Prologue
“WE’RE finally returning to Visage, aren’t we?” Lady Agnes Lefort muttered as she watched the royal palace of Oreille receding from the carriage window.
“Right.”
The beautiful young man with Prussian blue hair sitting next to her was Prince Claude Visage.
Agnes’s fiancé.
Though the two now rode in an elegant horse-drawn carriage, it wasn’t a pleasant vacation that had brought Agnes to the neighboring country of Oreille. Her visit was not of her own volition. She’d been brought to be sold, a form of recompense for the debts incurred by her ex-fiancé… All right, let’s just call it what it was—a kidnapping.
Agnes took a deep breath as she thought back over everything that had happened. Her biological father Josse Murre was in truth Josselin Oreille, the half-brother of the previous king of Oreille. It was shocking enough that her father, whom Agnes had always thought was a commoner, had turned out to belong to the royal family of a neighboring country. But that wasn’t all, either.
Josselin had been blessed by powerful spirits to be the King of Mushrooms, and he’d possessed a special ring that proved it. The current king of Oreille had wanted the ring. Out of jealousy and desire, he had Josselin killed and stole the ring at the same time.
But, as he was not the true owner of the ring, he was unable to possess its original power. So, he set his sights on targeting Josselin’s daughter Agnes, who was also blessed with the divine protection of the very same spirits.
Agnes was kidnapped and brought to Oreille. However, when she learned the truth about the death of her parents and aunt, her mushroom powers had gone out of control.
Claude was the one who had stopped the cathedral from being completely destroyed. He’d sacrificed his own blood and magical energy to summon a sacred beast to reach Oreille, even though just entering the country was enough to render him weak and sick. Agnes was grateful for his help, yet at the same time, felt guilty for all he had done for her.
Although matters had been settled for the time being, there was still a lot of work to do, from clean-ups to negotiations. Prince Gerome Visage, Claude’s half-brother, remained in Oreille to take care of all that.
Prince Nathan of Oreille seemed like a decent person who would be willing to talk things through, but after such a big commotion that seemed likely to spark a war between the two nations, it was nerve-wracking to just leave Prince Gerome alone to settle things.
Gerome, however, was more concerned with another matter entirely.
“Listen,” he’d said, exuding an aura like he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “The first priority is to get Claude back to Visage with Agnes, pronto! Otherwise, there’s no point to any of this!”
Without room to make any arguments, Agnes and Claude were rushed into a carriage and sent on their way. Now, they were watching the royal capital streets receding from view through the carriage window. Soon, they would be out of the capital entirely.
Agnes had recently spent several days riding in horse-drawn carriages, but she’d been blindfolded and gagged the whole time with the window blacked out. Compared to that, this was quite pleasant.
She tore her eyes away from the window and her gaze fell on the white creature curled up beside her, Ciel. She stroked its soft fur fondly. Ciel resembled a large white cat with dark blue stripes in its fur, but it was actually a sacred beast that Claude had summoned using his own dragon blood.
When she first saw Ciel, the tiger had been as tall as Agnes with beautiful sky-blue eyes, as his name suggested. The blessings of the spirits had transpired to make Ciel kitten-sized now. And to be honest, Agnes wasn’t exactly sure how that worked.
To Agnes’s understanding, sacred beasts continually drew from the magical energy of their summoners—in this case, Claude—and tended to consume less when they were smaller. And honestly, Agnes was delighted to have a very fluffy and adorable Ciel kitten around.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Agnes voiced after a while. “Prince Gerome only urged us to hurry off because he was worried about your health, right, Claude?”
“I’m fine. My original arrangement with Ciel has been fulfilled, and his current form is not draining much of my magical energy at all.” Claude gave Agnes a soft smile, but she wasn’t about to just let it drop so easily.
“I get that, but until you found me, the arrangement you made was a temporary, extremely taxing one, right? You used up a huge amount of your magical energy just getting here. It must have been very draining just to cross the border into Oreille…” she fretted.
There seemed to be a power conflict between those with dragon blood and the spirits. In Oreille, where the spirits’ influence was strong, Claude’s own power was muted and his physical condition adversely affected. On top of that, his magical energy was being guzzled by a sacred beast. He must have been in terrible condition, all things considered.
But Claude was so kind. No doubt he was trying his hardest to keep Agnes from worrying. His brows furrowed as he realized she wouldn’t just let him wave the issue away.
“Well, I can’t say I’m exactly in top condition right now, but we’re heading home. I’ll be fine,” he reassured. “And you’re here, Agnes. As you can see, I’m perfectly content.”
Those with particularly high concentrations of dragon blood in their veins are born with something called a Dragon Crest. These Crest Bearers all have soulmates, known as Dragonmates. Agnes was Claude’s, and her presence seemed to lend him strength in many areas. It was hard for her to notice any differences, so Agnes wasn’t quite sure how much she helped.
Claude reached out and poked her cheek. The escaping puff of air made her realize she’d been pouting with her cheeks puffed out.
“Besides, there’s much to do once we get back,” he said.
“Yes, report to our families…and to His Majesty…”
“That goes without saying. Also, I have to deal with that walking trash heap who tried to sell MY Dragonmate to the king of another country,” Claude said in a dangerously dark voice.
“W-Walking trash heap…!” Agnes repeated.
It had been no ordinary kidnapping.
Agnes was the adopted daughter of a count, yes, but she was also the fiancée of Claude, second in line to the throne. The Dragonmate of a Crest Bearer.
Her ex-fiancé Philip and his wife Sabina had committed what was arguably treason. Even if they had only been acting at the behest of Oreille’s king, that didn’t help their case.
“What kind of punishment will Philip and Sabina receive?” Agnes asked.
“The specifics will be decided after my brother and father have discussed it,” Claude replied, a dark twinkle in his eyes. “If you ask me, it wouldn’t be going too far to have him executed on the spot… But Philip does have royal blood. He can’t be squelched so easily.”
Does that mean that if Philip wasn’t a member of the royal family, he could have been immediately executed? The thought was a little scary… But after everything Philip had done, Agnes couldn’t muster up much sympathy.