As long as the Divine Dragon Orvis is there, no magical beasts dare to approach the Dragon City. The same goes for foreigners from other countries. Yet, why station a knightly order there? It wasn’t hard to guess.

It was to obtain information about the Dragon City and the dragon.

‘That could be used for the Empire.’

It wasn’t difficult to establish a pretext. Although adopted, Litania was an imperial princess, so stationing imperial knights under the guise of protecting her wasn’t unreasonable. This was especially true since there were no knights stationed in the Dragon City.

Of course, Orvis could have rejected them on the grounds that they weren’t needed, but he didn’t.

“We will serve you with all our hearts from now on.”

“Thank you, Bane. Haha. Now I really won’t have to call you sir anymore.”

Nominally, the knights stationed in the Dragon City were under Orvis’s command, but since the Divine Dragon didn’t deal with them, Litania, as the Marchioness, received their greetings instead.

‘Marchioness…’

Come to think of it, Orvis held the title of Marquis of Eternitas.

It was a title openly used among the nobility, but since the imperial family often addressed him as ‘Lord Divine Dragon Orvis’, Litania found this title of Marchioness quite unfamiliar.

‘I still can’t believe I’m married, let alone feel like a Marchioness.’

And now she was tasked with managing the knightly order. Although she wouldn’t actually be commanding them, she already felt a headache coming on.

“I am Miller.”

“I am Cadan.”

“Yes, thank you. I look forward to working with you…”

After receiving greetings from the sturdy knights, a considerable amount of time had already passed.

‘It’s just receiving greetings, not giving them, yet why is it so tiring?’

Litania, quickly exhausted, soon sprawled halfway across the sofa.

“My lady, would you like some tea?”

“Snow, I told you to drop that ‘my lady’ talk…”

“Hehe. Yes, Lady Litania.”

The moment Litania truly felt married wasn’t when she saw the ring on her left ring finger, nor when she received the knight commander’s greeting, but when Snow called her ‘my lady’.

The moment she heard that title, Litania shuddered and pleaded to be called by her name as before.

Snow said she had expected as much and immediately called her ‘Lady Litania’, but she would occasionally use ‘my lady’ to startle her.

“The only pleasure I have left is the tea Snow serves…”

“I’m honored to be able to provide Lady Litania with her pleasure.”

Snow said cheerfully as she served tea to Litania.

When Litania asked to bring Snow to the Dragon City, Orvis readily agreed. He even added that if there were more people she wanted to bring, she should bring them all at once without reporting to him individually.

While it was nice that he gave permission so easily, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy about whether this was really okay.

‘He must have been alone in the Dragon City all this time. Won’t he dislike it if it suddenly becomes crowded with humans he doesn’t know?’

So, Litania didn’t bring anyone else personally besides Snow. Of course, she didn’t know anyone else well enough to bring them anyway.

Apart from Snow, her personal maid, those who came along were thirty knights, three gardeners, and one cook. All were personnel arranged by the Emperor.

“By the way, Snow. What kind of place do you think the Dragon City is?”

“It’s a beautiful place.”

“How can you be so sure when you’ve never been there?”

“Well… I just thought so.”

“Well, Orvis did say something similar.”

From what she had heard, it was a place where extreme heat and cold struck simultaneously, an extraordinary phenomenon, but Orvis wouldn’t take Litania to such a place. He wouldn’t have allowed humans to enter in the first place.

‘Perhaps because it’s a place humans can’t access, various rumors have piled up and become distorted.’

Orvis had said his Dragon City was a beautiful place.

While there was no way to know a dragon’s aesthetic standards, since he had said this while showing Litania natural scenery, perhaps the Dragon City also maintained its natural appearance like the landscapes Orvis had shown her.

‘First, the castle will definitely be difficult for humans to live in, so it will probably take at least a week just to clean.’

After that, they would create a training ground for the knights, decorate the castle, prepare for a party, and perhaps hold a modest banquet with the castle residents.

Although she wasn’t keen on it, they would probably need to host a party and invite the imperial family or other nobles at least once.

If not, who knows what kind of pressure the Emperor might apply out of impatience.

‘Orvis said he would block it all, so it should be fine, but…’

Litania didn’t want to be at odds with the imperial family.

Wasn’t the tragedy in the original story ultimately caused by the fact that Orvis had no one important to him besides Litania?

If Orvis had cared for the imperial family, and by extension the imperial citizens, he wouldn’t have committed such a merciless massacre.

‘Getting Orvis to attend parties will be a task.’

Another job was added. Improving Orvis’s relationship with people. Since their relationship wasn’t bad yet, it could be called fostering friendships to avoid the worst ending.

‘I never thought I’d end up being enthusiastic about someone else’s social life.’

But Orvis was her friend, and officially her husband, so caring about his social relationships was also a virtue of a hostess.

Of course, Orvis probably wouldn’t expect such a hostess role from Litania.

“I’ve come to pick you up, Litania.”

It was the first time she had seen her husband’s face since the wedding.

Although it had only been a full day since they met, his radiance was so extraordinary that Litania felt dazed, as if she were receiving a deity.

Since he was a Divine Dragon, it wouldn’t be wrong to consider him a god.

“It seems you didn’t sleep well last night. You look tired.”

“No, this is…”

It was because she had been receiving greetings from the knights. Litania trailed off and smiled awkwardly.

The two had not spent the night together.

While Orvis had accepted Litania’s wish not to share a bed, the fundamental reason they hadn’t consummated their marriage on the first night was that they were still in the imperial palace.

Whether the Emperor’s order for the couple’s union to take place after arriving at the Dragon City was spontaneous, or if Orvis had subtly hinted at it, was unknown, but it was fortunate for Litania.

If she had to spend the night in the same room with this beautiful man, even if they weren’t sharing a bed, it was obvious she would spend the night trembling and unable to sleep.

‘Come to think of it, will we use separate rooms in the Dragon City too? That must be the case, right?’

Most nobles have separate personal rooms and only use the couple’s bedroom on consummation nights.

Since the two of them won’t be sharing a bed, they’ll either not create a couple’s bedroom, or they’ll prepare a room in name only that won’t actually be used.

The size of the Dragon City is unknown, but it shouldn’t be a big deal to have one extra room. Thinking this, Litania approached Orvis.

“By the way, Orvis. How do we get to the Dragon City?”

The Dragon City is far away, bordering the empire.

In this world, magic used by humans who aren’t Divine Dragons is very low-level, making it impossible to warp long distances in an instant.

Magic stones can only do things like emitting light in dark places or starting fires where there’s no hearth, so they hardly go beyond slightly assisting human convenience.

“I’ll have the others come by carriage.”

“The others? What about me?”

“You’ll come with me.”

Orvis gently took Litania’s hand. And the moment his eyelids lowered slightly.

“Oh!”

The scenery changed.

‘Is this… the Dragon City?’

The Dragon City was majestically situated in the middle of a huge lake, looking like something out of a fairy tale.

The lake surrounding the castle was a vivid blue-green color, creating a landscape that looked as if a vast forest had been submerged in water.

From the castle in the center of the lake to the outside, there was a long embankment rising up, providing a road for carriages to pass.

‘It’s more intact than I thought… no, it’s even more magnificent!’

It was similar to the imperial palace but slightly different. Unlike the splendid imperial palace, this grand castle built of stone had a symmetrical form, looking like an intricate sculpture when viewed from afar.

The outer walls of the castle were built sturdy from the foundation touching the earth, as if they could withstand hundreds of years. The stone walls, which appeared white at first glance, actually had patterns of light gray and white when looked at closely.

‘It’s amazing. It’s incomparable to the detached palace where I stayed… Could it be even bigger than the Emperor’s palace?’

The huge castle gate, made of wood that she couldn’t even guess the type, was covered with sturdy iron decorations, seeming to not easily allow entry to outsiders.

On both sides of the castle gate were tall circular towers, which seemed too small for people to enter and stand guard, but a bit too large to be merely decorative.

“Orvis, what are those towers for?”

“They’re for security.”

“Security?”

‘But they’re so small?’

They were so small that even a child would struggle to enter.

‘Are they placed there like scarecrows for unmanned security?’

Is it something difficult to understand due to a dragon’s sensibility? Maybe so. Litania tilted her head in confusion.

‘Well, as long as Orvis is here, there’s no need for security anyway. And the knights will be coming soon too.’