Chapter 4 Preparing to Exorcise the Evil Dragon!
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I walked with Sakuya beneath the long row of crimson torii gates leading toward the Sealing Seat. She had already spoken to her mother Yaten on my behalf, asking that we spend time together as a family.
Even so, my chest was tight with unease. The truth was, Yaten despised me. She was the dragon bound here, and I was not only her jailer but also the man who had once attacked her in her sleep. To be loathed like poison was inevitable. Still, the last thing I wanted was for my daughter to see such hostility between her parents.
”I’m so happy the three of us can be together like this!” Sakuya exclaimed, brimming with joy.
”And what did your mother say?” I asked.
”She told me, ‘One day, the three of us must stand together.’”
So Yaten understood what was at stake. That alone eased my fear a little.
What I dreaded most was for Sakuya to hear her mother curse me. To Sakuya, who revered her father absolutely, any insult against me was unthinkable—even from Yaten. That was the one taboo she could never forgive. If broken, even the strongest bond between mother and daughter could snap in an instant. My existence was absolute to her. Her devotion to me was so deep it pressed down even the innate malice within her dragon blood.
Yaten must have realized this too. That was why she allowed me to come. If she refused, it would only expose our broken relationship, and she knew it would cost her Sakuya’s love. Even a dragon fated to destroy the world feared being hated by her child.
For all her malice, Yaten did love Sakuya. And if even she could feel maternal affection, I could not trample on that. As her father, I understood better than anyone.
”Mother!”
Lost in thought, I looked up and realized we had reached the Sealing Seat. At the sight of Yaten, Sakuya’s face lit up and she ran ahead. Yaten lifted her head at the sound of her daughter’s voice, her lips curving into a smile.
”Sakuya…! Come closer. Let me see your face properly.”
Bound hand and foot by shimenawa sacred ropes, Yaten could not move. So Sakuya flung herself into her mother’s body, pressing into the frame that had grown full and heavy from bearing her.
”Ahh… how adorable you are. Truly, you are my treasure…”
The embodiment of evil gazed down at her daughter with melting tenderness. The brets that had swelled only for her child let milk bead and spill, droplets her little tongue quickly caught. Yaten trembled with joy, overwhelmed by the bliss of nursing her daughter.
”Mm… Mother’s milk is so delicious!”
”Drink more. This was made only for you. Fill your belly as much as you like.”
”Then… I’ll take you up on that. Chuu.”
”Ahh… ahhh… to give nourishment to one’s child—what joy could surpass this…?”
Though she looked like a toddler, Sakuya was still only a month old. Before her mother’s brets, instinct overpowered reason, and she drank greedily. No matter how brilliant she was, she remained a child. Yaten, too, lost herself in maternal bliss, her gaze dazed and adoring. Even the dragon who could end the world was helpless against the pull of motherhood.
”Thank you for the meal, Mother,” Sakuya said at last.
”Are you full?”
”Yes, completely!”
”Good. That’s how it should be.”
Yaten’s eyes brimmed with tenderness. Then, glancing at the ropes that bound her limbs, she scowled in frustration. To be unable even to touch her daughter was unbearable. Yet the instant Sakuya looked back at her, her face softened again.
”I brought Father too. Now all three of us are here together.”
”Hm… ah, so that ma–my husband has come as well.”
She had almost spat out that man, but changed her words under her daughter’s watchful gaze. Entirely held in check by Sakuya, Yaten welcomed me with the air of a devoted wife. I had no doubt her hatred boiled beneath, but she masked it flawlessly for her daughter’s sake.
’For Sakuya’s sake, we must keep up the act.’
Our eyes met, and without words we agreed. Whatever else, we could not wound our daughter’s heart. When Sakuya buried her face in her mother’s chest, Yaten and I exchanged a small nod, a silent pact.
”It’s the first time we’ve met together like this,” I said.
”Yes,” Yaten replied evenly. “Though we are mates, our fates are those of the evil dragon and the human who seals her. Harmony is not for us. Such is our destiny.”
We spoke like parents with complicated circumstances, unable to live together. Sakuya’s innocent eyes flicked back and forth, sharp and watchful, as if ready to pierce any flaw in our act. Yaten’s performance was impeccable. I struggled to keep up. Each time Sakuya looked away, Yaten’s eyes silently demanded: Do better.
Her dignity as a mother was at stake. If Sakuya realized the truth, their bond could shatter. That was why Yaten gave this performance with all her strength—to avoid being hated by the child she truly loved.
”Mother, do you really love Father?” Sakuya asked suddenly.
”Of course,” Yaten said without hesitation. “Otherwise, how could you have been born? Though we are of different races and opposing fates, we nurtured love and became mates. And you, Sakuya, are the crystallization of that love.”
Her reply was flawless. She even let warmth for me show in her words, and Sakuya nodded with satisfaction. For a moment, relief touched Yaten’s face—until Sakuya spoke again.
”…But Mother, didn’t you once call Father a filthy ape?”
”What—?”
The air froze. Even Yaten, the beauty who had ensnared kings, faltered.
”And didn’t you also call me the filthy ape’s brat? You cursed me while I was still in your belly, didn’t you?”
”N-no, that’s not—wait, at that time, I—ahhh—!”
The words Yaten had once spat came rushing back to choke her. Faced with her beloved daughter’s accusing eyes, she floundered, unable to answer.
”You said I was an abomination, that you never wanted to give birth to me! Why, Mother? Why would you say something so cruel to me?”
”Ahhh—no, no, it was my foolishness—I beg you, don’t look at me that way! I’ll atone in any way, please! Forgive me, forgive me! It was my fault, all my fault—!”
The curses she had hurled at her unborn child were real. And now, hearing her daughter’s voice trembling not only with hatred but with grief, Yaten broke. Betrayal cut deeper than pure loathing ever could. The proud dragon, feared as calamity, collapsed like a weeping child, groveling for her daughter’s forgiveness.
And finally, desperate, she turned her gaze toward me—toward the very man she hated most—begging for rescue.
I met her eyes without hesitation. I understood all too well the terror of being rejected by one’s child. And for Sakuya’s sake, I could not let Yaten be destroyed.
”Sakuya, that’s enough. It’s true your mother once said terrible things. But she didn’t know then what she knows now—how precious a daughter could be. You’ve seen it with your own eyes, haven’t you? How much your mother loves you. How deeply she thinks of you as her child.”
”…You… you would defend me?” Yaten whispered, trembling. “After all I’ve done to you…?”
”Yaten,” I said firmly. “Your love for Sakuya as her mother is real. That, I will never let be denied. Leave it to me—I’ll make sure your daughter knows the truth of your heart.”
”Uuuhhh… I—I’m sorry. I owe you… I could never thank you enough…”
Yaten clung to me desperately, her spirit half-shattered from nearly being cast aside by her beloved daughter. It was like the saying a Buddha in hell. She wasn’t simply leaning on me—she was depending on me completely.
Her fate lay in my hands now. The look she gave me wasn’t the act of a courtesan who had once beguiled kings; it was the gaze of someone who had truly surrendered everything. She bit her lip to stifle her sobs, shutting her eyes tight as though even meeting Sakuya’s gaze upon her chest was too terrifying to bear.
”Papa,” Sakuya said evenly, “do you want this evil dragon to be forgiven?”
At those words—evil dragon, not Mother—Yaten’s body flinched.
”No,” I answered quietly. “That’s something only you can decide.”
”Then I will not forgive her,” Sakuya declared. “Because before I was even born, you risked your life to protect me. From the moment I first began to sprout as a tiny life, you were always there, and I know that. That’s why I can devote everything to you. But this evil dragon tried to kill me while I was still in the womb. She cursed me as an abomination, despised me, hated me, wished I would never be born. Someone like that—I can’t call her Mother, can I?”
”That is—wait…”
Her words made something catch in my thoughts.
If Sakuya had truly remembered everything from the moment her life first sparked—if she had known all along what Yaten had said and done—then why choose this moment to reject her? If she knew from the beginning, she never would have sought Yaten’s affection at all. Yet only now, with the three of us together, had she begun condemning Yaten’s sins.
A terrifying realization snapped together in my mind.
’No way… Sakuya, was this your plan all along? And… is all of this my fault?‘
As if sensing that I had pieced it together, Sakuya turned and gave me a wicked smile, sharp as any temptress’s. She slid down from Yaten’s lap and came toward me instead, her expression shifting from that dark, poisonous grin to the innocent brightness of a child delighted by her own mischief. She threw her little arms around me, pressed her head against me, and whispered up with her small lips:
”I’ve finished preparing to cut through the thousand-year curse. All that’s left is to give Mother one final push.”
”…Wait. Just to be clear—you do still love Yaten as your mother, don’t you?”
”Of course. When I was a baby, she said terrible things to me. But Mother truly does love me. This time, I only acted this way because I had to—for your sake, Papa, to free you from the burden of the clan’s seal.”
Her voice carried a pout, as though sulking at being misunderstood, and I knew she meant it.
So maybe it was safe after all. If this went as planned, not only would the ancient curse be broken, but Yaten could remain at Sakuya’s side as her mother. Still, I had never expected her devotion as my Shikigami to twist itself into something so ruthless.
It wasn’t a happy ending, exactly, but it was close to the best possible outcome. Even so, Sakuya had trampled Yaten’s feelings as a mother to achieve it. As her father, I would have to scold her properly for this later. For now, though, there would have to be punishment and atonement—for both her and for Yaten.
”Now then, Papa. Let us put an end to the Shiryuin Clan’s thousand-year curse.”
”Sakuya… we are going to have a very serious talk about this afterward.”
”I’m ready. But for now—let’s prepare to perform the subjugation ritual on Mother.”
And so, to finally end the thousand years of bondage that shackled the Shiryuin Clan, I began the ritual that would bind the evil dragon Yaten as my Shikigami.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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