Chapter 52

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Chapter 52

“W-What’s wrong with my naaame! Rosé gave it to meee…!”

Blanc finally answered back! I stood behind him.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with Blanc?! It suits him a lot and it’s cute! It’s great at expressing his personality!”

The blue dragon remained silent. As if it’s not worth his effort to answer me at all.

[ t/n: keep in mind that Blanc is supposed to be more like ‘Whitey’, that is, a very common name that you might give your white kitty or puppy. ]

“And on that note though, I would like to know the name of the one we’re talking to right now.”

“I gave it to myself—I am Alexander, traverser of dimensions! Very cool, right?”

Alexander’s eyes sparkled. And even the way he explained his name was in a flashy manner. It’s as if it’s his lifelong dream to present his name in this way.

“…Well, it’s not like I can use it anymore.”

Alexander’s bravado in announcing his name soon abated. Because it was now a dream that he wouldn’t be able to achieve.

He could evidently feel his body’s condition worsening. As I watched his gloomy face, I couldn’t reply right away.

“I almost reached it… Damn it all, a dragon like me is dying, but how come you’ll live?”

“Our Blanc is very very smart.”

I answered in Blanc’s stead because he had closed his mouth shut. Blanc didn’t normally show many emotions on his face, but he strangely seemed annoyed. Indeed, Alexander had a knack for grating at other people’s nerves.

“I just followed Mother’s wooords…”

“So you really just slept? I guess that’s amazing, too, in its own way…”

Alexander looked like he was genuinely admiring Blanc. He looked at me and Blanc as we stood before him proudly.

“In any case, I’m going to die anyway, so just watch the masterpiece I’ll be leaving behind in my wake. I’m going to make sure that people remember that I once existed.”

And the masterpiece he was talking about was a disaster. The disaster that a dragon’s death could cause varied from one case to another, so it couldn’t be defined as just one singular disaster. Still, I heard that quite a few people had been swept by the impact of it, and in some severe cases, there were resulting deaths as well.

Could dragons decide what kind of disaster they’d leave behind, or would it be based on the dragon’s characteristics?

I asked him cautiously.

“Can you decide what disaster you’ll be causing?”

Blinking at me as he heard my question, Alexander looked at me as though I was the most pathetic person in the world.

“Of course. Wouldn’t it only be fair that I can do whatever I want to do with the last of my power?”

“Yes, of course, I’m very sorry. I’m not well informed on the subject.”

He looked surprised when I apologized right away, still blinking at me dazedly. He coughed and moved onto the next topic.

“Why are you here anyway? Are you here to attend my funeral? You do know that we’re not close to each other, right?”

“I willingly came here to see you.”

“You’re a human though, so why?”

“I’m thinking of becoming Blanc’s contractor, so I wanted to talk to you.”

Contractor.

Alexander froze the moment the word was uttered.

“…I didn’t think you’d be such a dunce… Do you know what’s going to happen to you when entering a contract?”

“I know what it entails. If I become a dragon’s contractor, I will have to bear the same pain that Blanc will feel as he goes through the ordeal of becoming an adult dragon. And it’s an immeasurable pain beyond imagination. That’s why I’m here to face that fear.”

Alexander stared at me.

“I would like to witness what it is that I’m the most afraid of, and that’s the end of a dragon’s life. I want to see the disaster that you’ll be leaving behind, to realize just what kind of pain I will feel.”

The blue dragon’s red eyes, so similar to Albert’s, stared straight through me.

As though he could read me entirely.

Who I was, whether I meant what I said or not. He carefully observed my eyes, my countenance, my voice, my expression.

While he observed me wordlessly, I spoke.

“That’s why I’d like to apologize in advance. I’m truly sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Because I’m using your death in this way, Lord Alexander. I don’t think it’s right for someone who’s experiencing their last moments in this way.”

Liam had no attachments to the dragon. For him, Alexander’s death was nothing but a way to knock Rosteratu down a peg.

“Of course, if this is the end that you’ve decided on, I don’t have a right to say anything.”

“……”

“But after this, I will try to make sure that a proper funeral will be held for you. So that you can leave with a lighter heart.”

I was merely a maid, so I had no authority to organize a funeral. But I wasn’t lying when I said I’d try. I’ll hold his funeral as best as I can.

Hearing my words, Alexander averted his gaze.

“I don’t know why you’re being so generous when we’re just using each other.”

“If this is something that I can do as a person, then it’s something I’ll do.”

Alexander said nothing back. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if he was choosing his words, but it really seemed like he was speechless.

“…Yeah, there are humans like you in the world.”

Alexander muttered to himself, then made eye contact with me.

“…How long has it been since someone else said my name, I wonder.”

A faint sigh came through his jagged teeth. Then, he glanced at Blanc.

It’s an emotion that he didn’t need to verbalize. Alexander, too, seemed to think he didn’t need to say it.

That he was genuinely envious.

“…Why was it so difficult for me, but so easy for you.”

“……”

“This, too, must be part of life.”

Alexander looked exactly the same as when we first saw him, but at this very moment, he seemed like a wise man who had just awoken from a very deep slumber.

I was about to say some words of comfort, but Alexander spoke up in a straightforward tone.

“Well, you’re just in time, I guess. I’ll tell you exactly what it means to be a contractor.”

“What are you…”

I was going to ask what he was talking about, but Alexander rose on his feet.

“I mean to say, stay with me when I die.”

The scales densely embedded on his back shone beneath the moonlight.

“Now then, tell those humans waiting outside.”

The dragon, who had been expressing many different emotions just now—

“It’s time for me to die.”

—was expressionless as he spoke of his own death.

At that moment, Alexander looked as colossal as an adult dragon that I’d only ever seen in a book.

Then, he slowly walked deeper into the cabin. He went back to the perch where Blanc and I first saw him when we came in. Soon, Alexander closed his eyes.

His deep sigh was exceptionally loud.

I found Liam and Schubert outside while they were talking. The duke was dressed in plain clothes that servants usually wore.

When I told him about Alexander’s condition, Liam went into the cabin with Mercy, and they brought Alexander out.

“We’ll be on our way then. Keep in touch.”

“Yes.”

Everyone was busy talking about and checking each other’s positions. It was the final run down before the operation began. Mercy waved at me.

“See you later after work, Sister! I hope we can meet and hang out before you go back.”

[ t/n: it’ll be ‘Sister’ instead of ‘Unnie’ when Mercy says it since she’s using it in a different context compared to Rosé in the previous chapter. ]

I glimpsed a sphere of light as Mercy waved her wand in the air, and then she disappeared. Liam handed Alexander, who had been brought outside of the cabin, over to Schubert.

Schubert held the blue dragon with a grim expression.

As I was perplexed by his reaction, Liam explained.

“Baron Schubert is not very fond of reptiles.”

When we left the castle, he yelled at me about why I didn’t tell him that Blanc was a dragon, and it was only now that I understood why he said that.

Liam stood in front of Alexander.

“Now then, Dragon. Tell me, how close do you want to be to the King?”

“It would be ideal to be right next to him.”

“That wouldn’t be difficult.”

Liam nodded gladly when Alexander answered that way, then he looked over to Schubert. Now that I think about it, Schubert’s outfit was also different from before—he’s also wearing clothes that were similar to Liam’s. I guess they’re going to infiltrate the villa.

Alexander turned to me. Then, he spoke.

“That girl, too. She needs to be as close as possible.”

“…Me?”

I asked back with a puzzled expression. Liam balked when Alexander nodded in response.

“Wouldn’t staying at the garden be sufficient?”

“No. As close as possible.”

At the sudden problem he had encountered, Liam groaned.

“…If the disaster puts her in danger, I will not be able to face His Highness.”

“It’ll benefit her, too. And it wouldn’t put her in any danger as you think. If you don’t listen to my demands, then the deal is off.”

Alexander threatened the duke firmly.

“I will not hurt even a single strand of hair on her head. I swear it.”

As though fully aware of what Liam was worried about, Alexander assured this. Liam sighed in return.

Alexander then looked at me and opened his mouth to speak.

“It’s your decision, Human. Are you going to stay close to me or will you only look at me from afar?”

The look in Alexander’s eyes was clear. The same as Blanc.

I didn’t need to think about it for long.

“I’ll go.”

Liam’s sigh became louder, and he muttered under his breath, “What will I say to His Highness?” He looked at me intently, and somehow, that made me uneasy.

“You take care of the aftermath.”

“…Pardon?”

“Since this is something you want to do, you’re the one who’ll report about it to His Highness.”

“No, but, why is Your Grace passing off your work to a simple maid like me!”

It’s obvious that Albert’s going to be angry. If I apologize many, many times, then maybe he’ll let this slide, but…! Even still!

Liam dodged my gaze. As he put one hand on Schubert’s shoulder, he added.

“Ah, by the way, it’ll be Schubert who’ll help you run away later.”

“Excuse me? How…”

Liam and Schubert exchanged glances. It seemed like they talked about this separately before.

“He used to work in the intelligence field.”

Schubert exhaled and crossed his arms.

“Finally, I can speak however I want. I’m called a baron, but I’m really from the bottom. The fact that you don’t want to be a burden to His Highness, that’s impressive.”

[ t/n: it doesn’t translate to English well, but he’s speaking informally right now. ]

What the, why did his way of speaking change…? It’s like he turned into a completely different person. Where did that boy who spoke like Liam go…?

Was this what Mercy was talking about earlier? Something about Schubert’s true self?

“…So I guess you were just pretending to speak like that before?”

“A-hem! After seeing how much you’re working hard for His Highness’ sake, I just decided to acknowledge that you’re a decent person, ‘s’all. I mean, I guess your food is great, too… And you can make His Highness smile…”

Schubert let out a cough as he gave his reasons. He seemed to be embarrassed from his actions.

But he acknowledged me. I’m glad that I finally won over Schubert. It’s a little sad though that it happened only when he found out that I’ll be running away from Albert.

And listening to Schubert, I kinda…

“I kinda like the way you talked before.”

“I think so too.”

“No, but, talking so stiffly like that is just so stuffy!”

Liam and I said so with a serious tone, but Schubert grumbled behind us.

“Anyway, isn’t it time to go?”

While Schubert was pressing down on the side of his forehead, he spoke with a rough tone. It suddenly felt like I gained a younger brother.

Still though, after he heard my plan of leaving for Albert’s sake, he seemed to have genuinely dropped his guard around me.

He looked like a puppy, but he’s more like a kitten. I’m more of a cat person though, so that’s nice.

Schubert took the lead and Liam followed behind him. Schubert complained about my formal way of speaking, too, but Liam just insisted that he should just match the tone and speak formally as well.

I laughed softly as I listened to their bickering.

Then, soon enough, we arrived at the villa.

——

t/n: There’s an emphasis on one’s way of speaking in the past couple of chapters because there’s a particular hierarchy when it comes to speech levels in Korean, and the most common that are used are: informal, semi-formal and formal. (there’s some other speech levels in between, but those are just used in old timey settings)

Schubert was speaking formally all the time to Rosé before this chapter, and the reason why Rosé joked about preferring the formal way is because Schubert’s younger than her (it’s very rude to talk to someone older the way he is right now). The informal way of speaking is used when talking to people who are younger or in a lower station/rank, but it can also be used between people who are close to each other—and this is also why Rosé said it feels like she gained a younger brother.

Sorry about the sudden Korean lesson and for leaving many notes in between the narrative that might’ve distracted your reading experience asdhfkdj I couldn’t translate the underlying connotation directly in English smoothly enough

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