CH 112

No way……!

Nelia leaned close to the window to see the man who was getting out of the carriage.

“Zenuit……! Carlos is here.”

Zenuit said without even bother showing a surprise look.

“Didn’t I say he would come?”

Nelia walked down hurriedly to the first floor. His condition still looked back under the bright light.

Even so, Nelia was very happy to see Carlos.

“Your Highness, you have come!”

Despite the bright greeting, Carlos looked away. In the end, the fact that he came here on his own seemed like an unwilling act.

However, Nelia didn’t mind about it and led Carlos into the mansion. She was concerned about his pale complexion.

“Take a seat here.”

Carlos flopped on the sofa in the hall of the first floor, just as Nelia asked him. He muttered whilst looking around the mansion.

“……The house is quiet.”

Originally, the mansion was quiet, but now that Zenuit has put all the employees to sleep, the mansion would be a lot quieter than usual.

Then, they heard someone coming down the stairs.

It was Zenuit. Carlos frowned when a child appeared out of nowhere.

“Did you secretly have a baby with the duke?”

“……That can’t be true.”

Zenuit flopped across from Carlos.

“I’m saddened that you’ve already forgotten about me.”

Carlos narrowed his eyebrows slightly when hearing Zenuit spoke in an old-fashioned way in the form of a cute little child.

Carlos looked at Nelia as if he finally recalled where he had seen Zenuit.

“…..You brought him to the palace before.”

She did,….. She introduced Zenuit as her cousin, and Carlos gave him treats such as chocolate and candy.

“As you know now, this is not my cousin. Actually, he was not even a kid.”

Nelia patted Zenuit on the shoulder and spoke.

“His name is Zenuit, and he is Sigrid’s subordinate that I talked about. He’s actually a dragon, but now he’s just in the form of a child.”

“……”

“He will open the doors of the dimension today and guide us to Sigrid’s heart.”

She didn’t think it was important to tell him about this. As expected, Carlos was staring at Zenuit incredulously.

“Are you telling me to believe a kid who spoke in an old-fashioned way?”

Zenuit spoke with crossed arms.

“If Your Highness doesn’t believe it, Your Highness has the right to believe it. You’ll find out later anyway.”

Nelia said whilst taking a seat beside Zenuit.

“You came here today because you believe what I told Your Highness yesterday.”

“I didn’t come because I believed you, I just came to check.”

Even when he was not in a good condition, that feisty personality always came out unexpectedly.

“Yes, you’ll see in a little while the things that will serve as proof to my words.”

Carlos looked around and asked again.

“Where is Duke Hart?”

“I told Your Highness about his condition yesterday. His Grace is not able to get out of bed because his condition is deteriorating just like Your Highness.”

Carlos asked no more useless questions at the sight of Nelia’s serious expression.

The three people sitting in the living room looked out the window and wished that the sun would set completely.

When the sky darkened, the atmosphere of the room subdued. Even Zenuit looked out the window with a slightly stiffened face and didn’t say anything.

Soon after, only the tip of the sun was seen in the sky, so Zenuit rose from the sofa.

“Let’s take the duke now.”

***

Zenuit was the one who took the duke. He came down the stairs with the duke floating in the air with his powers.

The duke was lying limply with his eyes closed. Nelia hurriedly approached the duke out of surprise because he looked like a corpse.

“Is His Grace all right?”

“He fainted. The duke seemed to have lost consciousness on his own after he kept hearing Shilin’s voice in his head.”

Carlos seemed to know it wasn’t anything ordinary that would happen when he saw the duke being carried quietly in the air with his eyes closed.

Zenuit walked past Carlos, who was standing blankly and went outside, Nelia and Carlos left the building whilst following them.

Duke Hart was placed in the middle of the garden.

When Zenuit muttered something in front of the duke, a white light came out and spread over the sky. The white light that covered the sky turned into a glass barrier and surrounded the mansion.

“I settled it. Now even if the meteor falls here, people on the outside won’t know about it at all.”

Nelia nodded.

Then Duke Hart’s closed eyelids twitched. Nelia looked up at the sky. The sun almost set completely.

“Nelia, stay in the building with carlos. I think the duke will change at any moment now.”

Zenuit pointed to the warehouse built to trap the duke.

Nelia, who answered yes, was about to walk back into the building with Carlos, but Zenuit suddenly called her.

“Nelia.”

Nelia, who was walking, stopped and turned her head to look at Zenuit.

“What?”

“Don’t be so disheartened when you see my true self.”

When Nelia tilted her head at his words which she couldn’t quite understand, Zenuit smiled weakly and waved his hands.

“No, go ahead.”

Nelia was bothered by Zenuit’s vague remark, but he entered the warehouse which made her couldn’t hold and asked him more in the current situation.

The warehouse looked firm because it was built to trap monsters.

‘Is there a window……?’

Although she had to stand still inside the building, Nelia wanted to see the situation outside if she could.

Nelia, looking around, found a wall covered by curtains. Swish. When she pulled the curtain to the side, there was a window.

Good for her. Nelia stood by the window and looked at where Zenuit was standing. Carlos was also standing behind her and looking outside, wondering what was going on outside.

Nelia wondered because she had never seen the duke turned into a monster. How someone could become such a fearsome, huge monster.

Zenuit looked at the duke who was lying down on the ground. The duke closed his eyes tightly and held his head, seemingly in acute pain. Then he curled himself.

She could tell from afar. That he was in pain.

Nelia’s eyes were slightly distorted because each of his gestures reflected as if he was in pain.

Did the duke suffer so much every time he turned into a monster?

Carlos’ face was reflected pallidly in the window. She knew his eyes turned slightly rounder than before.

He must have been shocked. He never thought the duke would have such a secret despite always having an elegant and relaxed appearance.

Then, the duke rose to his feet. It was an unnatural gesture to the point that it was more appropriate to say that he jumped up rather than raising himself.

And a black aura encircled the duke like a cocoon, and it grew increasingly in size.

Nelia’s mouth opened helplessly at the unrealistic sight. Nelia’s mouth opened helplessly at the unrealistic sight.

Shortly after that, it grew even bigger and disappeared, replaced by the monster she had seen before.

“That……”

Carlos muttered.

“Yes, that monster is the duke.”

After he saw the duke change, it would be hard to deny it. Of course, it was still difficult to believe even after he saw it.

‘But……’

Nelia felt a lot more terrified than the last time she saw him.

She wasn’t sure if it was because of the burning smell flowing out of the warehouse, or because of the way he looked around while drooling.

Just seeing the monster from afar made her hair stand on end.

The monster moved his eyes slowly as if looking for prey. Then, when he found Zenuit in front of him, he opened his mouth enough to show its red tongues.

The next thing was a gruesome roar.

A little child standing in front of the giant monster.

It was a frightening view for some people, but Zenuit didn’t even blink for once.

He muttered something and moved his finger. Then, a shining string that looked like light formed on it and wrapped around the whole body of the monster.

Zenuit closed his eyes and kept murmuring while tying up the monster. When he used such a difficult ability, she felt like he was casting some sort of spell.

However, the sight of the struggling monster in front of him made the people who watched them grow more nervous.

In fact, the string that tied the strong monster to keep it from moving around was breaking one by one.

Zenuit would know that, but he was still reciting the spell with his eyes closed.

As soon as the last string was broken, Zenuit finally opened his eyes.

The white light came out of his eyes. Nelia was even blinded for a moment and couldn’t help but close her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, the child disappeared and was replaced by a huge dragon.

The figure has tremendously huge wings, hard scales, and a long tail.

It looked exactly like what Zenuit had talked about.

But it looked very much like……

“Sigrid……”

Carlos muttered in surprise.

Even in Nelia’s view, the figure that appeared along with the swirling white light seemed very much like Sigrid she had seen in the book before.

The dragon that had grey scales, sharp claws, and shining eyes was undoubtedly Sigrid.

Was that how Zenuit really looked……?

At that time, what Zenuit said a moment ago came to his mind.

‘Don’t be so upset when you see my true self.’

Nelia finally realized something.

‘……He was lying when he said he’s Sigrid’s subordinate.’

There was no Zenuit in the first place. Sigrid created a virtual existence and acted as if he were them.

Upon finding out that Zenuit was Sigrid, she accepted what had been considered strange.

He knew Shilin and Carl too well, and Sigrid’s life in detail as if it was his own, and he even said he had someone he loved.

And when Charlotte said there were no dragons except Sigrid and Shilin.

There was no dragon named Zenuit in the first place as she said. Sigrid just pretended to be Zenuit.

‘Why the h*ll did he lie?’

Rather than being surprised at the fact that the being she used to carry around like a pet was once like a god who commanded the world, she felt like it didn’t add up rather than surprised.

And…… the feeling that followed was a pity.

The reason why he eventually went to such an extent to get Carlos involved in this was because the duke and him were the reincarnation of his son, whom he couldn’t pretend to ignore.

‘That’s why……’

Nelia, who finally learned everything she could get her hands on, watched the fight between Sigrid and the monster again. The result of this fight was more important than the reason Sigrid hid her identity all these times at the moment.

Zenuit, who returned to his true form,…… no, but he was simply enormous.

The monster tried to attack Sigrid with his vicious teeth, but Sigrid quickly turned around his huge body and hit the monster with his tail.

Then, the monster flew away and hit the wall with a bang.

‘Oh my……’

She felt bad when she saw the monster in pain even though she knew the duke was not conscious while that monster took over his senses.

Sigrid bit the monster, who fell on the ground, on the neck. The monster struggled violently and bit Sigrid’s wings.

There was a cry of pain.

“No! No!”

She was also very affectionate toward Sigrid, who has acted as Zenu all this time, that’s why her heart was pounding so much even when he was attacked.

Unlike the initial momentum which hinted the fight was going to end soon, Sigrid was struggling quite a bit.

Nelia had a question.

In the novel, it was written that Sigrid had such a strong power that even other gods could dare not do anything, but why was he taking quite a while to defeat a monster?

Of course, she knew that the duke was very strong because he was the reincarnation of Shilin, but Sigrid was so powerful that even gods in the past couldn’t do anything to him.

Carlos, probably thought the same thing as Nelia, muttered.

“……It’s because Sigrid has no heart.”