Chapter 3
Several decades ago.
I was resting on the ruined earth, playing with baby elves.
That was when that bastard calling himself the Great Sage appeared.
Right in the middle of an empty wasteland!
I couldn’t even sense a trace of mana—how did he get there?
While I was still dumbfounded, the man opened his mouth.
“I know everything in this world.”
“Including the fact that the great Cellus will soon become nothing more than a pitiful creature.”
“Lord Cellus, would you not like to hear the rest of my prophecy?”
Of course, I didn’t listen.
That lunatic was clearly spouting nonsense.
Besides, the fact that he managed to approach me without triggering my senses was infuriating—and a blow to my pride.
So, I beat the crap out of him.
“If you ever show your face before me again, I’ll kill you.”
And then I blasted him clear across the continent.
Haven’t heard from him since.
But I doubt he’s dead—those sage types always have annoyingly long lifespans.
‘So he knew I’d end up possessing this body, huh?’
That means he probably knows how to heal this body and restore my original power.
And even if he doesn’t, I’ll make him find out. He’s a sage, after all.
‘Alright then. My goal is to find the Great Sage.’
Except… there’s a problem.
“Keh! Cough!”
“My lady!”
“I knew it—you’ve stayed awake too long today! It’s already putting too much strain on your body!”
“Please, lie down, my lady!”
Yeah. This body is pathetically weak.
Finding that sage means searching the entire continent—but how could I possibly do that in this state?
“Cough! Ack! Keuk!”
Totally impossible.
Just walking around the room like this sends my body into chaos.
“Damn it…”
First, I’d have to build up my stamina—but how the hell do I train this useless body?
The world went dark before my eyes.
“Ah! The physician has arrived!”
“My lady, please lie down so the doctor can examine you right away!”
Anne and Anna, clearly unaware of my deep and serious thoughts, forced me back into bed.
This is not the time for that!
I was about to kick and struggle—until a strange, familiar sensation washed over me.
A faint, yet unmistakably lowly energy.
I knew it instantly.
This presence…
“Ahh?”
***
In the southern part of the continent, an elf named Teyti, from the Insiha Mountains, was humming cheerfully as he swung his medical bag back and forth.
Lately, plagues had been spreading across the continent, and the demand for elven healers had skyrocketed.
A disaster for humans, perhaps—but for Teyti, who had fled the stuffy seclusion of elven society, it was a golden opportunity to make money.
He had settled in the imperial capital, where noble clients practically threw gold at him.
That’s when he received a summons from the Duke of Akiyon—apparently to attend to their youngest daughter.
Everyone in the empire knew the story: the duke’s youngest was said to be afflicted with an incurable illness.
Teyti hesitated for a moment, but the absurd amount of money they offered quickly silenced any doubts.
‘If they start demanding a cure, I’ll just run for it. I already got paid upfront anyway.’
Whistling a tune, Teyti followed the servant’s lead down the hall until they stopped in front of Lady Daphne Akiyon’s room.
‘Alright. First impressions are everything—win her favor, milk what I can, and—’
But then—
‘Hmm?’
Something felt off.
An all-too-familiar aura prickled at his skin.
A feeling he hadn’t experienced since his days in the homeland—one that made his whole body tremble and his knees threaten to buckle.
Fear.
Teyti’s face turned pale.
‘No… no way.’
This was human territory. There was no way that one of them could be here.
He’d lived among humans for fifty years and had never once encountered that kind before.
‘It’s just my imagination. My senses must be dull from living here too long.’
He swallowed hard, forcing his hammering heart to calm.
“E-excuse me, I’ll enter now.”
He opened the door.
And froze.
“Ahh?”
“…”
Oh, dear gods.
Teyti’s knees gave out instantly.
Before him sat a five-year-old girl with glittering golden hair and bright green eyes—an adorably small, innocent child.
But Teyti could feel it.
Inside that human shell—
‘Why the hell is that lunatic here?!’
That terrifying maniac!
***
‘Just as I thought—an elf.’
Daphne looked down at the elf who had collapsed to his knees, trembling uncontrollably, and smirked.
Elves were revered by humans as noble guardians of the forest.
But that was only in human eyes.
To a dragon, the elves who worshipped the earth were nothing more than dust—insignificant specks that could be blown away with a breath.
‘Heh. Gotcha.’
Daphne turned to Anne and Anna.
“I will receive my examination alone. Leave us.”
“Huh?”
The two maids blinked in surprise.
“But, my lady, we must stay to assist the physician!”
“There will be nothing to assist with… right, elf?”
Daphne gave a pointed look at Teyti.
The elf, trembling under her draconic aura, hastily scrambled upright and nodded furiously.
“Y-yes! Of course! None at all! I wouldn’t dare trouble you, my lady! I’ll manage everything by myself!”
“See? Now go.”
Still confused, Anne and Anna hesitated, but obeyed.
“If you need anything, please call us right away.”
“I shall.”
Click.
The door shut, leaving only Daphne and Teyti inside.
The elf stood frozen, drenched in sweat, his eyes darting.
Daphne gestured lazily.
“Do you know who I am?”
“E-excuse me?”
Teyti straightened his back at once, inhaling sharply.
“O-of course! You—you must be Lord Cellus! There is no other dragon who radiates such immense, terrifying power!”
Satisfied with the answer, Daphne’s lips curved into a pleased grin.
“Well-trained. Promising.”
“H-ha… thank you.”
“Then why are you still standing?”
“…Pardon?”
“You know who I am, yet you dare keep your legs under you? Do you wish to die?”
“N-no!”
Thud!
Teyti dropped to his knees faster than anyone could blink. The crack of bone against floor echoed through the room, but Daphne didn’t care—she merely watched him coolly.
Teyti wiped the sweat from his brow, swallowing hard.
Among elves who lived outside the forest, he was considered relatively bold.
Even if dragons were their overlords, he’d usually have the nerve to defy one—maybe even escape.
But not this dragon.
Not Cellus.
The insane, temperamental, sociopathic Black Dragon—the Great Calamity himself.
Run away from Cellus? Impossible.
Even if, by some miracle, he managed to flee, he’d spend the rest of his miserable life hiding, too afraid to even breathe.
He recalled the dark elf tribe that had once angered Cellus and been wiped out for it.
No, there would be no resistance.
“You’re my assigned physician now, aren’t you?”
“Y-yes. Starting today, I’ll be handling the young lady’s—uh, Lord Cellus’s—care.”
“Daphne.”
“Pardon?”
“This body’s name is Daphne. From now on, you’ll address me as such.”
“Understood, Lady Daphne.”
Teyti cautiously glanced up, choosing his words carefully.
“If I may ask, great one… why are you in a human body?”
Flinch.
Daphne instinctively looked away.
What was she supposed to say—that she’d been defeated by a human hero and sealed away, only to end up possessing the hero’s daughter by accident?
‘Absolutely not.’
That secret was going to the grave.
“I came for a brief visit.”
“…What?”
“A diversion. A little game. I wished to experience life as a feeble human, you see.”
“Ahh!”
Teyti’s eyes widened in sudden understanding.
“So that’s why you’ve concealed your mana! Of course! I could sense your aura instantly because I’m an elf, but other races wouldn’t notice a thing. Truly, dragons even know how to play grandly!”
“…”
Daphne flinched again, but since she couldn’t very well deny it, she changed the subject.
“Anyway. There’s something I want to ask.”
“Yes, my lady?”
“This body is said to suffer from an incurable disease.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that.”
“Do you know the name of it?”
“No, my lady.”
As her maids had said, the illness wasn’t publicly known.
Daphne lowered her voice.
“It’s called the Black Butterfly Disease.”
“Ah, the Black Butterfl—wait, what?”
A strange expression crossed Teyti’s face.
“Are you sure? You’re not mistaken?”
“Have you ever known me to be mistaken?”
“Many tim—no! Of course not, Lady Daphne never makes mistakes!”
“Hmph.”
“Black Butterfly Disease… that’s a curse of black magic, not a disease. You can’t cure it—you have to break it.”
Daphne frowned slightly.
Black Butterfly Disease
Cause unknown. Most likely the result of a black magic curse.
So it was really a curse.
She ruffled her hair in frustration and exhaled deeply.
“Why would this body be cursed? It’s only a child! What sin could such a young body have committed?”
Teyti scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, then gave a bitter smile.
“This body has done nothing wrong. The one who sinned…”
He pointed toward the family crest hanging on the wall.
“…was the hero.”
