Chapter 197: The Year of Peace

“Well, there was, give or take, a year of peace,” Kael started.

But that was only after they had survived the elders’ insanity.

Obviously, there had been an uproar. And the moment young Kael saw his parents’ faces after saying such a thing, he realized it had been a mistake to correct and inform everyone else.

Sure enough, what followed was a flood of demands for him to hand over the egg.

The same egg that had suddenly gotten heavier in the dragonling’s arms.

Thankfully, since the whole ordeal happened after the initial rite was over, Dragon Lord Karion managed to remind everyone that such a thing would be impossible for those who had just imprinted.

“Lady Seraphyne, you know yourself how that feels, don’t you? Have you forgotten how you almost went insane when you were separated from your mate?” Karion’s tone was calm but cutting.

“Then again, if everyone’s goal was to push the heir to the Dragon Lord’s seat to the brink of insanity, I suppose that would be understandable.”

Now that Kael thought about it, his father really had tried to salvage the situation—saying such daring things to make everyone hesitate in making the first move.

After all, it was one thing to harm another dragon, but doing so after the Dragon Lord himself had already foretold it would happen was far too incriminating.

Wouldn’t that be the fastest way to extermination? As they all knew, that was definitely something well within the Lord’s authority.

So just like that, he managed to buy about a year.

But that peace wasn’t exactly as peaceful as it sounded. It only counted as peace because during that time, Kael had a valid reason not to return to the nest right away.

He had holed up at home, in charge of keeping the egg shiny and making sure it didn’t roll into random places.

The problem was that the egg was incredibly playful.

Kael, the grumpy baby dragon, spent his days chasing it around the halls, wings flapping furiously as the egg somehow managed to roll just out of reach every time. Sometimes, it would bump against his snout or hide behind furniture like it thought it was being clever.

“Stop moving,” he’d growl, claws tapping against the floor.

The egg would roll again.

Kael would huff, puff out his tiny chest, and stomp closer while muttering, “You think this is funny, don’t you?”

Then, when the egg refused to stay still, he’d start polishing it with intense determination. “If you’re going to roll everywhere, at least you should look presentable.”

And when even that failed to calm it, Kael would resort to his final weapon.

Reciting the genealogy of dragons.

“So you bonded with the egg like that?” asked Riley, blinking rapidly as he tried to imagine a baby dragon taking care of an egg.

“Well, what exactly would a child do with a literal egg?” Kael said flatly. “Obviously, I just carried it around the gardens, knocked on it several times to check if it was still alive. And when it was really unruly, I’d start reciting the genealogy of the ancestors so it would get bored and maybe sleep.”

Kael was completely serious.

Riley, however, burst into laughter. He couldn’t help it. “You mean to tell me you used ancient dragon genealogy as a bedtime story? For an egg?”

Apparently, yes. This fearsome dragon lord did exactly that.

Sure enough, he could be really cute, thought Riley, his laughter softening into a fond smile. A small pang of jealousy crept in, though it wasn’t like he actually wanted to be serenaded with the family tree of dragons.

He just wished he could have seen Kael as a child, stubborn, frowning, and chasing after that ridiculous egg before everything in his life changed.

“But in hindsight,” Kael said after a pause, “if I had focused on more important things, maybe that would’ve been more worth it. Because about a year after that came the tragedy at the dragon estate.”

“!!!”

“What? The dragon estate? This dragon estate?” Riley practically pointed to the floor beneath them.

Kael nodded.

“About a year after the initial mating rites were concluded,” he said quietly, “the dragon estate was almost razed to the ground.”

__

It had been a hectic week.

Lord Karion and Lady Cirila had gone away to attend the annual accords, and in their absence, Kael had been sent back to the Nest. His purpose was simple—apply for early graduation.

“There’s such a thing?” Riley asked in disbelief. “And wait, weren’t you younger than Orien? You could already maintain the mature form at that time?”

“Not yet at that point,” Kael replied, shaking his head. “But even my parents said it wouldn’t be long, so going through the trials would be difficult but not impossible.”

If even the Dragon Lord said so, then it must be true. So he was supposed to spend that week taking endurance tests, practical trials, and magical assessments that even older dragons disliked. But it would all be worth it if he could finally graduate early and never have to return to the nest again.

He still remembered how tedious it was. But what stood out most in his memory wasn’t the tests.

It was the third night.

The night everything went wrong.

Kael woke with a start, his small form jolting upright in his chamber. His scales prickled. The air felt heavy. His chest ached—tight, painful, wrong.

For the first time since bonding, something in his connection with the egg had changed.

No, not just changed.

It screamed danger.

Panicked, the young dragon scrambled from his bed and rushed toward the window. His wings flared as he prepared to leap out—just like he had done countless times before when sneaking out.

He would covertly leave the building and look for the weakest part of the barrier to escape.

But the moment he reached the edge, he froze.

The barrier felt different. It wasn’t the same one that had been protecting the nest for years.

The faint hum had been replaced with an intense, almost suffocating pulse. He tried pressing his claws against it, but the force nearly pushed him back.

Someone had strengthened it.

Kael’s tail lashed behind him. “What is this?” he muttered, looking around for another way out.

He tried other areas and eventually ended up back in the corridors, ears twitching as faint voices reached him from around the corner. Instinctively, he stopped and pressed himself against the wall, listening closely while being hidden by the magic his father had long taught him.

“…did you hear? They might need to implement emergency procedures soon.”

Another voice, lower, nervous. “Is it confirmed? What happened?”

A pause. Then a whisper that made Kael’s stomach twist.

“They said something happened to the dragon estate.”

Kael’s claws dug into the floor.

“What do you mean ’something happened’?” the first attendant hissed.

“I don’t know the details,” the other replied, voice trembling. “But thankfully, the Dragon Lord’s family wasn’t home.”

Kael’s blood ran cold.

Home.

No one’s home.

But how could they have known that someone from their family had been left behind at the dragon estate?

After all, no one beyond the circle of elders and their loyal servants even knew another soul was there.

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