TMDF 02

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Chapter 2

Luciana—Lucy’s realization came yesterday evening.

“Kh, khuk, cough!”

“I told you not to gobble it down, you damn idiot!”

After going three whole days without food, she had finally been given a piece of moldy bread. She wolfed it down so desperately that she choked.

For a moment, she thought she was actually going to die….

And then, along with a rushing montage of memories, the memories of her past life came flooding back.

‘I’m screwed.’

Thanks to that, she finally realized where she had been reincarnated.

〈The Last Dragon’s Bride〉 was a tragic love story about the last remaining incarnation of a dragon and the female lead.

To sum it up in one line….

‘It was one of those trashy novels where both the male and female leads get dragged through hell until the very end.’

The male lead was the only dragon incarnation in the entire story, but he suffered for a long time because he couldn’t find his destined mate who could purify him.

Then he met Sephina at the temple and escaped his suffering. Believing that she was his mate, he even spent the night with her, but….

‘Actually, it was all a lie.’

As was common in romance-fantasy novels, the temple in this world was half of the mastermind behind everything.

Sephina’s power to purify the male lead was actually….

“What? You choked?”

“Be careful! Do you know how hard it is to replace you with someone else if you die?”

“People with holy power aren’t even being born that often these days!”

It was the result of squeezing the holy power out of countless children, including Lucy, and pooling it together.

‘Rena two months ago, John last month. Cecile last week….’

Lucy looked bitterly at the empty cells surrounding her.

Soon, fragments of the memories belonging to the body she had possessed began to flow into her mind.

According to those memories, those cells had been occupied by ‘disposables’ who, just like her, had been kidnapped and eventually disappeared.

After all, purifying a dragon incarnation required that much holy power.

In the end, the temple kidnapped every child who possessed even the slightest amount of holy power and used them as the source of Sephina’s power, until eventually….

‘They even stole the real mate.’

When a mate came of age, a scar called a Holy Mark would appear on their body.

The mark resembled a dragon’s wings, and although it could appear anywhere on the body, the mark of this particular mate happened to appear in an extremely visible place.

‘Was it the back of her hand?’

Thanks to that, the High Priest of the temple happened to discover the mate before the male lead did.

He saw the newly manifested Holy Mark on the back of her hand while she was drawing water from a well.

After being forcibly kidnapped, she was locked away in the underground prison just like Lucy, suffering there while waiting for the male lead to come rescue her, until….

‘They even took her Holy Mark and killed her.’

Sephina cut the Holy Mark from the mate’s body and transplanted it onto her own.

From that moment on, she began fully pretending to be the male lead’s mate.

‘But even after that, she couldn’t properly purify him, so eventually everyone found out she was a fake.’

And the male lead ultimately failed to overcome his rampage, causing the world to be destroyed….

…Despite having such a dark setting.

“There were so many scenes where Sephina and the male lead were doing that all the damn time.”

From the very beginning, the setting that a dragon incarnation could only be purified through physical contact was practically a setting made for R-19 content, by R-19 content, and because of R-19 content.

Thanks to that, the comments section was a battlefield every single day.

People constantly argued over who the real female lead was: Sephina, who was doing all sorts of things with the male lead, or the actual mate, who barely even got to meet him.

‘It was pretty entertaining watching that mess when it wasn’t my problem.’

Now that it had become her problem, it was nothing but depressing.

“What the hell is wrong with this world?”

She had already died an unfortunate, untimely death in her previous life, and even after getting a new life, she ended up like this?

‘If you were going to reincarnate me, you could’ve at least made me some extra noblewoman who just passes by in the background.’

Of all things, she had to be one of these disposable tools.

The name Luciana didn’t even appear in the original novel.

She was probably just some insignificant nobody who would be squeezed dry of her holy power by Sephina until she died.

Accept that fate….

‘Like hell I will?!’

There was even one more thing she hated.

“Ow, hot!”

Every time Sephina used holy power to purify the male lead, heat would rise in Lucy’s own body as well.

The duke was clearly here right now.

‘I never felt it this strongly when the other children were still alive.’

Apparently, after everyone else had died, the backlash from using holy power was falling entirely on her.

As her hand grew hot, the heat suddenly spread through her body.

‘I never wanted to know anything about someone else’s bedroom business!’

And on top of that, did this damn duke have some kind of obsession with hands?

Her hands always became insanely hot.

“What a pervert. Seriously.”

Feeling as though her hand might actually burn, Lucy rubbed it against the cold stone floor.

Then she tried to think rationally.

‘What should I do now?’

Now that she remembered her past life, she couldn’t go on living like this.

“…Okay.”

After staring at the floor for a while, Lucy finally reached a conclusion.

“Ahh, Duke Edward….”

An excited, breathy voice rang in his ears.

“Please….”

Sephina blinked her long eyelashes and reached out her hand.

The corners of her lips curled up ever so slightly, and her body was becoming flushed with excitement, yet she maintained an intentionally calm expression as though she noticed none of it.

“Today, at last….”

Just as her soft, white hand was about to brush over the area around his firm breastplate—

Grab!

“…Duke?”

Without a word, the man seized her wrist.

At the slightly frozen atmosphere, Sephina forced a smile.

“Are you being shy again? There’s no need to….”

“Your hand is enough.”

His low voice sent a chill through the gaps in his armor.

Sephina smiled delicately, hiding her thrill as she stroked the large hand holding her wrist.

“You always only hold my hand like this.”

“……”

“Is it because I’m not your true mate?”

Edward did not answer the woman’s sorrowful question, despite her fragile appearance.

Sephina obediently removed Edward’s glove.

Soon, the back of his hand, with its prominent veins, was revealed.

His masculine hands, angular and knuckled, were incredibly attractive no matter how many times she saw them.

Trying not to stare at them with obvious hunger, Sephina spoke in a gentle voice.

“Don’t worry, Duke.”

“……”

“I won’t cross the line of each other’s purity, just as you wish. I know very well that you’re saving yourself for your mate.”

“……”

“I’m simply happy that the temporary purification I provide is of some help….”

“Could you hurry?”

“…Pardon?”

“I have to go back and hunt monsters.”

At those words, Sephina could only close her mouth.

Edward was always this cold and businesslike.

Even when they had to make physical contact for purification, at most, all they did was hold hands.

Sometimes, his attitude toward her felt rather cruel.

Still, compared to how he treated everyone else, wasn’t the way he treated her quite gentlemanly?

Besides….

‘There won’t be many days left when you can keep playing hard to get like this, Duke.’

She had heard that the temple would soon send a marriage proposal to the duke’s territory.

This time, they intended to officially push Sephina as his mate.

‘They said they would somehow secure the Holy Mark for me.’

There was a high chance the marriage would go through.

The most valuable man in the entire empire would soon fall into her hands.

So for now, she had no choice but to hide her true feelings and obediently purify him.

Shing.

Soon, a white light gathered at Sephina’s fingertips.

‘Hm?’

Immediately afterward, Sephina’s brows furrowed ever so slightly.

Perhaps because all those who had been supplying the holy power had died, she had less power than usual.

Still, with just a little more effort….

Crackle!

“Ah!”

The next moment, Sephina jumped in surprise and pulled her hand away.

‘What?’

The instant she held the duke’s hand and purified even the tiniest speck of his tainted energy, the holy power that had remained connected the entire time suddenly broke off.

‘Huh?’

She didn’t even have time to wonder what was wrong.

The duke had already pulled his hand away.

“Is that all the purification for today?”

“What? Th-That….”

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Wait! Duke!”

Sephina hurriedly got to her feet, but Edward was already walking out of the room.

“Duke!”

Even at her desperate cry, Edward didn’t turn around.

The truth was, Edward was too busy suppressing the tainted energy rampaging through his body and preventing himself from going berserk.

“…Damn it.”