I Married the Dragon I Killed

Garnet, the leader of Black Bandana, had lived her entire life remembering one thing.

As long as one walked upon this land, not even saints could avoid being stained by filth.

From a young age, she had seen the ugliest side of human beings.

As the future leader of Black Bandana, she had been forced from childhood to grow accustomed to stories far too cruel for someone her age.

In fact, there had been a time when she lived consumed by hatred and distrust toward humanity.

But precisely because she overcame such harsh conditions, she developed a cold and objective capacity for judgment.

She analyzed everything impartially, predicted the future, and constantly demonstrated her talent.

That was how she became the finest information broker.

And the conclusion Garnet had reached about Perda was the following.

He was dangerous.

Valdrova’s fiancé.

The lord of Hestia.

An exceptional ruler, worthy even of sheltering an evil dragon.

Many things could be said about him, but Garnet had seen enough to know what kind of person he truly was.

“That man will use you until you are no longer useful and then throw you away.”

Like a hunting dog after it catches the rabbit.

“I’m sure he hooked you by promising to help you find your sister, didn’t he?”

“……”

The smile vanished from Zed’s face the moment he heard his sister mentioned.

“That is surely a lie. He’s only using information that only you know to turn it into a collar and manipulate you.”

“……”

“Emilia. How do you think he knew that name? If someone wasn’t connected to the matter, they could never associate it with you in their entire life.”

Emilia.

Zed had spent years searching for his missing sister.

He seduced women to earn money.

He needed money to become a noble.

And he wanted to become a noble to discover Emilia’s whereabouts.

‘Now that I think about it… that is strange.’

Perda knew that name.

And he had mentioned it.

How was that possible?

Doubt began to spread like a spark catching a fresh fuse.

Did he really know that some clue about his sister was hidden within the imperial archives?

Or had it all simply been a maneuver to lure him in?

And more fundamentally.

How did he know Emilia was connected to him?

‘Don’t tell me…’

What if he was involved in the Red Eyes massacre?

Was that why Garnet said he was dangerous?

What if he had been wearing a mask the entire time while manipulating him?

— Pffffft.

At the same time, he heard Valdrova’s laughter.

That laughter pulled Zed out of the swamp of suspicion he was sinking into.

“He’s not that kind of person.”

“That’s exactly what people who end up getting scammed usually say.”

“I know. It always ends that way.”

Garnet was the leader of Black Bandana.

Black Bandana’s information was so accurate it seemed capable of predicting the future.

But Zed had observed Perda up close.

Perhaps the Perda she knew was a different person.

But he was nothing like the man Zed knew.

— The moon is beautiful.

— They say tonight is the night when the moon appears largest.

Upon hearing that, Zed immediately turned his head and clicked his tongue.

“Good grief… What am I supposed to do with that brat?”

“What?”

“Wait a moment. I’m going to get something. Stay here.”

Zed ran off somewhere.

Meanwhile, the conversation continued.

Garnet discovered that Perda and Valdrova wanted to dance together.

Shortly afterward, Zed returned carrying something in both hands.

“A violin?”

“I asked the orchestra, and they had a spare one. Here.”

He handed something to Garnet.

It was a flute.

“And this?”

“A flute. You know how to play it. We’ve played together before.”

“And?”

“Let’s go to the garden and play something.”

“……You want me to participate too?”

“Moonlight doesn’t have the same effect when only one person plays it. It has to be a duet.”

“……”

Internally, Garnet was quite surprised.

Zed had not heard the entire conversation because he had left to fetch the instruments.

But she had.

Valdrova had directly mentioned the Moonlight Step.

And he had deduced everything from that single remark about the beautiful moon?

“Didn’t you say we should try doing things like we did in the Swallows? Consider this a way to see whether we still have the same harmony we had back then. What do you think?”

“……Haah.”

She could not believe he was using that right now.

Garnet shot him a reproachful look, but Zed merely grinned shamelessly.

Unable to resist, she finally accepted the flute.

And so she accompanied Zed to the garden.

They performed Moonlight as a duet.

And created the perfect atmosphere.

Then Perda saw them.

Their eyes met.

And, as if he had made up his mind, he invited Valdrova to dance.

The two began to dance.

Under the moonlight, they looked like a beautiful and radiant couple.

Even Garnet, who always viewed the world through cold and calculated logic, could see nothing but beauty in that scene.

‘So this is what it feels like?’

As she watched them dance, she began to understand a little of what Zed had seen that made him so convinced.

Perda was a cold man.

A man who did not hesitate to kill.

But what she saw before her eyes was simply a man who wanted to please one woman.

The music ended.

Perda and Valdrova parted and went their separate ways.

As he watched them with satisfaction, Zed muttered,

“If it’s not me, then who’s going to push that brat forward? Don’t you think?”

He sighed as though there was no helping it.

Garnet kept looking downward as she spoke.

“Zed.”

“What?”

“You really do understand women well.”

“Well, it was a matter of life and death for me. If I got it wrong, they could cut off my head.”

“And yet there are still things you don’t understand.”

“Like what?”

Zed smiled carelessly as he turned his head.

And then he fell silent.

Under the moonlight, Garnet was looking at him with a deep gaze.

Her golden eyes remained fixed on him.

They seemed to want to say something.

But in the end, she simply looked away.

And Zed did not understand what that look meant.

***

The aftermath still lingered within Perda.

He thought about returning to the ballroom.

Even if he went back to his room, he felt he should at least show his face a little longer before retiring.

Then, in one of the corridors, he unexpectedly ran into someone familiar.

“Oh! Greetings! Where have you been, sir?”

It was Malcolm.

“I went to the garden for a moment. And you?”

“I went to the bathroom. It looked like you had gone there with a lady. What happened?”

“She left.”

“Huh? At this hour of the night? Isn’t that dangerous?”

Perda blinked at Malcolm’s concern.

“Didn’t you know? It was Grand Duchess Valdrova, the person you are supposed to serve.”

“Eh? I-It was her? The Red Dragon, Lady Valdrova? Now that you mention it, she did have horns on her head…”

Perda let out a sigh.

Everyone else had noticed, but Malcolm had figured it out last.

Next time, he definitely would not invite him again.

“Did you carry out the mission properly?”

“Since it was a mission you entrusted to me, I gave it my all, but I couldn’t complete it to the very end.”

“Why?”

“Because I had to dance with Princess Olivia of Arken…”

Upon hearing that, Perda became genuinely concerned.

“Did you eat something bad?”

“No. Everything I ate was delicious, but…”

Malcolm scratched the back of his head.

He had no reason to lie.

But it was not something easy to believe either.

Perda looked at him with pity.

‘It seems he’s been through a lot.’

When a person overworks themselves, they sometimes begin hearing or seeing things that do not exist.

Malcolm himself seemed aware that it sounded absurd and tried to brush it off.

“A-Anyway, do you have another task for me?”

“Hmm…”

The truth was that Perda had never expected much from him.

If everything ended without problems, that was enough.

“Yes.”

But Malcolm wanted to feel useful.

So Perda gave him another mission.

“Just give the order!”

“When the Grand Duchess danced, it seems someone called her a murderer and a butcher.”

Recalling the conversation he had with Valdrova, Perda asked,

“I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but can you think of anyone who might have said something like that?”

“Someone like that…?”

It was practically impossible to expect an answer.

Even Valdrova had believed they might simply be hallucinations.

Perda was about to say it did not matter.

But then—

“I know who it was.”

“Yes, that person… what?”

Perda’s eyes hardened.

Had he just said he knew?

“Repeat that.”

“Uh… I mean I know who insulted Lady Valdrova…”

“Are you saying someone actually said that?”

Perda’s expression became terrifying.

Malcolm shrank back, but answered anyway.

“Yes. Since you ordered me to keep an eye on people, I was watching the entire time. He said it quietly when I passed nearby. He mocked her, saying he didn’t understand what a murderer was doing in a place like that.”

“……”

“It sounded like a simple remark to himself. I just thought he must be someone important. I didn’t know he was talking about Grand Duchess Valdrova…”

Perda felt his head spinning.

Valdrova had told him that she heard voices whenever she was surrounded by people.

Perda had assumed it was the result of psychological pressure.

And she had also tried to convince herself of that.

‘So they weren’t hallucinations.’

There was a real person.

Someone who took pleasure in tormenting a woman who could no longer clearly distinguish reality from her own fears.

— If someone really said something like that to me…

“Malcolm.”

Perda spoke his name.

Even Malcolm understood the seriousness of the situation.

“Y-Yes!”

“I know you’re an incredibly clumsy man. But I value your loyalty more than anyone else’s.”

“T-Thank you…”

“Then you will answer my question.”

“Yes.”

“Can you swear that there is not a single lie in what you just told me?”

“How could I ever lie to you, sir?”

“I know. I don’t believe you’re lying. But if what you’re saying is true, I can no longer sit back and do nothing.”

Perda’s sanity was hanging by a thread.

He wanted to continue enjoying the memory of the dance he had shared with her.

He did not want to stain that night with blood.

“Right now I feel the urge to ask for that wretch’s name and tear off his head. In other words, that man’s life depends on your answer. So I’ll ask you one more time.”

His voice became even deeper.

“Did you truly hear those words with your own ears?”

It was such a grim voice that it could make anyone deny even the facts they had witnessed themselves.

But Malcolm did not back down.

He might be clumsy.

But he was still a knight who stood by his convictions.

And a knight had to do his best in any mission.

“I-I heard it clearly! I heard it with my own ears!”

“Then tell me who it was.”

“Well, you see…”

And Malcolm spoke the exact name.

***

The Spring Commencement Festival ended before midnight.

But the music and laughter continued long afterward.

The fire of youth continued burning beneath the light of the chandeliers, unaware that the moon had already begun to descend.

Many young people who did not know their own limits ended up completely drunk and sprawled throughout the castle.

Then the servants, who had already been watching for this, quickly appeared to collect them and hand them over to the attendants waiting outside.

Of course, not everyone enjoyed the celebration until the very end.

Deep into the night, while the banquet was still lively, some carriages departed the castle and entered the forest.

They belonged to families whose heirs needed to return to continue their duties as future lords, or to houses too conservative to allow their children to spend the night away from home.

The night belonged to monsters.

But for them, that posed no problem.

Their escorts were the elite warriors of each family.

Protecting them was their duty.

Boom!

However, not everything could be stopped.

Something fell from the sky toward one of the carriages.

“Cough! Cough!”

“I-It’s an ambush!”

“Young Master!”

Despite the violence of the impact, the carriage was not completely destroyed.

At such a speed, the vehicle and its passengers should have been reduced to an unrecognizable mass.

But the wheels remained intact.

Only the roof had vanished.

There was no time to admire such precision.

Only one thing mattered.

Someone had deliberately attacked the young noble’s carriage.

And what had fallen from the sky was not a projectile.

It was a living being.

“Crossbowmen! Fire!”

The elite crossbowmen, prepared to act at any moment, aimed at the intruder.

Fwoosh!

The bolts shot from strings so tightly drawn that a single person could barely load them with both hands.

They were faster than sound.

But slower than light.

A blue flash cut through the night.

And the bolts were sliced in half before they could hit the ground.

They had already suspected it.

Their enemy was not something ordinary.

The escort captain drew his sword and released his aura.

“You damned monster! My blade shall bathe in your blood…!”

He drew his sword.

And nothing more.

He could not move.

Even he did not understand what was happening.

He was a knight of a ducal family.

The top graduate of a knight academy who had surpassed more than a hundred talented peers.

A veteran of countless battlefields.

Known by the title Roaring Lightning.

He possessed courage.

He possessed skill.

But soon he understood.

All of that was insignificant.

Compared to the existence standing before him.

No matter how they flew or crawled, humans were still human.

And humans had limits.

There were beings against whom no amount of courage was enough.

And the creature before him was one of them.

The forest was dark.

Beneath the leaves stretched absolute blackness.

And within it, the silhouette of a young woman could be seen.

Behind her extended the shadow of enormous wings.

Glowing gray eyes.

Vertical, inhuman pupils.

“Ah…”

Even though it was the middle of the night and their senses were confused, everyone immediately recognized what stood before them.

“A-A dragon!”

The knights who had tried to form a defensive line lost all will to fight.

Some even wet themselves.

The captain could barely remain standing.

‘If I drew my sword…’

‘No…’

‘If I showed even the slightest intention to kill…’

That young woman would tear off his head without hesitation.

The female figure did not say a single word.

She simply lifted something from the shattered carriage as if it were a sack of luggage.

It was the young noble they were supposed to protect.

Whoosh!

And she vanished at the same speed with which she had arrived.

The entire incident took less than a minute.

The escort had failed.

And the young master had been kidnapped.