My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 233. Handkerchief

Meanwhile, the Imperial Army.

"The barrier protecting the inner castle is collapsing!"

The mage monitoring the situation shouted.

Just as Ferda had said, all the Totems had collapsed, and the absolute barrier had lost its power.

Ureas, who had been taking a strategic rest with his arms crossed, asked the adjutant beside him,

"What about the Allied Forces?"

"Their strategy is similar to ours. It seems they’ll charge as soon as the barrier collapses."

"So whoever gets there first gets the prize."

Greed flickered in Ureas’s eyes.

They already knew what he intended to do once he entered the inner castle.

But there was no one who dared offer him honest counsel.

Even if the situation on the battlefield was unfavorable, Ureas would execute someone on the spot if their words displeased him.

He rose from his seat and shouted,

"Prepare yourselves, men! The time to behead those servants of the Demon Race is near!"

Ureas drew his sword, and his personal guards also prepared themselves for battle.

It wasn’t only the Imperial Army.

A short while later, even another barrier surrounding the inner castle collapsed, revealing an entrance before them.

"Good! Men, advance!!"

The first to enter were the spearmen.

They were sent ahead like laboratory rats to assess the situation.

As expected, the moment they entered the inner castle, the monsters launched a surprise attack.

It was a place densely packed with Monsters and members of the Demon Race.

"May Alte’s light shine upon us!"

The Knights, armed with the ideals of chivalry, pushed the enemies back.

Even the Knight-class members of the Demon Race, who had previously been evenly matched enough to seize several Knights, could not exert much strength.

Then it happened.

Something came charging toward them from among the Monsters and Demon Race soldiers.

"May the void be with King Heinkel!"

It had the appearance of an ordinary human, except for its hair, which radiated a crimson glow.

Just as one of the Knights attempted to stop it with his body—

It exploded.

BOOM!

Blood and flesh scattered everywhere, creating a grotesque scene.

"Damn it!"

Although the Knights were equipped with helmets and armor, they were designed with only the minimum gaps necessary to protect against sharp swords and arrows.

They could not prevent the blood of the fanatic from seeping inside.

The Knight felt a slight sense of disgust and was about to return to the battle when—

"Huh...?"

He instinctively reached up to touch his face, as if merely irritated by something.

Then he sensed that something was wrong and threw off his helmet.

"AGH! AAAAAAGH!!"

His companions were bewildered by his loss of composure.

But the moment they saw his face, they were horrified.

His face was collapsing as though it were being dissolved by acid.

Starting from the places where the blood had splattered, the corrosion spread faster and faster.

In less than ten seconds, he had been reduced to a white skeleton.

And that wasn’t the end.

"Hehehehe...!"

Click!

Death was only the beginning.

The moment they stepped into the domain of Black Magic, all their former loyalties and authority were stripped away, and they were rebuilt into something new.

The Knight became a Bone Knight and a slave of the Dark Mage, immediately swinging his sword at his own allies.

"Watch out for the blood! They’re creating Undead with their blood!"

It was a common suicide tactic used by Black Magic fanatics.

It wasn’t something that could be solved simply by telling people to be careful.

This was a place where the very essence of Black Magic had settled upon the ground, and the darkness was so deep that not even a single torch could pierce it.

Perhaps the Knight Commander could no longer simply stand by and watch.

He pulled out a scroll as his trump card.

"You filthy and wicked creatures! May Alte’s light shine upon you!!"

When he tore the scroll apart, the Magic Circle contained within rose into the air and activated.

A high-level light spell—Sacred Sanctum.

Soft light rose from the ground around the Knight Commander, brightly illuminating the previously dark interior.

"GRRRR...!"

"KEUGH!"

It was a powerful light that stripped the Undead of their Mana and purified them.

However, Legion’s Mana was so powerful that the spell could do little more than make them recoil.

But even that was enough.

"Look! Look at those wicked creatures losing their strength!"

"Alte is great!"

"The Arken Empire is eternal!"

"Light upon the Emperor!"

The Knights, empowered by the great strength of their faith, became invigorated and shouted their slogans.

In a war where people were throwing themselves into death, anyone could lose their sanity.

"Find the sources of King Heinkel’s power! Then kill every last one of them!"

Ureas prepared to head toward the throne room.

He smiled at the fact that everything was proceeding smoothly.

At least, until he heard that voice.

—Brother!

The smile that had been settled on Ureas’s lips vanished.

It was the voice of a woman he knew all too well.

"Olivia?"

Ureas couldn’t understand.

She was supposed to be waiting in the rear, exactly as planned.

There was no way he could hear Olivia’s voice here.

Then is this an auditory hallucination?

He already knew how members of the Demon Race used illusions to deceive their opponents.

Therefore, he had to continue moving according to plan.

"KYAAAAAH!! Brother! Please save me!"

"Olivia!"

"Commander!?"

But none of that mattered anymore.

If he could hear Olivia’s voice, then Olivia was here.

Ureas’s eyes widened as he began running toward the direction of the voice.

"Everyone, follow the Commander!"

The guards had no choice but to break formation and rush after him in order to protect Ureas, who had suddenly begun acting recklessly.

Ureas charged straight into enemy territory.

"Get out of my way, you worthless pieces of trash!!"

Ghoul Monsters blocked his path, and Demon Followers rushed toward him, but Ureas shattered every obstacle in his way with agile movements.

In the end, even his personal guards could not catch up with him.

The place he reached looked like a storage room inside the castle.

When he peered through a small opening, Ureas’s worst fear became reality.

"Brotherrrr!!"

Some thugs were attempting to assault Olivia.

"AAAAH!!"

BANG!

Ureas smashed the door apart with superhuman strength and charged inside.

Before they even had time to react, he threw his sword at one of them.

The rapidly spinning sword pierced the man’s head and embedded itself in the wall.

Ureas then threw himself at the remaining man, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him onto the floor.

Then came the mount.

Thud! Thud!

"Don’t you dare!! Touch my sister!!"

With his tightly clenched gauntlet, he smashed the man’s face until its features had completely disappeared.

As the wave of excitement that had washed over him finally subsided, Ureas released Olivia from her restraints.

"Olivia, you weren’t hurt—"

"Brother...!"

Olivia embraced him with tearful, glistening eyes.

"Thank you. For saving me..."

Ureas couldn’t believe it.

His sister, who wouldn’t even allow him to hold her hand, was now embracing him.

Something began boiling inside Ureas’s chest.

When he tried to embrace Olivia in return, she pulled herself away from his chest.

"I’m really relieved. I... I thought I wouldn’t be able to raise my face and speak to anyone ever again..."

Olivia wiped away her tears, unable to continue speaking.

Ureas comforted her.

"Don’t worry. Who could possibly hide from the light of Lord Alte? Even if you suffered such humiliation, Alte would never abandon you."

"I’m not talking about Lord Alte."

Olivia wiped away her tears and spoke.

"I was talking about Regent Ferda."

"...What?"

Ureas trembled violently.

His words caught in his throat, and all he could do was gasp for breath.

As though Ureas’s expression didn’t matter at all, Olivia continued speaking.

"The person who takes my first time... must be none other than Regent Ferda."

Ureas was confused.

Yet, after struggling, he finally managed to open his mouth.

"But... but doesn’t that man already have a fiancée? The dragon is his fiancée, isn’t she?"

Even as he said it, Ureas knew the laws of the Empire.

The Empire allowed polygamy, and Ureas already had three wives.

One was the daughter of a Duke, while the other two were daughters of Counts.

Ureas could do it, and most nobles could as well.

But there was no way Ferda could.

He was human, while Valdrova was a Red Dragon.

Even if she was treated like a guard dog protecting the household, she was still a Dragon.

There was no way she would allow Ferda to take a concubine, let alone permit another man into her life.

"That’s not true."

Olivia’s gentle voice entered his ears clearly, each word distinct.

"Lady Valdrova is extremely generous, you know."

With every syllable she spoke, Ureas’s heart crumbled a little more.

"You know, don’t you? To a Dragon, humans are nothing more than toys in their long lives. Humans must look like nothing more than pets to them. And you can’t share that kind of love with a pet, can you? So what else can you do? You find a mate suitable for the pet."

"Th-then..."

"Yes."

Olivia placed a hand against her chest.

"I’ve decided to marry Lord Ferda."

The words tore Ureas’s heart apart.

There was no way.

Olivia would never say something like that.

He knew that she had no feelings for him.

He even knew that she had feelings for Ferda.

But she wasn’t the kind of girl who would openly say such things and tear his heart apart.

And yet, those words pierced him like a dagger, and even now they were slowly making their way toward his heart.

Why?

Even though he knew Olivia wasn’t really here, that this story was a lie, and that none of this was actually happening, why was it so unbearably painful?

Then it happened.

As Ureas sat collapsed on the floor, his eyes fell upon the object in Olivia’s hand.

It was the source of this delusion.

A single truth that proved thousands of lies to be true.

The decisive object that would make him lose the last remnants of his sanity.

It was a handkerchief.

But it wasn’t Olivia’s.

Ureas knew exactly what Olivia’s handkerchief looked like.

It had frills around the edges and carried a faint scent of roses.

Because she was the Imperial Princess, everything she owned had to be pure white or golden.

But that handkerchief was black.

A black handkerchief embroidered with red thread could never belong to the Imperial Princess.

Ureas knew exactly who owned it.

Ferda Valdrova.

It belonged to that man.

Anything placed in the Imperial Princess’s hands never lasted more than two days before being lost or replaced, but that particular object remained with her even after several days.

She had no intention of returning it to Ferda.

Whenever something troubled her, she would secretly fiddle with the handkerchief or carefully breathe in its scent when no one was watching.

Even Ureas, who wasn’t particularly intelligent, understood its meaning clearly.

Olivia had feelings for Ferda.

Her emotions toward him went beyond mere affection.

Her gaze never left Ferda.

"Olivia..."

Ureas called her name.

She was his only sister.

It was a brother’s duty to support his sister’s love.

He couldn’t do that.

"Olivia..."

Ureas didn’t want to let Olivia go.

Time and time again, he had projected his mother onto her to soothe his own loneliness.

He knew it was an ugly thing to do.

He knew he had to stop.

But he never did.

Why?

Why was he so obsessed with Olivia?

Because he missed his mother?

He did miss her.

But he wasn’t a child anymore.

Complicated emotions tormented Ureas and left him confused.

And then, in the midst of anguish that threatened to drive him insane, something astonishing happened.

"Ah..."

The complicated emotions began intertwining even more.

Like strands twisted together to form a rope, the tangled emotions finally found their pattern.

They bound themselves tightly together and became one long, singular emotion.

"Olivia is... mine."

It was love.

When the shackles of blood relation and conventional morality could no longer restrain him, Ureas felt something being released from within his heart.

It was overwhelming power.

It was the very source of his being.

If he had to give it a name, it was Golden Blood.

"Commander, you cannot remain here. Please, you must—"

The adjutants who had finally caught up with him suddenly forgot what they were going to say.

"My God, Alte..."

There was nothing remaining there that could be called Ureas.

***

"Hmm..."

Unable to resist the summoning spell, Ferda was dragged away and opened his eyes.

The interior of the dark inner castle.

Not a single ray of sunlight entered properly, but having reached the Fifth Circle, Ferda now possessed eyes capable of piercing through darkness.

The place where Ferda had been summoned appeared to be King Heinkel’s bedchamber.

Life signs...

None.

He extended his shadow and searched every corner, but there was nothing here.

Ferda took a moment to catch his breath and thought.

As expected, Legion isn’t someone to be underestimated.

Before Curved Demon summoned Ferda, he had thrown three different spells at the summoning ritual alone to interfere with it.

Mana Flare.

A spatial transference spell.

An artifact activation.

In an ordinary battle between mages, they would have delayed their spellcasting or used auxiliary spells to neutralize such interference.

Curved Demon had done neither.

It meant that when faced with a summoning spell, cheap tricks wouldn’t work.

They say that you need three times as many soldiers to win a siege.

Apparently, mages were no exception.

But why summon me to a place like this?

There wasn’t a trace of life or magic anywhere.

If the purpose was to kill me, they would have dropped me into a room crawling with Monsters.

Could even this be an illusion?

Ferda thought carefully.

Perhaps, when he opened his eyes, he had briefly come face-to-face with his trauma.

He considered it repeatedly, rationally and even pessimistically, but he hadn’t actually come face-to-face with it.

Then they’re planning to use me as a mouthpiece.

The question that followed was whether those words belonged to King Heinkel or Curved Demon.

Perhaps they belonged to Curved Demon.

The Demon King.

Suddenly, Ferda remembered what Alberdo had come and told him.

He had said that Ferda was a man who could become the Demon King.

And the one who had said those words was Curved Demon.

He must intend to make Ferda into the Demon King for the glory of the Demon Race.

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