Chapter 101

I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 101: A Troubled Home

A Troubled Home
Chapter 101. Nanga

Kuwung!

With a sound that shook Hestia Village, the situation came to an end.

Those who had gathered to eliminate the remaining monsters formed a circle around Valdrova.

All of their gazes fell upon her.

— What on earth is this…?

— Uuep…

Those with weak stomachs retched upon seeing the scene.

There were also those who recognized that form.

“Berserker.”

Those who, possessed by rage, tear everything apart.

That rage cannot be controlled; unless there is a mage who can use Calm Magic, they are treated merely as a small Ogre.

The residents could guess why she, who wielded absurd superhuman strength, was there.

That assumption was not accurate either, but fear spread in an instant.

Everyone feared Valdrova.

Valdrova took no action.

She merely raised her head a little, scanned her surroundings, and then sat quietly in her place.

Everyone looked at each other and hesitated.

No one had the courage to step into that crater where the ground had caved in with a single blow.

— Are you alright, Sir Knight?

A man wearing the epaulets of the Security Captain.

The man who had faced the monsters more bravely than anyone approached and asked.

Valdrova could not answer.

— Can you stand up? Do you need help?

William extended his hand to her, but Valdrova did not even look at that hand.

She simply remained there as if she were dead.

What awakened her spirit was a single voice.

— Sir William.

It was Ferda.

She raised her head and looked at Ferda.

— Yes, Regent-nim.

— I just heard a tremendous explosion. This seems to be the epicenter…

Ferda looks at her.

Those cold eyes.

They were not the gaze that had observed her with affection.

— You are…

Ferda could not continue his words.

Valdrova knew the reason.

“I am…”

A monster.

Ferda walked toward Valdrova.

Unable to bear looking at his expression, she lowered her head.

With her vision blocked, the footsteps sounded even clearer.

Ferda, who had approached, opened his mouth.

— Come to the castle. I have something to tell you.

The usual tenderness directed at her was nowhere to be found.

She had seen this space several times before, but it was very different from back then.

Back then I inspected it as the master; now I have come as a guest.

It was a ridiculous story.

The master of the castle coming as a guest.

Ferda did not know that fact.

He personally prepared and served the tea in the reception room.

— Originally the maids do this, but they are busy cleaning up the situation outside, so I have to do it myself. Please understand if the taste is not good.

— …

— Even so, consider it a blessing. Since I established the rule that all knights must wash up before entering, it would have only been a waste of time.

Ferda offered the teacup to Valdrova.

It did not matter whether the taste was good or not.

“Tea that Ferda-ssi prepared…”

Just that already felt extraordinarily special.

I want to drink it.

But if I take off the helmet, my face will be exposed.

Ferda will be surprised.

If that happens, I will have to explain what I have been doing all this time, and it will get complicated.

He will feel disappointment.

She did not want to face that tragedy.

“Let’s just stay still.”

Valdrova put the teacup down in silence.

Ferda, who had been watching that action in silence, started a different conversation.

— I heard you took a Vow of Silence.

Nod, nod.

— It is a good excuse. If you say you took a Vow of Silence, you only have to answer what is asked, and you do not have to say unnecessary things. Is that not so?

Ferda’s cold gaze seemed to pierce through her.

— I do not know about the ignorant masses, but I grew up in a family of knights. The Vow of Silence is something usually taken only by Paladins. And if you place your faith in someone, it would show on your body.

— …

— But you serve no one. All you possess is strength and combat ability that surpass knights. So why did you tell such a lie?

He said with cynicism.

— It is an obvious story. That you hid your identity to escape your past.

Valdrova clenched her fist.

Even if Ferda was mistaken in some details, the essence was correct.

Valdrova hated herself.

More than the demons who had led many to their deaths, she hated herself for making someone tremble.

— Try telling me.

Ferda asked, raising his teacup.

— Have you ever killed anyone while in the grip of that rage?

Nod.

— So you fled and came here?

Nod.

— I see.

A brief silence.

Ferda, thinking about something, asked her.

— Do you regret that day?

Regret.

How could she not regret it?

For decades she had submerged herself in grief, loathed herself, and suffered nightmares.

She begged for God’s mercy and salvation, but no one listened to her.

Instead of moving forward, she stayed still and loathed herself.

Every time she thought of those sacrificed in the Dragon-Demon War, this thought always came to her mind:

If only those people she had killed could live again, she would not mind becoming an Evil Dragon that made the entire world its enemy.

Valdrova nodded her head.

— I see.

That calm affirmation seemed to create the calm before the storm.

It felt as though abuse would rain down at any moment.

That a monster like you is not needed in this town.

To get lost right now.

— You.

But there was no storm.

— Do you like this village?

It was an extremely easy question.

Valdrova nodded her head.

— Do you also have the intention to protect this village?

Nod, nod.

— Then… do you also intend to accept the knighthood I propose to you?

Nod—.

Valdrova raised her head.

“A knight…”

A position that protects the people and guards the king.

What country boys dream of is the Romance of Knights.

Valdrova, too, liked the word ‘protection’ enough to be interested in that position.

“But why?”

She could not understand.

People saw her as a monster.

Those girls trembled with fear.

I am an Evil Dragon, no, an Evil Person.

Such a person must not become a knight.

— Do you think you lack the qualifications?

Nod.

— You are thinking about trivial things.

Harsh and unrestrained words.

The soft-hearted Valdrova felt hurt.

— Do you know how many adventurers participated in Hestia Village?

Shook head, shook head.

— 23 parties came. In numbers, that is 73 people. Every one of them is a force, a person of wisdom.

— …

— But when the defensive battle unfolded, only 4 parties participated. Do you know what that means? It means 19 parties did not care whether the people died or the village was destroyed.

Ferda leaned his body forward and spoke.

— But you did not do that. You could have hidden among those idiots, but you moved to protect this village.

— …

— That is because you know that the people right before your eyes are more precious than the past.

At those words, something vanished from Valdrova’s chest.

I thought he would be looking at a cold-blooded monster, but that was not the case.

That had been Valdrova’s illusion from the beginning.

Although it was not affectionate, respect was contained in those eyes.

— If you have the heart to protect this place, your past means nothing to me.

You are not to blame.

And you only have to keep moving forward.

“What is this…?”

A strange emotion was felt.

She had had this kind of conversation several times while receiving Ferda’s mana.

Back then, Ferda was always affectionate.

“But it was not comfortable.”

When Ferda dealt with her, he treated her like a flower that could break at any moment.

Those delicate and soft hands barely brushed her skin and moved past.

Valdrova could not believe those words, and for that reason that comfort remained only as a fleeting emotion.

“It is different from back then.”

A tone and a gaze that are not affectionate.

An attitude of treating her like a stranger in every sense.

“It feels as if we are meeting for the first time.”

Without hesitating when touching, drawing out deep empathy from within her.

All of it seemed like seeing another side of Ferda.

Her heart pounded heavily.

Deeper than when she first saw him, this was unmistakably the emotion of yearning.

— Do I seem like an understanding person?

At his question, Valdrova nodded.

— Unfortunately, I am not such a person. The fact that I am pretending to be so understanding is only because I have seen such a person once before.

Who on earth could that person be?

While she wondered internally, he spoke.

— That person is truly beautiful.

Beautiful.

Ferda, upon saying those words, smiled.

At that sight, Valdrova’s chest tightened.

“Ruri said Ferda-ssi never smiled at anyone other than me…”

That his affection was for Valdrova, his smiles for Valdrova.

Who is that person, to make him like this?

— I only saw the face once, but even that cannot be said to have been seen properly.

“Just by seeing the face once, how could they be such a good person?”

— Furthermore, the first time I saw that face, it was soaked in tears.

“Is a weeping appearance so beautiful…?”

— Every time, I want to see that person’s face, but I do not dare speak.

“What a bad guy. Not even showing his face once…”

— Even so, thinking that that person is resting without worries under this castle, I comfort myself with just that.

“Under this castle…”

Wait a moment.

That person…

“Nanga?”

Valdrova realizes belatedly.

Recalling what he said, wasn’t the situation exactly the same as hers?

“Ah…”

Valdrova’s face flushed intensely.

Once she realized, she wanted to run out of there at that very instant.

And return to her lair, roll on the floor as usual, and make nasal sounds.

But she put all her effort into calming this trembling and acted like a stranger.

“I really must not be discovered now.”

Whether for Ferda’s sake or mine!

— The idle chat went on long. So, can you think once more about receiving the knighthood?

Ferda returned to the main topic.

Valdrova also decided to think again.

“If I become a knight… would I become the person who protects Ferda-ssi?”

Valdrova’s heart pounded heavily.

As a dragon, as Valdrova, hearing words she would never have dared hear, just listening to them made it impossible to hide her racing heart.

“I want to protect the village.”

But even bigger than that,

“I want to protect Ferda-ssi.”

And even bigger than that,

“I want to hear more about what he thinks of me!”

A woman who lacked the courage to ask to his face, and a man who could not say it to her face.

In such a relationship, it was a perfectly flawless moment to hear true feelings directly.

That reason was almost everything.

Just as Valdrova was about to give her answer to that.

— Ferda-nim.

Ruri entered.

— How is the situation in the village?

— The cleanup is proceeding smoothly.

— Any bad news?

— Nothing in particular. Casualties are minimal, and although there are many seriously injured, emergency treatment was completed quickly, so there is no danger to their lives.

— That is a relief.

— I will attend to you.

She, skillfully and quickly, took her place and poured the tea.

Ruri’s gaze settled briefly on the armor.

— Hm?

She, who was indifferent to humans, for some reason was staring intently at that armor.

Ruri stared fixedly at the armor.

A face that looked like it might realize something, but also that it might not, a vague and uncertain expression.

After a moment,

— …Ah?

Ruri’s expression quickly turned sour.

Valdrova knows that expression.

“She found out!”

Inside the armor, her complexion turned pale.

Ruri looked at her with an astonished gaze and, following the Vow of Silence, kept her mouth shut.

Ferda, who had not noticed at all, only found Ruri’s behavior strange.

— Why are you like that?

— …It is nothing. I just suddenly thought of the filth remaining in the village.

Ruri finished serving as if nothing were wrong and positioned herself behind Ferda.

— Then, let us continue the story…

— Excuse me.

Ruri interrupted.

— May I ask what story is underway?

— …It is the first time you ask that.

She was always faithful to her role.

Standing like a folding screen, never intruding.

— It seemed like quite an important story. I felt that I too might need to know it.

Ferda answered willingly.

— I asked if she could swear loyalty to me as a knight.

— Knight… loyalty…?

An astonished face.

— So, did she accept?

— I was about to hear the answer.

— Oh…

Ruri narrowed her eyes and looked at the knight.

— Is that so?

Valdrova’s body shrank involuntarily.

Is she planning to expose her identity?

Denying it strongly in her heart, she sent her a telepathic message.

Please pretend you do not know!

Ruri had no such intention either.

Instead, she replied more cruelly than Valdrova had imagined.

— Ferda-nim. What do you think of this?

— What thing?

— A situation where a high-ranking knight swears loyalty to a commoner.

Ferda answered.

He looked at Ruri as if asking if she was in her right mind.

— One cannot swear loyalty to a commoner, but swearing loyalty to one’s own convictions is possible. If one says they will protect the people according to their convictions, it may seem like swearing loyalty to commoners. That is something noble.

That was why Ferda appointed William as Security Captain.

If the village grew, he even planned to knight him.

— That is just an example. Then, allow me to phrase it a little differently. For example…

She pretended to choose her words, then replied.

— What would happen if Valdrova-nim swore loyalty to Ferda-nim?

Ferda furrowed his brow and replied.

He looked at Ruri as if asking if she was in her right mind.

— That is nonsense. That cannot happen. The one who swears loyalty is me, and you must give trust; saying she will swear loyalty to me is no different from insulting me, is it not?

— That is exactly what I mean.

— If you knew, do not say such things lightly. Not even as an example, I cannot tolerate it.

— I apologize. I only asked out of curiosity.

Ruri crossed her arms and looked at Valdrova.

An expression that asked if she understood how absurd this situation was.

— Then, what will your answer be?

Ferda asked.

Her answer was already decided.