The Descent of the Red and White Dragons
As the train carriage doors opened, the two dragons descended. The Red Dragon of Valtaria, Ludmilla Draig Valtaria. The White Dragon of the Holy Kingdom, Javelin Albyon Russell.
The moment they appeared, the enormous crowd knelt as one, offering their deepest respects. A solemn atmosphere settled over everything, as if they were greeting gods who had descended to the mortal plane.
“Y-Your Holiness the Saintess and Your Highness the Imperial Princess… it is the greatest honor imaginable that you would deign to visit us!”
The middle-aged man stammered, his face drained of all color. His expression was pure tension and exhaustion—the look of someone who had just been blindsided by a fireball. Even though they had sent a letter ahead to warn him, his visible panic was so acute it almost inspired pity.
I’m sorry, Father. Please never forgive this unfilial son. Your second son was too weak to stop the Red Dragon and the White Dragon from coming.
“Raise your head, Marquis Hohenberg. We are merely guests. How can the host lower his head before us?”
“Y-yes, of course…”
Ludmilla offered my father a faint smile. He rose, but not before shooting me several urgent sidelong glances. His eyes practically screamed, Edan, explain this situation right now! The sight of him looking ready to collapse at any moment was genuinely heartbreaking. He resembled a scarecrow trembling in fear that a strong wind might carry him away. Those frail, quivering shoulders proved it.
“It is an honor to meet you. I am Javelin Albyon Russell, First Saintess of the Gael Holy Kingdom. May the Earth Mother’s blessings rest upon you, Marquis.”
“Ah, Saintess… It is a pleasure. I am the Marquis of Hohenberg… formerly Count Hohenberg.”
Javelin extended both hands with a warm, benevolent smile. The panic that had been etched across my father’s face eased slightly. Compared to Ludmilla, whose overwhelming charisma could dominate an entire crowd in a single breath, she was marginally easier to face. Only marginally.
“E-Edan…!”
“Father.”
He staggered toward me. I met him with a bitter smile and clasped his hand. The instant our palms met, a fierce grip clamped down. He really does have quite the strength… It seems Father has been secretly training. Exercise truly is the best remedy for middle age.
“What in the world is happening here…! What is this?!”
“Well… it just turned out this way.”
His voice was thick with desperation as he whispered. At the same time, his elbow drove mercilessly into my ribs.
“Not only the Second Princess, but the Saintess as well! And furthermore…”
“Princess Elizabetta has come too.”
Father and I looked up at the carriage together. Our eyes met Elizabetta’s as she held the sleeping Lue in her arms. The tension had reached its peak. The deathly pallor that washed over my father’s face said everything.
The relationship that had nearly made them father-in-law and daughter-in-law… A bond that had ended in utter catastrophe had now been unexpectedly reunited. It was the kind of scene one only saw in the most melodramatic of plays.
“Have you been keeping well, Marquis Hohenberg?”
Elizabetta handed the sleeping Lue to Ludmilla before offering my father a graceful, respectful greeting. She lifted the hem of her skirt with refined poise. It was a display of modesty that seemed entirely at odds with her reputation as a wild, villainous young lady. Though their previous engagement had ended tragically, they had once stood before each other as prospective father-in-law and daughter-in-law. Now they were nothing to one another, yet Elizabetta still treated him with the utmost courtesy.
“Your Highness Elizabetta, the rudeness committed by my disloyal and unfilial son… as his father, I offer my deepest apologies on his behalf.”
“I-it’s quite all right. Please raise your head, Marquis.”
When Father bowed low in apology, Elizabetta waved her hands in flustered dismay. There was not a trace of warmth in the air. The scene was pure discomfort, overflowing with apologies and atonement. The people gathered to welcome the honored guests were likewise busy reading the room, their anxiety plain. They were clearly terrified of offending the important visitors who had come to the territory.
“Father, let’s head to the lord’s castle first.”
“Y-yes… of course we should.”
Outside the platform, a great number of carriages stood waiting. Between the Saintess, the princesses, and the dedicated escort troops, they needed to transport over two hundred people at once. The Hohenberg family had therefore mobilized every available carriage and prepared them at the station. One could only imagine how much the soldiers assigned to this hospitality detail had suffered.
“Edan, I have so many things I want to say…!”
Father yielded the most extravagant carriage—the kind normally reserved for official gatherings attended by numerous nobles—to the Saintess and princesses. Then he grabbed my arm and steered me toward the second carriage. It was the one the late Countess had favored. It was also Father’s most frequently used personal vehicle.
“Those exalted personages we dare not even look upon directly… what possible reason could they have for coming here, Edan?!”
The door slammed shut with a heavy thud. Father immediately shouted in panic. I let out a long sigh and answered.
“Their Highnesses the princesses came for travel, and the Saintess for missionary purposes, apparently.”
“Travel? There is nothing in our territory worth seeing! And missionary work, out of nowhere! Are not all the people of the Hohenberg Marquisate devout believers who received their baptism in the cathedrals?”
That’s exactly what I said. As expected, Father understood my feelings perfectly.
When I shrugged and offered a light reply, Father’s eyes widened in a fierce glare.
The news that the beautiful Saintess and Imperial Princesses of noble birth had graced the Hohenberg Marquisate spread like wildfire. The second young master, who had gone up to the capital, had returned with no fewer than three prospective daughters-in-law. The lord’s castle, which had been steeped in boredom, grew more lively than ever with the arrival of these women of peerless beauty.
“I always thought he had no interest in romance at all, so I assumed he was that way…”
“In truth, all that ascetic living must have been to build up momentum.”
The maids cleaning the castle’s drawing room began whispering among themselves. It was only natural. Such delicious gossip had fallen into their laps. People always preferred thrilling excitement to dull peace.
The maids and servants had never looked more animated. Ever since Edanant had brought home three beautiful women of noble status as prospective brides, laughter had not left their faces.
“But Princess Ludmilla and her escort knights have been moving busily since dawn… what exactly is going on?”
“I heard she personally suggested to the lord that the soldiers undergo training.”
The Hohenberg family was a prestigious house representing the eastern region, yet unfortunately their military strength lagged far behind the other great families. This was because successive lords had possessed gentle dispositions and drastically reduced military spending. Moreover, during the Racial War, the eldest son Maximilian—who had been chosen as a hero—had gone off to fight, exempting the territory from the empire’s general mobilization. As a result, their forces were in even worse shape.
This would not do. They absolutely needed to strengthen their military power. Had they not already suffered an attack by bandits who held a grudge against the Saintess’s party?
Ludmilla had taken it upon herself to handle the military training, both to ensure her father-in-law’s safety and to resolve his worries.
“The demons and heretics will surely target the Hohenberg Marquisate just as they attacked the imperial capital! To prepare for that day, I intend to forge every one of you into an elite soldier worth a hundred men! I expect you all to follow gladly!”
She gathered the knights of the Hohenberg family as though conducting a grand military review. Then, emphasizing the responsibility of a strong soldier, she began the training in earnest. The imperial knights who escorted Ludmilla and Elizabetta were deployed as instructors. Having accumulated rich experience during the Racial War, they were more than qualified for the role.
“Huff… huff…!”
“Get up at once, you useless lot!”
A thunderbolt had struck the knights of the marquisate, who had grown soft from long years of peace. The brief ecstasy they had felt upon seeing Ludmilla’s beautiful face was over in an instant. They were forced to repeat basic physical training—running laps and more—until they were rolling across the training grounds.
She was a demon. An utterly strict one. The knights, covered head to toe in dust, began having fits at the sight of Ludmilla demanding such intense training.
If only Edanant would become the imperial family’s son-in-law… but becoming the master of the Hohenberg Marquisate wouldn’t be so bad either.
With the eldest son Maximilian missing, the right of succession had passed to the second son, Edanant. Even if Maximilian returned later, nothing would change. The Valtaria imperial family would undoubtedly give Edanant their full support.
While listening to the knights’ screams, Ludmilla daydreamed about the happy newlywed life she would share with Edanant in the Hohenberg Marquisate.
She’s gone mad…! She’s grinning from ear to ear!
She’s enjoying tormenting us. Now I understand why she’s still single at her age!
The knights, on the verge of collapse from exhaustion, watched Ludmilla smile sweetly while lost in blissful fantasy and let out horrified screams.
“Training is over! Knights of the marquisate, assemble at the cathedral immediately!”
“It is the Saintess’s summons. No exceptions!”
When the brutal military training that had begun at nine in the morning finally ended, the Holy Knights escorting the Saintess burst onto the training ground and led the exhausted knights away. Their day was not over. The knights of the marquisate had to gather at the cathedral located near the lord’s castle.
Packed shoulder to shoulder inside the cathedral, they listened to a lecture given by the First Saintess standing at the pulpit. The girl in pure white vestments preached the divinity of the Earth Mother in a clear, ringing voice.
“Let us pray to the Earth Mother who has once again bestowed upon us abundant sustenance. May the Earth Mother’s mercy reach the Hohenberg Marquisate as we wash away the sins we have committed until now.”
Javelin’s noble bearing was like a brilliant light that dispelled darkness. As the knights watched the Saintess pray with her hands clasped, they felt their faith surging powerfully within their hearts.
But overcoming drowsiness was another matter. Listening to a lecture in their exhausted state was pure torture. No matter how hard they fought to stay awake, their eyelids grew heavier than lead and crushed even the strongest willpower. More and more knights began nodding off like sick chicks.
Javelin smiled brightly and said, “To doze off while the beautiful Saintess of the Holy Kingdom is speaking… it seems the knights of the marquisate must have guts the size of boulders. It looks like you need some sharp divine grace. The Earth Mother herself said that foolish children require the rod.”
The First Saintess gave a meaningful glance. The Holy Knights waiting on either side produced clubs labeled “Rod of Love.” It would not end with mere threats. After all, Javelin was a Saintess whose notoriety was well-known even in the Holy Kingdom.
Soon, the cathedral dedicated to the worship of God rang with truly pitiful screams.
While the knights of the marquisate—secretly called “salary-eating parasites” behind their backs—shed tears of repentance under the harsh military training and spiritual education led by the beautiful princess and Saintess, Edanant watched the spectacle with Lue and Elizabetta at his side.
It had gone exactly as expected. The moment the Red Dragon and White Dragon descended, chaos erupted. The knights’ screams were truly pitiful, but he turned a deaf ear to them. The knights of the marquisate, grown lazy and drunk on peace, desperately needed rigorous training to be reborn.
“Big sister is working incredibly hard. The Saintess too… It must be the power of love, right?”
“Calling it the power of love feels a bit too generous given how violent it is.”
“Both of them have zero dating experience, so they don’t know any other way to express themselves. That’s why it ends up so extreme.”
“…Your Highness is in the same boat, you know.”
Elizabetta giggled as she asked Edanant the question. He responded with a troubled expression.
“Hiiik! D-don’t send me over there!”
“If you keep being a good, obedient child, I won’t send you.”
Edanant briefly considered sending the fairy—who had grown lazy lately—to the training ground as well, and used the threat to intimidate the short-statured fairy. Lue jumped in fright and dropped the nong-jjuk candy she had been sucking on. She didn’t seem too upset about it, however. After all, there were still a neat 499 pieces of nong-jjuk candy left in their wrappers.
“Hmm… We’ll need new personnel to help manage the vastly expanded marquisate.”
Having muttered this, Edanant stared intently at Lue, who had already popped another nong-jjuk candy into her mouth.