Camille (6)

Recently, Camille had been looking dejected.

Ever since I embraced Sera, it was because I had thoroughly given her the cold shoulder.

Did she not expect something like this? Or did she not know?

“Uhm, Helix..!”

“What.”

“Never mind…”

At her utterly dejected expression, I secretly felt a sense of triumph.

Because I wanted to see her desperately clinging to me.

Of course, I knew myself that it was a childish mindset.

But if I didn’t do even this, I couldn’t bear it.

Even going this far, I had to confirm if she truly loved me.

Because now, everything about Camille was suspicious to me.

[I’ve set the schedule for the night after tomorrow.]

For truly important matters, Camille would write a letter to deliver them.

And those important matters were usually requests for me to embrace a Dragon’s Priestess.

“Just how long are you going to keep this up…?”

Even with my cold treatment, Camille’s thoughts remained unchanged.

Because she never compromised on what she believed was right.

She was prepared to willingly endure even this current discord.

‘I know we can’t go back to how things were before…’

Since I had publicly declared it myself, I had to keep my promise.

Because I am a Dragon.

In this country, my words are like those of a god.

At the very least, I had to uphold what I uttered with my own mouth.

“This child is the second one.”

“This girl… isn’t she the one I saw in the kitchen?”

“Yes, she’s the one who diligently prepares your meals every day.”

“…”

As you know, I eat an enormous amount of meat.

Not only when I’m a Dragon, but also when I’m in human form, I eat a lot.

So, handling large cuts of meat is a given.

For a woman’s body to do it, it was by no means an easy task.

“That’s surprising.”

“What is?”

“Since you handle a butcher’s knife, I thought you’d have a very strong impression.”

The Dragon’s Priestess’s appearance, much more delicate than I expected, secretly surprised me.

“Hmm, I do hear that I look different from my impression. I heard that a lot even when I was in the Knights Division before.”

“Really? How did a Holy Knight end up here?”

“Because I wanted to serve Helix-nim directly.”

“…”

Becoming a Holy Knight is one of the greatest honors for the citizens of this Holy Dominion.

To think she abandoned even that for my sake.

Not knowing what to say, I was momentarily speechless.

“Your hand… can you show it to me once?”

“Of course.”

The Priestess’s hand, unlike a woman’s, was calloused.

It was clearly a hand that had held a sword.

“Doesn’t it smell like raw meat…?”

“A little?”

“Ahaha, but you shouldn’t mistake it for meat, okay? My hand isn’t for eating.”

The Dragon’s Priestess had a cheerful personality.

Thanks to her, the resentment-filled heart I had towards Camille eased a little.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Lev.”

“Alright, Lev. I’ll ask you one thing.”

“Yes.”

“Is it true that you came here yourself because you wanted to?”

Lev nodded slightly.

“Of course. I, I’ve liked Helix-nim ever since I first saw him.”

“After seeing my Dragon form?”

“That can’t be. Of course, it was your human form.”

“Why do you like me?”

“There’s no particular reason, really. I just like you because I like you.”

At Lev’s straightforward logic, I had nothing more to say.

And so, I slept with Lev.

Unlike her cheerful demeanor, Lev was surprisingly quiet.

Unlike the proactive Sera, was she completely ignorant in this area?

“You’ll… embrace me again, won’t you?”

“I’ll try.”

“Yes…”

After Lev, the frequency with which Camille brought them grew faster.

What used to be once a week was now reduced to about once every three days.

“S-Saint-nim… will it really be alright?”

“It’s alright, don’t be scared.”

Excited yet at the same time, the Dragon’s Priestesses were trembling.

Camille, as if she were a mother, held the Priestesses’ hands tightly and brought them before me.

“This girl is in charge of the temple’s security. Her name is Maria.”

“…”

“Honestly, I know you hate me, but can’t you at least answer?”

Camille, who went out of her way to explain each Priestess’s role.

Her trickery was so obvious that it annoyed me…

I couldn’t treat those girls carelessly.

Because they were the ones who, in unseen places, had silently served me.

“Ah, I’m so happy. Oh, Great Dragon-isiyeo…”

“Thank you for embracing this humble body…”

The Dragon’s Priestesses eagerly accepted me.

There was absolutely no coercion.

Even without that, those who wished to be embraced by me were overflowing.

“Damn it.”

But embracing many didn’t make me indifferent.

Rather, as the number of times increased, the miserable feeling grew stronger.

It truly felt like I had become a stud horse.

From a certain point, even when I wasn’t embracing the Priestesses, I was looking for alcohol.

Soberly, I had no confidence to live in this crazy place.

“Helix… are you alright?”

“What for?”

“No matter that you’re a Dragon, excessive drinking isn’t good for your body. Drink this instead…”

“Ha.”

Even Camille, who usually didn’t interfere with me, tried to dissuade me.

But did she know?

That even her words of concern for me felt hypocritical.

Was she perhaps more worried that I might get drunk and treat her sisters badly?

“Give it here.”

“Let go!”

Unable to overcome the surging intoxication, I…

right in front of Camille, ostentatiously threw the liquor bottle.

Crash!!

“If you’re not going to tell me to stop, get lost.”

“I’m sorry…”

With a sad look in her eyes, Camille left the room.

But even so, she never uttered the words “let’s stop now” until the very end.

*******

Time flowed, and seasons changed.

Still steeped in alcohol, I was killing time like a loafer.

But just as seasons change, and caterpillars metamorphose into butterflies…

for me too, a small trigger, an opportunity for change, arrived.

“Oh, what’s this?”

A Dragon’s Priestess was putting laundry into a basket to wash my clothes.

She too had shared a bed with me two weeks ago.

“Helix-nim, a handkerchief came out of your pocket…”

“Ah. This.”

Was it about last year?

It was the handkerchief that woman had given me back then.

At the time, I was too flustered to even properly introduce myself.

“Give it here.”

“I’ll wash it for you.”

“No, it’s alright. I’ll do it.”

I went to the laundry room and washed that handkerchief myself.

The woman who, despite my gruff behavior, steadfastly handed me the handkerchief.

So, this one thing I felt I had to do with my own hands.

“I should return it, shouldn’t I…?”

It seems quite expensive.

Moreover, seeing that it had initials embroidered in gold thread, it seemed like an item with some personal significance.

To think I had forgotten about this until now, living drunk.

Feeling ashamed, I washed the handkerchief even more diligently.

“I really need to quit drinking now… What a nuisance this is.”

Blaming myself, I searched for that place from back then.

Not remembering exactly, I wandered a bit.

Then, finally, I was able to arrive at that place.

“Was it here?”

Although I had arrived right in front of it, I didn’t have the courage to just barge in.

While I was hesitating for a moment…

“Screw it.”

Avoiding the gazes of those around me, I decided to enter the garden.

Since I’d already trespassed once, what’s a second time?

“She’s not here.”

After trespassing like that and entering the garden.

But the woman from back then was not visible.

“Figures.”

What I wanted to do right now, I didn’t even know myself.

To be loitering around trying to find a woman whose name I didn’t even know.

No matter how much I hated Camille these days, this felt a bit wrong.

“Should I just leave the handkerchief at the entrance…?”

It was while I was looking for the building’s entrance.

“Oh, you are…?”

A clear, beautiful voice, like jade beads rolling on a tray.

When I turned my head, a silver-haired woman was before my eyes.

It was her from back then.

“Sorry. For sneaking in.”

“No, not really… By the way, it’s been a really long time since we last met.”

“I came to return this.”

I held out the handkerchief to her.

“Ah, it’s my handkerchief. Did you come all this way just to return this?”

“Yes… I’m sorry for returning it so late.”

“But I told you that you didn’t have to return it…”

Honestly, I was worried.

To come uninvited to a woman’s residence just to return a handkerchief like this.

And to do so after almost half a year.

Even if she thought I had ulterior motives, I would have no words to say.

“Would you like a cup of tea? Treating a guest poorly is not the Empire’s etiquette.”

“Empire? Are you from the Empire?”

“Yes. Currently, due to circumstances, I’m staying here, but I am indeed from the Empire.”

Only then did the jet-black dress the woman was wearing catch my eye.

In the Holy Dominion, it was a design not easily seen.

If so, she might truly be from the Empire.

“It’s chamomile tea. It helps calm the mind.”

“Thank you for the tea.”

I sipped the tea given by the Imperial Princess.

Honestly, I don’t really know what taste people find in drinking something like this.

Still, thinking it was her kindness, I silently drank it.

“May I ask your name?”

“Helix.”

“Helix? That’s the same name as the Holy Dominion’s Guardian Dragon, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Because I am that Guardian Dragon.”

At that moment, as if she didn’t understand, the woman blinked her eyes.

“Really?”

“It’s true.”

“But you’re human.”

“Well, on the surface, yes.”

Whoosh!!

Using Polymorph, I changed my form into that of a baby Dragon.

If I took on the form of an adult Dragon, this whole area would turn into a wasteland.

“Squeak.”

“Oh my…”

Startled, the woman almost dropped her teacup.

Fortunately, only a little tea spilled, and she managed to catch it just in time.

“It’s real, isn’t it?”

“It is, indeed. I was so surprised.”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then raised her index finger.

“Just once.”

“Huh?”

“Just one more time, can you show me that form?”

“My baby Dragon form?”

“Yes…”

It wasn’t difficult.

I used Polymorph again and took on the form of a baby Dragon.

“So cute…”

“Squeak.”

“Can I touch you?”

When I nodded silently, the woman carefully approached and stroked my back and head.

The Dragon’s Priestesses too, do women originally like the baby form like this?

Yet Camille, when I cling to her, she’d grimace, saying it was annoying.

“Hehe, how cute…”

Being stroked was nice, but there was something I wanted to ask her.

When I returned to my human form, the woman made a regretful expression.

At this rate, wouldn’t it be better for her to raise a pet separately?

“What’s your name?”

“Vivian. My name is Vivian.”

“Vivian, why did you come all the way here from the Empire?”

“Hmm… There’s a complicated reason.”

Vivian showed me the metal cross hanging on her necklace.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Isn’t it the symbol of the Imperial Family of the Empire?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The symbol of the Imperial Family could not be worn by just anyone.

Either the Imperial Guard, or if not, then…

“What? You were an Imperial Princess?”

“Yes… Well, even though I’m an Imperial Princess, I’m an illegitimate child, so I have no right of succession.”

“…”

“Would you listen? To my story. Actually, it’s closer to a lament than a story…”

“Yes. Tell me.”

Vivian is said to be the 13th Imperial Princess of the Empire.

An Imperial of another country had not many reasons to stay in this Holy Dominion.

She was a hostage sent by the Empire to the Holy Dominion.

However, this was not sent for surrender negotiations, but as a gesture of goodwill.

So, the Holy Dominion side doesn’t particularly treat Vivian with hostility.

“Still, I was quite lucky.”

“Why?”

“If I had remained in the Empire, I would undoubtedly have had to marry an old noble.”

“…”

“For illegitimate Imperial Princesses, that’s usually how it ends up.”

Vivian smiled bitterly.

At that smile, as if she had given up everything, my chest ached.

The thought of wanting to help her came to me.

But how?

Unless I waged war with the Empire, I couldn’t save Vivian.

Of course, if I, a Dragon, forcibly advocated for war, the citizens of the Holy Dominion would follow.

But to change the life of one woman, I couldn’t make countless people bleed.

“Vivian. What’s most important in the Empire?”

“In the Empire…? Hmm…”

Vivian pondered for a moment, then parted her lips.

“Ability, it’s ability.”

“…”

“In the Empire, those who forge their own path in life and those who cannot are divided by the presence or absence of ability.”

“Unfortunately, I belong to the latter.”

Vivian’s eyes, sinking into darkness.

They were the eyes of someone who had struggled in despair and eventually resigned themselves.

“I don’t like that.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, a desire to meddle welled up within me.

She, who had shown me a small kindness.

But to me at that time, it had been no small comfort.

If there was anything I could do to help, I wanted to help.

“That ability, if you want it, shall I give it to you?”

“Huh…?”

“You said if you had ability, you could live your own life.”

Vivian gently nodded her head.

“Yes, if I only had ability… anything would be possible.”

“As a Dragon, I can only give you one thing.”

“What is that…?”

“What else would it be? Magic, of course.”

That was the first and last time in my life I meddled.