5
With a great flapping of wings, two sky dragons soared away.
Even by dragon standards, sky dragons were particularly temperamental, a tempestuous race that were sometimes reputed to be almost as volatile as demon beasts. Unlike land dragons, which enjoyed human company, or water dragons, which were fearsome but manageable, sky dragons were inherently difficult to interact with. Those who had the knack for it were called sky-dragon tamers, and the secrets of this art had long belonged solely to Volakia, never revealed outside its borders. And it appeared that Balleroy and Miles were both among the vaunted ranks of sky-dragon tamers, of which there were said to be fewer than a hundred in the entire empire.
“You know, I don’t seem to recall ever having ridden a winged dragon myself…”
“Priscilla, d-don’t tell me you wish to ride a sky dragon…”
“Ha. You needn’t fret so much. Even I recognize that it is something not easily done. I know that even refinement as cultivated as mine is lost on beasts that merely obey their natural instincts.”
“I see. Yes… Yes, that is reassuring.” Jorah put a hand to his chest with relief.
Priscilla turned from watching the messengers go, glancing at her husband instead. As ever, he gave the impression of a timid coward dressed in a grown man’s clothing. However, he had committed to a dangerous decision: to go to the sword-slave island, with Priscilla at his side.
“Hmm?” Jorah asked. “Is something the matter?”
“—Your motivations continue to baffle me. Hmm. Or perhaps that’s precisely the quality that allowed you to fulfill the minimum requirements to be my spouse,” Priscilla murmured, contemplating the unfathomable nature of Jorah’s inner life. Had he been consumed with Priscilla’s beauty, seeking to use her only to fulfill his own animalistic desires, he wouldn’t have lasted beyond the first night of their marriage. On the other hand, trying to take advantage of Priscilla’s true identity was too dangerous for him. He was unsuited for such plots and ploys, and that made him something of a bomb that had yet to detonate.
Finally, recognizing that she was unlikely to resolve the riddle right away, Priscilla said, “I’m willing to set it aside for now. At the moment, I’m far less interested in my rather unremarkable husband than I am in this sword-slave island.”
“U-unremarkable? That hurts…”
“If you do not wish to be hurt, then make yourself something of interest to me. At least as of this moment, you are certainly not more intriguing than an entertainment I’ve never witnessed before.”
Jorah’s shoulders slumped under his wife’s merciless assault. That said, he was evidently able to withstand the punishment, because even though he didn’t straighten his posture out, he nonetheless managed to say, “Just to be clear…you weren’t simply taken by the moment? You really intend to go to Ginonhive?”
“Of course I do. This is Delacroix—ahem, High Countess Delacroix we’re talking about. To accept her invitation and then later renege would be such an affront that she might very well go to war against us. Even I do not wish to lose the house I’ve only just married into. It would be a bitter pill to swallow.”
Jorah’s shoulders only slumped even more, but by that point, Priscilla was hardly paying attention to him. Her crimson eyes were looking to the sky, over the horizon where the sky dragons had disappeared—her thoughts on the sword-slave island that must be out there. The thought of it brought a swell to her still-flat chest. Even Priscilla could not predict what was waiting for them there. And yet—
“It matters not. For the world bends itself to suit me.”
@Haz Button and chapter have fixed…
Button “report error” doesn’t work. Just white screen appears, that’s all. This chapter and several after that have wrong content. So CH 2.05 has the content of CH 1.05, CH 2.06 has the content of CH 1.06 and so on. Also CH 2.05 repeats itself twice in selection menu. Fix please, people read this novel too)