#006

The voice echoing in his ears brought Cullen back to his senses. He was unaccustomed to being momentarily captivated by the other’s appearance. His numbed sense of caution returned instantly.

He quickly retreated backward. Drawing his sword with a clang, he took a defensive stance. His blood ran hot. The opponent was impossibly strong. He felt an overwhelming presence that was difficult to gauge. It was something incomparable to the Emperor.

Cullen thought he knew who this person was. Without introduction, the other party had imprinted his existence upon him. A non-human being floating in the air. A divinity that could be mistaken for a god.

If that person was not a god, there was only one other answer.

“……Who are you?”

Cullen asked, even though he knew the answer. It was to buy time. He had just died once. To subdue an opponent with no presence, one had to rely on sight. Without even blinking, Cullen pondered how to deal with him.

First, he had to make the strange being come down.

The peculiar being, instead of answering, looked at the floor. Cullen’s gaze briefly followed to the floor. There, slightly revealed by the moonlight, was a small egg. It was small enough to be stepped on if one didn’t look closely. That small.

Could it be because of that?

Cullen’s lips tightened. In the meantime, the other party slowly walked down from the air. The sound of his robe fluttering echoed softly and then disappeared. He landed fully on the floor and bent at the waist. A white hand emerged from within the robe. It was like a sculpture.

“You didn’t step on it.”

The other party examined the small egg for a moment before straightening up. As he stood upright, his height was clearly apparent. He was taller than Cullen. The strange thing was that he didn’t appear intimidating or excessive. He was simply perfectly formed.

With his sword slightly extended, Cullen backed away in a different direction. The tip of his sharp longsword reflected the moonlight coldly. The other party finally turned his gaze to the sword. He tilted his head indifferently, gazing at the sharp blade. His golden eyebrows, which felt transparent, curled upward.

“I asked who you were.”

Licking his dry lips, Cullen asked again. His heart pounded rapidly, perhaps from surprise at the overwhelming opponent he had just met. His body grew hot, and his nerves became taut.

“You know the answer.”

The other party slowly approached him. The sound of his footsteps was not audible. It felt like conversing with a clear ghost. However, his presence was immense for it to be dismissed as a ghost. The other party exuded a fresh, fragrant scent of lilies.

“There is only one being that can be here.”

His guess was correct.

Even after guessing the answer himself, Cullen remained silent for a few seconds. Confusion belatedly washed over him.

This was the northern palace where the Dragon resided. There was only one master. The force that pushed him back, the smooth floating without any sense of presence, the excessively beautiful appearance that defied human standards. Delicate features that made one wonder if he even had a gender.

The other party… was the Dragon.

“Now it is your turn to answer, human.”

Facing the protagonist of the word he had uttered countless times, Cullen’s eyes widened. It was completely different from his expectations. He wasn’t as colossal as a mountain, nor was he a grotesque monster.

His hair shone brighter than gold, and his eyes were clearer than jewels. He was breathtakingly beautiful just to look at.

Cullen felt genuine bewilderment. So much was different from his expectations.

“What is the reason you dare to enter this place?”

The Dragon asked again. Like the first time he heard it, a strange anger tinged his voice. It was enough to glimpse a fury as if facing an enemy, despite never having met before.

The sword was held straight, but the Dragon closed the distance without hesitation. The two became close in an instant.

Cullen gripped his sword tightly, ready to stab the Dragon at any moment. Wouldn’t even a Dragon die if its neck were severed to the bone? If it was his mother’s enemy, then it was good, and even if not, Cullen was merely defending himself.

Though the symbol of the Empire wouldn’t die so easily.

Cullen moistened his dry lips and asked quietly.

“Are you… a Dragon?”

Instead of answering, the Dragon stopped before him. A fluttering shadow spread long, covering Cullen.

Up close, his appearance was even more unreal. It was enough to make one dizzy. Blue eyes tinged with gold stared intently at Cullen’s face. As their gazes met directly, his throat grew dry. His entire body tensed.

“You are a Larkan.”

His voice held even more wariness. In that moment, Cullen instinctively knew. The wariness directed at the intruder had now shifted into hostility directed at Cullen.

The Emperor’s words overlapped. What he had called a dangerous being for Larkans seemed to be true.

But why? They were meeting for the first time. Cullen hadn’t done anything to him yet. Except for almost stepping on that egg.

“A face I’ve never seen… and no manners.”

His white face showed both confusion and irritation. He muttered in a voice that seemed to transmit directly into Cullen’s mind, and moved even closer. The moment he stepped within arm’s reach, Cullen drew his sword. The sword stopped just before the opponent’s Adam’s apple.

“Do not come any closer.”

Even as the sharp blade pricked the underside of his white chin, the Dragon paid it no mind.

The tip of the sword grazed his white skin. Cullen, having decided to kill, set his jaw. Magic is dangerous. He had no desire to experience what Lasano had done to him again.

He put strength into his swing. The blade cut in, just like that. But only a little. The Dragon caught the blade. Red blood dripped from his white nape and hand.

“I don’t know who taught you, but Zigmund apparently didn’t teach you manners.”

His tone was low. At first glance, he seemed angry. In that instant, Cullen’s sword broke. The sudden, natural snap of the half-broken sword caused his balance to falter for a moment. Dumbfounded, Cullen’s expression hardened.

“I warned you not to come closer.”

“You barge in and make a mess, and then you warn me.”

The Dragon glanced at the blade in his hand, then, with a displeased expression, brought it to his palm. The hard, sharply honed, heavy blade began to crumble into dust.

It was overwhelming power.

Cullen finally understood why he was a ‘Dragon.’ He was beyond Cullen’s reach. Weapons were useless. If he wished, he could kill Cullen at any time.

Yet, why was he kept alive… Was it because he was a Larkan?

“This is the worst.”

The Dragon stood right in front of Cullen’s face. Red blood, no different from a human’s, flowed thinly from his neck. The moment Cullen thought there might be hope, the wound, just like Lasano’s, vanished. Only the bloodstains on his robe proved its existence.

“Leave.”

A quiet but clear voice declared his sentence.

The opponent was an impossible being to kill. He had swung his sword instinctively but realized its futility. Cullen decided to change his strategy. His objective was something else entirely.

“You have not answered why I came to find you.”

Cullen lowered his useless sword. The regret was his own. He decided to understand his position. It was different from when he wandered alone, unconcerned with others’ opinions. He had to act wisely before the Dragon before him.

“Must I listen?”

“You seemed curious. I apologize for my earlier rudeness.”

Cullen admitted his impoliteness. The Dragon, who had shown displeasure, quietly looked down at him.

Their eyes met. The blue eyes, with gold spreading like stars, pierced him for a long time. It was only after a moment that he opened his mouth.

“You.”

The Dragon’s expression changed. Raising one eyebrow, the Dragon slowly lowered his head. Cullen instinctively tried to step back, but he remembered that he had carelessly invaded the Dragon’s domain and disturbed his mood. Clenching his fists, he leaned his upper body back slightly. The Dragon followed him.

“You smell familiar.”

The Dragon’s nose seemed to brush against Cullen’s neck. He felt a phantom sensation of a soft touch, like a feather, brushing against his skin. The being who didn’t seem to breathe surprisingly had warm breath. A shiver traced its way down his spine. It felt strange.

“Step back…!”

This level of intimacy was unprecedented. It had been so long since anyone had approached this closely.

Cullen forced his wavering expression to harden further. He averted his gaze. Disliking the tickling sensation, he turned his head. His boots moved, then stopped, repeatedly. His nose didn’t touch his neck, but his breath tickled his skin.

“Was Ella alive?”

Just as he was about to retreat completely, unable to bear it any longer, Cullen stopped. He turned his averted gaze back to the Dragon and met his eyes. For a brief moment, a never-before-seen expression was added to his white face.

The blue eyes, beautiful as they were, curved gently. It wasn’t a big change, but it was clearly joy. He couldn’t breathe.

This was unexpected.

“Seeing that you carry Ella’s scent, you must be her child. I heard she was dead, but that wasn’t true. Where is Ella? Lead me.”

The Dragon’s tone brightened. It was too clear an emotion to be feigned, and Cullen closed his mouth. If it was an act, it was magnificent. But did Dragons act like humans?

Cullen recalled the legends. Dragons had stayed here for countless ages to keep their word. Whether it was to satisfy their innate ferocity or for whatever reason.

If this being wasn’t acting… was he perhaps close to his mother? This contradicted the Emperor’s statement. He had implied the Dragon was involved in his mother’s death. Who was lying?

Cullen set aside his increasingly tangled thoughts and slowly opened his mouth.

“My mother is dead.”

Silence descended. The blue eyes, which had curved softly like melting snow, slowly returned to their normal shape. The Dragon, who had been about to form a semblance of a smile, looked at Cullen with a blank face.

“Is that so.”

A short reply.

“She said she would look for me first when she returned… I suppose so.”

As if the excitement from a few moments ago was a mere illusion, the Dragon spoke indifferently. His gaze, as if searching for something, swept over Cullen, and the Dragon stepped back. The breath that had made Cullen so tense at close range receded. The faint scent also faded.

The Dragon, instantly devoid of vitality, slowly turned his body. Without a word, he walked into the shadow where the moonlight did not reach, avoiding the egg Cullen had almost stepped on earlier. His back grew faint, as if he would disappear.

Cullen, who had been holding his breath as if he had witnessed a secret scene, opened his mouth. His thoughts were not yet fully organized, but his heart was urgent. He called out in a low voice.

“I came to find you to ask about my mother.”

Cullen quickly followed the Dragon. He didn’t forget to avoid the egg. Cullen grabbed the hem of the white robe and turned the Dragon around.

Unlike before, the Dragon did not push him away forcefully. He merely gazed at Cullen with a face half-immersed in darkness. The golden pupils glinted. Cullen’s eyes traced the bloodstain he had made.

It was irritating.

The reaction he showed upon hearing his mother’s name, and that bloodstain.

“About Ella?”

“I believe my mother was murdered.”

He swallowed the unspoken words, the implication that the Dragon might be behind it. He trusted neither the Emperor nor the Dragon. However, the joy the Dragon had shown for his mother felt different from the Emperor’s longing.

So Cullen decided to use the Dragon.

“But I know nothing about my mother. Perhaps I know less than you do.”

No matter how much Cullen wished, time had stolen his memories. The remnants of tragedy turned even happy scenes into pain.

He abandoned his longing to survive. All that remained in his memory was the scene of the massacre. His mother’s beautiful face, his father’s gentle smile, his younger sibling’s innocent back view, all gradually faded.

“Therefore, Dragon, I wish to propose a trade.”

There were no favors without a price. Everything required a commensurate value. Cullen didn’t know if he had anything the Dragon might want, but he spoke nonetheless, out of desperation.

“If you grant my wish, I will grant yours as well.”

Without knowing what path those words would lead him down.