CHAPTER 184……………………………………
Before long, the gentle sound of string instruments filled the air.
When a massive bell tolled three majestic times, the people who had been shouting curses as if they’d been pressing a stop button suddenly fell silent.
The nobles who had been peeking out the windows to watch me with cold eyes quickly drew their curtains and hid.
“O darkness that devours the light, take this pitiful woman to the place where secrets cannot be concealed.
Where tears linger—here stands a bride for you.
Please, take her.”
Soon, a beautiful song flowed through the air.
It was the very melody I had once heard called “Bride of the Guardian Deity.”
If I recalled correctly, when the sacrifice was a woman, they sang “Bride of the Guardian Deity,” and when the sacrifice was a man, they sang “Brother of the Guardian Deity.” We’d even had a lesson about it.
I’ve read the lyrics before, but this is my first time hearing it in person.
Walking barefoot across the floor splattered thick with red blood, I climbed alone onto the sacrificial altar.
As soon as I did, everyone prostrated themselves and began praying to the guardian deity. As the song swelled toward its climax, I closed my eyes.
I’ll wait just a little longer… and once everyone leaves, I’ll run.
That was the resolve I made in front of everyone watching.
But then something strange happened.
A massive gust of wind roared above my head, and suddenly people began screaming in terror.
Even amid the chaos, the string instruments did not stop. Though clearly frightened, the performers continued making sounds that were somewhere between screams and song.
“Ahhh! It’s a dragon!”
“The real guardian deity has appeared!”
I could see the terrified crowd scrambling in panic.
Even the nobles who had hidden behind their curtains must have heard the commotion; they pulled the curtains aside and watched.
The wind whipped up dirt so fiercely it felt like it would pierce my eyes, forcing me to squeeze them shut.
If I go blind, surviving would be meaningless…
[“The bride—I will take her.”]
A thunderous voice echoed above my head, and in the next instant, something seized my body in one swift motion.
What is happening?
Startled, I opened my eyes.
The people who had hurled insults at me now looked as small as Go stones.
They grew smaller and smaller until even the imperial palace was no longer visible.
Apparently, I was flying high in the blue sky, caught in the magic of a gigantic dragon.
The dragon set me down in a quiet forest.
It was far larger than even the elephant I once saw at a zoo—so enormous it couldn’t be compared at all.
“Are you truly the guardian deity?”
Lying meekly beneath the dragon’s massive foot, I spoke cautiously.
I had planned to run if a beast appeared—but since I’d been seized by a dragon instead, it seemed I needed to revise my plan.
“……”
“You’re not actually planning to make me your bride just because of that ridiculous song, are you?”
I still couldn’t see the dragon’s face. I was simply pinned ambiguously beneath its enormous foot.
At least, fortunately, it didn’t seem intent on killing me. It held me carefully, without applying force.
“……”
“I should tell you in advance—I have a fiancé. We’re not officially broken off.”
I felt a bit sorry for dragging Kyle into this, but it wasn’t a lie. I thought it might help persuade the dragon.
“……”
“I’m going to marry my fiancé. We’re separated for now because of circumstances, but…”
I hadn’t expected a reaction from a dragon whose face I couldn’t even see.
But I felt a slight tightening in the foot holding me. He was reacting.
“There’s someone waiting for me. Please. Let me go.”
“……”
The dragon didn’t answer, as if he had no desire to speak with me.
“If you need my help for something, please tell me. I’ll listen.”
“……”
“If you can speak human language, doesn’t that mean you can hear it too? Or am I too small for you to hear properly?”
When I wriggled beneath his foot, trying to escape, the dragon hesitated—then completely released me.
At that very moment, an unimaginable gust of wind shoved my entire body backward. As I was pushed farther and farther away by the violent wind, the dragon’s foot once again enclosed me.
Was he not trying to stop me from escaping… but making space for me because of the strong wind?
Touched by the dragon’s unexpectedly considerate action, I decided to stay quiet instead of making more noise. I simply plopped down, using the sole of his foot as the ground.
Though my plan had fallen apart, at least I was alive. Thinking that way, it didn’t seem like such a bad outcome.
I didn’t know how the god obsessed with the original story would try to make things difficult for me again…
But since I looked like a punished villain, there’s no reason to kill me outright, right?
Yuliter looked unimpressed as he watched Kyle appear in his forest with a human in tow.
At first, he’d thought it was a corpse and left it alone. But now Kyle had even brought small human furnishings and set them up in the middle of the forest.
[“What exactly are you doing?”]
[“Didn’t you want to see her? This human is my fiancée.”]
At Kyle’s words, Yuliter’s eyes darkened.
A dragon who once claimed he couldn’t understand loving a human had suddenly brought one here, calling her his fiancée.
[“She’s smaller than my foot. I can’t even tell where your fiancée is attached.”]
It might have sounded like mockery, but it was true.
The tiny Elupe was inside a house barely the size of a dragon’s foot. From Yuliter’s perspective, she was too small to see even if he wanted to.
[“Tsk. You could just transform into a human.”]
Kyle changed his form into that of a human and entered the small house. Yuliter frowned.
[“Hah. You’re telling me, a higher species, to take human form?”]
Even as he said that, he’d secretly wanted to try it at least once. Reluctantly, Yuliter transformed into a human as well.
He had never needed to meet humans before, so this was the first time he had ever seen himself in human form.
Kyle’s eyes were full of tenderness as he looked at the sleeping woman.
Watching him, Yuliter looked as though he might vomit, covering his nose with both arms in exaggerated disgust.
[“Kyle. I’m sorry, but that human woman smells.”]
[“It’s not a smell. It’s a fragrance. My El always smells pleasant.”]
[“No. This is just human scent. It’s so foul I can’t get any closer.”]
Seeing Yuliter genuinely struggling, Kyle let out a small laugh.
Watching him suppress his gagging reminded Kyle of his own first visit to the human world.
Back then, the human smell had disgusted him so much that he could barely function.
Ironically, the humans themselves seemed completely unaware of any scent coming from them.
For dragons, whose senses were highly developed, the unique scent that only humans carried was irritating.
[“You don’t need to come any closer anyway. Don’t even dream of getting a good look at my fiancée.”]
[“Hah, unbearable. That aside, why did you bring this human here?”]
Yuliter finally sealed his nose with magic and asked. Kyle’s expression turned bitter.
[“At last, the contract has been broken.”]
[“The contract is broken? Does that mean the day Master spoke of has come?”]
The contract between the first emperor and the dragon had been simple:
Protect the Empire and the imperial family.
But if they ever coveted what belonged to the dragon, everything would return to the beginning.
[“They laid hands on El—who is engaged to me. They coveted what was mine. That means the contract is over.”]
As soon as he finished speaking, Yuliter’s expression grew ambiguous.
Had something like this never happened in a previous life? Or was it somehow connected?
It was something dragons would consider a disgrace. He should feel happy to be freed from it.
And yet, instead of joy, an uneasy feeling crept over him.
For a dragon to feel uneasy…
If Yuliter heard that thought aloud, he would surely laugh it off as nonsense.
[“There’s nothing good about interfering in human affairs. You know how humans cling obsessively to even trivial matters and pursue them to the end.”]
Yuliter wasn’t wrong.
Humans often behaved like incomprehensible creatures.
Tens of thousands of years ago, there were many humans who sought dragon hearts, which was one reason dragons found dealing with the human world too troublesome.
[“It doesn’t matter. She was mine from the beginning.”]
[“You cursed Master, and now look at you.”]
[“Ahem. For the time being, El will live here. So I’d like you to adjust the forest to an environment suitable for humans.”]
As the forest’s caretaker, Elforten nodded at Kyle’s request.
Dragons could adapt to any environment, but humans would never endure the harsh winds dragons favored.
[“Tsk. So I won’t even be able to enjoy flying into the wind for a while.”]
