DMHS 26

Kian masked his presence, went around the back of the palace, climbed to the second floor, and cut the window lock with a dagger. Now if he entered and went up to the top floor where the king was…

“……!”

But when Kian opened the window, he froze in surprise. Lucien stood right below the very window he had chosen.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Lucien looked up at him with a blank face.

“Where are you going?”

Looking around, Kian saw Lucien was alone in the corridor. He jumped down from the window and brushed the dust from his clothes.

“I came briefly because I have business with His Majesty the King.”

“I will go too.”

An unexpected companion had appeared, but there was no excuse to refuse. Kian shrugged his shoulders and answered.

“His Majesty may not grant me an audience.”

“If you had gone alone, perhaps. But since I am with you, he will see you.”

Kian found it reasonable.

“Then please lead the way. I will follow.”

Kian followed behind Lucien up the stairs. Lucien stopped in front of the innermost room on the top floor.

Knock, knock.

He opened the door without waiting for an answer from inside.

“Who dares enter without permission… ah, the bridegroom of the day. What brings you here when you should be busy?”

“My mate says he has something to tell you.”

“If your mate is Kian…”

Kian entered the office behind Lucien.

“Kian Semes greets His Majesty the King.”

Even with the respectful bow, the king’s expression darkened. He set the pen he had been holding on the desk and spoke curtly.

“What business makes the two of you come to me together on your first night? If you ask me to annul the marriage, I cannot. It is not within my power.”

Was Lucien thinking the same thing?

Gulp.

Lucien’s throat moved up and down heavily.

Kian stepped forward.

“Has Your Majesty received a report of what happened at today’s parade?”

The king stroked his beard, as if the topic was unexpected.

“I have. Accidents happen when people gather. But thanks to the guards I assigned, you and Luci were safe”

“Thanks to Your Majesty’s care, we are unharmed. But you should know the cause of the incident. It was not simply from a large crowd. Someone deliberately caused it.”

“Yes, yes. I heard a man burned himself. Truly a fool. If he wants to die like that, even ten lives would not be enough.”

Kian agreed with the king’s words.

“That is right. Only because he had multiple lives could he do such a thing.”

The king looked at Lucien with puzzled eyes.

“Luci, is your mate making strange jokes to me?”

“It is no joke. The man who burned himself was not human. He was a doll created through black magic.”

This time the question came from Lucien.

“Doll?”

“It’s is a false person molded from clay by a dark mage. Depending on the maker’s intent, it can carry out specific tasks. Speaking set words or burning itself is also possible.”

The king hummed and stroked his beard.

“I had never even heard such black magic existed. Then how could you tell that one was a doll?”

“A finely made doll is hard to distinguish from a person. But the mage was rushed, and he made a few mistakes. First, the man’s hand had six fingers.”

“There are people in the world born with six fingers.”

“But no one has a sixth finger attached to the middle finger.”

The king closed his eyes slowly, then opened them.

“Do you have another reason to think so?”

“A doll hides its dull skin color by mixing wax into the visible skin. His skin was exactly like that.”

“And?”

“To make it hard to identify, the facial features are chosen to be as ordinary as possible. The man was the same in this as well.”

“Hmmm…”

Deep in thought, the king tapped his desk with the end of his pen.

“If what you say is true, then what should I be wary of? Dark mages hiding somewhere in the kingdom? But users of black magic are so few that one could say it has disappeared.”

“In the kingdom, yes. But among shamans, black magic is as common as ordinary magic.”

“By shamans, you mean the mages of the Delia tribe?”

“Yes. The Delians worship both Celestia, god of creation, and Yahdreir, god of ruin. As a result, what we call magic and black magic, they use together under the single name of sorcery. If the Delia tribe is behind this, it cannot be overlooked.”

Finally understanding Kian’s words, the king spoke cautiously.

“Last time, you said the Blood Harvest Festival might not have been the work of the North Party or the South Party. Are you suspecting the Delia tribe?”

Kian smiled.

“It is still only suspicion. But Ivan Harkin is a Delian. Someone among them may hold a grudge against him.”

“Delia…”

The shadow on the king’s face deepened.

“This is truly a difficult problem. To antagonize them would bring not only diplomatic trouble but also domestic problems.”

Thanks to his time spent in the library before the final test, Kian understood the king’s position.

The current king was Edward IX, said to descend from the first hero Edward.

Before him, the previous ruler of the kingdom had been William III.

About a hundred years ago, after Edward VIII ascended the throne as a child and an age of turmoil followed, the William family, royal in-laws, had stolen the throne.

King Edward regained it with the help of nobles who supported his legitimacy, taking it back from the Williams.

But in the process, royal authority collapsed, and he could not prevent the birth of the two great factions, the North Party and the South Party.

Even now, after a hundred years, people who longed for the William reign remained a problem.

Especially William II, remembered as a wise king for his policies such as the Edward Peace Policy.

If the current king went to war with the Delia tribe, there would be forces claiming it was a denial of William II’s achievements. With all this in mind, Kian continued.

“So Your Majesty should move only once evidence is secured. You will need proof so clear that no one can refute it.”

The king nodded.

“I understand. Last time I did not ignore your words, and I too was preparing something. But it would be better to bring the plan forward.”

‘Good. He has been preparing something after all.’

At least the king did not dismiss Kian’s words.

‘For a ruler, that makes him decent enough.’

As Kian began to feel relieved, the king spoke again.

“In a week, I will hold Lucien’s departure ceremony. Following the example of past dragons, Lucien will enter the Tomb of the Hero to complete his coming-of-age rite and return. On that road, you will search the ruins of Chronos and the Fourth Tower for clues about the forces threatening peace.”

The king’s long words could be summed up in one line.

‘Yes, you bring me the evidence.’

“I had no one fit for this task, so I was worried. Now that you will take it, I am most pleased.”

“Your Majesty…?”

“I will remember your shining loyalty for a long time.”

“Your Majesty!”

“I will prepare everything you need for the journey. You must be tired from today’s wedding, so withdraw now.”

The clueless dragon added,

“Let us go.”

Speechless, Kian was dragged out of the office by Lucien. On the way back to the Freesia Palace, Kian blamed the innocent Lucien.

“Are you all right, Lord Lucien?”

“What?”

“His Majesty gave us a task that is not ours. We have been saddled with something irrelevant.”

“We must go to the Tomb of the Hero anyway for my rite. If we also do Eddie’s request on the way, that is fine. And if you hate taking on what is not yours, then why did you do it earlier?”

“What did I do?”

“You saved people.”

When they arrived in front of the palace, Lucien stopped walking.

“No one told you to save them. They told you not to, because it was dangerous. But you still stepped up to help. Was that because it was your task?”

The words, simple at a glance, pierced Kian’s reality. Kian turned his head away from Lucien.

“Unlike you, a dragon, I am human. I cannot walk past people in trouble.”

“Not every human helps the troubled.”

“But I must.”

“Why?”

It was a naive question, asked only by someone who did not know, but it cut deep. Kian bit his lower lip lightly, then released it.

“Because only that way can I atone.”

Atonement.

Lucien’s gaze did not change. He still looked at Kian as though he were facing something he could not understand.

“Are you saying that is the path given to you?”

“Something like that.”

“Then… all right. To be honest, today I was a little annoyed.”

Lucien began walking again. Kian followed half a step behind.

“What annoyed you?”

“You put strange people in the carriage that was meant for us. That was supposed to be for just you and me.”

“I am sorry. I did not think of that.”

“And you left me to go help people. When I thought you might come to me, you went to Eddie’s office instead. Today is the first day of our wedding.”

Though he said annoyed, Lucien’s tone was more like a sulky complaint.