a mere human act so bold...」
Goze took a step forward. His hands, bulging with veins, let out a sickening crack.
「I shall wash away that shame with your blood right here.」
The moment he entered striking distance—
「Do not move any further.」
Someone stepped in front of Goze.
Ruri, who should have been kneeling, was suddenly standing in Goze's way.
「Ruri, you wench...」
「He is Lady Valdrova's... husband.」
She was still suffering from the instinctual urge to submit. Yet, the reason she could stand was—
「I take this threat as a challenge to Lady Valdrova, and I will respond accordingly.」
Resolve. It was the determination to stop him even if it meant her death.
Goze looked disgusted.
「The warrior of the North has become a loyal dog. To think you'd serve even a human as your master now.」
Goze, who had been boiling with rage, actually calmed down instead. The wind rattling the windows ceased.
Goze sat back down and released his overwhelming pressure.
「As the representative of Silverwind, I have nothing more to say to a dog. You may take her, Regent of Valdrova. I hope we never cross paths again.」
Ferda replied nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.
「Then, excuse us.」
Ferda didn't push the confrontation any further either.
「Ruri.」
「Yes.」
「Let's head out.」
「...Yes.」
He led the trembling Ruri out, bringing the incident to a temporary close.
*
Goze remained lost in thought, staring at the spot where Ferda and Ruri had left.
Contrary to what was physically before him, the image of Ruri confronting him was vivid in his mind.
'Ruri of the Blade Wind.'
The Silverwind spawns who fought the entities of extreme cold beyond the Northern Ice Wall. Among them, the most malicious and threatening beings were the Frost Giants.
Like the monsters of the Far East, no one knew where they came from, but they emerged endlessly to spread frost upon the mortal realm. They were difficult foes that required five well-trained dragon spawns just to take down.
But Ruri was different. Despite her small stature, she had faced three giants simultaneously and defeated them. Though she suffered severe injuries, she could recover as long as she remained alive. She was the pride and exemplar of those who protected the Serdes Continent.
Goze himself had felt a sense of unease from her more than once or twice.
'And a girl like that...'
Their reunion had been the worst. A pathetic maid uniform and the demeanor of a young servant girl. On top of that, a foolish question. The question she had asked while clinging to a thread of hope was a far cry from the Blade Wind.
Everything about it was irritating. To think that girl was once someone I felt threatened by...
But what was more irritating than anything else was—
'Ferda Valdroba...'
That human who had stood against him. There were always irritating humans. The kind who believed they could control dragons as they pleased. Those who relied solely on authority and treated dragons as if they were fellow humans. He had always beheaded such fools without hesitation to make an example of them. That was the norm in dragon society.
'He is different from those humans.'
He didn't want to admit it, but he had felt it clearly when he met those eyes. He had the face of someone who was closer to an immortal than anyone else. Because of that, Goze could instinctively tell.
'As long as that arrogant bastard is around... this revenge will not be realized.'
He clenched his fists. Ever since Silverwind's death, he hadn't forgotten him for a single moment. And his thirst for revenge had never faded for a single day. He couldn't let him ruin everything now.
'Revenge... must be taken.'
By any means necessary.
*
Ruri followed silently behind Ferda. The surroundings were so quiet that the sound of their boots echoed down the long corridor.
「Did the talk go well?」
「...」
Ruri kept her mouth shut.
「Won't you say something?」
「...I do not wish to talk.」
「Is that any way to speak to the person who helped you?」
Ruri's boots came to a halt. She stopped right there.
With her head hanging low, she opened her mouth.
「...Who...」
Her voice, thick with moisture, squeezed out the words.
「Who asked you to help?」
「...」
Biting the hand that fed her. It was a situation where those words truly applied. But Ferda said nothing.
She was right. She hadn't asked for help. This might have been something she could have resolved on her own. It might have been his own rash greed that made him step forward.
「Right.」
Ferda admitted it calmly.
「I did something unnecessary.」
He turned his feet around. Ferda began to walk away, leaving her there.
「Sorry for interfering.」
Ferda walked on. Ruri stared blankly at his back.
*
After leaving Silverwind's private room, Ruri followed silently behind Ferda. She didn't know what words to choose. Her emotions felt like a swirling vortex.
She stole a glance at his back. It was broad. It felt like a reliable pillar, one that wouldn't collapse even if she leaned her whole weight against it.
Just like her father... Silverwind.
But the feeling she got from his back was quite different from Silverwind's. Her insides boiled.
I've lived longer. I've survived far more brushes with death. So why do I feel inferior to that back?
「Did the talk go well?」
Ferda asked. When there was no answer for a long time, he glanced over his shoulder and asked again. His blue eyes shone through his gray hair.
「Won't you say something?」
Ruri forced her mouth open.
「...I do not wish to talk.」
Instead of a mature response, a petulant complaint slipped out.
「Is that any way to speak to the person who helped you?」
Helped her? If Ruri hadn't stepped in then, Ferda's neck would have been snapped, and a disastrous wind would have swept across the continent. And yet he called himself the person who helped after doing something so reckless?
She criticized Ferda like that internally, but Ruri knew. That if she hadn't clung to such a small hope in the first place, none of this would have happened. She knew she should be thanking him for stepping up. That everything would be over if she just said that one sentence.
But. She didn't want to give even that small acknowledgment right now. If she spoke now, her trembling voice would be exposed. She was afraid of showing her incompetence as an attendant who had served Valdrova. She was afraid of showing him her weakness once again.
Clenching her fists tight, she lifted her head.
「Who...」
Suppressing her resentment, she let out a sound.
「Who asked you to help?」
Only after the words left her mouth did she realize she had made a mistake. It wasn't the response of an adult. It was the pathetic sight of someone unable to admit their own weakness. The look of a child who had nothing to show but pride.
She felt pathetic, but her throat was so constricted she couldn't say anything more.
Ferda looked down at the child. Those eyes that looked like they had dropped their emotions into the depths of a deep lake. Those eyes seemed to pull Ruri's heart even deeper.
He eventually nodded. Ruri ruminated on her regret.
「Right.」
This isn't right.
「I did something unnecessary.」
That's not what I meant to say.
「Sorry for interfering.」
Ferda began to walk away again. Through her vision, she saw Ferda walking down the hallway. Her hand reflexively reached out to grab him. But he was already too far away to reach.
