Moonlight Ball

The night before they left after finishing the prepping, Sidrain opened the palace treasury. As he was the leader of the dragon subjugation group, the soldiers standing guard opened the treasury without question. He dismissed everyone as he said he wanted to be alone, and then went in front of the burning sword that he had once seen when he was young.

Testalia.

Thousands of years ago, a slayer killed a red dragon and used its essence to create the magic sword. The forever burning sword which only the slayer could wield was brought as kept in the palace treasury.

No one who is replaceable can kill the dragon and if you can’t kill the dragon, you can’t come back alive.

Sidrain knew well that was the king’s intention.

He didn’t blame the king. Everyone in the palace was like this. The replaceables. In the end, he was one of them.

Before he reached for the Testalia, he suddenly remembered a memory that wasn’t replaceable, that no one could have experienced.

Iris Elaine.

Ah, the girl who fainted while screaming. The child that showed many halos. Wish I could’ve seen her face. If he was to die here and now, only that would have been his regret.

It would’ve been better if I could’ve kissed her.

Irreplaceable.

I guess I had one of those too. Goodbye, Iris Elaine.

In his final moments, Sidrain didn’t say goodbye to his parents nor his siblings. Only to the girl whom he didn’t know if he would or would not remember. The only thing irreplaceable to him. He said goodbye to the only thing that was shiny and beautiful.

Then he grabbed the Testalia and plunged it through his chest.

He was burned. The fire spread out the entire body through his heart; it was too hot and painful.

That night, Sidrain accepted Testalia with the pain of wandering through death. In the palace treasury where there was no one, he held in his screams. He clenched his teeth while shaking uncontrollably and his lips were completely ripped by the time he calmed.

For the entire night, he had to fight the pain that made him wish he were dead. It was like being tortured. For the entire night, he accepted the torture from Testalia.

By the time the sun rose, he became one with Testalia and fainted.

***

“If there was no Testalia, Your Majesty would’ve been…” Iris, after hearing the story, carefully spoke and Sidrain smiled.

“Dead, yes. Though even with Testalia, the dragon was tough.”

Even with all the most competent and courageous knights and Testalia, it was hard to subdue the dragon. The dragon was the epitome of all living things. He just couldn’t beat it. He barely held on with his will to live. That he just had to kill that thing in the end.

He had to.

Most of the knights that came with him were dead, and for vengeance for those who were dead and to save those who were left, he had to kill the dragon. Out of the people who were still alive was his baby brother Count Portwall.

“Then when I came back, my father was assassinated.”

The nobles must have thought that the Crown Prince would be murdered by the dragon. So, they assassinated the king and waited for the news. They were planning on switching the royal family with the announcement of the Crown Prince’s death, but the Crown Prince, although he looked worse for the wear, came back victorious.

“S-Sid.”

Iris didn’t know what she should say. If it was a story like this, she wished she hadn’t asked. As she just moved her lips to speak, Sidrain smiled. He stretched out his hand.

“If you feel sorry, could you hold my hand, my lady?”

Iris immediately grabbed his hand. She grabbed his hand as tightly as she could. But that strength was only enough to make him feel good, so Sidrain laughed.

Sidrain knew after coming back. That even the king was replaceable. That no one in the palace was irreplaceable.

Just like that, Sidrain became cold blooded.

While he was finding the people responsible for assassinating the king, his heart was becoming ice cold. Out of the many rooms in his heart, there was warmth in only one place. That place held Iris Elaine.

And she showed up after going into his wife’s body.

“Iris,” Sidrain called to her, and Iris nodded. “Honestly, I wanted to call this name all the time. Iris Elaine.”

“You can say it any time.” As Iris quickly responded, he said it cheerfully.

“Right, I can now,” Sidrain laughed.

That laughter was so beautiful yet so lonely that it forced Iris to avert her gaze.

The world was becoming brighter. Iris grabbed Sidrain’s hand. She was on the horse, and he was on the ground and they walked back to the palace holding hands. It was a quiet road.

This poor and lovely man.

She thought he was the victor of life as he had everything, but it wasn’t all that. Thinking about it, he was always smiling. He was usually always in his own world and was seen as weird and scary, but he laughed often beside her.

He said he always wanted to call her Iris.

Iris for a moment knew that she liked him. Apart from her teacher, this was the first morning that she thought for the first time in a long time that she liked someone.