Chapter 72

Chapter 72

The man stood before his troops, a figure of imposing dignity. Sunlight flashed off the iron armor he wore, gleaming brilliantly, and the crimson cloak draped over his shoulders whipped violently in the wind. Though his build wasn’t particularly large, the aura he radiated was overwhelming.

Then, lifting his longsword with one hand, he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“Those who stand with me will be victorious. But those who dare oppose me will meet only death!”

“Waaaaaaah—!”

A thunderous roar erupted in response. The mass of soldiers had already become one under his command. It seemed they had fully committed to serving him as their lord.

“Whoa. That’s incredible.”

She was watching the scene from atop the fortress wall. It truly was something to behold. The skill to gather so many men, the charisma—it all seemed extraordinary. Mere money alone couldn’t have produced a result like that.

“I have descended from the heavens, and now I shall proclaim Heaven’s will upon this land.”

He continued speaking, but something about his words struck me as off.

Descended from the heavens? What kind of absurd nonsense was this?

Yet the soldiers who followed him merely roared back with fervent cheers, their loyalty so blind it bordered on fanatical.

“I am Shion—the Sun. And I am a descendant of the dragon, the celestial god.”

The man drove his raised sword into the ground. A resounding boom rippled out, and behind him, a golden dragon revealed itself. The dragon rose into the sky with slow wingbeats, rising like the sun itself breaking the horizon.

He was said to be an ancient being with no strength left to move, yet there he was, ascending into the sky to gaze upon the soldiers. A profound awe rose across their faces. Naturally, their morale seemed to soar as well. Though the war had yet to begin, all of them stood brimming with confidence, as if victory were already theirs for the taking.

“March forth!”

With the man’s ensuing cry, the army began to move like a single wave. The dragon followed behind them. Thus, the valiant soldiers and the colossal, divine presence guarding their rear created a sight like a tempest. Even without reckoning the odds, the war’s outcome seemed to blaze clear before the eyes.

Yet I felt a bitter pang.

‘Instead, if you have any other wish of me, speak it. Before I leave, I will grant whatever I can.’

The dragon once told Pre it would grant whatever she desired. And the scene before me must be the result of that. Unable to lie, it had perhaps become bound by its own rash promise. That promise had roused it from its resting place in the grave.

* * *

On the dew-laden grass, the dragon lay with its head lowered, heaving ragged breaths. Pre sprinted toward its front in a single bound.

“Dragon!”

As she dropped to her knees before him, a metallic clinking sound—*charrr-ruk*—rang out.

“You seemed to be living on there continuously, yet why have you returned? Have you come to wish for something else?”

The dragon slowly opened its eyes and looked at her as it asked.

“Something I wish for…? Yeah. Right. I’ve got a wish. Grant my wish. You have to grant it… you must…”

She answered, dropping her head low. Soon, her two delicate hands came into view, pressing against the ground. On both her wrists hung golden accessories embedded with jewels. The metallic sound from earlier must have been those accessories clashing together.

I immediately recalled what the Duke had said. According to him, she had claimed to be the founding king’s wife and helper. And it seemed that was true. The sheer scale of such accessories proved it. The girl who once wandered the streets, pelted with stones by village children, was now the highest woman in this nation.

“Dragon, kill him… Please, do it.”

She screamed like a madwoman, continuing her plea.

“…Why, child?”

The dragon asked. Her sudden demand seemed to have caught it off guard. I felt the same. I couldn’t readily understand why she would plead for the death of the one she loved.

“He fathered a child with that woman. And then he tried to get me to adopt the child under my name. Honestly, until then, I could bear everything—him sleeping with her, doting on her—but that… that I couldn’t stomach. So I told him no.”

“……”

“So he said I was better off when I was stupid and obedient.”

Tears were dripping onto the back of her hand, one after another. She, who had once believed that loving him was the entirety of her existence, now seemed to finally understand something.

“……And that’s how I realized it. He never loved me. Not once. He just used me. And I—I was such a fool it took me until now to see it.”

“My child……”

“Dragon, please. Kill him.”

“……I cannot directly take a life.”

“Then burn every inch of Luision’s land to waste. Make everything he built lose all meaning.”

“If I burn that land, plants and animals would die in the flames, wouldn’t they?”

The Dragon tried to reason with her in a calm tone. But at those words, her emotions boiled over like scalding soup. That pent-up rage churned and surged up to her throat.

“Dragon, what good are you?! You’re Luision’s god, its very Sun! What’s so hard about killing a few measly lives?!”

“I am no god. Your country merely elevated me to that title. But I do care for you deeply. If you simply wished to drive Luision’s people from its lands, I could help you with that.”

“No! That petty kindness won’t quench my anger!”

She sprang to her feet and cried out. Then, as if refusing any further compromise, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Either burn Luision to the ground or kill him! That is my wish!”

“……”

She seemed lost in a haze of rage. Nothing emanated from her but razor-sharp emotion.

The Dragon watched her in silence, narrowing its eyes. Then it let out a soft sigh and spoke to her once more.

“It seems I was mistaken. I shouldn’t have let you live among humans. I thought I was doing it for your sake, but I was wrong. If I had kept you in this forest, as you wished when you were young, you wouldn’t have turned out like this……”

“Saying that now means nothing. I’ve already met him.”

“Enough. I am worried for you.”

“No. I said no……”

Her voice trembled like an aspen leaf. Tears kept welling beneath her eyelids, blurring her vision.

“Fine. It’s fine as long as I don’t directly kill a life, right?”

Then, in an instant, she snapped her head up to look at him. At the same time, tears weighted with rage spilled down and dripped from her chin.

“Then help me burn Luision myself — help me kill him.”

“……Take back such words.”

“Do it. You said you’d grant anything I wished for, except controlling life itself.”

“Child!”

The dragon cried out. His voice rang out, vast and booming. But she didn’t flinch an inch — she stared straight into his golden eyes.

“Grant it! This is all I wish for now!”

“……I cannot.”

“What?”

“It pains me to watch you change. I will grant you no more wishes.”

“Liar… You have to grant all my wishes! You said you couldn’t lie… You liar…”

She mumbled, kicking the dragon’s head hard. But the dragon showed no reaction at all, as if her small kicks didn’t even tickle him.

“You… you bastard! You rotten lizard! Don’t you ever dare look at me again!”

Trembling all over with a surge of emotion, she turned on her heel and fled the spot. And with that, my vision filled with black.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling stared back. It seemed I was lying in a room I didn’t recognize.

“Young Lady, are you alright?!”

A familiar voice followed. I turned my head to see the priest looking down at me with a deeply worried expression.

“Huh? Priest?”

“’Huh, Priest’? Is now the time for such a casual tone?”

He changed his expression the moment he confirmed I was fine, and started lecturing me. It looked like it wouldn’t end anytime soon. So I quickly glazed my eyes over and emptied my mind.

“You are so reckless, Young Lady!”

“Yes… I suppose I am.”

“When the ceremony ended, you weren’t in the banquet hall! I came out looking for you, worried as can be, only to hear a redhead had collapsed in the corridor — do you know how stunned I was?”

“Mmm… That must have been quite a shock…”

“And when I came to check, it was really you.”

“Oh my!”

“Don’t brush me off!”

The priest raised his voice, clearly irritated. He looked genuinely furious. Though I hadn’t meant to cause it, I was the reason for his worry, so I shrank back, glancing at him timidly and deflating.

At my cowering response, the priest let out a small sigh and gestured for the manservants in the room to leave.

“Let’s talk.”

He settled onto the stool beside the bed.

“What is it you want to discuss?”

“About your reckless possession, Young Lady. With no one to push the soul back, what were you thinking?”

I understood his point, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit wronged. No matter how generously I looked at it, this possession wasn’t my fault. I hadn’t intended anything; a ghost had simply slammed into my body and taken over.