The Canary Kingdom is a small country, less than a third of the eastern Ad Astera Empire in terms of land alone.

　Since its territory contains the habitat of demonic beasts such as the Titis Forest, Mount Skim, and the Catalan Desert, its damage is also unending.

　However.

　Even so, many people still visit King's Capital Horus, and the city has never lost its vitality.



　Of course, there's a reason for this.

　Even though there is a lot of damage from magical beasts, this is only in the frontier. The infiltration of magical beasts is kept to a minimum by cities such as Ishka and Belka, and as long as people live within the walls of the city, they don't even see the shadow of a magical beast.

　Even merchants who travel from city to city know that they won't be in any danger as long as they follow the regular roads.

　The Canary Kingdom faces the sea to the north and the great desert to the west, so the only countries that can be called neighbors are the Ad Astera Empire to the east and the Caritas Holy Kingdom to the south. For the past few years, relations with those two countries have been good, and there is no fear of invasion by other countries.

　This was the reason why the royal capital of Horus was thriving.



　However, it is natural that the stronger the light, the darker the shadows become, and even in a prosperous royal city, there are places where darker shadows creep in.

　One of those places was the Dukes of Dragnaut's residence, located in the heart of King's Landing.



　The Dukes of Dragnaught were a prestigious family that had been around since the founding of the Canary Kingdom, and were the greatest aristocrats in the kingdom, the royal clan screen.

　There is probably not a single person in the Canary Kingdom who does not know the name Dragnaut.

　In fact, the current head of the family, Pascal, has a high reputation as a decree holder, and the name of the Thunder Lord, who leads the dragon knights, is known even in other countries.　


　It's a good thing that you can't get rid of them. The eldest daughter is Astrid and the second daughter is Claudia.

　The eldest daughter, Astrid, has shown great talent as a dragon knight and is the vice-chairman of the dragon knight order. These days, he is increasingly called "Lord Thunder" in place of his father, who is moving his activities to the royal palace.

　That Astrid was currently pacing back and forth in front of the front door with a grave expression.

　Somewhat later, a carriage stops at the gate of the Duke's residence. My father, Pascal, had returned from the royal palace.

　Astrid rushed over at a fast pace, and the moment she saw her father's face as he got out of the carriage, she noticed everything and looked down with a dark face.



''........Father, after all?''

''Ah his majesty has given me a personal statement. The engagement between His Highness Azar and Clough is to be called off.

"...we're finally on the verge of ridding ourselves of the poison!　With a little more time, I'm sure!

That's what I told you, sir, but you said you would wait a year and no longer.

But!

You also said that even if the poison is removed, it will not be possible to have a child if the curse is not broken.

That's.....


　Astrid clenches her fists in a hushed manner at her father's words.




　Claudia Dragnaut, Astrid's sister and fiancé of the Crown Prince Azhar, is now under the influence of an unexplained curse.

　A curse that can cause her to experience intense pain all over her body at any time and in any place. No magic or miracle has worked, no antidote, no cure, not even the elixir he painstakingly ordered for the curse has worked.

　-- or, to be more precise, it wasn't ineffective. It could make the pain leave temporarily.

　But over time, the curse returned. Again and again, dozens of times.



　Claudia was a bright, cheerful, active girl. Even though she was still very young when her mother died, she was also strong-hearted enough to bite her lip and hold back tears in order not to worry the people around her.

　That's why, at first, she resisted the curse. I tried my best to smile at my father and sister, who were worried about me, and told them that I was no big deal.


　But the curse was being strengthened, bit by bit, as if to mock Claudia.

　If you endure the pain of one, you'll have the pain of two. If you held back the pain of two, it has given you three.

　



　Seeing Claudia succumb to the pain, her heart breaking, and finally tearfully pleading, "Kill me, kill me," her father and sister were forced to make a decision.

　In order to relieve her pain, they used a painkiller made from the Tanashia plant.

　This painkiller was powerful, but on the other hand, it put a heavy burden on the body. To put it bluntly, it was a medicine for the seriously injured and sick who were inevitably dying to die in peace.

　It was not something to be used on a twelve or three year old girl, even if I am mistaken.

　But when all other medicines had stopped working, Claudia would have died a mad death of pain if left untreated. There was no other way to do it.



　As a result, Claudia was barely able to connect with life.

　But even Thanasia's painkillers couldn't completely erase the pain, while her body, which had been precipitated by the poison in the drug, was wasting away by the day.

　To help Claudia, who is growing thinner and thinner every day, her father (Pascal) and her sister (Astrid) tried hard to find a solution, but neither the eminent apothecary nor the virtuous priest could save her.

　When all was said and done, Astrid almost fell to her knees.

　It was at that very moment - a threadbare merchant swooped down on the Duke of Dragnaut's mansion and offered him an unfamiliar fruit.



　Jiriah Ookus. The fruit has a great antidote to the venom of the serpent king (basilisk).



　Neither Astrid nor Pascal immediately believed the words of the merchant who called himself Fyodor.

　Rather, I was skeptical.

　But the father and daughter of Dragnaut were too driven to turn away.

　So, grasping at straws, he fed the fruit to his sister.



　The effects were dramatic.

　Of all the curses and poisons consuming Claudia, at least the effects of the poison were visibly reduced.

　Needless to say, Astrid and the others were delighted.

　It didn't solve the underlying problem, but at least it kept her sister's life from running out today and tomorrow.

　As long as they had the Jiriah Ookus fruit, they could minimize the risk of the Thanasia grass.

　While he was keeping his sister's pain under control, he would once again search for and find out the cause of the curse. Then we can free her from all fetters.


　--Astrid was thinking this when the Dauphin's betrothal was annulled.


◆◆◆



　It is the king's duty to plan for the preservation of the royal bloodline. Claudia was in no condition to bear children at the moment, and it was unlikely that she would ever recover.

　The king could not deny that he could not take Claudia to be the dauphin's wife, for she was in no condition to bear children, and her health was unlikely to recover in the future.

　The more so if the curse that was eating away at Claudia might reach the Dauphin.

　But there were other considerations involved in the breakup of the engagement.


''The imperialists are already promoting the marriage of Princess Sakuya in place of Klau.


　Astrid responded to her father's bitter voice with the same tone of voice.


''You are the third princess of Ad Astera......................Marriage with some country is like inviting an invader to seek you out. Why can't the Imperialists understand that?''

Now, either you don't understand or you know what you're doing, or you do...



　The bitterness never left Pascal's voice.

　The Duke of Drugnoth's fame is so high and the king trusts him enough to want his daughter as his future queen.

　Pascal single-handedly bears the country's honor and the king's favor.



　However, it was natural that people around him would be jealous when that happened, and some courtiers, known as the imperialists, had been scheming to oppose Duke Dragnaut by gaining the backing of the Ad Astera Empire.

　This time would definitely be a part of that.

　When this happens, it's tempting to suspect that Claudia's curse is also involved in the imperial faction, but no matter how much he searched for that side, he couldn't find anything.

　Pascal opens his heavy mouth.


''Whatever the case may be, we must be prepared for it. I'll be stuck in King's Landing for a while. I'm sorry, but I'll leave the matter of the Order to you. Meanwhile, there's the matter of Isshka. It's hard to believe that a young man has managed to tame a wyvern on his own.

It's true. After all, I've seen it with my own eyes. I can't wait to see your father's reaction when he sees the indigo-colored pterodactyl in front of him.

"To be honest, I still can't believe I'm right about that. How in the world did I accomplish this? If it's true, I'd love to hear the secret - no, I need to hear the secret. I must ask you. It's my chance to fulfill a 30-year dream. I must listen to you, even if it means opening the white seal of my thirty-year-old treasured possession.


　Astrid's lips faintly smile as she looks at her father, who has abandoned his grave expression of the last few days and is clearly enthusiastic.

　She was thinking about her sister, the royal palace, and the empire. In either case, he is dazzled by all the difficulties, but his father, the head of the duke's family, must be under a much stronger pressure than he is.

　It would not be a surprise if he forgot about the difficulties in front of him and focused on his hobbies, especially now.

　Just getting this reaction out of his father was worth talking to that young man - Astrid's lips smiled once more as she recalled in her mind's eye the face of the young man she had met when she went to thank Fyodor.