So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 15

Chapter 15

— — —

A snicker—clear as day—hit my ear.

“So you think you’re gonna build muscle doing that?”

Then the mockery followed right after it.

That voice…

It was someone I recognized.

I spun around and bared my teeth without thinking—Betty’s signature “Cerberus growl face.”

“Oh wow. I’m trembling. Terrified, kid.”

Of course.

There he was: the… not-Invisible-Dragon (since he clearly treated that as a traumatic past life), but a dragon all the same.

I didn’t bother hiding my irritation.

“What do you want? You here to pick a fight?”

“Sure am~”

My attack did absolutely nothing.

He was a tough opponent.

I narrowed my eyes and tried again.

“You’re a dragon. Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Nope. That’s why I was sleeping. Until you woke me up.”

“I didn’t wake you up. You just happened to wake up.”

“You blasted my eyes with sunlight. Full-on flashbang. I swear my vision still hasn’t recovered.”

Flashbang? Sunlight terrorism?
A dragon knows words like that?

What even is this world?

I decided it was safer for my sanity to ignore him and get back to my routine.

“Ugh—okay.”

I was about to start jumping jacks again, when—

the dragon casually claimed the tree stump I’d been sitting on, scratched his stomach, and stared at me like I was free entertainment.

My mood tanked instantly.

“What are you looking at?”

“Oh? We doing informal speech now?”

“…What are you looking at?”

Damn it. Why am I shrinking back when I didn’t even do anything wrong?

I puffed out my lips, sulking.

If only I were stronger…

Should I ask Betty to beat him up for me?

Even if Betty had arms like steel, this was still human vs. dragon.

Even if the entire Ga-Na Maid Squad dogpiled him, we’d lose.

Obvious, but still…

“…Tch.”

I deflated a little.

Meanwhile, the dragon—utterly carefree—snickered again.

“Hey. Jump some more. It’s hilarious.”

“…I’m not doing this to entertain you.”

“You’re gonna do it anyway. Might as well make it fun. But seriously—are you tone-deaf? Your chant and your movements don’t match at all.”

“……”

I wanted to hit him so badly.

I had never craved strength more than I did in that exact moment.

Maybe because he’d triggered me—this not-Invisible-Dragon—

my inner Black Flame Dragon started raging.

The way he showed up just to start drama… he was like that unemployed uncle who shows up on holidays, scratches his belly, teases his niece until she cries, then laughs about it.

And somehow, I’d been cast as the furious, shaking niece.

“I shouldn’t have spoken.”

I was furious, but I couldn’t beat him in strength or in words.

At times like this, ignoring him was the only answer.

I whirled around and headed for the cabin.

Fine. Go be annoying by yourself. I’m going to read.

But—

“The History of the Rembrandt Empire? Wow. They actually published this?”

He had been behind me when I opened the door.

Somehow, he was already inside—sitting at my table—and he’d stolen the book I was about to read.

Cheat…

Cheat skill. Cheat magic. Cheat dragon.

While my rage boiled, he casually flipped through the pages.

“Leave nicely while I’m still asking. Otherwise I’m reporting you for unlawful breaking and entering.”

“Unlawful… what? What’s that?”

So he knows “flashbang,” but not “unlawful trespassing”?

My mouth fell open, speechless, while he continued without even looking at me—completely absorbed in the book.

“Also, why do you read this kind of stuff? That Invisible—ahem. That, too. Your taste is weird.”

You wrote that yourself, you lunatic.

And this is just a normal history book, thanks.

I tried to hold back the urge to clap back—

“…What did you say?”

Okay, I didn’t hold back.

But he went quiet again, like he’d fallen completely into reading.

The peace was nice… but I still wanted him gone.

I was glaring at him in silence when he shut the book decisively, as if he’d finished.

Then he chuckled.

“Oh, that’s funny. So that’s how they wrote it.”

“If it’s so entertaining, I’ll lend it to you. Take it and go read it.”

And get out. Go back to your cave and stay there—
I swallowed that last part with heroic restraint.

He shook his head.

“Nah. No thanks. Not like there’s anything in here worth reading. I can guess the rest without looking.”

Says the guy who was practically inhaling the pages.

I sat down across from him with dead-fish eyes.

At this point, I’d given up.

I accepted my fate as his personal “fun story dispenser.”

“Albert wasn’t worth gilding like this. He was a snot-nosed crybaby. Took a lot of work to make him presentable. Lucas was the better one… though I guess it’s pointless ranking them now.”

“Wait—Albert? Like… Emperor Albert Rembrandt, the founding emperor?”

“Yeah.”

He talked about the founding emperor like he was the kid next door.

But… it was interesting.

I replayed what I’d read earlier from The History of the Rembrandt Empire.

The Rembrandt Empire had been founded by Albert Rembrandt, with the help of his right-hand man Lucas Celeste and… a dragon.

Amid vicious political struggle, the emperor and the dragon formed a powerful pact.

No one knew the details of that pact—top secret—but through it, Albert gained a terrifyingly powerful backer.

With the dragon’s blessing, the empire prospered. The bloodline continued down through generations… and here we were.

But wait. A dragon…?

I stared at the man sitting across from me.

“By the way… you—”

“Fix your form of address. What do you mean, ‘you’?”

“Well, I don’t even know your name. Pick one: Mister, Uncle, Hey-You, Invisible Dra—”

“Ternox. Just call me Nox.”

Wow. That was fast.

I resisted the urge to bite back and continued.

“Anyway, Nox. You’re a dragon, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So… don’t tell me…”

“That ‘don’t tell me’ is exactly right.”

He grinned like he’d been waiting for this.

“The dragon in that book? That’s me.”

Ternox smiled smugly.

I gaped.

“So you weren’t actually the Invisible Dragon?”

“…Watch your mouth.”

“Yes, sir. Wow. Then… how old are you? You’re basically a grandpa.”

“You’re tiny and somehow incredibly irritating.”

Ha! Was I?

Then I’d succeeded.

I flashed a satisfied smile, and Ternox’s expression soured.

For once, I felt like I’d landed a hit.

And then—

“Madam! We’re here! We’re coming in!”

“—!”

Voices I wasn’t expecting came from beyond the front door.

Click. Click.

At the same time someone called out, the doorknob turned halfway.

My heart dropped in sync.

“Huh? It’s locked.”

“Really? Weird. Is the knob broken?”

That first voice was definitely Garnet.

And with the murmurs around her, it wasn’t just one maid—some of the Ga-Na Maid Squad were right outside.

I glanced toward the window.

The sun was sitting around mid-slope of the mountain.
It was meal time.

The problem was: the dragon sitting at my table showed zero signs of leaving.

I clenched my teeth and hissed in a whisper.

“Go home. Now. If they see you, we’re dead.”

“Why? We didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t say ‘we.’ Being linked to you is already a nightmare.”

“Oh? So now you’re getting bold.”

Ternox looked genuinely offended—but I was serious.

My husband might be a walking blizzard who barely shows his face, but I was still, technically, the Grand Duchess.

Which meant I was married.

Even if this dragon was basically ancient in age, he looked like a handsome young man.

I trusted the maid squad… but they were still people of the ducal estate.

And even the possibility of a misunderstanding felt exhausting.

Meanwhile, the warm meal delivery team outside did not stop.

“Madam~ You’re inside, right? The soup’s going to get cold!”

I glared at Ternox and bared my teeth again.

But he only shrugged—still sitting there, still wearing that mischievous expression.

“One life to live. Getting mistaken for your secret lover sounds fun.”

The audacity.
You’ve probably lived twice as long as civilization and you’re still like this?

And then—

“Not in there?”

“What if she’s in danger?! Madam!”

CRACK—BANG!

With a horrifying sound, the door opened—

No.

The door broke.