“Thank you!” Claudia said, overjoyed, and reached out to touch the scales. It had taken days for the wyvern to allow Seele to get that close, yet this girl had accomplished it in no time at all. Scary.
Was her ability to naturally converse with a wyvern thanks to her dragon knight lineage? Come to think of it, Astrid had also managed to touch Claimh Soras rather effortlessly back in Ishka, hadn’t she? A dragon knight’s wyverns were typically considered the kingdom’s property, but judging from the fact that the Dragonauts owned their own stable, they must have had a number of personal wyverns as well. And perhaps Claimh Soras could sense that familiarity exclusively in the Dragonaut sisters, who’d been raised in such a household.
“By the way, Mr. Sora...”
“Yes?”
“Did Aza—the crown prince—say anything to you about this wyvern?”
“You could say that. The first words out of his mouth were a demand that I give it to him.”
Claudia frowned, as though she’d expected the answer. “I knew it. Please, Mr. Sora, don’t think too badly of him. He may be impolite at times and can be a bit arrogant, and he’s susceptible to flattery, but he’s a good person at heart. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s told me how much he loves dragons and how when he grows up, he wants to be the strongest dragon knight the world has ever known. I think when he saw your indigo wyvern, he was just unable to contain himself, that’s all.”
Perhaps realizing her explanation of Azaal’s behavior had served as a rather poor defense of the boy so far, she hurriedly continued.
“Oh! And I guarantee he won’t use his royal authority to forcibly take your dragon. So please, don’t worry about that.”
“Oh, is that right?” True, seeing the way he’d avoided the Dragonauts back there, he didn’t seem strong-willed enough to want to possess the world and everything in it. If he was like that, he would have had the balls to greet them like normal, without worrying about how they felt about the annulled engagement.
“Yes, absolutely! And if Marquis Corquia ever tries to goad him into any wrongdoing, I’ll take him to task; trust me! I might not look like it, but I can beat Prince Azaal in a sword fight, you know? And I’m better at handling dragons too!”
It sounded like Claudia had been quite the tomboy before the curse had taken hold of her.
“And to be honest,” she said with a hint of sadness, “that’s probably why he was never really that interested in me. The prince likes girls who are more ladylike and demure. I tried growing out my hair, speaking more politely, and other things too, but I guess no matter how much someone changes on the surface, they’ll always be the same on the inside...”
Then, as though coming to her senses, she jerked back up and shook her head frantically, sending her long golden hair back and forth.
“N-No, never mind! Sorry, Mr. Sora, I know none of that’s your concern...”
“No, I’m actually glad you gave me some insight into what the prince is actually like. To be completely honest, I was indeed concerned that the royal family might try to take my wyvern by force, so if that happens, I’ll be counting on you to take the crown prince to task, as you say.”
“Oh...well, yes, just leave it to me!” She looked a little shocked that I’d taken her up on her offer for a moment, but now that she knew how I felt, she smiled brightly. And when I looked at that smile, I couldn’t help but smile back.
Just like her older sister, Astrid, Claudia might have been a duke’s daughter, but she didn’t put on airs while conversing with me. Perhaps it had something to do with owing me for the Jirai Ao Ochs, but I doubted it. I had the feeling it was just her personality. She was higher in status than me, had more power than me, and yet she treated me like her equal, like she would one of her friends. I was hopelessly weak against people like her. After all, most of those I’d met in similar positions thus far had treated me the opposite.
If possible, I wanted to do something about the curse plaguing her. Before my eyes, I could clearly see the abnormality in her. Claudia’s soul was so wispy that it was nearly nonexistent, almost like Iria’s had looked after I’d devoured most of it the other day. That was why I’d initially suspected that someone around Claudia had an ability similar to mine, but after searching the Dragonaut estate, I hadn’t seen anyone like that. To begin with, it would’ve been impossible for anyone to eat her soul with her family and their vassals guarding her around the clock.
Besides, Claudia’s condition was too unusual for someone to have merely eaten her soul. Even if someone lost their soul for whatever reason, it would recover over time. I’d confirmed this multiple times myself with Miroslav and Lunamaria. No matter how many times I ate their souls, they always came back. But Claudia’s soul hadn’t recovered one bit since yesterday. In fact, it looked like it had decreased even more since then. A soul that couldn’t recover and continued to dwindle even though no one had devoured it...but why? Just from looking, the answer was obvious: The vessel that normally held her soul was gone.
To illustrate this, think of it like a rice bowl with a hole in the bottom. If more of the rice was falling out through the hole than what got poured in, it was no wonder her soul was continuing to leak out. That was the truth behind Claudia’s curse: Her abnormal mental and physical symptoms were only side effects of her soul being depleted. And in that case, it was no wonder elixirs and miracles only worked temporarily before the curse reared its ugly head once more.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before her soul dried up entirely, which meant before that happened, I’d need to seal her soul back inside a vessel somehow. Not that I had any clue how to do that. I only knew how to eat souls, not heal them.
No, wait. Maybe there was no need to heal her soul at all. The problem still needed to be solved, of course, but the most pressing matter was preventing her symptoms from progressing any further. If I couldn’t stop her soul from leaking, what if I just replenished more than she’d lost? What if instead of a soul eater, this time I became a soul donor?
It went without saying, of course, but I’d never attempted anything like that before. I hadn’t even considered the possibility. So I wasn’t sure it would work, and even if it did, I didn’t know what would happen to Claudia afterward, if anything. It was possible that overfilling her soul could cause her vessel to break beyond repair. And because we’d need to lock lips for me to offer part of my soul to her, I couldn’t exactly test what would happen. I was certain that if I tried, Duke Dragonaut would cut me down where I stood. I did think about sneaking into her bedroom in the middle of the night and striking while she was asleep...but if I was caught, I’d be branded as a criminal.
Well, let’s save that as an absolute last resort. For the time being, I decided to search for the origin of Claudia’s curse. If I could perhaps eliminate the curse at the source, she might recover on her own without me having to lay a hand on her at all. Of course, if the duke had already poured all of his resources into eliminating the curse and finding a way to cure her, part of me doubted the likes of me would get any further. Still, I wouldn’t know until I tried.
We returned to the mansion together. An anxious maid came out to greet her, relieved she was safe. Apparently, Claudia had asked her attendants not to accompany her, as she was afraid that other people might spook Claimh Soras. Indeed, she really was a kind, considerate girl.
All the more reason to save her, I thought, mentally giving myself the green light to act.