Chapter 43
“I want you to give me your scales. In return, I’ll tell you how to break the seal.”
Drake still remembered Irina’s smile as she said those words.
At first, he had taken her for the sort of woman whose smile could never quite be trusted.
To say they had “met” would be inaccurate.
She had been waiting for him.
On a whim, Drake had decided to visit the land of the seal once more. Passing beyond the northernmost reaches of Imresia, he arrived at the farthest edge of the world—a perfectly circular wasteland gouged into the earth, where no living thing could survive.
And there she stood waiting for him.
She introduced herself as Irina, Queen of Imresia. She claimed she had shaken off her attendants and come alone because she had known he would appear there.
Despite being a queen, Irina moved through the world with startling freedom. No matter where Drake wandered afterward, she somehow appeared before him again, always asking the same thing—that he give her his scales.
When Drake finally asked what possible use a human woman could have for the scales of a male Dracotyrannus, Irina clenched her fist in triumph as though she had just won a game.
“There we go. Took you long enough to ask.”
And then she told him something astonishing.
Humans, she told him, could bear children even with those of other races. If a woman placed the scales of a male Dracotyrannus within her body, then after ten long months, a child of mixed blood would be born.
To Drake—whose own species conceived only when a male consumed the scales of a female—the notion bordered on madness.
But Irina spoke with such earnest conviction that, despite his doubts, he pried loose several of his scales and handed them to her.
And before long, her belly began to swell.
One night, upon a quiet balcony deep within the royal palace, they stood together beneath the moonlight.
Irina rested a hand upon her swollen stomach as they spoke quietly beneath the pale silver glow.
Looking back now, Drake realized that had been the last time he ever exchanged words with her.
“Once this child is born, my adultery will come to light.”
Irina spoke calmly, almost gently.
“I’ll likely be executed. Antonius and this child will be left lonely for a while… and that, at least, I do regret.”
“Then I shall take thee away before that comes to pass.”
But Irina shook her head.
“I looked into countless futures.”
She smiled without the slightest hesitation.
“If I survive, we will never reach the optimal solution. I must meet my end here. Otherwise, neither these children… nor you… will arrive at a future with any hope in it.”
“…What meanest thou?”
“You have your own purpose, do you not? That is why you accepted my proposal in the first place.”
Irina gently touched her stomach.
“I’m the same. I used your power for my own ends. But for those ends to be fulfilled, I have to die here.”
Then she laughed softly, almost awkwardly.
“I do feel a little bad for King Alexios too. He can be a little helpless sometimes… but since we went through the trouble of getting married, maybe I should’ve helped him a little more.”
For a very long time, Drake could say nothing.
And when he finally spoke, the words felt painfully inadequate.
“…Irina. Art thou truly certain of this?”
Even now, he remembered how bitterly frustrated he had felt with himself for being unable to offer her anything better.
“Is there aught I can yet do for thee?”
Drake knew he would never forget the smile Irina gave him then—not even across eternity.
“You’ve already done more than enough.”
Moonlight shone white across her cheek.
“Maybe we began as nothing more than accomplices using one another… but I truly did enjoy the time we spent together. Thank you, Drake.”
Unafraid, Irina took his massive clawed hand into hers and guided it gently across her belly.
Then she continued:
“I already gave this child a name. Someday, you’ll meet him again… and when that time comes, call him by that name yourself. After all… you are his father.”
She closed one eye playfully.
“His name is Andronicus.”
“Thou knowest already that the child is male?”
“Oh? Are you questioning my gift of prophecy now, of all times?”
Irina laughed mischievously—then suddenly grew serious.
“And if you really do decide to break the seal, please be careful about it. My family line is probably your best lead… but honestly, they are spectacularly foolish. They’ve completely trampled all over our ancestors’ intentions. Though I guess telling an actual Dracotyrannus how to undo the seal makes me just as guilty.”
She sounded almost absurdly playful for someone whose death was drawing closer with every passing day.
Irina explained that the magi of Magira had not lost their power through the generations.
They had abandoned it deliberately.
The overwhelming magic once used to seal the Dracotyrannus had been sealed away within fragments of the meteorite that had fallen from beyond the stars nine hundred years ago—the same alien stone used in the sealing itself. Those fragments had later been cast into the crater of Mount Agnia.
But if those meteorite shards still remained within the volcano and could be recovered, then that ancient power might awaken once more.
And if it did, the seal could likely be broken.
According to Irina, someone descended from the heroes who fought in the great war nine centuries ago might still be capable of wielding that reawakened power. Such bloodlines, she said, were inevitably drawn toward battlefields and conflict, whether they wished it or not. If Drake searched places where fighting spirit gathered, he would eventually find them.
Then she sighed dramatically.
“Still, I seriously do not recommend my relatives. Why not just ask the Dracoserpens? If you went to Tatsuno, there’s a decent chance some of the very heroes who fought in the war nine hundred years ago are still alive.”
Drake could only shake his head, painfully aware of the bitterness on his own face.
After betraying them so completely, he no longer knew what face he could possibly wear if he returned.
Irina looked utterly exasperated.
“Honestly, Drake, you’re being ridiculous. Just go apologize already. I’m telling you, it’ll be fine.”
But he had been unable to decide.
Now, Drake understood that hesitation for what it truly had been:
nothing but his own cowardice.
Irina had probably seen through him from the very beginning.
Perhaps that was why she never pressed the matter any further.
