LIGHTNOVELONLINE CH-01 (PART 2)
Chapter 01 (part 2)
A dragon’s tears are unlike those of humans.
Dragons aren’t emotional creatures that cry out of sadness.
And yet, those tears seemed to be born from sorrow.
– “If my death resolves everything, then why did I dare to dream of living happily? My foolish dreams have caused too much pain to too many people.”
“…”
– “Because you suffered due to me, mortal, my fiancé, I hope you’ll find happiness because of me. This is the last thing I can give you…”
With those final words, the life faded from the dragon.
Valdrova, the hidden tyrant of the continent, met her end.
Ferda stared blankly at Valdrova’s lifeless body.
For the first time since becoming a mage fueled by rage, he felt something strange.
‘Why do I feel so uneasy?’
Without thinking, Ferda placed a hand on his chest.
He had walked over countless corpses to get here.
Anyone who stood in his way was killed, anything he needed was stolen, and his power grew.
Ferda knew he was a broken man, devoid of conscience and empathy.
And yet, her death seemed to weigh on him, as if holding him back.
Like a curse she’d left behind.
‘Don’t think about it, Ferda.’
Move forward.
Take what you came for.
He picked up the object she had left behind.
The dragon’s heart.
The source of every mage’s ultimate dream: to reach the 9th circle.
It was the key to becoming more than a Grand Mage, to ascend to the ranks of a demigod.
Absorbing it would give him the power to take revenge on *everything*.
Even the things he’d forgotten why he hated.
Ferda began absorbing the essence within the heart.
As the ancient energy of the dragon flowed through his veins, his blood began to boil.
Overwhelming power surged into him, but along with it, Ferda felt something else.
‘What… is this?’
He could feel Valdrova’s entire life.
‘Her emotions?’
Those feelings became a part of him before he could resist.
“Ah…”
Ferda let out a soft gasp.
His mind became clearer than it had ever been.
The hatred and desire for revenge that had driven him all his life were fading away.
Was it her essence clearing his mind?
‘No.’
The emotions he felt from her heart were almost the opposite of clarity.
They were like standing at the edge of a deep, endless abyss.
The Red Dragon, who had lived for millennia, had never been loved.
The uncontrollable rage and destruction that earned her the titles of Tyrant Dragon, Calamity, and Dragonslayer…
All those infamous names had been imposed on her, turning her into the very image of a tyrant.
They were curses she had accumulated over her long life.
And yet, Valdrova had loved those insignificant things.
She chose to hide herself because of that love.
She endured loneliness and sorrow for the sake of others.
And that’s why Ferda’s mind felt so clear.
Compared to her, the anger and hatred he had carried for so long seemed so petty.
“Ah…”
A small, hollow sound escaped Ferda’s lips.
Since becoming a mage, he had never once been in his right mind.
For the first time, he felt like himself.
“What… have I done?”
Blinded by revenge, he had been consumed by his own power and destroyed everything.
But was that truly what he had wanted?
For a fleeting moment, he remembered the dreams he’d once had as a child.
‘What I really wanted…’
Was it to become a Grand Mage?
‘No. I wanted… a normal life. A family.’
He had worked so hard for such a simple, modest dream. But now, that dream felt like it mocked the broken man he had become.
“Ah…”
Ferda closed his eyes.
Before him, a magic circle appeared.
As each layer of the circle completed, his life flashed before his eyes.
The first circle formed when he was cast out of his family, filled with sorrow.
The second circle, when he was mocked for having no talent, filled with anger.
Inferiority, resentment, jealousy, betrayal…
Every circle Ferda had ever formed was built on negative emotions.
He had betrayed others to survive and switched sides whenever it suited him to grow stronger.
That’s how Ferda became an 8th-circle Grand Mage.
And now, as he reached the 9th circle, the only thing he felt was:
‘Emptiness.’
It all felt meaningless.
At the same time, he was angry.
Angry at Valdrova, the woman who had made all his efforts feel like a mistake.
“You foolish, naive woman…”
He tried blaming her.
But unlike before, he felt no drive from his anger.
He knew deep down that he didn’t mean it.
The real fool had been him, for blaming her in the first place.
He’d known all along that being cast out of his family had been inevitable. She had simply been an excuse.
Still, he had taken out all his anger on her.
And yet, Valdrova had accepted his twisted reasoning as her fault.
In her final moments, she had wished for someone else’s happiness.
Ferda let out a bitter laugh.
Even as he laughed, the 9th-circle magic circle glowed brilliantly.
A mage who reached the 9th circle could only cast one spell.
A single wish.
The ultimate spell, capable of defying the very laws of existence.
A simple incantation, requiring only a word.
Ferda had spent decades chasing revenge to reach this moment.
But now, his throat felt tight, and he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
He resented himself for spending so many years consumed by vengeance.
He despised the petty man who had remembered every name just to settle petty scores.
And yet, his heart understood the feelings he couldn’t put into words.
“It’s meaningless…”
The magic circle glowed brightly.
When the light faded, the 9th-circle mage was gone without a trace.
—
“…Ferda?”
“…”
“Ferda.”
No, he hadn’t disappeared.
As the brilliant light faded, Ferda opened his eyes at the sound of someone calling his name.
In front of him wasn’t a bleeding dragon, but a middle-aged man.
“Ferda? Are you listening?”
“…Yes?”
“Yes? What do you mean yes? Your father’s been talking to you, and you’ve just been sitting there in a daze!”
The man furrowed his brows.
Ferda recognized him immediately.
‘Erembalt Rosnova.’
The man he had once called father.
But this time, he looked younger, stronger—completely different from the broken old man Ferda had last seen.
Had he died and arrived in the afterlife?
No. Everything about this moment felt eerily familiar.
‘This… is that time, isn’t it?’
Ferda quickly understood.
It was the one time he’d ever had a real conversation with his father.
“You’ve been engaged to the Crown Prince of Valdrova. It’s been decided by the state, so I expect you to follow through without complaint.”
His engagement to the Crown Prince of Valdrova.
‘I haven’t died. I’ve returned to this moment.’
The beginning of his misfortune.
The moment that sparked his uncontrollable thirst for revenge.
‘Why?’
He didn’t fully understand it yet.
But his heart already knew what he had wished for in the emptiness of that magic circle.
“Hah.”
A soft, awkward laugh escaped his lips.
“You brat! What are you laughing about while I’m talking to you?”
“I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”
“Then repeat what I just said.”
“You said I’ve been engaged to the Crown Prince of Valdrova.”
“And you know what that means, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
It meant he had to leave this house.
Ferda understood this clearly.
“I understand,” he said.
“Good. I know this must be hard for you… Wait, what?”
Erembalt’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What did you just say?”
Ferda looked down at the papers in front of him and spoke again, calmly and clearly.
The meaning of this second chance was to face what he couldn’t in his first life.
“I’ll do it. I’ll accept the engagement.”
To the Tyrant Valdrova.