The female black bear was the ruler of the eastern forest.

  The wolves, who in recent years have been expanding their population, didn’t dare to cross into the territory of the black bear. And even the greedy leopards chose to give up their prey and flee when she appeared.

  Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t any wild beasts who didn’t presumptuously attempt to topple the black bear and occupy the eastern forest. However, all of them became meals for her.

  A male bear from beyond the eastern forest entered the female black bear’s territory. But when his head was bashed in, he became the last one to invade her territory.

  However, that black bear was now facing serious challenges.

  An unidentified beast had been hunting at will in the black bear’s territory. She found out about this when she found a fragment of a deer bone without a single piece of flesh on it. 

  Kahhhhhhh.

  Sniffing, the enraged black bear wandered through the forest. She was looking for the trace of the unknown challenger.

  Finally, she found the challenger.

  Whine.

  She had been determined to bash in the challenger’s head the moment she found him, but the only thing that came out of the black bear’s mouth when she faced the challenger was a suppressed whine. 

  The red scales that seemed to be covered in blood were terrifying. The vertically slit eyes were as sinister as a viper’s. The challenger was so massive and had such a ferocious appearance that even the black bear, the ruler of the eastern forest, was terrified. 

  Crunch, crunch.

  For the first time in her life, the black bear left like a prey rather than a predator as she watched the challenger tear apart the body of a muscular male deer without any mercy. It crunched on the hard bones as if it was fleshy meat. 

  She should have escaped then. If she had, then the black bear could have at least avoided facing the terrible beast’s murderous intent. 

  But the black bear didn’t run away. Instead of escaping, the ruler of the forest let out a fierce roar as she ran towards the challenger. 

  When the challenger saw the black bear, he spat out the deer’s hind leg he had been chewing on and opened his mouth wide. The challenger’s sharp fangs were a threat, but the black bear believed in her strong body.

  Like they had always done, she believed that her coarse fur and strong muscles would withstand the challenger’s attack.

  Bite. 

  The challenger’s fangs dug in and ripped through her flesh. Even at this point, the black bear hadn’t thought the slightest bit about her own body. She judged that while the challenger’s teeth were truly sharp, it wasn’t something she couldn’t endure.

  That was obviously a misjudgment and a fatal mistake.

  Tingle.

  She felt like the shoulder, where the challenger’s teeth were embedded in, was tingling. And then, her body suddenly stiffened. 

  That was when the black bear realized it. The challenger’s real weapon wasn’t the sharpness of its fangs, but its poisonous fangs. But by the time she realized it, it was too late. 

  Stiffening, the black bear died. 

  Kaaaaaaah!

  Having defeated the black bear, the challenger roared. It was a roar full of joy at her new fleshy meal.

  But the newly established king of the eastern forest wasn’t given a chance to fully enjoy it.

  Smack!

  He felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. Then, he heard a shout.

  “Hey! You bird-brain! I told you to come after eating outside!”
Instead of retaliating against the person who had impertinently smacked him, the new king of the forest chose to let out a whine as he protested.

  Pawk.

  “Ugh! Redvern, you dumb bastard. When are you going to become a dragon?”
The king of the forest, Redvern, cried pitifully as he tried to act cute in the face of his master’s exasperation.

  ***

  Pa, pa, pawk.

  Kim Seon-Hyeok sighed as he watched Redvern crying while shaking his head. It was as if Redvern was saying that it wasn’t his fault. 

  “If you’re going to feign innocence, at least remove the flesh between your teeth before doing it.”
It was truly ridiculous that Redvern was complaining about the injustice when the corpses of the animals torn by his own teeth were at his feet.

  However, Redvern was strongly insisting that it was unfair.

  “What? She attacked you first?”
Kim Seon-Hyeok frowned as he turned his head. He saw the carcass of the black bear, which still maintained a relatively intact shape.

  The bear was as big as a massive tree, a tree so big that one arm span wouldn’t be enough to encircle it. The forest of the Mother Tree was rich with life and vitality so it was said that the animals living in it were generally larger than the animals living in the outside world. However, the bear was way too big. Even those who wouldn’t normally be surprised would be shocked by its size. 

  “Stop lying to me! Unless it’s crazy, why would it attack you?!”
But that was it, just merely surprised. No matter how big the bear was, it was still a small and insignificant animal. Kim Seon-Hyeok thought that even if Redvern hadn’t regained his former glory, there was no way a mere animal would have attacked him. 

  Paawk! Smack!

  Paawk! Smack!

  Every time Redvern complained of the injustice, Kim Seon-Hyeok smacked him upside the head. Only after getting beaten up ten times like that did Redvern finally settle down.

  Peeeeee.

  “Huh? You’re crying?”
Kim Seon-Hyeok twitched when he saw Redvern’s strangely wet eyes.

  Did that bear really attack first?

  While he was hesitating, Redvern took off.

  Peeeeeee.

  He really did look like he thought it was unfair. Kim Seon-Hyeok might’ve really believed him. At least, he would have if it hadn’t been for the corpse of the bear and something else clutched in each of his hind legs.

  “Ugh, when am I going to turn that into a Dragon?”
Kim Seon-Hyeok sighed. While the others were off recovering their former glory and even establishing new glories and power, Redvern hadn’t changed at all. 

  While his size was incomparable to any other wyvern, Redvern still hadn’t been able to shed the form of a wyvern.

  It was said that Redvern had committed the sin of sloth, but he was even being lazy about freeing himself from exile. 

  No, forget that. It seemed like Redvern wasn’t feeling the need to recover his former glories.

  “Has he… has he forgotten the fact that he was even a Dragon in the past?”
It was a thoughtless complaint, but it was convincing enough for a chill to run down his spine. If he thought about how stupid Redvern was, it was a possibility.

  “Ugh. Still, I’m sure that if he flys diligently, he’ll eventually find his former past.”
It was a question of when that would be.

  “I’ve already waited 50 years. What’s another 50?”
Kim Seon-Hyeok sighed before striding forward. 

  The Mother Tree was a giant tree that towered over a thriving forest. The Qeishas built their villages with the Mother Tree in the center and Kim Seon-Hyeok’s home was located in a corner of that village. And there, his wife was waiting for him.

  “You came?”
Now that she had abandoned the life of a monarch and chosen the path of an ordinary woman, Ophelia no longer spoke and acted like Empress. Her once hard tone had become softer.

  “Looking at your unhappy expression, it seems like something has happened?”
He nodded at the now-familiar gentle voice.

  “He hunted a bear that seems like it was the master of the forest. I think it’ll be noisy for a while because of the territorial battles between the animals.”
“Well, I’m glad that at least he didn’t eat all the beasts in one area like he did last time.”
Ophelia gently comforted him. 

  “Still, I can’t face the Qeishas. They won’t say anything, but I think they’re dissatisfied that Redvern keeps ruining the forest.”
“Then we’ll have to meet with them.”
“Yes. At the very least, we have to prevent the young Qeishas from getting caught up in the territorial battle between the beasts and getting hurt.”
Although the adult Qeishas were superhumans who were equivalent to a senior knight, the younger Qeishas weren’t much different from human children. They were simply children who were a bit more agile and more sensitive than human children.

  And those children had gotten hurt several times when they had gotten swept up in Redvern’s troubles. Not only was Kim Seon-Hyeok mooching off the Qeishas, but he was also inconveniencing them more than could be imagined. 

  “Anyway, seeing how you’re looking for Redvern, I guess you’ll be going outside the forest again?”
Kim Seon-Hyeok had been deep in thought, but at that, he looked at Ophelia with a guilty look on his face.

  “You’re most likely planning on going back to that capital.”
His face turned pale. He hadn’t thought that she would be able to figure out about his trip abroad.

  “Well that’s um… there’s Victor’s request and I thought since I’m going, I could also…”
“What did you tell me the day we left the Imperial Capital?”
Ophelia’s voice might be soft, but it didn’t lack the dignity it held in her days as the Empress.

  “Didn’t you say that we should leave the Empire to the next generation and that we should live our lives now? Am I remembering it wrong?”
“No, you’re right.”
“So then why do you keep paying attention to the affairs of the Empire?”
He ducked his head at his strict wife’s scolding. He had no excuse. Just like she said, he was the one who said they should live peacefully in the Mother Tree’s forest and he was also the one who had told her to forget about the Empire. 

  “I know that it’s difficult to reject Victor’s request. No matter what anyone says, Victor is your son as he is mine. I also know that his request is actually an excuse to appease his longing for his parents.”
There was no way Victor wouldn’t want to see his parents when they were still alive but wouldn’t come out of the forest. There was no way Ophelia wouldn’t understand those feelings, but she also had the coldness of a mother lion who would sometimes drop her cub off a cliff.

  “However, we mustn’t help the Empire any longer. If you continue to help the Empire, then it will be a weak country that only relies on one superhuman. And Victor cannot become the sole monarch.”
Everything she was saying was right. 

  “I was told that the child you found, Lowenthal, became the head of the aviation corps. And beyond that, there are innumerable benefits the Empire enjoys from your presence alone.” 
Ophelia’s tone became stricter.

  “Your name and what you left behind has become a great strength that sustained the Empire even 50 years later. Now, it’s time for Victor to make the Empire’s strength his own.”
As if he had committed a sin, Kim Seon-Hyeok hung his head limply.

  “Victor and the Empire are our best works. So now, we must trust Victor and the Empire as we watch over them.”
“I know. You’re right. I was irresolute.”
Perhaps she felt sorry for him because Ophelia’s voice softened.

  “Your kind personality is your greatest strength.”
He sighed as he looked at his wife praising him.

  “Hm? But what’s this smell?”
While they had been focused on their conversation, something began to smell like it was burning.

  “Ah!”
Startled by his words, Ophelia quickly ran somewhere. It was in the direction of the kitchen. And that night, Kim Seon-Hyeok ate overly cooked food.

  When his lovely wife fell deeply asleep, Kim Seon-Hyeok secretly left the house.

  I’m sorry, Ophelia.

  He didn’t want to go against his considerate wife, but he had to go to the Empire.

  As a man, he absolutely did not want to miss this.

  He mumbled to himself as he clutched a magical missive delivered to him by the Qeishas.

  ‘Mage mount scheduled for a trial run on the upcoming full moon.’
The mage mounts, which had been expected to quickly be a success, had gone through decades worth of trial and error. There had been all sorts of failure - the heart that supplied the magic had exploded and the circuits malfunctioned and turned the knight who had been onboard into a super corpse. 

  But then, he had been contacted saying that the mage mount, which had been so difficult to develop, was finally on the brink of success. That was tonight.

  “Shh, be quiet.”
It seemed like Redvern had completely forgotten what had happened during the day because he began squawking with joy. Kim Seon-Hyeok forcibly stopped him as he mounted Redvern.

  “Let’s go to the Imperial Capital.”
Redvern spread his wings and flew away without a sound. Not long after Redvern left the forest, Ophelia, who Seon-Hyeok had thought was asleep, opened her eyes.

  “This really is the last time.”
It seemed like she knew everything. 

  This wasn’t the Adenstein bloodline’s ability to see through everything. It was an ability every wife had - it was her intuition about her husband. However, the husbands weren’t aware of their wives’ abilities. 

  And so, Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t realize that Ophelia had woken up and he continued to excitedly fly towards the Imperial Capital.