Chapter 47: Epilogue
“So the key is in the stuffing, right? Let me repeat it—remove the wild duck’s liver, fry it in butter until it’s pink, then simmer it with brandy along with nutmeg, cloves, thyme, and cinnamon. After that, mix it with crushed garlic, shallots, and… and…”
The elderly woman standing by the stove hesitated slightly while reciting the recipe.
Alan immediately filled in the gap for her: “Also add butter and black pepper, then blend them together with the duck liver into a smooth pâté.” After a brief pause, he calmly repeated the recipe steps once more in front of Mrs. Pan: “The rest is simple—stuff the prepared pâté, grated cheese, and, of course, your delicious homemade bacon bits into the wild duck’s cavity. Tie it up with string, and it’s ready for the roasting rack. If you like, you can brush some honey water on the duck’s skin and toss a few bay or rosemary sprigs into the coals.”
“Oh, yes, I remember now… Goddess above, I should have written down that spice list beforehand, Master Alan,” Mrs. Pan laughed. “Ever since I tasted your stuffed roast wild duck at the festival, I’ve been savoring it in my dreams.”
“Thank you. Your savory turkey has long haunted my own dreams as well.”
As Alan chatted casually with Mrs. Pan, he tidied up the spice stand by her kitchen window. Beneath the window was a narrow, elongated flowerbed planted with all kinds of fresh cooking herbs: marjoram, Ezo green onions, mint, garlic, parsley… and a small cluster of sage and rosemary. But planting such a wide variety of herbs in such a tiny space naturally required some help from horticultural magic. For Alan, tending the spice gardens of the housewives in Green River Village regularly was also a steady source of income.
Of course, while maintaining the gardens, exchanging cooking tips and recipes, and receiving gifts from the villagers that far exceeded the value of the work… for Alan, the country mage, it was all just part of everyday life.
Today was no different.
After Alan had finished praising Mrs. Pan’s savory turkey, his heart gave an immediate jolt.
As expected, the instant his words fell, he saw Mrs. Pan’s eyes light up brilliantly, and on her flushed face, a dazzling smile suddenly appeared.
“Oh, Master Alan, what a coincidence! I just finished marinating two top-quality turkeys—you’re going to love them!”
Before Alan could even find a chance to refuse, Mrs. Pan turned and carried out from the cellar two massive brined turkeys, each even plumper than an oak wine barrel.
When she dropped them on the floor, Alan could almost feel the entire house shake.
“Uh, thank you for your kindness, Mrs. Pan, but…”
“No, no, no—you mustn’t refuse me!”
Mrs. Pan stared at the stunned, skinny mage by the windowsill, arms crossed, radiating authority as she said, “You’re not a bachelor anymore! And the one at your house seems to have quite the appetite.”
The words Alan had meant to use to refuse caught in his throat, while Mrs. Pan laughed and patted him on the shoulder.
“Don’t mention it, Master Alan. Consider it a token of thanks. If it weren’t for you, everyone in our village would probably have died back then.”
“But you’ve already given me so much,” Alan said with a wry smile.
The villagers of Green River Village were remarkably consistent when it came to expressing their gratitude. Since the end of the demon invasion, Alan had already received from Mrs. Pan several barrels of hard cider, countless juicy, marinated pork legs, large blocks of cheese and fresh butter, and various types of fresh wild game that Hills and John had brought back from the deep forest…
The only thing he could be grateful for was that Mrs. Pan was right about one thing.
That was because Alan was no longer a lone bachelor—he already had a new family, and his beloved… could effortlessly eat any amount of food to the very last bite.
“Thank you, Mrs. Pan.”
Thinking of his other half, Alan’s cheeks betrayed him, turning a faint shade of red once more.
He scratched the tip of his nose and no longer tried to refuse Mrs. Pan’s gift.
The smile on Mrs. Pan’s face grew even brighter.
“That’s the spirit, Master Alan.”
However, seeing the mage’s slender frame and the two enormous brined turkeys at his side, Mrs. Pan patted her head and said apologetically, “Ah, sorry, these two turkeys are a bit heavy, Master Alan. Why don’t you stay for dinner? I’d like to try that fruit tart you told me about before. And besides, Hills and John—those two little rascals—are back tonight. They can help you carry the turkeys home.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” Alan said, blinking. To Mrs. Pan, it seemed his cheeks were even redder than before. “But there’s no need to trouble yourself. Veles is coming back today; he’ll pick me up. We’ve already planned to have dinner together.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the sunlit village suddenly darkened—a vast shadow fell over Green River Village, accompanied by a gust of howling wind.
Alan sprang to his feet immediately.
Swifter than a deer, he dashed out of Mrs. Pan’s kitchen, stood in the garden, and lifted his head to the sky.
A dazzling silver figure appeared in Alan’s eyes—a silver dragon, extraordinarily beautiful and graceful.
As if noticing the infatuated gaze of the tiny figure on the ground, the silver dragon in the sky spread its pearly-white wings in an extravagant display. The golden sunlight fell upon the wings, reflecting a brilliant, glittering pattern that shimmered like diamonds.
But after deliberately performing a few complex hovering and diving maneuvers, the silver dragon could no longer contain the desire burning within him. With a rush of air, he folded his wings and plummeted straight toward his beloved little mage.
During the descent, the dragon’s enormous body suddenly shrank, transforming into the tall, lean, and powerful form of a human.
“Veles?!”
As a silver dragon at the very pinnacle of the world’s power, Veles could clearly hear the small, sharp intake of breath Alan made at his sudden action.
A corner of his mouth curved involuntarily. Only when he was several meters above the ground did he suddenly spread his dragon wings. A powerful gust roared upward, whipping a whirlwind through Mrs. Pan’s garden.
“Ah, Mr. Veles! You’re going to ruin the garden—”
Alan’s words were swallowed by another pair of lips before he could finish.
“Mm… mm… mm…”
Alan’s soft protests dissolved into muffled moans, his body completely enveloped by those dragon wings, held tight against Veles’ chest so that he could barely move, pressed flush against the body of his beloved.
Time passed as if it were ten thousand years.
Alan nearly began to doubt that his tongue would be sucked into someone’s mouth and swallowed like honey, no longer his own. After struggling for a long moment, Veles finally regained a fragment of self-control and, in a very reluctant manner, released Alan slightly.
“I’ve missed you so much.”
Even after sparing Alan’s tender lips and tongue, Veles did not let the dark-haired mage leave his embrace.
In an unusually husky voice, he whispered to Alan, lowering his head and brushing his cheek lightly against the top of Alan’s head, unable to hide his longing.
—After breaking the curse, Veles had indeed escaped the tragic fate of becoming a “demon dragon.”
But in a sense, he had also transcended the bounds of humanity, becoming the only true dragon in this plane of existence.
And perhaps it was precisely for this reason that certain changes appeared in him—changes in both habits and personality that even he could not fully control.
“A dragon that hasn’t been cursed isn’t some harmless, benevolent magical creature—its main difference from a demon dragon is simply that it has its own mind and doesn’t go around killing indiscriminately.”
After the long, complicated, and painfully drawn-out aftermath finally came to an end, Alan once had a brief private conversation with Antara.
The elven mage’s expression when he spoke of the current Veles was as complex as that of Queen Alfied herself, and in a very straightforward manner, he issued a warning to Alan.
“Because of the dragon blood curse, much of the historical record of dragons before their corruption has been destroyed or sealed away… Master Alan, I truly hope you haven’t been misled by those false legends and fairy tales, forming an unrealistic ‘filter’ through which you see dragons.”
“Every dragon is both powerful and insane. They are extremely cunning and sly, and regarding the ‘treasures’ they value, no language can fully describe the depth of their greed. And for them, a lover is undoubtedly the treasure among treasures.”
“You’d better be mentally prepared, Master Alan. The one you’re facing is no longer Veles as a human—but…”
…
“Ahem, um… Master Alan… and Prince Veles? Actually, I’m not too worried about the garden, but in a little while, the children who saw the dragon will probably come looking here,” Mrs. Pan said, giving Alan a pointed look. She added, “I imagine you wouldn’t want that bunch of little rascals interrupting your evening date, would you?”
Mrs. Pan’s reminder snapped Alan back to reality—though, of course, it also turned him into a completely blushing, human-shaped tomato from head to toe.
After promising to come check on the garden the next day, Alan bid farewell to Mrs. Pan together with Veles. Just as Alan had expected, Veles very effortlessly took the two heavy, plump brined turkeys, slinging them with ease, and then he walked shoulder to shoulder with Alan toward the depths of the forest, in the direction of the ranger’s cabin.
Once they were sure they had completely left the village’s boundaries, Veles stopped.
“Hmm, I think from here, no overly curious children will be able to follow us,” he said, lowering his gaze and keeping it fixed on the mage at his side.
Then, pretending to be calm, he suggested, “I was thinking… maybe you’d like to take a little flight with me. I’ll hold you tight.”
Alan hesitated for just a single breath.
In the shadow cast by the dense trees, his eyes flickered lightly.
“But… Little Green is still at home waiting for us,” the dark-haired mage replied weakly.
Ah, yes—earlier, Alan had assumed that Little Green had been completely burned to a crisp by some unlucky demon duke and was gone from the world. It wasn’t until the situation had fully settled that he learned the truth: under normal circumstances, dragon vine is a magical plant capable of thriving even in lava.
During its growth, dragon vine must undergo several “charring” processes. This not only increases its resistance to high temperatures and destructive magic, but also encourages the emergence of stronger, healthier new branches that are less susceptible to pests or disease.
So when Little Green awoke from dormancy, it discovered that it had suddenly grown much larger—and that its beloved jewelry box had been melted by Veles into a flat, unremarkable, and extremely ugly black plate.
A small patch of lava had been magically contained in the center of the plate using spatial magic.
And that was now Little Green’s new home.
For this reason, Little Green spent a long period in a kind of existential despair, and its only hope in life was probably the nightly dinners with Alan—after all, in at least one respect, Alan had kept his promise, never skimping on the honey water for Little Green.
“Little Green… hmm, alright,”
At the sound of the name of the pampered, foolish, and irritating dragon vine, Veles’s expression shifted slightly.
But to Alan, it looked more like a hint of suppressed frustration.
“Then we’d better just head back,” Veles said softly with a sigh.
“No, what I actually meant… um,” Alan suddenly grew flustered. “I, I think that after we feed it, we can have more uninterrupted time together…”
The dark-haired mage’s voice dropped a little, and his cheeks—warm all along—glowed even redder.
Yet even like this, his gaze toward Veles was honest and straightforward.
“I’ve missed you too, Mr. Veles.”
That evening, all of Green River Village once again caught sight of the beautiful silver dragon.
Under the setting sun, the dragon glided as if dancing, effortlessly and gracefully.
The cold wind before it flowed as smoothly and obediently as a child’s ribbon, with only a few stray gusts sneaking through the dragon’s dense teeth to brush against Alan’s cheeks.
The night sky seemed to race directly above their heads, while the earth lay submissive beneath the dragon’s wings. Every city below looked as delicate and intricate as a toy.
It was a view no one else had ever experienced—but at this moment, Alan found it hard to focus on admiring it all.
“Mm… Mr. Veles, please don’t…”
He covered his face, letting out a helpless whimper inside the dragon’s thick, soft tongue.
Both of his hands clutched tightly onto the dragon’s teeth—but not out of fear of heights.
“We agreed… it’s just a joyride…”
Another jolt threw Alan’s breath into fragments.
And when he finally realized that Veles was actually jealous because of Little Green… that would be several hours later.
—
“Antara, I know.”
“Dragons really are… a little mischievous.”
“But I still love him.”
“I love him, very, very, very much.”
“Even if he’s crazy and greedy, it doesn’t matter—because the one I love is Veles, exactly as he is.”
—The End—
Author’s Note:
It’s the finale.
Thank you to the readers who’ve accompanied me from 2021 to 2024.
During the writing of Honey Wine, I finished several other works as well, but whenever other stories were mentioned, there were always readers who kept coming back to this little purely stress-relief “sweet treat” story.
Without you, Honey Wine might have inexplicably ended unfinished.
I’m deeply grateful to all the readers who followed this story and allowed it to remain complete in this world. After all, this is one of the few truly pure, sweet stories I’ve ever written—and probably one I’ll rarely write again in the future.
Thank you for your support. Love you all.
Next, I’ll be starting a somewhat strange and dark short story collection, Feast of Filth. Its tone is completely different from this story, but I still look forward to reuniting with everyone under that new work.
See you in the next story!
