Father, I Won’t Do Anything

* * *

“I really wonder what kind of face Diamid would make if he fell in love.”

It was something Diamid had heard countless times from people since he was young.

“He’s already fallen in love, with magic.”

“Ah yes, he himself shows no interest. I pity the ladies who’ve fallen for student Diamid Bellafanian.”

He had no interest in women. What filled Diamid’s mind was the truth of the world he had yet to comprehend.

“But love isn’t just about women, is it?”

Yet he didn’t think he was unfamiliar with love either.

The roses blooming in the garden, the stray cats that approached for food, the endlessly high sky meeting the sea.

Diamid loved many things in this world.

“Don’t you think it’s too dangerous?”

“Which is why I must go.”

Thus, he risked his life joining the Demon King’s Subjugation Army to protect the many lives inhabiting this land.

And that’s where he met her.

“May I have the great dragon’s name…”

“Just know me as of the Black Night clan.”

The black-haired woman curtly replied, then swiftly turned her head away.

An attitude as if lowly humans like them weren’t worth giving her name to.

Though people were fed up with her arrogance, their curiosity about dragons compelled them to somehow talk to her, yet none dared approach first.

The one who broke that delicate silence was Diamid.

“Great dragon, I am Diamid Bellafanian.”

“…”

Despite his polite introduction, Bezrice didn’t properly look at Diamid.

Seeing her reaction, Diamid decided not to approach Bezrice up close.

He was curious about dragons, but felt he should be considerate as a comrade since she seemed to dislike mingling with humans.

‘A dragon race. For a clan unseen in the world to join to prevent its demise, remarkable.’

Yet the other mages in the Subjugation Army didn’t seem to agree, openly viewing her as a research subject rather than a comrade.

“Mind if I cut off a bit of your flesh? I’m curious about the differences when you transform into a human versus a dragon.”

“Never mind that, I’m interested in a dragon’s saliva.”

“Hehe, a dragon’s saliva is easy to obtain…”

Although he tried to overlook it to avoid conflict, the vulgar voices drifting from beyond the tents made Diamid unable to tolerate it any longer.

“Heh, heh? Lord Diamid?”

“I understand the curiosity about dragons, but she is our comrade before being of the dragon race. Surely you don’t mean to simply overlook such crass remarks made to a comrade.”

Just as Diamid, the de facto leader of the magicians, was about to punish the others, he sensed a familiar presence from beyond the tents and turned his head.

‘Could it be… you pretended not to notice those remarks?’

His teeth clenched tighter at the realization. Regardless of race or gender, to show such a shameful side to comrades risking their lives together.

Diamid resolved that before enforcing discipline in the Subjugation Army, he himself must view her without preconceptions, as a comrade rather than a dragon.

“…You may call me that.”

But he was certain he had said that.

“Pardon, what did you say?”

“When there are no others around, you may call me Bezrice.”

When did it start? When did he begin stealing glances at her every move?

Before he knew it, he was conversing with her, and the time they spent alone gradually increased.

He wanted to avoid it, but eventually could no longer ignore his own feelings.

The world seemed to spin around him, his heart raced at all times.

As a youth with a sensitive disposition, Diamid didn’t hide his inner feelings, whispering his love to Bezrice daily.

“I love you, Bezrice.”

He didn’t care if the rationality most crucial to a magician became unraveled.

For she felt the same way.

“Diamid, I love you. Forever, until my last breath.”

It was a miracle.

To share the same feelings as one’s beloved.

“…My name is Bezrice. Don’t speak it in front of others.”

Starting with Diamid, Bezrice gradually opened up to the humans, even allowing some close comrades to call her by name.

It was certainly a good thing for her, who had been wary of humans, but Diamid didn’t appreciate it.

It felt like sharing a treasure that had been his alone.

‘I’m in bad shape too.’

Yet he didn’t mind. For to Bezrice, he was the most special among many.

Diamid Bellafanian was the sole lover of the Black Night dragon Bezrice.

He thought that specialness would last forever.

But…

-Bezrice, you’re lying? That you don’t love me…

-If I had known you would cling to me so pathetically, I never would have toyed with you in the first place.

One day, his one and only love broke up with him. Leaving a fatal wound in his heart.

If she had never been special to him, just an ordinary lover, perhaps that wound wouldn’t have cut so deep.

But to Diamid, who had grown disillusioned with humans after the Valley Incident, Bezrice was his sole sanctuary, the pillar keeping him upright.

Yet to be betrayed even by her, Diamid could no longer endure it.

‘I won’t love again. I don’t want to be hurt anymore.’

Betrayed by the love he had believed in, Diamid decided to seal away his emotions. He resolved not to open his heart to anyone.

Formless, unseen, all the more untrustworthy – he would erase such irrational things called emotions from his heart. Even if it meant living a life as good as being unable to die, it didn’t matter to him.

For he had nothing left.

As his emotions dulled and he could no longer sense any meaning, that’s how Diamid gradually lost his will to live.

-What did Tower Lord even do during the Demon King’s Subjugation? Princess Elia deserves the most credit!

Amid that, the loud chattering of nobles entered his sight. Mostly those who had shirked their duties during the Demon King’s Subjugation.

How annoying, should he make them shut up permanently?

Since he was the one who saved them, it wouldn’t matter if he killed them, would it?

Diamid dispassionately looked down on them as humans might view ants.

The first to sense Diamid’s strange aura was Elia.

-Diamid, why are you only teaching Mikhail destructive magic? What about the Magic Tower magicians’ research?

-Do I have an obligation to answer you?

After the Demon King was sealed, Elia had been wary of Diamid’s strange behavior and tried to restore him, but her strong personality only grated on him.

‘Should I kill her?’

If he killed the nobles, the imperial princess would certainly be an obstacle. Especially since she too had reached the same realm as him.

Just as the former comrade who had erased even friendship was about to make his move…

-Tower Lord, we received a strange letter from the dragon clan.

‘That child’ appeared before Diamid.

-It says the late Black Night’s dragon Bezrice claimed you are this child’s father.

At first he was enraged. It seemed Bezrice was mocking him again, and seeing a face identical to hers reopened old wounds.

-I don’t know what expectations you came here with… How amusing.

Thus, Diamid rejected the child named Ashrid, denying she was his daughter.

But eventually, he couldn’t stop being bothered by the child, irritated by her every action, unable to stop thinking about her when she wasn’t in sight.

Hearing she had risked her life to save people, he assigned her guards. When she almost died from the same allergy as him, he sacrificed his power and immortality to revive her.

Outwardly he denied it, but deep down he knew.

That she was his daughter.

That Bezrice hadn’t betrayed him.

It became a certainty when he heard the child’s true name.

‘Jaina.’

The name he and Bezrice had promised to give any daughter they had.

But even after hearing that name, Diamid couldn’t find the courage.

-You don’t need to think of me as your daughter. And I won’t call you father, either.

He couldn’t bring himself to approach, for fear of being hurt again. Of being betrayed again.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize it was merely his petty pride.

For the name ‘Jaina’ had already pierced deep into his heart like a thorn, just as when he first met Bezrice.

No matter how much he tried to avoid it, he could no longer avoid it.

‘Now it has to be that child.’

The girl who rekindled the emotions he had thought drained away.

The daughter of the Bezrice he had loved.

Jaina.

It was different from the days when he couldn’t die and simply lived on. Now that he felt his lost emotions again, he couldn’t live as before. He didn’t want to give up.

But the harsher truth became a dagger piercing his lungs, the more he tried to approach her.

He had realized too late that the wounds he inflicted were greater than those he received.

Was it too late?

Would he never see her again in this lifetime?

Diamid regretted that first encounter again and again. If only he could turn back time.

If only he could, he would silently embrace that scarred child so tightly.

‘It’s too late for regrets.’

Just as she had closed off her heart like his past self, there was little he could do for her.

All he could do was silently watch over her from behind, so she could live a happy life.

Thus, Diamid launched an attack on the Black Night clan.

But no matter how thoroughly he prepared, no matter what realm he reached, his opponent was a dragon. Not to be trifled with.

Yet even if he died, he had no regrets.

He was a father.

A father who would do anything for his daughter.

If it could atone for his sins against her, Diamid was prepared to sacrifice his life.

‘Is this the end…?’

Though Diamid didn’t wipe out the entire Black Night clan, he was able to inflict fatal damage. It was certain they wouldn’t be able to approach Jaina for a while.

As Diamid gave a wry smile and tried to close his eyes, the person who unbelievably appeared before him was…

-For you to act so recklessly, the Tower Lord is truly foolish…

His own daughter, whom he thought he might never see again.

-You can still laugh in a situation like this?

The moment he realized Jaina had come to rescue him, euphoria welled up from his toes. A sensation like being reborn.

But though he tried to open his eyes, his body didn’t obey.

His wounds seemed properly healed, but some invisible force was obstructing him.

It was likely due to the dragons’ peculiar venom.

“Father, when you wake up I’ll call you father. So please, open your eyes.”

However, one faint word that reached his ears roused Diamid’s fading consciousness.

As if failing to grasp that ethereal word would lead to more regrets.

Straining with all his might, Diamid forced his body upright. With trembling legs, he opened the door.

Outside, Jaina was tilting her head, muttering something.

“Fa-ther, father. Father?”

Extremely awkwardly, like a baby just learning to speak. Hesitating over each syllable.

“Fath-er. Father!”

So focused she didn’t seem to notice he had woken up.

“It’s too awkward…”

Jaina sighed briefly and splashed her face with water.

“Brother Mikhail said I need to get used to saying it, so Tower Lord will wake up soon…”

‘Mikhail did a fine job.’

Diamid purposely didn’t call out to Jaina and silently held the door.

Because the sight of the girl awkwardly, shyly uttering ‘father’ was so adorable and lovable.

Thump!

However, his still-recovering body had wasted this precious time. No matter how Diamid tried to steady himself on the threshold, it was no use.

The moment he thought he would helplessly collapse, someone caught and supported him.

“Father?”

Jaina had rushed over and caught him. The long distance between them closed, and the two froze, eye to eye.

“…”

“…”

In Jaina’s wide blue eyes, Diamid saw his own stunned face reflected.

Jaina’s face gradually reddened, then turned as red as a ripe tomato in an instant.

“Ah, this is… I mean…”

It was the first time the usually composed Jaina, mature for her age, seemed so embarrassed.

“Just now, you called me ‘father’…”

“Ah, ah… I was just… thinking about something else…”

Jaina didn’t seem to recall the words she had spoken by his bedside.

“When I wake up, you’ll call me father…”

“…You must have misheard.”

“My hearing is quite sharp.”

“Perhaps you confused it with a similar word?”

Jaina avoided his gaze, fidgeting restlessly. Towards such a Jaina, Diamid smiled softly and spoke.

“I heard it all. That when I woke up, you’d call me father.”

“..:”

“So I mustered my strength to wake up… won’t you call me that?”

At those words, Jaina’s expression began to change.

“You can call me anything. As long as it’s you calling me.”

With a face where it was unclear if she was smiling or crying, Jaina opened her mouth.

“Father.”

No more words were needed. That was enough.