I'm Pissed
...I'm pissed.
She was angry.
The vast empty space once filled by anxiety and worry had been claimed by fury.
The regent—Baldrova's fiancé—goes off to some useless place, stirs up trouble, and gets himself hurt?
The taut string of Ruri's reason snapped, and she unleashed her Dragon Fear.
Straight at Ferda.
The unlucky knights caught in the middle were having their backs broken without the faintest idea why.
"C-Commander! Give the order already...!"
If they kept standing off like this, they would collapse before a fight even began.
The knights defending the Imperial Palace had to decide—fight or withdraw.
"A-Atta—"
Just as the commander was about to give the signal to attack, someone laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Hold on a moment."
Unlike the trembling commander, the man's voice was calm.
"I'll handle this."
"Pardon? Forgive me, but who might you be...?"
"I'm Regent Ferda. One of the guests invited today."
Ferda jerked his chin toward Ruri.
"And that maid over there is the personal attendant of Grand Duchess Baldrova."
"Ah, is that so?"
Some of the tension left the knight commander's face.
The man standing here was the Regent of Baldrova; that meant they could at least talk.
"So will you give me a little time?"
Of course he would.
He was curious about every detail—why she had smashed through the magic circle and come down here, why she was radiating Dragon Fear—but containing the situation came first.
The knights held formation as they fell back, and Ferda walked forward.
With every step he took, the Dragon Fear grew denser.
Creases formed on his expressionless face; veins stood out on his neck.
Feels exactly like walking into a real dragon's maw.
He stopped five paces from her.
Ruri traced a circle on the ground with her index finger, and pure white wind began to whirl around the spot where she and Ferda stood.
The wind rose and sealed them inside a hemispherical barrier.
Ruri, who had kept her lips pressed tight, let out a long breath through her nose, as if releasing the pressure that had built up with her rising heat.
"This place is cut off from the outside. Nothing we say here will leak out."
"I see."
"So... I'll just speak."
Ruri poured out every surging emotion.
"Have you lost your mind?"
Utterly blunt.
"The Grand Duchess's fiancé doesn't even understand what his position means, and goes around doing reckless nonsense?"
"It was necessary."
"That is not an answer. Even if it was necessary, if word of this had reached my master, everything would have fallen into chaos. Do you realize that?"
"I know. And I also knew you wouldn't tell her."
"Why?"
"Because you cherish your master. You wouldn't want her to move."
He had also known that if anyone came from Baldrova Castle, it would be Ruri first.
"Yes. I have a duty to serve my master. But Lord Ferda... I don't think you love my master as much as you claim."
"I cherish her as well."
"And yet you let news that you were injured in the Sealed Vault reach her? Fine—I'll concede that point a hundred times."
The closer Ferda came, the angrier Ruri grew, and there was a separate reason for it.
Even he had overlooked one thing.
Ruri seized Ferda's wrist and brought her nose to it.
"And that same man walks around reeking of a woman's perfume?"
"..."
She shook his wrist and demanded,
"Who is the bitch?"
"...Olivia Arken."
"That vulgar body they call the Flower of the Empire?"
A deeper venom entered Ruri's expression.
The hand gripping his wrist tightened; it felt as though the bones might shatter.
"...She does have that nickname, yes."
Ferda chose to ignore the first part of what she had said.
Not only had he been injured—his fiancée had now taken the hand of the most beautiful woman in the Empire.
Ruri's whole body trembled.
The gaze that had been fixed on Ferda could no longer hold; it dropped to the ground.
"Are you the sort of man who grabs any woman's hand that comes near? Was approaching my master just so you could hold her hand once too?"
"Don't jump to conclusions. She grabbed mine of her own accord. If I wanted to talk with her, I had no choice but to play along. It wasn't because I enjoyed it."
"...I don't believe you."
Ruri's left hand clenched into a tight fist.
Watching her seethe, Ferda asked with a look of resignation,
"Want to hit me once?"
"..."
"You may hit me once. If that is what you want."
Only then did Ruri's eyes, which had fallen to the floor, flick upward for a glance at Ferda.
She saw his sharp jaw and cheek.
That face she had wanted to strike at least once just for the way he tossed words so casually.
Her emotions would not settle; they kept surging higher.
In the end Ruri reached out.
Ferda closed his eyes like a man facing the executioner's blade.
Seconds passed, yet no stinging sensation came to his cheek.
Instead, his collar rustled and shifted under her fingers.
"So... did you get what you wanted?"
Ferda nodded.
"There was a harvest."
"Is that so?"
Having finished straightening his clothes, Ruri let go.
The place her hands had passed was left neat and orderly.
"Please do not disappoint my master."
"I understand."
As she spoke, Ruri studied Ferda's face.
Only when she saw an expression that looked as though dead emotions were beginning to revive did she finally feel at ease.
"Then."
When Ruri gestured again, the hemispherical space dissolved and the world returned to normal.
Ruri swept a glance over the knights, then simply beat her wings and left the Imperial Palace.
The knights and mages who had been holding their breath stared up at the empty sky where she had vanished.
"...Situation resolved."
"Hwaaaaah!"
"Huff, huff..."
They were essentially letting the intruders who had forced their way in walk free, yet no one dared point it out.
"But is it really all right to just let them go? They were intruders."
Everyone except one person who lacked any sense of the room.
Once the Level-1 Alert was lifted, the commander approached Ferda and bowed deeply at the waist.
"Thank you for resolving the situation."
"Not at all. I'm the one who should apologize. It happened because of my carelessness and turned the whole place upside down."
"No, sir. We should be content that we passed a moment that could have incurred a dragon's wrath without bloodshed. How would Your Grace prefer we handle this matter?"
If anyone raised an issue, it could drag on into a messy fight of accusations and counter-accusations.
But that was not what Ferda wanted.
Now that he had gained Olivia Arken as an ally, making unnecessary enemies among the imperial bloodline would only be foolish.
"We'll bury it, as you said. No pointing fingers over who was at fault. Thanks to this, we learned that a single Dragon Spawn can smash through the magic circle and force her way in, didn't we?"
"That is true. And it gives us a perfect pretext against those Magic Department bastards who've only been looking after their own rice bowls."
The commander nodded with a face that said this was actually convenient.
Ferda did not know the full workings of court politics, but it was clear the interior was a battlefield in its own right.
"Since the matter seems settled for now, may I take my leave?"
"If your business is finished... of course. But why not rest one night in the palace before you go? You were injured today; it would be better to stay a couple of days, observe your condition, and rest properly before departing..."
The sun was still up, but the evening glow would come soon.
As the commander said, resting even for today would have been wiser.
"Forgive me. I'm a busy man."
"Ah, you have a schedule. I understand."
He had nothing of the sort; he simply wanted to escape this uncomfortable place and return as quickly as possible.
"Ah, and one more thing."
Ferda spoke as if the thought had just occurred to him.
"Yes?"
"There's a knight here I'd like to take with me. Would that be all right?"
"A knight... you say?"
The request was far too sudden, and normally impossible to accept.
Every knight of the Imperial Palace was an outstanding talent; even the last man in the ranks could shine as an excellent knight in any other kingdom.
But the other party was the Grand Duchess's fiancé.
Refusing outright would have been a breach of etiquette.
"Which one caught Your Grace's eye?"
"One I saw earlier... I can't recall the name."
Ferda glanced around, searching for the man.
He found him soon enough.
The fellow was sprawled face-down on the ground, receiving a thorough dressing-down from his seniors.
"Malcolm, you little shit! You were missing when we formed the phalanx, weren't you?"
"You bastard! While the rest of us were busting our asses, what the hell were you doing? Sleeping?"
"S-Sorry! At the time I was trying to stop the Regent..."
"Stop the Regent? So did you stop him, you idiot!?"
"I clearly saw him walking through the garden!"
"I couldn't stop him! I was told not to lay hands on a noble's person...!"
"In a Level-1 Alert situation, after the imperial family we come first—don't you know that?!"
"I-I didn't know!"
"If you don't know, is your military career over!? Want to really get finished off!?"
Ferda pointed at the man sweating rivers while being punished.
"That one."
"...That waste of space?"
The commander's face asked whether he was serious.
"Is he famous?"
"In the worst possible way. I have no idea how that bastard even got into the Imperial Knight Order, but he's useless. Can't sword-fight, rides a donkey that looks like a jackass... beyond that, no one knows how he got here."
"Is that so?"
"We were already thinking of kicking him out... and you still want him?"
The commander asked with genuine concern.
He was not worried about losing talent; he was worried about being the one who tossed a live bomb into someone else's lap.
But Ferda nodded firmly.
"Perfect. Wrap him up for me."
"Understood."
Every knight of the Imperial Palace was precious.
Except Malcolm.
As the sun sank behind the hazy western mountains and the evening glow spread, the official carriage of Baldrova Castle left the capital.
At the same moment, a man who had been holding his breath and hiding beneath the carriage finally showed himself.
"Hoooo!! Finally over."
It was Jed.
After escaping the Sealed Vault he had somehow managed to climb onto the carriage.
"Good work. The item?"
"Kept it safe right here. And I didn't open it."
Jed produced the golden cloth he had been carrying against his chest.
A black-covered book bound in silver chains, wrapped in golden silk.
Ordinary means would never let Ferda break those chains and open it.
He had no intention of looking at it right away anyway, so he wrapped it in the cloth again and set it beside him.
"But seriously, we're not in trouble, right? No matter how you look at it, we stole a book from the Sealed Vault. There's no way this stays quiet..."
"It's fine. We gained an ally, so things will go more smoothly."
"Who?"
"Olivia Arken."
Jed's eyes went round.
"Oh. You actually talked with the Flower of the Empire? I heard she's insanely pretty and pure—how was she?"
"Her insides were cunning."
"Well, she is a noble young lady... There are a lot of people like that."
Jed had dealt with plenty of nobles, yet he still could not quite erase the envious look from his eyes.
She truly was a woman of demonic charm.
Hee-hee-heeing!
Just as they were slipping quietly away, a horse's whinny rose from the group of knights.
"Hey now, hey! Old man! Keep the line straight when you move, I told you! When the mounts get too close everything turns into a mess—how many times do I have to say it!"
"S-Sorry! Rosi, you bastard! Stop messing around!"
Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Jed stuck his head out the window.
There he saw a man who had hurriedly packed his belongings and piled them high on his saddle.
"Never seen that face before. Who's that?"
He was dressed like a wandering knight, but the amateurish air was overwhelming—and it was not just the clothes.
"And why is he riding a donkey...?"
He was not on a horse; he was riding a donkey.
"Fellow named Malcolm. Imperial knight and apprentice knight at the same time. I plan to use him as a specimen."
"Specimen?"
Jed tilted his head at Ferda's words.
"Yes. A specimen."
That was all the simple answer he gave.
Ruri's invasion of the Imperial Palace might have looked impulsive.
In truth it was closer to a rational act grounded in reason.
She had smashed the magic circle and summoned every mage and knight precisely so they would recognize the gravity of the situation and raise their vigilance.
It was a very small warning of what could happen if the consort of a dragon were injured.
That was why Ruri had brought out everything she normally kept hidden—tail, horns, and even the whites of her eyes.
Once the other side realized she could be reasoned with, their commander would ask her affiliation.
Ruri would answer that she was the personal attendant of Grand Duchess Baldrova, and they would talk.
Lord Ferda will be safe no matter what.
Even if he had been hurt inside the palace, resident priests were always present.
Each of them possessed bishop-level holy power; healing an injured Ferda would be nothing.
And yet...
The thoughts kept circling inside Ruri's mind.
She could not feel at ease.
Immortals and mortals were different; Dragon Spawns and humans were different as well.
What if the injury was so severe that even after the wound was healed he would not wake?
What if some demon inside the Sealed Vault had placed a curse on him?
What if he had been unable to resist its whispering and entered into some absurd contract?
Those worries, each of which would lead to Baldrova's sorrow, tangled her thoughts.
A master's anxiety was a servant's anxiety as well.
Ruri refused to be swept away by that unease and held onto her reason until the end.
She knew full well that emotion was of no help in this situation.
And so Ruri carved a path straight through the imperial gardens that barred her way, cutting down everything in front of her.
When she finally smashed through the rose-vine wall, she saw the knights who had been noisily mobilizing now facing her.
Among them she also spotted a familiar man.
Ferda.
Gray hair and blue eyes.
A tall frame, yet a slender build.
And a solemn expression that did not match his age.
Ferda Valdrova.
Everything that entered her sight was the Ferda she knew.
Contrary to the report of injury, he looked unharmed.
He's safe.
In that instant she felt the anxiety that had taken root in her heart drain away.
With the anxiety gone she ought to have felt relief.
But what filled her was different from the usual sense of release.
Not the satisfaction of watching grime wash away.
Not the relief of dissolving a maddening anxiety.
What lived inside Ruri's heart was neither of those two things.