Witch and Beauty
Witch.
Beauty.
"The Dragon's Witch?"
I slowly repeated the name Leon had spoken.
It wasn't that I didn't know the name. For hundreds of years, humans had attached that title to me whenever they spoke of me. Even half-asleep, I would recognize it as referring to me.
What I wanted to know was whether Leon truly knew nothing at all.
A woman with silver hair and red eyes stood there in black mage's robes. A young dragon with horns and wings sat in her arms, and armed orcs stood around her as if guarding her. Outside the window, the cry of an Adult Dragon echoed through the gorge.
And yet, after seeing all of this, he was still looking for the Dragon's Witch separately.
Maybe I should hang a wooden sign around my neck.
Hello. I am that Dragon's Witch.
If I wrote it large enough, he might finally notice.
"Why are you looking for that woman?"
I asked casually, pulling Ugalu closer on my lap. Ugalu paid no attention to the atmosphere in the room. He simply stretched his neck toward the empty plate and flailed his short front legs.
"Kkyu."
"It's all gone."
"Kkyu!"
"There's nothing left but bones."
I caught his round belly and set him back in place. Leon watched for a moment, then spoke calmly.
"The records about the Dragon's Witch differ far too much from one another."
"How so?"
"Some describe her as a mass murderer who killed thousands."
That wasn't wrong. Humans carefully recorded how many of their own had died, yet somehow managed to omit, with astonishing ease, how many dragons they had killed beforehand.
"Other records call her a savior who rescued countless people."
That wasn't wrong either. Disliking humans had never meant I would ignore a child dying right in front of me. Humans rarely understood the difference. They believed that if you did not love them, you must hate them.
"There are also records claiming she brainwashed dragons with magic and turned them into an army."
Leon continued.
"And yet other records remain that say the dragons themselves called her Mother."
I slowly scratched between Ugalu's horns. He narrowed his eyes as if he had been waiting and pushed his head under my palm.
"Kkyu."
For a brainwashed creature, he made a lot of demands. When I tried to bathe him he fled; when I told him to stop eating he made the world's most pitiful face. Alduin would roar until the cave shook when he was hungry, and Masor would hide inside my clothes and chew my sleeves to pieces. Once they grew up, they blocked my outings whenever they felt like it.
I wanted to hand these children over to the humans who wrote that I controlled them—just for a single day. If they survived, they would rewrite the records immediately.
"There were many stories about battles as well."
Leon went on to describe records of mountains collapsing and walls melting. I listened quietly for the most part, only briefly correcting the parts that strayed too far from the truth.
"There's even a story that she boiled the sea."
"I didn't do that."
Leon's words stopped. I closed my mouth a beat too late. Even the orcs around us were staring at me.
"I mean the exaggeration is that bad."
"I see."
Leon nodded without particular suspicion. Fortunately, his perception remained firmly locked.
"But there were also records unrelated to battle."
"What other bizarre rumors are there?"
I asked without much thought. I had already heard the ones about bathing in human blood or trying to swallow the moon. I was confident nothing would surprise me anymore.
"Records about her appearance."
"Appearance?"
"Most of them said she had silver hair and red eyes."
That was expected. I stroked Ugalu's head and nodded.
"They say she maintained a youthful appearance even after long years."
"I see."
Up to this point, nothing bothered me. It was all just a list of facts.
"And there were many records that she was extraordinarily beautiful."
The hand stroking Ugalu stopped. Only for a moment. I immediately started moving it again and answered as if it were nothing.
"So there were rumors like that too."
My voice came out a little awkward. Leon, apparently not noticing, nodded seriously.
"It wasn't just one or two places."
That was enough. There were records that she was beautiful. I understood perfectly well.
"The oldest records described her hair as if it had been woven strand by strand from moonlight."
I glanced down at the hair that had slipped over my shoulder. The silver strands caught the firelight and shimmered softly. Whether they looked like moonlight, I couldn't say. I quickly looked away.
"That's quite the exaggeration."
"That's very likely."
Oddly, something in my chest sank a little. Of course it was an exaggeration. How could a person's hair be made of moonlight? So why did I feel disappointed?
"However, similar expressions appear repeatedly across records from many different eras."
Leon added,
"Her red eyes were said to be like flames burning inside jewels."
My ears grew a little hot. I lowered my head, pretending to straighten Ugalu's wings.
"One kingdom's records state that even the most beautiful queen looked like a mere handmaid before her."
My grip tightened.
"Kkyu?"
Ugalu lifted his head. Realizing I was holding his wings too tightly, I hastily let go.
"Sorry."
Leon continued with the same serious expression.
"There's also a tradition that a temple saintess covered her own face after meeting her."
"Why?"
I asked before I could stop myself.
"It says she felt shabby by comparison."
Enough.
I picked up the water cup and held it below my face. Even the cold water did nothing to cool the heat in my ears. If anything, my cheeks seemed to be warming as well. I casually pulled a lock of hair forward over my cheek.
"Are you uncomfortable?"
"I'm not uncomfortable."
The answer came too quickly. The shoulder of one orc standing nearby shook slightly. He was clearly holding back a laugh. I made a mental note. That one would take night watch tonight.
"There are also records of knights dropping their swords the moment they saw her face."
"That wouldn't have been because of her face."
I immediately objected.
"There was probably a dragon above her head."
"The knight's testimony says his strength left him after he looked at her."
"With a dragon right behind her, who would have the presence of mind to stare at a face?"
"That knight survived."
"Which means he also had the leisure to leave behind nonsense."
My replies were getting faster. Leon looked as if he couldn't understand why I was so desperately denying the records.
"There's also a story about a painter who, after seeing her, could never paint another person's face again, and—"
"Wait."
I finally cut him off. The room fell quiet.
"Why do you even need records like that?"
"To confirm the features of the person I'm looking for, I also have to examine materials about her appearance."
"Silver hair and red eyes should be enough."
"People with that appearance aren't completely nonexistent."
"She doesn't age, and she travels with dragons."
"That, too, can only be confirmed by meeting her in person."
"So why do you need the beauty part?"
The words slipped out, and a strange silence settled over the room. Leon looked at me. The orcs discreetly averted their eyes. I closed my mouth a moment too late.
Why was I zeroing in only on the beauty part? This had become completely strange.
"Because it was a feature that repeated throughout the records."
Leon thought for a moment, then continued.
"It's hard to take everything as fact, but the part about her being beautiful is likely close to the truth."
My face flared hot. Reflexively I lifted Ugalu in front of my face.
"Kkyu?!"
Suddenly turned into a shield, his four legs flailed in the air. Leon blinked.
"Your face has turned red."
"It's the fire."
I immediately pointed at the brazier. The brazier was on the opposite side of the room.
"Until just a moment ago—"
"I said I'm hot, so why so many words?"
Leon closed his mouth. The orcs all stared at the floor. One of the broad shoulders was shaking.
"Shall I tell you about the other records as well?"
"No."
"We're not even halfway—"
"Don't say it."
"You were curious just now."
"I'm not curious anymore."
I pulled Ugalu into my arms. I needed to calm down here. Leon had merely been explaining old records. Since he didn't know I was the person in question, there was no reason for me to feel embarrassed. I had lived for hundreds of years. I could control this much emotion without trouble.
"Then I'll return to the records about battle."
Yes. That was better. Back to mountains and walls. No matter how long those stories went on, my face would never heat up.
"In the records of one eastern kingdom, the Dragon's Witch defeated a knight commander with swordsmanship—"
"That's wrong."
I said it without thinking. Leon's eyes changed.
"How do you know?"
"Common sense."
"Is it common sense that the Dragon's Witch never used a sword?"
I couldn't answer. Leon's gaze traveled over my silver hair and red eyes in turn. He looked at Ugalu in my arms, at the orcs around us, and at the dragon's cry coming through the window. It was the face of someone whose scattered pieces were finally locking into place.
"...Could it be."
He slowly opened his mouth. I meant to admit it proudly. Normally it would have been over with a single sentence.
I am the Dragon's Witch.
But the expressions I had just heard all rose at once. Hair woven from moonlight. Eyes burning inside jewels. A woman before whom even queens and saintesses covered their faces. I would have to admit with my own mouth that that was me.
The heat in my face surged again.
"Are you by any chance—"
"Stop!"
My voice rang through the room. Leon and the orcs flinched at the same time. Ugalu's eyes went round as well.
"Kkyu?!"
I clutched the child to my chest and glared at Leon with a flushed face.
"Stop talking about that beauty nonsense!"
"Why?"
"Because it's me!"
The words burst out. The room went completely silent. Only a few seconds later did I realize what I had said. I thought I could hear the dignity I had built over hundreds of years collapsing.
I slowly lifted Ugalu to cover my face.
"Kkyu?"
"Ah..."
Too late. Everyone had heard. Hidden behind Ugalu, I barely managed to steady my voice.
"Th-that's right. I am the Dragon's Witch."
Because I had just shouted, no matter how low I kept my voice, the dignity refused to return.
"So stop talking about the strange records now."
Leon didn't answer for a while. He looked again at my silver hair and red eyes. This time it was the gaze of someone slowly comparing them against the records he had researched.
"Don't look at me like that."
"I was confirming your identity."
"By staring at my face that long?!"
Leon closed his mouth. I unnecessarily lifted Ugalu a little higher.
"U-ing?"
Hoping that Ugalu's cuteness would hide my embarrassed face.
Leon looked at the scene and recalled the sentences he had read. At first he had thought them the usual exaggerations that clung to old records. He had believed that fear and reverence had mixed together and inflated one woman's appearance into something mythic.
But the silver hair flowing under the firelight truly shone like moonlight. The angry red eyes were as vivid as small flames trembling inside jewels. And the face hiding behind a young dragon to conceal her embarrassment held a vitality that the old records had never captured.
Leon quietly revised his thoughts without speaking them aloud.
It hadn't been an exaggeration after all.