Chapter 88
A loud voice that clearly didn’t belong to Shanelika rang out, startling Derwin. It was so loud that he was relieved he’d thought to cast both a sleep spell on Wills and a soundproofing spell at the same time.
Good. He didn’t wake up.
Even though Shanelika had thrown him quite roughly, Wills stayed sound asleep. But that wasn’t what demanded Derwin’s attention now.
Shanelika suddenly sprang up and stumbled toward Derwin. Her steps were so unsteady that it wouldn’t be surprising if she tripped at any moment.
“Hurry! Bring him back! Bring him back to life!”
Maybe I should just knock her out.
Unaware of Derwin’s thoughts, Shanelika shouted angrily, her voice trembling.
“Why did you kill him?! Why did you kill poor Wills?! You evil dragon! Evil Lord! You’re mean!”
Yes, putting her to sleep would be best. Better that than listening to this ridiculous drunken rant.
Just as Derwin came to that conclusion, Shanelika suddenly leaned close enough that her face was right in front of his, her expression full of discontent.
“Huh? You’re trying to use magic on me, aren’t you? Are you going to kill me too? You can’t! You bad dragon! You bad dragon, are you going to kill me too? You can’t do that!”
Derwin hesitated, halting the sleep spell. She was so close that she could have headbutted him if she wanted to. Her mint-colored eyes, though slightly unfocused, burned with clear emotion—piercing, almost as if she could see right through him.
How can she tell I was about to use magic, in that state?
But that was the limit of his patience. Derwin didn’t plan to deal with a drunk hatchling any longer. Or, more precisely—he didn’t think he should keep looking at her like this: a drunk Shanelika who somehow embodied every ounce of cuteness in the world.
“If you kill him, I’ll hate you! Forever and ever, I’ll hate you!”
Just as he was about to cast the spell again, Shanelika suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around Derwin’s waist. Then, like a stubborn four-year-old, she began to whine.
“No magic!”
Then she even grabbed his hand. The sight of her small, pale hand gripping his large one was both ridiculous and… undeniably cute.
But Derwin decided this had to end quickly.
Just as he was about to cast the same sleep spell he’d used on Wills, he froze.
Ah. You’re a dragon.
He had forgotten for a moment. Shanelika was a dragon, not a human like Wills. With humans, he could use powerful magic to make them lose memory or blur their sense of reality, but not with dragons. If she fell asleep like this, she would remember everything up until the very moment the spell took effect.
Even if she got drunk in human form, dragons were fundamentally different. Losing memory? That didn’t exist for their kind—except, perhaps, for the Lord himself, Derwin.
Which meant that everything Shanelika was doing right now would become an eternal black mark in her long life as a dragon. If it were just a human’s night of foolish play, it could be quietly buried in the past—but anything done in front of her Lord, and worse, her bonded mate, would never be forgotten. Not as long as Derwin lived.
That might be… amusing to remember later.
His mind changed. Derwin decided not to put her to sleep after all.
He considered whether to speak as the knight “Derwin” or as the dragon “Der,” and decided on the latter. It would be absurd to keep up human formalities when they were alone in a soundproofed room.
Derwin finally spoke.
“I didn’t kill him. Wills isn’t dead.”
At that, Shanelika—still clinging to his waist and holding his hand tightly—peeked up at him and asked,
“Really? Then why isn’t he breathing?”
“He is.”
“He wasn’t!”
“You just can’t tell because you’re drunk.”
“Hmm, really? So he’s not dead?”
At last, she let go of Derwin and stumbled back toward Wills. She pressed her ear against his chest.
After a while, once she was satisfied that he was indeed alive, she returned to her chair and sat down again, peering curiously at the glass on the table like a child searching for a toy.
Finally calming down.
As her excitement subsided, Shanelika began to gulp down her beer again. Watching her, Derwin’s eyes wandered—and froze on her outfit.
Ever since she had thrown off her clothes, she’d been wearing only her undergarments. The white fabric barely covered the essentials, and the rest of her pale skin glowed in the lamplight—dazzling and dangerously beautiful.
He hadn’t noticed before, too focused on putting her to sleep. But now that he had, it was impossible to ignore.
Derwin immediately opened her wardrobe, grabbed a thin robe, and quickly draped it over her shoulders.
“I don’t want it! It’s hot!”
Clack. Whip.
Setting her mug down, Shanelika ripped the robe off and threw it aside.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
“I hate wearing clothes! Why do humans even wear them when it’s this hot?!”
Derwin sighed, picked the robe up again, and placed it back over her shoulders. This time, she balled it up and hurled it as far away as she could.
“Bye-bye!”
Looking satisfied with her throw, Shanelika turned to Derwin and grinned.
“Hehe, Lord understands, right? We don’t usually wear clothes anyway!”
The gleam in her eyes was troubling. Derwin reluctantly replied,
“…Still, when you’re in human form, you should wear something.”
“Nuh-uh! We’re dragons!”
She shook her head far too enthusiastically, then smirked. Her mint eyes shimmered suspiciously as she stepped closer to him and grabbed the front of his black armor with both hands.
“…What are you doing?”
“Lord, take yours off too! That armor looks hot. Right?”
“I’m not hot.”
“Liar! I’m hot and I’m barely wearing anything!”
Her speech was now a chaotic mix of polite and casual tones. Derwin decided—this couldn’t go on. Forget blackmail material; she’d be furious when she woke and remembered all this.
“Loooord~ you’re so mean. Take your clothes off too. It’s hot, so let’s be cool together, hmm?”
She tugged and pulled at his armor, trying in vain to undo it. Of course, armor like that couldn’t be removed so easily. Finally, she stepped back—and suddenly threw herself at him.
Derwin moved instinctively. If she collided with his armored chest in just her underwear, she could get hurt. He reached out to stop her by the shoulders.
But instead of stopping her, his grip and her unsteady step combined to throw off her balance entirely. The strength with which he tried to steady her only redirected her fall. In the next instant, Derwin twisted his body and took the impact himself.
Thud.
Just as he intended, Derwin hit the floor first—with Shanelika falling on top of him. He’d spared her from hitting the ground, at least.
The problem was… her bare skin pressed directly against the cold surface of his armor.
“Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?”
Derwin started to sit up—but froze. Their noses were touching. She was so close he could smell the faint sting of alcohol… and beneath it, her sweet scent.
“I’m not hurt at alllll~”
Her half-lidded eyes blinked slowly, lashes fluttering prettily. Her mint-colored irises shimmered like shallow, crystal-clear lakes. Every breath she took brushed against the tip of his nose, and the faint smell of alcohol mixed with her scent in a dangerously tempting way.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
That’s when it started—Derwin’s heart pounding uncontrollably.
“Hmm? Lord, why’s your face so red?”
He couldn’t answer. Words wouldn’t come out.
“Aha, you were secretly drinking too, weren’t you? You had beer with me, didn’t you?”
Her lovely eyes captured him completely. His heart couldn’t move, couldn’t escape.
“Hehe, you’re handsome.”
Unlike frozen Derwin, Shanelika fidgeted on top of him. Then she stretched out her hands and cupped his face.
“Human Derwin is really! really! handsome! Why are you so handsome, hmm?”
Smack.
Something soft and warm touched his nose.
“My handsome duke. My duke with only an empty shell now.”
Smack, smack.
Now the hot, burning touches were near his lips.
“My duke, I miss you. Come out! Not Lord—come out, my duke!”
Then she pressed her forehead to his with a little thud.
“You bad duke. Hollow duke.”
“……”
“You promised you’d buy me pretty clothes after we got married—but you never did.”
“……”
“Hmph. I’m going to marry His Majesty the King instead. A nice human, not a bad duke!”
And for quite a while, Shanelika continued to chatter right in his face. Her clear words gradually turned into sleepy murmurs.
Eventually, only her gentle, even breathing filled the room. Shanelika had fallen sound asleep on top of him.
“……”
He should move her to the bed now. But Derwin couldn’t move.
From the moment they’d fallen, his body burned. It wasn’t just his muscles—his human heart, containing the condensed mana of three dragon hearts, was raging wildly inside him. Ready to burst.
“…Haa.”
A sigh—something unbefitting a Dragon Lord—escaped his lips. Derwin, or rather Der, tried to focus, to calm the mana raging in his chest.
But he couldn’t. Even without looking, he could feel her soft breathing, every exhale brushing his skin and stirring his senses. Every small movement he made to set her down only sent the unstable mana into another frenzy.
[Damn it.]
Der swore in the human tongue without hesitation. He couldn’t move an inch.
Never before had he lost control like this. If he transformed into his true dragon form, his hearts might calm—but the royal palace would be destroyed. And the sudden appearance of a dragon would throw the human world into chaos.
[Asha Nerbekirael.]
In that soundproof room, Der quietly murmured the name of his mate.
[…Lady Shanelika.]
Then, the name of her human form.
Instinct was a terrifying thing. No matter how hard you try to suppress it, it bursts out without warning.
Was he human? Dragon? Or something in between?
That night, a single human heart burned wildly with emotions no dragon should ever feel—colors of chaos that could not be named.
