"Your Highness the Crown Prince."
Lucia greeted David, and of course, she acknowledged Karina too.
"The Grand Duchess was with you too?"
And she added as if it was quite unexpected.
"I didn't know you two knew each other privately."
Lucia smiled again, the same smile she had given her when their eyes met in the garden earlier.
"It seems that the Grand Duchess is also very close with His Highness the Crown Prince."
"..."
It seemed like the words 'not only escort' were omitted at the end of that sentence.
'What are you trying to say?"
Karina thought that it didn't really matter who she was close with, it didn't matter to the Saintess.
At that moment, David, who was standing next to her, opened his mouth strangely.
"It's so late, I thought everyone would have gone to bed already. Have you been out until now?"
"It took me a while to treat the sick patients. They kept coming after hearing that I was here."
"I see."
David's reaction was indifferent.
'Phew.'
Feeling tired of this situation, Karina sighed inwardly.
"I'm going to go back to my room now."
As Karina spoke, David turned to her with a smile.
"Yes. You must be very tired today. You should go back and get some rest."
As he said that, he whispered quietly in her ear
"It suits you well."
Karina doesn't know when he put it in. When she touched her ear, the earring that had been wobbly just now because it wasn't going in properly was hanging on her ear properly.
"Good night."
"I hope you have a peaceful night."
Karina took a step back, lifted the hem of her skirt, and greeted David. As she was leaving, Lucia spoke softly.
"Get some rest, Your Highness."
When she looked at Lucia, she was looking at her with a meaningful gaze. Karina ignored her and continued walking. She could feel her gaze persistently following her behind her. But.
'So what?'
Now I've decided to stop caring.
***
"Your Majesty, once I'm done preparing the bath, I'll get you ready for bed."
Jen greeted her as she returned to her room.
"Oh?"
Then she immediately asked if Karina had seen the earrings she was wearing.
"Is this different from what you were doing before?"
'You have a good eye.'
She knew Jen knew it the moment she saw it, Karina said, playing with her earrings indifferently.
"Yeah. It just so happened. I'm going to wear this for the time being."
She didn't really want to say that she received it from the Crown Prince, so she just said that.
"All right."
Jen must have noticed that Karina was having trouble answering, so she didn't ask any more questions and went back to preparing the bath water.
'It's comfortable.'
Karina collapsed on the bed.
'Come to think of it, I received a pendant from Mikhail earlier too.'
She put her hands in her pockets, thinking she should take it out before changing her clothes.
"Hmm?"
The pockets were empty.
'Where did this go?'
She tried her hand in her other pocket, but no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find the pendant.
'What? Did you drop it somewhere?'
Karina sat up straight, looked through her pockets, and looked for places where it might be, but it was nowhere to be found.
'Could it be... that I dropped it outside?'
Karina, who had been looking back at the places she had been since receiving the pendant, put her hand on her forehead with a troubled expression. It seemed to be something related to the dragon contract, so it couldn't be an ordinary pendant.
'I can't lose it!'
Karina left the room in a hurry to find the pendant.
***
Meanwhile, Jeremiah was left alone in the room after Karina left. He roughly untied his neatly trimmed front apron. Still, the suffocating feeling in his throat did not go away.
“Ha.”
A deep sigh came out like an exclamation.
'Why is she so mean to me?'
How could she change so indifferently, as if she had just hit a wall? His emotions were running wild and he had no control.
'You said you were waiting for my answer before, right? This is my answer.'
When he remembered the words she had left behind, a fire rose inside him. He wanted to go to Karina right away, grab her, and ask her.
Is that all I am to you?
He felt miserable and devastated. Sorrow surged in like a tidal wave, consuming him.
'Why on earth?'
It felt so cruel that Karina wanted a divorce even though she knew his feelings for her.
He raised one hand and washed his face dry. He could never accept a divorce from her. He was thinking about whether he should prepare right away and return to the palace to meet the Emperor. Suddenly, he found something white on the floor.
'What is this?'
It was a small oval pendant that he had never seen before.
'Did Karina drop it?'
Jeremiah bent down to pick up the pendant. And the moment his hand touched it.
Whoosh!
The surroundings turned pitch black as if a curtain had been drawn.
"...?!"
He was alerted by the sudden situation and looked around. He felt a very distinct presence behind him, almost oppressive. He turned around and saw a huge being he had seen before.
"Dragon?"
Surprised, he muttered involuntarily. When he recognized the dragon, the dragon recognized him as well, looking down at him with pitch-black eyes. After a while as if their consciousnesses were connected, a voice rang directly in Jeremiah's head.
'Here you go again, contractor.'
It was the same situation he saw last time when he entered Karina's consciousness.
"...?"
But Jeremiah questioned what the dragon had said.
'Contractor?'
It must have been Karina who made the contract with the dragon. He looked around to see if she was there too, but in this quiet space, there was only him and the dragon in front of him.
"Contractor...... Are you talking to me?"
Jeremiah asked. He didn't hear an answer, but he felt the dragon's gaze confirming it... Jeremiah recalled the situation when he had tried to pick up the pure white pendant earlier.
'Could it have been something related to the contract Karina had?'
He opened his mouth with that thought in mind.
"I am not a contractor."
The dragon stared blankly at Jeremiah's denial for a while before speaking directly to him in his head again.
'You are the one who signed the contract. The fact that you can enter here is proof. Even if you don't remember, the contract with me is engraved in your soul. Denying it doesn't invalidate the contract.'
As the dragon finished speaking, Jeremiah's body began to glow softly.
"...!"
At the same time, deep inside, he felt something firmly bound to him. He could Instinctively feel that this was the contract engraved in his soul that the dragon had just spoken of. Confusion came over him.
'What happened? If I'm the Dragon's Contractor, then what about Karina?'
Jeremiah quickly raised his head and asked.
"Then what about my wife?"
But the dragon didn't answer as if it didn't understand what he was saying. He asked several times, but the response was the same. Jeremiah quickly changed the question.
"What contract did I make with you?"
'That is... the... that was bestowed upon the Empire... in exchange for... the... that you cherish...'
Suddenly, the sound of the dragon's form rippling was interrupted.
"...! Wait!"
The dragon's appearance gradually faded away as if it were disappearing. At the same time, the pain that he had felt last time as if his body was being torn apart, came back again.
"OMG!"
One of Jeremiah's knees buckled. He concentrated his energy into one spot as if trying to convey his last words before the dragon disappeared.
'The bond of the contract is becoming weaker and weaker. We need strength to strengthen the bond.'
"What should I do?"
'We have to find a way.'
"So that method... ugh...!"
He was about to ask how to find it, but he had to grit his teeth because hia bones felt like they were being completely torn apart.
Before Jeremiah could do anything, the dragon's appearance disappeared, and the pitch-black darkness that had engulfed the surroundings cleared away. Just like the first time when he had suddenly changed, he returned to where he was in an instant.
He was in the same posture as when he had tried to pick up the pendant.
"Ugh, ugh."
He clutched his chest with one hand and gasped for breath.
"That was just...'
What was it? If it weren't for the pain that remained, he would have thought it was a dream. The white pendant in front of his eyes sparkled as if showing off its presence.
"Did I meet a real dragon?"
It was definitely similar to when he entered Karina's consciousness and faced the dragon.
'I'm a contractor?'
If that was true, there were a ton of things to figure out. And then, all of a sudden, memories of Karina that he had seen in the darkness came to mind.
'That's right. I don't know, but the memories Karina had!'
He had a feeling that if he knew about them, he would also know why she rejected him. Jeremiah wiped away the dripping cold sweat halfheartedly. As soon as the pain subsided a little, he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and put his hand on the pendant again. But this time, nothing happened.
'Why doesn't it change like before?'
While he was puzzled and confused, someone knocked on his door.
***
"You're not asleep yet. That's a relief."
"..."
Jeremiah opened the door and was greatly disappointed when he saw the face of the person who had come to visit. Since it was a visit late at night, he would have ignored it normally, but he opened the door thinking that it might be Karina. However, contrary to his expectations, it was the saint Lucia who came to visit him.
"What is your business?"
He asked in a low, cold voice.
"Actually, while treating patients today, I was talking to priests..."
As she continued speaking, Lucia's expression gradually hardened.
"Your Highness, are you alright?"
Jeremiah's face was pale. Upon closer inspection, he was even sweating. Lucia had never seen him struggle or sweat even when he was slaying a swarm of monsters. Now, he looked haggard and had a hard time standing there.
"Your condition doesn't look very good."
"Don't worry about it. Just stop worrying and go back."
Jeremiah cut her off firmly, but she held on more resolutely.
"Have you forgotten that I am a Saintess? I cannot just leave a sick patient behind."
As Lucia said that, she entered the room. Then Jeremiah furrowed his brow and spoke coldly.
"Does the Saintess have no concept?"
"..."
"You came here so late and acted like this. Wouldn't it be better for you to go back on your own feet before I kick you out?"
Even though there were many warnings mixed in telling her to get out, the Saintess did not flinch.
"I'm sorry about that. I've been seeing patients so it's taken longer than I thought. But you don't have to be this annoying to me, do you?"
Lucia spoke in a calm but clear voice.
"When I asked you whether you believed in fate before, you answered yes. Then what if, by God's will, Your Highness and I are connected by fate?"
Jeremiah frowned.
"So you were the one who was talking nonsense about fate and all that to my wife."
"Because it's true."
"Ha."
He let out a hollow laugh as if it were absurd.
Support Novellate!
Thank you very much !
ReplyDelete