REFDL 42

The second abyss was deeper and more despairing than the first. Like fallen dominoes, unstoppable memories flooded his mind.

A man crying uncontrollably.

All white.

A being as sacred and lovely as a full moon. The past desire to hold him felt as vivid as the present.

He had brutally restrained that man, that small, slender body floundering weakly. Though he couldn’t know what had possessed him, Kaelus was certain of one thing.

It wasn’t creating something that didn’t exist. It was something that had always been within him. Primordial and violent, something he had hidden as if it didn’t exist.

He had simply brought it to the surface.

The unleashed beast was consumed with satiating his own desires.

It was an unpardonable crime…!

Kaelus closed his eyes, then opened them and spoke in a low, almost groaning voice.

“…I must see His Majesty.”

“…Yes, Your Grace.”

* * *

At the moment Kaelus, in a state akin to having his brain soaked in bleach, went to see the Emperor wearing his pants backwards.

Yuram had reverted to the form of a baby dragon.

This morning.

Having regained consciousness by sheer luck, he realized his body had reverted to that of a baby Kremlis.

He had no mental capacity to think. He grunted and pushed open the closed window to escape. He closed the window again. After all, he had no fingerprints, so he aimed for the perfect crime.

[…….]

At that moment, Yuram realized he wasn’t in his right mind.

‘Perfect crime? What nonsense!’

“Huh?”

“What? What’s going on?”

“Didn’t the window just… open and then close?”

“What?”

Yuram, who had silently jumped from the nearby tree, froze when he heard the voice coming from below. Only his extended claws held him steady on the tree.

“It was about a hand’s width. Yeah. It definitely opened and closed. I saw it.”

“Then it must have been the wind. How could anyone get out through that gap?”

The knights were right.

A person couldn’t have gotten out. A person.

[…….]

Yuram, who had skillfully silenced his presence like in the Sea of Trees, slipped away from the scene stealthily and quickly.

Wandering through the garden, he soon found a fountain that hadn’t frozen.

Splash!

He plunged in, heedless of the sub-zero water temperature. Even after turning into a dragon, sticky traces still clung to him, and he scrubbed them away.

Only after washing at the fountain did his lost reason finally return.

Kyaaa!

‘Aaaargh!’

What the hell did I do!!

He flattened himself against the fountain’s edge, clutching his head with his front paws.

…He knew Kaelus’s state was abnormal. His reaction was typical, his eyes unfocused.

He knew it, yet he was the one who let himself be drawn in. By the excited breath. By the hot body. By the hands that tried to roughly restrain him.

‘It’s a great thing to do to someone who was clearly mentally and physically unsound…!’

It’s not like my brain is down there!

As Yuram railed against himself with such fervor, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

But.

Wasn’t it actually unavoidable?

‘Think about it.’

How could a mere human resist the temptation of a celestial being? Yeah. This was self-defense…….

‘Han Yuram! You crazy bastard!!’

Whack! Whack! Whack!

The front paws struck his face repeatedly.

It was an emergency.

The worst kind of emergency, where he had no clue how to handle it!

Waaaaaah!!

Just as the red slipper were wailing.

A gasp came from between the garden’s stone paths. Yuram turned his head up. A servant stood there, rubbing his eyes.

“Lo-Lord Dragon!”

The young attendant, sniffling, ran over and hoisted Yuram up.

“I found you……!”

Kyaa……?

* * *

After Yuram disappeared.

The Emperor naturally sent out men to search. But the only one he found was Kaelus.

“Hng. Huh. Haa…”

“……”

In the midst of conducting state affairs.

The Emperor grinned as he grabbed the doorknob. Attendants and knights rushed in, horrified, clinging to him.

“Yo-Your Majesty, please refrain yourself!”

“Haha. I don’t understand what you’re all saying. Kaelus must have eaten something wrong and gone mad, causing trouble in the imperial palace, which is my home. But I am perfectly rational!”

“…It might be that he was affected by something like an aphrodisiac.”

The emperor, who had been gripping the doorknob, faltered. After a moment’s thought, he slowly released his hand. The attendants and knights exchanged glances.

“Find that little Kremlis as quickly as possible. And quietly. He said he was going to Kaelus, so he should still be inside the palace. That should make him easy to find.”

They couldn’t find him.

That Kremlis was inside, in the midst of making love with Kaelus.

“If you find him, protect him. He’s a clever one, so I don’t think anything major will happen, but…”

Something very major had happened!

“…And identify the Duke’s partner. Capture them. Do not let them escape.”

“I will station knights outside the windows as well.”

“We’ll keep a tight watch on the surroundings.”

…Yeah. That’s how it went.

When Yuram was delivered to the Emperor. The latter and Kaelus ended their conversation in a gloomy atmosphere.

“Then we’ll proceed that way.”

“…Yes.”

Roughly speaking, it was ‘Kaelus, who vowed to find that person no matter what and punish them according to the law once found, and Tortan, who coaxed and pleaded until he finally nodded in exhaustion, but inwardly resolved to handle it his own way’.

Of course, the dragon, unaware of this fact, flinched at the sight of Kaelus, curled his tail, and huddled up.

Kaelus looked at Yuram with an expression that said, ‘What kind of trouble has that one gotten into now?’

The red dragon desperately avoided his gaze. Kaelus never did figure out why. ……His head was already about to explode just thinking about the mysterious one-night stand!

And so, the major incident Yuram had caused went undetected.

For now.

* * *

Three days flew by in the blink of an eye.

On the final day of the birthday celebration, Tortan met with Valita to discuss compensation for the unfortunate incident that had occurred in the south.

The Sixth Prince, who had arrived with the Fourth Prince, didn’t leave the annex assigned to him in the imperial palace, let alone attend the banquet. According to Baron, whom Tortan sent to check, he never left his room.

Tortan heard he had mental issues. It seemed he couldn’t even move about alone without someone assisting him.

And now they’re officially claiming such a person orchestrated that conspiracy?

‘I already knew, but they’ve got some nerve.’

Tortan smirked.

Valita, who was facing him, smirked back.

Without a word exchanged, two massive, venomous snakes stared at each other, flicking their tongues.

It made those around them shiver. But the agreement was reached fairly smoothly. Since the party at fault was clear from the start, they only needed to agree on the extent of compensation.

The relationship between Firmus and Denos was more complex than one might think.

They were the only neighboring nations, and while exchange was difficult, it wasn’t impossible. In the same vein, trade continued steadily.

Firmus specialized in crops unavailable in Denos, rare medicinal herbs, dragon byproducts, and the crafting of artifacts using dragon materials.

Denos possessed high-quality rock salt mines, abundant silver and iron, and vast, fertile plains that never suffered drought.

The two nations exchanged and purchased what each needed.

That is, unless they openly went to war. For now, antagonism only hurt both sides.

Therefore, Denos caused trouble but didn’t insist on its way, while Firmus, already weary of the nnth agreement, accepted it without objection as long as it was reasonably fair.

‘…This is starting to feel like inertia. Anyway, those Denos perverts. never know when to give up.’

‘What a nasty Firmus bastard. No matter how great a secret is, management always gets lax after this much time…….’

“…….”

“…….”

Smirk.

Once again, only the knights and attendants standing nearby shivered.