Cannon Fodder To Villainess

🏮51. Green Moon

After having filled her subordinates in on recent events, Amber assigned Ena, Finn, and Fluffy to go retrieve her book. She also spoke about Sly and informed them that he would be joining them shortly. First he fulfilled a few of her other directives. Bour was to keep an eye on Fortis and make sure that she retrieved the 'hidden missives' that Amber left with him. Mabel's job was to keep an eye on Nova, Amber's little brother, Fudd, and to supervise the needed renovations. If anything strange happened, she was told to report to Bour. He should be able to take care of any issues while Amber's gone.

During this entire exchange, Amber repeatedly glanced up at the moon. It had started to shine with an odd tinge of green. An aura that had long left these lands was thick in the air. It had been nearly five hundred years since an aura of this magnitude had been felt. Most of the kingdom had no idea what was causing it.

Most saw the green light as a bad omen and refused to leave their homes. They had their shutters tightly closed and their doors barred, as if a little bit of wood could protect them from everything outside.

Although they didn't know where it was coming from, the mafau felt inexplicable fear and a strong desire to bow down in submission. Only Fluffy and Finn were mildly affected by the strange aura. They were more curious, with an odd feeling of excitement, that they couldn't quite place. Whereas every other creature felt fear prickling up their spines and a strong desire to run and hide.

Amber felt anxious. She knew what this green aura meant. She was desperate with anxiety to wrap things up quickly and get moving. All of her little plans nearly flew clean out of her mind, while she hastily ordered her subordinates, and threw supplies into her little space bag.

This was a turning point scene in 'Duchess Dash.' This was the scene that ultimately led to Amber's death. Once the signs of a Venerable Celestial Dragon aura appeared, the Empress Dowager secretly sent Duke Dreyfus, and his subordinates, traipsing through the Shadow Forest. Their goal was to secretly steal the dragon's egg.

The Empress Dowager somehow knew that the dragon egg would appear there, but Amber couldn't remember all of the details. She was trying to not feel panicked, because she didn't have her book during this critical time. All she could do was follow the duke and capture the egg first.

In 'Duchess Dash', after securing the dragon egg, the Empress Dowager gifted it to the First Prince. The Empress Dowager then hired many strong mages to bind the dragon to the First Prince while it was still weak inside it's egg; as his own personal slave. Forcefully bound to the prince, the dragon's strength convinced the council to appoint the First Prince, as the Crown Prince, and active ruler while the Ice Emperor was ill.

Because of the Duke's help in finding the dragon egg, the newly appointed Crown Prince allowed the duke to make one request. The Duke ended up requesting that Cray be gifted to him. After that point in the story, it followed the budding love story between Cray and Duke Dreyfus, almost glossing over Arabella's death entirely. The main reason why Cray had originally refused Dreyfus's advances was because she had secretly loved the First Prince.

However, by the end of 'Duchess Dash', the Duke and Cray's love was mutual. The story ended with the two of them walking off into the sunset together. Conveniently forgetting all about Arabella Amber and the other corpses in their wake.

Although Amber wasn't entirely clear on all of the details, she did remember a passage where Cray joined the egg hunting group. While chasing after a white fox, she became lost, and stumbled into the mana pool. Later she showed the pool to the First Prince, hoping that she could receive some affection from him, but it was no use.

Thinking about it, all Amber could do was click her tongue. Any woman who liked that man might as well blow her happiness away, as if it were a cloud of smoke. That selfish man was not worth loving, nor was he even worth looking at. Just garbage, nothing but garbage. Amber decided to leave Erem near the mana pool just in case Cray showed up. However, Amber didn't think it was likely Cray would, considering that now she was holding onto Amber's book. Amber instructed Erem to not leave his spot near the Empress Tree until Amber returned to pick him up or Cray showed up. If Cray showed up, he was ordered to detain her. He was also ordered to leave if she sent one of her other subordinates to relieve him. She wasn't sure what all would come from this trip, so she was careful to cover all bases.

Amber nervously waited up in the trees for the egg hunting party. While she waited, the Shadow Forest was entirely quiet. For once, there were no strangely moving shadows in the trees. Although the shadows had always been eerie, the lack of them was much more frightening. She knew what they were after and she knew what she had to do, but that was only in theory.

The reality of stealing a dragon egg was much more frightening. Not only would she have to raise a dragon. She would also have to steal that same dragon from the male lead in 'Duchess Dash. He was a fearsome warrior, known for his determination, and fire magic.

That same fire magic was used to assist the dragon in hatching. A mother dragon would normally heat up the baby's shell. Because of that, it would know when to hatch. If a baby dragon's shell wasn't heated up, it may decide to sleep in its shell for a thousand years. However, not just any fire can wake up a baby dragon, it has to reach temperatures that rival the fire of a dragon. This was why, when Duke Dreyfus forced the baby dragon to hatch, it was such an extraordinary thing.

Amber crouched down low, feeling entirely too exposed without Ena and Fluffy beside her. She quickly turned her head and held her breath as she heard the quiet snapping of a twig under the foot of the Duke's scout's foot.

Jessera was a short woman with sharp features. She had a little face with a pointy chin, long sly looking eyes, and a small nose. She was petite in every way, much shorter than you would normally expect an adult to be. She had short light brown hair that didn't fall past her chin. She always wore brown that matched her dull colored eyes. Her eyes resembled brittle dead leaves and she never smiled. She was born into slavery, just as her mother was, and her mother before her. This was the only life she had ever known and so she was quite numb to the injustice of it all.

Although Jessera had only played a small part in 'Duchess Dash', she had left a strong impression on Amber. Throughout the story, Jessera had never been beaten in combat, not even once.