“When I regressed, I knew who my father was.”

Peon said calmly as he brushed Kaella’s long hair. Grooming long hair was no easy task, but he had been taking care of it entirely since Kaella collapsed after being poisoned, spending a long time combing her hair.

“From then on, I… changed a lot. My eyes became clearer, my ears sharper, and I realized there was a power inside me that I didn’t know about…”

He muttered as he slowly brushed the shiny platinum blonde hair.

“I also realized that I had been forcibly suppressed all this time. As if I was bound not to realize the power within me.”

He would have explained in more detail if Kaella had asked, but she just listened silently. So he didn’t ramble on about it either.

“Once you start to realize, it gets faster after that. Gradually…, I break free from being just the ‘Grand Duke of Lussenford’.”

Blue eyes that had shaken off drowsiness looked straight at him.

“Your Highness is a dragon.”

“I’m also your husband, Kaella.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“It’s a very important identity to me. Every time something went wrong with you, I broke away from being human even faster.”

Kaella knew what the unfamiliar sense of discomfort was as she looked into those violet eyes filled with that discomfort. It was the discomfort felt when a non-human being disguises and acts like a human. She was newly reminded that he was not human.

“Then, you don’t feel the need to follow human ways anymore.”

And that discomfort always brings fear to humans. Fear of a being with overwhelming power that humans have no way to deal with.

“This is why the first emperor used every method to get a promise from my father not to use magic. It’s not pleasant to have a being that could stomp on them if they got a little angry.”

“…Do you want to stomp on them?”

“Sometimes.”

Peon answered honestly. The violet eyes darkened.

“Don’t be afraid since I won’t do anything to you.”

He smiled kindly. Especially for the easily frightened Kaella, this bizarre story and the atmosphere Peon was subtly giving off could be scary. She was very sensitive, so she had already noticed that the words he was letting slip were not just passing remarks, but sufficiently dangerous.

But after thinking quietly for a moment, she replied.

“I think it’s too late to be afraid now.”

She was already sharing daily life with Peon, and even now she was sitting in his arms. It was too late to run away in fear now.

He held Kaella tighter and kissed her.

“It’s very late.”

“Do you still want to stomp on them?”

“I’ll want to more often when we go to Krain. I have reasons to be angry.”

Peon, who had suffered all kinds of abuse including insults and contempt from a very young age, had enough reasons.

“When I regressed, I swore to take revenge. I also thought I would correct all the wrongs. Wasn’t I a bit different in Krain?”

He was different. Very different. From marrying Kaella without a word of protest and cutting ties with Beatrice, he was different. No, he was different from the start by saving Count Ostein.

“I regressed around that time. My goal was to survive well and plan for the future. But as I moved away from being human, survival became effortless, so I keep having other thoughts.”

Kaella sensed the answer that was coming as she looked into those impassive violet eyes.

“It would be easier to just kill them all, why am I wearing all these formalities?”

It was exactly as she had thought. Peon was a natural disaster. An unavoidable calamity. Kaella knew this even before she regressed.

“Can you kill them all?”

“I can kill them.”

“Like in a war?”

“No, you wouldn’t want to know.”

“Then I’ll keep not knowing.”

“Alright.”

Peon chuckled.

“Can I ask something else?”

“You can ask anything.”

“Then why are you holding back?”

“After regressing, I learned a lot of new things.”

Even after hearing such a frightening story, sleep came easily. Her weakened body from the long journey tired easily. Kaella was already sprawled in her husband’s arms.

“Don’t worry. It’s a bit fun too. It’s amusing to see them create something called high society and politics among themselves, oppressing each other with all sorts of complicated rules and squabbling.”

That was truly a statement of someone who had completely transcended humanity, but Kaella couldn’t even tell if she had said it or not. She fell into a deep sleep without even realizing she had closed her eyes.

*

After being seen off by Count and Countess Soros at Poppy Hill, where wild poppies bloomed in profusion, the Grand Duke and Duchess of Lussenford hurried their steps towards Krain, overflowing with rumors and people. They would soon meet the Count and Countess Soros again in Krain.

The Grand Duke and Duchess of Lussenford arrived in Krain after a considerably long journey. Given the distance between Krain and Lussenford, it was natural, but the journey was further delayed as the Grand Duke paid special attention to the Duchess’s health.

A long carriage journey is tough for anyone. The Duchess, who emerged from the carriage that stopped at the Lussenford Grand Duke’s townhouse in Krain, couldn’t hide her tired appearance. The Grand Duke even lifted her by the waist and carried her down as she was getting out.

“Welcome, Your Highness. Your Grace.”

Even seeing the Grand Duke carrying the Duchess in, the townhouse employees skillfully showed no expression.

Before departing from Lussenford, the Grand Duke had taken ‘appropriate precautions’ regarding those working in the townhouse. In short, he had absolutely prevented any insubordination or act defying common sense towards the Duchess.

The employees underwent comprehensive re-education, and the butler in charge was appointed by the Empress herself. All the employees working here were people from Krain, whom Kaella would feel more comfortable with.

“Has anything happened in the meantime?”

“Other than His Majesty the Emperor’s order to come for an audience at the Imperial Palace as soon as you arrive, nothing, Your Highness.”

Peon’s brow furrowed instantly. At times like this, he felt like stomping the entire Imperial Palace. It wouldn’t be bad to rush in right now and break the legs of the Emperor who didn’t even think about his niece who had endured a difficult journey.

Peon looked down. Kaella was staring up at him.

“Ah, I’m sorry, dear. You must be tired.”

His small wife is very sensitive. She immediately senses the moment his mood quietly twists. Peon quickened his steps, urging his wife to go inside. The townhouse butler was secretly surprised to see the usually taciturn Peon becoming talkative with his wife.

“It’s late, so we’ll go to the Imperial Palace tomorrow.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“We’ll rest.”

“Yes.”

After dismissing the butler, Peon looked down at Kaella again.

“What is it?”

“Let’s just go to the Imperial Palace now.”

That capricious and petty Emperor was likely to make a fuss if they didn’t come as he ordered.

“If we go to the Imperial Palace now, this Imperial family might be completely cut off, Kaella.”

The man who never boasts muttered the fact calmly.

“I want you to rest.”

“I will rest.”

Kaella made an extremely rational and wise choice as a human. Her instincts told her that those words were not just bluster. The entire Crania Empire should be grateful to her for quietly averting a potential disaster.

The sun was already setting anyway. Kaella fell asleep in Peon’s arms without even recalling her old memories of the Lussenford townhouse.

*

The next day, Peon gazed at the Krain cityscape with expressionless eyes. Whenever he returned here, he used to be excited and hopeful, wondering if he would be able to see his mother this time, but the Krain cityscape he saw again now didn’t evoke any emotion.

A metropolis with a population of hundreds of thousands, the city every diplomat dreams of, a beautiful city where art blooms, but Peon turned away from the balcony after boring1y appreciating the city.

“Your Highness.”

Before Kaella could call him, he turned around with a gleam in his eyes. Peon wiped away his indifferent expression and smiled.

There were few moments when he was away from his wife, one of which was when he was preparing to go out. So Peon was starting to gradually assist even in changing his wife’s clothes.

Of course, it was the maids’ job to style her hair elaborately or apply makeup, but Peon wanted to get his hands on everything about his wife.

“Are you ready?”

Although she could have slept in, Kaella, despite being tired, got up early in the morning and hurriedly prepared to go to the Imperial Palace. It was obvious that the Emperor would be angry again for not coming right away.

Unlike her husband, who was now indifferent to whatever the Emperor might say, Kaella, with the hierarchy of Krain and the imperial order ingrained to her bones, thought it was better to enter the Imperial Palace as early as possible.

“Yes. Let’s go quickly.”

Wearing the necklace she often wore when she was just the daughter of Count Ostein and the engagement ring that used to be the Empress’s ring, she gave an overall modest impression. Her face was half-covered, and below her eyes, there were shadows that couldn’t be hidden even with makeup.

Peon, who wanted to let her sleep lazily until the afternoon and then feed her the foods she used to enjoy in Krain when she woke up, suppressed his uncomfortable feelings.

“Alright. Let’s go and come back quickly.”

The couple boarded the waiting carriage and headed to the Imperial Palace. It doesn’t take long to get from the townhouse to the Imperial Palace. It’s just that the waiting time to have an audience with the Emperor takes a long time.

The Emperor, already irritated that they didn’t come right away yesterday but today, would certainly not meet them immediately. Although they brought gifts, knowing they couldn’t go empty-handed, they had to be prepared to wait for hours.

“Please wait here.”

The Imperial Palace, visited after the change of seasons, remained the same. It hadn’t changed much, and everything was boring. Kaella obediently sat in the waiting room as guided by the attendant. From now on, they had to wait for the Emperor’s call, not knowing when he would summon them, unable to do anything, eat, or drink.

Peon, looking at Kaella whom he had carried, fed, bathed, and put to sleep since yesterday evening in the carriage, once again suppressed the irritation that was slowly boiling up. The fragile Duchess was visibly tired from waking up too early.

Even in Lussenford, he made sure she had duties to perform as the Duchess so she wouldn’t have time for other thoughts, but that was enough with just one or two tasks a day. Following Turbery, and then drinking poison and collapsing consecutively, she was too weak to endure the Emperor’s temper after waking up after a long time.

‘Should I drag the Emperor here?’

Peon is different from his father, Gusalante. He could freely use magic anywhere in Crania. It would be no trouble at all to sit here and mess with the Emperor’s brain somewhere in the Imperial Palace.

“Your Highness.”

“Yes, dear?”

His gaze, which had been searching for the Emperor somewhere in the air, immediately turned to Kaella.

“The weather is…, nice. Isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s warmer and nicer than Lussenford. I heard it rained yesterday morning.”

There were many listening ears in the Imperial Palace, like the servants moving around quietly. Therefore, Peon always used honorifics in such places.

“I’ll have a lot to do at the townhouse, won’t I?”

Kaella, who had no interest in such things and would be fortunate just not to lie in bed, asked first. Her attitude of repeatedly making conversation with wide eyes was somehow persistently unlike her.

“Well. Isn’t work something you have to create to have a lot of? I’d like you to rest a bit, considering your health.”

As he was speaking, Peon’s lips curved slightly as he immediately realized why Kaella was behaving this way.

“No. I had a lot to do in Lussenford, so here too, um, I’m sure I’ll have a lot to do. Is there anything you need, Your Highness?”

She had noticed that he was having dangerous thoughts, thoughts impossible for a human, and was about to act on them.

So she was desperately trying to divert his attention by striking up conversation. She was particularly trying to induce Peon to respond by attaching questions at the end of each sentence.

“Well. It’s enough if you’re healthy, dear.”

“I… I think I’m healthy.”

Kaella said, widening her eyes and trying to look as determined as possible.

“A healthy person couldn’t even come to their senses last evening?”

Cute. Peon chuckled and played along with Kaella, who was desperately trying to divert her non-human husband’s attention.

“I didn’t faint.”

“You slept as if you had fainted.”

Kaella could make him behave with just one word. If she told him to stay still, he would obey, but Peon didn’t bother to teach her that. It had been a long time since Kaella had tried to converse with him. He had to savor this opportunity that would never come again, holding onto it tightly from beginning to end without missing a single moment.

The boring waiting time became enjoyable.