Love Letter From The Future

The taut threads that had been pulled as if ready to bind the woman snapped immediately, losing all their tension.

Before she could unconsciously voice another question in wonder,

The threads began to swirl and entangle in synchronization with the woman’s spinning motion. Like a silkworm wrapping itself in its cocoon, the threads twisted and entwined in the blink of an eye, numbering countless strands.

Before long, the Imperial Princess’s pale-gray pupils had split vertically.

“Have you ever heard of the rumor that dragons can read the future?”

“What… what is this…!”

As the woman belatedly struggled to stop her spinning, it was already too late.

The constriction of the threads, pulling her in like a whirlpool, was flawless. Soon, the woman, now rendered completely immobile, had only one choice left—to let out a scream filled with bewilderment.

The panting voice of the maiden continued.

“It’s because of your excitement. You should have wondered why we kept circling around the same place and why the scattered threads around us never disappeared despite their numbers.”

“Just what have you done!”

Despite the calm explanation from the Imperial Princess, the woman could not calm her agitation. Her cries of rage continued.

“No matter how quick your reflexes, there’s no way you could have reacted the moment I showed signs of starting to spin! Unless you were reading my movements in advance…!”

A response was unnecessary.

As the woman’s words gradually faded, her vacant gaze met the Imperial Princess’s eyes.

The vertically split, pale-gray pupils.

On reflection, this girl had been evading the woman’s sudden attacks with an abnormal level of accuracy.

There was no way her physical abilities were that extraordinary.

“Could it be… you can see the future?”

“I see more than just the future; I can see your emotions too.”

In ‘the eyes of a dragon,’ emotions appear as different shades.

And knowing the direction those emotions flow means understanding the intent of the opponent. The woman, after all, was a mage often referred to as the embodiment of desire.

The princess, who had depended on her cursed eyes since birth, knew how to interpret these signs all too well.

With that dispassionate explanation, the princess reached into her robes with her remaining hand, fumbling for a potion. The moment it was poured over the puncture wound, a hissing sound emitted as white smoke rose.

Truly a product of the royal family.

Her flesh and muscles were visibly regenerating in real time. Though the process was painful, it was bearable compared to the agony of having limbs pierced.

Just then,

“Hmph, ah… hahahaha!”

The woman suddenly burst into laughter.

The princess silently cast a somber gaze upon her. Even though the woman was trapped like prey in a spider’s web, her demeanor remained confidently defiant.

“But what will you do now? Your weak magic can’t even pierce my skin?”

Gulp, gulp.

The princess remained silent, drinking the potion in one go. Her turmoil seemed to finally subside somewhat.

I should get a few more bottles to gift Sir Ian.

While entertaining such thoughts,

“Surely, you’re not planning to wait until all the incidents are over? It’s futile! I’m the final nucleus of the boundary. In other words, as long as you can’t kill me… your comrades will never survive your sister’s hands…”

“You’ve been quite entertaining.”

The princess said this with a faint smile.

It was an unusual atmosphere. Overwhelmed by that smile, which wasn’t driven by mere curiosity, the woman hesitated and fell silent.

A chill ran down her spine. It was an unfamiliar sensation, one she’d never felt before.

“Adding rotational force in midair to enhance the breach power… it’s a simple idea, isn’t it? I wonder why it didn’t occur to me earlier.”

“Well, it’s one thing to come up with an idea, quite another to implement it! You have no idea how difficult it is to even slightly twist a magic formula…!”

But the woman’s jeering words fell on deaf ears.

The princess had already raised her hand, slowly aiming it at the woman’s head, a cheerful smile still etched on her face.

“…Thousand-Mile Leap.”

Creeeeak!

A blue bird unfurled its wings, spinning its body fiercely as it began to pierce the woman’s forehead, causing an involuntary moan of pain to escape her lips.

“Krrrr… what… what are you trying to…!”

“Don’t you know the saying, ‘Water drops can pierce through rock’? I intend to do something similar… Thousand-Mile Leap.”

Creeeeak!

Again, the magic was unleashed, leaving faint trails of blood on the woman’s forehead. Piercing the same spot repeatedly was, unsurprisingly, beginning to take effect.

The idea was merciless, to say the least.

The Fifth Imperial Princess, Shi-en, maintained her smile as she mumbled.

“How many times will you endure? Twenty? Thirty? Or maybe… even over a hundred?”

Her appearance resembled that of a child mercilessly tearing apart a dragonfly’s wings.

Overwhelmed by a fear she’d never felt in her life, the woman squirmed and twisted her body. But no matter how desperately she tried to break free, the binding holding her in place showed no sign of loosening.

In the end, all the woman could do was emit a blood-curdling scream.

“Krrr… uuuh… aaaahhhhh! This… this can’t be right! My daughter… my daughter won’t forget this grudge…!”

“Thousand-Mile Leap.”

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

With each incantation from the princess, the woman’s bird-like screams grew longer.

Now, the pale bird was scratching at the woman’s skull with its beak. The excruciating pain and terror of having one’s bones gradually eroded was something incomprehensible to those who hadn’t experienced it.

Panic set in.

Logic and reason collapsed. A creature facing death displayed a desperate tenacity. Even the bat-mage, born with beast-like characteristics, was no exception.

The woman began to babble incoherently.

“…That man…!”

For the first time,

The lips of the girl who had been incessantly reciting incantations paused. A faint, cold glint flickered in her pale-gray eyes.

A twisted smirk emerged on the woman’s face upon confirming this.

So this is your weak point.

“That man, oh, he’s probably enjoying your company, isn’t he? The woman who killed the mother of his cherished junior… doesn’t that make you uncomfortable? I know as a noble. Jealous women are unsuitable as companions…!”

“Mrs. Aira Yuridina.”

In an elegant tone and pitch, the princess cut the woman’s words short.

“On the honor of the great imperial house of the empire, there is a matter that must be corrected. I ‘do not’ experience ‘jealousy.'”

Hearing this, the woman’s brows slightly furrowed.

What nonsense is she trying to spout now?

But the princess’ countenance, as she placed her hand over her chest, seemed unusually serious. With her adorable lips forming the words, she spoke gently.

“Because, ‘jealousy’ is the lot of the weak, isn’t it? That’s why… I ‘do not’ experience ‘jealousy.’ Never.”

Once again, the bird’s wingbeat cracked loudly.

“Ugh, ah, ugh… AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

The woman’s scream reverberated. Accompanied by this, the princess gritted her teeth and screamed with bloodshot eyes.

“Such notions are not suited for ‘dragons’!”

Crack, crack, crack!

The frequency at which the bird of mana leaped from the girl’s hands grew shorter.

Once, twice, then countless more strikes.

The sound of stone being gnawed echoed as the mixture of blood and bone dust stuck to the ground, viscous and clinging.

Gradually, the crescendo of this symphony reached its peak.

“Ah, ah ah ah ah ah ahhh!”

Just as her voice reached impossibly high pitches,

Paf!

The woman’s skull exploded like fireworks, scattering its contents—blood, brain matter, and flesh that once belonged to a human body.

Torrential rain began to pour down. A rain that stank of iron.

The girl stumbled backward a couple of steps, finally regaining her breath. Her arm, the one that had repeatedly conjured the pale bird, trembled as though unable to believe her own actions.

The princess clasped that arm with her free hand.

Then she bit her lip and revealed a grim expression.

“‘Jealousy’… I do not feel it. Absolutely.”

In other words, this marked the young girl’s first murder.

And thus, the birth of a dragon.

—

Stellar light and clouds of blood mix.

The sky fractures into thousands of pieces, and between them, a blood tornado howls as it charges forward. The man who stands against it in the void has long lost the shape of any living being.

If it were a natural disaster, it might make more sense.

Holding a single sword against this catastrophe seems even stranger. What awaits at the end of this endless battle?

With no glimmer of hope in sight, just then,

[…!]

The blood-colored mist that had been about to engulf the man suddenly rippled and exhibited unusual signs.

And the boundary was shaken.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The earth-shaking sounds reverberated one after another, and the crimson clouds violently swayed left and right. Several moments passed.

[Could it be…?]

Paf! The fog dispersed, and an elegant woman plummeted to the ground.

Her eyes, filled with distrust,

At last, the man, with an utterly emotionless voice, muttered.

“So it begins, finally…”

With a shiver,

The fallen girl’s fingers trembled.

The moment all the pieces finally fell into place.

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