Chapter 12
“I’ll do everything… I’ll do everything… I’ll do everything…”
The moment Lucy’s words echoed through the forest…
The smile on Edward’s face deepened in a strangely unsettling way.
A chill ran through the air.
Tepe and Gorgo instinctively exchanged glances.
His Grace is really going to teach her a lesson.
No one knew better than they did how Edward treated people once he’d decided to deal with them.
No matter how much of a swindler this woman seemed…
She was far too small and fragile to endure it.
She really picked the wrong person.
The anger and annoyance they had felt toward Lucy instantly gave way to a trace of pity.
They looked at her the way one looked at someone who was already beyond saving.
But Lucy didn’t even have the leisure to notice.
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
The thunder of the temple soldiers’ horses was growing closer with every passing second.
There’s no time!
Whether he understood her urgency or not…
Edward continued smiling.
“So you’ll do everything?”
“You think I’d stop at kisses? Duke—no, Master! If it’s for you, I’d do even more than that! Absolutely!”
“…”
“So please, hurry and stamp the contract! O-or you can stamp it later, just get the carriage mov—”
The smile vanished from Edward’s face.
His expression changed instantly.
“You’ll do anything for your master,” he repeated.
“I-is something wrong…?”
“What if your master changes?”
That’d be great for me—
The corners of Lucy’s lips almost rose before she hastily forced them back down.
Edward suddenly looked… frightening.
“So you’d do everything for someone else too.”
I’m not even the heroine! Why does that matter?!
Of course, she couldn’t actually say that.
Lucy sighed inwardly.
Well… I guess he’s uncomfortable with the idea.
Considering Edward’s personality, it wasn’t surprising.
After all, instead of simply choking someone to death, he’d just demonstrated the innovative method of covering both their nose and mouth.
This guy is creatively bad-tempered.
Someone like him could easily consider sharing a purifier with anyone else disgusting.
Wasn’t that how countless dark romance male leads behaved?
They considered anything intimate filthy.
They hated touching other people.
Then somehow…
Only the heroine became the exception.
Besides The Dragon’s Last Bride, Lucy had devoured countless mature, dark romance novels back in the shelter before her reincarnation.
Thinking of all of them, she shook her head.
As long as I’m a purifier, avoiding physical contact is impossible.
Fortunately…
Considering he’d personally covered her nose and mouth earlier…
He seemed willing to tolerate ordinary contact.
He simply couldn’t stand the thought of having a purifier who had shared her body with other people.
“Then who exactly have you purified that makes you so confident?”
…Judging by the way he asked.
I’ve never even had a boyfriend. Not in my previous life or this one.
Who exactly was she supposed to have purified?
Lucy fought to keep herself from frowning in indignation.
Edward, meanwhile, wasn’t in a much better mood.
She likes me.
So who exactly has she been purifying that makes her so confident she’s a useful purifier?
She was even proudly bragging about it…
In front of the man she supposedly liked.
Does she have any sense at all?
She’d been acting so adorably that he’d simply watched in amusement.
But the moment another man entered the equation…
For some reason…
He disliked it.
Who dares lay a hand on my little mouse…
Just as Edward’s eyes began narrowing—
Clatter!
Hoofbeats sounded directly behind them.
With no time left to think…
Lucy instinctively shouted,
“Who else could it be?! It’s you, Your Grace!”
“…Me?”
“You know I was Lady Sefina’s experimental subject! Every passionate moment you’ve ever had with her came from my purification power!”
My purification power…
My purification power…
My purification power…
Once again…
Her voice echoed through the forest.
Lucy flinched.
She’d been the one to shout it…
But hearing it out loud made it sound strangely wrong.
Wasn’t she basically announcing…
That through Sefina…
Edward had technically been intimate with her as well?
As if the three of them had somehow shared that sort of relationship.
What kind of trashy mature-novel setting is this?
Granted…
Back then, the purification power of the other children had been mixed in as well.
But that wasn’t important right now.
Edward stared at her in complete disbelief.
Taking advantage of his stunned silence…
Lucy tightly clasped his hand and whispered,
“I’ve only ever known you, Your Grace…”
“And from now on…”
“I’ll only ever belong to you as your purifier.”
“…”
“So just like you promised—”
“His Grace Duke Edward de Tesseron!”
A booming voice echoed from beyond the trees.
“We have something we must discuss with you!”
It was one of the Holy Knights of the Temple.
“…Just move already, you damned Master!”
Lucy nearly burst into tears.
She reached for Edward’s collar—
Only to freeze.
He wasn’t wearing clothes she could grab.
He was clad in armor.
Even so…
She knew one thing for certain.
She couldn’t let go of him.
Thump!
In the end…
Lucy threw both arms around Edward’s neck.
He’s not going to throw me away all of a sudden… is he?
But as always…
Trying to undo what had already happened would only make things more awkward.
Instead of pulling away…
Lucy shamelessly clung to him.
“…Very well.”
Edward murmured quietly.
“Huh?”
Whoosh.
The next instant…
Lucy’s feet dangled helplessly in the air.
Edward had effortlessly lifted her into a princess carry.
“How troublesome.”
“I’ll be leaving first.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“We’ll take care of everything here.”
As though his actions were perfectly ordinary…
Tepe and Gorgo calmly drew their swords.
Don’t tell me… they’re actually going to fight the Temple’s Holy Knights?
Even if he was the Dragon Incarnation…
Wouldn’t that only make things worse?
Lucy was still trying to process everything when—
Rustle.
Countless golden particles gathered behind Edward’s back.
Like a shimmering mirage…
They formed the illusion of enormous golden wings.
A powerful skeletal frame.
Thin membranes resembling the wings of a bat.
That’s…
A dragon?
She barely had time to marvel before—
“H-hyaaaah!”
Whoosh!
Holding Lucy in his arms…
Edward shot into the sky like a launched rocket.
Lucy screamed as they soared upward.
Then…
She fainted.
* * *
Whoooooosh.
Even with her eyes closed…
She could feel the strange pressure rushing over her body.
The wind tearing past.
The sensation of defying gravity.
It felt exactly like riding a roller coaster at an amusement park.
…Ah.
Some forgotten memory from her previous life surfaced from the darkness.
…I really wanted to ride one.
“Big Sis! Let’s ride the roller coaster next!”
“Of course. Our baby sister should wear one of those cute headbands too! I’ll take lots of pictures.”
“And after that we’ll get churros over there—”
“Wait… what’s that?”
“Run!”
Before her reincarnation…
The first Gate Disaster had occurred on Lucy’s twentieth birthday.
She had been standing in line for a famous roller coaster with her older sisters.
Then…
The giant Ferris wheel overturned.
A Gate opened inside it.
Monsters poured out.
Naturally…
They fled for their lives.
She never got to ride the attraction.
Afterward…
The amusement park was permanently closed.
Even so…
Her bright, cheerful sisters had laughed.
“When everything’s over, let’s come back here.”
“Next time we’ll stay from morning until the evening parade!”
…That promise was never fulfilled.
Nor did her sisters…
Ever return from the militia.
Why?
Why did you leave only me behind?
Was I too weak?
Just baggage?
A burden?
You shouldn’t have done that.
I studied so hard.
You could’ve taken me with you.
No…
If you were only worried because I was weak…
Then you should’ve stayed with me instead.
See?
In the end…
I’m the only one riding the roller coaster.
I don’t want this…
“Wake up.”
A single calm voice pulled her wandering consciousness back to reality.
“Huh?”
Lucy slowly opened her eyes.
Everything around her was blue.
Blue over there.
Blue over here.
And white over there too.
What’s that? It looks just like a clo—
“AAAAAH!”
It really was a cloud.
And she was suspended high in the sky…
In Edward’s arms…
With nothing but open air beneath them.
“Don’t drop me!”
She immediately wrapped both arms tightly around Edward’s head.
