Chapter 127
Chapter 127: Doubts
After Ferda and Valdrova left the banquet hall, it regained its vitality.
It took time before they began to laugh and chat, but everyone was talking about Valdrova.
— To think I would get to see a dragon, something one might not see once in a lifetime…
— She was not as terrifying as I thought.
— Since they said she was an evil dragon, I thought I would get nervous the moment I saw her…
— I was incredibly nervous. I thought my heart would stop.
Red hair with a physique close to that of an ordinary woman.
Yet two pairs of horns clearly affirmed that she was different from them.
It made them realize and overwhelmed them with the fact that they had seen a dragon, something difficult to see even once in a lifetime.
They thought the social hall, which should be laughing and relaxed, would become tense.
Until they saw it.
— The dance was terribly clumsy.
— True. The Regent-nim as well.
The image of the two stepping on each other’s feet, displaying the worst coordination, was vivid in their memories.
One might think they displayed a flaw that should not be left by an immortal, but to Olivia, it was not so.
“It left a doubt.”
With that clumsy dance, she instead left a doubt about the infamous reputation she had cast off.
Whether a dragon that commits such human mistakes is truly an existence more evil than Godwin.
“Did she calculate this?… That is nonsense.”
Everything happened impulsively.
From the moment Valdrova suddenly appeared, Olivia could feel it.
That the immortal was jealous of her, a mere mortal.
Olivia, who had felt jealousy directed toward her by young ladies countless times.
Yet Valdrova’s jealousy felt clearly different.
“Admiration.”
Like a young peasant girl wishing to become a fairy-tale princess.
Inside Valdrova, there was an admiration wishing to be like Olivia.
It was too pure of an intention.
— I like you. Pure person.
Suddenly, the words Ferda had said came to her mind.
Was the purity he spoke of exactly that kind of thing?
A foolish woman who forced herself out of jealousy toward a mere human princess, forcing herself to dance a dance she could not even dance properly.
An overwhelming purity that could not be considered something she had calculated herself.
“I was wrong.”
She had suspected her laughter was cheap, no different from that of other men.
Not satisfied with that, she even attempted to destroy Ferda and herself simultaneously.
Like a devout person who loses their faith and turns into a vicious heretic.
Mmm…
Olivia could not lower the fan covering her mouth.
With her judgment proven wrong, she had to clean up the mess that was the present.
As a result, Ferda might be safe, but Olivia still had a problem.
Because by accepting that dance request, she publicly declared that she had feelings.
Olivia turned her head.
“…Good.”
She composed a scenario in an instant.
That scenario required a carefree and easily disposable person.
A man who knew his place well, a foolish man.
A man who would cause no backlash regardless of what she did.
As she searched, a man caught her attention.
— Y-Your Highness the Princess?
Olivia was leaving the Golden Rose Garden.
She moved her body toward where her gaze was directed across the banquet hall.
That man was a knight wearing a vest, the most peculiar among the knights.
And not in a good way.
His clothes were sophisticated, but the rustic air emanating from his body could not be concealed.
— Knight-nim?
— Y-Yes?!
— Name.
— Name?
— Introduce yourself. I already know who you are, but tell me anyway.
The man presented his name with a trembling voice.
— Uh, I-I am Malcolm of Peach Hill.
Malcolm’s face paled like someone who was choking.
— I-If I have done something w-wrong to Your Highness…
— You have done nothing wrong. I came to ask if you would dance with me.
— D-d-d-dance?! Do you mean that?
Due to his commotion, gazes began to gather.
— Does it look like the Princess asked for a dance?
— What is happening?
— The Princess is asking that knight to dance…
The young lords and ladies watched the situation with incredulous faces.
They thought he would get nervous and do something foolish, but it went beyond imagination.
Olivia covered her mouth with her fan and spoke to him.
— You are a knight, right?
— T-That is right.
— There is something you must do as a knight’s duty.
— Something I must do…
Still nervous, but at least communication seemed possible.
Olivia continued.
— The conversation with the Regent-nim went awry. So now someone needs to be the scapegoat. You must do it.
— M-Me, a sc-scapegoat…? Me?
— For the Regent-nim. A knight can do that, do you not think?
Olivia, sending a pitiful, pleading look.
From the words “for the Regent-nim,” Malcolm’s attitude distinctly changed.
— M-Malcolm of Peach Hill! Of course I will do anything for the Regent-nim… but I do not know how to dance well. Is that alright?
Rather, it is a good situation.
— It is alright. Just move as I tell you.
— Ah, y-yes, understood!
— Then, escort me.
Thus, Malcolm escorted Olivia.
From the moment she took his hand, everyone murmured.
— My goodness…
— Lady Olivia is dancing…
The audience chattered, forgetting even the dances they were dancing.
The idol all men worshipped broke her own rule.
Even so, they vaguely knew that one day she would dance with another man.
Yet the most shocking part was that the partner was a human they could not accept.
— Why with that bastard of all people…
— I could dance ten times better than that…
All eyes were fixed on Olivia and Malcolm and could not look away.
Everything went according to Olivia’s calculations.
“More than that, he really does not know how to dance.”
Malcolm danced terribly, like a novice who had never been with a woman.
The rhythm was always half a beat slow or fast.
Olivia forced him to move and move, barely giving shape to something resembling a dance.
“The Regent-nim was like that too.”
Suddenly, the memory of that day in her head.
Recalling that appearance, Olivia suddenly felt happy.
She removed her mask and laughed cheerfully.
Regardless, this moment was no different from a fantasy where anything she did would feel unreal.
Without knowing whose laughter this was, she would wander.
The question of with whom Princess Olivia would have her first dance was answered: Malcolm, the knight of Valdrova Castle.
Thus, the scandal of Ferda and Olivia would vaguely dissipate.
However, Malcolm received countless threatening letters from unknown senders, but that was just another story.
Meanwhile, Valdrova Castle was bustling with the Spring Festival.
True to a castle built for a dragon, the vast interior had countless blind spots.
In such places, men and women whispered love, found with astonishing precision.
— Ah, you must not do this. This lady already has an owner…
— Forget that old man. Even if only for now.
— If we do this, we commit a sin. I will not have the face to see Alte-nim.
— I will bear your sin. So, please, entrust your body to me.
— Ah, Marquis-nim!!
A shameless conversation between two people in a place where no one would listen.
They did so because they never thought anyone would dare to eavesdrop.
— Sin my foot, their heads will fly off.
Jed Swallow.
He was eating peanuts surrounded by multiple crystal orbs.
They were communication crystal orbs installed in the rendezvous spots selected by Penelope and Jed.
All the conversations occurring there were heard by Jed’s ears and recorded.
— I thought it would be fun, but I got bored quickly.
The repertoire of those enjoying secret rendezvous was similar.
Incompatible interests or gaps between families, or simply the bravado of men and women desperate to sleep together once.
To Jed, all of this was merely a farce.
Not just a farce, a third-rate play.
Lines of a cheap farce that village women would gather in the morning to briefly watch and comment on while washing clothes.
Observing the scene of self-justification as a third party, a repulsive emotion welled up in Jed.
At the same time, observing those pathetic figures, he murmured.
— I am still better than those bastards.
— You are the same, what nonsense are you saying?
— Keck!
A familiar voice that should not be heard came from the back of his head.
Turning his head, a dark-skinned woman was there, and Jed reflexively called her name.
— Findteeth…
Whack!
— Ouch! Why?
— I warned you not to use it. If you use it, isn’t that a signal asking to be hit?
— Come on, it is a good nickname. Something that shows how well our relationship is revealed, just you and me.
— There is no regret on that smug face. Should I hit you until you come to your senses?
— Anywhere but the face.
His annoying whining left him rather deflated.
Garnet sat down beside him.
Seeing her appearance, calmly settling down without any sign of surprise, Jed was certain.
— Was it you?
— What?
— Our Regent-nim suddenly said to catch those having secret meetings, so I wondered whose idea it was. You told him to do it, right?
— Yes.
— Ugh, for someone with the status of a Grand Duke, there are so many better things than creating trash weaknesses like this. Why make him do this?
— Nothing balances as well as having a child as collateral. If you want to extend your political life, you need this.
— Ugh, what dog-like suffering because of you? Originally I would be playing around with other women, but making me do this kind of work…
At his smoothly flowing complaint, she hardened her face and spat out two syllables.
— Jealous?
— Ugh, no way. Haha. That is why desk jobs are good, right? Just sucking sweet honey.
Faced with Garnet’s fierce expression, Jed tucked his tail.
— Your contractor? Working somewhere else?
— That guy is probably in the banquet hall.
— Listening to others’ stories like you?
— Her role is a bit different. By now she is probably chatting with young ladies in the form of a ‘Jed Swallow Victims Association’.
Garnet tilted her head.
— What does she do with that?
— Nothing much. She just says she will make a ‘garden’ after getting drunk.
She did not separately ask about the meaning of the word.
Garnet had already understood that Penelope was Sitri’s daughter.
Garden was definitely vulgar slang.
— But what did she do to form a victims association?
— Nothing special. She just says she left them in the banquet hall.
Whack!
— Ouch! Why?!
— I hit your head in the name of all the women of Serdes, do you have a problem?
— No. Next time, please speak a little before hitting me, Representative-nim.
Showing a thorough subordinate attitude, Jed focused on the work again.
Then a light turned on in a crystal orb connected to the garden.
— How crazy.
— Hm?
— Does it look like the Regent-nim and that Grand Duchess-nim who did not show her face at all appeared at the meeting place?
The Grand Duchess-nim is the Red Dragon, Valdrova.
Befitting a leader of an intelligence organization, Garnet’s eyes sparkled.
— Do not turn it off. Record it and let us listen.
— Of course. Where is the idiot who would miss a good situation like this?
The two pressed their ears to the crystal orb.
The story they were carrying on arrived unfiltered.
Valdrova sniffling tears and Ferda bewildered, their conversation came through unfiltered.
— As expected.
— What is expected?
— Red Dragons have very low self-esteem.
At those words, Jed was startled.
— I wish you would say that in front of our Regent-nim too.
— You will not. From the personality I have grasped, he would like that kind of information.
— Anyway, do not even think about saying my name before my head falls off.
Jed made a mocking retreat.
Garnet sighed as if it were childish.
— Stupid bastard. Do you think I would sell that information to just anyone?
— So you wouldn’t?
— Are you crazy?
Garnet said with a serious expression.
— If I revealed that information, all dragons would go crazy trying to annihilate the Black Bandana.
— Why?
— Because I would be selling the method and means to bring calamity to the continent.
— Eh? Isn’t it just something that turns into a bit of mockery?
— Think of it not as a dragon, but as a woman with low self-esteem. Similar to a person. If a person pushed to the brink after being rejected and rejected and rejected finally breaks, what do you think would happen?
Jed, who had met many women, could see it clearly from those words.
— …There would not be a separate calamity.
If self-esteem is shattered and they break, they lose sight of everything.
And there is no existence that can stop a Red Dragon.
She achieved in mere hours half the damage that took Godwin years to inflict, and even that was stopped only because she came to her senses with Silverwind’s death.
Jed praised her judgment without forgetting.
— As expected of our Black Bandana Leader-nim. I thought your analytical skills were outstanding from a long time ago, and yes.
— I am an information broker. If information comes, processing it is my job.
Garnet replied as if it were natural.
— So to speak.
Garnet tossed a casual question into the conversation she thought had ended.
— Do you want to work with me?
— W-what kind of joke…
At Garnet’s proposal, Jed chuckled.
Yet upon seeing Garnet’s eyes, Jed realized.
That it was not a proposal mixed with even a bit of a joke.
— Cast off my knighthood and go with you?
— I can give you all the money you want. Not just the knighthood, I can also make you a true noble.
— Everyone is determined to kill me there, how can I go?
— I can shut their mouths. They have been annoying since they started making a fuss, so it will be easy.
Jed implicitly expresses his refusal, but Garnet’s eyes remain unchanged.
As if she did not want to let him go.
— Do it like when we were in the Swallows. You and me. Like a duo.
Garnet lightly hooks her finger onto Jed’s hand.
— You are the only one to whom I can entrust my life. And you too, only to me can you entrust your life.
Mercenary corps, Swallow.
Like Garnet, Jed also had vivid memories of that time.
— I miss those times. But I cannot.
— Why?
— Because I already swore as a knight.
— Since when do you believe in that?
— I didn’t believe.
Jed laughed at his own absurdity.
— But they say the position makes the person, and it is true.
Jed only ever wanted a stepping stone to become a noble.
He had met many nobles, so he thought he could play the part perfectly.
Yet upon becoming a knight, he felt a sense of duty he had not felt when he was running around pulling swallow antics.
Jed did not want to take that duty lightly.
Seeing Jed like this, Garnet put on a serious face.
— Snap out of it. Jed Swallow.
Garnet thought.
This man still does not truly know the human called Ferda.
— This story is just for you. That man is too dangerous to stand beside.
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