Chapter 18 : You Didn’t Come, So I Came (4)

“…Who, me?”

The words came out reflexively.

However, the presence before my eyes was clearly not my sister.

Her soft, silky hair was replaced with dry, frizzy locks, and her hair color was a washed-out gray.

Her brown eyes had a faint reddish hue, as if to emphasize that she wasn’t truly my sister.

Even though my mind understood, my body kept screaming at me to run toward that woman.

For a moment, memories of my helpless past came flooding back.

I thought of my sister, who worked tirelessly to care for me.

Maybe that’s why my legs suddenly gave out, and I collapsed on the spot.

As my hips hit the cold stone floor, a small cry of pain escaped my lips, and my already fragile mental state finally shattered.

“Ugh….”

“M-Minho?”

Tears began to fall.

I didn’t know if it was from the pain or from missing my sister.

Void, standing next to me, was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear her.

In the distance, I could see soldiers running toward me with pale faces.

Before long, they opened the prison door, lifted me up, and warned Void.

“If you harm the princess, you will be executed immediately!”

“How dare a filthy demon act so boldly!”

Void’s face turned blank at their words as she called out my name repeatedly from the prison cell.

“M-Minho…?”

The woman who resembled my sister said something to me and turned back, but amidst my confusion and tears, I couldn’t make out her words.

All I could think was that when this was over, I should apologize to Void for scaring her.

And just like that, the strange events of the underground prison came to an end.

Han Yuri, upon entering the prison, witnessed a bizarre scene.

[The Demon King has appeared!!!!]

[Hero, fulfill your destiny!!!!]

These words flickered before her eyes.

The Demon King? Wasn’t this supposed to be the land of dragons?

Well, since he was here, she thought she might as well get a glimpse and turned her head around.

That’s when her eyes met with those of a young dragon, who was staring at her with wide eyes.

The child looked at her as if it had just witnessed something shocking.

For some reason, the child didn’t feel unfamiliar to Han Yuri.

She quickly supported Damian, who was about to fall beside her.

“Are you okay, Damian?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just lost a lot of mana at once.”

Seeing Damian smile sheepishly, Han Yuri smiled back.

But her mind couldn’t move away from the child locked in the prison cell.

Just as she was about to enter the cell assigned to her, there was a thud.

‘Oh dear, they fell.’

‘That must’ve hurt a lot.’

The baby had fallen over.

Yet, the child’s gaze remained fixed on Han Yuri, as if trying to confirm exactly who she was.

‘What… What’s going on?’

Han Yuri felt a chill down her spine.

The child wasn’t crying but simply stared blankly at her.

Then, as if the child had read her thoughts, it suddenly burst into tears.

It was as though it had seen something it should not have and was struck with shock.

The crying didn’t seem to be from pain but rather from surprise.

Sure, it was natural for babies to cry when startled.

But Han Yuri was certain the child wasn’t crying because it had fallen.

If that were the case, it would’ve cried immediately.

Instead, it had stared at her for a long time before bursting into tears.

At that moment—

“Your Highness, the Princess!”

The two soldiers who had guided them urgently opened the prison door and picked up the child.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh my… You must’ve been so frightened.”

“Let’s take you to the Queen.”

Then, they began berating the woman who had been in the same cell as the child.

“If you harm the princess, you will be executed immediately!”

“How dare a filthy demon act so boldly!”

Han Yuri knew the truth.

That woman had done nothing wrong.

Even in such an unfair situation, the woman paid no attention to the soldiers.

She was simply calling out the dragon’s name with a desperate, longing voice.

“M-Minho?”

In that moment, Han Yuri’s head began to throb.

‘Minho.’

“Minho?”

Her words and thoughts simultaneously called out the same name.

Minho—the name of her younger brother who had left her side three years ago.

“Wait, Minho? Do you know this dragon?”

“N-No, I don’t. I don’t know them.”

“Then how do you know their name…?”

“It’s just… it sounds similar to someone I know. His name was Minho.”

“Interesting pronunciation,” Damian remarked as he lay down on the straw bedding.

“Wow, this is so comfy. Who needs imperial beds?”

Was he being serious?

Seeing Damian smiling so innocently while lying carefreely on the straw, Han Yuri decided to brush off her thoughts.

‘Yeah, there’s no way Minho could be here. It’s just a coincidence.’

After all, Minho was no longer around.

‘It’s just… a coincidence.’

Han Yuri plopped down beside Damian.

“Wow, you’re right. It’s actually comfortable.”

“Hey, Hero.”

“Isn’t ‘Hero’ a bit too formal? We’re comrades who’ve faced life and death together.”

As Han Yuri smiled playfully, Damian gave a faint smile in return.

“Alright, let’s drop the formalities.”

“Not a bad idea.”

But as they tried to speak more casually, an awkward tension lingered between them.

Dropping formalities wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Void, still dwelling on her grief over Minho’s sudden departure, glanced toward the neighboring cell.

Inside were a mage and an unidentified being.

Once again, Void concentrated, trying to sense the flow of their magic.

‘What exactly are you?’

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t determine the creature’s identity.

‘I guess I’ll have to open my eyes for this.’

Unable to tolerate a potential threat to her country, Void opened one of her eyes to investigate.

Upon seeing what was inside, she couldn’t help but speak to Han Yuri.

“…You. What are you?”

The magic flowing within Han Yuri was neither human nor demon.

If anything, it resembled that of a dragon, but her appearance was disturbingly human.

“What?”

Han Yuri widened her eyes in shock, surprised that Void was addressing her.

Void continued to scrutinize her with one eye open.

“…Interesting. Hey, mage. Is this your doing?”

Void’s attention naturally shifted from the experiment to the mage beside her.

The experiment itself didn’t even seem to know what it was.

“Answer me.”

“It… it was the empire’s doing.”

“Oh, that crumbling empire?”

“Pfft.”

Void closed her eye and began to laugh, as if amused.

Her laughter echoed through the underground prison.

“To think humans were capable of this… interesting.”

“Uh, excuse me…”

“Shut up. I’m not interested in you. To be honest, you disgust me.”

“W-What?”

Han Yuri stared at Void, confused and flustered.

Void continued to speak to Damian, ignoring everything else around her.

“Did you lead this?”

“You did a good job.”

“Was that thing originally human?”

“Can a human even withstand this?”

“Surprised it didn’t break.”

“You must be quite skilled, huh?”

Damian remained silent, but Void kept rambling on.

“Or maybe that experiment is just special?”

“…That’s enough.”

“…What?”

“Stop talking to my friend.”

“Hah. An experiment with a friend? That’s amusing.”

Void thought to herself,

‘Is it like raising a hamster?’

“Fine, if you’re captured here, you must be a criminal anyway.”

“Judging by the concentrated magic, you’ve been sealed.”

Bored, Void lay down on the floor, turning her head away, losing interest in them.

“Oh, human? Don’t take it to heart. I’m just in a bad mood right now.”

She even offered a half-hearted apology.

After all, Void was a relatively kind Demon King.

Han Yuri, however, was simmering with resentment.

‘So that’s the Demon King. One day, I’ll put an end to them.’

“I’ll accept Void as a subject then.”

“Ha.”

“Sigh…”

“Well, adding more subjects in this age of low birth rates isn’t a bad thing.”

“The princess will be pleased.”

“…Sounds good.”

Two of the elders sighed, while three others cheered.

“Then, we’ll assign the Demon King as the secretary of the council.”

“…Understood. Better keep them where we can see them than let them cause trouble in the shadows.”

Lavender replied to Albinus with a dazed expression, clearly displeased with the Demon King.

“…Now then, let’s discuss the next matter.”

It was time to talk about Han Yuri.

“I assume everyone has identified the Hero’s true nature.”

As Albinus began, all five elders nodded in agreement.

“…It seems she’s a half-dragon, and an unstable one at that.”

Half-dragon.

A race that had vanished when the kingdom was unified.

Once persecuted, they fled the kingdom, but there was no paradise awaiting them.

Discriminated against by all races, they died miserable deaths.

Half-dragons were a race seen as a disgrace by the proud dragons of the past.

A race that disappeared 2,000 years ago had now resurfaced—through cruel experimentation.

“…Judging by her hair and eye color, it seems the royal bloodline was involved.”

White hair and red eyes—symbols of royalty.

Though not perfect, her white hair and red eyes made it evident.

“This might make things easier.”

“…How did they obtain royal blood for the experiments?”

Hader murmured softly.

While others also found it curious, they decided to accept Han Yuri regardless.

If she desired, that detestable mage would be accepted as well.

“…We shall formally adopt her as a princess.”

“A princess is born.”

“…Not bad.”

“So the princess will have an older sister now…”

“Two cute babies, indeed.”

To dragons, the 34-year-old Han Yuri and the 1-year-old Minho were both seen as babies.

Thus, Han Yuri would have to perform her role as a princess publicly, whether she liked it or not.

To them, it was only natural—

Though it would be torture for Han Yuri.