DMHS 34

Lucien looked toward the window in the hallway, and the window opened on its own. Below, a stream flowed across the village.

The thief’s body floated up by itself and was thrown out through the open window.

Splash!

Soon after, splashing noises reached his ears as the thief swam and dragged himself onto the bank. Lucien, who had finished the matter, turned and opened the door to the room.

But in that time, an unexpected guest had arrived.

“……?”

After dealing with the thief outside, another thief was inside. A green goblin rummaging through bags pricked up its ears and looked at Lucien.

“Klikliklik…”

Lucien first checked Kian’s bed. Kian was still sleeping soundly.

However, a strange aura leaked out from his mate.

‘This is a different dimension from reality.’

A goblin could not possibly create such a dimension, so this must have been an accident caused by a night with no moon.

‘At least my mate will not wake, so I can be at ease.’

Lucien sat on a chair by the table and crossed his legs. The green goblin bowed toward him.

“A fine night. I am fortunate to meet a noble being tonight. Klikliklik. Since this is also fate, will you play a riddle game with me?”

“Riddles.”

“If you answer the riddle, I will give you an answer to something Lord is curious about.”

“Something I am curious about?”

“You must have many things you want to know. Especially about that one.” Klikliklik.

The green goblin’s gaze reached the bed where Kian slept. Lucien crossed his legs the other way with his arms folded.

“What is the wager?”

“Tonight is goblin night. There is no cost. But if you answer wrong, I may give you false information.”

“Fine. Ask a riddle.”

The goblin grinned, showing sharp teeth.

“The first question. It grows in the morning, shrinks at noon, grows again in the afternoon, and disappears at night. What is it?”

“A shadow.”

“Correct. Klikliklik. Let us move to the next. This devours birds and beasts, flowers, trees and earth, gnaws at steel, and topples mountains. What is it?”

This time as well, Lucien answered plainly.

“Time.”

“The second is also correct. Now the last question. This object is unnecessary to the maker. The buyer of the object also does not use it. The user cannot see what it is. What is it?”

For the first time, Lucien hesitated. He touched his chin slowly and exhaled an answer.

“Memory?”

The goblin’s eyes sharpened.

“Klikliklik. Wrong. The answer is ‘a coffin.’ The coffin where the dead rest is not needed by the maker, not used by the buyer, and cannot be seen by the one lying inside.”

“Ah… that makes sense.”

“You answered two out of three correctly, so I will give you two truths out of three. You must judge for yourself which are true and which are false.”

Lucien nodded slightly.

“First, your mate is not human.”

Lucien already suspected that. He was not a stone to be kicked on the road.

“Second, the ring you gave your mate has the power to turn back time.”

If it was the ring given to Kian, it was the one handed over the day before the wedding. Lucien had received that ring at his nineteenth birthday celebration. He had heard it was an item passed down to every dragon who reached adulthood.

He had only vaguely guessed it was related to time, but he had not known its exact use.

At last, the green goblin spoke the final piece of information.

“Someday your mate will leave your side. Forever… for eternity.”

“……”

Lucien gave no answer. Or rather, he could not.

‘One of the three is false. Then the last one is false.’

He thought that in his head, but the restless beat of his heart would not slow.

In truth, Lucien had expected it. That his mate would leave his side someday, that he would go away forever without looking back.

The kisses each night were no more than his mate’s kindness, nothing less and nothing more. His mate had a strong sense of duty, especially in the way he took on burdens that were not his to bear.

But Lucien never expected such goodwill to last forever.

Kian was gentle but clear about his own boundaries. He was waiting for the right chance to push Lucien away.

“……”

Lucien slowly rubbed his dry face. The green goblin’s eyes gleamed unpleasantly.

“Do you regret answering the riddles correctly?”

“No.”

“Do you regret answering one incorrectly?”

“No, not that either.”

After a brief pause, Lucien admitted what he felt.

“I only dislike facing what I had tried to avoid.”

“Klikliklik. That is the charm of riddles. To see what already exists in a different way. That can even be called the creation of a new world. The world exists as we perceive it.”

“……”

“It was an honor to meet you tonight. The night recedes, so I too shall go. Farewell.”

The shape of the green goblin gradually blurred. Left alone in the room, Lucien slowly closed his eyes and opened them again.

Beyond the shut window, dawn was breaking.

Only then did Lucien rise from his seat and open the door to the hallway.

The hallway window was still open, and cold air lingered on the floor. This was the reality where Lucien truly stood.

Click.

Lucien opened the room door again and went inside.

The small sound woke Kian. His blurry eyes grew clear when they found Lucien.

Kian’s eyes curved softly as he smiled. The familiar gentle smile somehow felt different.

“……”

Thump.

His heart beat so hard it hurt near his chest. Lucien felt, for a brief instant, that time around him had stopped.

“You woke early.”

Though he had seen his mate only hours ago, he was unbearably beautiful…

“Did you go out somewhere this morning?”

In the dim room where dawn light barely spread, his mate alone shone brilliantly…

“Lord Lucien?”

It was like a warm spring day, when forsythias, magnolias, cherry blossoms, and every bud burst into bloom all at once.

“……?”

Lucien’s whole heart leaned toward Kian. He was on the verge of tears.

‘Ah…’

Lucien recalled the taxidermy animals in the palace halls.

Traces of the dead preserved to look alive. He had dismissed them as the humans’ poor taste, yet now he thought he understood the reason they existed.

If Lucien had the power to keep this moment intact, he would have gladly preserved it.

That this morning with his mate had been so beautiful, he would have revisited it every day and drowned in happiness. But…

“You do not look well. Are you unwell?”

Kian, puzzled by Lucien standing blankly, got up from the bed.

He placed his hand naturally on Lucien’s forehead.

“You do not have a fever. Did you perhaps not sleep well last night?”

Lucien loved that Kian was alive and breathing.

Even if it was only trivial sympathy, he could not endure the joy of being looked at with such concern. Under the warmth of sunlight, he melted like ice.

Lucien pressed his head against Kian’s hand like a child whining for attention.

“I did not sleep well.”

After a pause, Kian replied.

“…Did I snore loudly?”

“Yes.”

Even at nonsense, he turned serious.

“Really? I snored?”

“Yes. So today, ride the horse with me.”

Lucien had begged many times before, but each time the excuse of slowing their travel had rejected him. Today, however, he received a different answer.

“Alright.”

“……”

“If Lord Lucien dozes off and falls from the horse, it would be terrible.”

Even as he spoke, his ears reddened with embarrassment. That sight made Lucien’s heartbeat quicken again.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Overwhelmed by his feelings, Lucien wrapped his arms around Kian’s neck. He rose on his toes, matched their height, and kissed him.

His mate responded without awkwardness now, and that made him even more beautiful. Lucien covered his face with kisses as though stamping seals, because if he did not, he felt his heart would burst and kill him.

“You are too clingy from the morning.”

I love you.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

I really love you.

“It is almost time we should prepare…”

He was too afraid to say the words, afraid his mate would feel burdened and run away.

“Lord Lucien?”

…I love you, Kian.

***

“Below us, that city is Chronos.”

After crossing a low mountain, the group saw a vast city spread before their eyes.

Tall buildings built from red bricks and red clay transported from the nearby desert displayed their grandeur even from afar.

“As the number one city in the west and a borderland, its walls are its defining feature. This is also my first visit since ‘that day’…”

Frederick paused his explanation and scratched his cheek under the robe.

“I did not expect the city to be this well preserved.”

The day he mentioned was the “Blood Harvest Festival.”

To the people of the kingdom, Chronos was a city destroyed in a single day. The risen dead. People screaming and fleeing. A city thrown into chaos.

Yet, when seen closely now, the city’s grounds were quiet. It was as though the past had all become nothing but memory.

The tall walls loomed closer.

“Where should we begin to look for clues?”