Chapter 171

I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 171: What About Me?

171. What about me?
Chapter 171. How do I look?

It was during the monster subjugation campaign.
The young masters had departed for the war, while the young ladies and their escort knights remained behind in Valdrova Castle.
What could the young ladies do?
Women who had never once gotten their hands wet could only huddle together in their rooms.
Among them, the young ladies with deft hands expressed their feelings by embroidering the clothes of the young masters they fancied.
Regardless, the men had left, leaving them in an incredibly anxious and lonely state.
Even with the belief that they would triumph, defeat constantly whispered in their ears, making their hearts tremble.
It was the perfect environment for beings that slip through the cracks of such hearts.
Coincidentally, such a being lived in this castle.

— How boring.

Penelope murmured with an empty expression.

— I accomplished the long-cherished desire I wanted to fulfill in the mortal realm, so why do I feel no sense of accomplishment?

Her long-cherished desire, called ‘making a garden.’
She had even succeeded in creating it with precious, innocent young ladies, yet she still felt no satisfaction.
It could not be helped.
What Penelope had done was simply casting a net into a fish farm where the fish were confined, or bringing a spoonful of rice to her mouth.

“Right.”

Penelope thought, as if suddenly waking up.

“If one aspires to be a top-tier demon, one must be able to do it by oneself!”

She clenched her fist and vowed.

“Next time, let’s infiltrate the imperial court and make a garden!”

An absolute confidence that did not even entertain the possibility of getting caught.
With that resolution, she wandered through the interior of the castle.

— By the way… where am I?

Strolling around like a loafer, she did not even know where she was.
Valdrova Castle is vast.
Wandering aimlessly also meant being prepared to get lost at any moment.
On the other hand, because of that, she arrived at a place she would never have seen under normal circumstances.

— Is this the audience chamber?

The place where the king of a nation officially receives their subordinates.
Since it was the audience chamber of a dragon, not just any king, its scale was no smaller than the Emperor’s.

— Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen this place in use.

It was the throne that Valdrova was meant to ascend, but Ferda could not sit in that seat with his status as regent.
He could have created a sufficient justification, but Ferda refused and chose instead to meet people mainly in the reception room or his office.
So there were not many people who knew what the interior looked like.

— Mmm…

Penelope narrowed her eyes.
A gleam of interest settled within them.

— Shall I take a look?

Without fear, Penelope pushed open the closed door and stepped inside.

— Wow…!

What burst out was an exclamation.
She had imagined dust covers over everything and thick layers of accumulated dust, since no one used it.
Yet even without a king, the place was being thoroughly maintained.
If the chandelier lights were lit, the structure would illuminate the interior as if it were broad daylight.
The mural of the red dragon behind the throne was painted majestically to intimidate visitors.

— As expected of a dragon, it’s ostentatious! Why has this been abandoned all this time?

Penelope’s gaze, scanning the audience chamber, locked onto the throne.
She imagined it.
If she sat on that throne, it would surely be the best.

— Mmm…

If you want to sit, you want to lie down; if you want to lie down, you want to sleep.
Her feet shifted restlessly and carried her forward.

— Ah, whatever.

Ultimately, she chose to be true to her desire.
She walked up to the throne as she pleased and sat down immediately.

— Oh, wowww!

The moment her bottom touched the throne, Penelope shuddered.

— Is this the air a king breathes…?!

It could not be compared to the sense of accomplishment she felt when making the garden.
It felt as if every desire she had ever lacked was being fulfilled.
Penelope recalled the past.
What had been the reason she fearlessly stole the Vital Vessel of her mother, Sitri?
It was to oust that Archdemon and become the new Archdemon of Hell.
However, since the plan ended at ‘what if I just steal the Vital Vessel,’ she ended up being pursued by her mother.
The important thing was that her ambition was still alive.
Penelope, fully immersed in playing queen, could not contain herself and shouted.

— Ohohoho! You! Is anyone there?

Her ringing voice echoed loudly throughout the audience chamber.

— From this seat, I wish to declare the Penelope Harem Kingdom! Who is the woman who wishes to become the first concubine of this Great Demon Penelope-nim?

She revelled in the imagination of beautiful girls pleading before her at the throne.

— Is it you? Or you? Anyone is fine, come to me…

Her words faded away.

— …Huh?

The imaginary beautiful girls surrounding her scattered like smoke, and she returned to reality.
However, what stood within reach of her fingertips was fully formed.
A woman of ordinary female build with red hair.
Yet two pairs of horns far removed from that normality.
Golden eyes and vertical slit pupils.
She had never faced her before, but even an oblivious three-year-old child would realize it immediately.
The master of this audience chamber, the subject of the mural behind her: Valdrova.
At that moment, Penelope had not only barged into the audience chamber without permission, but she had also sat on the throne and even pointed at its owner.

— Uh, um…

Her slender fingers curled like fern fronds, and her gestures followed suit with politeness.

— Ah, hahaha!

She laughed out loud as if nothing had happened.

— Well, uh… I’ve been rude! Knowing nothing, I looked here and there and ended up arriving at a place like this, talking to myself.

Penelope attempted to slip past Valdrova and leave.

— W-well then, I’ll be going!

Just as she tried to dash past her shoulder,

— Wait a moment.

Unable to cross the threshold, Penelope was halted.
She had only spoken three words, yet Penelope’s body would not move an inch further.
It felt as though even the flow of mana, even her heart, were entirely under that control.
Penelope realized for the first time then:
That this was a dragon.
Valdrova spoke to Penelope, who was trembling like a helpless prairie dog.

— Wait… can we talk for a bit?

Penelope sensed what would happen next.

“Jed… I go on ahead.”

She silently left a will.

“Your money was well spent. Thanks to you, I made many acquaintances, and now I depart. Impossible in this life, but when you come to hell, I will repay you then. Come to think of it, if I go to hell, I’ll die in hell too.”

Penelope lamented.

“Ah, shit, if I had known this would happen, I should have spent all that money.”

—

10 minutes ago, Valdrova Castle.

“It is quiet.”

Valdrova was walking through the interior of the castle.
Normally she would have been walking in armor, but right now she wore a woman’s dress.
Ever since the Spring Festival, taking off her armor and walking through this castle seemed manageable.

“Even so, meeting people is difficult…”

Ironically, the person Valdrova found hardest to face was Ferda.
She feared that his attentive and considerate attitude might instead be a burden.
She mainly took detours around places where people rarely went.
That route included the audience chamber.

“This… was my seat, was it not?”

When she was first betrothed to the Third Prince, she had only made one throne.
She had never intended to rule here from the start.
That seat was originally meant for the Third Prince.
She thought it was better for the Prince to rule than herself, who had obtained the position of Duke King but did nothing.
The Third Prince would become the ruler, and Valdrova dreamed a dream of supporting such a Prince.

“But…”

Reality did not unfold that way.
The Third Prince who arrived at the Duke King’s domain spoke these words to Valdrova that night:

— You are uttering such petty things as love. As expected, the saying that you are nothing more than a guard dog of the house was true.

The gentle morning appearance was nowhere to be found; he scowled and spat out abusive language.

— I only came to use you. After indulging you a bit, I was going to put a dog collar on you. Did you really think I would love you? You, the butcher of the Dragon-Demon War. A dog must act like a dog.

He delivered hurtful words without hesitation.
That those words were spoken under some form of magic was certain.
Even so, what did not change was that those were the Third Prince’s true feelings and truth.
Hearing those words, her blood qi boiled.
Valdrova could not control her emotions, raging like a tempest.
In the end, she killed that Third Prince with her own hands.
Unable to control herself, she killed someone once again.
She loathed her own image for having lost her reason.
She blamed herself, saying she had no right to be happy.
Nevertheless, just a little.
Selfishly, she merely wished for one small chance more to be happy.
If I fail this time as well, I swore I would no longer harbor the dream of wanting to be happy, for the sake of everyone.
The one who arrived at the end was that man.

— Pleased to meet you, my heart.

The man named Ferda was the exact opposite of the Third Prince.
The eyes she faced for the first time looked at Valdrova with clarity.
He gave off the strong impression of someone who rules in order to marry, not someone who marries in order to rule.
Why could she not have met such a man from the very beginning?

“If only I had met Ferda a little earlier…”
“I wouldn’t have needed to be so afraid of meeting people…”
“I could have gathered more courage, helped Ferda more, and achieved so much more…”
“I want to rid myself of this fear and help that Ferda.”

Valdrova wished for it.

— Ohohoho!

Then, a sudden laughter rang out.
It was unmistakably a sound coming from beyond the door.

“What is that?”

Valdrova cautiously stepped into the audience chamber.
There, a pink-haired demon was sitting on the throne, immersed in her role.

“That child… was the one Ferda brought, right?”

Her name was Penelope, a demon.
She had heard from Ruri that she did not know what role she had, but that it was important, which was why he had brought her.

“…That child?”

No matter how much she looked at her, it did not seem so.
She seemed like a thoughtless child.

— Is it you? Or you? Anyone is fine, come to me…

She pointed at herself like that, and.

— …Eh.

She froze.
After that, she tried to slip away, but Valdrova did not let her.

— Wait a moment.

Normally she would have ignored the person and dismissed them, but for some reason she could not simply let her go.
Valdrova did not even know the reason, and said this:

— Wait… can we talk for a bit?

Penelope and Valdrova sat side by side on a bench where the pale blue moonlight fell.
The two of them sat demurely.
Not a single word was uttered.

“I want to run away.”

Penelope felt as if a cushion of thorns had been placed beneath her bottom.
She was faithful to her instincts, but even in this situation, she could not move easily.
Penelope tried to escape this situation and opened her mouth with difficulty.

— T-that…

— …

— I committed a capital crime.

— …

— But thinking about it, it doesn’t seem like a capital crime. I only sat on the throne, right? Isn’t that so?

— …

— Ah, no. Thinking about it again, it is a capital crime. Because I’m talking like this!

— …

— Oh, I spoke too much, didn’t I? I’ll shut up.

The saying that the mouth is the gate that invites calamity was a story very fitting for Penelope.
Silence settled in once more.
Along with that sound, Penelope’s heart felt as though it was coming to a halt more and more.

— Um…

— Y-yes! Please, speak!

This time, Valdrova opened her mouth.

— Well… I didn’t call you here to say anything bad.

— I-is that so? Phew! Of course, as expected of the generous and merciful Valdrova-nim, you possess the magnanimity to show mercy for this humble one’s mistake!

— Hmm… I was also a bit curious.

— Curious, you say!

An opening to escape had appeared.
Penelope beamed radiantly and thumped her chest.

— This Penelope will answer anything if I can answer it!

— Then… what is that harem kingdom?

— Eh…

Penelope ran into a massive hurdle right from the start.
A difficult question to answer for a woman.
Besides, hadn’t she just pointed at her and said she would recruit her as a harem member?

— A-a harem is… well… one could say it’s polygyny.

— Polygyny? What does that mean?

— It means a man has multiple wives, and it is probably a sort of utopia that any man would dream of at least once, isn’t it?

— Eh? Were you a man?

— No, I am a woman?

— Then, what sense does that make?

True.

— Oh, what I mean is that I was referring to building a harem kingdom for Valdrova-nim!

— But I am a woman?

— Then it becomes a harem kingdom where a woman has women!

— Hmm… women, huh…

Her own image surrounded by numerous women.
She imagined what women mostly do when they gather.

“Something like a tea party?”

She imagined herself enjoying the sight of them chatting.
Her heart fluttered as if she were becoming the young lady she had dreamed of.

— So a harem kingdom is a good thing?

— Eh? Ah, o-of course!

She must have misunderstood something, but it wasn’t important.
Penelope laughed “Ahaha!” and brushed it aside.

— You said you are Sitri’s daughter… so you are the Demon of Lust, right?

— I-is that correct?

— Then… do you also know men well?

— Uh…

To Penelope, men were like stones thrown by the roadside.
Beings she cared nothing about, but if she accidentally tripped over them, they were annoying.
Unless they were remarkably handsome like Jed, most of them were like that.

— I know what kind of woman is attractive!

Penelope dodged the unfavorable question with a different answer.

— An attractive woman…

Yet that answer must have been the right one, as Valdrova’s reaction was positive.
She touched her chin, which was not hidden by a mask.
Just as Penelope grew nervous, wondering if she had messed up,

— Do you really know women well?

— Oh, of course. I know well the kind of beauty that drives men crazy!

— I see…

Valdrova thought deeply for a moment, then

— Alright.

She nodded.
Unlike her voice, which sounded as if she had made a grand resolution, her action was very simple.
She removed the mask she was wearing and revealed her bare face.

— How… do I look?

She asked shyly.