My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 266. Mad Moon

Lively music had been playing, but before long, it gave way to a gentle melody.

The group dance in which everyone had participated came to an end, and the waltz began with everyone pairing up.

Men and women who had not yet entered into an engagement invited one another to dance, while those who already had partners held hands affectionately and danced together.

Ferda and Valdrova belonged to the latter group.

"Are you very tired?"

"I’m not."

Though he said that, Ferda was already panting.

The heat had melted into his body, allowing him to endure a little longer, but once that heat faded, the fatigue became overwhelming.

"You can lean on me a little."

Valdrova gently pulled Ferda into her arms.

The softness against his chest made his body tense, yet at the same time, he naturally relaxed into her embrace.

A warm, sweet scent rose from her hair.

It made him feel as comfortable as if he were home.

As Valdrova had suggested, Ferda leaned against her, giving himself a little room to catch his breath.

But the feeling that his heart might burst remained.

"I never knew weddings could be this much fun."

"I never imagined a place could be so full of life either."

"If it weren’t for you, Mr. Ferda... I would never have known this kind of happiness."

"...."

Valdrova had already had one engagement broken off.

After she had lost control of her Bloodlust and killed the Third Prince, she had effectively been treated as though she had received a Death Sentence.

Ferda recalled her portrait.

A choked-up emotion surged within him.

Suppressing it, Ferda spoke.

"We’ll have a wedding like that too."

"Is that so?"

"We’ll share days this joyful, dance together... and before long, under the name of family, we’ll have the fruit of our happiness."

"The fruit of our happiness..."

"Of course, a child."

Child.

The moment Valdrova heard that word, her steps stopped.

It was a moment when she could easily have tangled her feet and fallen, but fortunately, she managed to avoid making a disgraceful scene.

Ferda carefully spoke into her ear.

"Eleanor?"

"Ah... I’m, I’m sorry."

She began stepping to the rhythm again.

"I just... I just spaced out for a moment."

"......"

"Let’s dance again!"

Valdrova changed the subject in a lively voice.

Ferda could simply follow along and let the subject pass.

But he couldn’t.

That unnatural reaction undoubtedly carried meaning.

"There is something I’m curious about. May I ask you a question?"

"Please."

Ferda asked,

"When you heard that Lady Lyudmila was pregnant... how did you feel?"

Valdrova’s body stiffened as she looked up at Ferda.

"Do I... have to answer?"

She was avoiding the question.

Perhaps she was simply being considerate of him.

"But you have to answer."

Ferda dared to be rude to her.

After thinking carefully, she answered.

"I don’t know."

Ferda asked again.

"Were you happy?"

"I was happy, too."

"Were you sad?"

"I was sad, too."

"What made you sad?"

"I don’t really... know either."

Valdrova’s voice trailed off.

Ferda’s heart understood what her words meant.

Something had certainly made her sad.

But it had been so long since she had felt that sadness that she could no longer put it into words.

And she did not want to recall that sadness, either.

But that was merely what his heart told him. It could not be called an answer.

"Mr. Ferda..."

"Yes."

"Do you... want a child? A child... with me?"

What wouldn’t he have wanted?

Whenever Ferda dreamed sweet dreams, there was always a child beside him.

But he could never properly see that child’s face.

He always imagined the child with Valdrova’s features made younger, yet even in his dreams, the face was always hidden.

It was as though even his meager imagination was forbidden from reaching that far, the child’s face veiled in darkness.

"Don’t you want one?"

"I..."

Valdrova looked up at Ferda’s face.

Though she was wearing a mask, it felt as though Ferda could see straight through it.

It was the same expression she had worn when she saw Lyudmila’s child.

"You don’t have to answer. I’m sorry."

"...I’m sorry."

Rather than hear her answer, Ferda quietly pulled her into his arms so that she could lean against him.

You coward.

Ferda hated the despicable trick he had just played.

He had only asked because he didn’t want her to see his face.

Valdrova had asked him first, yet instead of answering her question, Ferda had responded with another question.

And he was just as incapable of answering as she was.

If this had been in the past, he would have said it.

That he wanted to have a child with her.

That he dreamed of having a child with her hair color, a child who would grow into a beautiful woman just like her.

But how could he say such things now?

I am a murderer who has already killed you once.

And long before that, I was the sinner who tore your heart apart.

I cannot pretend that all those sins never happened.

The music came to an end.

Valdrova carefully released Ferda’s hand.

"I’m sorry."

Her voice, thick with emotion, apologized once more.

"I’m truly sorry..."

Valdrova quietly apologized before stepping away from Ferda.

She said something to Luri, who had been waiting nearby.

Luri looked toward Ferda with a bewildered expression.

But there was no way Ferda could give her an answer.

Luri quietly led Valdrova away from the banquet hall.

Ferda stood still, watching until her figure disappeared completely.

In the noisy banquet hall, his heart felt empty, as though everything inside him had been hollowed out.

The next song began, and Ferda, now without a partner, was about to leave his place.

That was when it happened.

Someone grabbed Ferda by the wrist.

The soft touch of silk brushed against him, and before Ferda had a chance to resist, he was pulled back onto the dance floor.

"Hello, Regent Ferda."

A familiar voice.

Ferda knew this voice.

It was the voice that had pulled him out when he had been drowning in deep darkness inside the castle of the Heinkel Kingdom.

That voice had introduced herself as—

Saintess of Sierra, the Chain.

Angrem.

"You—"

"Shh."

She raised an index finger to her lips, as though she already knew what Ferda was about to do.

"If you reveal my identity, I’ll have no choice but to reveal yours as well."

"What am I?"

"That you are a child of Sierra."

In the Arken Empire, where Alte, the symbol of light and the sun, was the state religion, Sierra’s faith was one of the most dangerous religions imaginable.

If Ferda allowed such suspicions to catch fire under the current circumstances, he would suffer a devastating blow.

And it wouldn’t end with Ferda alone.

Everyone who had supported him would be dragged down with him.

He couldn’t ruin everything because of a single mistake.

"Let’s dance for now."

She skillfully led Ferda.

To everyone watching, it looked as though Ferda was expertly leading the dance.

In reality, he was merely moving without resistance, like her puppet.

Ferda realized one more thing.

He had already met this woman once before, during the Festival of the Beginning of Spring.

"What do you want?"

"The question has changed."

Angrem smiled like a crescent moon.

"There’s something you want from me, isn’t there, Ferda?"

What I want.

The woman who had been parasitizing the deepest part of his heart.

His mother.

And they called that woman Sierra.

"She wants you to be unhappy. I don’t know why, though."

"Do you want to make me unhappy as well?"

"If I told you it was the opposite, would you believe me?"

There was no way he could believe her.

She had already introduced herself as a Saintess of Sierra.

"It’s difficult to believe that a Saintess would go against Sierra’s will."

"Hehe. I’m merely fulfilling my duty."

"Your duty?"

"I am called Sierra’s Mercy, Sierra’s Chain, and the Saintess of the Full Moon. Another is called Sierra’s Vengeance, Sierra’s Wolf, and the Saintess of the Dark Moon. You have seen her once before, haven’t you?"

"The woman I saved at the Dvelung residence."

Angrem smiled, apparently pleased that he remembered.

"Anyway, what matters is that I know you, Regent Ferda, portray us as cruel and merciless fanatics. But we do have something called a proper measure."

"What do you mean by a proper measure?"

"Violence with measure is justice. Violence without measure is evil."

Ferda couldn’t understand why they were talking about having a proper measure.

The Sierra faith had always been one that killed people as examples.

To other religions, they had long since crossed the line.

Angrem read even those thoughts from Ferda’s expression and smiled faintly.

"We are servants of the great Moon Goddess, Sierra, but we have a duty to uphold the words she left behind. That duty is to prevent the birth of something that goes beyond all measure."

"What is that?"

"That is the Mad Moon."

"The Mad Moon?"

"One whose very existence is founded upon the belief that everyone bears responsibility for every sin. One who devours the sun and rises high above the sky in a red light rather than silver, seeking to guide the world into eternal darkness. They are those who cause vegetation to wither and proclaim the end of everything that sets foot upon the earth."

Angrem looked meaningfully at Ferda.

"Lady Sierra always said that her child would become the Mad Moon."

"You’re saying that I will become the Mad Moon...?"

"Yes."

"There have already been many children of Sierra besides me, haven’t there?"

"There have."

"...You killed them all."

"That’s why there is the Wolf and the Chain."

The Mad Moon.

There’s no way I could become Sierra’s Mad Moon.

Fate and such things were nothing more than useless superstitions.

He wanted to say that.

But then the memories of his past came crashing back.

He had once longed for power.

The reason was to soothe his own anxiety.

He wanted to be safe from those who sought to harm him.

And for that, he needed the deaths of those who could pose a threat to him.

He hadn’t wanted everyone to die.

But... was that really true?

If Ferda himself had personally ended Valdrova’s life and taken her power to reach the Ninth Circle, would he still have been able to think the same way?

No.

There was no way.

Ferda would have thought this instead.

If only everything could disappear and start anew.

There was a wish capable of overturning everything.

Yet if he did not use such an enormous wish, only future consequences would remain.

Even now, after crossing through time, Sierra had not given up.

She wanted nothing more than for Ferda to become a mad moon that would annihilate everything.

"So you’re trying to eliminate me as well?"

"Normally, I should. But I don’t want to."

"Why?"

"Because you are the only one who can free me from this cycle."

Angrem said so.

"The one who does not become the Mad Moon will become the final child. And when that happens, the Saintess’s duty will come to an end."

"You want to stop being a Saintess?"

"As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started wanting to quit."

She was, after all, only a nineteen-year-old maiden.

She added that last part herself.

"What about you, Ferda? Do you want to escape your Fate?"

I want to.

No one wanted to be unhappy.

"There is something I’m curious about."

"What is it?"

"Why should I trust you?"

There were certainly enough reasons for him to listen to her story.

But there was no reason to trust her.

Above all, she was, one way or another, the human closest to Sierra.

"Regardless, you’re a Saintess of Sierra. Isn’t it possible that you’re acting under Sierra’s orders and simply trying to confuse me?"

Ferda pressed her without lowering his guard.

"That is also a fair point. Trust isn’t some gift that can simply be given and easily received."

Angrem remained composed.

It was as though she had abandoned all trivial concerns, like someone who could see through a future whose next moment was impossible to predict.

"But one day, there will come a time when you need my help. Until that day comes, please... do not become the Mad Moon."

Angrem released his hand and began to leave.

Ferda firmly grabbed her hand.

"Oh?"

Angrem looked up at Ferda and let out a brief exclamation.

"There is one thing I must apologize to you for."

"You don’t need to. I already know you’ve been signaling those children with your eyes."

"!"

"Your reaction is cute. No matter how talented you are, I have something called experience."

She deliberately added one more remark.

"Of course, I’m only nineteen ~."

As Angrem’s hand slipped free, an ambush was launched at the same time.

The attacker was Zed, one of Ferda’s attendants.

At that moment, Angrem’s dress fluttered.

The frills that had formed its graceful curves came undone, spreading out into dozens of strips of fabric like ribbons scattering in the wind.

"Ugh!"

The release was undoubtedly accomplished through magic.

But what came afterward was not magic.

Her movements were so smooth and delicate that they made even a first-rate dancer look foolish.

And at the same time, they were just as powerful.

Zed’s vision, as he cautiously approached, was obscured by the fluttering fabric.

He gripped the Dagger he had hidden inside his clothes and tried to cut through the fabric as he advanced.

But where Angrem should have been, there was already no one.

"We meet again, handsome young man."

She was already behind Zed.

"Urgh!"

Zed instinctively reversed his grip on the Dagger.

He tried to stab Angrem in the side.

But it remained nothing more than an intention.

Zed’s body wouldn’t move.

Some of the strips of fabric that had been fluttering through the air had instantly wrapped around and restrained his body.

This movement makes no sense.

It was movement that looked like magic.

But it wasn’t created by magic.

It was the ultimate martial art born from a combination of insight into the human mind and the agility to naturally slip into its blind spots.

Zed, who prided himself on his stealth, could do nothing but stand in awe of those bizarre movements.

"You don’t need to feel a wall between us already. My movements are the culmination of martial arts forged through years of experience. If you temper yourself a little more with that boiling youth of yours, you may surpass me one day."

With those words, Angrem stepped away from Zed.

"Then I’ll truly be leaving now."

The fabric that had soared into the sky descended to the floor.

Angrem’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

The banquet hall had fallen into confusion, but with the beautiful fabric spread across the floor, everyone simply assumed it was a new performance and enjoyed the spectacle.

Ferda and Zed tried to find Angrem.

But Angrem had instantly become someone else and disappeared into the crowd in that guise.

Once she had blended into the crowd, searching for her would only have meant committing an act of rudeness.

In the end, they had no choice but to let her go.

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