TDAA Ch 26
by soapaSiol felt as if his body was nestled in a perfectly fitting place.
It felt like he was tucked back into a cookie cutter mold that had been used to shape him. A complete perfection existed there – comfortable, in the right place, with no need to move or find another spot.
“Mmm….”
Siol stirred and turned slightly to the side, only to be blocked by a hard wall. A warm, smooth wall.
He leaned his forehead against it, snuggling closer. Then, his perfect cookie-cutter mold tightened a bit. The constricting sensation was somewhat suffocating, yet strangely cozy and reassuring.
Was he still inside the closet?
Certainly, a slightly strange Eorzen had hidden him in the closet before leaving for the tower, and after that….
Thinking up to that point, Siol suddenly opened his eyes wide.
“……!”
And, startled, he froze like a stone.
An astonishingly beautiful face was sleeping peacefully before his eyes. The blue eyes, which sometimes turned round and sometimes diamond-shaped depending on his mood, were hidden beneath his eyelids. Instead, beneath the deep-set eyelids, eyelashes fanned out like a brush, casting shadows on the man’s face. Below that, a sculpted jawline, somewhat thin cheeks, somehow made him look forlorn.
A few strands of hair that had fallen along his tilted head further emphasized this atmosphere.
The fact that the blue dragon was truly beautiful struck him anew.
Naturally, Siol’s gaze swept down his face and below. His gaze, which had been traveling towards the exposed shoulders, brushing past the alluring, sleek neckline, suddenly stopped at the bite mark on Eorzen’s trapezius muscle.
It was the mark Siol had bitten.
He had, last night, this man–
“……?!”
Siol flinched involuntarily and glanced nervously at Eorzen. Fortunately, he hadn’t woken up.
While his memories of yesterday were hazy, possibly due to the aftereffects of his frenzy, several scenes flashed through his mind.
Kissing Eorzen’s tilted-back neck. Pinning Eorzen’s hands above his head and licking his frantic eyes. Arguing that since he’d saved him, wouldn’t it be alright to do it just once? Whispering that even if he cried, he wouldn’t stop.
It was clear that he had spent last night coaxing and pushing a reluctant Eorzen. Even if he had been in a frenzy, how could he do such a thing to the blue dragon? Such ingratitude was beyond the pale.
How could he be so shameless…!
Siol, pale and shaken, slipped out of Eorzen’s embrace. Fortunately, Eorzen’s arms, which had been tightly wrapped around him, loosened easily as Siol carefully pushed them away. Though panting from the dizzying memory of last night, Siol couldn’t take his eyes off the peacefully sleeping dragon’s face.
The man he had protected from Nathaniel was now in a deep slumber.
If he had lost to Nathaniel yesterday, he might never have seen this serene face again.
“Eorzen….”
At the faint whisper, Eorzen groaned softly and furrowed his brow. Was he waking up? On impulse, Siol pulled out the dragon scale from his pocket and summoned the world’s deliveryman. The deliveryman, having answered Siol’s call, seemed to hesitate slightly at the sight of the dragon scale. Why, after being so greedy for it? As Siol wondered, he plucked a few strands of Eorzen’s blue hair, then, as Siol wished, sprinkled a generous amount of sleeping powder over Eorzen’s face and returned.
Siol, with a puzzled look, put the remaining scale back in his pocket. He had thought he would have to sacrifice something like a dragon scale to put the dragon to sleep, but wasn’t that the case? In any case, he was glad he hadn’t lost the last remaining scale.
Now he didn’t have to worry about Eorzen waking up. The sleeping powder was very potent, so he wouldn’t wake up for at least half a day.
With that thought, an irresistible urge washed over him again. Siol leaned towards Eorzen and whispered in a low voice.
“I like you, Eorzen.”
Once he started speaking, he somehow couldn’t stop.
“I was confined to the mansion, completely absorbed in alchemy. Yes, the place where you killed me.”
In a self-deprecating tone, Siol continued, this time boldly placing his hand on Eorzen’s cheek and gently stroking it with his thumb. Just as Eorzen always did to him.
“That place was once my heaven…. Only after you brought me here did I realize it was all a lie. The people around me, the kingdom being on the verge of collapse because of the monsters, the king’s plea about his dream of killing all the monsters and bringing peace to the kingdom… Everything, it was all a lie.”
If he had known that trusting him without a doubt would cause such a huge ripple effect, he would have put more thought into creating the alchemy tools.
But it was pointless to regret it now.
“At first, I was so confused, but soon… I became grateful to you. You taught me about this world.”
It wasn’t just the world.
He taught Siol affection, love, the joy of being protected.
He had received too much. From the blue dragon, he had only received.
“Life was full of unpleasant things, but meeting you in the midst of it all….”
Siol, speaking up to that point, shook his head, saying, “Ah.”
“Ruyfen is a bit of a troublemaker, but he’s a good wolf. Except for trying to overfeed me and thinking I’m weak…. No, and the constant teasing is a bit… like that, but anyway, it was good to meet Ruyfen. Burdril is clueless and selfish, but still a much better disciple than Nathaniel. I wish I had met him sooner. I wanted to teach him more….”
He would never see them again.
“Still, I like you the most. Actually, I wanted to have you.”
How nice would it have been if he had been the blue dragon’s mate?
He was curious about what would happen if the kind dragon, who poured such warm affection even onto a wolf cub he picked up in a cabin, met his mate. But he didn’t want to see that sight. The kinder the dragon was, the more he would be hurt.
It was only recently that he thought he would be happy to serve the mate if he could only stay by the blue dragon’s side, but now his heart had changed so much.
“Yesterday, can I consider that I had you, a little? You were drugged, but… it wasn’t guiding, was it?”
A night of sharing true love, not guiding.
Siol felt like he could cherish that night as a lifelong memory, a dream.
As someone who wasn’t the dragon’s mate, he would have the greatest memory he could possibly have. No one who had unrequited love for the dragon could have such a significant memory. In that sense, he might even have to thank Nathaniel.
Siol, lamenting his own state of having such absurd thoughts, kissed Eorzen’s cheek and got up.
As he walked across the water towards the magic stone, it vibrated and blinked slowly. Siol placed his hand on it, rested his forehead against it, and closed his eyes. The magic stone had lost much of its power from being used incorrectly.
Furthermore….
Siol pressed his hand against the magic stone and pushed inward. He stirred inside and felt the expected texture against his hand. Siol gripped it tightly and pulled it out with all his might.
A thin but hefty frame, unmistakably that of a middle-aged man. It was Period, the leader of this city.
Siol laid him on the floor and checked his vital signs. Though dying, he was still alive. He had probably been shoved inside the magic stone and forced to become Nathaniel’s servant since his disappearance.
At first, he thought Period might be following Nathaniel. However, after seeing that he wasn’t in the tower, he noticed something was amiss. The magic stone had a string connected to the leader, and the leader was called the leader because he was connected to that string. The reason the leader could control the protective barrier was because he was connected to the magic stone, yet Nathaniel was manipulating the magic stone’s power at will without the leader.
So Siol thought Period might be dead. And that Nathaniel had seized the severed string.
But now that Nathaniel was gone, the magic stone was quiet. It didn’t look like a magic stone that had lost its leader.
Thanks to that, he guessed Period might be alive, and he was able to pull him out, sleeping inside the magic stone.
Period was the one who had lost the most among the victims in this city. All the beastmen in the city wore terrible collars and lived like slaves, having lost themselves, but Period, in addition to that, had to be a laborer helping Nathaniel use the magic stone.
And as a result, he had become so frail.
Period’s life was hanging by a very thin thread, and because he was the leader connected to the magic stone, it was deteriorating even faster.
“…Asios.”
When he heard that Period might have cooperated with Nathaniel, Asios, with a somber expression, nodded firmly. He didn’t deny reality, nor did he blindly defend his father. He was still a young knight, how could he be so steadfast?
Siol pondered for a moment, but decided to help Period avoid a meaningless death.
The magic stone had a string connected to the leader and a string connected to nothing. It seemed to be a trace of something Nathaniel had done to use the power of the magic stone. The string, created with the intention of doing something bad, was strangely the only solution to protect Period’s life.
Siol placed his hand on the magic stone again and guided the string to Asios, who was outside the tower. He had a hunch that if Asios was worthy of becoming the leader, and if he connected to this string, he could prevent Period’s death.
Asios, who had been guarding the surroundings outside the tower, turned around as if sensing something as the string approached. The next moment, the magic stone’s string enveloped Asios. The magic stone willingly accepted him as the second leader. He could feel the burden that had been concentrated on Period alone being shared with Asios. Perhaps, after the balance was struck, Asios’s power could even be transferred to Period, playing a role in saving him.
His curiosity as an alchemist blossomed, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to continue observing them.
Siol, about to stand up, hesitated and looked at the collar around Period’s neck. Trapped within the dense magic of the magic stone and subjected to a terrible magical storm, the collar was already broken. Like a glitched program, it showed no response. Now, he could safely remove it.
Siol grabbed the collar and cut it off with his fingernails. Period’s neck, now free of the collar, was covered in wounds. The skin, discolored from being repeatedly burned with electricity and then healed, was cracked like a turtle’s shell. Those wounds were marks of resistance, and at the same time, an indicator of how desperately Period had tried to escape Nathaniel.
This collar wasn’t perfect, and Period’s mind probably cleared up from time to time. Each time, this man had struggled to escape his bleak situation, and the traces of that struggle remained as these scars.
Thinking he had done the right thing by helping him, Siol carefully peeled off and disassembled the leather strap of the collar. The ignition spell he had worried about when he first examined the collar wasn’t there. If he had investigated more boldly, he might have been able to prevent this situation to some extent. No, if he had only deduced sooner that the alchemy tools would be completely destroyed inside the magic stone, he might have been able to ask Eorzen to break the collar and then thoroughly examine it.
Siol, biting his lip with regretful eyes, shook his head. No, he shouldn’t be so negative. He wasn’t a god, he was human, just an alchemist. He couldn’t do everything by himself, and he could miss things.
He was glad he noticed before leaving.
Siol used alchemy to leave a message on the surface of the collar: Expose the people to the magic storm, then cut off the collars.
Eorzen would take care of the rest.
Siol, standing up, returned to Eorzen, crouched beside him, and looked at his face again.
“Many people were hurt because of me. Yes, I knew that from the beginning.”
But when he was first rescued, he was too overwhelmed with looking after himself to have the time to reflect on the consequences of his actions. The fact that the alchemy tools he created were being used to kill beastmen was shocking, but he hadn’t thought he could reverse it.
He was simply crushed by the fear of the things that had happened because of the alchemy tools.
And when some time had passed and he was able to compose himself.
“I taught Burdril alchemy and made prosthetic limbs to try and atone for it…. But actually, that was….”
Siol trailed off for a moment.
“…If you find out that I’m the Alchemist of Death, you might think I’m a hypocrite. But… I really didn’t intend to do that. Back then… I think I didn’t want to leave your side. I wanted to atone for my mistakes by your side.”
He didn’t want to leave the warmth he had felt for the first time in his life.
That was why he had made that choice.
“But… yes. It’s not right. What I have to atone for is much bigger and more numerous. I realized that because of Nathaniel.”
Why did he realize so late that the things he left behind in the human lands were growing and becoming more polluted, even encroaching on the beastmen’s lands? If he had noticed sooner that Nathaniel would do such a thing, the blue dragon wouldn’t have had to suffer such a miserable fate.
It was a disaster that Siol could have easily prevented.
Ignoring the remnants left by the Alchemist of Death and pursuing his own happiness had resulted in such terrible consequences.
“I’ll protect you.”
Siol whispered, gently stroking Eorzen’s brow bone.
“I won’t let that kid bother you again.”
He had once thought that he wanted to eliminate everything that stood in the way of this beautiful dragon. He had thought he wanted to help him live a peaceful and safe life.
Back then, it was a feeling of admiration and gratitude, but now he wanted to hide him in a safe place out of love and affection.
Yes, in a closet, as the blue dragon would say.
On the day he went berserk in the castle, Eorzen flinched with every clap of thunder and then pushed him into a wardrobe, keeping watch from outside. And at Marsiga’s lodgings, too, Eorzen had hidden Siol in a closet and left for the tower alone.
At first, it was just absurd, but now he knew it was Eorzen’s affection.
Siol chuckled and left one last kiss on Eorzen’s lips.
As Siol stood up again, his face was filled with sadness, but he had already made his choice and had no intention of reversing it.
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A vivid sparkle.
The moment he saw it, Eorzen was certain he was his mate.
It was a rapture far different from when he had glimpsed his mother through his father’s eyes as a child.
Just being in the same space as him filled his chest, and a feeling of his empty soul being completely filled.
No, it was closer to a feeling of finally reclaiming a soul that had been originally one but divided, leaving him living in unease until now.
It was as if a sense of relief washed over him only after having what he had lost placed before his eyes.
This person, my mate.
How could he have endured over three hundred years alone without him?
He might have been able to when he didn’t know, but now he was certain he wouldn’t be able to endure even three days. He was certain he couldn’t go anywhere without him, and that he wouldn’t leave him either.
Thus, Eorzen, his soul completely captivated by his mate in an instant, smiled gently. Among the countless pieces of advice his father had given him, there was one that said to smile first if he ever met his mate.
“I have a favor to ask… will you grant it?”
“What? What favor all of a sudden?”
Eorzen, staring at his mate, who was speaking and moving right in front of him, with disbelieving eyes, pointed near his neck.
“Here, I’d like you to bite me just once.”
“…What?”
“There’s something I’m confused about. If you bite me just once here, I think I’ll be certain.”
He had seen a sparkling light from Sizool as well. Not as much as from this man, but there had definitely been a sparkle. Since there had never been a case of a dragon having two mates since the beginning of time, he had a rough idea of what had happened, but still, he wanted to be certain.
That was why. That was why he had asked him to bite him.
The moment Siol’s small teeth sank into his trapezius muscle, an ecstatic bliss, a distinct sense of his mate in his arms, the answer to all the riddles, consumed him.
“So, it was you. It was all you.”
The Alchemist of Death, Siol, and Sizool, whom he had considered an alchemist’s assistant and experimental subject, and the man standing before his eyes now.
They were all the same being, and his mate.
At that moment, a strange fear washed over Eorzen.
This tower was a space prepared by the witch’s descendant to deliberately capture Eorzen. It was a place where anything could pop out from anywhere, be it the walls, the ceiling, or the ground. If Eorzen had been alone, he was confident that he could handle any situation, even without magic.
However, his mate – his small, fragile mate – was not a being who could withstand such a space.
The witch’s descendant wanted him.
The blue dragon, the only member of the dragon race without a mate.
Because of that, he was targeted by the witch, and because of that, he was being targeted by the witch’s descendant as well – he could see how dangerous this place was for Siol. If the witch’s descendant learned that Siol was his mate, something terrible would surely happen.
The witch’s descendant would aim for Siol’s heart.
To make Eorzen a ‘mateless dragon’ once again.
Realizing this, Eorzen couldn’t collect his thoughts due to his wildly beating heart and the fear gripping his entire body.
Only one thing was certain in his dizzying mind. He had to move Siol to a safe place.
He had to move this weak creature, with soft skin and fragile bones that would break at the slightest touch, somewhere safe – a place where no one could harm him. Not a place like a closet, from which he could come out on his own, but a safer, more secure place.
Seeing the floor melting away due to the ripples caused by the witch’s descendant, Eorzen pulled Siol into his arms and started running.
If only he had magic, he could have flown out of here.
All he could do now was climb the walls.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Outside.”
“What? Why outside now?”
Eorzen was thinking of quickly hiding him somewhere and then crushing Nathaniel. He felt like he wouldn’t be able to rest until he had beheaded him in one stroke, crushed his heart, and burned the remaining corpse without a trace.
Yes. Let’s go to Ruyfen. Ruyfen would be able to protect Siol safely.
“To hide you somewhere safe.”
Eorzen replied, trying to avoid the water pillars and prevent Siol from getting splashed. However, it was difficult because water was spraying haphazardly from the water pillars rising from all directions.
“Stop for a second. What are you going to do after hiding me? Stop, I said stop!”
Eorzen ignored him and continued to weave through the constantly erupting water pillars.
“We can’t just run away! Who knows what Nathaniel will do to this city? You know that Nathaniel drew a huge magic circle targeting you, right? I came to help you. So let’s stop him together!”
“No.”
“Why? Why not?”
“You can’t stay here. It’s dangerous.”
He emphasized again as he climbed the wall.
Quickly, this child to Ruyfen… No, would Ruyfen be enough? His subordinate, the wolf Ruyfen, was certainly strong, but he was doubtful whether he was strong enough to protect Siol from the witch’s descendant. What if something happened?
Eorzen, tightly embracing the warmth in his arms, looked down at the crown of Siol’s head with confused eyes.
Yes, let’s go to the dragon’s country. If they went to the dragon’s land, surely his father would safely….
“Eorzen, you’re… not in your right mind right now.”
His father was a dragon who had lived incomparably longer than Eorzen. An ancient dragon who had lived as long as the continent’s history, who didn’t need to flee to protect his mate from the tricks of a witch. He could entrust Siol to him without worry.
“Yes, you go out and hide. Leave this place to me. I’ll protect you.”
Siol, gently stroking Eorzen’s hair, pushed him away and jumped down the tower.
At that moment, Eorzen felt a shock as if his heart had frozen.
The moment his small mate, who had been in his arms just a moment ago, left his embrace of his own volition, not due to external factors, Eorzen realized that something was wrong.
His mate could abandon him.
His mate, whose mere presence in the same space had brought him contentment just moments ago, was now like a small animal dreaming of escape. Even if he forcibly kept him by his side, the soul of a mate whose desires were unfulfilled would occasionally look elsewhere, and Eorzen would eventually be left gasping, unable to shake off his anxiety as he watched such a mate. He would tremble, never overcoming the fear that if he took his eyes off him for even a moment, he would disappear in the blink of an eye.
Yes, just like the black dragon.
“What? No, I’m going to-! Siol!”
Eorzen, feeling as if he was being choked, called out to Siol, but he didn’t look back.
“Siol! Wait, come back to me!”
Despite his scream-like pleas, Siol just continued down, down, down. Watching his mate move away from him so casually, Eorzen realized a chilling truth.
He is a different creature from me.
Siol wasn’t a dragon; he was a being who didn’t need a mate, who could live alone.
This meant that while Siol was Eorzen’s mate, Eorzen was not Siol’s.
“Siol….”
Then, a terrible fear came over him.
If he were a ‘dragon,’ a being destined to meet and love a mate, he would have been prepared to accept him regardless of what kind of being he was or what he did. Just like Eorzen now. In truth, Eorzen wouldn’t have cared even if Siol was truly the Alchemist of Death who despised beastmen and wished for their slaughter. If that were the case, he could even willingly become the sword that slaughtered the beastmen he had protected until now, assisting him.
To follow the will of his mate. That was no different from the natural order for a dragon.
However, if he were a ‘human,’ a ‘beastman,’ it wouldn’t be the same.
He would pursue what he wanted independently, moving towards his desires.
And in doing so, he would weigh his desires against Eorzen, and ultimately ‘choose’ between the two.
Perhaps he would choose his desires, and perhaps, the dragon.
To him, Siol was his one and only mate, a being like absolute faith, but to Siol, he was—just love.
Ah. Now he understood. Why dragons cultivated their beauty so meticulously, carefully crafted their actions before their mates, and begged for love.
So desperately because they couldn’t trust the fleeting love of beastmen, of humans. Because they wanted to be promised eternity. Because they didn’t want to be abandoned by that short-lived love. Because, with anxious hearts, they wished to be whispered words of love.
A dragon’s mate was a being who could abandon the dragon at any time, once that candle-like love ended.
And so, the dragon did his best to prevent the candle from being extinguished by the wind, to prevent it from burning down and disappearing.
The moment he realized this, Eorzen felt the things he had done so far tightening around his throat.
The sensation from that time vividly returned to his empty hands. The sensation of crushing Siol’s body, of taking his life.
Eorzen had coldly watched as the flesh was crushed in his fingertips, the body shattered and broken, piercing the lungs, and the breath stopping. Because he thought of him as a being that simply had to be cruelly killed, he killed him more painfully. And he placed a terrible curse so that he wouldn’t be happy in his next life either.
It was because Siol was under such a curse that he hadn’t recognized him, that his body was frail even after becoming a beastman, and that he would occasionally collapse as if he were about to die.
I killed him. I cursed him.
That fact shook Eorzen to his core.
Could he, who had done such a thing, be loved by him?
Selfishly, that thought filled Eorzen’s mind. Despite the things he had done to him, those terrible deeds, he wanted to be loved by Siol. He wanted to stay by his side forever, kissing him, whispering words of love, clinging to his waist and pleading…. He wanted to spend such time with him.
But he… Siol… Sizool-.
“Siol…. What… what can I do….”
He felt a hot heat coursing through his blood. The dragon’s blood, realizing he had committed an unforgivable act, was raging. His soul, which had been filled with the joy of finding his mate just a moment ago, was now seething with pain, anger, longing, and sorrow.
“Ugh…!”
How, how could he have done such a thing? How could he have done such a terrible… foolish… stupid thing…!
A terrible self-loathing washed over him. Tangled emotions were violently stirring his mind. The moment something that had been rumbling chaotically within his mind burst, he lost consciousness.
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The father and son, sitting in a pavilion built at the edge of a cliff, were drinking tea that day as well.
Of course, it was a forced time, a result of his mother’s policy that valued father-son bonding, which neither of them particularly welcomed. Despite their protests that they were the only father and son in the dragon lands who spent time together so diligently every day, their mother would simply say, “Oh, that’s wonderful,” with a satisfied expression, leaving them with no choice but to spend time like this.
The snowy cliff scenery was quite serene. The heavily falling snow had already dyed everything in sight white, yet it seemed poised to continue falling for another day or two. Fortunately, there was no wind, so they were spared the misfortune of snow swirling into the pavilion.
Eorzen, sitting with the tea set in front of him in the center of the pavilion, poured another cup of hot tea and wrapped both hands around it.
His father was leaning against the railing of the pavilion in an undignified manner, resting his chin on his hand and looking out at the scenery, but what he held in his hand was not a teacup but a small flask. The small flask, which would be emptied after about three sips, was something he had devised to drink alcohol secretly without his mother’s knowledge. His father would fill flasks of the same shape with alcohol and medicine, and if his mother asked, he would pretend he wasn’t feeling well and had taken some medicine.
“My, my. This is quite a rare sight. Come here and take a look, child.”
His father, who had paused while drinking, beckoned Eorzen with a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
Although Eorzen didn’t like his father treating him like a child, he obediently followed his words.
Looking out from the railing, he could see two men walking beyond the frozen river below the cliff. One was a face he had never seen before, but the other was quite a famous figure. It was the black dragon, renowned even in the dragon lands for being the most jealous.
“Is that… the Black Dragon’s mate?”
“Indeed. He never leaves the house, so it’s understandable why this is such a rare occurrence.”
“What’s the occasion?”
Eorzen asked, watching the two men walking affectionately.
“I hear the Black Dragon’s mate was born and raised in a cold country. Red ice flowers commonly grow in the lakes of that country.”
“Red ice flowers have been blooming every winter for the past few years in Lake Gamran (戡亂) back there. It seems they’re heading there.”
“Yes. The Black Dragon planted them.”
At the giggling reply, Eorzen tilted his head. No matter how much he thought about it, there was something strange.
“But I haven’t heard any stories about the Black Dragon’s mate going on outings to Lake Gamran last year or the year before.”
“Yes. That’s precisely what’s funny, child. That foolish dragon created a space his mate would like, yet didn’t say a word because he didn’t want his mate to go out. Look there. Would his mate be so angry if the Black Dragon had confessed and suggested an outing?”
Now that he mentioned it, the Black Dragon’s mate did seem to be walking irritably. The Black Dragon was trailing after him, flustered. It certainly didn’t look like two people affectionately going on an outing together.
“Why is the Black Dragon so jealous? Father isn’t like that.”
“I would be like that if I could.”
His father muttered, sounding somewhat envious.
“But I don’t want to end up like the Black Dragon, so I’ll be content with how things are.”
“…What? What do you mean you don’t want to end up like the Black Dragon?”
“Just look at him. Who would want to be like that?”
Certainly, the flustered appearance of the Black Dragon wasn’t a pleasant sight. But for Eorzen, who had seen his father behave much worse towards his mother, it was incomprehensible. If he compared his father clinging to his mother’s waist, crying and pleading, to the flustered Black Dragon chasing after his mate, the Black Dragon would be preferable.
Then his father frowned and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. This is why young dragons are…. This father will give you some advice that will be invaluable in the future, so listen carefully.”
His father, after drinking the few sips of alcohol left in the flask in one gulp, threw it away, took out a new one from his pocket, opened the lid, and continued.
“For a dragon, a mate can be a blessing, or a curse.”
“How can a mate be a curse?”
“Well, if you can’t obtain your mate, you’ll go mad and die, wouldn’t you?”
“Is it possible to not be united with your mate?”
Eorzen asked in surprise. He had never seen or heard of such a case. He had only lived for a hundred years, but throughout history books, there were no stories of such a dragon, and he had never heard of any dragon in this land failing to obtain their mate.
“Isn’t it right there? The Black Dragon.”
“His mate is right there beside him.”
“Tsk, tsk… It’s truly impossible to reason with a baby dragon. How does that look like he’s ‘completely’ possessed his mate?”
“…I don’t understand what you mean.”
His father looked at Eorzen, who was pouting, with a look of exasperation, and then sighed deeply.
“It seems you’ll only understand the meaning of these words once you meet your mate and become a fool yourself.”
“…….”
“The Black Dragon’s mate lost his family at a young age and wandered, building his reputation with only a sword. Along the way, he met the Black Dragon and they became lovers, and although he learned that his enemy was the king – he thought it was an opponent he couldn’t face. So, for the future with the Black Dragon, he gave up on revenge and lived hidden in the mountains, and how happy the Black Dragon must have been to be able to live alone with his mate. He was simply overjoyed…”
As if it were a mistake, his father shook his head and clicked his tongue.
“But his mate spent more and more days staring blankly at the sky, lost in thought – the Black Dragon must have eventually realized that something was wrong. However, by the time he knew, it was already too late.”
“Too late?”
“The king had already died of old age, and was praised as a wise king. The Black Dragon said he would take revenge on his descendants, but his mate didn’t want any trouble in his homeland, and simply lost his target for revenge and lost his way.”
“…But what’s the problem with that?”
When Eorzen, who couldn’t understand the connection between his mate losing his target for revenge and the Black Dragon being unable to fully possess his mate, asked again, his father sighed deeply once more. Even though he was a young dragon whose scales hadn’t fully grown, he wondered if he was too ignorant. He looked down at his son, whose round eyes were shining, with annoyance, but decided to be more patient for Eorzen, who was still a child.
“The Black Dragon’s mate still sometimes gets lost in thought, dwelling on the past that cannot be. He sees traces of a past that cannot be fulfilled. The feeling of a dragon who can only watch that sight from the side is indescribably painful. You can’t imagine how terrible it must feel to be together yet not together.”
“The feeling of being together yet not together….”
“That’s why the Black Dragon restricts his mate so much, and can’t stand to see him spend time with his own son. Why he decorated the lake with red ice flowers, yet hid it because he didn’t want to let him out of the house.”
Although he spoke sarcastically, Eorzen could glimpse the sympathy in his father’s eyes. His father pitied the Black Dragon, who was constantly tormented by anxiety and jealousy because he couldn’t fully possess his mate.
“You must be sensitive to your mate’s desires. You must fulfill everything for him, leaving no regrets.”
“…Yes.”
“Don’t be fooled by words of love or reassurance. Those who are not dragons are those who speak lies without even knowing they are lying, those who do not know their own hearts and realize their true feelings much later.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Eorzen felt a strange fear as he watched the mate, who pushed away the Black Dragon’s arm and looked at the cowering Black Dragon with complex eyes. There was something in that scene that stimulated a primal fear, even in a young dragon who didn’t yet know what a mate was.
“Then what was Mother’s desire?”
The question he asked out of sudden curiosity was answered by the white tiger, his mother, who was now lying down in the middle of the pavilion.
“My desire was the destruction of my homeland.”
It seemed she had arrived without a sound and was watching the father and son dragons conversing with a pleased expression.
Eorzen narrowed his eyes and looked at his father.
He had wondered why the explanation was so kind and detailed, but it seemed he was acting that way to earn praise, knowing that his mother had come and was watching. It wasn’t the first time he had seen such behavior, but he felt a complicated mix of emotions watching his father scurry over to hug his mother at her pleased smile.
“My wife! When did you arrive? I missed you so much.”
Seeing his father greet his mother as if they had been apart for weeks, even though they had only been apart for an hour or two, Eorzen felt uneasy.
Me, become like that someday? And that’s a pretty good example, compared to the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon is a bad future.
“My homeland was a completely rotten place. This beautiful dragon here splendidly turned it into a sea of flames. Thanks to him, my desire was perfectly fulfilled, and I have no regrets. If there’s one thing I regret in my current life – it’s that if I knew such a wonderful son would come along, I would’ve had children sooner.”
Since his mother said this while holding out a hand, Eorzen also scurried over and hugged her. Then, he felt his father’s jealous gaze prickling the top of his head.
Rubbing his face against the soft fur, Eorzen resolved that he would never become like the Black Dragon, that he would fulfill his mate’s desires and become a loved dragon.
⋆୨🔮୧⋆
His mind was hazy.
Unable to distinguish whether the scene unfolding before his eyes was a fantasy or reality, Eorzen stared blankly at the sparkling Milky Way. Siol’s face, looking down at him with an unusual expression, was unfamiliar yet so lovely. But for some reason, he couldn’t approach him, and that was so frustrating and sad….
So Eorzen could only look at Siol with moist eyes.
Why did he remember his childhood? Was it a warning to suppress the desire to devour him right away?
Back then, he hadn’t imagined he would meet his mate and feel this heart-wrenching emotion.
“Let’s do it, Blue Dragon.”
Eorzen couldn’t take his eyes off Siol’s, who was looking directly at him. Watching Siol, frenzied and revealing his desire, increasingly base desires, horribly dirty greed, welled up inside him.
An instinctive thought, like a primal urge, filled his mind – to bite this man’s nape, instantly return to the dragon lands, lock him away somewhere, and spend an eternity together, just the two of them. Yes, bite that long, smooth neck and fly to the north, to the dragon lands beyond the monster lands.
Perhaps sensing how dazed he looked with such delusions, Siol’s expression turned coy.
“Do you hate doing it with me? I saved you, so what’s wrong with doing it once?”
“No, that’s… that’s not it…”
“Then what is it?”
“…I…”
I want to completely possess you.
Yes, if he were to accurately express his current feelings, it would boil down to this sentence. But Eorzen couldn’t confess such feelings. Not now, at least. This lovely wolf of his, who had completely abandoned reason and was filled with only instinct and desire, would surely press their lips together joyfully the moment he heard Eorzen’s words.
It was too base an act to satisfy his own greed while leaving him like that.
Eorzen shook his head weakly.
He couldn’t become like the Black Dragon.
Eorzen thought of Siol’s death, resurrection, and life as a beastman. His little wolf had lost too much because of him.
He had to restore everything, repay him, and….
Eorzen, clinging to Siol, blinked slowly. How could he possibly repay him for his death?
Siol, trembling, grabbed Eorzen’s chin and licked his cheek. Eorzen silently raised his eyes and looked up at him.
“Let’s do it, Eorzen. Hmm?”
“Hmm…”
Vowing to grant whatever he wished for from now on, Eorzen nodded.
Whatever it was, as long as he could completely possess Siol for even a single moment afterward, no matter how long it took.
Eorzen opened his mouth, yielding to Siol who was pressing their lips together.
⋆୨🔮୧⋆
“I will protect you.”
At that moment, Eorzen clenched his teeth to keep from grabbing Siol’s arm.
“I won’t let him bother you again.”
Even when Siol stole a kiss and stood up, he tried his best to suppress the urge to beg him not to go.
And even when Siol quietly broke the tower wall and started to escape, he clenched his fists and endured, suppressing the desire to chase after him.
Only when Siol was so far away that he wouldn’t be able to see him even if he looked back did he rise like a ghost, stand before the broken wall, and stare at Siol’s receding figure. His small mate was running towards the outskirts of the city, light as a cat, leaping across rooftops.
Finally, when Siol jumped over the city walls and disappeared, Eorzen unknowingly crumbled the tower wall he was leaning against. Brushing off the stone fragments that fell like powder, he took a deep breath.
While Siol was asleep, Eorzen held him and weighed countless possibilities.
Although he couldn’t see inside the mind of the little wolf in his arms, he could guess what he desired. To clear his name as the Alchemist of Death, to stop the countless evils that the king and Nathaniel had committed and planned to commit in his name. To retrieve the weapons he had created. And to take revenge on the king and Nathaniel.
All those desires led Siol to the human lands.
And Eorzen had sensed for a long time that, unfortunately, he wasn’t included in that plan.
If Siol gave him just a week, Eorzen could fly to the human lands, burn the king to death, find Nathaniel and behead him, and reveal all the lies about the Alchemist of Death.
It was all very easy.
Especially revealing all the lies about the Alchemist of Death; all he had to do was spread flyers everywhere, declaring in the name of the Blue Dragon that all the stories about the Alchemist of Death were slander and lies.
Thus, the known story of the Alchemist of Death and the story of Alchemist Siol revealed by Eorzen would contradict each other, and that discrepancy would become bait to draw in the Demon King.
The Demon King was one who pursued lies about dragons. As long as lies and dragons were involved, he would hunt down the lies without compromise.
It was certain that the hunt wouldn’t take even a week. Flesh would splatter and blood would flow in the Demon King’s wake, but Eorzen didn’t care about such things.
But that wasn’t what Siol wanted.
“Sizool….”