Chapter 2
Luciana, or Lucy, regained her memories the previous evening.
“C-Cough…! Cough!”
“I told you not to wolf it down, you idiot!”
She had gone three whole days without eating, so when she finally got a piece of moldy bread, she stuffed it into her mouth too quickly and started choking.
She thought she was really about to die.
Then, along with the memories flashing before her eyes…
…the memories of her previous life came back.
‘I’m screwed.’
Only then did she realize where she had reincarnated.
The Last Dragon’s Bride was a tragic romance about the last remaining Dragon Incarnation and the heroine.
To sum it up in one sentence…
‘It was a complete train wreck where both the male and female leads suffered nonstop until the very end.’
The male lead was the only Dragon Incarnation in the story, but he spent years suffering because he couldn’t find the mate who could purify him.
Eventually, he met Sepina at the temple and was freed from his pain. Believing she was his destined mate, he even spent the night with her…
‘But it was all a lie.’
Like many fantasy romance novels, the temple in this world was secretly one of the villains.
The power Sepina used to purify the duke was actually…
“What? She’s choking?”
“Be careful! Do you know how hard it is to replace one if she dies?”
“People born with holy power are getting rarer these days!”
***
…the result of draining the holy power from countless children, including Lucy.
‘The month before last it was Lena. Last month it was John. Last week… Cecil.’
Lucy looked bitterly around at the empty prison cells surrounding her.
At that moment, some of the memories belonging to the body she had reincarnated into surfaced.
In those memories, the empty cells had belonged to “disposable” children like her, who had been brought here and eventually disappeared.
Purifying the Dragon Incarnation required an enormous amount of holy power.
So the temple kidnapped every child with even the slightest trace of holy power and used them as Sepina’s source of strength.
Eventually…
‘They even stole his real mate.’
When a true mate reached adulthood, a mark called the Sacred Mark would appear on their body.
The location differed from person to person, but this time the mark unfortunately appeared somewhere highly visible.
‘Was it… the back of her hand?’
Because of that, the temple’s High Priest happened to find the true mate before the male lead did.
He saw the Sacred Mark appear on the back of her hand while she was drawing water from a village well.
She was kidnapped by force.
Just like Lucy, she was locked underground, suffering as she waited for the male lead to rescue her…
‘But they cut the Sacred Mark off her body… and she died.’
Sepina had the Sacred Mark transplanted onto herself.
From then on, she completely pretended to be the duke’s true mate.
‘But even after that, she still couldn’t properly purify him. Eventually everyone found out she was a fake.’
And in the end…
The male lead failed to overcome his berserk state.
The world was destroyed.
…
Despite such a dark setting…
“There were constantly scenes of Sepina and the male lead together.”
After all, the story’s setting was that Dragon Incarnations could only be purified through physical contact.
It was a setting clearly written for mature readers.
Because of that, the comment section was always full of arguments.
People constantly debated who the real heroine was.
Sepina, who shared intimate moments with the male lead…
…or the true mate, who never even got the chance to properly meet him.
‘Watching everyone fight over it was pretty entertaining back then.’
But now that she was living inside that world…
It wasn’t funny at all.
“What did I ever do to deserve this?”
She had already died an unfortunate death in her previous life.
Now she’d been given another life…
…only for it to turn out like this.
‘If you were going to reincarnate me, you could’ve at least made me some background noble lady who barely appeared.’
Instead…
She had become one of the expendable children.
The name Luciana wasn’t even mentioned in the original novel.
She was probably just a nameless extra who would have all her holy power drained by Sepina until she died.
Accept that fate—
‘Like hell I will!’
There was another thing she absolutely hated.
“Ow, it’s hot!”
Whenever Sepina used holy power to purify the male lead, Lucy’s own body heated up as well.
The burning sensation meant the duke had arrived at the temple again.
‘It never felt this strong when the other children were still alive.’
Now that they were all dead, it seemed the backlash from using holy power was falling entirely on her alone.
Heat spread from her hands throughout her body.
‘I don’t want to know what’s happening in someone else’s bedroom!’
To make matters worse…
The duke seemed strangely obsessed with hands.
Her hands always became unbelievably hot.
“Is he seriously some kind of pervert?”
Feeling as though her skin might burn, Lucy rubbed her hands against the cold stone floor.
Then she forced herself to think calmly.
‘What do I do now?’
Now that she remembered her previous life…
There was no way she could continue living like this.
“…Alright.”
After staring silently at the floor for a long time…
Lucy finally made up her mind.
** * * **
“Ah… Duke Edward…”
A woman’s excited voice echoed softly.
“Please…”
Sepina blinked her long eyelashes and slowly reached out.
The slight curve of her lips and the excitement gradually filling her body were carefully hidden beneath a calm expression.
“Today, at least…”
Just as her pale, delicate hand was about to brush across the hard breastplate covering his chest…
Grab.
“…Duke?”
Without saying a word, the man caught her wrist.
The atmosphere instantly turned cold.
Sepina forced a smile.
“Are you embarrassed again? You don’t have to be…”
“Holding hands is enough.”
His deep voice came from beneath his armor with an icy chill.
Still smiling gently, Sepina stroked the large hand wrapped around her wrist, hiding the thrill running through her.
“You always insist on holding hands only.”
“…”
“Is it because… I’m not your real mate?”
Her question sounded lonely and fragile.
Edward didn’t answer.
Sepina quietly removed his glove.
Soon, the back of his hand came into view, its veins standing out clearly.
No matter how many times she saw it…
It was a beautifully masculine hand, with strong knuckles and elegant lines.
Trying not to let the greed show in her eyes, she spoke gently.
“Please don’t worry, Duke.”
“…”
“As you wished, I have no intention of violating each other’s purity. I know you’re saving that for your true mate.”
“…”
“I’m simply happy that the temporary purification I can provide has been of some help…”
“Please hurry.”
“…Pardon?”
“I need to return and hunt monsters.”
At those words, Sepina fell silent.
Edward was always like this.
Cold.
Professional.
Even during purification, the most he ever allowed was holding hands.
Sometimes…
She found that attitude frustrating.
Still…
Compared to the way he treated everyone else…
He was remarkably gentlemanly toward her.
Besides…
‘You won’t be able to keep rejecting me for much longer, Duke.’
She had already heard that the temple would soon send a marriage proposal to the duke’s estate.
This time, they intended to make Sepina his official mate.
‘They promised they’d obtain the Sacred Mark somehow.’
The marriage would almost certainly go through.
The empire’s most valuable man…
…would soon belong to her.
Until then…
She simply had to hide her true feelings and continue purifying him.
Shhh.
Soft white light gathered at Sepina’s fingertips.
‘Hm?’
A slight frown appeared on her face.
Perhaps because all the children supplying holy power had already died…
She had less power than usual.
Still, if she pushed herself just a little…
Crack!
“Ah!”
Sepina quickly pulled her hand away in surprise.
‘What was that?’
The moment she grasped the duke’s hand and barely purified a trace of the dark miasma…
The holy power connecting them suddenly snapped.
‘Huh?’
She didn’t even have time to process it.
The duke had already withdrawn his hand.
“Is today’s purification finished?”
“W-Well…”
“Then I’ll be leaving.”
“W-Wait! Duke!”
Sepina hurriedly stood.
But Edward had already stepped outside.
“Duke!”
Her desperate cry didn’t make him turn around.
The truth was…
Edward was already too busy suppressing the violent miasma raging inside his own body.
“…Damn it.”
A short curse escaped his lips as another wave of headache struck him.
At the same time, the priests’ familiar whispers echoed through his mind.
“Please don’t worry, Duke. Lady Sepina will soon awaken as your true mate. Once that happens, your berserk episodes will come to an end.”
“Once you accept her, everything will be fine.”
“…What a load of nonsense.”
A fierce smile spread beneath his helmet.
A true mate…
He couldn’t care less about something like that.
Cough.
He didn’t have time to think any further.
The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
