Her tongue, about to respond “Are you crazy?”, seemed paralyzed and wouldn’t move. Like someone trapped in sleep paralysis, her body betrayed Leah’s will and remained submissively restrained.

“Ugh…”

As she began to sway like someone drugged, Archaik poured more of his dragon power into her.

The alertness vanished from her blue eyes, and her golden eyelashes trembled delicately—an unfamiliar sight. Archaik held his breath at the sight of Leah shaking helplessly in his hands.

Leah’s body, gestures, scent, and even the trembling around her eyes—everything reminded him that he inhabited a human body. The dragon, dizzy with human desire he’d never felt before, reached for what he considered his possession.

“…My mage.”

Archaik whispered with a growl as he slid his nose along her neck.

“Dragon’s Holy Maiden.”

“…”

“This is your last chance.”

Archaik set his teeth against her neck with an obsessive voice. Leah’s body jerked with a shudder.

“Choose me.”

When I’m with you, a small, beautiful light illuminates this boring, painful, worthless world.

The shameful past I never want anyone to discover—perhaps with you, with you as the Dragon’s Holy Maiden, it might be acceptable for you to know.

Feelings unknown even to Archaik himself couldn’t be contained in brief words. They didn’t reach Leah’s heart.

She remained stone-still, enduring an unpleasant moment. Sensing her rejection, Archaik looked into her eyes.

Her blue eyes fiercely pushed him away.

“…”

The air changed.

Archaik’s eyes, now separated from Leah, transformed completely into gold.

“With what I gave you.”

As dragon flames poured forth.

“I will destroy you!”

Leah’s body was engulfed in flames.

***

Near the Piert ducal family’s laboratory.

On the second floor of an old building, Count Trow and his eldest son, Lord Yan Trow, were scheming.

“So you’re saying it was the Piert knights who rescued people when the secret club’s backhouse was set on fire before?”

“Yes! I’m certain!”

Lord Trow pounded his chest.

“The Piert bastards kept everyone’s mouths shut so tightly that we almost missed it! Even that Ninian woman let it slip and then immediately regretted it!”

Since the last trial, the Trow family had been driven to the brink of ruin. Yan Trow, the eldest son, was now widely recognized by the capital’s residents as someone whose “neck was dangling precariously.”

In contrast, the actress Ninian had gained fame and was rising in popularity like a shooting star. It was only natural that when they accidentally met at a restaurant, Ninian pretended not to know Lord Trow and ignored him. Besides, weren’t they on bad terms anyway?

But Yan Trow thought differently. Regardless of their bad relationship or his attempt to kill her, an actress should never disrespect him, a nobleman.

‘No matter how much we’re struggling, we’re still nobility. You think we can’t handle one woman like you?’

When Lord Trow confronted her, Ninian also became angry.

‘You idiot, I nearly died because of you. Did you think I wouldn’t have any connections? The people who saved me won’t leave you alone either!’

‘Connections? Seems like you’ve caught the attention of someone important… Do you think they’ll save you twice just because they saved you once? You don’t know how fickle nobility can be. You’re still naive in some ways.’

‘That’s not true. I even risked my life to testify for them…!’

Oops. Ninian’s face turned pale as she hurriedly left, but Lord Trow had already heard enough.

Crunch. He ground his teeth resentfully.

“So they stayed out of it themselves but used our arson to sway public opinion. They act so noble on the outside, but inside they’re just as underhanded, aren’t they?”

“No need to be angry.”

Count Trow’s voice was also cold with anger.

“We can sway public opinion too, can’t we?”

Lord Trow looked at the Count doubtfully.

“How can we sway public opinion when we’ve already lost all public support?”

“Even if we can’t elevate ourselves, we can bring down the Piert ducal family.”

The Count said, “I hear there are quite a few wards attached to the laboratory. If we set them on fire and spread rumors about magic… wouldn’t everyone gossip that Leah Piert used fire magic to start fires and kill people?”

Lord Trow’s mouth fell open in surprise.

“But… everyone is cheering for Leah Piert’s magic. Will such a plan work?”

“You only see one side of things.”

The Count clicked his tongue and said, “People fear unknown powers as much as they want to be seen favorably by the powerful. The moment they realize that an unknown strong power could be a threat rather than an ally, they’ll turn away.”

“…”

“You experienced it yourself in the courtroom. It takes only a moment for cheers to turn into condemnation.”

Lord Trow finally understood. He realized why the Count had filled the first floor of this building with oil and similar substances.

“…Father, have you been planning this all along?”

After a moment of silence, Count Trow whispered heavily.

“The Imperial Prince has agreed as well.”

“The Oken Imperial Prince?”

“He must intend to have her, even if he has to ruin her. A fire mage who can’t control her own power and kills people…”

A sneer formed on the Count’s wrinkled lips.

“No matter how hard the Piert ducal family tries, how much can they protect her?”

Just as he said that, flames suddenly erupted from the second floor of the laboratory across the street.

Both father and son stood up abruptly.

“F-Father… is that—?”

“…Is this the Imperial Prince’s doing?”

The Count shouted, “Tell the men waiting below to move immediately! Now! We must strike now!”

***

Meanwhile, Helix was in confusion.

‘Something…’

He felt like something was cracking inside his head. Azura’s voice resonated loudly.

‘You.’

That voice became an intangible force, continuously striking inside his head.

‘Finally.’

Like hammering sounds, something was splitting apart, and memories were leaking out.

‘Dragonlord Azura…’

When the star of destruction was falling moment by moment.

The words Azura had spoken while sealing Helix, who had come for a final persuasion.

‘You are a failed Guardian.’

‘You don’t know what it truly means to want to protect.’

He hadn’t known those words were a binding in dragon language, a spell sealing his power as a Guardian. The last words Azura had uttered as he turned away.

‘Only when you understand that feeling will you become a true Guardian.’

He remembered those words clearly now.

‘That feeling? What feeling? The true desire to protect?’

Helix, who had always thought he was doing his best as a Guardian, couldn’t understand Azura’s meaning. Just as his straight forehead was wrinkling in thought—

“Sir Helix!”

Janet ran to him, her face covered in tears, and cried out.

“Please save Lady Leah! She suddenly burst into flames…!”

Helix’s body turned immediately.

From that moment, his memories became jumbled. How he ran, what Janet said behind him, who was around—he knew none of it.

The only reality was Leah, collapsed with flames erupting from her body. Helix rushed over and embraced the unconscious woman. He felt the flames attach to him, burning his clothes, but he didn’t care.

Only this woman in his arms mattered. This woman who made him feel like he possessed the entire world each time he embraced her—she had to be safe.

“Leah…!”

Helix covered her burning dress with his body and pressed his cheek against hers. Despite being engulfed in flames, her pale cheek was cold.

“Please open your eyes.”

Even while holding Leah, his stomach felt empty and painful.

The surging emotion rose from his stomach to his chest, from his chest to his throat, from his throat to his eyes.

Finally, it reached his head, seeming to tear at him completely.

“Leah, please.”

Leah couldn’t collapse like this. This couldn’t happen. Leah had to open her eyes.

Just as she had done whenever Helix embraced her tightly, overcome with emotion, she needed to wrap her arms around him in return.

She needed to meet his gaze with eyes full of her own will.

Alive.

She needed to be alive and by his side.

Helix embraced Leah with all his might.

‘I will protect this woman above all else.’

At that moment, something collapsed within him.

Suddenly, like a dam bursting, mana exploded in all directions. It was an overwhelming amount of mana that reduced Archaik’s mana raging in Leah’s body to something like a candle flame before a dam.

“Ugh…!”

Leah moaned as the flames subsided on their own.

A pressure like being crushed by water pressure in front of a dam pressed down on her heavily, and then every hair on her body stood on end.

“Helix…!”

Leah’s hands clung to Helix like a lifeline. Though every point of contact with him felt like being struck by lightning, she had to hold on.

“Leah!”

When Helix tried to pull away to check her face in surprise, she desperately embraced him.

“This is strange. Huff. Strange!”

Repeating the same words, she clung to him like a child, and Helix’s hand stroked her. His large hand was trembling.

“The mana…?”

***

Rumble…!

The Trow family’s private soldiers quickly rolled oil barrels. The leaking oil flowed like a ditch along the building walls.

Trickle, trickle. As the strong smell of oil wafted up, the soldiers instinctively hesitated. They suddenly realized the gravity of what they were doing.

‘Is this really okay?’

Though they were following orders from above, they faltered at the feeling of crossing a line.

“What are you doing?”

The Snake Knights urged them on, “Why are you hesitating? Do you want to die? Quickly throw the fire!”

The soldier holding the torch hurriedly moved his right hand.

“You fool, throw it low!”

Seeing this, another soldier carefully lowered his body and threw his torch. Whoosh! The fire that caught on the oil rose instantly.

“Good. Now it won’t go out… Huh?”

Flash!

They turned their heads away and closed their eyes at the momentarily flickering light.

“Aaargh!”