Chapter 261: What Makes a Family

But while Riley was scrambling after realizing they all needed to talk to the child, in another room of the same estate, one dragonling was already facing an unexpected crisis.

A very serious one.

At least, according to him.

The mighty Orien Vathros, proud young dragonling of ancient lineage, was internally panicking.

He sat frozen on top of the huge bed, wings held stiff, tail twitching in pure alarm. In front of him, under the blankets, came another small sound.

A soft, pitiful sob.

Orien flinched.

Then came a hiccup.

Another sniffle.

The lump under the blankets trembled again, and Orien’s eyes widened in growing concern. This was bad. Very bad. The little sprite was crying. Crying loudly enough that Orien was beginning to feel his own chest tighten.

What had happened? What kind of pain could make Liam, the sunny boy who always laughed and stared at him with sparkly eyes, burst into tears like this?

Was he dying? Was he cursed? Was something broken? Was the world ending? Why was he so small and crying so much?

Orien wasn’t sure what to do.

He was a dragonling, not a healer or an exorcist. No one had ever told him how to handle a human child who suddenly melted into sorrow when even he didn’t really know how to handle himself.

He stared helplessly at the shaking blanket. After a moment of intense thought, he made a decision. A brave one, in his mind.

He slumped down beside the lump, lowering himself carefully as if approaching a wounded creature. Slowly, awkwardly, he placed one small clawed hand on the blanket.

“What’s wrong?” Orien whispered, voice trembling with earnest seriousness. “Are you in pain?”

The blanket hiccuped again.

Orien nearly fainted from stress.

It was, without a doubt, the greatest crisis of his young life.

To be fair, it wasn’t like Orien had no idea how it started.

He had been startled, too, by the earlier events they witnessed. Something in that whole chaotic moment must have struck the boy the wrong way. He just didn’t know which part caused the sudden flood of tears.

Another hiccup broke through the blanket.

Then a muffled sound finally slipped out.

It was small, shaky, and so full of heartbreak that even a dragonling felt something twist in his chest.

“L-lord Orien, my brother… my big brother is a dragon. A dragoooon…”

The last word wobbled out in a mix of hiccups, sobs, and a tiny wail that made Orien jolt upright.

He stared at the blanket, horrified.

He blurted, “Isn’t that great? Don’t you like dragons?”

There was a trembling inhale.

“Huuu… Y-yes! But our parents aren’t dragons, s-so, that means we have different parents!”

The words cracked halfway through. Saying it out loud was heavy for the sweet little boy who had never once questioned his place in his family.

Liam knew what a family was. He knew people could love each other without sharing blood. He understood that perfectly. He even knew several people whose families were that great.

It was just that he felt it was such a significant shift in his very short life.

He had grown up with two parents who adored him and a big brother who might as well have carried the sun in his pocket.

His life had been really great. At least up until today.

He had told himself he was strong enough to handle anything.

He really tried. He didn’t even cry at first.

But when the room grew quieter, when everyone else was talking, when the shock faded and left a space inside him… everything he had pushed down rose all at once.

Worse, he was terrified anyone would find out why he was crying.

Because this was Riley. His big brother. His perfect, amazing, heroic brother. The one he had tried so hard to follow, mimicking him whenever he could, pushing himself because he believed that if Riley could do it, then he could too. They were cut from the same cloth, so it shouldn’t be impossible.

That was what he thought of their brotherly ties.

But now he found out they were not really related. And Riley had another family. A real one. One that he couldn’t belong to.

Something cold and awful flickered inside him.

For one moment, just one, he felt relieved that Riley’s real family wouldn’t be able to take him away. And the instant that thought formed, Liam wanted to cover his face and hide forever.

That was a very bad thought.

A terrible one.

His brother must be so sad right now, learning the truth about himself. And yet there Liam was, crying because he was afraid of losing him. Crying because he was jealous.

He was a bad boy.

He curled deeper under the blanket, guilt twisting painfully in his chest.

Now Lord Orien was asking what was wrong. And he couldn’t even admit the truth.

He could not say that he was crying because he had become a bad kid.

Not when his brother deserved nothing but happiness.

Not when he didn’t deserve to burden anyone with such a selfish fear.

And so the blanket shook again, and Liam kept sobbing, unable to stop, unable to confess, and unable to forgive himself for feeling this way.

But then the small boy with a very big heartbreak was surprised, because the golden dragonling suddenly said something unexpected.

“But little sprite, do you really have different parents?”

Orien’s voice was unusually serious. Liam froze under the blanket, then slowly pulled it down until his face peeked out.

His cheeks were red, his eyes swollen and glossy, lashes clumped from tears. He looked pitiful, like a child who cried in a way that somehow made him look even sweeter.

“Huh? What do you m-mean?” Liam whispered, hiccuping.

Orien thought for a moment, then nodded to himself before speaking. “The dragons who gave birth to Auntie didn’t really get to parent him.”

“!”

Liam blinked, confused, eyes shimmering as he looked up at the hunched dragonling beside him.

“It’s definitely not the same,” Orien continued, “but somehow I understand this because the dragons who sired me couldn’t really be called my parents. When they handed me over to the clan, I ended up having a different set of parents.”

Liam’s breath hitched.

“For Auntie, the black dragons definitely cared enough about him to go through all that, but they didn’t get to parent him the way they probably wanted.”

Orien lifted his chin a little, speaking as if he were delivering great wisdom. “But the people who raised you and Auntie did. So how could you not have the same parents when the black dragons are simply additional beings who once hoped to be parents to your brother? Doesn’t that mean he just has more parents?”

“!!!”

Liam stared at him, stunned. His lower lip trembled. “What? Is that really how it works, Lord Orien?”

Orien nodded sagely, pride swelling in his tiny chest.

Liam’s shoulders shook. “B-but it’s not just that. I had a really bad thought…”

“A bad thought?” Orien asked.

“Y-yes…” Liam struggled, swallowing hard. He finally sat up, small fists rubbing at his eyes as he tearfully confessed, “I didn’t want to share my brother with another family, and that’s bad. And I even felt relieved because they can’t take him away.”

Liam looked miserable, guilt twisting his young features.

But to his surprise, the great golden dragonling only said, “That’s not bad. If that were bad, then aren’t all dragons bad?”

“Huh?” Liam blinked, thrown off.

“Isn’t it normal not to want to share the most important treasures? Do you think my uncle even wants to share Auntie with any of us? If it were all up to him, he would have probably just found a place where they could hide away forever.”

Orien puffed up a little, shrugging as if this were completely reasonable dragon psychology.

“!!!”

“What?” Liam whispered.

“Your brother is now a dragon, so he will realize this soon,” Orien said matter-of-factly. “Dragons don’t like sharing. We don’t even want to share space with our own shadow, so how could we want to share with others?”

Liam tilted his little head, trying to understand.

“But it’s okay not to understand everything. Because you’re still very young, so you probably think that it seems strange,” Orien added. “But because Auntie already thinks of you as his brother, it is impossible to say you’re not. Because for dragons, what is ours is ours, and what is yours is also ours.”

Orien held out his tiny hand proudly, as if declaring a universal truth.

“???”

“Even if you try to escape, and probably even in your next life, you will still be his brother.”

Liam’s eyes wavered. He still looked confused, but he also looked hopeful. “Do you really think so, Lord Orien?”

“Of course. I’m sure about that part. And honestly, I believe there is a bigger threat you should be focusing on. Even if the black dragons returned, there would still be no bigger threat than Uncle.”

Orien said it like he was telling a ghost story. He even shivered a little at the end.

Then, suddenly, a new voice came from the door.

“Is that so?”

“Yes! Definitely!” answered the golden dragonling absentmindedly, only to belatedly realize that it sounded weird.

Both the dragonling and the child froze.

Slowly, they looked over.

Kael Dravaryn, said great threat, was leaning by the doorway with his signature raised eyebrow.

“!!!”

Liam squeaked, and Orien died a little.

The room fell silent, and the young dragonling began to regret being hatched in this generation.

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