Chapter 36 Side Story: Not Such A Bad Dragon? (1/2)

I remember the fear. That cold, heart-pounding fright. The cloaked figures, tall and imposing. Faces cast in shadow, making you wonder whether what lay beneath those hoods were actual human figures or merely an endless void.

Do you know what it's like? To be dragged away and thrown in a cage?

When they first came I couldn't even scream. Couldn't call out, couldn't shout for help. The second time was the same. I wasn't gagged, but it felt like it. That's what I hated most. That I could, but didn't. Tried, but failed.

I was too scared to cry. To yell. It was pathetic. I...was pathetic.

Even when that dagger was raised and pointed towards my heart my struggles were useless.

I never felt more helpless. More terrified.

And then he appeared.

Showing up out of nowhere, kicking down those doors I thought so suffocating and inescapable. I didn't know when he made his way over, or how.

I only realized someone new had entered, had come to my side.

Someone who easily tore apart bindings I believed unbreakable.

”Are you okay?”

Those were the first words out of his mouth. And I could see the concern in his eyes. Could feel the care in how he held me in his arms. Firm yet gentle, as if I were a piece of precious glass.

Of course, it was Damien.

I didn't know how he came to this place, or why. But the sheer relief his presence brought when I realized it was him nearly made me cry.

And in the same instant, ashamed. Because he was the last person I wanted to see me like this. I couldn't stand it.

I tried pushing him away, but couldn't. Then he held my palm in his own and squeezed. His hand was warm and steady.

It was like I was the only thing his eyes could see. And something in what he saw triggered a rage I didn't fully understand.

Next thing I knew he was bathed in divine golden light. He ran towards the armed men as unstoppable and inevitable as an oncoming storm. Effortlessly dodging every attack, using only his legs to send them flying. He was brilliant and dashing in those etheral golden rays, like a young deity come down from the heavens.

I felt even worse when I saw him like that.

I wasn't sure when but he'd long since become a goal. I wanted to be like him. I mean he was obviously a despicable rogue, daring to do anything he wanted. He terrorized an entire Kingdom worth of Noble children and actively sought out eligible young women to without any regard for whether they were already wed or not.

Yet for all that he was still everything I wanted to be. Strong, vibrant, independant. He may be a rogue, but that just made him the perfect rival. A person worthy of surpassing, of beating.

From the first day we met he lit a fierce desire in me I didn't, until then, realize I had: To be powerful, to be talked about. Not in the same way he was, no. But the opposite. I wanted to be praised. And not only that, I wanted to travel the world and see many things, do many things. I didn't want to be stuck in this weak body, in this one Kingdom, only meant to be married off and birth children. To sit and gossip until old age.

There were just so many things I wanted to experience in life!

And that's why I didn't want him to look at me. Because I knew he'd never do what I did. Would never cower, never sit back and let things he didn't like be done to him.

He was dauntless. When things became serious there was nothing he was scared of, nothing that could shake him.

Having him here looking so glorious and resplendent while I couldn't even summon the strength to scream when they held me down...it was a terrible feeling.

It made me resentful, even. I put on a tough front despite the trembling in my knees. Put up a wall when he only asked how I was doing even though the blood in my hair nearly drove me mad.

What was even worse was the way I lost control of myself. Kicking the dead corpses of my captors again and again. And he didn't stop me either. Maybe he felt I needed it. Maybe I did. That didn't mean I felt any less sick at my own actions after the fact.

It was a shameful display I couldn't hide. Made my previous tough words a lie.

And other thing. Who was that strange blue-haired girl he brought with him? They seemed to have a complicated relationship. Whoever she was though, she was certainly a bit mysterious. The power she had over water was extraordinary.

Several things happened after my rescue. Not the least of which was that Mary woman suddenly appearing with an exploding note.

”Everyone get down!” Damien shouted.

And then hugged me. It was a really weird feeling. And at the same time, a pleasant one. I hated to admit it but having someone who seemed to care for you so unconditionally was always a heart-warming thing.

Maybe he isn't such a bad Dragon after all?

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”What about me?!” The woman had screamed.

”My baby girl comes first!” He'd shouted back.

And just like that I wanted to hit him. Seriously, I thought, did he really consider me a daughter!? We were the same age!

In that moment his words were frustrating to the extreme.

As handsome as he is and as protectively he held onto me, even I'd feel my heart stir a little. Had he just stayed quiet it would've been like a page out ofstorybook.

I could only say he really couldn't read a mood.

Then, when we fell into the broken floor, he did something I wouldn't have thought possible even for him. He called a Grand Slime! Father had once told me those things were beings unable to be wounded by phyical attacks and could bring ruin to a nation.

As expected of a Dragon...I guess? He brought out a disaster-class monster with a wave of his hand, truly befitting of a yound Demon Lord!

So...did he seem like such an Angel, with wings of silver and gold at his back?!

They were mesmerizing!

They glowed with an inner radiance that was simply awe-inspiring!

And Damien himself looked even more divine that he did when he was beating up those cultists.

When seeing that guy, the first thing you noticed were his eyes. A deep, haunting violet pair that you'd think of long after he was gone. And at that time they shone like two perfectly polished amethysts.

His long, breath-taking wings were a pure, unblemished white lined with the most gorgeous gold. Had he held the sword Millenianna in his hand he truly would be mistaken for an Angel then.

Wasn't he a Demon Lord reincarnated? Why, then, did he look so holy and divine?! And before that, wasn't he a Dragon? What's with those ridiculously magnificent feathered wings?! Where're the scales?!

A Demon Lord Dragon isn't supposed to look like a young male God!

I'd seen masterwork scultures of several Divines. Wasn't he more perfect than any of them? This wasn't funny, okay?

Knowing this kind of guy was the nightmare of almost all the Young Masters in the Kingdom, simply bullying them to death...

Something was seriously wrong here. I couldn't even picture it.

I plucked a feather and admired it closely. It was simply wonderous, something that couldn't belong to the mortal world!

I was instantly suspicious.

Oi. Was he really a Dragon?

He wasn't REALLY a young Deity, was he? He hadn't been kicked out of Heaven for beating up other Gods and trying to seduce their Goddess wives, right?

Now that I could picture. No, it was actually disturbing how well that setting fit!

As I was seriously wondering whether this guy was a fallen Divine thrown out for bad behaviour, someone else showed themselves.

From what I could gather, his uncle?