The Dragon's Command
Ah, how boring. Spending all day trapped in this room makes me suddenly miss the conveniences of modern life.
“...It’s not like there aren’t similar things.”
Maybe it’s because this is an era where magic developed in grotesque ways instead of science. Or perhaps the game developer was a hopeless community addict. Without realizing it, I recalled an object I’d buried in the corner of my memory—a tree-shaped jewel modeled after the World Tree.
“Aren, this is a gift! U-um, our race has a habit of giving presents across generations!”
It was a gift from Delphia, the elf princess and former companion of the original game’s protagonist.
“I thought you would be different. As expected, humans are disgusting.”
In the end, it hadn’t finished well. These days she seemed to be operating as a speciesist who loathed “humans.” Of course, the fact that someone like her attended the empire’s academy was quite ironic.
I carefully searched the closet and discovered the old, cracked jewel. It still gave off a faint sparkle, as if it were actually functioning.
Well, of course that was impossible.
In the cluttered room, I drew up my degraded magic power. Was it a side effect of the Magic Grass? Manipulating it was difficult, but simply pouring power into something was still possible.
The old jewel sparkles as though emitting light. Now, if I touch it and focus my mind, I should be able to enter the exclusive community available only to academy students….
Access Denied
Well, I suppose that was to be expected. My privileges had been revoked.
Is it because of what I posted before?
Back when I had fallen all the way to rock bottom, I had tried to explain myself on the community. Of course, even those attempts had ended in countless hate comments and permanent bans.
Perhaps because they were conscious of the “family” behind me, or maybe because of my noble status, there weren’t many people in reality who displayed that level of outright dislike or contempt. Aside from those I had been especially close to, most simply kept their distance or avoided me.
But the community was different.
I could feel raw human malice in every word. Staring at the flood of hate comments always left me with an indescribable feeling.
I sighed and tossed the jewel straight back into the closet. As expected, the shitty mood refused to improve.
Whoooosh. Chilly wind slipped in through the window. I needed someone who could ease this loneliness. I needed warmth.
Theology club. Since I’d been invited, it was probably right to stop by at least once.
Thinking of the dumb expression Cecilia had made, I let out a dry laugh.
I picked up a few fallen sticks of Magic Grass from the floor and slipped them into my pocket. I hesitated for a moment, worried I might run into someone I “knew,” but I reminded myself that my time at the academy was almost over and grabbed the doorknob.
Anyway, it’s almost here.
This wretched academy life. These hopelessly tangled relationships—they would all end right here.
Creeeak—
The moment I opened the door and stepped out, an entirely unexpected figure stood waiting.
“...Aren.”
My ex-fiancée, Solia. She still possessed that damnably beautiful face.
She had been waiting for me.
“...What do you want?”
“Let’s talk for a bit.”
“What talk? I have nothing to say, so get lost.”
Even after I spoke harshly, Solia reacted with surprising calm. No—rather, that expression was…
Solia began to speak with a faintly sorrowful face.
“There’s something I absolutely have to tell you.”
Don’t look at me like that. Don’t worry about me. That kind of pathetic sympathy…
All sorts of wretched thoughts swirled inside me. And the lingering attachment I had never quite released lifted its head again.
Maybe she had come back. Maybe she had believed in me even a little. Such empty delusions kept spinning.
Shut up.
I forcibly severed the distracting thoughts. The same went for our relationship. I had no more business with Solia.
As I moved to close the door, Solia immediately parted her lips and whispered.
My body flinched—then froze, no longer obeying my brain. It was a forced command, an application of Dragon Words, the exclusive authority of dragons. A technique born from her talent—called the incarnation of the archmage—and her overwhelming ability to manipulate magic power.
Of course, if I used my own magic I could easily break a restraint spell of this level.
Fuck.
I hadn’t used it in a long time. My degraded magic circuits couldn’t generate proper power. In the end, I barely regained control of my mouth muscles and immediately rebuked her.
“Didn’t I tell you not to use that recklessly?”
Word-level magic was extremely rare and carried a high failure rate. Even for Solia, it was dangerous enough that a single mistake could cause a mana backlash.
Despite my criticism, Solia remained calm.
“I don’t want to. If I don’t, you’ll just run away again.”
“I told you to get lost. What could you possibly have to say after coming all the way here? It’s not like you’re going to believe me anyway…”
“That’s right.”
“What…?”
Solia admitted it without hesitation. Her attitude made it clear she still couldn’t trust me.
“That’s right. Aren, I still can’t trust you. But that doesn’t mean I want to give up on you.”
“Ha. Solia, if you were going to say something like that, you should have done it before the engagement was broken.”
“……There were circumstances.”
She doesn’t want to give up? Suddenly? Could it be because of the withdrawal form? If so, I’d rather decline.
“In the first place, you never came looking for me once during the entire year. What kind of sudden whim is this? In the first place, you…”
You never believed me.
Back then I had clung to her in the most pathetic way imaginable. I threw away every scrap of pride and wept and begged her.
Just believe me once. Please, listen to me.
That day, Solia had driven me away without mercy.
Yet now she shows up out of nowhere and says she still doesn’t believe me but doesn’t want to give up. What kind of fucking nonsense was that?
It was disgusting. Tiresome. I didn’t even want to look at her face anymore.
“Last thing I’ll say. I don’t want to see your disgusting face again. Get lost.”
Fuck. Forced drowsiness crashed over me like a wave.
“Aren, have sweet dreams. And… and…”
Solia muttered something, but the oncoming tide of sleep drowned out her voice.
“……I’m sorry.”
Solia, whose face was still heartbreakingly beautiful, drew closer and closer to mine. Whether from magic or the long familiarity of our bodies, I couldn’t resist.
Solia laid the sleeping Aren on the bed and let out a long sigh as she surveyed the room.
“Haah… Just what were you thinking, turning the place into such a disaster…”
With a cleaning spell, Solia neatly tidied the entire room, then approached the sleeping Aren. Her fiancé still had a handsome face. Compared to the warm, gentle impression he once gave, he now looked somewhat decadent and cold—but she liked that look too.
It had been so long since she last touched his face.
Seeing him asleep like this… he’s kind of cute.
As Solia stroked Aren’s face, happy memories rose unbidden. The days when they had laughed and played without restraint alongside their close friends at the academy…
Everyone missed those times, but that era would never return. After Aren’s incident, they had all scattered in silence. With Aren—their central pillar—collapsed, each of their personalities clashed more often than they meshed. In the end they had become nothing more than awkward acquaintances, worse than strangers.
“Aren, I need you here.”
Even setting aside the friends they had parted from, Solia still needed Aren. His gentle nature, his unpretentious warmth—she missed them so much it drove her insane.
“So can’t you let go of the past just a little?”
“Why do you keep denying what happened…? No matter what the past was, you just have to live properly now.”
Solia still couldn’t understand Aren. Why he rejected the things he himself had done. Why he denied them so fiercely. Yet even so, she loved him. She still kept him as the largest presence in her heart.
Solia slowly lay down beside Aren and gazed at his face.
“You know, Aren. Father is starting to pressure me.”
Solia’s father, head of House Corpen, was searching for a new fiancé now that she had come of age. She had desperately held him off for a year, but she no longer had any real justification to refuse him.
“…….”
Looking at the still-sleeping Aren, Solia pulled him into her arms. He was terribly cold. The bitter scent of Magic Grass clung thickly to his entire body. Even so, Solia hugged him tighter.
She knew this was wrong. But the thought of being held by any man other than “Aren” was utterly intolerable.
As she spoke to Aren, Solia whispered to herself at the same time.
“It’s all right. We just have to continue from here.”
There were two ways nobles married. One was a formal engagement. The second was…
Solia slowly began removing Aren’s clothes.
“Since it’s my first time, I might be clumsy… I’ll do my best.”
Pregnancy.
“Solia……”
He hadn’t woken. As if recalling an unwanted memory, Aren called her name in his sleep.
Solia took his hand and held it tight as she watched him.
“It’s all right. I’ll finish quickly. Sleep deeply, Aren.”