I Married the Dragon I Killed

Chapter 21: Why the Evil Dragon Remains Evil

Late at night, under the bright moonlight, Ferda walked down the hallway illuminated by candlelight.

‘What a busy day this has been.’

The work that had piled up over decades of neglect wasn’t easy to deal with.

‘But thanks to Mori, things are progressing smoothly.’

The pace of work had far surpassed anything a human could achieve.

At this rate, Ferda thought, they could clear all the pending tasks within a year.

‘My role is to assist so that Her Lordship doesn’t need to worry about anything.’

Ferda reminded himself of his duty and focused on doing his best.

Before heading to his bedroom, Ferda turned toward the study.

If things went as expected, Mori would be waiting there.

‘By now, she should be there waiting for orders. I should send her back to her room.’

Mori was a girl who wouldn’t even breathe without permission.

Ferda never forgot this and made it a point to send her back to rest when she was no longer needed.

However, upon entering the study, Ferda was met with someone unexpected.

“Hello, Lord Ferda!”

The creepy witch, Echidna, greeted him with an awkward smile.

“Call me Regent,” Ferda corrected her.

“Oh! Of course! And make sure to call me Echidna, alright?”

“I will.”

“Hehehe…”

Echidna’s smile was as eerie as always.

Ignoring her, Ferda walked past her toward Mori.

As expected, Mori was quietly waiting in the study.

But something about her was different from when Ferda had seen her that morning.

She was wearing a flowy dress, and her hair, brushed smooth like silk, gave her the look of a noble lady.

Mori had always been beautiful, but now she shone like the daughter of a prestigious family.

“Is this your doing?” Ferda asked, turning to Echidna.

“Hehe, yes. She didn’t respond when I called her and just stood there like a doll… so I got bored and decided to dress her up. Is it okay?”

Echidna fidgeted awkwardly, as if embarrassed.

Ferda recalled the golems Echidna had created.

They had unnecessarily large, glittering eyes and tiny heads, resembling illustrations drawn by children.

‘So, her sense of aesthetics isn’t twisted when it comes to women.’

Though unnecessary, this wasn’t a bad thing.

‘Actually, this might be for the best.’

Even though Mori was treated as a tool, she was still a living being, and living beings required more delicate care than tools.

Since Mori couldn’t take care of herself, it made sense to have someone else look after her.

“If you have the time, would you mind taking care of Mori from now on?”

Echidna’s eyes sparkled, and she nodded enthusiastically.

“Of course! I’d love to! Just thinking about taking care of someone this pretty makes me so happy, hehe, hehehe…”

“I trust you won’t do anything strange. She’s a vital asset.”

“Oh, I would never! I’m not one of those evil witches who eat children or men! I’ll take good care of her—brushing her hair, feeding her, that kind of thing!”

Her creepy tone made even those normal-sounding words unsettling.

Echidna laughed eerily, then absentmindedly brought Mori’s hair to her nose and sniffed it.

‘She is definitely strange.’

Ferda decided not to second-guess his judgment.

Mori, meanwhile, simply looked up at Ferda, waiting for her next order.

“That’s it for today. Return to your room and get some rest for tomorrow.”

Mori nodded, stood up, and began to walk away.

It was then—

*Boom!*

The castle shook violently.

Mori stumbled and fell to the ground.

“Oh my! Mori!”

Echidna quickly ran over to help Mori up.

Ferda held his breath, waiting to see if there would be a second shockwave.

Fortunately, it didn’t happen.

Echidna, still flustered, broke the silence with a trembling voice.

“W-What was that? Does this kind of thing happen often here?”

“This is the first time.”

The castle occasionally shook, but never this much, and never this late at night.

‘And it’s never been this strong before, either.’

As Regent, Ferda felt it was his duty to find out what was going on.

“Echidna.”

“Yes?”

“Take Mori to her room and make sure she gets some rest. She’s an important asset for tomorrow. And you, return to your quarters as well. Understood?”

“O-Okay, got it!”

Echidna picked Mori up and carried her out of the room.

Once they were gone, Ferda stepped into the hallway and began walking.

‘It’s probably coming from the lair.’

Ferda decided to head down to the dragon’s lair to investigate.

As he walked, he noticed a soft light shining in the middle of the hallway.

It was Ruri, holding a lantern.

“You’re going the wrong way,” she said, her expression calm and indifferent, pointing in the opposite direction.

“Your bedroom is that way.”

Though she pretended to be a simple guide, Ferda could see through her intentions.

“You’re hiding something from me.”

“Yes,” Ruri admitted without hesitation.

“So, would you please return to your room?”

“That’s not going to happen. As someone destined to become the master of this castle, I need to know what’s going on.”

“You are not the master of this castle.”

“But I will be.”

Silver eyes met blue, neither backing down.

The tense standoff ended when Ruri finally took a step back.

“My lord is suppressing his destructive urges.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There’s no need for concern. That single event was rare and unlikely to happen again. Normally, it doesn’t occur because—”

Ferda stepped closer, cutting her off.

His eyes twisted with anger.

“What do you mean by that?”

His tone was laced with irritation and rage, emotions he had never shown to Ruri before, despite her often rude behavior.

Ruri furrowed her brow.

“What else could it mean? What would one do to suppress the urge to destroy everything?”

“…”

“My lord fights against the desire to break free from that massive iron door and overturn the world. That overwhelming urge to destroy everything in sight builds up in him every single day because it’s his very nature.”

An evil dragon remains evil.

She couldn’t be called a guardian dragon, not just because of slander, but because she could never fully overcome her destructive instincts.

“To satisfy that destructive urge, my lord has lived by killing monsters. But if there are no monsters to kill, what do you think will happen?”

Ferda recalled the memories of Valdrova etched deep within his heart.

That response burst out of Ferda’s mouth.

“……Destroy herself?”

“Yes. If there’s nothing else to destroy, that’s what she does.”

Ruri, who had observed her for a long time, knew this well.
And it was like a natural disaster that even the most loyal servant couldn’t do anything about.

“The person you’re engaged to is exactly that kind of person. She’s already hurt many others because she can’t control herself.”

That’s why Ruri warned Ferda, who was so young and foolishly stubborn.

“So, I hope you don’t say things like wanting to meet her too much. If your selfish feelings are going to hurt her—”

Stop it.

Just as Ruri was admonishing Ferda, she couldn’t finish her sentence.

Her eyes widened as she looked up at him.

It was because something that didn’t suit Ferda’s face at all was falling.

‘Tears……?’

Tears were flowing from Ferda’s eyes, that shameless man.

Just one drop.

Even though his expression remained unchanged, the tear flowing down shocked Ruri.

It was undeniable that he had shed it because of what had just been said.

Feeling the sensation of the tear running down his cheek, Ferda belatedly realized.

“Ah.”

Ferda, too, was startled by his own condition.

He brushed it off with his index finger and apologized to her.

“I’ve shown you something unsightly.”

Unlike his eyes, his voice was dry.

It felt as though his tear glands had shriveled up and were forcing out stagnant water.

“I understand. What you’re trying to say.”

Ferda abandoned the investigation and returned to his room.

“Sorry for bothering you. You may leave now.”

Ruri silently watched as Ferda walked away.

By the time his figure had faded into the distance, she was finally able to speak.

“What an incomprehensible man…….”

Ruri had observed many humans over the years and thought she understood them well.
But the more she came to know Ferda, the less she understood him.

A man who broke even his allies’ fingers in the name of fairness, who killed nobles knowing there would be repercussions.

A man without a shred of blood or tears had cried.

‘Just from hearing something about her…… Is that even possible?’

It hadn’t even been a year since they’d become aware of each other’s existence.

How could he feel such deep emotions in that short time?

No matter how many times Ruri pondered it, she couldn’t find an answer.

—

“Tears, huh…….”

Ferda was also surprised by the fact.

That he could shed tears.

Those tears hadn’t come from his own emotions.

‘While we were talking, it seeped in.’

When he realized that great resonance was Valdrova,
And when he understood that she had been engaging in self-destructive behavior,
Valdrova’s emotions seeped into Ferda.

‘Self-loathing.’

Whenever she couldn’t control herself, she nurtured her self-loathing.

She would dive headfirst into the negative things she’d buried deep in the pit of her emotions.

She’d listen to the curses echoing in the depths of the abyss and strangle herself, suffocating.

She suppressed her destructive impulses by being crushed under the weight of her self-loathing.

She wanted to exist, but at the same time, she didn’t.

Every day, she fought that battle alone.

That indescribable emotion was churning deep in Ferda’s gut.

‘The red circle is spinning.’

It wasn’t yet enough to move to the next level.

If Ferda focused and spent several sleepless days, he would undoubtedly reach the third circle.

It was incredibly dangerous, but he could achieve it quickly.

‘No.’

But Ferda put the brakes on the spinning red circle.

‘Not this time.’

He recalled how he’d felt when he reached the second circle.

That nagging sensation had disappeared with the accomplishment.

‘This…… must not be forgotten.’

This life was one he had chosen to live for her.

His resolve at that time was not to make her happy, but to ensure she wouldn’t be sad.

This was an emotion directly tied to her sorrow.

He didn’t want to gloss over her sadness with his achievements.

‘I’ll resolve this first.’

Advancing could come after that.

That was the reason he stood here now.
—

The next morning.

Ferda went to Mori, who was waiting near the study.

She had been groomed by Echidna’s hand, dressed up beautifully.

Ferda asked her,
“Do you know much about dragons?”

What was inside her mind was the Library of All Things,
an archive of information about everything in the world.

Naturally, she nodded.

“Even about the Red Dragon, Valdrova?”
She nodded again.

“Can you describe it?”

Mori nodded, picked up a pen, and began to write.

Instead of the elegant cursive used by scribes, she wrote in clear block letters that were easy to read.

– Dragons are beings who fought to transform the chaos of the ancient past into order. Those who survived were granted the essence of the continent. The Blue Dragon, Morgan, was given dominion over mana and water, while the Silver Dragon, Silverwind, was granted control over wind and ice.

It was like a page from the history books about the continent, which Ferda had heard during cultural lessons as a child.

– The Red Dragon was given dominion over power and fire. Her personal strength is the greatest among all dragons.

“So that’s why she’s often vilified as a tyrant or an evil dragon?”

– She has consistently been revered as an object of awe, but her formal designation as an evil dragon is relatively recent in dragon history.

“When did that begin?”

– After the Dragon Demon War, specifically, after the death of Godwin.

The Black Dragon, and the Aspect of Darkness.
The day a dragon of the continent died for the first time.

– Black Dragon Godwin was known as the dragon who ruled over darkness, but it was later revealed that chaos had also been granted to him as part of his essence due to his ambition. Godwin, driven by his ambition, became the source of all magic and plunged the continent into turmoil. However, the other rulers intervened, and he was ultimately killed by the Red Dragon, Valdrova.

“And then?”

– The most widely accepted theory is that the process of killing Godwin destabilized Valdrova’s powers. As a result, her powers’ essence could not suppress itself, leading to secondary disasters.

Valdrova’s rampage.

Though the emergence of the Demon King had claimed many lives, her rampage had killed and burned even more.

‘Innocent humans, creatures, and even Silverwind.’

It was a tragedy she would have to atone for, forever.

“Is there no way to suppress it?”

Mori closed her eyes.

She was searching through the books stored in her mind.

After five minutes of meditation, she opened her eyes again.

She shook her head.

“I see.”

Ferda accepted it calmly.

It was a contradiction from the start.

If there was a way to suppress the Red Dragon, known as the Aspect of Power, could she truly be called the Aspect of Power?

She was destined to suffer eternally from her own strength.

‘Is there really nothing I can do for her?’

Ferda was tormented.

He pictured her stripping away her own scales and shedding blood.

The helplessness weighed down on him like a thousand-pound stone, and the emptiness pierced his heart like a thousand spears.

It felt similar to the pain he had experienced when he absorbed her heart and felt what she felt.

‘If only there was something I could do for her…….’

At that moment, a small tug brushed against his collar.

It was Mori, holding a pen, tugging at his clothes.

Tools didn’t move on their own.

The fact that she moved meant that one of Ferda’s commands had been triggered.

“Have you found something that could give me an answer?”

Mori nodded.

She moved her pen once again.

– Based on the given information, I have identified a hypothesis for suppression.

The moment Ferda read the next sentence she wrote, the heavy fog in his mind cleared, and the sun rose.

Mori’s eyes were looking straight at Ferda with clarity.

– According to the hypothesis, Ferda Valdrova, you are capable of suppressing her.