Chapter 147

Chapter 147

“Dragon!”

Deep brown eyes looked up at me. Her voice, like her appearance, had grown thinner and fainter—the same voice I’d always heard from Shion.

“Yes, Pre.”

The dragon replied in a measured tone, almost cautious.

“I’m sorry, Dragon.”

Marbled tears streamed down the child’s small, round cheeks as she spoke. The sight turned me back to the old woman who had always muttered apologies—her mind fractured, yet that one phrase she repeated endlessly, as if forgetting it was not an option.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry for making you lie. I’m sorry!”

She kept talking, then lifted her head fully and began to sob loudly. It seemed she had always been apologizing to the dragon, and only now had that apology reached its recipient.

“It’s all right, child.”

The dragon spoke through my mouth. The child quickly wiped her tears and looked at me—no, she was seeing the dragon’s form through my eyes.

Perhaps delivering that apology to the dragon was the lingering regret that kept her in the land of the living. If so, her sudden turn toward becoming an evil spirit made rough sense—the one she needed to apologize to hadn’t even recognized her, plunging her into an uncontainable grief.

I lowered my gaze to fix on the child. She still stared back at me with glistening eyes. Seeing her like that, something jabbed at my heart—all the more because she wore Shion’s face.

A pang of wanting to soothe the child rose in me. Before I knew it, my hand was reaching out toward her. And in that instant, my mind went dizzy, my legs gave out. At the same time, my body pitched backward, heavy.

‘I’m—I’m gonna hit the floor!’

I tensed, bracing for pain, when someone caught my back. The duke’s face swam into my vision. His lips were moving urgently, calling out to me. But only for a moment—then everything blurred and slowly sank away.

When I opened my eyes again, a young woman in extravagant adornments stood before me. She was running toward me—no, toward the dragon—shedding sorrowful tears. She looked delicate and pure in a way, but the words spilling from her mouth were nothing short of horrific.

“Dragon. Kill him. …Please, do that for me.”

The ache in my chest returned. The dragon suppressed the feeling, only giving back the answer that it couldn’t be done. But the woman didn’t give up; she kept making her gruesome plea.

“Burn all the lands of Luision to desolation. Make everything he built lose all meaning.”

Of course, granting that was utterly impossible.

“Help me burn Luision myself, and help me kill him.”

And this, too, was the same.

The dragon repeated its refusal, and the woman’s face twisted in fury. Her eyes blazed red with anger. I’d glimpsed her memories once before, so I understood, to some extent, her burning desire to exact revenge on the first king who’d betrayed her.

But the end of this story was obvious regardless. She would never get what she wanted from the dragon.

“You wretched lizard! Don’t you dare ever look at me again!”

Sure enough, the woman exploded in rage and spun on her heel. As her retreating figure faded, the world before my eyes blurred into haze once more.

“Dragon! Open your eyes. Please!”

How much more time passed? A woman’s wailing voice rang out, and the darkness before me began to brighten. Soon, I saw her grief-stricken face.

“Please don’t die! No! I was wrong!”

Her tear-choked voice reached my ears, heart-wrenching in its desperation. In that moment, I understood death was closing in on the dragon. My whole body felt heavy, as if pulled down by an immense weight, and a deep weariness settled over me. I couldn’t offer any answer to the weeping woman. My heart ached to speak, but I had no strength left to even part my lips.

Then my heavy eyelids slowly drooped, and the woman’s form was swallowed by darkness. A vast, blank expanse unfolded. Then, without warning, the dragon’s voice spoke.

“The dragon race cannot lie. But in my lifetime, I did lie, and as punishment, my soul shattered and scattered across the world. What you call Divine Power is exactly that. I entrusted my consciousness to the largest fragment. And so, walking through time in Pre’s form, I happened to meet the mistress of Covershaden.”

Ah, so that was it…….

Now I understood all the mysterious events that had surrounded Shion. How she could have picked up a cat from the future, how she could suppress the Evil Spirit’s energy, and how she could absorb Divine Power into her body.

“So that’s how you came to Covershaden with Madam and stayed here.”

“Yes, indeed.”

“Then, Dragon, what will you do now?”

I asked into the empty air. Now that the dragon had recovered all its memories, it must have remembered the reason it remained in the Land of the Living. Perhaps it had even figured out how to ascend on its own.

“I intend to leave this place with Pre. I’ll stay by her soul in the forest where I lived when I was alive, until she ascends.”

He answered. But that was only about Pre, not himself. Even with his soul shattered in death, he still put her first. So I added a few more words.

“……Then once Pre ascends, what happens to the dragon? If there’s any regret left in the land of the living, could it be resolved? And later—could it still ascend?”

“No. A dragon can ordinarily be reborn at any time, but my soul has shattered—so that’s no longer possible. I will simply wait until I fade away, slowly.”

She laid it out at length, but it amounted to the same thing: she couldn’t ascend. And I already knew the cause was Pre.

“……Don’t you resent her?”

“I love that child. That brief time raising her was the happiest in my long life. None of it can be replaced by a feeling like resentment.”

It was like a parent’s love. Hard as I found it to understand, it seemed even this kind of love could exist. Her soul was shattered beyond any hope of ascension, yet she didn’t even hate her… If it had been me, I’d have loathed Pre outright.

And now, the moment her memories return, she defends the girl fiercely… But then again, she did try to stop the exorcism by possessing me.

Then, suddenly, I remembered what had happened earlier when I’d burst into the room with the priest. Back then, the dragon had used my body to order the knight guarding the door with a commanding tone. ‘Stand aside.’ Oh God, my head throbbed instantly. A mere lady-in-waiting giving orders to a knight of the house—this was utterly ridiculous.

“Dragon! If you’re going to borrow my body, at least do it right! How could you just snap at the knight like that? Everyone’s going to think I’m bizarre now!”

I yelled outright, fury surging up. Just thinking about how I’d explain it later made my stomach clench. I didn’t want to be gossiped about around the ducal house as the duke’s lover with no manners. But I couldn’t exactly spill the truth either. Who’d believe me if I said a dragon had possessed me? As long as no one suggested, ‘Your Excellency, send that woman to a mental hospital,’ I’d consider myself lucky.

“……That… I’m sorry. Since I copied Pre’s form, her personality lingered on me.”

The dragon stammered, flustered. Watching this being, rumored to be perfect, squirm in discomfort—I had nothing left to say. I just let out a short sigh. What could I do? I’d have to let it slide.

“Well… it’s fine. I actually liked Shion quite a bit. I’ll let it go. More importantly—just get out of my body already.”

I grumbled the rest. However it happened, I wanted this possession over with. I was starting to worry about the others who’d be fretting over me.

“That… I can’t do.”

“Huh?”

But the response that came back was so unexpected that I could only blurt out a stupid reply.

‘Then what am I supposed to do if you can’t?’

“Did I hear that wrong? You *can’t*?”

“No, you heard me correctly. The priest probably can’t force me out either. With the Divine Power you speak of, I cannot leave. Instead, you must push me out yourself. Listen to the voices of those calling for you. Grab hold of them and pull.”

He replied in a calm voice. It was a story whose meaning I couldn’t grasp at all. But for now, I followed his words and listened intently. Yet, even after several minutes passed, I couldn’t hear even the faintest whisper.

“……I don’t hear anything?”

“You must try to hear not with your ears, but with your heart. Think of those who must be worried about you.”

“Hmm……”

At that, I once again focused my mind, thinking of the Duke and my siblings. Then, at last, a faint voice began to reach me.

“……Laura! Wake up!”

“……Sister!”

Not letting it go, I followed the direction of the sound. The moment I felt I had reached them, the Duke’s voice calling for me rang out loud and clear.

“Laura!”

At the same time, I could instinctively feel the dragon slipping out of my body. The possession was breaking. And then, the dragon spoke to me.

“A large opening will have formed in your body, allowing souls to pass in and out. It will be worse because I entered. I will fill that space with Divine Power. Fortunately, there is just the right amount of Divine Power nearby.”

With those final words, my eyes snapped open with a flash. The familiar pattern of the ceiling appeared before me. It seemed I had been brought back to the guest room. Someone must have carried me, collapsed from the possession, and laid me on the bed.

“Sister! Are you okay?!”

Turning my head, I saw Roti holding my hand and sobbing. Beside her stood Lucia and the Duke. I told them I was fine, despite their worried expressions, and sat up. Immediately, the massive dragon’s head loomed before me.