I Married the Dragon I Killed

The young noble who had departed in the middle of the night had lost consciousness when the carriage was destroyed.

But it did not take long for him to wake up.

“Ugh…”

He regained consciousness.

The impact had left his entire body aching, and he let out a groan.

“Ugh… What is this?”

His hands were tied to the armrests.

His neck was also secured to the backrest, forcing him to look forward.

The only thing he could see was a candle.

And on the other side, seated across from him, was a gray-haired man with a gloomy aura.

He was resting his face on both hands while watching him.

His deep blue eyes, like a bottomless lake, seemed to emit light.

The young man knew who he was.

It was Perda Valdrova.

He understood the situation immediately.

Or perhaps he was not even sure he truly understood it.

He forced a smile and spoke to the man sitting in front of him.

“Aren’t you going to say anything? You kidnapped me and haven’t uttered a single word.”

Only then did Perda open his mouth.

“To be honest, I was afraid.”

“Afraid?”

“I thought perhaps I was making a mistake. I wondered what would happen if I kidnapped an innocent man and then killed him.”

Perda released his hands and leaned back against the chair.

“But it seems I was right.”

He spoke the culprit’s name, the one who had called Valdrova a murderer.

“Marcus Yurei.”

The eldest son and heir of the Yurei ducal family.

He was the source of the voices tormenting Valdrova.

“I trust you understand why you’re here.”

“Of course I understand.”

Marcus Yurei looked up at Perda with empty eyes and a mocking smile.

“It seems the illustrious Grand Duchess heard my words perfectly. I thought she ignored the voices of the people.”

“You miserable human who doesn’t know your place…”

Ruri was about to intervene in outrage.

But Perda stopped her with a gesture.

Ruri immediately obeyed.

Perda’s anger was no less than hers.

“…Why did you do it?”

“Why? Aren’t there plenty of reasons?”

Marcus let out the laughter of a madman.

“My father is now a war criminal. Our ducal family is surrounded by vultures eager to tear us apart. And aren’t you also taking advantage of our territory with those refugees?”

“Isn’t that your family’s fault for being stupid?”

Perda replied aggressively.

“It was your father who caused all of this by trying to mediate clumsily. What exactly were we supposed to do?”

“You could have returned the refugees.”

“Now that spring has arrived? You stayed silent all winter and now you come with that. You have no shame.”

“That’s true. You people aren’t exactly lacking in shamelessness either.”

He grinned broadly.

As if he had been waiting for that opportunity.

“But you’re hardly innocent yourselves.”

“……”

“The Dragon-Demon War ended one hundred and fifty years ago. How many people did the Grand Duchess kill during that time? Didn’t she choose to live in repentance precisely because she spilled so much blood?”

Then he added quietly,

“If she’s a murderer, she should act like one and remain locked away.”

At that instant, Marcus was thrown backward.

It was not Ruri who attacked him.

The one who lost control was Perda.

Instead of using magic, he clenched his fist and struck Marcus in the face.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

A merciless rain of blows.

Perda poured all his strength into Marcus’s face.

Crack!

A loud sound of something breaking echoed through the room.

But it was not Marcus’s face.

The proof was that Perda’s wrist had been shattered and now hung limply.

Marcus barely had a little swelling on his face.

“Hehehe… The fists of the great Regent are so delicate they can’t even make my nose bleed.”

“Shut up.”

Perda knew this would happen.

He knew.

And yet he could not stop himself.

He did not want to use magic.

He wanted to smash Marcus’s face with his own hands.

“Your right hand is destroyed. Will you try with the left now? Go ahead, try.”

Marcus continued mocking him.

Perda grabbed him by the collar.

“Don’t be in such a hurry. This is only the beginning.”

Perda knew how to turn someone into a person incapable of either living or dying.

He would use all that knowledge to condemn him to a miserable existence.

Marcus let out a sick laugh.

“The beginning? Who said I would let you begin?”

“Why? Do you think I’m going to obey the rules of those nobles? Or do you intend to die before I start torturing you? If you’re confident, try committing suicide. But you won’t be able to. Now that you’re in my hands, I’m the one who decides whether you live or die.”

Perda tried to crush him with his gaze.

But Marcus showed not the slightest fear.

And Perda realized he still had a hidden card to play.

“Regent Perda.”

Marcus smiled.

“Welcome to a cruel world.”

The instant he finished the sentence, a strange distortion ran through the space around his neck.

Crack.

Crack.

His neck bent at impossible angles.

And twisted.

He died on the spot.

The sudden silence gave way to an atmosphere of confusion.

Ruri, who had witnessed the entire scene, spoke.

“Lord Perda?”

“…It wasn’t me.”

Upon hearing that, Ruri asked worriedly,

“Did you lose control because of your anger…?”

“No. That wasn’t it.”

He was furious.

But it was not the overwhelming rage he had felt in Erembalt.

Perda calmly examined Marcus’s neck.

“Look.”

There were traces of a dark magic circle there.

“They must have prepared it so his neck would automatically break when he spoke a keyword.”

“Then that phrase was the activation word.”

Once she understood that Perda had not lost control, Ruri immediately apologized.

“Forgive me. I judged you too quickly, Lord Perda…”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

Ruri looked at him in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“If you reached that conclusion, others will think exactly the same thing.”

Perda observed the situation as though viewing it from the outside.

And he realized something.

He was trapped in a swamp.

“Ruri.”

“Yes.”

“You said you attacked the carriage to bring him here.”

She nodded.

“That’s right. Resisting the urge to massacre them all, I limited myself to bringing this bastard.”

“Are you sure they didn’t discover who you were?”

“A few people saw me, but if they truly try to find out, they’ll eventually discover it.”

She had even released her Dragon Pressure to prevent an unnecessary slaughter.

It had been unavoidable.

‘The problem is whether they’ll go report what happened or return directly to the castle…’

It was still impossible to know.

But neither option was favorable.

If they reported it immediately, Duke Yurei would launch an investigation, and the matter would become much bigger.

And if they returned to the castle, they would find Marcus Yurei’s headless corpse.

From any perspective, it would appear that Perda had killed the duke’s son in a fit of rage.

“But he admitted insulting the Grand Duchess.”

“Yes, but he didn’t do it publicly.”

He had deliberately whispered it so that only Valdrova could hear.

Perda knew that.

And he also knew that trying to prove it would only make the situation worse.

‘They’ll undoubtedly start talking about dark magic.’

Marcus Yurei had died because of dark magic.

And the moment that topic surfaced, all suspicion would be directed at him.

That Perda used dark magic.

He knew exactly how that worked.

Because the Perda of the past had gone through the same thing.

Dark magic was a mark.

And many had tried to kill him using that mark as an excuse.

Marcus’s death had already dragged him into a deep swamp.

‘Who benefits from this death?’

The first person who came to Perda’s mind was Duke Yurei.

Duke Yurei was the kind of man who called refugees traitors in front of his own knights and used them as examples.

It would not be strange if he used even his own son as a stepping stone.

“What should we do with the body?”

Perda looked at the young master of the Yurei family, his neck twisted.

There were many ways to dispose of the corpse.

They could bury him somewhere.

They could throw him out as food for monsters.

Or they could burn him until absolutely nothing remained.

The old Perda would have chosen any of those options without hesitation.

But things were different now.

He was the Regent of the Grand Duchy.

The administrator of Hestia.

And Valdrova’s fiancé.

“…What a miserable situation.”

Perda muttered those words.

At that moment—

The interrogation room door burst open and someone entered.

“Lord Regent Perda. The Tower Master wishes to speak with you…”

Isabella saw the corpse with the broken neck and fell silent.

“What in the world happened here?”

“It’s complicated to explain. Suffice it to say that he paid the price for insulting the Grand Duchess.”

“Hmm.”

As a Dragonspawn, Isabella quickly accepted the death of a blasphemer.

But as an administrator, the death of a noble gave her a complicated expression.

Ruri reprimanded her for barging in without warning.

“How could you enter without knocking?”

“I know it was discourteous, but this is urgent.”

Isabella showed the communication sphere she was carrying.

“The Tower Master has made urgent contact. She requests an immediate response.”

“Understood.”

Perda connected his mind to the sphere.

— Regent. I won’t waste time on formalities because the situation is urgent.

Erika’s voice sounded agitated.

— Is the Spring Commencement Festival still ongoing?

“No.”

— Then it’s already over?

“Officially, yes, but there are still many people in the castle.”

— The young nobles haven’t left yet?

“Some departed during the night.”

— If they’ve already gone too far, there’s nothing that can be done, but gather everyone you can immediately.

Then Erika explained the reason for her urgency.

— The Grand Duchy of Valdrova has been surrounded by monsters! If anyone tries to move right now, they will die without fail!

***

The alarm spread throughout the entire Grand Duchy of Valdrova.

Not only through Hestia, located at the edge of the Demon Lands.

Every noble under Valdrova’s jurisdiction was placed on high alert.

With the help of Isabella and Ruri, Perda gathered all available information onto a map.

After studying the result, he commented,

“…They’ve turned us into an island.”

The monster lines perfectly isolated the entire Far East.

“These are not ordinary monsters. They’re colossal monsters. Each group is centered around gigantic creatures comparable in size to the ones Lady Valdrova usually exterminates.”

“How many are there?”

“Twelve.”

Twelve monsters.

That was equivalent to twelve armies.

Twelve armies keeping the territory completely isolated.

Creatures capable of destroying an entire fortress if they started moving.

Perda had seen Valdrova fight.

And he knew exactly how powerful those monsters were.

‘If they start moving…’

The devastation of the territory would only be a matter of time.

“The only positive thing is that those gigantic creatures lack mobility.”

“Then there’s no risk of all of them attacking at once.”

“But the real problem is their ability.”

“What ability?”

“Reproduction. They’re creating monsters and building armies.”

They functioned as living incubators.

Even if the Circus Demon King sent no reinforcements, they would continue producing monsters constantly.

“There are already dozens of monsters surrounding each of those creatures, and they keep producing more. If we don’t stop the process, we’ll soon be facing armies numbering in the thousands.”

“And once they reach those numbers, we’ll be dealing with a genuine catastrophe.”

“Hmm…”

The only way to prevent a constant accumulation of forces was through rapid strikes.

Hit them before they grew.

“What if Her Highness the Grand Duchess intervenes?”

“That would be the best option, but…”

Ruri pointed toward the Demon Lands with a worried expression.

“There are large concentrations of enemies waiting here. They’re all positioned exactly on the fronts where my Lady cannot afford to enter.”

The intention was obvious.

“They want to attack the moment she leaves her position.”

“Exactly.”

It was an intelligent strategy.

To protect Hestia, Valdrova was forced to remain guarding the Lonely Mountain.

The situation had been deliberately designed.

‘The Circus Demon King has to be that man’s doing.’

With a mere gesture, he could summon monsters.

An individual capable of manipulating space at will.

Without a doubt, he had distributed those giant creatures throughout the territory.

Perda chose the most reasonable option.

“We’ll have to ask the Empire for assistance.”

After all, the Grand Duchy was still part of the Empire.

Intervening was the Empire’s responsibility.

Perda established communication immediately.

— Greetings, Lord Regent Perda Valdrova! I am Hans, communications mage of the glorious Arken Empire!

“Who is in command of this situation?”

— The person in charge?

“Call the highest-ranking authority. Monsters are invading imperial territory.”

— Y-Yes! Understood! Please wait a moment!

Judging by Hans’s reaction, it seemed the Empire still did not understand the severity of the situation.

Shortly afterward, the signal changed.

So did the voice.

Even the throat-clearing that preceded the words overflowed with arrogance.

— I am Crown Prince Alexander Arken.

“Greetings, Your Highness.”

— Yes, I’ve already been informed. The Empire is also shocked by what has happened.

For a moment, Perda thought it might be possible to reason with him.

“We need reinforcements. Troops must be sent as soon as possible.”

— Of course. Of course we’ll send help. But it will take some time.

“How much?”

— Two months.

Two months.

Perda frowned.

Was that pig really playing games with him?

“You intend for us to leave those things there for two months?”

— Don’t say something so cold. We’re doing everything we can as well. That’s the minimum amount of time we can achieve while following imperial procedures.

Everything they could?

There was not a trace of urgency in Alexander’s voice.

Perda was not an idiot.

He immediately understood that the prince intended to profit from the crisis.

“Are you waiting for me to bow my head and offer you something in return?”

— Oh, don’t say that! You know that isn’t the case. Wars cost time and money. Imperial laws must be respected. It isn’t that simple.

In other words—

If he wanted troops, he would have to offer something valuable.

Damn pig.

Perda wanted to insult him right then and there.

But the situation would not allow it.

The pressure of reality restrained his temper.

“I’ll think about it.”

And he cut the communication.

He tried to calm the anger boiling inside him before asking,

“If we leave those monsters there for two months, what will happen?”

“They’ll continue reproducing. They’ll form armies of thousands of monsters.”

Ruri answered.

Isabella added,

“And that’s not all. There’s also the issue of the land.”

Where monsters remained, life disappeared.

Once the soil died, it had to be completely dug up and discarded.

If all the land surrounding the Grand Duchy became contaminated, even after resolving the crisis they would still remain an island.

‘That’s the real problem.’

They had to eliminate them quickly.

But the Empire had no intention of acting quickly.

In the end, Perda would have to solve it himself.

“Do you think we can do it?”

Ruri did not hide her concern.

“We will.”

They had to.