Vivian (10)

After Helix’s disappearance, the Imperial military was, quite literally, turned upside down.

“Why did the Dragon-nim disappear without any contact?!”

“This is a disaster. How are we supposed to handle Her Majesty’s wrath now…”

Everyone instinctively knew.

That a scapegoat was absolutely necessary to take responsibility for this situation.

“Isn’t this all the Magic Corps’ fault? They couldn’t even break a single barrier, forcing the Dragon-nim to step forward personally, didn’t they?!”

“No, why is that our fault? If we’re going to strictly assign blame, the responsibility lies with the anti-air unit that didn’t pay attention to the Dragon-nim’s advance route beforehand!”

The Imperial military generals belatedly scrambled to evade responsibility for this situation.

But… they didn’t know one thing.

That who was at fault or not wasn’t a particularly important issue to the Empress.

“So… you still haven’t found Helix’s whereabouts after a week?”

“We are ashamed, Your Majesty…”

“A week, I’ll give you a week…”

Vivian delivered her ultimatum in an eerie voice.

“If you find Helix within that time, I’ll let you off with just resigning from the military. But if you can’t find him…”

“…”

Gulp, all the generals gathered there swallowed hard.

“You will pay the appropriate price for it. Remember that.”

“We obey your command, Your Majesty…”

There was no other way now.

They had to beg the elves, whom they had been pointing their guns at just moments before, to find out the Dragon’s whereabouts.

“Please, tell us the Dragon’s whereabouts. If you do, we will release all the elf prisoners we have captured!”

“We know nothing of it.”

“No, then did the Dragon-nim ascend to the sky, or vanish into the earth?! He clearly moved into your forest!”

“If the Dragon had attacked our barrier, there would be traces left. What do you expect us to do when there’s nothing?”

The Daesurim side feigned ignorance, claiming they knew nothing at all.

If they had wanted something, there might have been some room for negotiation…

But they refused all dialogue, as if the Dragon itself was their sole objective.

In the end, to survive, the generals had no choice but to change their approach.

“No matter how I think about it, it seems those elf bastards have captured and imprisoned the Dragon.”

“Perhaps they killed him and are now pretending not to know because they can’t handle the aftermath.”

If that were the case, everyone would be finished.

Both they, who caused the Dragon’s death, and the Daesurim, who killed the Dragon.

All of them would incur the Empress’s wrath and could be considered dead men.

“The probability of that is low. Even if not as much as the Holy Dominion, they also have a custom of revering Dragons.”

“Are you certain?”

“It’s information obtained from interrogating elf prisoners. Although not to the extent of the World Tree, who can be called their leader, they do have a reverence for transcendent beings. So, at the very least, they wouldn’t have taken his life.”

At that, the surrounding generals breathed a sigh of relief.

If the Dragon was merely imprisoned, they could somehow retrieve him, but if he were already dead, there would be nothing they could do.

“That’s a relief, at least. In that case, how about we formulate a plan to rescue the Dragon?”

“It won’t be easy with our strength alone. We should rather involve Her Majesty directly.”

“Her Majesty, you say?”

“Indeed. I don’t want to admit it, but the elves’ defenses are by no means trivial. At the very least, Her Majesty’s personal guard must also be deployed in this operation for there to be a higher chance of success.”

There was a point to that.

But how could they possibly request the Empress to deploy her personal guard?

“We have no choice but to tell Her Majesty directly that the Dragon is in the forest.”

“But to tell a lie…”

“If we stay like this, we’ll all die. Her Majesty is the most anxious right now. Her consort has gone missing; do you think she wouldn’t deploy her personal guard for something like that?”

All the generals who knew the Empress were aware of her obsession with the Dragon.

After all, this war itself had begun under the slogan of the Dragon ruling the world.

“Very well, then let’s proceed in that direction.”

“Wait. There’s one more thing I’d like to say.”

“What is it?”

“No matter how I think about it, I believe it will be difficult to completely appease Her Majesty’s anger with this matter alone.”

The generals, knowing Vivian’s personality, nodded with expressions of anguish.

Even if this operation succeeded and they saved their lives, they would have to give up many things they had enjoyed until now.

“Failure means death anyway. So, if we’re going to make a scene, why not do it spectacularly?”

“Explain in a little more detail.”

“How about we provoke Her Majesty’s jealousy? So that the target of her anger is directed at that forest, not us.”

“…”

The generals stirred at the completely unexpected proposal.

It was certainly dangerous, but to overcome this crisis, they needed to take risks.

“In what way, you mean?”

“Over the past few days, while interrogating elf prisoners, we’ve gained a lot of information about them. Have any of you heard of the Daughter of the World Tree?”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s a long story to explain, but you can think of her as the next successor to the World Tree.”

As everyone watched with curious eyes, the general further elaborated his plan.

“According to historical records, there are quite a few instances of Dragons in the past marrying these Daughters of the World Tree.”

“That makes sense, as the World Tree and Dragons are treated as transcendent beings…”

“Are you saying they marry according to their status?”

“Indeed. That’s precisely it.”

Then, one general suddenly stood up, slapping his knee as if he had realized something.

“I understand. You’re suggesting we exploit Her Majesty’s inferiority complex.”

“Exactly. We don’t even need to state it definitively. Just by citing examples and mentioning one of many possibilities, Her Majesty will become fixated on it.”

Of course, if they did it clumsily, they would only incur the Empress’s wrath.

“First, let’s prepare a report for Her Majesty. A report that subtly includes the reason this incident occurred and our deductions.”

Surviving wasn’t difficult.

But merely surviving held no meaning.

Just as Vivian did, they too were merely twisting themselves to hold onto what they had in their grasp, for the sake of what they pursued.

*****

The Imperial Palace.

Before they knew it, a season had changed, and now the nights were chilly.

Vivian, clad only in a thin evening slip dress, sat perched on the terrace, gazing endlessly at the pitch-black night sky.

“Haa…”

Vivian let out a deep sigh.

Contrary to her indifferent expression, Vivian’s heart was more complicated than ever.

Two weeks had already passed since Helix went missing.

But no reports of him being found had come in yet.

“Those damn bastards…”

Vivian ground her teeth.

If it were up to her, she would have wanted to chop off all the generals’ heads, but she had to hold back for now.

Because even those stupid bastards were better than nothing when it came to finding Helix.

“Where on earth are you, you…”

Vivian was suddenly seized with fear.

Wondering if Helix had perhaps grown tired of her and just left.

Of course, she knew he was absolutely not that kind of man…

But like a guilty conscience, all the wrongs she had done to him over time came flooding back.

“It’s not true, it’s not true, Helix wouldn’t leave me…”

Vivian repeated the same words over and over.

By now, it was a monologue bordering on a plea.

Knock-knock.

A knocking sound was heard.

For someone to dare seek her out in the middle of the night meant it was an urgent matter.

Instead of answering, Vivian flung open the door.

“What is it?”

“Your, Your Majesty…”

The one who knocked was a young maid, barely fifteen.

As she worked in the Imperial Palace, her appearance was quite beautiful, but there was one peculiar thing.

Her appearance was remarkably similar to Helix when he polymorphed into a girl.

Black hair, fair skin, and even bright yellow eyes…

Except for the horns on his head and his vertical pupils, she looked so much like his younger sister.

“The Imperial generals have sent a report… this…”

“Alright.”

Vivian quickly scanned the documents.

It turned out to be a booklet containing an incident report and future plans.

No doubt, it was filled with their desperate excuses.

Feeling no anticipation, Vivian stopped reading the documents and tossed them onto the bed.

“He hasn’t come back.”

“Your Majesty…”

“You want him to come back quickly too, don’t you?”

“Yes, I hope he returns to Your Majesty’s side soon.”

The maid smiled faintly, but sincerely.

In truth, she was an entirely unremarkable maid otherwise.

She wasn’t eloquent, nor was she particularly clever at her work.

She had been given the important duty of guarding Vivian’s bedroom simply because she resembled Helix.

“Are you going to stay here?”

“Oh, no. I’ll return immediately!”

“No, just stay here. It’s too quiet without him.”

Vivian, who was as fierce as a tiger to her direct subordinates, was never harsh with this maid.

Her guilt towards Helix was not unrelated to this.

“Drink.”

“How, how could I dare…”

“Don’t fuss and just sit. I just need someone to confide in.”

Vivian personally poured wine for the maid and offered it to her.

It was so low in alcohol content that it was practically fruit juice, but…

“Do you have a lover?”

“A, a lover…? Not at all, I don’t have one at all!”

The maid shook her head frantically, startled, and Vivian chuckled, tilting her glass.

“Good, well done. At least don’t get one while you’re in my sight.”

“Yes…”

“You know, don’t you? The reason you’re here is as a substitute for Helix. When Helix polymorphs into a girl, he looks just like you.”

“The Dragon-nim… why in a female form…?”

“Because I ordered him to. Not to show his male form in front of other women.”

Vivian let out a languid smile, tipsy from the alcohol.

But the maid flinched and trembled.

The jealousy hidden within, like a thorn, was enough to make her skin prickle.

“Do you like Helix too?”

“He’s a kind person…”

“As a man?”

“Not at all…”

“Mm, yes, good answer. That’s enough.”

Vivian took another drink.

The maid merely held her breath, observing her mistress’s mood.

“Hmph, I’m a bit tipsy now, so I guess I can look at the report those idiots wrote, right? Bring it to me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty…!”

At Vivian’s command, the maid quickly got up and handed her the report that had been tossed onto the bed.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing, Your Majesty…”

Vivian slowly scanned the report, her face flushed.

As she read, a strange light flickered in Vivian’s eyes…

And she let out a scoff, a hollow laugh.

“Ha. They’re trying to be clever, aren’t they?”

“Your Majesty…?”

The Empress’s eyes, filled with rage, gleamed.

Her flashing red eyes were full of murderous intent.

“They must think I’m a complete fool…”

What enraged Vivian was a passage in the report.

[Traces of the Dragon’s fall discovered near the Daesurim barrier.]

[High probability that the Dragon is being held captive in the Daesurim.]

[The Daughters of the World Tree have historically considered Dragons as their consorts.]

[Note: Research Report on Daesurim and the World Tree.]

The report’s wording, which added credibility by including notes.

Although they were ugly individuals squirming to avoid losing their power, they weren’t fools.

They must have had some confidence to dare present such content to her.

“Alright, I’ll play along for now. But they’ll have to pay the price later.”

The document clutched in Vivian’s hand was crumpled with a crunch.

The young maid trembled, trying hard to hold back her tears at her enraged mistress’s fury.

“You’re coming with me too.”

“Me? Where to…?”

“To the Daesurim.”

Vivian’s eyes gleamed eerily.

Red, even redder, as if foreshadowing the coming turmoil.