Chapter 118

Chapter 118

Translator: Yonnee

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“Prince. You can’t kill Blanc.”

Albert’s eyes curved into arcs. His face became covered with the mask of an innocent child who knew nothing, then he spoke.

“Rosé, you need to survive so that I can receive your hatred.”

“Living and surviving are two different things.”

I was well aware of the difference. Would I truly be alive if all I’ll be left doing is breathing in and out with the crippling guilt of letting Blanc die?

No. That would just be Albert’s selfish greed.

“I have no plans of just watching you walk straight into fire. I gave you time to change your mind, but you didn’t.”

I stood from my seat and made eye contact with Albert, who continued to glance down from above.

“…You’re too cruel, Prince. You never tried to hear me out at all. The reason I didn’t enter the contract right away was because I respect you as well.”

“Respect, you say.”

As though my words humored him, Albert narrowed his eyes. As he continued to look at me with a deadly glint in his gaze, he didn’t touch me.

“You. How dare you tell me that I’ve been cruel.”

The veins on his fist were as clear as the way he uttered those words. Perhaps suffocatingly from between the buttons of his high shirt, I saw his adam’s apple move up and down. Then, with a bright smile now, he spoke.

“While you’ve been busy worrying about the safety of that dragon fledgling, you’ve cast me aside completely.”

I can assure you that’s not true.

“You never think of me at all, yet you call that respect?”

“That’s not true.”

Hearing my words, Albert shook his head. The smile on his lips was close to a perfunctory one, yet this faint smile just made him look as if he was on the verge of tears.

“I’m sick and tired of being left all alone. It was the same when I was young. What you’re doing is not respect, Rosé. It is deceit.”

As he emphasized each and every syllable that he uttered, his expression grew even more complicated. His face drew nearer.

If I hesitate here, that would only show him that I’m anxious. I stared straight into his eyes. Then, I spoke slowly so as not to look apprehensive.

“If I don’t die, I’m not deceiving you.”

“I don’t know where you’re getting that courage from.”

“I know you’ll be sad, Prince. And I understand how that feels.”

That’s why I couldn’t sign the contract without telling you first. Even though I already knew that we wouldn’t agree on this.

“I won’t die, whatever it takes. I mean it.”

Even if the sky were to collapse, it’s possible to rise from the fissures it’s left behind. When my parents died, I learned to smile again, and I continued to survive to this day after I fell into another world. Even when Albert had been destined to kill me, we fell in love instead.

If there’s a problem, then somehow or another, it could be solved. Amazingly enough, the solution presented itself while I was on a search to find a way.

I believe it can be done this time.

“I can endure any pain.”

It’s not as if there’s no chance of overcoming this at all.

Rosé is originally a dark mage, so that means there’s mana left in her body. I think that’s why I can see Blanc’s true form.

If I become a dragon’s contractor, then the contractor and the dragon would share each other’s mana.

When a dragon hasn’t yet reached adulthood, they can’t use magic. However, it’s a different story if there’s already a contractor. The dragon’s mana would allow the contractor to be so much more talented than any other mage, and the dragon cub will then be under the contractor’s protection until it’s time for them to turn into an adult.

The contract was the starting point of the metamorphosis. After that, the most important thing to look out for was how much the dragon’s potential could expand and change.

Of course, there were very few mages who had attempted to enter a contract even after the tantalizing possibility of a dragon’s mana was in sight. After all, once a person becomes a dragon’s contractor, the possibility of dying was very real.

“Prince, people don’t die that easily.”

I wrapped my hands over one of Albert’s clenched fists. He flinched, but he didn’t avoid my touch.

Unlike his cold, biting words, his hands were exceedingly warm. His jaw trembled as he let out a sigh.

“Do you think just your efforts alone will change the inevitable outcome?”

“Yes. I’m not that much of a coward that I’ll leave you behind just because of that pain, Prince. I’ve been through that, too, and I understand it completely. So I’m going to live no matter what. And most of all…”

I clasped his hand tighter.

“I’ll get through this because the Prince who I respect the most in the world is going to help me.”

Although dragons had never been mentioned in the original novel, it was mentioned that Albert would turn out to be the strongest mage.

If I learn from him, wouldn’t I have a good chance?

I tried to appeal to him with the good points of the contract.

“Think about it, Prince. This is also a good way for me to raise myself higher, close to you. If I’m a dragon’s contractor, people won’t care what kind of lineage or background I have.”

Albert raised his eyebrows. Then, he stared at me with a slight scowl as he spoke.

“That doesn’t even matter in the first place. Do you think I’ll let that kind of gossip run amok?”

“Umm, still though, I think having the rare title of ‘dragon contractor’ to my name sounds very nice.”

He looked at me and spoke sweetly.

“If name or honor is what’s important to you, I can give you whatever you want.”

The conversation isn’t supposed to head in this direction. And if you say something like that—that you’ll give me everything—you sound so much like a tyrant!

Please, I’m about to cry here.