Chapter 26
“Then why did the princess send an invitation in my name?”
“……Perhaps because I refused the political marriage.”
“What? Political marriage?”
Elcai’s expression became one of utter disbelief.
“The 3rd princess to you?”
“Yes.”
Ednber, who answered calmly, lowered his gaze. It meant he didn’t want to say more about it.
“Seeing her send something like this, it seems her intentions haven’t been broken yet.”
Elcai, furrowing his brows, clicked his tongue. Tsk, this is getting headache-inducing.
Eokaste was famous for her ferocious personality.
Even though she was rumored to be the most beautiful among the princesses, she rarely received party invitations because of that.
‘If it becomes known that he received a marriage proposal from the princess, Ednber’s own marriage prospects won’t be smooth either.’
Everyone would keep their distance to avoid incurring the 3rd princess’s dislike.
In fact, even now, for a high noble, he was quite late in having no fiancée yet.
He had planned to look for one leisurely once the divine beast appeared and the family stabilized, but he hadn’t expected something like this to happen.
At Elcai’s worried demeanor, Edenber cut in decisively.
“You don’t need to worry. I already have someone I’ve promised marriage to.”
At those words, Asil covered her mouth with her front paw. How could he. To say it so confidently like that!
Meanwhile, Elcai, who couldn’t see Asil’s reaction, stopped his hand that was lifting the teacup.
His expression was colored with confusion and surprise.
“M-marriage? With whom?”
“We haven’t drawn up the contract yet, so I’ll tell you after everything is sorted out.”
“……Contract, you say. Just who the hell is it. Tell me which family’s who it is.”
Elcai’s hand touched the sword at his waist.
“I’ll go and check myself.”
“Pii……”
It seems like he’s going to go and kill them.
The scared Asil slowly moved away from Elcai.
Then, at Elcai’s following words, she startled and jumped up from the chair.
“Don’t you think it’s outrageous too? A marriage contract, of all things. Marriage is hard enough even when you like each other, what contract!”
“……Pii, pi-ya-pi. Pi-ya. Pi-yaa!” (……Ri, right. Outrageous. She’s totally outrageous!)
Asil, whose own foot was stinging, nodded vigorously until her neck grew stiff.
Edenber gazed steadily at Asil’s appearance.
“No. I think this marriage is quite good.”
As he said that, his stiffened expression softened slightly, and in that instant, Elcai became genuinely curious.
Just who was the young lady that could make his always rigid grandson’s expression so gentle like that.
From the way he spoke, it didn’t seem like someone he’d known for long, but to bring about such a change in a short time, it was enough to forget the outrageous talk of a contract and accept her as his grandson’s wife.
Just which family’s what child could it be…… Wait a moment.
“Are you talking about the apprentice priest from the temple, by any chance?”
“No.”
Edenber quickly turned serious.
“I judge it inappropriate to disclose matters that haven’t been settled yet, so please understand.”
“I see. But even so, we can’t ignore the princess’s invitation.”
“I plan to go to the capital.”
Edenber, who had relaxed his expression, let out a light sigh.
“I need to report this civil war as well, and announce the birth of the new divine beast, so I suppose I must attend the princess’s banquet too.”
“Yes. However, I wonder if this one can endure that ferocious princess.”
“……Piiit?” (……Ferocious?)
Asil, whose ears perked up, covered her mouth again with her front paw. Ferocious human?
“Piyat-pi pi-ya!” (Asil wants to meet the princess human!)
“Hm?”
“You want to meet the 3rd princess?”
The surprised Edenber asked back. Asil nodded vigorously.
“Pii!” (Yes!)
She had been feeling distraught lately because of the humans who kept preparing to attack in front of her.
If she imitated the princess who was said to be ferocious to humans, she too could become a ferocious dragon.
‘This time, I’ll become a ferocious dragon for sure!’
The greatly excited Asil snorted excitedly.
For some reason, at her appearance that looked thrilling, Edenber and Elkai made expressions as if they had no idea what was going on.
* * *
A while later, Asil headed to the capital with Edenber.
Elcai, who felt uneasy about sending just the two young ones, joined the schedule, and Selena joined to treat Elkai’s poison.
For escort, Dylan and a few other knights were attached.
It was composed of the minimum personnel because if they took the knight order to the capital, they would be accused of treason.
“Who’s going to the capital this time?”
“Me!”
“Me me me!”
Just a year ago, they had been pulling back from each other saying they wouldn’t go, but they decided who would go with rock-paper-scissors.
Until then, without a divine beast to serve, they had been intimidated just by encountering capital people, but now it was different.
The joys and sorrows of winners and losers crossed.
The winners performed fist pumps toward the sky and such.
The losers drooped their shoulders and felt sad.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’ll boast on your behalf too.”
“Yeah……. Make sure to boast that our lizard boss has a cute appearance but strength that’s not matching it.”
“Especially the Starrafit ducal house. Make sure to let those annoying kids know!”
The knights who were going to the capital were so excited that they couldn’t sleep.
Of course, there was also Dylan, who couldn’t get a wink of sleep for other reasons, dreaming every night of being chased by a lizard ghost.
He didn’t want to go, but he couldn’t skip out because he was Asil’s escort.
Unaware of this situation, Asil headed to the capital.
And the moment they arrived in the capital through the warp gate, she startled and gaped her mouth wide.
“Pii!”
To Asil, human streets were extremely novel.
The beastman’s forest pursued harmony with nature above all, so everywhere was quiet, making seeing a city developed for humans a tremendous stimulus.
And this reached its peak the moment they arrived in the capital.
The capital was a space where the empire’s latest trends gathered in one place.
It was full of sparkling things, things that made eyes spin, deafeningly noisy things, and chaotic things.
Her gaping mouth wouldn’t close.
“Pi-hyaa!”
Look at that sparkling white castle over there. And what about that golden castle that’s pointed as if it reaches the sky!
Because the buildings were so splendid, Asil mistook ordinary buildings for castles.
The sights weren’t just that.
“Pii-hya!”
When a noble lady passed by in a dress adorned with all sorts of lace and dangling jewels, Asil stuck to the carriage window like a bat.
Edenber, who was sitting opposite, was so startled that he came over.
“What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”
“Pii.” (Jewels are super pretty.)
As a dragon born to like sparkling things, Asil liked jewels.
The excited Asil’s tail spun like a windmill rapidly.
Edenber, who unintentionally got hit by it, slightly pressed it down with a cushion to narrow the range of movement.
Then he looked at the noble lady outside the window.
Even to him, who didn’t know much about jewels, she was adorned all over with extremely flashy and luxurious ones.
‘The financial situation isn’t great, but I should prepare them somehow.’
He could somehow buy one shop in the capital.
From the bear holy beast subjugation to the civil war. There was no place untouched by Asil’s influence.
He felt a great debt to Asil.
‘I want to do everything I can for her.’
What and how should he do it.
Lost in his own thoughts, he turned toward Asil at the suddenly heard question.
“Pi-ya-pi pi-ya?” (Does something like that require a lot of money?)
Asil was pointing at the white scarf a certain noble lady was wearing with her slender front paw.
‘Scarf……’
Edenber recalled the time he first met Asil.
At that time, she had definitely been wearing a plain white scarf around her neck. But now, she wasn’t wearing anything.
If it was because she got tired of it, well. Intuitively, it didn’t seem like that.
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By Anna 💓
