I Married the Dragon I Killed [Novel] Chapter 265

Chapter 265: The Way of Blessing

Thirty minutes after the marriage was declared official, both families were thrown into complete chaos.

The wedding had ended in the blink of an eye, and before anyone had time to recover, they were told a son had been born.

At that point, they might have wondered whether they were playing some kind of board game where events were decided by rolling dice.

After the delivery, Lyudmila explained everything from beginning to end once both families had gathered.

Everyone had known the bride was heavily pregnant, but no one had known her contractions had begun while the ceremony was taking place.

According to the midwife, the whole thing had been absurd.

-In all my years, I have never seen a first-time mother this reckless. By the time she reached the delivery room, half the baby’s head was already out. If she had arrived just a little later, she would have given birth during the wedding itself. Everything went so smoothly that all this old woman had to do was check the baby’s eyes, nose, mouth, hands, and feet.

Everyone was relieved the delivery had been easy.

They were also furious at Lyudmila for being so recklessly stubborn.

They had been ready to scold her, but the anger of both the Consillus and Purity families did not last long once they saw the tiny creature moving in their hands.

It was always easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

While the family enjoyed their time together, someone cautiously entered the recovery room.

“We greet the Great Aspect of Fire.”

Baldrova quietly nodded.

Understanding the purpose of her visit, the Consillus and Purity families tactfully withdrew.

“Now that we have seen the child is safe, we shall return to greet the guests at the banquet.”

“Please enjoy yourselves. Arwen, you come as well.”

“Yes.”

Only Lyudmila, who held the baby, Ferda, and Baldrova remained in the room.

Once there were no longer any eyes watching her, Baldrova removed her mask.

Nothing now hid the deep flush covering her face.

“Is this… your baby?”

“Yes. Isn’t he cute?”

“Yes.”

Lyudmila turned toward Ferda.

Remembering what she had said to him earlier, she blushed with embarrassment.

“I suppose I should apologize to the Regent first. A woman about to become a countess threatened and cursed the consort of a dragon, who is also the regent of a Grand Duchy…”

“It is in the past. Do not concern yourself with it.”

If anything, Ferda found her current appearance unsettling.

The last expression he remembered seeing on her had been the face of a woman one step away from joining Philiades as a witch.

Now she looked gentler than anyone in the world.

The transformation was so extreme that one might have believed she had been carrying all the world’s sins in her womb rather than a baby.

Even while Ferda and Lyudmila spoke, Baldrova continued staring down at the child.

“Would you… like to hold him?”

Lyudmila tilted the baby slightly toward Baldrova.

“M-Me?”

Baldrova panicked and leaned backward.

Lyudmila smiled brightly as though it were nothing at all.

“It’s fine. You’re only holding him. I’ll teach you how.”

“O-Okay…!”

“Don’t worry, he won’t eat you! Our baby isn’t that terrifying!”

The light joke loosened the tension.

Baldrova nodded, but her hands continued trembling.

Only when the baby, tightly wrapped in swaddling cloth, was finally placed into her arms did the shaking stop.

Once the fear faded, wonder filled its place.

‘He is… so light.’

Light, and yet difficult to hold.

Baldrova possessed enough strength to destroy enormous monsters with a single blow.

So why did the weight of this tiny child feel so burdensome?

An unfamiliar emotion washed over her.

Frightened by something she could not name, Baldrova unconsciously turned her head and called one name.

“Ferda…”

“Yes.”

She remained completely frozen, so Ferda carefully moved to her side.

He looked down at the child in her arms.

Wrinkled skin.

Eyes swollen as though the poor thing had already taken a beating.

Now he understood why people sometimes compared newborn babies to fat little toads.

“W-What should we call him?”

“Ah, his name…”

Lyudmila looked awkward.

Naturally so.

Commoners did not formally name their children until before the age of seven, while noble children were not even given provisional names until they survived their first hundred days.

People said one hundred days, but the formal naming ceremony for nobles, like commoners, still took place at seven years of age.

It was a folk belief meant to prevent wicked demons from arbitrarily calling a child by name and carrying them away.

“That is true.”

Yet Lyudmila smiled.

“But with Lady Baldrova, whom even the Archdemons of Hell revere, serving as his godmother, what would we have to fear?”

Lyudmila continued,

“When he turns seven, we intended to name him Ulvera II.”

“Ulvera…”

“Yes. After the current head of the family. I heard he suffered through many hardships, losing both his wife and child before eventually becoming the man he is today.”

Ulvera Consillus.

Once a promising noble of the central court who had even been acquainted with Grand Duke Golt, he had lost his family and chosen self-imposed exile in the Far East.

“Of course, it is only something I thought of on my own. I worry it may be presumptuous when this child does not carry his blood…”

“The Count will undoubtedly be delighted.”

Ulvera had treated Arwen like a son even before formally adopting him.

Why would the name of his grandchild matter?

“Then…”

Still holding the baby, Baldrova looked down at him.

Three syllables left her lips.

“Ulvera.”

Her eyes grew wet, as though tears might fall at any moment.

Yet unlike the sadness in her gaze, the corners of her mouth rose toward the sky.

Baldrova put the emotion swelling in her chest into words.

“May peace dwell within your household, and may you grow healthy until the day you come of age…”

It was unlike the standardized blessings quoted from scripture.

But precisely because of that, the sincerity in her words was unmistakable.

Knock, knock, knock.

-Umm, Lady Lyudmila. May I come in?

Kindness and warmth could be heard from the very first syllable.

Lyudmila gave permission, and a woman showed her face.

No.

It was not a woman.

It was a man beautiful enough to be mistaken for one.

Lize.

“I received word that you had given birth.”

“Yes.”

“I assume this is the child Her Highness is holding?”

“Yes.”

“If it would not be rude, may I hold him as well?”

“O-Of course. Here…”

Baldrova handed the child to Lize.

Lize received him carefully, yet with practiced ease.

“How adorable. Why is the birth of new life always so wondrous?”

Lize smiled like a pure flower in bloom.

The mischievous spirits circling around him fluttered around the child and giggled.

-He’s all wrinkly!

-He’s ugly!

-Kyahaha!

“Children, you must not say things like that. My apologies, Lady Lyudmila.”

Lize blushed and apologized repeatedly, but Lyudmila understood that the spirits meant no harm and laughed it off.

Lize hurriedly recited the blessing he had prepared.

“Mother whose roots reach into the deepest places of the continent, rejoice at the birth of this new life, and protect this child until the wondrous day he stands upon the earth with his own feet.”

-Blessings upon the ugly baby!

-Blessings upon the wrinkly baby!

-Blessings!

A High Elf and three spirits, mischievous though they were, had all joined together to bless her son.

Lyudmila could not have asked for a happier day.

-Uwaaaagh!

A frivolous scream instantly ruined the atmosphere.

-Let go of me! You beastly barbarians! What are you planning to do to a delicate maiden like me?!

-Why is this crazy woman so loud?

-This is hopeless. Let’s put something in her mouth.

-N-No! Something that big won’t fit in my mou, mmph!

The vulgar voice came from beyond the recovery room.

Lize instinctively hugged the baby closer and covered his ears.

The voice drew nearer, and soon Sergei and Igor, Lyudmila’s older brothers, entered the room.

Between them, they were carrying a pink-haired woman.

“Sister, we brought the young lady called Penelope, just as you asked.”

An apple had been stuffed into her mouth like the whole pig on a barbecue spit.

“Oh my. Thank you, brothers. You didn’t need to tie her up to bring her here…”

“You think we wanted to?”

“We told her the bride wanted to see her, and the first thing she did was try to run away.”

“She thrashed so much that we had no choice but to tie her up with the cord from the ham we brought.”

“Is that so?”

Lyudmila blinked with perfect innocence.

“Could you leave her standing there and wait outside? I have something to discuss with her.”

“Sure.”

Sergei and Igor stood Penelope upright and left.

The pink-haired woman rolled her tongue around until she finally managed to spit the apple from her mouth.

Carefully reading Lyudmila’s mood, she said,

“Oh my, congratulations on your first child, Lady Lyudmila.”

“Thank you, Penelope.”

“Judging by the looks of things, our Grand Duke and Mr. Disguised Food have already blessed him. Would you perhaps like a blessing from yours truly as well?”

“Hoho. A demon’s blessing? You do make dreadful jokes.”

“I told you before. I can accelerate brain development, improve night vision, and give him priority placement in a prestigious position in Hell after death.”

“Hoho. We will not be needing any of those.”

“If you don’t want a blessing, I can curse him instead. If I spit over here, it becomes a demonic curse, so…”

“Penelope.”

“Right. Probably shouldn’t do that, huh? Whew, this mouth of mine is such a problem!”

Lyudmila’s tone had turned so cold it sent chills down the spine.

It was the face she made immediately before becoming a witch.

Most people would shut their mouths the instant they saw it.

Penelope, unfortunately, was incapable of doing so.

“Anyway! Didn’t everything end without disaster because of me? Instead of giving me a reward, why did you have me dragged here like a criminal?”

“You ruined my wedding.”

“But you got married, didn’t you?! Safely!”

“I would hardly call it safe. A demon ran wild through the entire ceremony.”

Penelope scowled.

“Well, what did you want me to do?! Announce to the whole neighborhood that the bride was wetting herself?!”

“……”

“What if people twisted the story and started saying the duke’s daughter hated the groom so much she pissed herself in terror, and that she was actually being forced into the marriage? Is that what you wanted?!”

“……”

“You should be thanking me! How can you treat me this coldly after I saved you?!”

Why was that mouth incapable of staying closed?

Lyudmila thought for a moment, then nodded.

“You are right. If you had not stepped in, the wedding would have become a disaster. I am truly grateful.”

“Right? You’re grateful, right? Then could you hurry up and untie me?”

“We can do that later. I would like you to bless us, Penelope. Would you be willing?”

“A blessing? Of course! That’s easy.”

Lyudmila smiled.

Like an angler who had been waiting patiently for a huge catch.

“I asked you for one thing before, remember?”

“What… thing?”

“I told you the North has a custom for warding off evil during the autumn festival.”

“…Uh, I think you mentioned something like that?”

“We make a doll resembling a demon, hang it from a cross, and pray for abundance and the safety of the household. I was planning to include the tradition in today’s wedding.”

“…You’re not saying you plan to hang me from a cross, are you?”

“……”

Lyudmila did not answer.

She merely stared at Penelope with a gentle smile.

That gentleness seemed to turn into fire and burn the demon alive.

“You’re planning to burn me to death just like that?!”

“Of course not. No matter what, how could I burn you, Penelope?”

“Then what?”

Lyudmila glanced outside.

The autumn sky was high and perfectly cloudless.

“I will only hang you beneath the blazing sun for about three hours.”

Sunlight was poison to demons.

Penelope possessed an Archdemon’s Life Vessel, so it would not kill her.

That did not mean it would not hurt.

“…You’re kidding.”

“……”

“Tell me you’re kidding!”

Lyudmila only smiled.

“Brothers.”

Igor and Sergei, who had been waiting outside, entered.

“Hang Lady Penelope from a cross and raise her at the highest point you can find.”

“Uh…”

“Are you serious?”

At the merciless order, Lyudmila added,

“And put an apple in her mouth like before so she doesn’t get hungry.”

One thing remained perfectly clear.

At a wedding, the bride’s command was absolute.

“SKREEEEEE!!”

Penelope was dragged away screaming like a demon.

Ulvera II had now received blessings from a dragon and an elf, while a demon had been hung upon a cross as a ward against calamity.

His future would undoubtedly be bright.

Watching the scene, Ferda said,

“How heartless.”

“Heartless? This is for everyone’s sake.”

Lyudmila answered calmly.

“Some of the young noble ladies attending today are rather naive. Innocent enough that a little coaxing could easily lead them astray. If there is an unstable element at someone else’s wedding that might cause trouble…”

Her eyes curved into a pleasant smile.

“…then it should be eliminated, don’t you think?”

Ferda suddenly wondered what would happen if the innocent Arwen ever fought with this woman.

Lyudmila, who had been sitting on the bed, sprang energetically to her feet.

“Now then, let’s get ready and go back outside!”

“You are not going to rest any longer?”

“I can rest tomorrow! Today is my wedding, isn’t it? It would be a shame if there were no dancing on a day this joyous! Come, Your Highness, let’s go together!”

Lyudmila returned to the banquet hall with Baldrova.

She moved so energetically that no one would have believed she had just given birth.

Lyudmila danced enough to make everyone fear the consequences awaiting her the next day.

In the end, all she suffered was a little muscle soreness.