I repeated my question several tis, asking Serpina if she was truly serious.
I had considered the possibility, but now that it had actually happened—
I couldn’t believe it.
"What would I possibly gain from lying to you?"
Serpina smiled again.
She wasn’t testing —
She wasn’t trying to provoke a reaction.
“You have the look of a discarded hound.”
“A hound…?”
A deep sigh escaped .
“I doubt I was ever Lady Yuri’s hound to begin with.”
After all—
She had never truly used .
I hadn’t been in her service for long, but even in that short ti, I had spent more ti teaching Reika than performing actual missions.
In truth, I had been more idle in her army than I ever had under Lyn’s command.
Serpina remained silent as I sorted through my thoughts.
So Yuri had chosen to abandon and save Anima instead.
She might not have known that Reika was with ,
But she certainly knew that Airen was accompanying as a bodyguard.
And despite that—
She had made this choice.
In the end, to her, neither I nor Airen were worth more than Anima.
I didn’t find it incomprehensible.
The Aishus Five had a bond that no one could break.
Yuri, Anima, Emma, Epinnel, Hernandorf.
The entire foundation of Aishus was built upon those five.
If I were to be honest with myself—
I wasn’t particularly shocked.
Nor was I about to lant about how my lord could do this to .
Because the truth was—
I had never truly served her as my lord.
Yuri had always been a temporary figure in my life.
My loyalty had always belonged to Lunarian.
So I had no intention of playing the tragic victim now.
Doing so would be pathetic.
Airen likely felt the sa.
She had repaid her debt to Yuri with countless achievents on the battlefield.
There was nothing tying her down.
The only one I worried about was Reika.
Unlike Airen and —
She was not a warrior.
She wasn’t a soldier bound by duty.
She was just… a girl who happened to know magic.
That fact alone might make her far from ordinary, but she had never sworn herself to any nation.
She had no reason to be here—no reason to be imprisoned alongside .
If she wanted to leave…
I would make sure she was sent ho safely.
As Jinor’s foster daughter, no one would dare touch her.
Just as I ca to that conclusion, Serpina spoke again.
“So. What will you do?”
“…What do you an?”
“You know exactly what I an.”
Was she expecting to declare my surrender aloud?
A declaration of defeat, straight from my own lips?
It was a petty thing—
But absolute rulers like Serpina often fixated on such trivial victories.
Then again—
I had managed well enough under Lyn.
I could handle this.
“I already told you. I lost the wager I proposed. As promised, from now on, I will be Lady Serpina’s loyal servant.”
That should suffice.
Maybe I went a little overboard with the wording—
"Loyal servant" sounded excessive, even to .
But then—
Serpina’s response caught off guard.
“That’s not what I was asking.”
“…?”
“I was asking about your will, Swen.”
My will?
…Wait.
Was she seriously asking for my own decision on the matter?
When I voiced my confusion, she smirked.
“You once told , didn’t you? That I would never truly obtain you through force alone.”
“…That’s true, but—”
“I have said this before, and I will say it again. I want you.”
Her gaze burned into mine.
“I want you to serve willingly.
To follow out of your own conviction.
What use would it be if I forced you into submission?
Would I have truly won anything?”
…
I couldn’t help it.
I was stunned.
For soone branded a tyrant, she was surprisingly direct with her subordinates.
At her level of authority, she could afford to act however she pleased.
Most rulers of her caliber wouldn't even care about the will of their subordinates.
That thought compelled to ask:
“If I were to change my mind right now—
If I were to refuse to serve you—
What would you do?”
“I would send you back to Valharat Castle.”
“And what about Lady Anima?”
“I would release her.
I said I would, did I not?
I made that promise upon winning our wager.”
“Then… you would gain nothing. You would be letting your prisoners go, with nothing to show for it.”
At my words—
Serpina stepped closer again.
The scent of her perfu invaded my senses.
…Yuzu.
I had finally figured it out.
She was using a yuzu-scented perfu.
“What a foolish thing to say.”
Her voice held amusent as she smiled.
A smirk so captivating it was almost cruel.
“You of all people should know—
That I have already gained sothing from this battle.”
“…”
I watched her closely.
Waiting.
“Everything I did—
Everything I decided in this match—
You witnessed it all with your own eyes.”
She leaned in—her gaze pinning down.
“Swen.
What remains with you—
Is the mory of how I won this battle.”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“!!!”
“The mory of this day will be carved into you.
Even if you leave my side—
Even if you try to turn away—
You will rember this mont.
That alone is more than enough reward for .”
…
Wow.
…This was dizzying.
For the first ti, I genuinely thought, Maybe serving Serpina wouldn’t be so bad.
Her breathtaking beauty, the Eingart bloodline that flowed through her veins, her power, her title as the Tyrant—
None of it mattered as much as this.
At this mont, the only word that truly fit her was—
Absolute.
I had no choice but to admit it.
Among all the rulers I had t—
Serpina was the one closest to being an absolute monarch.
Not like Lyn Brans, who wielded charisma and madness to control those around her.
Not like Baranga Yuri Aishus, who could sacrifice everything for the brothers and sisters she had sworn blood oaths with.
No—
Serpina alone could bear the weight of a conqueror’s crown because she could say things like this without hesitation.
She was the kind of woman who could make you think, Maybe I should follow her, after only a few monts in her presence.
A lesser man would have fallen for her already.
But I knew exactly why she could afford to act this way.
“You’re quite sothing, Lady Serpina. If this is how you treat the people you wish to recruit, I imagine it’s hard to resist pledging loyalty.”
“Oh? It’s hard to resist, is it?”
“Well, I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“I gave you a choice.”
“It may look that way, but hear out.”
Objectively, she wasn’t wrong.
But once I had been discarded, returning was no longer an option.
Even if I were freed and rejoined Aishus,
Would Yuri welco back?
Would I be able to live peacefully among them again?
Perhaps she would feel guilty—perhaps she would apologize.
But she would never look in the eye the sa way again.
From the mont she publicly sold off, I had beco a burden to them.
A reminder of their own betrayal.
Soone like Epinnel would likely fabricate so excuse—
Perhaps she had already announced my death to cover up the ss.
She probably made so grand speech about why they had to make such a decision.
And if I suddenly returned alive—
It would throw everything into disarray.
They would have to find a way to dispose of .
Which ant…
There was nowhere else for to go.
Joining Serpina’s ranks was my only viable option.
The only path where I could stay alive.
Sure, I could resign completely, but as a forr envoy, I had no inco, no land, no resources.
I wasn’t the only one at risk.
I had Airen and Reika to think about.
And that ant…
I was already trapped.
I let out a breath and looked at Serpina.
“You must have known all this, Lady Serpina.”
Even if she didn’t know the full details,
She had surely understood that I had nowhere else to turn.
Serpina smiled.
A golden-eyed gaze that completely consud .
“So that’s how it is.”
“Yes.”
“You believe I appear rciful—
But in reality, I am doing nothing of the sort.”
“Exactly.”
She let out a soft laugh, her lips curving upward.
Every ti she smiled, I felt like I was drowning in gold.
“I see now why Yuri never used you as her hound.”
“…What do you an by that?”
“No ruler would keep a hound that might turn on them.
Deep insight, Swen, is a blade that sotis turns against its master.”
She twisted my own words—acknowledging my talent while simultaneously asserting her dominance.
Even though I had read right through her, she remained completely unfazed.
There was no denying it.
Serpina was an absolute ruler.
Had I not already known that Lunarian was destined to unify the continent—
Had I been reborn into this world without my 100% accuracy…
I would have bet everything on her.
“Swen.”
She lifted my chin with two fingers.
It was an action that might have felt deaning coming from anyone else—
But her beauty, the citrus scent of her perfu, her sheer presence made it feel… strangely acceptable.
“Yuri was not capable of making you her hound.
But I am different.
I can claim your talent.
I have the ability to make you mine.
Co under my command—
And I will stain your body and soul in golden light.”
Her eyes glowed.
“I will ask you once more.
Will you beco my hound?”
…
To be honest, I had never considered joining Serpina’s army.
I had intended to stay in Brans until the tide of war shifted.
And after discovering that Lunarian was the destined ruler of this continent,
I had stopped caring about which faction I served.
But if this was the path that my intelligence had predicted—
Then…
“I understand.”
I t her gaze and spoke clearly.
“From this day forward, I—Swen—shall be your loyal hound, my Lord.”
First, I had been recomnded by Luna—
Then, I had fled a dying nation to join Brans.
After betraying Lyn, I entered Aishus.
And now, after being discarded—
I had been sold off to Serpina.
A general who changed lords as often as the seasons.
A story like mine…
No matter how I looked at it,
My life was nothing short of a tragedy.
I left the room and walked down the corridor of the annex.
For so reason—
A question ford in my mind.
“Lord.”
“Speak.”
“This may be an impertinent question… but I must ask.”
Serpina kept walking, her golden hair swaying.
She did not turn around—
But she paused.
That was all the permission I needed.
“Have we t before?”
Silence.
But I pressed on.
“Not in person, perhaps—
But have you ever seen ?
Maybe in a dream… or sowhere else?”
To an outsider, my question might have sounded absurd.
But I had no other way to phrase it.
I had seen Serpina in my dreams.
Had she, perhaps, seen as well?
If she had…
Wouldn’t that surprise her—just a little?
But Serpina remained composed.
If she was surprised, she did not show it.
“I have heard rumors.”
Her voice was calm.
“A white-haired man who displayed a strange power against my army.
Even I did not believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.”
She turned.
And t my gaze.
“But this is the first ti I have seen your face.”
“…I see.”
“Does that answer your question?”
“Yes.”
And with that, she turned back and resud walking.
“…Was it really just a dream?”
She had known my na from the start.
I thought that ant sothing—
But maybe she had simply heard rumors.
Or perhaps…
She was lying.
Either way—
It was clear she had no intention of telling more.
“Perhaps if I stay by her side, I’ll find out eventually.”
After all—
There had to be a reason my predictions led here.
With that thought, I followed my new golden-haired lord down the corridor.
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