THE DAY XENOPES INVADED.
INSIDE THE BURNING PALACE OF HENBURG, I THOUGHT OF DEATH.
WAITING FOR DEATH WAS FAR MORE TERRIFYING THAN DYING ITSELF—
WATCHING MY MOTHER, MY FATHER, AND MY SIBLINGS LOSE THEIR HEADS,
I PRAYED THEY WOULD JUST KILL ME QUICKLY INSTEAD.
UNTIL THE BLADE CAME CRASHING DOWN ON MY NECK,
I KEPT THINKING ONLY OF DEATH.
AND THEN, I OPENED MY EYES AGAIN.
GASP...
SOB...
UGH...
I THINK OF DEATH,
AND ONCE MORE,
I THINK OF DEATH,
AND THINK,
AND THINK...
YET IT NEVER COMES.
THE LINE OF OUR DESCENDANTS WHO BEAR NOBLE BLOOD SHALL NEVER BE BROKEN!
FOR IT IS THE BLESSING OF THE DRAGON BESTOWED UPON HENBURG!
HOW DARE THEY CALL THIS HORROR A BLESSING?
PLEASE SPARE ME.
I-I'LL DO ANYTHING. JUST LET ME LIVE.
PLEASE SPARE MY LIFE.
PLEASE, I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT...
EVEN IF I TELL YOU TO KILL YOUR OLDER BROTHER AGAIN?
ONLY AFTER STABBING MY BROTHER'S COLD CORPSE DOZENS OF TIMES
WAS I FINALLY ABLE TO REACH MOND PALACE.
IF ASKED WHETHER LIFE IN THE PALACE, FINALLY AWAY FROM THE BLADE, WAS EASY...
I CANNOT SAY.
UM... YOUR MAJESTY, WHAT IS THIS?
MEDICINE TO MAKE YOU BARREN.
TAKE IT WITHOUT FAIL. RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES.
EVEN AFTER THAT, THROUGH REPEATED DEATHS AND REGRESSIONS,
THE TIME I STAYED ALIVE GREW LONGER AND LONGER.
AS MUCH AS I WHITTLED MYSELF AWAY TO SUIT ANTON, HE GREW RATHER FOND OF ME.
HE DIDN'T LOVE ME, OF COURSE, BUT IT WAS ENOUGH.
STILL, HE DESPISED BORING WOMEN.
HE DESPISED DEVOTED WOMEN, TOO.
WHENEVER SOME TIME PASSED, HE WOULD KILL ME, CLAIMING I WAS NO FUN ANYMORE.
THEN I WOULD BEG, SMILE, AND FLATTER HIM AGAIN, SURVIVING LIKE A DOG.
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT OUR NEWLY ASSIGNED ESCORT KNIGHT?
THEY SAY HE'S THE WAR HERO FROM THE RUMORS.
AH, YOU MEAN THE CAPTAIN?
I'VE ALREADY SEEN HIM. HE FELT TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER ESCORT KNIGHTS.
IS THAT RUMOR TRUE, THOUGH?
THAT HE LED THE WAR TO VICTORY BY SLAYING A DRAGON?
A DRAGON...
CAN ACTUALLY BE KILLED?
IF A DRAGON CAN DIE...
CAN I PUT AN END TO THIS CURSED BLESSING?
UM, CAPTAIN...
WHAT IS IT?
...NO. IT'S NOTHING.
TIME SLIPPED AWAY HELPLESSLY LIKE THAT...
UNTIL ANTON EVENTUALLY GREW SICK OF ME.
HIS COLD GAZE WAS CRUELER THAN ANTON'S BLADE.
THIS TIME, I MUST GET CLOSE TO HIM.
I HAVE NO CHOICE. YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO KILL A DRAGON.
IF THIS LIFE DOESN'T WORK, THERE IS ALWAYS THE NEXT.
IF NOT IN THE NEXT LIFE, THEN THE ONE AFTER THAT.
IF I KEEP TRYING, SOMEDAY...
SOMEDAY, IT SURELY WOULD WORK?
...WHO IS IT?
THE MISTRESS OF THIS PALACE.
CAPTAIN. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO SLAY ANOTHER DRAGON?
I DO NOT.
THE ONLY REASON I SLEW THE DRAGON OF THE NINE HEAVENS
WAS BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONLY ANSWER TO THE WAR.
HAD THERE BEEN ANOTHER WAY, I WOULD NOT HAVE SLAIN IT.
IS IT BECAUSE THE LOOK ON HIS FACE IN MY PAST LIFE KEEPS HAUNTING ME?
WHENEVER I SPEAK WITH HIM, SOMETHING WELLS UP IN MY THROAT.
WHY WOULDN'T YOU SLAY A DRAGON IF THERE WERE ANOTHER WAY?
BECAUSE A BLESSING IS A MAGNIFICENT THING.
A MAGNIFICENT THING, YOU SAY...
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT DAMN 'MAGNIFICENT THING' HAS GIVEN ME?
WELL? HAS DOMINIC FALLEN FOR YOU YET?
FALLEN FOR ME? YOUR MAJESTY IS THE ONLY ONE FOR ME.
IT WON'T BE EASY.
CAPTAIN LEGENON IS RIGID AND SHARP.
HE DETESTS FOOLISH, FLIRTATIOUS WOMEN LIKE YOU.
YET YOU SEEM TO LIKE ME, YOUR MAJESTY.
YOU'RE NOT BAD.
THEN THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS.
WHERE DOES HE USUALLY GO ONCE HIS SHIFT ENDS?
THE KING IS WARY OF DOMINIC.
...HE NEVER APPEARS BEFORE ME OUTSIDE OF DUTY HOURS.
SO I WOULDN'T KNOW.
I SEE.
OH, HONESTLY... WHY MUST YOU ONLY TALK ABOUT OTHERS?
IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE YOUR LAST VISIT.
I DREAD HIM COMMANDING ME TO WIN DOMINIC'S HEART.
IF I FAIL, THE KING WILL KILL ME,
AND I KNOW FAILURE IS ALL BUT CERTAIN.
LIFE ALWAYS TWISTS VIOLENTLY WITH THE SLIGHTEST CHANGE,
AND A SINGLE BRIEF WORD LEAVES BEHIND ENDLESS RIPPLES.
SO THIS VERY MOMENT MIGHT NOT EXIST IN THE NEXT LIFE.
WITH THE MAN WHO ONCE WATCHED ME DIE WITH AN INDIFFERENT GAZE.
SHARING THE REASONING OF THE HEART
YOUR HIGHNESS, THE KING IS COMING.
YOUR HIGHNESS...!
IT IS RARE FOR THE KING TO SEEK ME OUT AT SUCH A LATE HOUR.
AND IT USUALLY ENDS BADLY.
WHY?
WHY TONIGHT OF ALL TIMES?
WHAT FOR? WHY WOULD HE COME AT THIS HOUR?
COUGH,
COUGH...!!
UGH...
I KNEW IT.
AM I GOING TO DIE THIS TIME JUST THE SAME?
WITHOUT CHANGING A SINGLE THING, JUST LIKE THAT-
AH...!
Y-YOUR MAJESTY.
YOUR MAJESTY, I CAN WALK ON MY...
GOOD EVENING, SIR.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU RUNNING HERE IN SUCH HASTE?
On the day the Xenoplas burned Henburg Palace, the narrator watches her family's execution, wishes for a quick death as the blade falls on her neck, and opens her eyes again. She learns that this is the dragon's blessing granted to Henburg. Begging to live and stabbing her older brother's corpse, she reaches Mond Palace, drinks the sterilizing drug, curries favor with Anton, and survives through repeated cycles of death and return. She decides to approach her new escort knight, the dragon-slayer Captain Dominic, hoping to end the cursed blessing.
