Epilogue

Epilogue: Contractor’s Smile, Dragon’s Agony

 

“Your bride is twenty years old?”

The Frost Dragon living at the end of the North Sea asked slowly. He was someone who was not originally a slow talker.

“I’ve heard before that a special race somewhere in the south has its own counting methods. In their society, one year old means a hundred years for humans. Is your bride from there?”

Even so, she was still a thousand years younger than him. That was roughly what he meant.

Jeno quietly shook his head. The Frost Dragon put down his hookah and clicked his tongue.

“My old colleague is a perverted bastard.”

“Hey…”

“No matter how much dragons are not bound by the ethics and morality of human society. Shame or dignity, right? You know, something like that.”

The gazes of two transcendent beings met.

“Moreover, a contractor’s daughter?”

The Frost Dragon clicked his tongue once more. He exaggeratedly puffed out hookah smoke and rubbed his chin pretending to have a beard that was not even there.

At first glance, he seemed to be scolding an old colleague for marrying a young human bride. It sounded like a gentle reprimand. However, Jeno knew the character of the other person. The Frost Dragon would die laughing at Jeno’s situation. Pretending to rub his chin and covering his twitching mouth, he saw them all.

Even though he had already confided in him about everything, it was difficult to retrace the part where Jeno was being stabbed. When he glared at him, he looked away as if he didn’t know why he was doing this, and soon giggled and laughed.

“That’s funny. As expected, it is something to live for a long time and see.”

It was ridiculous for a bastard who had lived for a long time to say that.

“Did any of the dragons take humans as companions… It seems that about only two have slept with humans, not just being drunk or as a playmate, but as a companion, but I don’t know if my memory is certain. If I’m certain, you’ll be the third.”

Now he was openly ridiculed.

“Congratulations.”

“If I had known you would like it this much, I should have invited you to the wedding.”

“Wedding?”

The Frost Dragon slapped his knee as he laughed. If he had laughed a little louder, the entire Ice Castle would have shaken.

“Did you do something like that? Ahahahahaha! Wedding? Did you really do that?”

“I didn’t.”

“Aye, how boring.”

It didn’t take long for the corners of his mouth that had stopped laughing to return to their place. Even if he had not performed the cumbersome and raucous human ceremonies, it didn’t change the fact that Jeno had welcomed a young twenty-year-old bride.

Ah, the marriage was two years ago, so the bride must have been eighteen at the time.

The Frost Dragon was overwhelmed by the joy of having something to make fun of. Jeno, on the other hand, felt the urge to return to Mikaela after finishing his meeting with the Lord of the castle.

If he was not careful, he might have to talk to his old colleague all night long. A dragon’s sense of time was different from that of humans, and they could easily spend a week even on trivial entertainment. He might have been like that in the past, but it was not possible now.

The other person caught Jeno as he was about to get up.

The spring of eternal life was at the southern end, so why did he come to the North Sea where there were blizzards and glaciers? Jeno’s answer was simple.

“Because Mikaela wants to see the world.”

“…Ah, ahh! Hahahaha! That’s right. You said the princess spent half her life locked up in the castle, right?”

It seemed to have stimulated his laughter again.

“Twenty is the perfect age to see the world. Besides, she has such a reliable escort and husband by her side.”

Puah, keuk, and strange sounds bursted out in succession. Jeno hoped that the dragon at the next destination would at least be more normal than the one in front of him.

It was enough if he did not laugh at the sight of himself looking for a clock. And since it would be their first time seeing a dragon who cared about time, it would be good if they did not make a fuss when he wanted to check the time because he seemed to have left Mikaela alone for too long.

“I need to go.”

“Yes, go back to your lovely bride.”

It was the Frost Dragon who joked about not flying away no matter how impatient he was. He continued, as if it had suddenly come to his mind. This time, Jeno tried to ignore it as if he hadn’t heard it, but the content of the question naturally made him stop walking.

“But don’t you think your contractor is a bit weird?”

Since she was already dead, he should have said it in the past tense, but neither of the two dragons corrected this. That wasn’t the point.

“She must have inquired about how to wake up a sleeping dragon. Don’t humans always covet and fear us? For five silver coins, someone would have opened their mouth to the princess. You know, mercenaries and stuff like that.”

After all, Hildian was the only child of the king. A few silver coins would have been easy to spend. The light of the full moon touching the heart of the dragon and the blood of the contractor. Good. She got the information.

Then came the problem.

“How did a weak princess who couldn’t use a sword or magic find the dragon? When you woke up, did you not see a common guard?”

Jeno nodded slowly. His contractor came alone. Leading a brown horse from the palace to a rocky mountain hundreds of kilometers away. A fruit peeler or a dagger that was uncertain if it was sharp enough to cut properly were used when cutting the palm of her hand.

“Did your contractor bring a map?”

“I didn’t see it.”

“She traveled that far with no map and or a guard?”

The Frost Dragon’s eyes squinted with a bluish light.

“It just doesn’t make sense. It’s like…”

“I think she came there knowing I was there.”

“Right.”

The Frost Dragon agreed.

“She didn’t have to wander around like other fools. There was no chance of getting lost and being attacked by bandits. Because she knows the way to get to you right away?”

The other party asked with a laugh full of interest. Perhaps the conditions for unsealing the dragon were also figured out by Hildian herself.

“The only thing she asked for me when she found me was… to be her friend.”

Throughout the walk out of the drawing room and down the hall, the Frost Dragon’s last words lingered in his ears. His old companion, who lived a few years longer than Jeno, rubbed his chin, which was as sharp as the castle tower, and said:

Always a detached attitude that has been tied to nowhere. A contractor who dared to find Jeno over another dragon. Even if he asked why, all that came back was a lonely smile. A notebook that notes what her daughter should do before and after her 18th birthday.

And the words he left for Jeno more than a decade later.

At first, he swallowed his laughter, thinking it was like his contractor to say something like that, but as time went on, he felt something strange. Was his imagination that Hildian might have been watching through the lace curtain fluttering in the wind really just an ‘imagination’?

[Only a human who sees the future can do that.]

Only then did it feel like all the pieces were put together.

 

◈ ◈ ◈

 

“Jeno, I’ve never seen a fish this big. It’s almost the same length as my arm.”

Mikaela was tongue-tied as she looked at the steamed fish on the dinner table. He was about to say if she didn’t see the whale the last time they passed over the ocean, but he stopped. Because the whole whale was not on the table.

Apart from excitedly teasing his old colleague, the Frost Dragon’s hospitality to guests was excellent. The dishes served by the servants impressed even Jeno, who was not very interested in food.

While he was being held captive by the Lord of the castle, Mikaela was guided by a maid to see the Ice Castle instead of waiting boredly in the bedroom.

Mikaela’s expression has been bright ever since she came here.

Of course, since leaving that damn and detestable western forest castle, Mikaela had been in a happy state. The end of a decade of exile. She was glad to finally be free.

Mikaela was happy, and so was Jeno. That’s right. She should be able to say ‘happy’ without the slightest hesitation.

“You’re making a weird face again.”

Across the table, Mikaela tilted her head.

“What?”

“I mean, Jeno. Ever since you met your friend, you’ve been making weird faces. For some reason, it feels like you’ve become less talkative.”

“I’m originally not talkative.”

“You talk less than that original state.”

The fish meat, steamed with butter and various spices, disappeared into Mikaela’s mouth.

“What did you hear?”

Jeno replied that it was no big deal, and then brought the wine to his lips. Mikaela asked another question in a ladylike tone.

“Have you heard about the bedroom customs of the North Sea?”

Pfft!

The wine in his mouth gushed out like a blizzard raging through the window. Red dots were strewn across the white tablecloth. The few drops that he couldn’t spew went over to his airways, causing him to cough dryly.

Mikaela looked at her husband with wide eyes, as if she hadn’t expected her words to provoke such a strong reaction.

She waited until her husband’s complexion returned to normal. The consideration was outstanding. It made the dragon proud in a strange way as someone who took care of her.

“I didn’t hear that.”

“If you didn’t hear it, then you didn’t. What’s the point of having a strong reaction like just now?”

His throat burned for no reason. Jeno unknowingly reached for his wine glass and paused. There was no way he wouldn’t choke again. Then he should drink water safely. The ice cubes floated and the water rushed down his throat.

“You’re the one who brought up bedroom customs and all that at dinner.”

“What’s wrong? I didn’t say anything outright dirty.”

“Mikaela Priscid.”

He tried to remind her that the servants were not far away. Fortunately, the Frost Dragon said that he had something else to do, and let the two of them have dinner together.

Just imagining how he would react if he were in one place was terrifying.

“It’s been two years since we’ve been married. Can’t we make jokes like this lightly?”

Mikaela pursed her lips. Even that look was so beautiful it made him feel dumbfounded. If it had been before he listened to the Frost Dragon, he might have stopped eating like a man who fell in love with his bride. Having sent the servants out in a well-mannered tone, it was highly likely that he would taste Mikaela instead of the food.

Screw his old colleague.

He may have claimed that he was newlywed with his whole body.

That is, if it had been before hearing about his contractor’s secret.

A new question has arisen after all the pieces have been put together. That was the reason why Jeno kept thinking about other things from earlier.

‘How far have you seen, Hildian?’

It bothered him like crazy.

‘What and how much detail have you seen?’

A person with the ability to travel hundreds of kilometers without a map. Jeno felt like grabbing the long-dead contractor’s collar and shaking her. Now he knew why Hildian sometimes smiled strangely at him. The reason why she pinched his side out of the blue that was so unlike her.

‘Was that the expression of looking at a son-in-law, not a friend? Ten years later, I’ll be sucking, and tormenting Mikaela all night…….’

Thud!

Jeno suddenly stood up from his seat. Mikaela stared at him wondering why. Contemplating whether to tell the young bride her mother’s secret, Jeno instinctively shook his head.

Not yet. Not yet, as Jeno himself was not ready.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

“Where are you going?”

“That is… I remembered that I had left something in the drawing room.”

Was it important enough to run out of a meal? He saw Mikaela’s face flashed with a hint of doubt. Jeno cleared his throat and walked out of the dining room. Then he moved as fast as he could toward the front door.

He needed to cool his head in the cold wind of the North Sea. It would be great if his body, which was always hot, cooled down as well.

“What in the…”

Hildian’s strange smile and Mikaela’s heartrending coquettish voice¹ alternately came to mind, putting the Flame Dragon in agony. Jeno sighed hotly through the blizzard.

He thought it would be better to live without knowing certain secrets.

– End –