Chapter 5 Part 5

Overwhelmed by the scenery, she stood dazed. The dragon gave a small flick of its back.

Melissa’s body jolted upward and then dropped. She landed awkwardly on her bottom, but she understood the dragon’s intention.

“It seems to be telling me to go onto the sea…”

There was nowhere else to retreat.

Melissa lay flat on the dragon’s back, cautiously stretching her foot toward the sea.

Tap.

As soon as one foot touched it, it felt as though the sea was pulling her foot downward.

When she placed both feet, the sea acted like solid ground, supporting her.

She wasn’t hanging upside down.

The sea had become part of the earth again, holding her firmly.

Her hair didn’t flip, and blood didn’t rush to her head.

The world of sky and earth had returned to its original order.

When she blinked and looked down, something caught her foot.

A large, rounded, oval-shaped… egg.

Surrounded by scales, the egg was enormous and shone as though it held the sunlight reflected off the sea.

“Harmonia…”

When she whispered the egg’s name, a massive wind suddenly rose around her.

Dragons presumed to be Tiassat, Harpax, and Lux soared around her, weaving patterns like tree roots.

Within the wind they created, Melissa was left alone with Harmonia’s egg.

The sensation of the world changing with each breath was surreal.

She reached out her hand.

The will to kill had long since vanished.

How could she possibly kill something so beautiful, so vast, so mysterious?

How could she dare to kill these beings, who had been trapped for hundreds of years?

Melissa… why must she always be forced to stand at the crossroads of suppressed choices?

She didn’t want to kill them.

On the contrary, she wanted to set them free.

Just as she herself yearned to escape from Bright’s grasp, she wanted to pull them out of those tightly sealed eggs and give them freedom.

And so, Melissa stretched out her hand, pouring into it a powerful wish for their survival, and touched the egg.

From the point of contact between her hand and the egg, a radiant light—worthy of being called brilliance—spread outward.

***

As Alexander saw it, there was only one thing Melissa needed to do alone: fulfill the task Bright had given her.

He didn’t know exactly what that task was, but he couldn’t simply torture or interrogate her to find out.

To resonate with the dragon, the resonator’s condition and emotions were just as important.

To be honest, he believed that whatever Melissa did would have little impact on him or Tavalon.

She was just a hostage.

A woman obsessed with a worthless man, a woman with no one to watch over her, no one who truly saw her.

Just such a woman.

After seeing the bruise on Melissa’s cheek, Alexander could no longer suppress the murderous rage bubbling within him.

So he sought her out.

Whether it was to kill her for her hypocrisy, or to kill a soft, weak woman, or to kill anyone at all—he just wanted to catch someone and end them.

But the moment he caught sight of Melissa’s round head moving calmly through the forest, all that murderous intent vanished in an instant.

He dismounted and quietly followed her.

Though she seemed to wander aimlessly, she disappeared in a flash.

As if by magic, she was suddenly gone.

Then, a strange shiver ran up his spine.

It was the feeling of something long hidden deep inside him stirring.

Along with that feeling came a sensation of warm encirclement and a powerful urge to follow that warmth.

He instinctively knew where this feeling was coming from.

Someone had entered the otherworld and stepped on his “residual imprint.”

The residual imprint was a foreign presence that had emerged in the otherworld ever since Alexander had forcibly begun handling the dragon.

It often appeared in the form of his childhood self, darting about like a mischievous imp, hindering his work.

The one stepping on his imprint was…

“Melissa?”

He murmured to himself.

Could it be—Melissa had opened the otherworld?

That question soon turned into certainty.

Melissa had opened the otherworld, and she had stepped on his residual imprint.

Revealing this, he laughed.

He never imagined she could wield such power.

Such a naive, timid face—and yet so boldly daring.

But admiration quickly gave way to anxiety.

The dragons never welcomed intruders.

And in the otherworld, death left not even a corpse behind.

It felt as if his very soul were draining from his toes.

Alexander immediately reached out his hand.

A perfect pattern appeared on the back of his right hand, and an arched portal opened before his eyes.

It seemed Melissa had even reversed the inverted world of the otherworld to its original state.

He stepped onto the sea and moved quickly.

In the distance, he saw a sphere of bright light, flashing vividly.

It was so radiant, so dazzling, he couldn’t ignore it.

“…Melissa!”

As he ran toward the light, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he thought of Melissa as she had been in his childhood.

That face, softly radiant with a timid smile.

At last, he reached the light.

He thrust his arm into the flickering space, forcing it open like prying apart a dragon’s sealed mouth.

He didn’t care about the burning sensation on his arm.

The thought of having to reach Melissa filled his entire mind.

The light shattered into hundreds of meteors, scattering in all directions.

But when he finally entered the opened light, there was nothing he could do.

Amidst the calm sea, surrounded by the dancing of the dragons, sat a woman so breathtakingly beautiful she seemed lost in a trance.

Her silver hair fluttered like a gentle dance, and her laughter-filled eyes were brimming with ecstatic tears.

And in her arms was the one and only dragon that ruled over the others—a baby Harmonia with four small horns.

Harmonia nestled against her, as if she were its mother, moving back and forth in a figure-eight pattern, continuously creating light.

The woman, laughing through her tears, met his gaze.

Ah, so one can cry from happiness too.

At last, through her, he witnessed a different side of tears.

Something deep in his chest felt as if it were wrapped in iron chains.

The sensation was fleeting, and he barely registered it, but the intensity lingered.

“I can’t kill her…”

It was the woman’s voice.

No, it was Melissa Gallandia’s words.

The beautiful woman shook her head.

“Bright wanted Harmonia dead. But I don’t want to kill her. I don’t want to listen to her.”

“…”

“I don’t want to run away anymore…”

With each whisper Melissa uttered, his steps naturally drew closer to her.

It was irresistible.

As if drawn by a force, he approached her, one step at a time.

“Alexander.”

He knelt on one knee, bowing slightly, as if submitting.

But his expression remained that of his usual arrogant self.

The other dragons growled warily at him.

Melissa, cradling Harmonia like a child, gazed at him with trembling eyes.

“What do you want from me?”

“Your power.”

He tilted his head.

“And you.”

Alexander’s golden eyes seemed to pierce through her azure ones, shattering them in the light.

He cupped her cheek.

“What does my sister-in-law want?”

To the woman who had everything she desired, Alexander proposed a deal.

Melissa bit her lip and silently met his gaze before speaking.

“I want your love. Can you give it to me?”

Her words trembled, revealing her shy heart.

But the meaning behind them was something Alexander couldn’t simply agree to.

He could have just whispered, “I love you,” but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come.

For him, love was something simple, something he could easily discard and betray—a fleeting desire.

In a way, it was true that he loved her.

But when he looked at her, the tangled, chaotic feelings she stirred in him made it feel too inadequate to call it love.

 The unknown world instilled in him a sudden fear.

And so, deciding to ignore the fragment of that fear-inducing, incomprehensible emotion, he whispered to her after a brief hesitation.

“My heart is the same as yours, sister-in-law.”

Melissa’s eyes widened.

Reading the multitude of emotions within them, he laughed, torn between a sweet guilt and a bitter satisfaction.

Then he cupped her cheeks and kissed her briefly.

“So, take it.”

It was a cliché confession, but Melissa’s eyes grew even wider, shining with unclouded clarity.

In her eyes swirled emotions too numerous to define with a single word.

Realizing that his lie had worked, he felt a shudder of exhilaration.

“Leave my brother and come to me.”

Melissa continued to nervously bite her lips.

She seemed to have so much to say that she couldn’t find the right words.

“Please protect my grandfather, promise me.”

“I promise.”

“That’s all I need.”

She suddenly threw her arms around his neck.

Her lips lightly brushed the edge of his cheek.

“I never thought a day like this would come. I never even dreamed of it.”

“…”

“This is the feeling I’ve cherished for so long. It’s so precious I’ve never shown it to anyone, never even dared to say it out loud.

“So… I’ll give it all to you, please cherish it.”

He rested his forehead against the crook of her neck and shoulder, holding her tightly.

The feeling of her frail body pressing against his was as if they fit together perfectly.

If possible, he wanted to meld their skin together and completely absorb her.

The soft tremble of her breath, the delicate texture of her skin, the wildflower-like scent unique to Melissa.

Since taking Bergritz, all of this had been his, and soon, it would truly become his.

“I’ll cherish it.”

He didn’t know how.

But in his own way, he would do just that.

Just enough.

Yes, just enough.

This thirst and yearning surely burned from his desire for lands he had yet to possess.

“…Thank you.”

The woman’s lips touched his first.

She shyly pressed them to his, then lowered her head, resting her forehead against his chin, her ears blushing red.

He gently lifted her chin, caressing her still-swollen cheek and brushing his lips against hers.

Unlike before, his lips parted naturally, breathing into her, intertwining tongues.

Though clumsy, she tried to respond.

The sensation of her small tongue against his made his back shiver with a thrill so sharp it was almost chilling.

A desire to test how far she could endure swelled inside him.

“Ha… mm.”

At her soft moan, he pushed Melissa down entirely.

Positioning himself between her legs, he devoured her breath as if taking a huge bite.

Even as her neck strained with need for air, he continued to share breath with her, rougher, to the limit, yet she endured, trying to accept him.

Ah, so foolish.

But he became even more impatient, his hands tearing at her collar.

As he thrust his hips against her clothed form like a frenzied beast, grasping for her chest, she spoke.

“Wait… this… is it.”

Melissa, cupping Alexander’s cheeks, barely managed to lift her face and say,

“There will be a war.”

To say such words in the middle of a kiss?

He stared at her in disbelief, but she was utterly serious.

Her lips glossy, her eyes flushed.

Should he laugh at this or not?

“I have a way.”

Her eyes sparkled with more clarity than ever before.

Alexander gave a dry chuckle.

‘Ah, so I’m the fool after all.’

They stared at each other in silence.

The dragons continued to trace graceful arcs in the sky, and Harmonia had nestled into Melissa’s clothes entirely.

The remaining light shattered beautifully around them.

***

Franz, who had lost consciousness, woke up not long after.

It had only been a few hours since the hunt had begun.

His eyes snapped open, and he sprang to his feet, ranting that he would kill Alexander.

“Bring that bastard here. I’m going to beat him to a pulp!!!”

“Took a hit to the head and finally lost it, huh.”

Thanks to Alexander’s order for Boris to look after Franz, she was able to stay by his side and clicked his tongue.

The physician nearby seemed to share a similar thought.

“What the hell did you say, you bastard!”

Franz grabbed a hunting rifle beside him and aimed it at him.

However, the rifle wasn’t even primed and was little more than a club. Boris approached him, disarmed him in an instant, and held the rifle.

“I would’ve used a knife instead.”

“Shut up, shut up!!!”

“If you thrash around like that, your wounds will get worse. Just rest.”

“Get lost, I need to kill something!”

Franz gasped, trying to get up from the bed.

Boris glanced at the physician with a look that asked, “Is it okay for him to get up?‘ and the physician shrugged.

“He won’t die.”

“Then there’s no reason to stop him.”

“You’ll all regret this.”

Franz’s attendant, who had followed in a panic, glared at the Tavalon guards and snapped.

Boris shrugged along with the physician.

“Not our problem. We’ve done all we can, so do as you please.”

The attendant, taking the rifle from Boris, helped Franz up and eventually dragged him to the hunting grounds.

Franz, his face swollen beyond recognition, climbed onto a horse.

It seemed he couldn’t bear it without killing something.

He even considered finding a better target than Alexander.

It wasn’t long after he entered the forest.

“Master! There’s a deer over there!”

A deer, clearly released as game for the hunt, was seen plodding along in the distance.

A deer would do.

He aimed the rifle at the deer’s belly, not confident enough to aim for its head.

As the attendant’s urging grew annoying beside him—

Bang!

The rifle fired loudly.

But the bullet missed the deer entirely, instead soaring into the sky, and the horse beneath him suddenly reared up as if shot.

An arrow was embedded in the horse’s neck.

The moment he realized it, the horse bucked violently, and with his foot caught in the stirrup, he was thrown from the saddle.

“Ahhh!”

 Franz’s shoulder blade was completely shattered.

Before he could even writhe in pain, another arrow flew and pierced through his other shoulder.

“Ahhh!!!”

“Good heavens, Lord Franz!!!”

The attendant tried desperately to support Franz by his shoulders, but with both shoulders shattered, the only way was to wrap an arm around his side to lift him. However, the attendant lacked the strength for that.

“What on earth is going on here?”

The voice came not from the attendant, but from Boris.

But he wasn’t alone.

“Alexander?”

Alexander stood there with a half-dragon at his side.

Franz muttered in stunned disbelief, his face reddening as he saw the bow in Alexander’s hand.

“You… you shot me? Mother won’t stand for this! Damn it, you bastard half-breed, how dare you, how dare you!!!”

But Alexander ignored both the bewildered Boris and the furious Franz and continued speaking.

“A servant shot his master with an arrow.”

The shameless tone of his voice left both Franz and the attendant momentarily speechless.

It was obvious that Alexander had shot the arrow.

But aside from the one who fired it, the only witnesses were Franz himself, the attendant, and Boris.

A chill ran down their spines.

“You, what are you….”

“A servant who betrays his master must be executed on the spot. Boris.”

Alexander spoke expressionlessly.

“Ha… What on earth…”

Obeying his master’s command, Boris rolled his eyes until the whites were visible and drew his sword.

Without hesitation, he beheaded the attendant.

A life lost, guilty only of being Franz’s attendant, left Boris with a bitter expression as he wiped the blood from his sword.

Meanwhile, Alexander knelt on one knee before Franz.

“Brother.”

Terrified, Franz could say nothing. The bandages on his face slipped, revealing his grotesque appearance.

“Sister-in-law opened the door to the dragon’s nest in the otherworld and attacked the dragons before fleeing. Do you know anything about this?”

“No, I don’t!!!”

“I believe you. However,” Alexander’s expression was as cold and indifferent as frost.

“The crime of attacking a dragon is a grave one, and the sister-in-law will not escape death if she is found.”

“…My lord!”

Boris looked as though he wanted to shake his master’s shoulders and ask countless questions.

Alexander, gazing down at his brother, smiled faintly.

“Do you understand?”

As Franz nodded wildly, Alexander lowered the bow that had seemed poised to strike at any moment.

The half-dragon that had been prowling nearby, drooling, lifted its head.

Franz soiled himself for the second time that day.

“Your injuries appear severe, so I will send you back to the capital. Think of the arrow in your shoulder as atonement for sister-in-law’s crimes. The fact that I did not accuse you along with her is the best mercy I can offer.”

***

It had happened just a little while earlier.

Melissa, having returned to the forest, sat on a sunny rock and confessed everything about the task Bright had given her and the curse.

“…I don’t know the mechanism by which the curse was triggered.”

“Mother certainly did her work. Give me your hand.”

With a cold smile, he extended his hand toward her, and Melissa gave him hers.

Compared to his large hand, Melissa’s hand was so small it seemed it might shatter if he clenched it.

He gently stroked her hand, murmuring something under his breath.

At that, the mark of the curse appeared on the back of her hand—then vanished in an instant.

The curse was broken.

Bright would no longer be able to interfere with Melissa’s movements, nor even know whether she was alive or dead.

“What did you say just now?”

Melissa, unable to hide her curiosity, asked.

He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb and said,

“Dragon tongue.”

It was said that curses were created when dragons were born. Thus, when dispelling a curse, the language of dragons was often used.

Dragon tongue could only be learned naturally by handling dragons, making those who could use it extremely rare.

For a spell to mimic his ability—that was a chilling reminder of his mother’s extraordinary malice.