CH 70

Cecile looked at the title of the book that read ‘I Ended Up Suddenly Taming A Dragon’ and her grip on it tightened.

When the dragon appeared, Estian had swiftly ordered Kane to send Cecile to the empress’ palace. Drawn away by Kane to her room of residence, she was dazed and still for a while before suddenly running toward her bookshelf, shouting, “I know this situation!”

Cecile hurriedly pulled out a book as if she were possessed by something. She quickly flipped through its pages and soon found the part she remembered.

A spell of dragon-binding that was lost to the ages, forgotten by all—it was now in Cecile’s hands. She had thought it merely an ordinary book, yet it contained the very spell itself, perfectly recorded. It was no magic, but the power of words that ruled the land at the beginning of the world. That power had crossed time to fall into her possession.

Cecile felt goosebumps rise on her skin as she was reading that page; everything that was narrated before and after this part was identical to her current situation. A dragon was suddenly born the moment the protagonist laid hands on an unknown egg, and the beast ran rampant with indiscriminate murder.

‘What is going on? Why is it all the same as it was in the story? Moreover, this book…’

‘I Ended Up Suddenly Taming A Dragon’ was not Cecile’s type of book because it was a child-raising story… although it was actually about raising a young whelp that grew up into a mature dragon in the space of a brief separation, then the dragon returned to the heroine, saying, ‘I finally found you. I won’t ever be apart from you again,’ and obsessed over her. The reason Cecile kept that book despite it not being her preference was that the protagonist’s name was the same as hers.

‘When did I read this again?’ she wondered. If she recalled correctly, during her days at the royal villa of Navitan, it was given to her by one of the maidservants, who told her, “Princess, you’ve absolutely got to read this one.”

‘Who was it?’

For some reason, she could not remember anything about those maids whom she had met with every single day. Cecile was feeling lost at the abrupt absence of her memories when the attendant by her side came close and said, “Your Majesty, this place may also be dangerous. You must hurry and take shelter elsewhere.”

“Is that so?” Cecile replied, but just as she was about to move, she came to a pause and shot a sharp glare at the attendant. “Who are you?”

“I’m sorry? What might you be saying, Your Majesty? Did you not see me in the morning as well?” The attendant responded with a puzzled face to her question, but regardless, Cecile took a step back in retreat.

“No, I have never seen you before. Speaking of which—Tania? Where is Tania? Why do I not see her anywhere?”

“Your Majesty, let us first head for a safe place and seek the others later…”

The attendant was anxious and did not know what to do as Cecile stepped away from her. The other attendant by the side also looked troubled, her gaze darting between Cecile and her colleague. Nevertheless, Cecile turned around with the book in hand. The empress’s palace that had been so familiar and cozy until now all of a sudden felt strange to her. Nothing had changed and the dragon was far in the distance, yet her instincts were screaming that she was in the most dangerous place.

Cecile looked at the attendants who were drawing closer to her. She had never seen their faces around before. Perhaps there was a problem with her seeing as how she could not remember her maidservants in Navitan, however…

‘These people are dangerous!’

The moment she felt this, Cecile immediately took off her heels and kicked off into a full sprint.

“…!”

The two attendants appeared to be caught off guard as they were pushed aside by her. She ran wildly without a glance backward, heading for the audience room. The attendants who found her midway called out to her in surprise, but she did not listen.

‘I have to go back to His Majesty. And find Tania too!’ Cecile could tell where she would be safest even with a dragon running amok nearby. The moment Estian was absent from this imperial palace, there was no safe shelter anywhere, so she had no choice but to go to his side. ‘Though I do think I’ll get a huge earful if I go back…’

Estian had specially asked Kane to send her away, yet she was ignoring their efforts by coming back again… Cecile might have been the only one who thought herself in danger. Maybe she had overreacted and the attendants from before were trying to take her farther away out of sincere worry. ‘But…’

As she pushed past the bewildered attendants, Cecile looked at the book in her hands. She was able to find the page she was reading a while ago even while running.

Cecil ran with the book. The key to saving everyone was in her hands at this very moment.

Cecile hesitated no more the moment she read that sentence. Her instinct was crying out for her to do as it was written in the story.

‘How curious.’

While she was surprised by the book, unlike the attendants from before, she did not feel it was dangerous to go back. In fact, it made her feel as if someone was holding out a hand to her and pulling her along. Cecile wondered as to who the very first person was to give her the book. It occurred to her that she wanted to send someone to Navitan to find the maidservant who did after all this chaos was settled.

As she was running, she felt pain on the soles of her feet; she had stepped on what appeared to be a broken fragment of stone that had fallen as the ceiling collapsed. This bit of pain was no cause for her to stop, however. According to the book, the dragon could not be defeated unless she were to go, so go she must.

Meanwhile, the audience room was getting closer. By Estian’s orders, the knights on the site warned Cecile not to enter but they hesitated to take action, whereas Cecile kept running past them all unfalteringly. Even now the palace was shaking, the sounds of destruction and havoc audible from the outside; Estian and the others who remained were still facing the dragon.