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chapter 71
While a festival was in full swing at the Mausoleum villa, Hella had slipped near the headquarters of the Anshik Order with a few elite members of the Black Dragon Knights.
Dressed in black armor with black hair blending into the night, Hella observed the order’s headquarters from the shadows.
‘This is strange.’
Hella’s eyes darted quickly, scanning every door and window of the building.
Even a small order had a central hub dedicated to their deity, with a massive church and over a dozen auxiliary buildings.
‘Why is it so quiet?’
It was unnaturally quiet.
Torches burned, but the number of people felt like just a handful.
Most notably, the paladins who should have been guarding the main gate were absent. Not just them—there was no sign of life in the paladins’ buildings at all.
Hella signaled silently to her knights, urging them to move closer.
Rustle—
Instead of the noisy, flashy plate armor, the Black Dragon Knights wore leather armor suited for stealth, approaching the order like shadows.
Inside their armor were numerous sound-dampening artifacts and memorization tools.
Hella quickly scaled a wall and crouched under a window of the paladin barracks.
She listened carefully for a moment and then used a hand mirror to peer inside. The building was empty.
“…No way.”
Hella swiftly entered through the window.
“Find any clue where they went. As fast as possible!”
Upon hearing the command, the knights abandoned prayers and began searching the barracks with urgency.
Hella tore through the paladins’ desks and lockers without restraint.
‘If their god is fighting, the priests and paladins wouldn’t stay quiet.’
They were a fanatical group.
Even more extreme and vicious than the Black Dragon Knights’ devotion to lineage.
Those who fight if their god fights, who die if their god dies.
‘Now that their god is defeated, they won’t just sit still.’
Hella had anticipated this and carefully positioned her knights during the festival to monitor them.
But the lack of reaction had lasted so long that she launched a preemptive strike, suspecting they might have been holding a prayer session.
It felt ominous.
There could be only one reason the paladin barracks were empty at this hour.
“Commander! The map!”
A knight shouted, and Hella immediately ran in that direction.
The crumpled map showed the area around Lake Resting, with a red circle marking the Mausoleum villa.
“Damn it…!”
Hella cursed and flipped the map. Rough handwriting below the map looked like someone had taken notes on the plan.
One sentence caught Hella’s eye:
-
Primary target for surveillance: Hella Mausoleum. Initiate battle only after she disappears.
-
Primary assassination targets: Servants and attendants. While the senior paladins are holding Seymour, eliminate as many sinners as possible.
The map crumpled further in Hella’s hands.
“Return immediately!”
Hella leapt from the window and sprinted.
Knights lagging behind started falling back one by one, but Hella did not slow.
“Seymour…!”
She ran until her thigh muscles screamed in protest.
Seymour’s image flashed in her mind—so vivid it seemed burned into her retina.
The one who stepped forward to protect everyone, refusing to sacrifice the knights despite the god’s orders.
Knights should naturally die for their master, yet Seymour, foolish as he was, would rather defy his god than let them die.
From that, Hella realized:
– This is a man worthy of my lifelong loyalty.
Hella swore it.
She would protect him no matter what.
Even if it meant giving her life, her convictions, and descending into hell—she would protect him, even if it required assassinating priests and paladins.
“Seymour!”
Like a lone wolf, Hella ran through the forest.
“I’m going to become a Radiant Dragon.”
When Lucis declared her future dream, I burst out laughing.
Even though she had shown some interest in acting and instruments because of Irina’s Radiant Dragon story, her outright dream of becoming a Radiant Dragon was… impressive.
‘It’s like a human child saying they want to become a hero or a warrior when they grow up.’
A choice that highlighted her childlike purity and unique elegance.
I hugged Lucis tightly and said,
“Of course. You can become whatever you want.”
I genuinely believed it.
Lucis was an incredible child, full of infinite potential.
Not because she was a dragon or a hatchling.
Lucis amazed me every single day with her talents.
“Hehe.”
Lucis smiled proudly, seemingly agreeing.
Her smug little expression was both adorable and irritating, so I tickled her soft cheeks.
“Being a Mausoleum family member and dreaming of becoming a Radiant Dragon is… a bit unusual, though.”
“Hehe.”
“Still, if that’s your dream, everyone will support and cheer for you.”
“Hmph!”
I kissed the top of Lucis’s head.
‘Dream, child.’
Dream of becoming who you truly wish to be.
Defy the countless who hate you and the gods who would cage your destiny, and run your path.
‘I’ll help you focus on your dream.’
That is the role of an adult.
Not humiliating her by bringing up her parents.
Not coveting her magic to exploit it.
Letting Lucis become the self she wishes to be.
That was my role.
‘So just dream happily.’
Because her dreams would come true.
She could become what she wished, someday.
“You can become anything.”
She was dazzlingly full of potential—and she was mine, no matter what.
Not far from the Mausoleum villa, in the depths of the forest.
The smell of blood hung thickly in the moonless woods.
Banners of the Anshik Order, depicting the coiled eye symbol, littered the trees and rocks. Paladins lay dead among them.
Their holy plate armor, shattered as if struck by powerful magic, was deformed, melted, and torn away.
…!
Another massive explosion erupted.
But the sound-dampening and perception-blocking magic ensured that no one outside the forest would ever hear it.
“Guh…!”
With groans unheard by anyone beyond, the commander of the Anshik Paladins fell to his knees.
His armor, half-shattered by the blasts, could no longer protect his fragile flesh.
“Argh…!”
The deity Lester had manifested in the commander.
While everyone trembled in awe and grace, the god alone acted to punish evil.
Yet Lester returned to heaven due to the enemy’s vile tricks, leaving the commander’s body completely obliterated.
The god of Anshik could not suffer two defeats in a row.
Thus, the commander had led all paladins from the order’s headquarters toward the Mausoleum villa.
…Or at least he should have.
“Huff… huff…!”
The commander tilted his head, unable to move properly, surveying the area.
“No one… left?”
No survivors.
All thirty paladins, pride of the Anshik Order, were dead.
All by a single being.
Yet in the commander’s eyes, there was no anger or hatred—only profound confusion.
“Why…?”
The commander stared at the being before him with eyes seeking answers.
“Why you!”
Her long white hair swayed.
“Radiant Dragon!”
The woman with hair flowing to her waist clenched her fists.
The commander, with a voice as if vomiting his own entrails, asked,
“Why are you attacking us? The descendants of the Void Dragon are over there!”
“……”
The woman remained silent, her hands trembling, her eyes shaking.
Amid pain and injustice, the commander noticed something.
“…Wait.”
He stared into her eyes.
Something was off.
“Who are you?”
Her hand twitched at the question.
The commander’s face twisted.
“You’re not the Radiant Dragon!”
Realization struck. He bit his lips hard, blood and tears spilling down.
“Deceiving us! How dare you obstruct a divine mission?! Curse you! Forever curse you in the Gardens of Anshik—”
BOOM!
Her magic cut off the commander’s final words.
The woman, eyes tightly shut, exhaled deeply and leaned against a tree.
“Phew…”
Her trembling body steadied. She wiped blood with magic and burned the paladins’ corpses.
“I’m sorry. But this is all your fault.”
After incinerating every visible banner fragment, she sighed, lifted her head, and gazed toward the Mausoleum villa.
Hesitating for a moment, she then moved.
Rustle—
As if the scenery flowed past her, she crossed the wall and stood on the opposite side of the villa where the festival was ongoing.
She cast stealth and perception-blocking magic on herself, listening inside the wall.
“Ahahaha!”
“One more drink!”
“Today is truly a joyous day!”
It was safe here.
No threat approached.
The woman exhaled in relief, leaning against the wall.
A small voice suddenly reached her ears.
“I’m going to become a Radiant Dragon.”
Small but impossible to ignore. She froze, holding her breath.
Unable to believe it, she gasped at the next sentence:
“Of course. You can become whatever you want.”
The woman stared blankly, then began to smile faintly.
Her laughter gradually grew, merging into something indistinguishable from crying.
“No. No.”
Tears fell.
“You cannot become a Radiant Dragon.”
Her resolute voice was laced with an unfathomable disgust.
“You cannot shine. You must not shine.”
Moonlight streamed over the villa—but it avoided her.
“You must disappear into meaningless darkness.”
She wept like a child.
“Don’t dream at all.”
She looked endlessly at the moon, as if yearning for light.
“The brighter your dream, the emptier it will feel when you awaken.”
The moonlight never reached her.
