chapter 79
“C-Cherry… Cherry-nim…!”
The conversation between Ferdinand-nim and me came to an end with the appearance of Gerard, who came running over in a panic.
“Cherry-nim, a-are you okay?!”
Judging by how pale his face was, he seemed to think Ferdinand-nim had done something to me.
“Hey, you brat. Do I look like someone who’d bully a squirrel so small it wouldn’t even be a mouthful to me?”
“T-that is…”
Gerard stepped back, dodging the question.
Seeing how he looked away instead of answering, it was clear he thought that was entirely possible.
“Well, you did abandon me and Lord Kenich on a mountain saying that men have to be strong, when we were only five years old…”
Regrettably, Gerard had a perfectly reasonable excuse.
But more importantly—
‘A squirrel?’
Did Ferdinand-nim just call me a squirrel?
I stared at Ferdinand-nim with sparkling eyes.
“Ahem! What are you staring at?!”
As if embarrassed, he raised his voice unnecessarily and quickly left.
Still, it felt as though the distance between Ferdinand-nim and me—one I thought would never narrow—had grown closer, if only by a squirrel’s tear.
‘Probably the first and last time, though.’
But my prediction turned out to be completely wrong.
The next day, and the day after that.
I basked in the sunlight at the garden table, but for some reason Ferdinand-nim never appeared.
‘It’s not like I was waiting that eagerly or anything, but…’
I couldn’t help worrying that something might be wrong.
“Cherry-nim, you don’t look well.”
The one who spoke, instead of the huge pirate grandpa, was Gerard.
Kenich, who had been buried in work until now, had joined training with the Black Dragon Castle knights, so Gerard had finally gained some free time.
He hated the smell of sweat and clouds of dust, so instead of the training grounds, he chose to spend his time with me in the garden.
“If you’re worried because you haven’t seen Ferdinand-nim, I don’t think you need to be.”
“Chuut?”
“For some reason, he went to the Baekil Palace.”
‘Baekil Palace?’
Where was that?
When I blinked, Gerard pointed somewhere.
It was a small white marble building visible behind the main castle.
“It’s the palace where Ferdinand-nim and his wife used to live long ago. After Lady Solana passed away, he never even went near it…”
Gerard spoke while gazing at the distant white palace.
“Chuchut…”
Had talking with me made him miss Lady Solana even more?
Perhaps instead of walking through Sunset Town in the south, he was reminiscing about Lady Solana in the palace where they once lived together.
“He said he wanted to rest alone, so he dismissed all the servants.”
“Chuchut…”
What if he was sick?
When I put on a worried expression, Gerard shook his head firmly.
“If you’re worried about Ferdinand-nim, there’s no need. He’s Ferdinand-nim, after all!”
“Chuut?”
What was that supposed to mean?
“Even though Ferdinand-nim passed the age of 800 long ago, he’s still perfectly healthy. Seeing how he smashed the door to his office a few days ago, I’d say he’ll easily last another hundred years.”
Gerard nodded solemnly as he spoke.
‘That’s… true.’
I agreed wholeheartedly.
After all, the floral-patterned T-shirt he’d been wearing since the south was on the verge of bursting from his muscles.
It looked like it was screaming at me to save it.
But then—
“Chu, chuuuut?”
E-eight hundred years old? Seriously?
I thought it was just an expression!
I was so shocked I couldn’t even close my mouth.
There had been a brief mention of Ferdinand-nim in the history books I studied at the academy, but…
‘I thought it was obviously exaggerated!’
Like the legend of the first emperor of Wigdnia being born between giant trees—something inflated to glorify a war hero.
That was how these things usually went!
“Ferdinand-nim is basically a living fossil.”
According to Gerard, the first head of the Kreuz family was Ferdinand-nim’s grandfather.
I folded and unfolded my fingers, trying to count the years.
After repeating it several times, I eventually gave up on calculating Ferdinand-nim’s age.
“I understand. I tried the same thing when I was young.”
Gerard said it was all possible because Ferdinand-nim inherited a strong concentration of dragon blood.
‘But the history books said Ferdinand-nim was a war demon who swept away half the continent.’
Was that true too?
I looked at Gerard with a very serious expression.
When I climbed onto the table and mimed swinging a sword, Gerard nodded.
“If you’re talking about the early days of Wigdnia… then yes, it’s true.”
For some reason, Gerard answered with a grave expression.
He said that although Ferdinand-nim now threw tantrums at his grandchildren, he had been incredible in his youth.
“Especially before he met Lady Solana, he was even called a ‘Yaksha.’”
He added that all of the Kreuz family’s notorious reputation had been built during that time.
Just how intense must it have been…?
While I was full of questions, my curiosity about Ferdinand-nim and Lady Solana grew even stronger.
As if he’d read my expression, Gerard lowered his voice with a sly grin.
“Actually, it hasn’t been that long since Ferdinand-nim and Lady Solana met.”
“Chu, chuut?”
“About… two hundred years ago?”
That’s not a long time?!
It seemed time flowed differently in Black Dragon Castle.
“This is a secret, but apparently the two of them entered into a contract marriage.”
A c-contract marriage…?
That’s something straight out of a novel!
My eyes widened without me realizing it.
After all, two people in a contract marriage falling in love was an unavoidable cliché in stories.
“Chuchut, chuchut!”
What happened? Tell me in detail!
I waved my hands in the air, urging Gerard on.
“He met Lady Solana at a blind date he went to because he couldn’t withstand the elders’ nagging. But then, as it turned out…”
‘Ah, as it turned out?’
“It turned out Lady Solana had gone in her older sister’s place, at her request.”
“Chuuuut!!”
Aaaah! That’s such a destined meeting!
Completely immersed, I held my cheeks and bounced in place, and Gerard raised his eyebrows, clearly enjoying my reaction.
“Dragon beastkin are rare to begin with. Both of them were tired of pressure from the elders, so they suggested a contract marriage. And then…”
‘And then?’
Hurry up and say it already—this squirrel is going to suffocate!
“Chu…!”
I focused intently on Gerard’s slowly opening lips.
Bang!
Along with the noise, a short scream—“Ack!”—leaked out from between Gerard’s teeth.
“Chuut!”
Who the heck interrupted the flow?!
When I shot a sharp glare in that direction—
“Just as I thought my ears were itching… it was you, Gerard?”
There stood Ferdinand-nim, the very protagonist of the story, picking at his ear.
“Chut.”
I quickly turned my back on Gerard.
At times like this, speed was everything.
Just as I was about to leap onto the chair—
“What do you mean, coincidence? I already knew Solana before that.”
An unexpected revelation came from Ferdinand-nim’s mouth.
‘You already… knew Lady Solana…?’
This is insane.
I clapped a hand over my mouth before any crude words could slip out.
Then I scurried over and plopped myself down in front of Ferdinand-nim.
When I widened my eyes and made them sparkle, a baffled “Hah” escaped him, ruffling my downy fur.
Ferdinand-nim, once known as a war demon, glared at me with terrifying eyes—but that wasn’t what mattered to me right now.
“Chuut!”
How did you know Lady Solana?!
Why did you know her?!
Don’t tell me it was from even before then?!
At my relentless prompting, Ferdinand-nim only curled the corner of his lips upward.
As if reminiscing about a day long past.
“At the regular dragon family councils, I’d already seen Solana. In my life, I’d never seen anyone as beautiful as her.”
