Chapter 43

Chapter 43: I Am Angry

Ruri’s intrusion into the Imperial Palace might have seemed impulsive.
But, in reality, it was closer to a rational action based on reason.
Breaking the magic circle and summoning all the mages and knights was to demonstrate that she recognized the gravity of the situation and to sound the alarm.
It was a very small warning showing what could happen if the dragon’s consort was harmed.
That is why Ruri revealed everything she usually kept hidden.
Her tail, horns, and even her Four White Eyes.
If they knew she was someone who could communicate, the enemy commander would ask for her affiliation.
Ruri would reply that she was Grand Duke Valdrova’s attendant, and then they could speak.
‘Lord Ferda will be fine anyway.’
Even if he was injured in the palace, there would be resident priests.
All of them individually possess bishop-level divine power, so treating an injured Ferda would be nothing.
‘But even so……’
It kept spinning in Ruri’s mind.
She could not be at peace.
Immortals and mortals are different, and so are dragon spawn and humans.
What if the injuries are too severe and even healing them cannot wake him?
What if some demon in the sealed vault placed a curse on him?
What if he could not resist temptation and ended up making some absurd contract?
Those worries that would lead to her master’s sorrow were complicating her mind.
The master’s worry is also the servant’s worry.
Ruri did not let that anxiety break her and maintained her reason until the end.
Ruri knows well that sentimentality does not help in this situation.
Ruri cleared her path by cutting down all the palace gardens that blocked her way.
After even tearing through the wall of rose vines, she could see the knights who had been moving noisily, now waiting to confront her.
Among them, Ruri also spotted a familiar man.
‘Ferda.’
Gray hair, blue eyes.
Tall stature, but a fragile-looking body.
Nevertheless, a serious expression unfitting for his age.
Ferda Valdrova.
Everything entering her eyes was Ferda himself, just as she knew him.
Unlike the report that he was injured, he appeared unharmed.
‘He is safe.’
For a moment, she felt the worry settled in her heart depart.
Since the worry was gone, she should feel relieved.
But it was a little different from the usual feeling of relief she felt.
The satisfaction of watching dirt vanish.
The relief of resolving the anxiety that drove her crazy.
What was in Ruri’s heart was neither of those two things.
‘……I am furious.’
She was angry.
The void left by the massive worry and uneasiness was filled with the emotion of rage.
‘The regent, the fiancé of Grand Duke Valdrova, goes to some useless place, causes trouble, and gets hurt?’
The taut string of Ruri’s reason snapped, and she unleashed Dragon Fear.
Toward Ferda.
Innocent knights were breaking their backs without knowing why.
— C-Commander! Give orders qu……!
If we only face each other like this, we will collapse before even fighting.
The knights of the palace guard had to decide whether to fight or retreat.
— W-Wai……!
Just as the commander was trying to give the signal to attack, someone placed a hand on his shoulder.
— Wait a moment.
A calm man’s voice, unlike the trembling commander.
— I will handle this.
— Huh? Excuse me, but who might you b……?
— I am Regent Ferda. Today’s guest.
Ferda pointed at Ruri with his chin and spoke.
— And that maid girl over there is Grand Duke Valdrova’s attendant.
— Ah, is that so?
The knight commander’s tension relaxed slightly.
Since Regent Valdrova was here, it meant they could talk.
— Then, can you give me a moment?
Naturally, he had no choice but to give it to him.
Why she broke the magic circle and even unleashed Dragon Fear.
He was curious about all the circumstances, but resolving the situation came first.
The knight units maintained formation and backed away, and Ferda stepped forward.
With every step he took, the Dragon Fear grew denser.
His expressionless face gradually crumpled, and veins bulged on his neck.
‘It feels like I am walking straight into the jaws of a dragon.’
He stopped five paces away from her.
When Ruri made a gesture of drawing a circle on the ground with her index finger, a pure white wind began to swirl around the ground where Ruri and Ferda stood.
The wind rose and formed a hemisphere covering Ferda and Ruri.
Ruri, who had been pressing her lips together, exhaled a deep sigh through her nose.
It seemed she was releasing the built-up pressure of her rising fury.
— We are isolated from the outside here. What we say will not leak out.
— I understand.
— So…… I will speak bluntly.
Ruri spat out her overflowing emotions just as they were.
— Have you lost your mind?
Just that damn honest.
— The Grand Duke’s fiancé, without even knowing what his position means, running around doing stupid things?
— It was necessary.
— That is not an answer. Even if it was necessary, if this news reached the Mistress, everything would have gone to hell. Are you even aware of that?
— I know. And I also knew you would not say it.
— Why?
— Because you cherish the Mistress. You would not want her to move.
He also knew that if someone came from Valdrova Castle, Ruri would be the first to arrive.
— Yes. I have the duty to serve the Mistress. But Ferda-nim, it does not seem like you love the Mistress as much as I thought.
— I cherish her as well.
— Then why make her hear news that you were injured in the sealed vault? Fine, I will concede that to you a hundred times.
Ruri grew even angrier as Ferda drew closer, and there was a separate reason for that.
Even he had overlooked one thing.
Ruri grabbed Ferda’s wrist and brought it to her nose.
— And someone who cherishes her goes around smelling of a woman’s perfume on your hands?
— ………
She shook Ferda’s wrist and asked.
— Which bitch is it?
— ……Olivia Arken.
— That Imperial Flower with the vulgar body?
Ruri’s expression deepened with even more venom.
Consequently, the hand holding his wrist tightened.
It felt as though she could crush it.
— ……She does have that nickname.
Ferda treated the previous comment as if he had not heard it.
Not only did he get hurt, but the fiancé held hands with the greatest beauty of the Empire.
Ruri’s entire body trembled.
Her gaze, which was previously directed at Ferda, also fell to the ground as if she could not bear it.
— Are you the type of man who simply grabs any woman’s hand? Was approaching the Mistress just to hold her hand once too?
— Do not jump to conclusions. That woman grabbed me first. I had to play along to talk to her. It is not like I did it because I wanted to.
— ……I do not believe you.
Ruri’s left hand clenched into a tight fist.
Ferda, watching her furious state, asked with a resigned face.
— Do you want to hit me once?
— ………
— Go ahead, hit me. If that is what you want.
Only then did Ruri’s eyes, which had been fixed on the ground, rise to look at Ferda.
She saw Ferda’s angular jaw and cheeks.
That face she wanted to hit at least once because his words spoken so lightly were so annoying.
Her emotions would not settle and kept surging.
Finally, Ruri reached out her hand.
Ferda closed his eyes tightly, like a condemned man.
Several seconds passed, but no stinging sensation reached his cheek.
Instead, Ferda’s collar fluttered and shifted.
— So… did you get what you wanted?
Ferda nodded.
— There was a harvest.
— Is that so?
Ruri, having straightened things up, let go of her hand.
The place where her hand passed was left neatly organized.
— Please, do not disappoint the Master.
— Understood.
Ruri said that while examining Ferda’s expression.
Only after seeing his face, where dead emotions seemed to revive, did she feel at ease.
— Then.
With another gesture from Ruri, the hemispherical space was released and returned to normal.
Ruri glanced at the order of knights, then flapped her wings and left the palace.
The knights and mages who had been watching with bated breath only stared at the place where she disappeared.
— …Situation resolved.
— Huaaaa!
— Hup, hup…
They let the intruders who broke in go, but no one dared to point it out.
— But is it really okay to let them go like that? Are they intruders?
Except for one clueless bastard.
The Level 1 Alert was lifted, and the commander approached Ferda and bowed politely.
— Thank you for resolving the situation.
— No, I am the one who should apologize. It happened due to my carelessness, and the place was turned upside down.
— Not at all. Simply having overcome a situation that could have provoked a dragon’s wrath without bloodshed is enough to be satisfied. How would you like to handle this, Regent-nim?
If he brought up the matter, it could lead to a confusing battle of rebuttals.
But that was not what Ferda wanted.
Now that Olivia Arken had become a collaborator, making unnecessary enemies of the imperial family was not good.
— Let us bury it as you say. Without arguing over who was at fault. Thanks to this, we discovered that a dragon hatchling can break through a magic circle and barge in, didn’t we?
— That is true. The bastards of the Magic Department only cared about their own interests, but now we have a pretext.
The commander nodded with a ‘this turned out well’ expression.
I do not know how palace politics work, but the interior is definitely a difficult battlefield.
— It seems the conversation is over, so may I leave now?
— If your business is finished… of course, but wouldn’t it be better to rest for a night in the palace? You were also injured today, so it would be good to rest for a day or two while monitoring your condition…
The sun was still high, but sunset would arrive soon.
As the commander said, resting for today was better.
— I am sorry. I am a busy man.
— Ah, do you have a schedule? Understood.
Nothing in particular, but Ferda just wanted to escape this uncomfortable space and return quickly.
— Ah, and one more thing.
Ferda suddenly spoke to the commander as if remembering something.
— Yes.
— I want to take one of the knights from here. Is that all right?
— A knight… you say?
A demand too sudden, and an unacceptable tale.
The palace knights were outstanding talents; even the last in line could be a notable knight in another kingdom.
But the other party was the Grand Duke’s fiancé.
Refusing outright would go against etiquette.
— Which fellow caught Regent-nim’s attention?
— I saw him earlier… but I do not remember his name.
Ferda looked around to find that guy.
Shortly after, he saw him.
He was in a prone position, being scolded by his superiors.
— Malcolm, you bastard! You broke formation, didn’t you?
— Hey, bastard! While we were working ourselves to death, what were you doing? Sleeping?
— Ah, I-I’m sorry! At that moment, I was trying to stop the Regent…
— Stop the Regent? And did you stop him, you bastard?!
— I definitely saw him walking through the garden?
— I couldn’t stop him! Because touching the body of a noble…!
— During a Level 1 Alert, we come first after the imperial family, don’t you know that?!
— Ah, I didn’t know!
— You don’t know, end of your military life! Do you really want to get fired?!
Ferda pointed at the guy sweating buckets while being punished.
— That one.
— …That trash?
The commander made an ‘are you serious?’ expression.
— Is he famous?
— In a bad way, he is top tier. I don’t know how that bastard entered the palace knights, but he is useless. He doesn’t know swordsmanship, he rides a horse that looks like a donkey… Strip that away and nobody knows how he got in.
— Is that so?
— Anyway, I was thinking of kicking him out… but do you still want him?
The commander asked with concern.
He was not worried about losing talent, but rather felt like he was passing a bomb.
But Ferda nodded firmly.
— Perfect. Pack him up.
— Understood.
The palace knights are all precious.
But Malcolm was the exception.
As the sun set beyond the misty western mountains,
The official carriage of Valdrova Castle departed the capital.
At the same time, a man hidden beneath the carriage, holding his breath, revealed himself.
— Hoooo!! That was really close.
It was Jed.
He had somehow escaped the sealed vault and managed to board the carriage.
— Good work. The goods?
— I kept them safe right here. And I didn’t open them.
Jed took out a golden wrapping cloth he had been keeping inside.
A black cover bound with silver chains, wrapped in golden silk.
Ferda could not cut those chains and open it by ordinary means.
Anyway, he did not plan to look at it now, so Ferda wrapped it back in the cloth and set it aside.
— But even so. We are not in trouble, right? Still, taking a book from the sealed vault, there is no way it will stay quiet…
— It is fine. I gained a collaborator, so it will go smoother.
— Who is it?
— Olivia Arken.
Jed’s eyes went wide.
— Oh. Did you talk to the Flower of the Empire? She is supposed to be super pretty and pure, what was she like?
— Rotten on the inside.
— She is a noble lady… a lot of people are like that.
Jed had dealt with many nobles, but still could not look away with envious eyes.
She was a woman with a devilish charm.
Neigh!
Just as they were quietly sneaking away, a horse’s whinny came from where the knights were.
— Eoheyi, eoheyi! Hey, mister! I said keep the ranks straight when moving! If the horses get too close it’s a disaster, how many times do I have to tell you?!
— Ah, I-I’m sorry! You bastard Rosie! I told you not to cling!
Jed poked his head out the window at the unfamiliar voices.
There was a man hurriedly packing luggage and loading it onto a saddle.
— It’s the first time I’ve seen that face, who is he?
He is dressed like a knight errant, but he is terribly clumsy.
Not just the clothes.
— Riding a donkey, of all things…?
He wasn’t riding a horse, but a donkey.
— His name is Malcolm. He is a palace knight and an apprentice knight at the same time. I am thinking of using him as a specimen.
— A specimen?
Jed tilted his head at Ferda’s words.
— Yes, a specimen.
Just a simple answer.