Gardenia’s Heart

Gripping the iron bars, Rain's eyes lit up as she cried out with overwhelming emotion.

"Master Sylvan! You've returned!"

There was only one person left in the world who would still call her by that name. Her heart swelled with emotion. Rain could hardly believe this was real.

"And to think that one of my most diligent disciples would end up in such a pitiful state."

Letting out a quiet sigh, Rose—no, Sylvan—extended her right hand.

In a single instant, as though materializing from thin air, a wide-brimmed black hat appeared in her grasp. Though it was larger than the little girl's head, it quickly shrank until it fit her perfectly.

"Please forgive me for appearing before you in such a disgraceful state, Master! Had I known it was you all this time, I would have prepared a proper welcome!"

Rain shouted, gripping the iron bars even tighter.

There was no point questioning the appearance before her.

It was Sylvan speaking.

Rain was absolutely certain of it.

"I never intended to reveal myself. Circumstances simply forced my hand."

Resting her palm against her adorable cheek, Sylvan gently shook her head, mildly annoyed.

"You were always my least troublesome disciple, Rain. When exactly did you become so rebellious?"

Walking over to the cave wall, the little girl leaned against it, folded her arms behind her head, and gazed up at the rocky ceiling.

"Judging by the painting you left behind in the library, the boy you fell in love with was Fafnir's son, wasn't he? Your older brother was never going to accept a relationship between members of different clans, but you didn't hesitate for even a moment before killing him. Is that what I taught you magic for?"

Looking at her from the corner of her sky-blue eyes, the little girl watched Rain's expression twist.

"I beg for your forgiveness!"

Letting go of the bars and pressing her forehead against the stone floor, Rain pleaded at the top of her lungs.

"Don't misunderstand." Sylvan said, dismissively waving a hand. "Unlike the other five guardians, you still had deep ties to your family and homeland. I assured you there was nothing wrong with participating in the war or using the artifact I entrusted to you in pursuit of your own desires. Your magic exists to fulfill your wishes. You earned it through your own efforts. Whatever you chose to do with it required no justification to me."

She spoke so casually that all of Rain's horrific deeds seemed utterly insignificant to her.

However, narrowing her eyes and staring into the very core of Rain's being, a dark glimmer reflected in Sylvan's pupils for the first time.

"So long as you fulfilled your obligations to me."

Rain went pale.

"I-I fulfilled your wish, Master! I entrusted the Book of Truth to someone worthy!"

Both her tail and feathered wings shrank against her body.

More panicked than ever before, the white-haired dragon threw herself flat against the stone floor.

"If Bahamut had truly been your chosen successor, I would have had nothing to complain about, Rain. But you didn't give her the volume in order to fulfill my will. You did it to satisfy your own desire to bring about the dragons' extinction."

Stepping closer to the bars, Sylvan looked down at the dragon woman with an icy gaze.

"I..."

Rain knew.

Lying was no longer an option.

She had to confess everything.

"Before my beloved departed for the Demon Continent... I really did try to wipe out the dragons myself. By disabling the barrier you created, Master, I allowed Bahamut to discover the labyrinth and the volume of the book... but it was all in vain. When I told him my plan and begged him to flee with me, he left for Finis to reclaim his honor."

In a cold, steady voice, Rain recounted every detail of what had happened.

"I won't say it was a bad plan. If Bahamut had truly been greedy enough to try reading the book, not even she would have escaped its madness. A being of her overwhelming power running rampant... the dragon kingdom would certainly have met its ruin in a single day."

Sylvan rested a hand on her chin, deep in thought.

"And then, after losing the man you loved, when you realized Bahamut wouldn't work, one of your ideas was to tell Fafnir about the existence of the Book of Truth, wasn't it? A father broken from within, who had lost his son and no longer had faith in his own ability to lead the clan, was an easy target."

Sylvan didn't speak like someone trying to judge the person before her, but like a scholar analyzing a test subject.

"Yes. I told Fafnir that Bahamut's overwhelming strength came from the Book of Truth. It was easy to deceive him by saying I had discovered it in one of the ancient dragon-scale tablets. Without wasting any time, he went to the Scale Clan's territory to read the book."

"How could someone desperate for power and revenge not desperately pursue a book of unimaginable power that happened to be in the possession of the strongest member of his race? That's what you thought, wasn't it?"

Sylvan tilted her head, her cute face completely at odds with the expression now reflected upon it.

"You were simply unlucky that Fafnir didn't go to Athamas, but to the Valley of Dawn... No, you created your own misfortune by delaying the invitation sent to the elves. The moment we left Lampides coincided with Fafnir's descent into madness, and he ended up targeting us."

Turning her back, Sylvan began pacing through the corridor as though organizing her thoughts.

"That Fafnir, in his own way, was almost as sensitive as Rose. Even after reading only a small portion of the book, he managed to sense my soul from kilometers away and flew straight toward me. That was unexpected."

Rain watched her master speak of things far beyond her understanding.

The entire situation had happened because she wanted revenge against the dragons. She knew her reasons wouldn't be easy to understand, but she needed her master to stand by her side.

"They don't deserve to live. Every single dragon, down to the very last one, has to disappear! Master, you have to understand!"

Shouting once more, Rain watched as her master's gaze finally returned to her.

"As I told you before, I truly don't care about what you were planning to do. You don't need to convince me of your reasons. I won't tell you whether they're right or wrong, nor will I judge you."

There was no disapproval, disgust, or horror in the woman's voice.

Walking over to the prison bars, Sylvan looked coldly at the kneeling dragon woman.

"Even if it was reckless, I chose not to interfere directly with your little scheme. I even lied to someone very important to me for your sake, Rain. After all, even my disciples deserve the chance to become insubordinate."

After finishing her explanation, Sylvan reached into the inner pocket of her small black dress and pulled something out.

It was no larger than the palm of her hand.

Shaped like two hexagonal pyramids joined at their tips, the small bluish hourglass shimmered softly.

"Hiding the Endless Restructurer among Tiamat's belongings instead of your own was clever. Your room has already been searched for any other evidence. If it had been there, it would have been discovered."

Looking at the small hourglass, Sylvan smiled faintly.

"With this artifact of mine, almost anything can be restored. You used it to obtain the Rubra Berula, didn't you?" With a thoughtful expression, Sylvan rested her hand on her chin once more. "I remember teaching you about that during one of our herbalism lessons. Finding a fossilized seed or something similar in the caverns beneath the mountain couldn't have been impossible, but it must have taken an incredible amount of effort. Hatred and anger truly are powerful motivators."

Balancing the little hourglass on the tip of her finger, Sylvan tossed it into the air. A blue flash followed, and the artifact vanished completely.

"You won't have any further use for it, so I'll be taking it back, if you don't mind."

With graceful movements, Sylvan crouched before her disciple, bringing their eyes to the same level.

"Rain."

Speaking warmly, the Archmage gazed deeply into the tear-filled eyes of the dragon woman.

"You asked me to give you a name, and just as I named Nox, I gave you one. Do you remember? Can you recall why I chose that particular name for you?"

Remembering a distant time, the woman spoke with profound nostalgia.

"Raindrops aren't perfect. They're irregular, and they fall at different speeds and in different shapes depending on their mass. But none of that matters. Regardless of what a raindrop looks like, every single one of them fulfills its purpose of watering the crops that will allow tomorrow to exist."

Cicuta had been a weak dragon. An individual born different from the rest of her kind. Unable to rely on the strength of her own biology, everyone had taken it as an absolute truth that she would amount to nothing.

But that belief was mistaken.

To define someone's life solely by who they were in the present was a mistake. Even if they couldn't follow the same path as everyone else, every person had the ability to forge their own path. To achieve the same accomplishments as others in their own way.

"Isn't it ironic? Coming from a land where it never rains because it's above the clouds, I gave you that name..."

Reaching through the bars, Sylvan gently caressed Rain's cheek.

"You're a diligent girl who refused to let others treat your efforts as impossible, and you even mastered magic unlike any other dragon. Rain, among all of my disciples, you're undoubtedly the most intelligent in that regard. However, you're far too impatient."

Withdrawing her hand, Sylvan stood up.

"What led to your failure was your attempt to prepare multiple different moves in case one of them failed. Your lack of faith in a single plan was what betrayed you. Had you devoted yourself entirely to just one of your ideas from the beginning, you wouldn't have failed. For example, if you had kept the book with you, you would have sensed it resonating with the ones my daughter absorbed, and you wouldn't have acted. Even with the Elf Queen absent from the delegation and a false sense of security setting in. If you're going to risk everything for love, then at least do it properly."

Sylvan's words were cold, like a teacher listing every flaw in a student's work without regard for their feelings.

Yet, among everything the Archmage had said, one thing caught the dragon woman's attention.

"D-Daughter...?" Rain repeated.

As though suddenly remembering something, Sylvan placed both hands on her head in agitation.

"My daughter should be waking up soon! She's quite capable, so she'll definitely notice Rose is here if I don't hurry."

Adjusting her wide-brimmed hat, Sylvan looked down at her small body with a smile.

"This body belongs to my granddaughter and no one else, so I'd rather not borrow it like this, especially considering what I'm about to do."

"What?" Rain asked in confusion.

"Rose is extremely sensitive when it comes to souls, you know? If I don't finish this quickly, she'll wake up. And if that happens, it'll be a real hassle coming up with an excuse. I suppose I'll have to teach her an interesting spell to make up for borrowing her body. Actually, it'll be a lot of work either way. Well, I'll worry about that later."

Rain couldn't understand a single thing her master was saying.

"But it was unavoidable, so I hope she'll forgive me. Without being able to use my magic at full strength, there would've been no way to get past the dragons guarding the entrance outside."

Yawning as though the little girl's drowsiness had spread to her as well, Sylvan extended her right hand toward the prison bars.

"Anyway, I should thank you, Rain. Not only did I recover my artifact, but one way or another, thanks to you, my daughter's magic improved tremendously. And now, I finally have four pieces of my soul back once again."

An icy shiver ran down Rain's spine like a bolt of lightning. Despair began to swell in the pit of her stomach, turning every one of her limbs cold.

"N-No, Master, please! I'll do anything you ask! I'll help you, I swear!"

Shouting toward her master, Rain pleaded as her entire body trembled.

"Dark mana! Yes! I finally understood why you were searching for someone capable of manipulating it!"

A proud smile emerged through her tears of despair as the white-haired woman began explaining her discovery.

"It took a long, long time, but I finally restored and deciphered the primordial tablets, the ones carved from the Founder Dragon's scales! Now I understand everything!"

Gripping the bars and pressing her face against the metal, she spoke with unrestrained excitement.

"The Founder split his bloodline into three and forbade relationships between the clans because he feared that if one of his descendants ever became powerful enough, they might try to rebuild the passage he gave his life to destroy."

A laugh welled up from her chest, and unable to contain herself any longer, she burst into manic laughter.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!"

Despite laughing, Rain hugged her trembling body as though she feared the very truth she had uncovered.

"What nonsense! I verified it myself! It's impossible even for a dragon, a demon, or even the Primordial Fairy to rebuild it! No one could ever accomplish something on that scale!"

Her gray eyes were wide open, her claws digging into her own flesh until, at last, she looked at the little girl standing before her.

"But you... you could, couldn't you, Sylvan!?"

A whirlwind of emotions churned within Rain as she stared at her master.

"It'll be the end of the world! Apocalyptic creatures even stronger than the Calamity Monsters! Beings capable of destroying entire continents on a mere whim! You want to use dark mana to get in there, don't you!?"

And then, she spoke the words that should never have been spoken.

"The Interworld!!"

Shadows engulfed the tiny prison cell.

Arms, legs, tail, wings, even her mouth—Rain's entire body was bound by a mass of black darkness.

"I love proactive students, but it's still the middle of the night. It's far too early to make so much noise, especially about that."

As she walked, the shadow cast by her tiny body twisted and stretched, binding the dragon woman. Sylvan wore a smile that never reached her eyes.

"Your presence is so faint that even Akasha failed to remember your scent or recognize you." Tilting her head, an ear-to-ear smile spread across her adorable face, yet it never reached her cold eyes. "The recording they made of you doesn't matter much either, but my dear daughter-in-law Lily has probably already begun suspecting your identity and your connection to me. It won't take her long to put the pieces together and come to question you. I'll have problems if you talk too much. So unfortunately... I'll have to make sure you stay quiet."

A heavy thud echoed through the cell.

Absorbing the mana from the shadowy mass covering her mouth through her fangs, Rain summoned her emerald flames.

"Sylvaaaaaaaaaaan!!"

The sickly fire crackled.

Burning away the shadow bindings that restrained her body, Rain didn't hesitate for even a second before charging at the little girl.

"Oh, come now. It won't be anything serious. What was it you called this earlier?"

However, the little girl who had been standing in front of her... was already at her side.

“Oh, right, a file burning.”

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