CH 3

“Did you do a background check on me?”

McLion, who was staring strangely at her bizarre laugh, suddenly raised his voice.

It was very suspicious that Sellonia knew of Grace whom he had never spoken of out of his mouth.

“No way. Did you forget that I just woke up?”

“Ah, yes… I-Is your body okay?”

When Sellonia, who had already stopped laughing, said the right words, McLion scratched the back of his head and asked bluntly.

He seemed to be sorry for scolding someone who had collapsed not so long ago.

“Thank you for your concern.”

Sellonia’s head was clearer than ever, answering his belated worries without a soul.

Is this how it feels to be cold?

As unexpected things happened all at once, her mind calmed down and her perspective on the situation broadened.

“You asked for your heart back, didn’t you?”

“Huh? U-Uh…”

Sellonia’s expression was so calm that he wondered if she was the one who laughed like a madman just now.

Rather, it was McLion who was embarrassed.

His eyes were shaking helplessly in confusion as if this wasn’t the expected scenario he had in his head.

“Ella, could you get me a black pocket from my room’s safe?”

Sellonia handed the key she had in her hands to Ella.

When Ella, who took the key, quickly left the drawing room, there were only two people in there.

“Sit down and wait.”

Sellonia invited McLion to sit across from her, and she calmly picked up the teacup in front of her.

What does she have to do when he asks for it back? She has to return it.

McLion was the last remaining dragon in this Empire.

The dragon’s heart disappears together with the dragon’s extinction.

In other words, the heart he gave as a gift was the last and only heart of a dragon that could no longer be obtained.

Since ancient times, the heart that dragons have only given to their loved one has the power to protect its owner no matter what threat it is.

Because the heart was the source of the dragon’s power.

Dragons were spirit creatures that could live without a heart.

But when it had a heart and when it didn’t, there was a difference.

Without a heart, it couldn’t use one-tenth of its original strength. Even though it was several times that of ordinary people.

Thanks to this, Sellonia hasn’t been hurt since she received his heart.

She wished she had gotten it sooner.

However, despite having the dragon’s heart, she fell down and didn’t wake up for three months, perhaps because of her own internal problems rather than physical attack or external factors.

When she had the heart, she was able to avoid monster attacks, but she suffered stomach upset and minor illness.

She drank the cold tea and remembered the day he gave her his heart.

***

[Selli!]

In order to save her, who fell from the edge of the cliff, McLion, who took the form of the dragon, hurriedly flew away.

Even though he knew very well that taking the form of a body in the monster forest called the Nest of the Fallen was devouring his own life.

There was no calculation. His eyes could only see the falling Sellonia.

Transformed into a giant dragon, McLion quickly glided down to catch the falling Sellonia.

‘Aah… Turns out I’ll die like this.’

The moment Sellonia, who had fallen, gave up, a shadow larger than the sun fell over the sky.

At that moment, she saw clearly.

McLion, who flew in to save her with all his mortal strength. The dragon’s yellow eyes, which were shaking more desperately than ever.

After seizing Sellonia safely, McLion landed safely on the ground.

With his quick judgment, he was able to get through without hurting a single hair of her.

[Are you crazy? Are you excited to die?]

He immediately humanized to confirm that her Sellonia was safe, and then threatened.

She understood that he was angry.

She found a Silkia flower blooming on a cliff.

The flower was especially useful for healing wounds, so it was a necessary flower for adventurers.

Of course she needed it, so she went alone to pick the flower.

She wouldn’t ever dream that the ground on which she had stood suddenly would collapse, and that she would fall to the edge of the cliff.

In the original story, she managed to get the flower without any problems.

[Sorry…]

[You’re really! Ha…]

McLion couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh toward Sellonia, who apologized gloomily.

He ruffled his hair roughly with a look of anger and not knowing what to do.

[Human beings are too weak.]

[…]

[Those frail lives crumble for no reason.]

[Mac, I’m sorry. I’m just…]

[That’s why I’m more concerned, about you.]

Sellonia looked up at him with a look of surprise at his confession.

Then suddenly, dark yellow eyes were staring at her.

[I don’t know when or for what reason you will leave me.]

McLion seemed to realize something.

His expression was different from before, so he looked terribly sad.

Unlike himself, who was a transcendent being, Sellonia was a human being, and human life was fleetingly short and fragile.

[Even if I’m not by your side, this will protect you for the rest of your life.]

McLion took his blue-lighted hand to his chest.

His large hand pierced the flesh without hesitation and went inside.

Under his silver hair fluttering in the wind, his eyes twisted in pain.

As he swallowed the pain, frowned in pain, he slowly pulled out his hand.

Suddenly, she could hear a beating heart in his hand.

The heart was beating very fast, as if it was expressed that he was alive with his whole body.

The heart pounded out of his grasp, then gradually dwindled and turned into a red, hard stone in an instant.

Sellonia was terrified, but completely frozen by the beautiful sight that she couldn’t take her eyes off of.

McLion stood up close in front of her like that. And he immediately grabbed her hand and placed his heart on it.

[Please, let me live with you a little longer.]

Please don’t let your time stop.

With that in mind, McLion folded Sellonia’s fingers and squeezed his heart.

***

“Reasons, why didn’t you ask for them?”

“There’s no reason why people change their hearts.”

After finishing the reminiscence, Sellonia put down the teacup and turned a blind eye to McLion.

The man who cut out his heart and gave it to her for her to be with him even a little longer was now asking for a return because he liked another woman.

Was the heart that this man in front of her showed her was just a soulless shell for the story to proceed according to the original story?

She was so confused whether all of the things she had experienced for half a year really did exist.

“You keep it in a safe…?”

It was McLion who was perplexed by her attitude of not showing emotions to an uncomfortable degree.

He looked bewildered at Sellonia’s bluntness.

“I’m afraid I will lose it. It’s precious.”

“Precious…”

At the word ‘precious’, McLion’s heart throbbed.

He glanced at Sellonia, wiggling his fingers as if he had sinned.

Like a man who hesitates, as if he has something to say.

“I, I mean, I…”

Knock, knock.

After hesitating for a long time, McLion opened his mouth with difficulty, but was startled by the knocking sound he heard and then closed his lips.

As if he was trying to say something he wasn’t supposed to.

“Mac, thank you for always protecting me.”

Sellonia held out the pocket she had received from Ella towards him, who no longer opened his mouth.

“…Yeah.”

McLion glanced at the black pocket on her hand and stretched out a helpless hand.

His heart returned to him. He had no reason to be here anymore.

“Go home safely. I won’t see you off.”

Sellonia first bid her farewell and removed her gaze from him.

She was accustomed to a few breakups, but her heart wasn’t. She was sad, sad, and angry.

That’s why she had to send him away before she could express this feeling.

“…You too. I’m going.”

McLion stared at Sellonia, who had turned away from him, and turned to look depressed.

He walked out of the drawing room with a stuttering gait.

Sellonia just bit her lip, not even giving him a glance until he closed the door.

“Miss…”

Ella gave a worried expression on Sellonia’s expression as if she was holding back tears.

“How can everyone be like this? Our Miss has just woken up… They’re really too much!”

The shock was so great that Ella looked at her, who seemed to have forgotten how to be angry, and instead grunted.

“…”

Sellonia was silently watching the back of McLion as he rode his horse through the window.

Ian, Reyev, and even McLion all left her. They said they fell in love with another girl.

“Ella.”

“Yes, yes! If you need anything, just tell me! I will never leave your side!”

Ella responded quickly, trying to cheer her up.

“What if you made a dish with the ingredients you worked hard to find while climbing a mountain and going through the brink of death at the edge of a cliff, and someone else devoured it?”

Sellonia’s eyes were burning with blazing fire when she took her eyes off the window.

“Pardon? Uh, um… Wouldn’t you be very angry? Sad, and annoyed. I probably won’t let the person who stole it from me…”

“Indeed. That’s how I feel right now. Isn’t it funny?”

She clenched her fists.

Yes.

It wasn’t that because she was upset, she wanted to cry now, but she was boiling with her fever.

It has been nine months since she possessed this body.

While everyone was at home waiting for the Demon King to die, she went through the forest, climbed the castle, contributed to the peace of the Empire with a sword and blood.

As a duke’s daughter, she didn’t enjoy the haha-hoho tea party elegantly, but she came back after filming a surviving film in hell, and she thought she’d finally live like a human being, and what?

They love Grace Bennett?

These ignorant bastards.

“M-Miss?”

Ella shuddered at the bloody lust she felt from Sellonia.

It was hard to get close to her, as an invisible flame seemed to roar all over her body.

“Ella.”

“Yes, yes! Miss!”

“Ask the Finnest Guild for information about Grace Bennett.”

She glared sharply.

What the hell happened during the three months she fell so that all three men love the same woman?

Can this be dismissed as a simple change of heart, just a coincidence?

Captivating the male leads as if she was waiting as soon as the Demon King died and peace came?

Could such a coincidence exist?

“Miss Grace?”

“Yeah. What she’s been up to lately, if she was ever dying and survived, and whether her behavior or tone had suddenly changed.”

So she had to find out.

Is this just a coincidence or something else?