Chapter 126

Chapter 126: A Long and Happy Marriage

Chapter 126. Ten Thousand Years Together

Ferda took Valdrova’s hand and moved.

The only phrase that came to his mind was “quiet place.”

Ferda was heading toward that quiet place.

The place they reached was the castle garden.

That place, beautifully illuminated by the moonlit night, was suitable for enjoying a secret rendezvous.

Perhaps because people were livening up at the dance, there was no one in the garden.

A spring breeze without moisture brushed his skin.

His forehead was cold.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

Valdrova carefully released Ferda’s hand and walked forward.

After walking about four steps, she squatted right there and buried her face between her knees.

Like a young noble lady weeping bitterly.

— ……Sniff.

The sound of sobbing dampened the silence.

The Shadow Circle stirred at that sound.

Regret, separated, shifted within Ferda’s chest.

Ferda wanted to look away from that sad scene, but forced himself to watch.

Just as this woman was facing her situation, I too must not avoid it.

I am sorry.

I am sorry for making her sad.

Those words did not come out easily.

The sound of sobbing. The sound of swallowing saliva only choked his own throat.

— Ferda-ssi…

The first to speak was Valdrova.

— Please, speak.

— …Did you hear?

— What do you mean?

— The voices.

She rubbed her eyes with both wrists.

— The voices that whispered while looking at me.

Whispering voices?

Ferda had not heard them.

— Calling me a murderer, whispering insults… Could you not hear those sounds?

Ferda clenched his fist.

Valdrova’s hearing was far superior to that of a human.

To her, who could vividly hear even the minuscule fluttering of a mosquito, such murmurs would be audible.

Rage enveloped his whole body.

How dared they make a sound when they had barely set foot in the lands of the Duke King?

How wretched?

No matter what family they are from.

If I find out, I will kill them with my own hands.

— Do not hesitate.

— They insulted your woman.

A voice echoed in Ferda’s ear.

The Shadow Circle did not move, but it incited Ferda’s actions.

Which meant it would lead to regret.

“Is this a dangerous thought?”

Ferda forcibly cooled his head.

If one is carried away by emotion, one makes mistakes, and mistakes grow like a snowball rolling from the summit.

Observing himself briefly from afar, he regained his reason.

“Even if those bastards are immature, they are not idiots.”

It would be fortunate if murmuring behind the host’s back only ended with their throats slit, but it could lead to the ruin of the territory.

If they were young lords and ladies who could not distinguish right from wrong, they would not have been brought to a gathering of all the nobles.

Much less to a dragon.

A dragon they would never have the chance to see in their entire lives; an evil dragon known for her ferocity.

There was no way they possessed the courage to make such sounds.

So he answered this way.

— I did not hear.

Valdrova patted her chest in relief.

— Thank goodness. As expected, I must have been hearing things again.

— As expected…?

— That is… I always hear voices when I go where there are people. Cursing me as a murderer, as a slaughterer… screaming.

She took a deep breath.

— Still… I thought it would improve a bit more than before.

Ferda did not know, but Valdrova was helping with the construction of the village.

Back then, there were no problems.

Because she was not Valdrova, but a single armored knight wearing ordinary armor and possessing monstrous strength.

They respected and admired the armored knight like a knight from a fairy tale.

— But it was not like that.

The armored knight and Valdrova could not be the same.

The labels of the past attached to her could be felt in the gazes of others.

Murderer, slaughterer, flames that burn everything.

Evil dragon, evil dragon, evil dragon…

— That is not true. People do not insult Your Highness. That matter is too ancient for humans.

A full 150 years ago.

Unless they are a high mage like Erdes, very few people who lived through that era survive.

— I know. I know those people cannot say such things to my face. But… what if…?

Her voice trembled with moisture and passion.

— If someone truly said those things to me… I…

Swallowing her rising emotion, unable to finish her words, she hesitated.

Swallowing and swallowing the choked sound, she spoke.

— So I tried to only watch from afar.

Ferda imagined it vividly before his eyes.

Her figure watching from outside the window, unseen, from very far away.

In the seat he wanted to create for her, she had become a stranger.

— I only wanted to see Ferda-ssi standing at the banquet… but then I saw by chance. That person named Olivia… asking for a dance.

As expected.

That was the trigger.

— Princess Arken is nothing to me. Asking for that dance was merely my duty as a host.

Ferda said firmly.

He wished this sincerity would reach her, but it was not enough to soothe her sadness.

— But even so, you looked so good beside Ferda-ssi.

— Olivia Arken is nothing to me compared to you.

— No!

Valdrova burst out and raised her voice.

— The Imperial Princess is intelligent, elegant, noble, smiles well, she is the kind of woman everyone admires!

— …

— Look! Look at this fool who barely gathered courage! Wearing a mask like this… unable to show her face to people… not even to her fiancé… feeling jealous in such a vulgar manner… and then…

Valdrova covering her eyes with her hands.

— Only crying like this…

— …

— Dancing like a fool, stepping on Ferda-ssi’s feet over and over again…

The reason for her sadness was not that Ferda had betrayed her or anything of the sort.

It was a self-hatred that blamed everything on herself.

Ferda’s scandal with Olivia was also her own fault for being pathetic.

Not being able to dance was also her fault.

Her self-esteem, which had hit rock bottom while isolated in a secluded world, sank further with each mistake.

Ferda knew that she was in pain.

Embracing that pain was Ferda’s job.

“A place where even taking a single step is difficult…”

Ferda had dragged her out.

Claiming he would prevent useless rumors, he had placed a terrible emotional burden upon this woman who knew nothing.

I am the worst fiancé.

— Iorga’s words were correct. I am a child who ruins everything she does.

— That is not true. It is not true that Your Highness ruins everything.

— You do not have to say things you do not feel.

— I speak from the bottom of my heart.

Ferda took a step forward.

— Your Highness said it. You did not know what would happen if you let go of this hand.

— …

— I did not let go. Your Highness did not let go either. And what happened?

— …

— Your Highness did not run away, did not scream in an unseemly manner.

— …

— You ruined nothing. As a great dragon, as the Queen Duchess, you protected your dignity.

Those words seemed to comfort her.

The sobs gradually stopped.

— Still, the dance might have been truly clumsy.

— Uueu…

— But at least there would have been no one who thought Your Highness was a fool.

— …Why?

Ferda answered nonchalantly.

— Because I was flapping around like a chicken in a burning coop.

— Puhup…!

A laugh broke through a voice mingled with tears.

After falling silent as if out of breath, Valdrova turned her head.

All that was visible was a white mask, but he knew there was no longer sadness inside.

— We must both have been fools.

— That is right.

— A fool and a fool.

— Yes.

The weeping vanished, and before he realized it, laughter flowed.

The gloomy atmosphere faded away.

Valdrova stood up from her seat, and Ferda stepped quietly to her side.

— Ferda-ssi…

Ferda turned his head.

She looked up at him with her small figure.

— My face… do you want to see it?

Desperately.

— It is only the two of us here… and Ferda-ssi always wants to see my face… so I think it would be fine to show it to you today…

She moved her hands shyly to take off the mask.

Beyond that was Valdrova’s face, which Ferda had only imagined.

Her appearance visible to the naked eye, not to the imagination.

— You cannot.

Ferda reflexively caught her hand that was attempting to remove the mask.

Valdrova felt bewildered.

— Why?

Why, indeed?

Ferda’s body had moved first, so he too did not know the reason exactly.

He thought of the answer to that question.

The answer emerged.

— Are there not still tears remaining?

— Probably…?

— Then you cannot.

Their first encounter found her shedding tears.

Ferda did not want the face he would see again to be filled with a tearful expression.

— As expected, my tearful face looks unpleasant, right?

The atmosphere grew disheartened.

No, it is not that.

If it were because her tearful face was unpleasant, he would have beaten himself to death.

Ferda racked his brains.

Wondering if there was a suitable excuse, he suddenly remembered what Jed had said.

— My knight said that if one saw the first face as a crying one, one must see the second as a smiling one. Were you not crying at our first meeting?

— Ah… yes, is that so?

— Then, this time it must be a smiling face.

— T-that is true.

Hearing those words, Valdrova also stopped trying to remove the mask.

Perhaps because Ferda’s figure was so earnest, she thought it to be so.

Even so, the reason was too curious.

— Then, what happens if one sees a smiling face?

Ferda replied.

— They say you grow old together for a hundred years.

He expected her to be happy or embarrassed, but what came from her lips was disappointment.

— Only a hundred years…?

— Huh?

— If love only lasts a hundred years… that seems too sad…

“What kind of senseless nonsense is this…”

he thought, but then remembered he had forgotten that Valdrova’s sense of time was different.

For humans, a hundred years is practically a lifetime, but for her, it is probably similar to just one year.

So to Valdrova, it sounded like “let us only be together for a year.”

Thinking this would not do, she asked with a suddenly serious voice.

— So, you know.

— Yes.

— If I smile more brightly, could it last more than a hundred years?

Ferda momentarily forgot what to say.

Valdrova continued asking with an innocent voice.

— Would a thousand years be possible?

Shaking her head quickly.

— No, a thousand years is also too short. I feel it should be about ten thousand years.

— …It will be possible.

Ferda answered, his soul lost.

Yet Valdrova felt she was cheering up.

— Then I will prepare so that I can smile very brightly. Because… I want to spend ten thousand years together with Ferda-ssi.

A woman who, if one points at the moon, only looks at the finger.

Even with such an incredibly dense appearance, Ferda found her unbearably adorable.

The Shadow Circle no longer moved.

Instead, the Red Circle spun wildly on its own.

Ferda had to suppress it as much as he could so that this heart would not run wild on its own and ruin the atmosphere.

It hurts.

It hurts so much because I am happy.

Ferda never imagined he would feel this kind of emotion.

As if that heart reached her, the laughing girl suddenly turned her head and looked up at the sky.

— The moon… is beautiful.

— They say today is the day the moon is at its largest.

— I-is that so?

Awkward for no reason at all.

It did not seem she intended to have this kind of conversation.

Undoubtedly, he must have caught her foolishness disease.

— Moonlight Step…

— Yes.

— They say it is most beautiful when danced on a moonlit night…

— I-is that so?

This was something even a fool could understand.

Valdrova’s restless hand.

Ferda’s hand, placed beside hers, also kept moving.

Neither of the two could bring up the topic easily.

Proposing a dance was, naturally, Ferda’s role.

Yet there was a reason he could not propose a dance rashly.

Ferda was bad at dancing.

Olivia was skilled enough to dance while humming a tune, but he was not.

For Ferda to dance under this moonlit night, he needed music at the very least.

Just when she seemed to desire another chance,

Ferda also did not want to ruin the opportunity he had taken.

It was then that.

The beautiful tone of a violin rode the night wind and spread.

Ferda looked toward the source of the sound.

There, a tall figure playing the violin was seen.

It was Jed.

He played the violin with very skillful technique.

Yet that alone was not enough to carry the melody.

Soon, the sound of a flute filled the lack and joined in a duet.

A woman sitting beside Jed played an instrument.

“It is Garnet.”

The music they created in harmony was the waltz melody “Moonlight.”

The dance derived from that piece was precisely the Moonlight Step.

The timing was astonishing.

We were just talking about the Moonlight Step, and suddenly they were playing “Moonlight.”

“They heard everything.”

Thinking about it, was this not the hidden spot to blackmail young lords and ladies?

It was natural that they heard Ferda and Valdrova’s conversation.

“Well, what does it matter?”

Rather than feeling bad, he focused on the message Jed was giving him.

As a knight, he gave Ferda a push.

Ferda had to seize that opportunity.

— Queen Duchess Valdrova, Your Highness.

An opportunity to mend the mistakes each had made.

— Would you honor me with a dance?

And an opportunity for them to be together.

Valdrova responded with brilliance like the morning sun.

— Yes…!

The hands of the two people overlapped again.

Excitement settled in.

The sound of heartbeats joyfully livened the atmosphere, and their fingertips savored her skin.

Under the moonlit night, the man and the woman danced, entrusting their bodies to the beautiful melody.

Even if the Spring Festival social gathering became a mess,

Even if their clumsy dance was exposed to the world,

In a place no one would know, they were perfect for each other,

So that was enough for the two of them.

When the melody of “Moonlight” concluded, they bowed to each other and finished.

They let go of each other’s hands, but their gazes lingered with reluctance.

— Ferda-ssi.

— Yes.

— I must… leave now…

— Is that so?

Their two hands, joined and lowered, grew restless.

— It is not that I do not want to see Ferda-ssi… but right now, once again, I cannot control myself…

Ferda could not bear it either.

He only wanted to catch his breath alone and savor the afterglow.

Contrary to that heart, his body did not move easily.

Their hands moved awkwardly, and it took much effort and time until their fingertips parted completely.

— I pray you return safely.

— Yes.

She went to the edge of the garden, toward the cliff.

Thinking it was not proper to watch Valdrova fall, Ferda turned his body.

Now, let us return to the social hall.

— Ferda-ssi!

Valdrova’s voice, carrying courage, stopped him.

Ferda turned around.

She was standing on the railing, with the moon above her head.

She, prepared to fall at any moment, brought her hand to her own face.

Just like that, she took off her mask.

At that moment, the background of black and blue light was instantly filled with color.

Ferda was overwhelmed by this unreal, supernatural moment.

Ferda tried to choose the appropriate word for what he now saw before his eyes.

Right.

It was the sun.

Warm light and warmth that melts the frozen earth and makes sprouts bloom.

What was hidden behind that mask was a radiant smile like the warm sun.

— With this, can we… spend ten thousand years together?

— …

— S-stupid question. Then I will leave now!

Embarrassed, she threw her body downward.

Ferda’s soul, which had departed, did not think of returning.

Staring blankly at the place she had left, his legs completely gave way.

Ferda lay down right there.

— Sunstroke…

Seeing his face turn bright red and his mind grow dizzy, it was certain.

Ferda chuckled softly.

He stared fixedly at the stars in the empty space.

— …Did you see?

A question cast into the void.

The target was the voice within himself.

The voice he had ignored for a long time.

For the first time, Ferda spoke to that voice first.

The voice closed its mouth tightly.

It did not matter.

That silence was nothing less than a sweet victory for Ferda.

The victor cast taunts at the loser.

— No matter how much you rage, you will never be able to beat that woman.