Chapter 67

Adelina couldn’t think of anything.  

The dragon’s eyes seemed like the hell she was destined for.  

“Adelina!”  

“Lexion!”  

Lexion barely managed to grab her hand, pulling her into his embrace.  

Then, he firmly grasped the wyvern’s reins and headed downward at full speed.  

“I’ll kill you both!”  

With the dragon knight’s shout, the dragon opened its massive mouth, flying close enough to bite off the wyvern’s tail at any moment.  

Even a graze from those sharp teeth would cause blood to gush out.  

“Lexion! We’re going to die!”  

The ground was visible right beneath their heads.  

At this speed, a collision would be fatal for both the wyvern and them.  

“We won’t die!”  

Lexion drove the wyvern even faster downward.  

As the wyvern’s head got dangerously close to the ground, Lexion pulled the reins hard.  

“Fly up!”  

At Lexion’s command, the wyvern swiftly soared upward.  

The enormous dragon couldn’t change direction in time and crashed headfirst into the ground.  

“Ugh!”  

After a short scream from the dragon knight crushed under its weight, the dragon’s body remained stuck to the ground, unable to rise again.  

Lexion saw Stephan and the other knights approaching to check the dragon and landed the wyvern on a nearby flat area.  

Adelina buried her face in Lexion’s chest, holding onto him tightly.  

“Bury me in the mirror. Place it in a sunny spot. Occasionally lay flowers on it. And a few jewels…”  

“Adelina, you’re not dead.”  

Lexion’s laughter spread over Adelina’s head.  

Seeing the knights and Hailyn approaching, Lexion didn’t even think of getting off the wyvern, instead holding her back.  

“I feel like I’m going to die. I don’t want to be the queen anymore. It’s too hard.”  

He gently stroked Adelina’s back as she burrowed deeper into his embrace, complaining.  

“Alright… don’t be the queen.”  

“Really?”  

When Adelina lifted her head, he quickly relaxed his previously furrowed brows and gave her a gentle smile.  

“Yes. Just be my wife. That’s all…”  

‘Liar. You’ll use me until the end.’  

Noticing Lexion’s eyebrows twitch slightly, Adelina pretended not to see and leaned her face against his chest again.  

+++

Tap… tap… She felt someone gently tapping her chest.  

‘Is it Lexion?’  

Was this what it felt like when a cat tapped with its soft paws?

Was this the touch of a mother patting her child to sleep?

Adelina kept her eyes closed, allowing the touch to continue.  

She wanted to savor this softness for just a few more minutes.  

‘I must have fainted…’  

She remembered burying her face in Lexion’s chest.  

After that, she must have fainted from the extreme tension.  

‘I’m sorry… Lexion… I’m sorry… everyone…’  

Images of people bleeding and dying in front of her eyes came to mind.  

The situation in the coastal areas must have been even more severe.  

How could she face Lexion and the staff, who were once full of hope and confidence?  

‘If they look at me with contempt, how will I handle it…’  

In her previous life, she was used to such looks, but now it felt overwhelming.  

Sensing that she had awakened, the hand patting her chest stopped.  

Even with her eyelids closed, she could feel the room brightening, as if all the lights had been turned on.  

‘Lexion…’  

Rustle. The side of the bed seemed to press down slightly, then a hand rested on her forehead.  

‘Lexion. I’m sorry. But… I’ll think of another way. I can think of it. If you just have a little more faith in me, and look at me warmly like now…’  

+++

“Your Highness, are you awake?”  

Seyra’s voice made Adelina’s eyes tremble.  

‘It was Seyra…’  

How foolish. To think Lexion would be by her side.  

She already knew it wasn’t Lexion from the touch on her forehead…  

Adelina forced her eyelids open, which felt glued shut.  

“Seyra…”  

She opened her eyes as slowly as possible.  

As the thin light thickened, she abandoned hope.  

As expected, Lexion wasn’t in the room.  

“Your Highness, His Highness was very worried. He’s in a meeting receiving reports on the damage situation.”  

Seyra helped Adelina sit up, continuing to talk, but it didn’t register well in her ears.  

“I see…”  

It was only natural.  

Many people died and were injured, so as a king, it was only natural for him to care for them and come up with countermeasures.  

‘I’m not even real… I’m not a real person of Ernst…’  

Tears fell on the back of Adelina’s hand, which was tightly gripping the blanket.  

“Your Highness!”  

Startled by Adelina’s tears, Seyra hugged her tightly.  

“It’s okay. Everything will be alright. We’ll win.”  

“I know. I guess I was just too shocked. I almost died, you know.”  

No more tears fell.  

Handling this bit of disappointment was nothing for Adelina.  

With just two blinks, the tears that had filled her eyes disappeared.  

+++

“Now, say ah- Your Highness.”  

Seyra exaggeratedly brought a spoonful of soup to Adelina’s mouth, trying to lighten the mood.  

‘Ah, really. How embarrassing.’  

Adelina played along with Seyra, opening her mouth wide to accept the soup.  

Riding a wyvern and facing a dragon for the first time seemed to have taken quite a toll on her body.  

‘In my past life, I fought 7 to 1… though I only got beaten one-sidedly.’  

She prided herself on her resilience, having been beaten up a lot in her past life but still going to school the next day.  

Now, she didn’t even have the strength to hold a spoon.  

At first, she tried to eat by herself, but most of it spilled.  

“Your Highnesss, when you have a baby, I’ll raise the baby too.”  

Pretending to enjoy feeding her, Seyra laughed brightly and tore bread into small pieces to feed Adelina.  

“Seyra, you don’t have experience raising children. I’ll leave my baby to a veteran.”  

“Ex… perience…”  

For a moment, Seyra’s face turned red, as if she had thought of something.  

Distracted by another thought while feeding wine, Adelina ended up drinking a whole glass of wine without a breath.  

“Gulp!”  

“Oh my! I’m sorry.”  

Seyra quickly came to her senses and began wiping the wine that spilled on Adelina’s pink nightgown with a handkerchief.  

“You were eating.”  

Having finished the meeting, Lexion approached with a much more worn face than in the morning.

Without a jacket and only wearing a shirt, Lexion seemed uncomfortable, with his usually neatly tied cravat undone and hanging around his neck.  

His sleeves were rolled up, revealing a long new scar on his forearm.  

“Lexion, have you eaten? If not, would you like to eat together?”  

Adelina looked at the wall clock, then lifted her head to look at him.  

It was past 11 p.m., so it was unlikely he hadn’t eaten…  

“Sure. I’ll take care of the queen myself, so Seyra, you can rest now.”  

“Yes, Your Highness.”  

The tips of Seyra’s ears turned even redder as she bowed to Lexion.  

‘Seyra? Why are you even redder? …Could it be!’  

Adelina wiggled her ankle, watching Seyra hesitate while looking at Lexion’s chest.  

The only child of the most esteemed Earl Bettran among the nobility.  

It’s possible everyone had pegged her as the next queen.  

Adelina watched intently as Lexion sat beside her and picked up the soup bowl.  

“Seyra… she’s pretty, right? And kind too.”  

She didn’t blink, trying not to miss even the slightest change in emotion.  

“Is she?”  

Lexion blew on the soup to cool it, then slipped the spoon into Adelina’s mouth.  

“Hailyn is quite pretty too… right?”  

“Is she?”  

This time, Lexion tore a small piece of bread and placed it in her mouth.  

‘Could it be… does this man have face blindness? Like in romance fantasies where <I only see my woman’s face!> he’s under some curse?’

Maybe it was because she downed a glass of wine.  

She felt a bit tipsy and in a good mood.  

“Um… can you tell Seyra and Hailyn apart?”  

She asked just in case.  

If he were under such a curse, as a contract wife, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to slightly lift the curse.  

“Of course. Seyra has black hair, and Hailyn has brown hair.”  

“Oh…”  

The alcohol completely sobered up at Lexion’s words.  

So… he distinguishes me because I have silver hair…  

“Forget it. I don’t want to eat anymore.”  

Adelina spoke curtly to Lexion, who was offering her a biscuit with cheese.  

“Eat a little more. You’ve lost more weight since you came here.”  

“I can’t tell… how did you know?”  

Adelina looked down at her arm, wrapping her right hand around her left wrist.  

The alcohol must have been strong.  

She felt tipsy again.  

“Well…”  

Lexion’s gaze landed on Adelina’s chest.  

“You beast!”  

Following Lexion’s gaze, Adelina looked down at her chest and punched his chest.  

Lexion silently took the punch, then pulled Adelina into his arms.  

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. I’ll… save everyone…”  

His voice rasped as if something were boiling in his throat.  

The despair hidden in Lexion’s voice, masked by fatigue, made Adelina’s heart crumble.  

+++

The next day at 10 a.m., as if yesterday had been a peaceful day, Ernst’s high nobility and staff headed to the palace with their usual composed expressions and neatly dressed.  

“Look, it’s Earl Bettran’s carriage.”  

“He’ll have the same stern appearance today.”  

“Indeed. Even if a dragon opened its mouth in front of him, he wouldn’t bat an eye.”  

“Rather, wouldn’t he scold it for having bad breath?”  

People bowed their heads in greeting to their noble and dignified appearance, continuing their daily lives.  

The debris crushed by the dragon’s feet still remained, but it would soon be cleared, leaving only strengthened hearts.  

“Dragons have become even freer! Now dragons don’t need Pale Island!”  

However, once the meeting room door closed and the meeting began in earnest, the composed nobles and staff loosened their cravats.  

“Still, there are only two islands.”

Stephan, trying to calm the worried group, placed a green pin on a sea chart full of blue.  

“They can make more islands, can’t they!”

“Before they make more islands, we need to come up with countermeasures!”  

The shock of the dragon landing on the mainland raised everyone’s voices.  

Adelina approached Stephan and quietly looked at the green pin on the sea chart.  

A black pin, unused, lay on her seat, occasionally drawing glances from people.  

“Dragons can only land one per island.”  

“They must use them in shifts. That’s why they came to the coastal area at intervals.”  

As Adelina and Lexion spoke, the expressions on people’s faces gradually relaxed.  

“If the island is too large, it becomes difficult to control. They can’t make it any bigger. And there must be a reason they only made two for now.”  

“It must take time to acquire and modify the ships.”  

Lexion leaned back in his chair, staring intently at Adelina.  

“Yes. During that time, we need to make our artificial island.”  

When Adelina met Lexion’s gaze and spoke, the staff’s reaction was skeptical.  

“If we… make it, what will we use it for?”

The staff were puzzled.  

Shouldn’t we be destroying Petrus’s artificial island instead?  

“I told you, didn’t I? If Petrus has dragons, we have wyverns.”