~Chapter 146~
Woom… woom…
For a while, there was only a heavy, muffled silence.
I forgot I even existed, as if I had fallen into sleep.
“Child.”
That voice woke me—though I didn’t like the way it called me.
“…Child.”
As soon as I heard it, I realized I had ears.
I had to, or I wouldn’t be able to hear the sound.
“…What.”
When I replied without thinking, I realized I also had a mouth.
And I thought: that tone, that way of looking down on me—wasn’t it like the Pope?
That bald bastard called me that just before.
Could it be him calling me now?
Well, he was sucked in a little earlier than me.
Don’t tell me I’m cursed to spend my last moments of existence with him of all people.
The thought left a bitter taste.
I wanted to ignore it and go back to sleep, but my mind was already awake.
Typical. Useless as always.
I was still wondering how to torment a guy who didn’t even have hair to grab, when—
“Child.”
There it was again.
Shut up. Don’t talk to me.
The moment I grumbled in my mind—
Fwoosh!
The world around me lit up.
Not just white light—warm, golden-orange light.
And I knew this glow all too well.
“…Eyeball?”
I murmured unconsciously, and when my eyes opened—
I realized. I still had eyes.
The light filled my vision, and slowly my hand came into view.
Right. I still had hands.
And feet. And legs. And a body.
And even a name.
Elaine.
“….”
I remembered my name. I remembered that I still existed.
“You’ve awakened.”
When I lifted my head, I saw the vision I had once glimpsed before.
That blazing golden fire that seemed like it could consume the world—
The eye of a dragon.
Then came a deep, resonant voice.
“I’ve been waiting for you to wake.”
The Eyeball winked at me, smiling.
Around it, the scales moved like rippling wrinkles.
Wait. Scales?
I stepped back and saw more.
It wasn’t just the eye.
The massive form I had once seen as a shed husk by the lake—
That beautiful, awe-inspiring thing I could never tear my eyes from—
It was alive. Moving.
Like a living dragon.
“…Eyeball, you’re really…?”
I asked without thinking, and the familiar eye-smile answered me.
“At last, I can truly speak with you.”
The voice was so much deeper, more dignified than I’d imagined.
“…It’s weird.”
“….”
“Can’t we just talk with blinks like before?”
“….”
“You were cuter that way.”
Honestly, this felt off.
The little mascot I carried on my shoulder had turned into some middle-aged man.
At my blunt words, the dragon drooped its eye ridge like it had been wounded.
“But this way we can communicate properly.”
“Do we need to? It’s over anyway.”
“Over? You sound uncharacteristically weak.”
The Eyeball huffed, almost sulking.
It reminded me so much of Karl that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Karl. Maybe you really are a dragon’s descendant. You’re so alike at times like this.
My chest ached that I couldn’t say it to his face.
“It’s over because it’s over.”
“….”
“This is inside the Gate, right? Like a final memory reel before death?”
“No.”
“…No?”
“You will not die, child. Those with holy power can resist the miasma here. But…”
“But?”
The way he trailed off sounded ominous.
“…You may have to remain here forever. Time does not flow in this place.”
“…Wow. That’s worse than death.”
Even as I said it, it didn’t feel real.
But it sure sounded like a fate worse than dying.
“Do you regret it?”
“…A little?”
“….”
“But if I went back, I’d still make the same choice.”
Yes. I would.
Better me than dragging Karl in to sacrifice him.
“If it were Karl, he might say spending eternity here with you is worth it.”
That did sound like him. He’d say it like it was nothing.
But it was too late now.
At least I wasn’t alone. At least the Eyeball was here.
If I’d had to spend eternity alone, I really would’ve gone mad.
I tilted my head, watching the dragon’s gaze.
With all this time, a question had been bugging me.
“Be honest. Why did you really do that back then?”
“Back then?”
“New Year’s festival. When you stopped me from kissing Karl.”
The mood had been good, too.
But the Eyeball had drawn a line, almost like a father glaring at a man wooing his daughter.
“And when I tried to heal Karl—you stopped me then too, didn’t you?”
Back when Karl took the poison for me and I collapsed trying to heal him.
I remembered it clearly.
But later, when I met Karl as the Grand Duke, you didn’t interfere.
In the snow globe, you even acted cute, like you trusted me.
Now I really wanted an explanation.
The Eyeball blinked sheepishly.
“Back then, I didn’t know what kind of existence you would become.”
“….”
“I knew my descendant was changing because of you, but I didn’t know if it was for better or worse. And…”
“And?”
“…You reminded me of her.”
That voice was full of longing.
I knew at once. He meant his mate.
“Though she is long gone from my side.”
I heard the sorrow buried in the words.
“…Yeah. I heard. When she died, you gave up on living too.”
I met his gaze knowingly. The dragon slowly nodded.
“Yes. But that is only half true.”
“…Half?”
“My descendants thought I had fled completely into death. But…”
When he blinked, the emotion was clear.
Affection.
“Part of my magic and soul has always lived on with them, protecting Saint Portu.”
“…Huh.”
“Whenever Saint Portu was in danger…”
“Wait. Don’t tell me you woke me up just to tell me some long-winded backstory?”
I cut him off, and the dragon looked a little hurt again.
I shrugged.
“So basically, you thought I’d be a danger to the territory.”
“Yes.”
“You thought I’d distract Karl, or maybe I was bait sent by the Emperor.”
“That too.”
“So you warned me and blocked me off, just like that?”
“Correct.”
“Geez. Never even asked your descendant’s opinion. Selfish.”
“Also true.”
…Is this a dragon or a yes-man?
He just agrees with everything.
But then, the dragon smiled faintly.
“Yet when my descendant rejected my magic, I thought again. About all you had done before.”
Shrrrk.
With those words, a map spread beneath me.
Saint Portu.
The parchment map shifted—color seeped in, and soon it wasn’t a map but a living image.
Like a painting turning into a vivid video.
I stared, intrigued—
“Wait. This is…”
Saint Portu, aflame.
The day of the monster attack.
But something was off.
“…It’s snowing.”
That day, there had been no snow.
A chill crept up my spine.
Could this be showing me what was happening now in Saint Portu?
“What the hell…”
Before I could say more—
“But things did not unfold as I thought they would.”
The dragon’s voice echoed over the burning city.
And then—
The flames clinging to the city walls wavered… and began to collapse.
