Chapter 135 - North Korean rabbit

Episode 135

The words that came from Arpad's mouth veered away from my expectations.

"You already told me, didn't you?"

I tilted my head.

"I... didn't, though?"

I definitely hadn't. I tried my best to recall all the conversations I'd had with Arpad, but I was certain.

Because I had been consciously avoiding saying it.

But Arpad chuckled softly.

"You said it as soon as we met, didn't you? That you could solve my madness."

"Ah, that... well, yes, but......"

Arpad's brutally straightforward and blunt observation continued.

"Moreover, in front of His Majesty the Emperor, you declared that as long as you, blessed by Artanus, were here, no member of the imperial family would be sacrificed to madness. Isn't that the same as saying you can quell the madness?"

"......"

"More than anything... you were far too unafraid of me. I thought there must be something."

This, I could clearly deny.

"That's not true. I was terrified."

Arpad let out a short laugh. A reaction that said it was absurd.

"How many people who are afraid of me do you think I've seen in my life?"

Probably countless. The number of people he'd encountered in his life was likely the same as the number of those who feared him.

"So I'm quite sensitive to fear. And......"

A low whisper tickled my ear.

"You were far too confident in front of me. Like someone who moves knowing exactly the length of the chain restraining a beast."

He shook his head.

"No, no. More like someone who acts boldly, wearing invisible armor that the beast's fangs cannot pierce."

"......"

It was difficult to argue or deny.

'I did know that my very existence could soothe Arpad's madness.'

Of course, it wasn't as if I truly felt safe or completely believed it, as he said.

'If he were in a state of completely lost reason, I thought Arpad might kill me.'

Being the Bride of the Dragon meant one could also become prey to be devoured.

Now that I thought of it, even with the chain, I wondered how I had rushed toward Arpad in that state.

'No, perhaps not. Because I thought it didn't matter what happened, even if I died... that's why it was possible.'

Without that resolve, I couldn't have stepped before Arpad, who was out of his mind with madness.

It wasn't that I believed I wouldn't die.

I simply thought it wouldn't matter if I did.

Before fear or the terror of death, it was pity and compassion for him that came first.

That is what moved my feet.

I spoke honestly.

"I didn't believe you wouldn't kill me... I thought you might kill me because of the madness."

Arpad's eyes widened.

He might be a bit displeased. It would be an infuriating story from his perspective.

But I didn't want to hide the truth anymore, so I spoke factually.

"It's true that I can soothe the madness, but I was prepared... that you might crave my blood and flesh to escape it."

Arpad's response to my confession was, in many ways, different from what I expected. Though, to begin with, this man rarely acted as I anticipated.

"Then you should have run away!"

Why are you getting angry?

"...If I had run away, you'd still be suffering from madness."

"Be that as it may, the right thing is to run away first without looking back!"

With utmost seriousness, Arpad grabbed my shoulders as if to extract a promise.

"If something like that happens again, next time, run away without looking back. Understood?"

I was dumbfounded.

"What if I run away?! I'm the one who can soothe your madness!"

Moreover, why is the person who could die from madness saying this?

Shouldn't you be begging me to save you somehow?

"I thought you were sure I wouldn't harm you! If it was truly dangerous, don't do something like that!!"

He was genuinely angry.

Only then did I realize that Arpad's attitude of sharply reprimanding me felt familiar.

After collapsing and waking up following the banquet at Artanus Hall.

He had been very angry then.

Like pieces of a puzzle fitting together, the reason underlying his actions was thrust before my eyes.

'He was... worried about me.'

Back then, and now as well.

My heart, already filled to the brim with something warm and sloshing, churned even more.

It was already full, yet something else warm and pleasant rose up, making it sway this way and that.

Like a paper boat adrift on the sea, I was helplessly swept about by this pleasant dizziness.

Seeing that I wasn't listening properly, Arpad anxiously asked again.

"Understood? Promise me you won't do something like that again!"

I shook my head.

"...No."

"Hilia!"

"It's because I didn't run away that you've regained your senses now."

"You said it might not have been the case!"

I stretched out both hands and cupped Arpad's cheeks.

The line from his cheekbones to his cheeks and jawline was artistic.

I thought his lower jaw, which showed little curve, would feel hard, but the texture against my skin was somewhat soft.

Much like his exceptional behavior toward me.

Pulling his cheek and jaw so his gaze was fixed only on my eyes, I whispered low.

"That is your duty."

"...What is?"

"To protect my safety, no matter what situation arises."

"......"

"Just as saving you from madness is my duty."

"That... is not your duty."

If someone had forced me, saying that as one born a bride, it was my duty, I would have absolutely hated it.

But there was one being in the world who could force and command that.

"It's a duty I set for myself."

Namely, me.

"I will save you, so you must also protect me from harm."

I was not proposing or requesting now.

I was commanding.

"That is the duty I give you."

Arpad's crimson pupils trembled violently.

I smiled softly and asked.

"Are you not confident?"

Arpad, who had been staring at me blankly for a moment, hesitated and then replied. With a voice tinged with laughter.

"...You make it so the word 'cannot' can never come out."

I giggled softly.

After holding him for a long while, I realized belatedly.

"Ah, right. You haven't answered yet."

"...To what?"

"I asked if you don't hate me."

Arpad's brow furrowed.

"Why would I hate you?"

"Well, because I said you probably would."

Only then did Arpad seem to realize what I was talking about.

"...So that's why you asked such an absurd question. Was this also my karma this time?"

"Karma?"

What karma?

Though I was puzzled, Arpad didn't explain properly.

However, regarding the question 'Do you not hate me?', he gave a lengthy answer.

"I... dislike my so-called fate. Since I was born with thick dragon blood, I've always grown up hearing that my fate is to die from madness, things like that."

I soon realized.

This was Arpad's very long, drawn-out excuse.

"So I disliked it when others, or some being or force, tried to manipulate me regardless of my own will. Despised it."

"......"

"And if there was an absolute, fateful existence for me as well, like the Princess of Estrid, whom even Artanus could not refuse......"

It was the content of our conversation back then.

He said that while he desperately wished for such an existence, he would come to hate the fact that he would fall in love with that counterpart.

Unaware that such an existence was right before him.

But the present Arpad knew.

"They call me the Bride of the Dragon. Someone like me."

Then, wrinkles formed again on Arpad's brow.

"It's not a term I particularly like. Hearing it makes it sound like you are the bride of Artanus or some other dragon, not mine."

"Well, it wasn't a nickname I particularly liked either."

Especially the one who gave me that nickname.

Arpad stubbornly refrained from using the nickname Bride of the Dragon.

"So, I didn't believe in such an absolute existence, one you cannot help but love the moment you see it, and I thought I didn't need it."

The words that followed were somewhat unexpected.

"Actually, that thought remains the same even now."

Does that mean he still hates me because I am such an existence?

My heart began to pound with anxiety.

Arpad's following words negated what he had just said.

"...Perhaps, if I had fallen in love with you the moment I saw you, if I had fallen head over heels and lost 'myself'... I might have come to hate you."

What does that mean?

"But that wasn't the case."

In truth, this might have been an unfitting thing to say between lovers or a married couple who have confirmed their feelings.

"I didn't fall in love with you the moment I saw you. Surprise, interest, wariness came first. Ah, to be honest, at first I thought you were insane."

"Are you picking a fight now?"

"No. It's a sincere and honest confession, so please listen."

He said with a soft smile, as if soothing a child.

"Spending time together like that, I slowly came to know who you, this woman, are. And then... I realized I loved you."

Earlier, I asked if he liked me and heard him say yes.

But hearing him say 'I love you' so directly made my heart flutter anew.

"How could I hate you? I'm only grateful. Precisely because the woman I fell in love with had the power to save me."

It was a lengthy confession that he came to know 'me' myself first and fell in love, rather than learning of my power.

* * *

The Crimson Moon did not end in just two days.

Looking at the moonlight, Arpad predicted this one would be unusually long, and that turned out to be precisely correct.

Even so...

'A week is a bit much!'

Yes. This Crimson Moon hung for a full week.

During that time, Arpad vacated the Crown Prince's Palace at night.

Of course, not alone like the first day.

During the day, we each handled work in our offices, and at night, we headed to the underground catacombs together.

Somehow, it felt like we were dating, which made my heart flutter.

Of course, the dreary atmosphere of the catacombs was completely unsuited for a date.

Fortunately, during the remaining nights the Crimson Moon hung, Arpad's madness did not surge again.

Thanks to that, we could pass the nights quite quietly.

And so, the nights of the Crimson Moon ended.

And that... was merely a small precursor of the turmoil to come.

For the first time in a long while, I came face to face with Evangeline.

Evangeline, her face stiff, held her head rigidly high and spoke to me.

"I have come as a proxy for Her Majesty the Empress..."

Hmm, you were about to use informal speech just now but forcibly changed it, right?