I'm Not Your Husband, You Evil Dragon!

Sara’s aura continued radiating through the laboratory corridor as the horrifying truth settled inside her mind.

The Salesman Demon wasn’t merely alive somewhere. If his duplicate’s experiences had returned to the original, then he already possessed valuable information about the Libeus Agency.

Their enemy now knew both their strengths and their vulnerabilities.

Sara gradually pulled her aura back before turning toward Jenny and the researchers.

"Good work. Thank you for discovering this before we made the mistake of assuming that corpse was genuine. Continue examining it and report anything unusual directly to me."

"Yes, Chief," Jenny replied, bowing her head.

Sara immediately left the laboratory. There was no longer any reason to wait. If the Salesman Demon had truly recovered everything his duplicate witnessed, then humanity needed to prepare before the demons could exploit that information.

As she entered the main corridor, Sara raised her voice.

"Monday, prepare the command room. Check every microphone, radio channel, and communication line connected to all Agency divisions. I want everything operational."

"Yes, Chief. Preparing the command room and verifying communication systems now."

Small indicators along the walls activated as Monday began working throughout the facility. Sara continued toward the command wing, her expression troubled.

Until moments ago, she had believed the Aesthor Stone might become humanity’s answer to upper-blood demons. Yuuta’s aura stored within it could drain demonic mana and aura, potentially weakening even enemies humanity normally couldn’t defeat.

But they hadn’t tested it against an upper-blood demon.

They had tested it against a disposable copy.

Sara clenched her jaw.

My trump card has already been revealed.

If the original had inherited his duplicate’s memories, the demons could already be developing countermeasures against the Aesthor Stone. She couldn’t afford to wait for the Demon King to make the first move.

"I’ll have to tell them everything," Sara muttered. "The war plan needs to move forward before the Demon King makes his move."

Her footsteps echoed through the increasingly quiet section of the Agency as she approached the command wing. Unlike the ordinary divisions, this area remained guarded at all times by high-ranking officers personally trained under Sara’s supervision.

By the time she reached the enormous reinforced doors, two such officers were already standing guard.

The moment they noticed her, both straightened and lowered their heads.

"Good morning, Chief."

Sara gave them a brief glance.

"Open the door."

Neither officer wasted even a second. They turned simultaneously and reached for the heavy handles, preparing to pull the reinforced doors apart for their Chief.

The moment their fingers touched the metal, something strange happened.

A thin layer of frost instantly appeared across their fingertips.

Sara’s eyes narrowed.

Before either officer could understand what was happening, the frost raced across their hands with terrifying speed. Their fingers turned pale blue, then completely white as the cold penetrated through flesh and bone almost instantly.

"What the.....?!"

One officer instinctively tried pulling his hand away.

CRACK!

Several frozen fingertips shattered.

The officer’s eyes widened in horror as pieces of his own frozen fingers struck the floor. His scream erupted through the corridor a moment later, while the second officer desperately attempted to release the handle only for the same thing to happen to him.

CRACK!

"AARGHH!"

Both men collapsed backward, clutching their ruined hands as blood began spilling from where their frozen fingers had broken away.

Sara stopped dead.

For the first time since leaving the laboratory, every thought about the salesman demon disappeared from her mind.

"What...?"

Her crimson eyes slowly moved from the screaming officers toward the command-room doors.

Frost was spreading across them.

Sara’s expression changed immediately.

She knew that ice.

There was no need to examine it twice or question where the unnatural cold had come from. Sara straightened immediately and turned her attention toward the sealed command-room doors.

"Monday, open the door."

"Access granted, Chief."

Sara glanced toward the two injured officers still clutching their shattered fingers. Both men were struggling to remain standing through the pain, and blood had begun dripping onto the floor around their boots.

"Go to the medical hall. Take your fingers with you and have them treated immediately. Once you’re done, both of you are taking a few days off. Don’t return until you’ve completely recovered."

Despite their agony, the two officers immediately lowered their heads.

"Yes, Chief. Thank you."

They carefully gathered the pieces of their frozen fingers before hurrying toward the medical division. Sara watched them leave for only a moment before turning back toward the command room, her expression becoming increasingly uneasy as mechanical locks began disengaging one after another.

The enormous doors slowly opened.

A wave of freezing air immediately struck Sara’s face.

Her crimson eyes narrowed as her hair moved beneath the sudden gust. For a moment, it genuinely felt as though she had stepped into the middle of Antarctica rather than one of the most heavily protected rooms inside Liebus Agency. White mist poured through the opening and spread across the corridor floor, while tiny particles of snow drifted through the air.

"What...?"

Sara stepped closer and attempted to see through the mist. The entire command room had been transformed. Walls, communication terminals, tables and even the enormous screens were covered beneath thick layers of frost. Ice stretched across the floor while snow had accumulated in places that should have been completely sealed from the outside world.

Sara’s confusion lasted only until she noticed someone sitting inside.

A lone figure rested upon one of the chairs near the center of the frozen command room. Long white-silver hair flowed down her back, and she seemed completely unaware of the cold surrounding her. She wasn’t looking at the screens or touching any of the equipment. Instead, she simply sat there in silence, seemingly lost so deeply in thought that she hadn’t even noticed the doors opening.

Sara recognized her immediately.

Her body reacted before her thoughts could catch up. She dropped onto one knee and lowered her head respectfully, every question about how the Queen of Atlantis had entered the command room becoming secondary to the fact that she was already here.

"Long live Your Highness. I am blessed to be in your presence."

Sara remained kneeling as her thoughts raced. She didn’t know why Erza had come here or how long she had been sitting inside the command room, but the timing immediately worried her. Sara had only just discovered that the salesman demon’s true body was still alive, and now the Queen of Atlantis had appeared inside the very room from which Liebus coordinated its military forces.

Does she already know?

If Erza had come here because of the demons, then perhaps the situation was even worse than Sara currently understood.

Erza finally reacted to her voice.

She slowly turned her head.

Sara instinctively looked up—and her crimson eyes widened.

For once, it wasn’t Erza’s terrifying presence that caught her attention. It wasn’t the ice covering the room or the overwhelming power of the Dragon Queen sitting before her.

It was the single tear rolling silently down Erza’s cheek.

Sara stared for a second longer than she should have. The sight was so completely different from the ruthless woman she had witnessed yesterday or heard in legend that her mind struggled to process it. This was the same Dragon Queen who had frozen hundreds of soldiers without hesitation and nearly driven trained captains mad merely by allowing them to experience a fraction of her presence.

Yet now she was crying.

Sara slowly rose from her kneeling position, genuine concern overcoming some of her fear.

"My Queen... are you well?"

Erza’s violet eyes widened slightly.

Only then did she seem to realize what Sara had seen.

She immediately turned her face away and wiped the tear from her cheek before Sara could look any closer. The vulnerability disappeared almost instantly as Erza straightened in the chair, forcing the familiar coldness back into her expression.

"Yes."

Her voice had returned to its usual controlled tone.

"I am perfectly well."

The moment Sara heard Erza’s answer, she immediately lowered herself onto one knee again. Whatever she had accidentally witnessed was clearly something the Queen didn’t wish to discuss, and Sara knew better than to continue staring.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. I should have prepared properly for your arrival. You were given no escort, no reception, and I wasn’t even here to personally welcome you. Please punish me for my negligence."

Erza’s attention shifted away from the frozen room and toward Sara. For a moment, she simply stared at the kneeling woman before letting out a quiet sigh.

Normally, she might have expected such treatment when entering the territory of another kingdom, but this time Sara had done absolutely nothing wrong. Erza herself hadn’t planned to come here. After leaving Yuuta last night, she had simply flown without direction until eventually finding herself at the Agency.

"Don’t apologize. You weren’t informed because I didn’t inform anyone."

Sara raised her head slightly, only for Erza to glance around the command room. Now that she was paying attention, even she seemed to realize just how badly her emotions had affected the place. Thick frost covered the walls, snow had gathered across the floor, and several communication terminals had almost completely disappeared beneath layers of ice.

"If anyone should apologize, perhaps it should be me. I seem to have made quite a mess of your command room."

Sara’s eyes widened slightly.

For several seconds, she wondered whether she had heard correctly.

The Queen of Atlantis had just... apologized?

Yesterday, Sara had watched this same woman freeze hundreds of soldiers merely because they irritated her. She had witnessed Erza nearly kill an entire elite squad after they repeatedly challenged her authority, and even Sara herself had been careful with every word she spoke around her. Yet now Erza was calmly apologizing because she had accidentally frozen a room.

"Please don’t say such things, Your Highness. There is nothing for you to apologize for." Sara immediately lowered her head again.

"A room can be repaired. We are already fortunate enough to receive your presence. We aren’t worthy of an apology from you."

Erza looked at her for a moment before a faint smile appeared on her face.

"You’re certainly careful with your words, Sara."

Sara wasn’t sure whether that was praise or a warning, so she wisely remained silent.

"Don’t worry about it."

Erza leaned back into the chair, and silence gradually returned to the frozen command room. Sara remained standing several steps away, waiting respectfully for Erza to speak first, but the Dragon Queen said nothing.

The longer the silence continued, the more Sara began noticing things she had initially overlooked.

Erza wasn’t behaving like the woman she had encountered yesterday.

Her eyes seemed distant. Every few seconds, her gaze wandered toward nothing in particular before lowering again, as though her thoughts were somewhere far away from this room. Even the enormous amount of ice surrounding them now made more sense. Erza apparently hadn’t entered the command room intending to freeze it; her magic had simply leaked while she sat here alone.

Sara’s eyes briefly moved toward the cheek where she had seen the tear.

Something happened to her.

She was certain of it now.

The problem was that Sara had absolutely no idea how to approach the subject. Asking personal questions of a Dragon Queen seemed like an excellent way to shorten one’s lifespan, especially when that Queen was capable of freezing people before they could even understand what had happened.

Still, Sara couldn’t simply stand there forever.

She hesitated for several seconds before finally deciding to take the risk.

"My Queen..."

Erza’s violet eyes slowly moved toward her.

Sara immediately chose her next words carefully.

"Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but... is something bothering you?"

Erza turned her face slightly away from Sara.

"No. It’s nothing."

The answer was quiet, almost dismissive, but even Erza seemed to realize how unconvincing it sounded. She remained silent for a few more seconds before releasing a long sigh. Her violet eyes wandered across the frozen command room, and when she finally spoke again, the question came so unexpectedly that Sara initially wondered whether she had heard correctly.

"Sara... do you think the way we love is different from the way humans love?"

Sara’s crimson eyes widened.

For several seconds, she couldn’t respond. Of all the questions she could have imagined receiving from the Queen of Atlantis, one concerning love had never crossed her mind. Yet when Sara looked more carefully at Erza, any thought that the Queen was asking casually disappeared. The sadness in those violet eyes was unmistakable, and the tear Sara had witnessed earlier suddenly made far more sense.

Sara carefully considered her answer.

"Yes, My Queen. I believe our love is different from human love."

Erza’s gaze lowered.

A quiet ache immediately returned to her chest.

So he was right...

Perhaps Yuuta had understood something she hadn’t. Dragons weren’t humans. Their instincts, their possessiveness, the way they claimed what belonged to them and the way they protected those they considered precious were fundamentally different. Maybe what Erza had believed was love really did appear twisted when seen through human eyes.

Maybe Yuuta had been right to call it animalistic.

Her fingers slowly tightened against the armrest.

Before that thought could sink any deeper, Sara spoke again.

"But, My Queen..."

Erza’s eyes moved toward her.

Sara hesitated. She knew she was approaching something dangerously personal, yet after seeing the expression on Erza’s face, she couldn’t simply leave her answer there.

"I don’t think being different means we are incapable of loving them."

Erza remained silent.

Sara lowered her eyes as memories she rarely allowed herself to revisit gradually surfaced.

"To be honest, My Queen, humans are very strange creatures. I used to think they were weak, foolish and insignificant. Coming from the Blood Dynasty, I was taught to look at them as little more than livestock. Food, if necessary. Certainly not creatures whose feelings I needed to understand."

A faint, almost bitter smile appeared on Sara’s face.

"Then I met one."

Erza’s attention settled completely on her.

Sara seemed to forget for a moment that she was speaking to the Queen of Atlantis. Her crimson eyes became distant as she remembered a person from a life Erza knew nothing about.

"She was nothing like me. She was foolish, fragile, irritatingly emotional... everything I believed humans to be. At first, I couldn’t understand why she behaved the way she did. To someone from my clan, she should have been nothing more than food."

Sara paused, her expression gradually softening.

"But somehow, that foolish human started making my heart ache."

Erza’s violet eyes narrowed slightly, not in anger but interest.

"I began worrying when she was in danger. I became irritated when she was hurt. I found myself remembering little things she said even when I didn’t want to, and eventually I started doing things for her without understanding why."

Sara looked down at her own hand.

"By the time I realized what was happening... I already cared about her."

Erza didn’t interrupt.

The command room remained completely silent except for the faint crackling of ice around them. Sara took a slow breath before continuing, her voice quieter than before.

"I still don’t think I understand human love perfectly, My Queen. Perhaps I never will. The way they express it can be completely different from us. But I don’t think that makes what we feel false."

Erza’s eyes widened slightly.

Sara finally looked directly at her.

"Maybe we aren’t naturally good at loving the way humans do. But humans can teach us. We can learn what hurts them, what makes them happy, when they need protection and when they simply need us to listen."

She gave a small smile.

"After all... our hearts aren’t so different from theirs."

Erza froze.

For some reason, that simple sentence struck deeper than everything else Sara had said.

Our hearts aren’t so different from theirs.

Images immediately surfaced inside Erza’s mind. She remembered herself before Yuuta the woman who could watch people die without feeling anything, who measured nearly everything through strength, usefulness and loyalty. Then came the memories after him. Cooking together. Arguing over ridiculous things. Watching him sleep. Feeling irritated whenever another woman approached him. The strange warmth whenever he smiled at her. The fear she had experienced only hours ago when she thought she had nearly killed him.

None of those feelings had existed because Yuuta belonged to her.

She had been happy simply because he existed beside her.

Erza’s lips parted slightly.

"So..."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"...my love was real."

For the first time since leaving the apartment, something warm moved through her chest.

Yuuta had called her love animalistic. He had accused her of pretending, and Erza had believed perhaps he understood human emotions better than she ever could. Yet Sara’s words offered another possibility.

Maybe her love wasn’t false.

Maybe she simply hadn’t learned how to love him in the way he needed.

A faint smile almost appeared on Erza’s lips, but it disappeared before it could fully form.

Because the realization had come too late.

I hate you too.

Yuuta’s voice returned mercilessly.

You fucking lizard queen.

Then came the sentence that hurt most.

I wish you never came back.

Erza’s eyes lowered as the brief warmth inside her chest vanished. Her white-silver hair slowly fell across her face, hiding the sadness returning to her expression.

Real or not...

It didn’t matter anymore.

Yuuta didn’t want it.

Sara immediately noticed the shift in atmosphere. She had no idea whose love they had actually been discussing, but she understood enough to realize she had wandered far deeper into the Queen’s personal affairs than she probably should have.

Sara lowered herself onto one knee, suddenly realizing how far she had allowed the conversation to drift into something deeply personal.

"I apologize, My Queen. I spoke far beyond what was asked of me."

Erza remained silent for a moment before shaking her head. Strangely, she didn’t feel offended. If anything, Sara’s words had answered a question Erza had been tormenting herself with since leaving Yuuta.

"Don’t worry about it. In fact, I should be thanking you. You helped me understand something I couldn’t understand on my own."

Sara raised her head slightly, surprised by the sincerity behind Erza’s words. Before she could respond, however, Erza’s expression suddenly changed as though she had remembered something important. She straightened in the chair and looked directly at Sara.

"Wait... I nearly forgot. There was something I wanted to ask you."

Sara’s body immediately became tense. The softness that had briefly entered their conversation disappeared as Erza’s violet eyes became serious again.

"Anything, Your Highness."

Erza stared at her for several seconds before finally speaking the name Sara had hoped she wouldn’t hear.

"Sara... tell me what happened after Anaya’s death."

Sara froze.

The change was immediate. Her crimson eyes widened, and whatever calmness she had maintained until now disappeared from her face. Even her breathing seemed to stop for a moment as memories she had buried for years suddenly threatened to return.

Erza noticed every reaction.

She leaned slightly forward, her violet eyes never leaving Sara.

"I want the truth, Sara."

Her voice remained calm.

"Tell me what really happened after Anaya died."

Sara’s fingers slowly curled against her knees.

For several seconds, she couldn’t answer.

Because what happened after Anaya’s death was the very reason the ruthless survivor of the Blood Dynasty had devoted her life to protecting humanity from demons.

To Be Continued...

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