Chapter 96
The overflowing moonlight fell upon Derwin’s shoulders. Standing before the moonlit window, Derwin fixed his gaze straight on Shanelica.
“Are you feeling any better?”
Derwin wore his usual expressionless face, but there was something different in his tone.
“How are you even here?”
This was the king’s detached palace, the crown princess’s bedchamber. A knight had no business entering at midnight.
“I had something to say.”
“…Didn’t you say you hoped never to see my face again?”
Before she lost consciousness, Shanelica distinctly remembered telling Derwin to quit being her guard.
“The necklace.”
The necklace?
“The thing you feared because you didn’t know who gave it to you—it must be the necklace. That was mine, left behind on purpose. So you need not be afraid anymore. This place is safe.”
Shanelica was struck speechless by the unexpected revelation. All the hours she had spent tormented by fear shattered into nothingness in that instant.
“Why are you telling me this only now?”
“I didn’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble. But when I saw you collapse, I thought it best to say it.”
Unnecessary trouble? So he was aware of how wrong his actions were.
It left a bitter taste. Even without that necklace, Derwin’s strange behavior had already unsettled her mind.
“Then why sneak it in as though it were a gift from His Majesty the King?”
“Because if you knew it came from me, you wouldn’t have worn it.”
“And why did I need to wear it?”
“I imbued it with mana to aid the healing of your Dragon Heart. I thought my help would be necessary for your complete recovery before you become an adult dragon. To keep it close to your Dragon Heart, I made it in the form of a necklace.”
So, in the end, it had been prepared for her sake. But the one receiving it could not easily understand.
“If you had explained from the beginning, I would have worn it—even if it was from you. Because it was for me.”
“I didn’t want you to realize the state you were in.”
Shanelica found herself partly understanding his reasoning.
She had thought she was almost fully healed. Human physicians insisted some internal damage remained, but they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. They only said that as long as she didn’t overexert herself, her body would gradually heal on its own.
Shanelica hadn’t thought it serious. Compared to when she first came to the palace, she felt much better—well enough even to swim. Surely recovery was progressing smoothly.
So even if he had explained and given her the necklace, she wouldn’t have worn it often. Why wear something from someone she resented, when she already felt fine?
“What’s wrong with my Dragon Heart?”
Her face darkened as she asked.
“It suffered severe damage. You were still a hatchling, unable to form a proper protective barrier.”
“But I had less than a year left before becoming an adult dragon. Wouldn’t it have been nearly complete?”
“The two hundred years of being a hatchling is the growth period of the Dragon Heart. Even if you survive that span, only after the adult ceremony does a final, solid barrier form.”
“…Then why tell me now?”
“Because you already know. Didn’t you feel it when you collapsed?”
Indeed. She had been struggling for days, forcing herself to endure while speaking with Derwin through mind-voice, only to eventually collapse. She remembered the strength draining from her, her body stiffening like stone.
“Is it serious?”
“As long as you wear the necklace, you’ll be fine. Even keeping it nearby will help. You won’t collapse suddenly like before.”
So it hadn’t been just fear and sleeplessness that caused her fainting. It wasn’t the shock of realizing the necklace wasn’t from Eleusis. The true reason had been not wearing it at all.
“It’s not easy to make another. So ask the king to return it to you. And…”
Derwin continued, his voice devoid of any emotion.
“The reason I came here tonight was to tell you I’ll do as you asked.”
Do as I asked?
“From this moment on, I resign as your guard. As you said, you’ll be fine without me. This place is safe even from dragon slayers. Live here without worry.”
He had said he’d pretend not to hear her words earlier, but now—suddenly?
Before she collapsed, she had threatened him half in jest, yet now he was willingly granting her wish. After saying that, the man who had been standing stiffly at the window shifted slightly, raising his hand.
A teleportation spell.
Shanelica knew instinctively. The words just spoken were likely the last he would ever say to her inside this palace.
“That’s not all, is it?”
Her urgent voice stopped him.
“A necklace alone won’t keep me well. Just like before, no—just like even now—I’ll only be well if you heal me every night.”
Her fingers clutched tightly at the thin bed sheet.
Now she knew for certain.
Since arriving at the palace, each night when she drifted into sleep, she had felt warmth radiating near her chest.
At first, she thought it was natural healing. But one night, after drinking beer and slipping into unconsciousness, she had felt someone beside her casting magic.
Naturally, she assumed it was the king, Eleusis—who alone could freely enter and knew magic.
But the maids said Eleusis hadn’t visited her that night. Afterward, she doubted herself, wondering if it truly had been natural healing after all.
Yet her instincts whispered otherwise: it wasn’t natural healing.
Unable to shake the feeling, she tried to test it. Pretending to sleep through the night—yet felt nothing. But whenever she truly slept, the warmth always returned.
Even sharing her room with maids changed nothing; none saw anyone come, though she still felt the warmth.
It was a mystery. She even thought of waking Chel, her spirit, to check her body. But she had avoided asking Derwin—she couldn’t even bear to face him then.
Eventually, she grew uncertain: was it natural healing, or magic?
Then came a frightening thought.
If it was magic, done every night unseen by maids—it couldn’t be a mere human.
But she had quickly dismissed it. Derwin had no reason to. Why would he sneak in like a thief every night?
Yet now, all was clear.
When she collapsed earlier, the warmth she felt in her chest had been the same as every night. His voice calling her name, his words about her Dragon Heart and the necklace.
It hadn’t been natural healing. It was Derwin, who had secretly healed her every night.
Derwin said nothing at first. But the silence did not last.
“So, you’ve realized.”
He hadn’t meant to hide it. His voice carried no emotion, only calm. The one who could not stay calm was Shanelica.
“It was from the very beginning, wasn’t it?”
From the first night after she arrived and completed the ceremony—every single night since. Even on days when she had been hurt that he never came to her, he had still always come secretly, to heal her.
“Why did you do it secretly, without a word?”
Back then, she had desperately wanted him to come and explain everything. Had he done so, it would have been enough.
“Don’t misunderstand. I only wanted you to recover quickly.”
The moment he said those words, a flood of emotions surged into Shanelica’s heart like a tidal wave.
What is this?
She felt suffocated. Just as earlier when she awoke, strange feelings crashed against her heart again—dense, heavy, tangled emotions she could not name.
She didn’t know what they were, but one thing was certain: they were deep, entwined emotions that had festered for a long time.
And instinctively, Shanelica realized.
This is… Dragon Heart resonance—the sharing of emotions.
She didn’t know why she had never felt it before, but she knew as surely as the sky is sky and air is air: these weren’t her emotions. These belonged to her mate, standing before her.
But how strange. Derwin’s face was blank as always, his voice cold. The complete opposite of what she felt.
How could he act like that…?
Had he left his feelings neglected so long they hardened, dulled beyond his own awareness?
“…Why do I need to recover quickly?”
“Because your Dragon Heart isn’t yours alone.”
He said it as if it were obvious. His voice remained cold.
But Shanelica clearly felt it—the sharp contradiction between his words and his heart.
“So you did it because you didn’t want to harm me?”
“What other reason could there be?”
His tone was indifferent, almost annoyed.
Once, such words would have wounded her.
But now, Shanelica almost laughed. And cried.
“A little…”
Her throat choked. It wasn’t only her feelings.
Carrying the weight of his emotions as well, she forced the words out.
“A little… can’t you be honest, Lord?”
Each cold word he spoke, she felt his emotions resonate in her chest.
A desperate, aching affection—as if he bore the whole world inside.
