My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 242. Something Sweet

Luri set down the teapot.

The hand she had placed on the table was clenched tightly into a fist.

"Have I not always told you?"

Luri spoke without turning her head.

"I told you that Lord Ferda is destined to become Lady Valdrova’s husband. And that means you have to be careful!"

"You did..."

"Even though you knew that so well! Why! Why did you do whatever you wanted!"

Luri’s raised voice gradually subsided.

Her hand rose to her face.

"Whatever you wanted..."

She could no longer hide the moisture gathering around her eyes.

"I really hate you, Lord Ferda."

"....."

"How do you intend to let Lady Valdrova see that hand? With what face?"

What followed was nothing but resentment.

Ferda could not say a word.

He already knew.

He knew that it wasn’t simply because Luri hated him.

She was furious because she had been unable to protect Ferda with her own abilities.

She was only being stubborn because she felt she would not be able to calm down unless she said something like this.

Ferda looked down at his right hand.

"If we talk to the church, they should be able to help."

"....."

"But if they refuse because I learned Black Magic and use that against me, my position will become very precarious—"

"I don’t care."

Luri wiped away her tears and turned her head.

With her lips tightly pressed together and her eyes reddened, she spoke.

"If they refuse to treat you just because you’re a Black Mage, I’ll smash that church to pieces."

"......."

"Even if they tell me it can’t be restored, I’ll destroy everything. I’ll make them do it somehow."

Luri was more sincere than ever.

Ferda was genuinely worried about how he was supposed to calm down this angry Chihuahua.

Then—

"Hoho! Don’t do that, child. Wouldn’t that be too pitiful for those who put their faith in God?"

A nasal voice came from behind Luri.

The moment she heard the voice, the hairs on Luri’s body stood on end.

"From the outside, I thought it looked quite ordinary. But as expected, being a dragon’s fiancé means even the tent is quite splendid."

A young girl entered the tent with her hands clasped behind her back.

Her face looked youthful, but her mannerisms were no different from those of a hunched-over old woman.

Luri quickly rubbed her eyes and returned to the posture of a perfect maid.

Though, that was a little difficult.

Her emotions surging because of Ferda and her bewilderment at the unexpected guest were all mixed together, shaking her composure.

There were only a limited number of beings capable of making her this flustered.

Ferda soon learned why.

"So, you’re our little one’s fiancé?"

When she threw back her robe, a magnificent head of golden hair appeared along with a pair of horns.

Luri called out her name.

"I respectfully greet Orosagrado, the Gold Dragon."

As Luri bowed politely, Orosagrado turned her head.

Although the girl, Orosagrado, had her eyes closed, she faced Luri as though she could see her perfectly.

"Ohhh, so you’re a child who carries the blood of Silverwind. Are you our little one’s attendant?"

"Yes, I am."

"Hoho! I was told that Silverwind had chosen you as a potential great warrior, so I was expecting some hulking female warrior who looked like a man. But not only are you small and petite, you even possess such beauty."

"...."

"Still, compared to this body, you’re utterly insignificant, hoho!"

Ferda knew about the Gold Dragon from rumors.

Among the dragons, she supposedly had the largest body, measuring over 50 meters in length. She lived beneath the third underground level of the city and was so enormous that merely raising her head would allow her to appear at the Great Cathedral.

But the girl standing before him now?

A narcissistic little brat?

Aside from her horns being somewhat similar, she was actually smaller than Luri.

And she doesn’t even have a dragon’s presence.

It had initially been difficult to even approach Valdrova, while the presence of Storeus—and even Frontesis—could clearly be felt.

But this girl truly seemed no different from an ordinary young girl.

Moreover, she was giving off a suspiciously strong smell of ham.

I should get up first.

Thinking that, Ferda tried to rise from his seat, but Orosagrado stopped him.

"Goodness, stay seated. I have no intention of forcing someone who isn’t feeling well to stand."

Ferda lay back down.

It wasn’t because he chose to.

Orosagrado had used magic.

The girl leisurely approached his side and let out a bouncing laugh.

"Hoho, what a handsome young man. If you say just a few sweet words, our innocent little one will fall head over heels for you."

"....."

"By the way, where did your hand go? Were you hungry and cooked it into soup?"

"....."

"You really don’t know how to take a joke! Pahahaha!"

How could he laugh when this was hardly a situation for jokes?

Until just before she arrived, Luri had been crying. There was no way he could suddenly laugh as though nothing had happened.

"Can’t be helped. Your sense of humor must have been cut off along with your right hand. If we save one, the other will probably come back too, won’t it?"

She suddenly lifted her hair and pretended to pull something out from the back of her neck.

At that moment, a dazzling light filled the tent.

"Lady Orosagrado, is that...!"

Luri looked shocked.

"Hmm? Do you know what this is?"

"The Golden Grace... Isn’t that one of the scales from Lady Orosagrado’s body? Such a precious thing..."

The Golden Grace was valuable enough for Luri to speak of it that way.

It was an existence similar to an elixir created by gathering a single drop at a time for decades from the depths of the World Tree.

True to its name, representing faith and the Aspect of Light, it bestowed miracles.

"You silly girl. If I don’t use it at a time like this, when would I ever use it? Besides..."

"Besides?"

"I don’t want to see the church of our Holy Nation smashed to pieces by your hands, pahahaha!"

Luri’s face turned red once again.

Still laughing as casually as ever, Orosagrado undid the bandages wrapped around Ferda’s hand.

Luri had used healing magic, but the wound had still not properly healed.

"It’ll sting a little."

She drove the sharp edge of the scale directly into Ferda’s right hand.

The pain of having a foreign object inserted into his flesh lasted only for a moment.

"Ugh...!!"

An even greater pain surged through Ferda’s arm.

The sensations that had been missing until just moments ago were slowly returning from the void.

Ferda knew what this was.

It was an even greater pain than what he had experienced when drinking the worst of the torture medicines he had created himself—the one called A Miserable Life.

It meant that something which had been dead was being brought back to life.

Ten minutes passed like ten hours.

While Ferda was completely overwhelmed by the pain, Luri was the first to let out a gasp of amazement.

"My goodness..."

Ferda’s missing right hand had returned perfectly.

Luri carefully took hold of that hand.

She touched each knuckle one by one before asking Ferda,

"Lord Ferda, can you feel it?"

Ferda was drenched in sweat and could barely even catch his breath, so he simply nodded lightly.

Luri couldn’t bring herself to let go of his hand.

Meanwhile, Orosagrado stroked Ferda’s head and spoke like a grandmother.

"That’s right, that’s right. You endured it well. What a good boy. Such a good boy. A good child deserves a reward. You there, attendant."

"Yes, please tell me."

"Don’t you have anything sweet?"

"Something sweet...?"

"You know, that thing you like very much. I imagine you carry an entire container of it around with you. Am I wrong?"

Luri’s face turned bright red.

"I’ll bring it."

A little while later, Luri brought out a jar from her belongings.

When she opened it and handed it over, Orosagrado’s face lit up with happiness.

"My goodness, just looking at it makes my teeth rot. To think there could be such a blasphemous embodiment of pleasure."

"...."

"I suppose I should taste it. Let’s see..."

Orosagrado put one piece into her mouth with the skewer she had been given.

Her face was filled with pure happiness.

"My goodness, blasphemous! So blasphemous! How can something be this blasphemous!"

"...."

"If you eat nothing but things like this, your teeth will melt and your belly will stick out until you look hideous. And yet you carry such blasphemous things around with you?"

"I don’t... eat very much."

"Of course. How else could you remain such a beauty? Hoho!"

She put another piece into her mouth.

"You see, perhaps the heavens were jealous and envious of me, so they gave me this incredible beauty and, as a result, I have very little self-control. That’s why I have to eat nothing but tasteless bread every day. If my believers didn’t secretly sneak delicious things to me, I really wouldn’t have any joy left in life."

"Is... that so?"

Even as she spoke, she had already put more than five pieces of the honey-preserved fruit into her mouth.

"My goodness, I’ve eaten this much again. Anyone who saw me would think I was some kind of pig."

After saying that, she stuffed about three more pieces into her mouth before finally handing one to Ferda.

"Here, eat one. It’s a reward from the Gold Dragon."

"I’m fine."

"Oh, come now. Don’t they say eating something sweet makes you feel better? Here, watch me eat."

Orosagrado put another piece of honey-preserved fruit directly into her mouth and once again made a blissful expression.

"Mmmmm. That’s the taste. Yes. What pleasure. It’s as though demons are dancing inside my mouth."

"......"

"Of course, I’m not saying I’m actually happy. That’s what it would be like. Now, eat."

After watching such absurd behavior, Ferda had no choice but to put it into his mouth, even though he didn’t particularly want to.

"I heard about you from Greg."

Orosagrado was referring to Gregorio, the Pope of the Holy Nation.

"What do you mean by ’heard about me’...?"

"He told me. He said some youngster had appeared before the Grand Ducal Council with ambitions of conquering the Land of Demons. And that this youngster was none other than our little one’s fiancé."

She laughed softly as she popped another piece of fruit preserved in honey into her mouth.

"I thought you were quite an interesting fellow. I also thought you were just a youngster. But I knew what the Land of Demons was like, so I assumed you’d quickly taste the bitterness and give up."

"........"

"But you didn’t. I never imagined you would be able to use those Demon Race members. There was a reason Greg was pleading so earnestly after all."

Orosagrado slapped Ferda’s restored right hand with a laugh.

"And you’ve even developed such a self-sacrificing attitude that you’re willing to boil your own right hand into soup, pahahaha!"

Faith and light.

Hearing those words, Ferda had imagined she would be a solemn and serious dragon.

But he never expected her to be this carefree.

She was so lighthearted that the skewer she kept moving without pause eventually scraped against the floor, prompting her to click her tongue.

"My goodness, I was so distracted by eating that I ended up finishing all your honey-preserved fruit."

"It’s fine."

"How could that possibly be fine? Bring me another one."

"What?"

"Hurry. I know you have another jar."

Orosagrado crooked her finger, and Luri brought another jar with a dumbfounded expression.

When the lid was opened, the scent of sugar and fruit once again tickled their noses.

"Things this blasphemous should be eaten and eliminated. What else could true exorcism be? Hoho!"

The gratitude that had been visible on Luri’s face for saving Ferda was gradually disappearing.

Orosagrado continued speaking.

"So, when I return to the homeland, I intend to talk to Gregorio."

"If it’s such good news, why don’t you stop by the castle and tell him yourself?"

"Your castle?"

"You seem to be close to Lady Valdrova, considering you call her ’our little one.’ Wouldn’t it be good to see her face as well?"

"Hmm... I don’t think I can do that."

Orosagrado’s uniquely carefree demeanor began to crack little by little.

"I may call her our little one, but she has committed far too many sins. After turning my back on her all this time, coming to see her now that she can finally breathe again would be cruel."

As the lively atmosphere began to sink, Orosagrado casually asked Ferda,

"Come to think of it, I heard Frontesis came to the castle. Did he meet Valdrova as well?"

"Yes."

"Did he give that child anything? I can’t imagine that fellow would simply pass by without doing something."

"He gave her a wedding ring."

"A wedding ring... That insufferable fellow. So he’s trying to earn points with our little one like this?"

Orosagrado let out a thoughtful breath.

It felt as though some kind of competition was about to begin.

"In that case, I’ll officiate your wedding! What do you think of having the Gold Dragon herself serve as your officiant?"

"I’m simply grateful that you would think of doing that."

"Of course. Whose idea do you think it was? Before that, though, we need to get along better... That’s it! I’ll ask Gregorio to provide you with generous support so that it can also help with your conquest of the Land of Demons!"

Gregorio’s promise.

If Ferda showed his resolve, he would spare no support.

Those words had finally proven that they were not an empty promise.

"Thank you for saying that."

"That’s how it should be."

Orosagrado stretched leisurely and said,

"Anyway, this old woman shall be taking her leave now. Hoho. Avoid strenuous exercise for the time being."

Orosagrado pulled her robe back over herself.

Once her horns were hidden, she looked exactly like a little child.

She looked at the jar of honey-preserved fruit in her hand and apologized to Luri.

"Child, I’m sorry. I’ve already eaten half of it."

"It’s fine."

"Are you sure? I’ve eaten half of it, and there’s quite a lot of my saliva on it. Wouldn’t it be unpleasant for you to eat?"

"I’m fine—"

"I’ll take this with me and finish the rest."

"...."

"Well then, take care, hoho!"

The Gold Dragon left just like that, hiding the jar of honey-preserved fruit inside her robe.

The two of them stared at the flapping entrance of the tent with expressions as though a storm had just passed through.

".....Luri."

"Yes."

"For some reason, I feel like eating ham."

"I’ll prepare a meal."

They say holiness lingers wherever Orosagrado stays.

The place where she had stayed was filled with the smell of ham.

Read more Chapters here - Apexnovelhub.com