The Curse of the Ice Snow Dragon (3)
The flames that had been gradually heating the training grounds gathered onto the blade of my sword. All the fire condensed into a single Sword Qi.
Flicker. Crackle…
Yet the Sword Qi, shining with a pure, intense crimson light, looked somehow unstable. It was because I couldn’t focus properly.
‘…Will this work?’
Even while sparring in the training hall, my mind kept drifting back to yesterday’s events. Normally this kind of behavior would be rude, but what could I do? It was the academy’s fault for making me do over two hundred sparring matches.
‘It’ll be fine, right?’
I had no idea what kind of aftermath the thing I was planning would bring to me and to Siris, but I had a feeling it would turn out for the better.
‘…I don’t know. I’ll just have to try.’
The future me would somehow take care of it. All I had to do was focus on my efforts in the present.
Just as I was about to swing my sword with that thought—
“Adel Ifrit.”
A commanding voice shattered my reverie.
“The spar is over.”
“…Huh?”
I had been fighting in a near-trance, but my opponent had been quite strong, so I hadn’t expected the match to end so quickly.
‘…What a shame.’
I should have been growing and gaining enlightenment through sparring with such a worthy opponent, but the circumstances wouldn’t allow it. That was truly disappointing.
“The moment he saw your Sword Qi, he surrendered immediately.”
“Ah.”
No matter how strong he was, he probably wasn’t at the level where he could use Sword Qi himself.
‘…I guess that means I’m already at that level.’
Even I hadn’t expected to awaken Sword Qi in such a short time. A small pang of guilt toward the others lingered in a corner of my heart.
“Adel Ifrit.”
Charles glanced briefly at her watch and spoke.
“Time’s up, so I’ll be taking my leave.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She immediately turned and left the training hall through the door. She really was a consistent person—always strict about time.
‘I should head out too.’
My destination was the private training room. But today wasn’t like the usual days of simply heading there to train. Today, I had a clear appointment.
Private training room.
Whoosh!
In a space where flames burned fiercely, I swung my sword.
Swoosh!
The blade sliced through the air, drawing a deep crimson line. The way the heat slowly faded away looked like a sunset.
I naturally retracted the sword and then unleashed a slash.
Fwoooosh!
A scorching heat that seemed capable of burning everything poured from the blade. With a single swing, the released heat split the flames apart using nothing but hot pressure waves.
Even as I watched that sight, my mind was occupied with something else.
‘…She should be here soon.’
The woman I had promised to meet today. It was about time for her to arrive.
Click.
The sound of the private training room door opening reached my ears.
‘Is that her?’
I turned my head toward the door.
“……”
There stood Siris, only her head peeking through the doorway as she stared at me blankly.
Shing.
I sheathed my sword and said,
“Come in.”
“……”
She gave a small nod and slowly approached. With every step, faint frost formed and the floor froze over.
‘Is it a bad day?’
The curse she usually endured without showing was now so severe that even walking revealed it.
“……”
Siris’s eyes as she drew closer burned with intense longing.
“……”
Without a word, I spread my arms wide.
‘I can tell just by looking at her eyes.’
She wanted my heat right now. She craved the warm energy that could ward off the cold.
Thud!
As if my prediction was correct, Siris ran over and threw herself into my arms.
‘…She’s freezing.’
The first thing I felt was a chill so intense it seemed capable of freezing me on contact.
Fwoosh.
I immediately raised my heat.
“Haa…”
Siris let out a shaky breath.
“I feel like I can finally live…”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m better now.”
Her eyes were no longer dazed. Instead, she wore a slightly playful, pure smile.
“…By the way, do I smell like sweat?”
It suddenly occurred to me. Yesterday and the days before, I had often been sweating after training. Even though Siris had simply hugged me, I wondered if it had been uncomfortable for her. I realized the question had come a bit late.
“Sweat smell?”
“Yeah.”
“Hold on?”
She was already close, but she pressed her face even closer to my chest and inhaled my scent.
‘…This is embarrassing.’
A rush of heat surged from within. Having a woman smell my sweat felt somewhat humiliating.
“Phew.”
Siris pulled her head back and said,
“No smell.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It actually feels calming.”
“……”
The way she smiled so innocently must have been exactly what she meant.
‘…I need to resolve this quickly.’
I wanted her pure smile to last a long time. I wanted her to be able to smile like this every single day.
Before doing what I planned for her sake, there were a few things I needed to ask first.
“Siris. Can I ask you something?”
“Hm? Sure, go ahead.”
“Does the warmth only work with my heat?”
“Um… I’m not sure. This is actually my first time receiving heat like this. My mother used to help me before.”
That was a bit surprising. Since she was from the great Helen family, I had assumed they would have tried all sorts of things to break the curse, but apparently they hadn’t even attempted it. Maybe they had been trying to hide the fact that the heir of the Helen family had been cursed by a dragon.
‘I’ll set that aside for now.’
I put that question aside and asked another.
“Then when you accept my heat, how exactly does the Ice Snow Dragon’s energy get suppressed?”
“It feels like they become one? Or maybe like the flames are devouring it?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. It’s so warm…”
Siris hugged me even tighter. Looking at her, I thought,
‘This should work.’
The feeling of becoming one. That gave me confidence that what I was about to do would succeed.
I asked Siris,
“Siris. Can you raise just a tiny bit of the Ice Snow Dragon’s energy above your hand?”
“Okay.”
She nodded without the slightest hesitation. It was a display of complete trust in me.
Crackle.
Siris pulled one hand away and formed a small orb of frost above it.
“Like this?”
“Yeah. That’s enough.”
‘It’ll work.’
With faith, I raised my heat.
Fwoooosh.
The heat I formed above my hand touched the frost.
Hummmm.
Since both energies were faint, nothing dramatic happened. Only a faint resonant sound rang out.
‘It will be absorbed.’
After the day I had absorbed heat last time, I had done a lot of research. I visited the library briefly and asked people I met. But they all said the same thing: absorbing another person’s energy was, as far as currently known, impossible. Even if two energies touched, unless it was the same type of mana, there would be no resonance.
‘A phenomenon that only happens to me.’
Heat and heat. Heat and the Ice Snow Dragon’s frost. The fact that only I could hear the resonance when they touched meant I was special.
‘I should be able to absorb it.’
What I intended to do was absorb the Curse of the Ice Snow Dragon that Siris carried.
“……”
Siris stared intently at Adel, who had closed his eyes while pressing his heat against the Ice Snow Dragon’s energy.
‘What is he trying to do with heat?’
This was truly her first time accepting heat. Because her father had kept it so tightly hidden, most people didn’t even know she was cursed. Probably only the important figures of the family, Christina, and her friends Shane and Vanya knew about it.
That was why she couldn’t quite understand what Adel was doing.
‘What could it be?’
Her curiosity grew stronger. What was his purpose? What exactly was he trying to do?
‘I’m so curious.’
The change came at that moment.
‘Huh?’
The Ice Snow Dragon’s energy had visibly decreased.
‘How?’
The Ice Snow Dragon’s energy didn’t diminish. True to its name as a curse, the energy remained firmly locked in place to maintain the curse. That was why she couldn’t even use it properly. The only reason she could handle frost at all was because she was Siris.
‘Did Adel do this?’
The only thing that had happened just before the sudden change was Adel pressing his heat against the energy.
“…Ah.”
Siris let out a small, dazed sound and asked Adel,
“…Did you do this?”
Even without further explanation, he would understand. Unless Adel reacted with pure innocence as if he truly didn’t know.
“…Yeah. I thought it might work with heat, so I tried it… and it actually did.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
They said the only way to break a dragon’s curse was to kill the dragon that cast it, yet here was such a simple method. It wasn’t completely resolved yet, but this alone was incredibly good news.
“…Siris. How does your body feel?”
At Adel’s question, Siris circulated mana throughout her body.
‘The curse is still there, but it’s not bad enough to bother me like before.’
It was probably similar to how an ordinary person with a naturally cold body would feel. At Siris’s answer, Adel gave a small nod.
“…Siris. I’ll remove the rest of the curse tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Adel. Truly.”
Siris spoke with genuine gratitude.
“…It’s nothing. For now… just… let’s stay like this.”
Tight.
As he spoke, Adel pulled Siris’s body firmly into his arms. It felt like he was sorry and somehow heartbroken at the same time.
“Okay. I’d like that.”
Siris didn’t notice the slight change in Adel’s speed of speech, his tone, the faint tremor in his voice, or the shift in his behavior. Even her quick wits didn’t activate properly when she was with Adel.