Chapter 88
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“…The Marquis.”
Understanding the situation from Revenant’s words, Carl muttered grimly. Without doubt, the Marquis was keeping Hendrick occupied inside the palace.
Revenant shrugged.
“If Your Highness had quietly died outside as planned, things wouldn’t have escalated this far. Why did you have to return alive and make such a mess of things?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Sian scoffed at Revenant’s sophistry.
“If you hadn’t planned to escalate things this far, you wouldn’t have needed to carve out so much of the Dragon King’s bones.”
Revenant’s eyes widened.
“That was just preparation for possibilities. Even while processing the Dragon King’s bones, I hoped I wouldn’t need to use this many weapons.”
Sword, dagger, arrows – and unknown to Carl and Sian, even the spear tips of the soldiers confronting Hendrick were all made from pieces of Dragon King Elena’s bones.
“And yet, it’s barely enough.”
Revenant stroked the blade emanating red energy with a satisfied smile. Her eyes looked as if she were gazing at a cherished possession.
“Well, no matter. Living dragon bones – I can always get more.”
Revenant spoke coyly, with a smile and gaze that Carl and Sian found utterly repulsive. Her intentions were obvious as her gaze flicked toward Idelin and Brita.
Sian, facing off against Revenant with an urge to curse, suddenly frowned at a subtle sense of discomfort.
The red magic of Elena surged from Revenant’s raised blade. While that hadn’t changed from before, was it just her imagination?
It felt as if the color of the magic bound to that sword was gradually growing deeper as time passed.
As Sian wondered whether this was illusion or reality, Revenant adjusted her grip on the blade with its increasingly dark red energy and picked up the previously dropped dagger.
The dagger made from carved white bone gleamed eerily with red energy as if it had been dipped in blood.
“Your Highness. That child who was the black dragon’s master and I were quite close for a long time. I taught Sian swordsmanship, and I was the one who created the false name Sian Roosevelt. Have you perhaps heard why our relationship suddenly soured?”
There were two of them – Sian and Carl – against the lone Revenant. Yet neither Sian nor Carl dared to make the first move to subdue her, only watching the situation.
The power of weapons made from living dragon bones was overwhelming. Dragons and their masters’ greatest strength was magic – how could they possibly counter these evil objects that inflicted pain and shock on both master and dragon with just a touch? The path forward seemed impossibly dark.
While Sian and Carl barely listened, searching for openings and solutions, Revenant continued unconcerned.
“We both desired this dragon.”
As she spoke, Revenant held the dagger full of dead Elena’s lingering consciousness to Idelin’s head.
Though she merely held it there without inflicting a wound, Idelin writhed as if struck by lightning. Brita, still gripping Idelin’s body, folded her wings tight and hunched her body, growling “Krrrr” in terror.
“This beautiful dragon we happened upon in Ivarid left a deep impression on both Sian and me. But we differed too greatly in our methods of claiming a dragon.”
After listening to Revenant’s story for a while, Carl let out a mirthless laugh.
“So this is why they say people shouldn’t be too attractive. Igniting the hearts of two women at once.”
“I apologize, but I have no interest in Your Highness. Men who are too handsome aren’t my type.”
“…”
Revenant cut off Carl’s attempt at levity with devastating bluntness.
“She was the one making eyes at him, both then and now.”
“What are you talking about! I never did!”
Sian burst out, waving her sword like an accusatory finger.
Thank goodness I’m handsome… Carl felt grateful for his looks for the first time.
“Besides, Sian already has the black dragon, so she doesn’t need another. But I’m different. I’m only interested in dragons. From the moment I first saw one, I’ve always wanted to possess them.”
“Krrrr,” Idelin, held by Brita, growled with hatred. The dragon’s golden eyes stared directly at the Revenant.
“Don’t touch Idelin.”
Carl warned in a low voice.
“Stop me if you can.”
Revenant twisted her lips into a sardonic smile and mercilessly brought the dagger down on Idelin’s body.
“KAAAK!”
Thick dragon blood sprayed as a terrible scream echoed.
“Carl!”
Though Idelin was the one attacked, the impact was the same for the master sharing consciousness. Carl clutched his chest and collapsed without even a groan.
“Stop it, Reva! No matter how much you struggle, you’re just a dragon hunter – you can never be a true dragon master!”
“Then I’ll become their ruler instead.”
Sian frowned deeply at Revenant’s brazen response.
“Once I have the dragon knights and the Marquis under my feet, Alma will be mine too. I’ll make the Marquis emperor and become the ruler of the Dragon Empire.”
Carl glared at Revenant while panting from the dragon’s pain coursing through his body.
“…So that was your true intention.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
Revenant replied in a relaxed voice while wiping Idelin’s blood from the dagger with her fingertips.
“So make your decision, Your Highness. The black dragon can’t show itself openly anyway. If you submit, I’ll spare Idelin.”
Damn it.
Supporting Carl who couldn’t even straighten his knees, Sian swallowed a curse between clenched teeth.
“If you refuse.”
Revenant raised the dagger again. The sharp tip pointed at Idelin’s neck, still having minor convulsions.
“I’ll show you exactly how I killed Dragon King Elena and harvested the bones, using Idelin as demonstration.”
“You damned thing!”
Sian finally exploded at Revenant’s vicious threat. Unleashing the curses she’d been holding back, Sian gripped her sword and charged at Revenant at full speed. Revenant narrowed her eyes for a brief moment watching Sian’s charge.
Cautious until the end, she plunged the dagger deep into Idelin’s body. “Kaaa,” Idelin screamed again and thrashed, covered in blood.
The convulsions from the terrible pain were so violent that Brita, who had been holding Idelin’s body, flapped her wings, released him, and flew into the sky.
At this rate, death or becoming Revenant’s dog were the only options. Sian clenched her teeth firmly, ignoring Idelin’s screams. Revenant blocked Sian’s sword with the single-edged longsword in her other hand.
CLANG!
A sharp sound rang out as Sian flinched from the shock and pain transmitted through the clashing swords, but she had already steeled herself for this.
“Today I’ll finally kill you!”
“You think you can, without your dragon?”
Revenant glared and sneered coldly. Sparks flew as Sian and Revenant engaged in fierce swordplay.
Simultaneously, clouds gradually gathered in the clear sky, growing dark. A black shadow slowly fell over the imperial palace’s maze garden, half-burned and half-destroyed to ruins.
Idelin, pierced by the cruel dagger, could barely manage intermittent breaths. Feeling the dragon’s distant consciousness, Carl could only watch Sian and Revenant fight.
He wanted to help but couldn’t move at all. He could barely hold onto consciousness that threatened to fade along with the dragon’s.
Swallowing his frustration at being so helpless despite his many promises to protect, Carl suddenly looked up at the black shadow gradually enveloping the palace.
