* * *
“…Yes, I’ve seen them.”
“So, it was true after all, what I heard back then…”
Her voice, soft and murmured as if to herself, prompted the Duke to wait before he asked, “Your Majesty, may I ask what you heard and from whom? More importantly, how did you learn about the murals in the cave?”
Before his accident with Ed, even the Duke hadn’t known about such murals in the North.
Without answering his question, the Empress Dowager gazed into the distance before turning back to the Duke.
He looked at her with the same clear gaze as he had in his youth.
‘I’ve come to the right person.’
With that confirmation in her heart, the Empress Dowager asked, “Let me ask you first. How much do you trust me, Duke? If I had come here in collusion with the Emperor, what would you do?”
The Duke replied calmly, “Trust, you ask? I’m not sure about that, but I do know this: You are certainly not someone who would side with the Emperor. That much I’m sure of, Your Majesty.”
The late Emperor, who had once named Fez as the Crown Prince, had chosen his remarriage partner with utmost care, prioritizing the balance of power.
She had to come from a family influential enough to benefit the empire but not so powerful as to extend its reach into the imperial center.
The bride selected under such conditions was none other than the Empress Dowager before him.
However, the late Emperor had overlooked one critical issue—his son’s folly.
As long as the late Emperor lived, the relationship between the Empress Dowager and Fez had been amicable.
But once he passed, Fez, upon ascending the throne, revealed his true nature.
Dropping the act of being a harmonious family, he banished the Empress Dowager and her daughter, Princess Zaint, his half-sister, to the cold palace.
Fez had long resented the dragon’s blood that had not manifested in him, envying those who bore it.
Upon confirming that even the young princess possessed this blood, he revealed his malice as soon as he took the throne.
The Empress Dowager, however, was no fool.
She was well aware of the Emperor’s attempts to eliminate her and her daughter.
For her to conspire with the Emperor—her mortal enemy—was as unthinkable as the North aligning with the Emperor’s cause.
After their prolonged estrangement due to the Emperor’s surveillance, the two now reaffirmed their positions in the shadows.
The Empress Dowager relaxed her previously rigid expression and shared the reason for her arduous journey to the North.
“The late Emperor… he said something to me during his final days. At the time, he was feverish, so I dismissed it as nonsense.”
“…”
“Now, after coming here, I realize it wasn’t something to be taken lightly.”
She pulled out a white orb from her pocket.
The Duke’s eyes narrowed as he examined it.
“What is this?”
“It’s what the late Emperor left for me after realizing the Crown Prince’s true nature. He told me to keep it safe and give it to you when the time came.”
She paused and looked up at the Duke with warmth.
“Take this and enter the cave, Duke.”
“Am I truly allowed to receive this?”
The Empress Dowager nodded silently, handing him the orb.
She lightly patted his large, warm hand before withdrawing hers with a serene expression.
The Duke lightly touched the orb in his hand, feeling the faint warmth emanating from it.
“Do I simply need to carry this orb into the cave?”
At his trusting gaze, the Empress Dowager gave a faint smile.
“I’m not entirely certain. The late Emperor was delirious when he entrusted it to me, and with the Crown Prince’s eyes everywhere, he couldn’t explain much.”
“…”
“But his intention was clear—this orb wasn’t meant for me. He only asked me to keep it safe and deliver it to you when the time came.”
After carefully listening to her, the Duke spoke with a heavy tone.
“…Wasn’t the journey to the North difficult for you?”
Seeing the complex emotions he couldn’t hide, the Empress Dowager smiled warmly.
“The thought of meeting you again was all that kept me going, Duke.”
It wasn’t the most detailed explanation, but the Duke, moved by her courage and loyalty to the late Emperor’s will, bowed respectfully.
“I will carry out Your Majesty’s orders.”
There was no need to light a magical lamp.
The gentle glow emanating from the orb dispelled the darkness.
The Duke couldn’t fathom what the Empress Dowager hoped to achieve by coming here, but he let go of his doubts, entrusting himself to the warmth of the orb.
Step by step, he moved swiftly forward, crossing the barrier he had set and delving deeper into the cave.
As he approached the entrance, the thought of Ed surfaced in his mind.
“I wish you were here with me.”
Recalling the time they had explored the cave together, a small smile crept across his lips.
At that moment, a gust of wind swept through the cave, cold air piercing deep into his chest.
Taking a sharp breath, the Duke pressed on without hesitation.
The memory of Ed urged him forward. He longed to resolve this matter quickly and return to the castle—to Ed.
He yearned to hold him tightly, to bury his face in the fragrant nape of his neck, and to lose himself in their tender moments together.
The mere thought of Ed filled him with an aching desire, propelling him to quicken his pace.
It was as if his path naturally led him to where Ed awaited.
‘To the place where I was with Ed.’
The Grand Duke arrived at the place where he and another had fallen together during the earthquake, his gaze sweeping the surroundings methodically.
As he examined the space, he directed the glow of an orb toward the mural on the wall.
The light from the orb revealed parts of the mural, which flickered in and out of view as the light moved across it.
“It’s exactly the same as it was back then.”
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, the Grand Duke surveyed the cave.
He was about to turn to leave when he abruptly halted.
“Did that dragon in the mural just move?”
The mural depicted a person embracing a dragon’s neck.
The moment the Grand Duke lifted the orb to examine the image more closely, it happened.
Whoosh!
A powerful gust of wind wrapped around him, sweeping his body in a sudden, swirling current.
At the same time, the orb shone with an intense radiance, its light bursting forth like a blinding flare, pushing back the darkness of the cave.
As the Grand Duke stood in the midst of the brilliant glow, he felt an intense heat rising from deep within his body.
“….”
This sensation was familiar. It was the same as when the dragon’s blood coursing through him had first awakened.
It was as if all the world’s sensations were flooding toward him, overwhelming him.
There was no time to think about what to do or how to act—he could only absorb the immense energy surging into him.
“….”
Then, something on the mural began to move again.
The Grand Duke’s gaze locked onto the mural as it rippled and distorted.
The cave was filled once more with the sound of rushing wind.
In that moment, the orb in the Grand Duke’s hand resonated, trembling with a deep hum.
After some time, golden dust began to flow gracefully from the orb, drifting toward the mural.
When the shimmering dust touched the mural, something emerged from it.
The once brilliant light that illuminated the cave was now partially obscured by a massive form, limiting his view.
It wasn’t until the Grand Duke shone his magical lamp toward it that he realized what stood before him.
A dragon.
“The one who awakened me.”
The dragon’s voice resonated, but the Grand Duke didn’t respond to its sudden question.
His focus remained on discerning whether this imposing presence was friend or foe.
“What is your name?”
Its body shimmered with golden scales, dazzling to the eye.
Its crimson gaze, so like his own, was fixed intently on him.
The dragon’s appearance was a perfect match for the creature described in the founding myths of the Empire.
But even without recalling those stories, the Grand Duke already knew what this being was.
“I am Asnel Linden, the sword that protects the northern territories of the Ain Empire, and one who carries your blood.”
He had seen this dragon in a dream before. It was when he was thirteen.
“Yes, that was your name.”
Back then, too, the dragon had asked for his name.
Still groggy from its long slumber, the dragon sighed softly, shaking its head slightly.
Yet, even this minor movement caused a gale to whip through the cave, as if a typhoon had descended.
“The time of humans passes in the blink of an eye. The small child I once saw has grown this much.”
The Grand Duke gave a faint smile.
“In that fleeting time, nations can vanish and be rebuilt in the human world.”
“Yes, you humans always live lives that are short but burn brightly, like fireworks.”
The dragon’s eyes curved slightly in a look of amusement.
“Truly, humans are….”
The dragon paused and gazed at the Grand Duke.
“Unrecognizable, every time I see them.”
* * *
Woo
“Unrecognisable”???