A Plunge Into the Deepening Dark

Perhaps because they had shared a carriage for two hours, the two ten-year-olds had become best friends.

“Sierra! Let’s go holding hands.”

“Holding hands is for babies.”

“But I am a baby. Dad always called me ‘our baby’.”

Loti grabbed Sierra’s hand. Sierra looked at Loti, who was slightly smaller than her, and let out a long sigh. I chuckled quietly so they wouldn’t hear me.

“Ten-year-olds are not babies, you know.”

“No. Loti is a baby. So I’m going to hold hands.”

Isaac and the Young Duke were also watching them with fond expressions. Loti pulled Sierra toward the ruins. Sierra stumbled at the sudden tug but quickly ran along with him.

“Loti! You’ll fall if you go that fast!”

“It’s okay!”

Loti giggled at Sierra’s scolding.

As I watched the two rascals, Professor Temi and Lamierre approached to greet me. Both were covered in dust and looked exhausted, but their expressions were bright.

“We greet the Emperor and the Grand Prince.”

Kallios merely nodded. Oh. Even if it was half-hearted, he actually accepted someone’s greeting. That’s huge progress. Has he finally been socialized? I looked at him with pride. When Kallios met my eyes, he shrugged and moved away with Professor Temi. I laughed out loud at how cute he was being.

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

Lamierre spoke to me. I muttered a vague “Well, you know,” while brushing some dust off his cheek. Lamierre smiled sheepishly and rubbed his face against my hand like a pampered puppy. I patted his cheek and then cupped it, meeting his eyes.

“Hey. How have you been?”

“Good. And you, Your Highness? Have you been well?”

“Not bad.”

“I’m glad.”

Lamierre took hold of my wrist as I cupped his cheek. I playfully tapped his palm with the back of my hand.

“How was it?”

Lamierre pondered the vague question for a moment before looking toward the tents set up in the clearing before the ruins.

“Would you like to go see for yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Lamierre took my hand and led the way.

“You… heard that the remains were found, right?”

“Yeah. Dean Herenso came running.”

“It’s incredible. You’ll be shocked when you see it.”

“Really?”

Lamierre nodded and began describing the scene he had witnessed—how the dragon was coiled around a bed the size of its own head.

“Is a dragon really that big?”

“It seems so.”

Seemingly moved by seeing the existence of a legendary dragon with his own eyes, Lamierre chattered on about how massive and beautiful it was. I listened to his descriptions of jewel-like black scales, great horns, and a body as long as a serpent as I followed him through the entrance of the ruins. The moment we stepped through the door, my vision went pitch black, only to brighten again after a single step. I heard the sound of grass crunching underfoot.

“Huh?”

I saw a brilliant blue sky and a field filled with all sorts of wildflowers. A sudden breeze tousled my hair. I brushed back my bangs as they tickled my eyes and looked up at the clouds. The slowly drifting clouds looked remarkably real.

“They say it’s all an illusion.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. Professor Temi was amazed by how sophisticated the magic is.”

I sat down right there and touched a white wildflower. I could feel the soft texture of the petals.

“Even this?”

“Yes. They disappear the moment you take them outside.”

“That’s amazing.”

I pulled my hand away from the flower. Lamierre explained with an air of pride, as if he had created the space himself. He went on about what kind of magic was used to create the area, but there was no way I—who only knew things like Fireball or Dragon s*ave—could understand it. I gave vague “I see” responses as we walked slowly.

It was a field so vast the horizon was visible, but there was no fear of getting lost. Not far off, I could see a translucent dome and the beautiful dragon Lamierre had praised so much.

“So that’s Arjen.”

It was a strange feeling. It felt odd to realize it, but it had been a very long time since I had seen something dead. It was a first in Kaian’s life, and in my previous life, my experience was limited to burying chicks or quails bought in front of elementary schools, or perhaps a cat killed on the road.

Though all life is said to have weight, the death of a small creature felt different from the death of an intelligent being. The people near the dome looked like tiny cotton swabs at first, but as we got closer, they grew to the size of fingers. I stopped in my tracks.

“Hey.”

Lamierre looked at me. I gave an awkward smile.

“I’ve decided I don’t really want to see it.”

I knew I couldn’t just leave Loti’s father abandoned like that, but it’s not like I could do anything with a body that huge anyway… and I didn’t even know why he told me to come… I don’t know. I just didn’t like it. A belated sense of repulsion at having to go see someone’s corpse hit me.

“Should we just go back then?”

Lamierre asked gently. Instead of answering immediately, I looked at the dome. The black dragon’s scales inside the translucent barrier were shimmering in the sunlight.

“No, let’s… look around a bit more before we go.”

It seemed that Dean Herenso, Lamierre, and even his son Loti were focused only on the “Dragon” part of the “Dragon’s remains.” I didn’t blame them. I had felt the same way before coming here. It felt like going to a museum to see dinosaur footprints or bone models. I had planned to just marvel at it, like “Wow, that’s a Tyrannosaurus!”

I turned away, feeling uneasy about looking at Arjen. Arjen wasn’t the only thing in this field. There was a single-story building made of white marble, a log cabin that looked like it had been plucked from a fairy tale, and a forest in the distance. Lamierre led me toward the white building.

The building was a storage space where Arjen had gathered all sorts of things. From artwork and luxuries of the late Argenta period to ingredients that hadn’t spoiled in five hundred years, there were truly all kinds of items. A preservation spell had been cast on the entire building, which apparently made Professor Temi very happy. She planned to dismantle the building and study the magic circles after removing all the items. I nodded, though I felt a bit slighted. I was the one playing guardian to Loti, yet it felt like the Academy and the Tephersa family were the ones reaping all the benefits. Not that I truly minded.

After a short tour guided by Lamierre, we stopped by the log cabin. Looking at a simple house that still felt lived-in wasn’t very exciting. In fact…

“Should we go meet him now?”

Perhaps because I had a child the same age, even if not my own, I felt depressed imagining the heart of Arjen, who had left his child behind. Still, I didn’t feel like delaying it any longer. Lamierre smiled at me.

“You really are kind, Your Highness.”

I’m not sure I deserve that, but I didn’t want to refuse a compliment given to me, so I just shrugged.

We went straight to the translucent dome. I gave a small nod to a person—whether an artist or researcher, I couldn’t tell—who bowed to me as they sketched Arjen.

The Arjen before my eyes was colossal. I felt like I understood why the ancients worshipped dragons. The three horns on his head like a crown and the shimmering black body were beautiful. Because he looked like an Eastern dragon, he seemed even more like a divine being. To someone like me, used to Korean fantasy, a dragon was either an arrogant, selfish companion of the protagonist or a monster that existed only to give the hero the cool title of “Dragon Slayer.” The term “obese lizard” was also quite familiar.

Regardless, Arjen gave off none of those vibes. I stared at him blankly before cautiously placing my hand on the barrier. The translucent film felt like thin jelly. Both the texture and the sensation of passing through it were like that.

“Your Highness.”

I was about to take a step forward when Lamierre tugged at my sleeve from behind.

“Yeah?”

“Actually, going in alone is a bit…”

“Then come with—no. Loti said only I can go in.”

I wasn’t sure if it was because I was the one who named Loti, or if all of us siblings blessed by Capre could enter. But I didn’t feel like calling Kallios away from his work or bringing young Sierra here. I patted Lamierre’s drooping shoulders.

“Just watch from here.”

“Okay…”

Lamierre straightened his back and stood politely. I laughed out loud at the sight of his hands folded neatly over his navel. I mean, he didn’t need to be that formal. Well, he was cute, so whatever. It helped lighten my mood just as it was becoming somber.

It was only a few steps, but Lamierre’s attitude made it feel like I was embarking on a long journey.

“I’ll be back.”

I waved and held my breath as I stepped through the translucent barrier.

“Huh?”

I heard Lamierre’s surprised voice, which was then cut off. I tried to turn around but tumbled forward. Oh, seriously. Dragons are always like this!

I shouldn’t have ignored the warning that everything was an illusion. Instead of checking how realistic the petals felt, I should have been walking around with a cane to see if the ground was actually there. That probably wouldn’t have worked against an illusion that fooled all the senses, but that’s how I felt right now. Like Alice falling down a rabbit hole after the White Rabbit, I was falling endlessly into a bottomless pit.

At first, I was too panicked to think, but now I was used to it enough that my mind began to wander. I relaxed my body and looked up. I couldn’t see anything.

I knew a place like this. The entrance to the ruins I had opened with my blood before was just like this. Though that time, it was a darkness that embraced me warmly. Does it follow the personality of the dragon who created the space? Since there was nothing to see whether my eyes were open or closed, I just closed them.

Lamierre must have been very shocked. Kallios and Sierra, who by now would have heard the news, would be worried too. I hoped Loti would explain things well, but I didn’t think he would. Whether it was because he grew up in a confined space or because of his dragon blood, he seemed a bit off-center. Especially the way he spoke about his father’s remains so casually or called them a “gift.”

‘…’

I heard someone’s voice. I couldn’t tell what was being said, whether because it was far away or just too quiet, but I definitely heard it. I opened my eyes, looked around, and then closed them again.

‘…’

“Arjen?”

‘…’

Do I need to go further down to hear it clearly? I felt like I had fallen quite a bit already.

I remembered the watch in my pocket. I fumbled through my pocket and opened my eyes. Come to think of it, everything around me was pitch black, yet I could see my own body perfectly. What a strange space. I pulled out my round pocket watch to check it. The watch had stopped around 4:34:17… or so. I toyed with the platinum chain before carefully putting it back in my pocket so I wouldn’t drop it.

‘Sorry…’

Fragments of words began to reach me, as if Arjen (or whatever he had left behind) was at the bottom of this endless darkness.

What are you sorry for? I focused on the thin, faint voice.

‘I’m sorry.’

Perhaps because it was the speech of someone (or some dragon) from five hundred years ago, the accent and pronunciation were unfamiliar, making it even harder to understand.

The owner of the voice apologized again.

‘I’m sorry, Marie.’

Who on earth is Marie? I yawned after roughly combing my hair, which had been messed up by the fall.