Dragon Kingdom, inside the royal palace.
"Your Majesty, have you given my request any thought?"
Seeing that Draudillon remained silent, Cerabrate pressed again.
He did not bother hiding the greed in his eyes, staring straight at the small figure seated upon the throne.
He was certain she would agree.
Cerabrate understood Draudillon's personality well. The Dragon Kingdom was her weakness.
After all, only by killing the Beastmen's commanding general could he reverse the kingdom's crumbling situation.
Your Majesty Draudillon, you wouldn't want to see the Dragon Kingdom destroyed, would you?
The thought of his demand made his heart burn with anticipation.
"Where were we… heh… sorry, I zoned out for a moment."
Facing Cerabrate's relentless pressure, the Dragon Queen showed an innocent smile, though her heart was filled with bitterness.
The situation of the Dragon Kingdom was dire. She truly had no other options left.
Was agreeing to Cerabrate's terms really the only path forward?
Lost in thought, Draudillon glanced out the window at the sky.
Dark clouds blanketed the heavens, as if foretelling the Dragon Kingdom's ruin.
Once night fell, human visibility would drop sharply, while some Beastmen could see in the dark.
On the battlefield, that would be a fatal disadvantage.
So she had to let Cerabrate launch a surprise attack now. This was their last chance.
With that in mind, just as Cerabrate urged her again, Draudillon prepared to speak.
But from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of several dark figures outside the window. She blinked and rubbed her eyes.
Because of the Beastmen threat, her sleep had been poor lately.
Was she hallucinating?
That thought lasted only a moment.
As a Half Dragon, how could she possibly be so sleep-deprived that she was seeing things?
Then… who was outside the window?
Crack! Crack!
As vigilance flashed across her eyes, several figures shattered the glass and flew straight into the hall.
In an instant, five unusual figures stood within the chamber.
Three of them bore wings on their backs, faint scales covering their bodies.
The other two were a skeleton clad in robes and a humanoid figure formed from pitch-black slime.
"You're Draudillon, the ruler of the Dragon Kingdom?"
Standing in midair, Naohara looked at the petite girl seated upon the elevated throne, dressed in splendid robes and wearing a crown, and asked directly.
As he spoke, he glanced at the Brightness Dragon Lord beside him, now in human form.
The Brightness Dragon Lord's expression did not change, but something flickered deep within his eyes.
"Who the hell are you people?!"
"Do you have any idea who I—"
Before Draudillon could respond, Cerabrate stepped forward first. Sword raised and pointed at Naohara and the others, he demanded in a wary tone.
Truthfully, Cerabrate was furious. Draudillon had been on the verge of agreeing to his request, and these intruders had ruined everything.
If not for the sense that they were far from ordinary, he would have already struck.
But before Cerabrate could finish his threat, the Brightness Dragon Lord moved.
And then…
There was no "then."
In a flash, a long spear radiating dark-element magic condensed in the air. It was thrown without hesitation and pierced straight through Cerabrate's body.
Cerabrate: …
The disbelief in his remaining eye lingered for a split second before his head fell to the ground, consciousness extinguished.
Draudillon: …
He was dead?
Cerabrate, an Adamantite-ranked adventurer, a Paladin who could both fight and heal, had just been killed.
Like crushing an ant by the roadside.
Draudillon felt both horrified and despairing.
Cerabrate had led the Dragon Kingdom's only Adamantite-ranked adventurer team.
They were supposed to be the core force resisting the Beastman Country's invasion.
Yes, he was greedy, lecherous, scheming, with impure motives, even intending to manipulate her…
But now that Cerabrate was dead, despair flooded her heart.
Without him to carry out the assassination plan, the Dragon Kingdom was finished.
At that thought, Draudillon felt despair swallow her whole.
Naohara blinked.
Seeing Draudillon sitting there with the light gone from her eyes, he tilted his head and exchanged looks with the others.
She broke just like that?
"Brightness, your offspring seems…"
Naohara patted the Brightness Dragon Lord on the shoulder. At a time like this, it was better to leave it to him.
"My King, I will handle the rest."
The Brightness Dragon Lord sighed and gently descended to the floor.
At that moment, Draudillon suddenly came back to her senses.
She thought she had just heard a familiar name.
Brightness?
Wasn't that her grandfather's name? And that aura… it felt so warm, so familiar.
The light slowly returned to her eyes as she stared intently at the Brightness Dragon Lord.
She needed an answer.
The Brightness Dragon Lord walked forward unhurriedly, his gaze settling on Draudillon.
She had beautiful long hair, vertical dragon pupils, and carried herself with an air of nobility.
As for the white stockings wrapping her slender legs and the gold-trimmed undergarments fitted to her petite form, the Brightness Dragon Lord only gave them a passing glance.
He might have a fondness for beauty, but he had no such thoughts toward his own offspring.
Unlike a certain Elf King who wanted to breed with his own daughter to conquer the world.
In that regard, the Brightness Dragon Lord still had some bottom line. Not much, but some.
Standing before the Dragon Queen, he reached out and placed a hand atop her soft hair.
"Hundreds of years have passed, and you've been reduced to being threatened by humans. You even altered your form just to accommodate them."
"My offspring, you've truly regressed."
Draudillon: …
The tension she had been holding onto collapsed into a wave of grievance.
Abandoned in the Dragon Kingdom from birth, she had survived alone. Later, when humans discovered her identity and pushed her onto the throne, she did not resist.
Because she loved this country.
Not only because its people loved her, but because this was her grandfather's land.
The kingdom founded by the Brightness Dragon Lord.
All these years, she had quietly persevered, refusing to let the Dragon Kingdom fall. Part of that persistence had been the hope that the Brightness Dragon Lord would return one day.
And yet, with just a few words, this man who might truly be her grandfather reduced all that effort to nothing.
Draudillon suddenly felt unbearably wronged.
She closed her eyes and simply gave up resisting.
"You inherited my bloodline. You're called the Black Scale Dragon Lord and can even wield Wild Magic, yet you can't stop a Beastman invasion…"
The Brightness Dragon Lord continued lecturing her.
At that, Draudillon could not hold back any longer. She opened her eyes with a resentful look.
They say when scolding someone, you shouldn't hit where it hurts. Did he really have to say it like that?
Wait… he was her grandfather.
Fine, then.
"I'm weak. I'm really sorry."
Draudillon spoke pitifully, not daring to argue with this grandfather who felt both unfamiliar and deeply familiar.
"Mm. You are indeed weak."
"But as the offspring of the Brightness Dragon Lord, you are not someone filthy Beastmen can bully."
Draudillon's head snapped up at once.
...
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