Chapter 98
Elber was on duty today, so we decided to meet at the promised location.
But honestly, even if he hadn’t been working, we still would have met outside.
If I had said I was going out alone with Elber, the Duke would have tagged along, calling it a “family outing.”
Walking down the main street with the Duke…
When I was about ten, it looked like the scene of a kidnapper and his abducted child.
Now it’s more like the image of a wicked crime boss with his only daughter at his side, stroking a cat like a scheming consigliere.
“Good thing or bad thing…”
Sometimes, I find myself pleased at how much I resemble him.
I shouldn’t. I can’t fully lean on him yet…
A distant voice snapped me out of my rambling thoughts.
“Sol, over here!”
In a little square at the edge of the capital — by the fountain everyone uses as a meeting point — Seraphina was waving at me.
On either side of her were Kai and Elber.
Wow. I really don’t want to go within fifty meters of them.
People were keeping a wide berth as if they were watching an opera.
There was even a street painter sketching them as models.
Of course, if I don’t go to them, they’ll come to me.
“Sol, we’ve been waiting! Wow, you’re so pretty! I’ve never seen that dress before.”
Seraphina ran over first.
Behind her, two men tried to catch up — their strides were fast but they got in each other’s way and ended up slower than Seraphina.
Elber reached me first and spoke.
“You’re late. If you didn’t want to come, you should have said so earlier. I could’ve helped you hole up at home. Actually, I can still escort you home right now…”
Kai quickly cut in, his single eye sparkling like a jewel.
“Wow, you’re gorgeous! Should I take this as you dressing up in anticipation of today’s date?”
No. I dressed up because I was scared of being outshone by you two.
I tried hard not to listen to the murmurs around us.
“Eat, drink tea, that’s enough, right?”
“It might be our first and last date — wouldn’t it be sad to end it at that? Come on!”
It was supposed to be a double date, but the main pair was me and Kai.
Since I hadn’t made any plans, naturally Kai took the lead.
It was already early summer.
The leaves glowed translucent in the sunlight.
Whenever I glanced at their faces, they were smiling under dappled shadows.
Just walking like this would have been pleasant.
“We’re here, Sol!”
“…Wow.”
We finally passed through the park and arrived.
Before us stood a huge glass conservatory built of white framework — the size of a hall at least.
Through the glass you could see flowers blooming in wild abundance.
My heart started to thump like on a picnic.
And it wasn’t only flowers inside.
“Oh, a squirrel!”
A plump squirrel scurried along the white beams of the greenhouse.
So cute…
I instinctively covered my mouth with both hands.
Kai, seeing my reaction, seemed to confirm his choice had been right.
His voice rose a tone higher as he guided me.
“Shall we go in, my lady?”
“Yeah!”
“Haha, still as spirited as ever.”
We stepped up the marble stairs and through the broad doors of the greenhouse.
There was none of the usual humidity of such places.
“It’s cool in here, even though it’s a greenhouse?”
“They’re using special tech to control the humidity.”
“You know a lot… Wow. This place is like a huge maze! Oh, what’s this? Wow! There are so many sculptures too?”
The space was vast.
With plants growing taller than me and tangled like a jungle, it felt like entering a giant’s garden.
The strange statues between the foliage fired up my imagination.
“This one looks just like a real person. Wow… I thought this was a leopard. Oh, and here’s something abstract — like flames! Is this even a greenhouse?”
“It’s a museum. Tomorrow an exhibit by a ‘Return-to-Nature’ sculptor opens here.”
“…Tomorrow?”
Wait.
“Don’t tell me we’re trespassing? Without paying admission?”
I recoiled. Kai blinked at first, then clutched his stomach and snorted.
“Hahaha! You’re really funny.”
“Funny or not — are we actually allowed to be here?”
“It’s fine. The owner of this glass museum has done business with the Lafrand family for generations. I got permission in advance.”
You can just “get permission” for something like this? And bring multiple people?
I turned back, worried Elber and Seraphina had been stopped at the entrance.
Through the web of plant stems — messy but meticulously interlaced like spider silk — Seraphina’s long blonde hair gleamed.
Elber’s head poked up too. I could even hear voices.
“…I see. Miss Seraphina, you’re quite well-versed…”
“I saw a lot of sculptures at the temple… so naturally I…”
They were physically close, but I couldn’t make out their words clearly.
This maze-like space swallowed sound.
Kai led me on.
We crossed just two root-made obstacles, and now even their voices were gone.
Kai smiled.
“Good spot, huh? No matter what we say here, they won’t hear us.”
“Seraphina, Kai’s being a pervert.”
“…”
When he’d been so confident just a second ago — now Kai flinched.
Hmm. Maybe Seraphina really can’t hear us. Or maybe she’s already running over.
Ah, the setup’s obvious.
Ten seconds later, Seraphina did not appear clutching a statue wrapped in holy power.
Kai, after a moment of hesitation, straightened his chest.
“I told you, it’s fine. We can talk about anything here.”
“Really?”
“Of course. As long as we keep each other’s secrets.”
“In that case…”
“Oh, did you have something you wanted to say?”
Kai’s voice went up a tone — like an excited puppy at the word “walk.”
His expression said, You’d never say anything bad to me.
I also wanted to only tell him happy things.
Crack jokes, laugh together like before.
But…
If I really want to be with Kai, I have to ask this question.
“Kai, did you accept the Cardinal Dragon?”
“…”
“Of course, I’m not judging you for it. But you know that’s not the real problem.”
…That the dragon wants me.
Kai let out a deep sigh.
“Did he approach you? He promised me he wouldn’t.”
“He didn’t approach me. Just stood about fifty meters away and smiled.”
“Ah, seriously…”
Dragons really can’t be trusted.
It wasn’t funny, but seeing Kai’s troubled face made a laugh escape me.
At least I could say it clearly.
“Kai, I believe in your kindness. But now that I know the dragon wants me, I can’t accept your goodwill anymore.”
“…”
“I’ve had fun these past days. I hope it’s true that your grandfather is sick. I wish him health.”
That’s it.
I already have enough trouble with the original story’s villains; I don’t need dragons — who didn’t even appear in the original — salivating over me too.
I did enjoy my time with Kai, but let’s not be greedy.
I have a good family around me, don’t I?
End it cleanly, just like this…
“Then we’ll eat, part ways…”
“There’s one misunderstanding.”
Suddenly Kai blocked my path.
His green eyes trembled with unease, like a forest before a storm.
“It’s true I accepted the Cardinal Dragon.
But he’s merciful — he said he won’t give me his full power until I’ve grown.”
“…”
“Thanks to that, unlike the Silver Dragon of the Schlaeger family, he can move about freely. And I’m… perfectly sane. Only this trace remains.”
He slightly lifted the eyepatch covering his right eye.
…I clapped a hand over my mouth.
The Duke, with the Silver Dragon’s power, had a blue iris that rippled like waves — as beautiful as watching a well of water.
But Kai’s right eye kept writhing…
“Kai…”
The early summer green was gone, replaced with crimson.
The movement of his iris was grotesque, like little birds flailing in a pool of blood.
Seeing my face, Kai quickly lowered the patch and gave a bitter smile.
“Not pleasant to look at, right?”
“You’re… okay, right?”
“For now. The Cardinal Dragon said if my condition worsens, he’ll withdraw.”
“And he said bringing me here would keep you from falling into madness too?”
“Yeah. But, like I said — there’s a misunderstanding.”
Kai smiled.
The green eyes I’d thought so beautiful from the first meeting narrowed, catching the sunlight.
A summer-colored smile. His voice, too, was cool and clear.
“I like you.”
“…”
Huh?
Wait, what, what did he just say…
“Regardless of the Cardinal Dragon and my grandfather each wanting you for their own reasons — I like you. That’s the truth.”
“K-Kai? Hey, we’ve barely met a few times!”
“I know. I’m not some idiot who believes in love at first sight.
But even as time passed, those brief moments we met kept shining brighter in my memory — how else can I explain it?”
“…”
“Six years ago, when the Cardinal Dragon brought me to the Godell Marquisate’s ball, I was terrified. I thought I’d die if I didn’t obey him.
But you — you laughed and accepted me when I suddenly asked you to dance.”
His words brought back hazy memories from six years ago.
Kai hesitating, saying he should only dance with his fiancée.
Then, shaking off his shyness, spinning with me and laughing…
For me, just a pretty memory that makes me smile.
But Kai’s eyes still shone as if looking at that very ball.
For him, the scene was still vivid.
“Do you remember the day we walked along the mountain foot?
Until then, my standards in life were only duty and ability. You left me with a new standard — ‘desire.’”
That memory was clearer.
Two trembling kids walking the foothills, exchanging scarves and gloves warmed with each other’s body heat.
“On the day of the Flogel Territory’s festival, you had every right to be angrier at me.
But you only told me to grow up straight.”
“…”
“I always embarrassed you. Yet you believed in me.”
Kai, you’re mistaken.
I only believed in you because I knew the ‘original’ you.
I’m not such a good person.
But now Alkaïos Lafrand — no longer the ‘kind submale lead who follows only sword and justice’ from the original — gazed at me with the green light left in his left eye.
“With you here, I can keep believing in myself. For your sake, I’ll become a better man.”
“Kai…”
“Stay by my side. Be the axis of my life from now on.”
Hearing him say that was somehow more bewildering than if he’d proposed marriage outright.
Kai’s earnest voice sounded almost like a plea for salvation…
And at those words, my heart began to pound.
