IBWMD 93

~Chapter 93~

No. Was it angry? Judging by how noisily it moved, perhaps it was.

Or perhaps it was both.

Either way, it hardly mattered.

“But why did you come to me for help?”

I muttered under my breath, almost petulantly.

“You never even liked me much, did you?”

The golden eye narrowed even further.

I narrowed mine back into sharp triangles and pouted.

“That’s why you kept appearing in my dreams to torment me… even when I—when Karl and I—k-kissed…”

It had appeared and ruined everything.

Now that I knew of the dragon’s existence, I was certain it had been behind it all.

And that wasn’t all.

I recalled the dream of the serpent that had been watching me.

Was that you as well?

“This is just a stalker dragon, isn’t it?”

Pop.

The golden eye shriveled even smaller.

That expression practically screamed, Hmph!

Or perhaps it was protesting its innocence.

But seriously—why had it interrupted when I was with Karl?

And it reacted to Karl’s name earlier too…

Did it know him?

Well, Karl had seemed close to the Grand Duke, so perhaps it was possible.

Then…

After much hesitation, I asked softly,

“…Do you perhaps know where Karl is?”

At that question, the golden eye widened, then rolled its gaze elsewhere as if pretending to be busy.

“…”

I was utterly dumbfounded.

Its attempt at evasion was infuriating, and yet…

Is it… strangely cute?

“No, never mind. Are you going to answer me properly or not?”

Roll, roll.

The eye deliberately looked away again. Annoyed, I raised my hand, tempted to flick the snow globe with a knuckle.

Thunk.

“Ah!”

I nearly slammed into a streetlamp.

Something solid had struck my lightly swinging arm.

It was only when I noticed the air shimmering like a reflection in an empty space that I realized it was some sort of magical barrier.

“…Is it protecting the tower?”

Beyond the barrier, I could see the Mate’s Tower, filled with blue titanium.

The tower was unchanged.

Its frame was still exposed, but it was as white and pristine as ever, as though time had not touched it—aside from the ominous energy radiating from the blue titanium inside.

The lake had melted, the dragon’s remains had vanished, yet the Mate’s Tower remained intact.

And now it was even shielded by a barrier to keep intruders at bay.

“Did you only protect this place?”

What could I even say? It was…

Incompetent, stalkerish, and somehow unsettlingly romantic.

The all-powerful dragon had been unable to protect its own body, yet had barely managed to safeguard the Mate’s Tower.

Has its magic diminished that much?

Perhaps its inability to speak was connected to this as well.

As I followed that line of thought, the golden eye suddenly fixed its gaze on something with fervent intensity—so intense I half-expected it to burst out of the snow globe.

“What is it?”

I stepped forward to follow its line of sight when—

Thunk.

My foot struck something hard again.

Had I not been wearing boots, the cold, heavy object might have injured me.

Beneath the snow…

“…”

A fragment of cold metal.

“…Why is this here?”

It was a decorative shoulder piece used in a holy knight’s armor, drenched through with moisture.

Knock, knock.

“Your breakfast has arrived, Your Grace,” came the head maid’s voice as she knocked on the door.

“When you have finished, I will escort you to the Grand Duke.”

“…Alright.”

Several days had passed since I’d returned from the Mate’s Tower.

I was exhausted after sleepless nights, but I could not remain in bed.

I will finally meet the Grand Duke again.

And there was something he needed to know.

That day, when I had found the holy knight’s shoulder piece, a memory had surfaced in my mind—

“They all came back pale as ghosts, but no matter how I asked what had happened, they wouldn’t answer.”

“And they were all soaking wet.”

Zion’s words about the missing holy knights.

And yes, he had said they returned drenched.

Does that mean the ones who stepped onto the lake were the holy knights?

It made no sense.

When I stared at the shoulder piece, the golden eye had simply gazed back at me.

As though it already knew I had once been a holy knight.

As though it was the one demanding answers of me.

For the record, I don’t know either.

Why would holy knights come to this lake in the first place?

And how did they even find a place cloaked in a hallucinatory barrier?

Holy knights stationed at the temple never acted without the high priest’s orders.

Could the high priest have ordered such a thing?

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, another clue clicked into place like a puzzle piece—

“I only ate the relief food the temple gave out!”

The words of the impoverished man who had shown symptoms eerily similar to the assassin’s—twisted, monstrous symptoms.

For a moment, my heart raced.

Could all of this be connected to the temple?

How far back does it go?

What is their true purpose? What ties do they have with the underworld boss?

Why are they doing this?

To bring down the Grand Duchy?

But why? The only connection between the temple and the Grand Duchy was the Pope’s hatred of the Grand Duke.

And the temple loathed dragons, so why would they come all the way here… and the dragon…

My thoughts tangled messily in every direction.

The golden eye began to blink slowly.

Wait. Hold on.

Why was it blinking like a temple acolyte nodding off over scripture?

Flick.

And then it suddenly vanished.

The snow globe did not return to its original form—it simply became a pitch-black orb.

I stared at it in shock, then held it close to my chest as I returned to the Grand Duke’s manor.

I don’t know when it will return.

I had pondered endlessly, but still had no answers.

The temple is definitely suspicious.

Yet I still had no concrete evidence.

The shoulder piece, the only somewhat useful clue, was not enough to serve as proof.

If the temple denies it belongs to them, I have nothing.

And once they investigate me, they will quickly discover I am a former holy knight.

They could easily claim that as a former member, I could obtain a holy knight’s armor piece at any time.

If they accuse me of slandering them, it will only make things worse.

Above all else—before confronting the temple…

“How am I supposed to explain all this to the Grand Duke?”

Why had the golden eye entrusted this to me?

Wouldn’t it have been better to deliver it straight to the Grand Duke?

Or was I its only means of contact?

A snow globe that had remained all this time at the Mate’s Tower, steeped in the dragon’s magic, certainly seemed a fitting vessel for a dragon’s descent…

And perhaps because it was with me, I had become its unwilling messenger.

This is far too much pressure.

The Grand Duke was bedridden with illness.

I had barely seen him at all, and his injuries had kept him away from the frontlines.

And now I was supposed to tell him his territory was in danger and urge him to act immediately?

Even the worst corporate tyrant wouldn’t be so heartless.

I prided myself on not being the sort to demand, “Suffer for your duty,” from the sick.

But there was no denying the gravity of the matter.

So…

I would have to tell him.

But how could I deliver the news without agitating an ailing man?

Ugh, what a headache.

That cursed golden eye—did it think dumping everything on me would solve the problem?

I was massaging my temples and sighing when—

Creak. The door opened and a familiar head peeked in.

It was Beth, coming up from the maids’ quarters.

“Young Lady, didn’t you sleep at all?”

“Ah, well… I stayed up by accident.”

“…”

Huh?

Where was the usual lecture?

I was sure she would scold me for staying up all night.

But instead of chastising me, Beth said nothing at all, which was somehow more unnerving.

I hesitated, then ventured cautiously,

“…Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“Young Lady, you’re an adult now.”

Suddenly? Out of nowhere?

“I’ve been an adult for quite some time, you know.”

“I meant in another sense… because it seems you and His Grace the Grand Duke will soon hold the wedding ceremony.”

“What? Ah.”

My voice jumped in shock, but only for a moment.

Of course—if Karl failed to return…

No, even if he did return…

“Where do you think you’re going, my bride?”

The memory of that unyielding voice and the grip on my wrist came rushing back.

Will I really be able to negotiate my way out of this?

A suffocating sense of unease rose to my throat.