Chapter 01
In the empire ruled by dragons, Solaris Grand Duke Hasollan stared blankly at the box given to her by the emperor. It had been 14 years since the dragon had taken the throne after suppressing the rebellion, and 14 years since she had lived as his most loyal subject and unofficial “mate.” Yet, she was still only a grand duke, and the position of empress remained empty.
As if mocking her claim as the dragon’s mate.
“Your Majesty, will you punish the Grand Duke of Solaris?”
Outside, petitions demanding her punishment were flooding in. Hasollan, a brilliant administrator and politician, was accused of treason. It was an easily avoidable charge, but she let her enemies tighten the noose around her neck. She was tired. Too tired to resist anymore.
She opened the box sent by the emperor.
‘It looks like a snake.’
Inside was silk, coiled like a serpent. After 14 years of waiting, she was finally given not the title of empress, but death. Hasollan smiled. It was the death she had been waiting for. A clear declaration that she would never be his empress.
She stepped onto a chair, put the silk noose around her neck, and prepared to kick the chair away.
‘There was once a woman I wanted as my mate. But she rejected me. At least you’re here to listen to my story.’
That was all the emperor had ever said. The dragon, so painfully beautiful and different from humans, had never truly acknowledged her.
‘Thank you.’
She had heard that phrase countless times. But never “I love you.”
As everything came to an end, a thought crossed her mind.
‘I was never really his mate.’
Tears streamed down her face. How meaningless her life had been. Without hesitation, she kicked the chair away.
The Grand Duke of Solaris, at 37 years old, hung herself with the silk sent by the emperor.
“Miss, wake up! We’ve arrived!”
Death was supposed to be restful. A break from hope, from waiting for someone who never cared.
Yet, Hasollan suddenly woke up to a voice shaking her.
“We’re here now! At Yongyeon! Get up!”
Panicked, she reached for the bag she had been holding and sat up suddenly—only to hit her head on the ceiling of the carriage.
“Why are you trying to stand up inside a moving carriage?”
A woman next to her pulled her back down, startled. Hasollan blinked. She knew this woman.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m… fine.”
She rubbed her head. It hurt enough to make her eyes tear up.
“You must’ve been exhausted. It was a long journey, after all.”
Hasollan barely listened. She tried to think. She had died. She could still feel the silk tightening around her neck. And yet, she was sitting here, dressed in simple travel clothes, in a carriage heading to Yongyeon.
“We’re here. That’s Yongyeon, where the dragon sleeps.”
Her body ached from the long ride. It was an unfamiliar sensation. Hasollan stared at the deep blue lake outside.
Yes. Yongyeon.
A place where dragons slept for hundreds, even thousands of years. Many still slumbered there, but the one that mattered—the emperor—was in that lake.
“There’s nothing much for you to do here. It’s a lonely job, managing Yongyeon by yourself. But my husband and I live nearby, so if you need anything—”
The woman guided her to a small lodge by the lake.
“Rest for now.”
It was exactly like the first time she had been assigned here as a Yongyeon manager.
Hasollan looked around the small, shabby lodge. Nothing like the grand Solaris mansion. But it was filled with memories.
How much has happened here? How many times had she spoken with the dragon who would become emperor?
She shook her head.
“I’m going crazy.”
She lay down on the wooden floor, using her coat as a blanket. She had already given up on life when she kicked the chair away. Something was wrong, but she didn’t want to think about it.
She closed her eyes, hoping for the restful nothingness of death.
“Miss, wake up! We’ve arrived!”
The same voice. The same shaking hands.
Again?
The carriage was still rattling up the mountain road to Yongyeon.
“You must’ve been exhausted. It’s a long journey, after all.”
Hadn’t she already arrived?
Hadn’t she already died?
Hasollan felt sick.
Why was she still alive?
“Miss, wake up! We’ve arrived!”
The third time she heard those words, Hasollan decided to kill herself again.
She found a rope, tied it to a tree, and hung herself.
Darkness swallowed her.
“Miss, wake up! We’ve arrived!”
“…Damn it.”
This time, she didn’t hit her head.
The day was repeating. Or she was losing her mind. One of the two.
If she had truly died, her body shouldn’t have been intact.
Maybe she needed a more certain death?
“Miss, wake up! We’ve arrived!”
Again.
She grabbed a knife.
Slit her wrist.
Watched the blood flow.
Waited for death.
“Miss, wake up! We’ve arrived!”
She stared at her unscarred wrist and sighed.
“Do you have any alcohol?”
The old woman brightened. “Of course! I make my own. Let me get some for you.”
Hasollan took the alcohol and sat by the lake, drinking.
‘Am I dead? No. If I were dead, I wouldn’t feel this drunk.’
She was furious.
Fourteen years. Fourteen years of loyalty, of devotion, of waiting.
And in the end, she was nothing.
No empress. No love. No gratitude.
Just a convenient pawn.
‘If you were never going to choose me, you should have said so!’
But no. The dragon emperor had used her love, her loyalty, her everything.
And when she was no longer useful, he had discarded her.
She had waited for him to save her. To deny the accusations. To do anything.
But he had done nothing.
She threw a stone into the lake.
‘You won’t even let me die?’
She threw another. And another.
“Bastard.”
People feared this sacred lake. No one dared disturb the sleeping dragon.
But Hasollan was done caring.
She hurled stone after stone into the water.
“Come out!”
She had first woken the dragon 14 years ago with a desperate prayer.
Now, no one answered her rage.
‘Of course. I was never his mate.’
She had shared his power. She had become more like a dragon than a human.
But she was never his mate.
Laughing bitterly, she stepped into the water.
Slowly, she waded in deeper.
The cold pulled her down.
‘I suppose my corpse should rest in Yongyeon.’
She chuckled.
But her laughter soon turned to sobs.
