Chapter 164: The Week He Slept

But maybe he should have kept asking questions, because unbeknownst to the recovering aide, outside the dragon lord’s room, Eryndra had actually been in an uproar.

Back in Silvara, and a few days before he woke up, the Queen—who had reached the limit of her patience—finally snapped.

After realizing that if Riley still hadn’t returned, then either he had died or they had somehow broken free of her curse, she went mad with fury.

She threatened to call out the Ministry of Balance and Enforcement for their “dereliction of duty,” furious that they had withdrawn before the Moonveil Codex could be found.

But what do you know?

In the middle of their sanctum preparations, they discovered something that froze every royal in place.

The Codex they had been keeping with them had gone missing.

This time, even the Elven King agreed to publicly denounce the ministry, gathering reporters and witnesses for what was promised to be a historic announcement. They even sent out an envoy from the barrier for that very purpose.

Only for the most unexpected thing to happen.

Kael Dravaryn, who could not care less about politics, appearances, or media outrage, suddenly called for a press conference. It was the shortest press conference in Eryndran history.

Without preamble, he simply lifted the Moonveil Codex before the stunned reporters and said, “You’re talking about this? Should I also start talking about where we found it?”

Then he closed the book and left.

Just like that.

No elaboration. No statement. No follow-up questions allowed.

And just like that, the entire elven court went silent. Instead, they ran back to Silvara, worried about how many days were left before something happened to the Codex.

Meanwhile, back at the Dravaryn estate, Riley was trying to process everything he was learning from his mother—the only one who seemed willing to talk about what had happened while he was out cold.

Surprisingly, despite everyone saying Kael never left his side for long, the dragon who was supposedly “deeply worried” about him had been acting strange.

Whenever Riley looked at him, Kael avoided his gaze. But the moment Riley looked away, he could feel those golden eyes on him again.

It was unnerving.

Although what was probably more annoying was that he couldn’t pry any information from his boss, who would usually pass off work without issue.

What the hell happened to Kael that he had turned all weird?

The children, on the other hand, had finally managed to sleep after confirming several times—around two hours of it—that Riley was, in fact, alive and breathing.

They had also decided, in their infinite logic, that they would take turns guarding him in case of emergencies. When Riley attempted to take a bath, they followed him to the door and insisted on standing guard.

Even when he tried to answer nature’s call.

At one point, he couldn’t help but think of them as dogs. Loyal, overprotective, tiny, barky dogs.

They were even little liars who said they’d take turns, but instead, went together with him everywhere.

His father, to an extent, had been like that, too. When he arrived, after being brought by Kael, he rushed to check on him.

But because of his current constitution, he had been forced to rest after all those sleepless nights. There was an initial hesitation, but after being told that Riley would end up worrying about him, his father finally listened to logical reasoning and rested.

And so, that was how Riley ended up sitting with his mother.

“Mom,” he asked, rubbing his temples, “are you seriously saying he held a press conference while I was asleep? How did he even contact the press?!”

It wasn’t that Kael was incompetent; if he had wanted to, he could have used his abilities to broadcast across the continent. However, he didn’t do it that way.

So how?

“Ah, that would be thanks to your father,” Renee replied casually, “who immediately contacted the people he knew and informed them about what Kael wanted to do.”

“!!!”

Riley nearly choked.

The idea of his father teaming up with Kael sounded bizarre enough, even if that should’ve actually been his father’s job. But what do you know? They were able to cooperate like that.

Obviously, that partnership was something no one could have predicted, considering Kael was the one who told his father to retire. But as expected, just because he retired didn’t mean he would’ve forgotten how to function like an aide.

Then again, even as he listened to his mother’s stories, he felt as though he had missed more than just a few days.

More importantly—

“Mom, what happened to the Codex? Did the elves actually do something? And the children—are they okay?” Riley lowered his voice, glancing toward the room where Orien was sleeping, just in case that ridiculous dragon’s hearing worked at full capacity even while fast asleep.

“From what I know, yes,” Renee said softly, “but it wasn’t Kael who met with the elves. It was Lord Karion.”

“Huh? Lord Karion? Why?”

“Well,” she began, “Lady Cirila suggested it on behalf of everyone because we were rather sure the elven delegation wouldn’t survive Kael’s wrath if they happened to meet.”

“Kael’s wrath?”

Renee actually wanted to say, Yeah. But even she trembled at what actually happened.

Orien’s version of events wasn’t entirely wrong—but it wasn’t the whole story either. The children hadn’t seen the moments in between, the quiet horror that had filled the halls, or the dragon lord’s unrelenting fury as he demanded answers that no one could give.

Kael had asked about Riley again and again: what was he, what was wrong with him, why his body was reacting like that.

But no one could answer him.

Not the elders, not even the guardians who gave the oddest answers, but couldn’t be bothered to explain. And now, apparently, not even Riley’s parents.

They couldn’t answer him.

So, when Kael’s patience shattered, it was understandable. His anger had been terrible, bright and hot, the kind that made the air itself tremble.

She could just imagine what he must’ve felt when he still couldn’t get answers from them.

But unbeknownst to Renee, Kael, whose anger had climbed, stopped only because of the look on her face that she likely couldn’t see.

Unable to speak, and yet itching to shout. Kael thought she looked far worse than he did at that point in time. And yet this wasn’t something that she was aware of.

Now she could only look at their son, thinking that they had been lucky to be allowed to see him. That they could tend to him like this. That when Riley woke up, the Dragon Lord had still allowed them to be around their son.

She just hoped they’d be allowed to do this for as long as possible.

“Mom?”

Her thoughts broke at the sound of his voice.

“Yes?”

Riley’s brows furrowed slightly, his tone soft. “I-is everything okay?”

She blinked, then smiled, pushing the weight from her chest and masking it with calm.

“Yeah,” she said gently. “Don’t worry about us. It’s you who needs to recover.”

Her hand rose to his head, fingers brushing through his hair in the same way she had done since he was little.

And for a moment, everything felt almost normal again.

Although one dragon lord definitely had a different opinion.

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