The sky was painted in red as darkness began to encroach on the city. Under the setting sun, Amelia and Liam stood in front of the entrance of the reception hall.
“Good night,” said Liam.
“Have a good night, Lord Liam,” replied Amelia with an elegant bow.
Liam reciprocated the gesture, still looking as awkward as ever, then he turned around and went on his way.
Amelia lingered by the entrance and watched Liam walk away. Monsters immediately flocked around him—it was clear they’d only been holding back until now because of Amelia. Adorable slimes bounced around him as fairy flosses gathered in droves, along with many other types of monsters who eagerly crowded around their king.
Amelia watched on in silence. That was far from the Monster King she’d heard so much about. Of course, Liam’s followers were monsters, and he was their king. However, in her eyes, Liam looked more like a shepherd with a flock of animals all dearly attached to him.
The sight left a very warm feeling in her chest. She thought back to everything she had seen of Liam today. Then, she began to formulate—
“Hey, got some time?”
“Huh?” Flinching, Amelia pried her gaze from Liam and spun around.
There stood a girl who had seemingly come from inside the reception hall. She propped her hands on her hips and held her head up high, but strangely, that haughty stance looked completely natural to her. Instead of feeling offended, Amelia even thought the confidence looked good on her.
“You are...”
“Dyphon,” said the girl.
“Dyphon...”
The name sounded vaguely familiar. After sifting through her memories, Amelia finally recalled the information that the grand duke’s official had shared with her when they dragged her here. Dyphon was one of the three dragons of the Tri-Draconic War—a living legend.
“Ah... Lord Dyphon,” she hurriedly corrected herself.
Amelia had been told to be on the lookout for her, but it still took her a moment to link the girl standing before her to the fearsome dragon. She was, if anything, an unbelievable beauty.
Amelia’s job brought her into frequent contact with the upper class, which was rife with beautiful women. With their wealth and authority, nobles typically looked for beautiful women to continue their lineage, and it was for that reason that nobleborns tended to be physically attractive. Even then, Amelia had never seen anyone as stunning as Dyphon.
Amelia couldn’t help but stare in confusion as she struggled to reconcile the image of this beautiful girl with the fearsome dragon of legends.
Suddenly, Dyphon jutted out her bottom lip and demanded, “Are you targeting my darling?”
“Your...darling?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Darling is darling,” Dyphon grumbled as she cast her gaze over Amelia’s shoulder.
Amelia followed her gaze—Liam’s figure had gotten smaller and more distant than earlier. She was still struggling to keep up amid her confusion, but Dyphon’s behavior gave her enough to go on. “Do you like Lord Liam?”
“Obviously,” Dyphon scoffed. “My darling’s the coolest.”
“I see.”
“So? Are you targeting him?” Dyphon asked again.
This time, Amelia heard the question loud and clear. Her face scrunched up into a grimace.
Dyphon narrowed her eyes. “Well?”
“I am not,” Amelia answered.
“You’re lying,” said Dyphon right away. “It’s clear that you’re falling in love with him.” Her voice was firm and unwavering, as if she wouldn’t accept any denial or rebuttal.
Amelia looked at her wide-eyed, impressed that a dragon could be so sensitive to the nuances of human emotion. She softly nodded. “You are correct. Right now, I am in love with him.”
“See?”
“However,” Amelia added, “it is for my work.”
“What?” Dyphon narrowed her eyes. She had already been in a horrible mood from the moment she came to interrogate Amelia, and that response certainly didn’t help. The brewing bloodlust in her eyes sent shivers down the songstress’s spine. “What is that supposed to mean? Make some sense, unless you wanna die.”
Amelia fell silent, closing her eyes and looking inward. Once she’d ruminated over the feelings in her chest, she once again looked Dyphon in the eye and answered, “I always do this.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“For my work, I often sing for another person, and every time, I think of that person as my lover. I make sure to fall in love with them...and to put those feelings into my song.”
“What...?” Dyphon scrunched up her nose. “Every time? Why bother?”
“Because that is the only way I know.”
Dyphon stared at Amelia, but the songstress no longer faltered. Dyphon was a little frightening, yes, but through their conversation Amelia could see through the dragon’s feelings.
Amelia had asked to stay by Liam’s side so that she could fall in love with him, just as she did with all her clients—as actors did in a romance play with their fellow actors. She was grateful to Liam, and so she wanted to do what she could for him, to heed his request and to give him her best performance yet.
To that end, she tried her hardest to fall in love with Liam—at least until she went up onstage and sang for him. This was “the best” that Amelia could offer.
Since Amelia was currently in love with Liam, she could also tell that Dyphon was jealous—that Dyphon was a maiden in love, fighting over the boy of her affection. The moment Amelia realized that, the fear faded from her chest and made way for the courage to stand against her.
“You’re lying.”
However, Dyphon’s response once again caught her off guard.
“What?”
“You’re actually falling in love with him,” Dyphon said plainly.
“Huh...?” Amelia blinked widely, unable to comprehend.
“Do you take me for some ignorant kid? Sorry, but I’m not so bored as to butt heads with someone I didn’t think was seriously after my darling.”
Dyphon insisted that Amelia, for all her proclamations, was actually, truly in love with Liam.
Amelia, frozen speechless, completely blanked out. She hadn’t even noticed. But now that Dyphon had laid it all bare, she finally realized it—the truth behind the budding emotions in her chest.