Chapter 16 (2/2)

That year m

y father found her on the sh.o.r.es of our territory, there was a turmoil in the royal family that gave her the chance to run away and end up in Finanse.

Apparently, my mother had an elder twin brother named Alex who was first in line for the throne. They had a very good relations.h.i.+p, so after he had calmed the upheaval and discovered that my mother was missing, my uncle grew sick from excessive worry about the safety of his twin sister and eventually pa.s.sed away.

I remembered the expression on my mother’s eyes when I was about to embark — hesitant, as if there was something she wanted to say…but she never said anything in the end.

When the previous king, my maternal grandfather died, his brother Andel who was third in line inherited the throne. This grand-uncle of mine seemed very enthusiastic to receive me.

I made use of the opportunity to ask all the people around me for any news about the dragon race, but they only gave me very strange looks, stammered and mumbled, and did not say anything of value. The information I got at the imperial palace was even less than the amount I got at that tiny adventurer’s guild.

Approximately one month later, Andel invited me to have afternoon tea with him and asked: “I heard you’re very interested in the dragon race?”

I affirmed it was so.

He said: “It just happens to be that the kingdom needs to send an envoy to the territory of the gold dragons. Would you like to act as the representative of the royal family?”

Without giving it a second thought, I immediately agreed.

I had already heard about the situation around the gold dragons before.

The political climate in the Ican continent was substantially more complicated than it was in Finanse. Not only was the land home to various races but also to hostile demonic beasts which were mainly found in the northern part of the land, the Dark Abyss, and would often attack other settlements.

All of humanity’s cities could be razed by these creatures at the most severe times, so under these circ.u.mstances humans would enter a joint alliance with elves, dwarfs, giants, dragons, and other races to resist them.

The relations.h.i.+p between the human kingdoms and the dragon race was the most delicate.

In terms of total population, dragons who had longer lifespans and breeding cycles were nothing compared to humans, but each dragon was enormous, highly intelligent, possessed immense fighting prowess, and had a strong sense of community among themselves. Thus, high-level demonic beasts themselves would avoid provoking dragons.

Many human monarchs would send all kinds of gifts to nearby dragon clans in hope of receiving protection when demonic beasts or even other countries invaded.

The Bein kingdom itself was being protected by the dragon clan closest to them, the gold dragons, for close to a hundred years.

After coming to this strange and unfamiliar environment, thirsting to meet Fruys, and recently having come to know the story of my mother’s past, I was so exhilarated that I neglected to notice all the ominous signs around me. I vaguely remembered that I had once heard the king of Bein’s name before, but I didn’t think deeply about it.

I only noticed that something was off by the time I was already sitting in the carriage en route to the gold dragon territory. The carriage, I realized, was surrounded with a magic spell barrier on all sides as if to prevent me from running away.

It was at that moment that I saw the light. I remembered that Fruys once told me “gossip” I hadn’t taken seriously at the time: that the king of the powerful human kingdom of Bein was a coward who sent his own daughter as a gift to the dragons to seek protection, and his son to the Black Wizard in exchange for the method of immortal life.

Rumors are oft unfounded, but I couldn’t help thinking just like how I could not stop the cold sweat from drenching my clothes; my mother possessed the treasured Blood Stone, and my blood could cause the Stone of Bein to react. If my mother truly was the respected Princess Abeila, under what circ.u.mstances did she flee to the other side of the sea with Anna, and furthermore be unwilling to talk about her past for nearly thirty years?

I closed my eyes. I knew that at this point, even if I cried out to stop the carriage, n.o.body would respond.

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