Chapter 378: Cracks in Control

Simply the truth.

Despite the Chancellor’s anger at his useless attendant, Malrik was aware that it would be impossible for Tavos to lie.

At least not with the kind of control he had over that lowlife. If anything, the only issue would’ve been the accuracy of what he’d witnessed.

But the mangled attendant really insisted on what he had seen as he kept his head lowered on the floor.

“Chancellor, when I got there, I found him partially transformed.”

“Partially?” Malrik’s voice was dangerously low.

Tavos flinched, his body pressing tighter against the cold floor, but he didn’t dare stop.

He recounted the encounter with a shaky breath, explaining how the kidnapping had gone south the moment he stepped into the room.

In truth, he had been ambushed the moment he opened the door. And only now did he realize that the dragon likely predicted his arrival based on the footsteps that even attentive humans usually wouldn’t detect.

Of course, he had taken precautions. But at the end of the day, he’d been expecting a simple human and only prepared accordingly.

But instead of the weak being he was expecting to encounter, the mark had lunged at him with a ferocity that caught him completely off guard.

The resulting scuffle had been violent enough to shatter furniture and send loud, crashing echoes through the hallway. Moreover, despite being in a terrible state—his body heavy and his senses clouded by the strain of the transformation—the mark hadn’t been completely helpless.

“I didn’t expect him to fight back like that,” Tavos whispered. “At that point, he wasn’t human anymore. There was already a wing on his back, my lord.”

The Chancellor’s eyes narrowed. “Only a wing?”

“His eye, a horn on his head, and more importantly, his strength.”

The attendant hissed as he remembered the sensation of his own flesh being torn apart by those claws.

“When I first entered, only a part of his body seemed to be strengthened, but Chancellor, as you know, there are no beings truly fit to rival dragons even in that state…”

Malrik silently gnashed his teeth at that. The statement was like a physical sting, an annoyance he fought to keep from showing on his face.

Sure enough, the attendant didn’t notice a shift in his master’s already terrible mood and continued thinking about his experience.

Apparently, as if the sudden ambush hadn’t been enough, the unexpected commotion seemed to have attracted attention. The next thing Tavos knew, he was being shot at by human reinforcements.

He’d been attempting to attack the still-human part of the mark and had relative success when he ended up getting hit by a projectile in the back.

And while he would’ve been able to survive things like bullets, what he didn’t expect was to get stunned by whatever it was that pierced him.

At that point, Tavos felt like he was going to die, especially after seeing how a woman stood by the door, trembling and screeching but pointing a weapon at him.

“I had to neutralize the intruder because I was certain I would lose against that device she was using.”

However, as he made a beeline for the woman, she let out a piercing scream.

He’d been aiming right for her neck, certain he could end her quickly, but the partially transformed mark ended up lunging at him from the back. When Tavos turned to strike back, he didn’t see the half-human figure anymore. He saw a rather complete dragon in his humanoid form.

Instead of one side being stuck in a different form, he ended up symmetrical. Two wings, two horns, and two sets of claws.

His chances of survival had rapidly fallen after seeing that.

The Chancellor’s face went pale with rage. “You! So he ended up completing the transformation because of you?!”

The attendant flinched and attempted to plead for his case. If anything, it was still fortunate that he didn’t shift into his full beast form.

“H-he was still in humanoid form when I left…” Tavos stammered.

“!!!”

Then again, Tavos had only made it out because the mark ended up screaming in pain after attacking him violently. And really, if not for the ability to shift into his original form and slither away, Tavos wouldn’t have been able to make it out at all.

“I have always been aware of the disparity between pure dragons and everyone else, and so I was keenly aware that there was no way I would win against him. But I had to escape to tell you about it, my lord.”

Twice.

This incompetent attendant had emphasized it twice now. And this one was even worse than the first time he said it.

He probably intended it as both an excuse and a praise, but unfortunately for the unsuspecting attendant, it simply irked Malrik more.

It was as if he were being reminded that he would never have absolute power because he wasn’t pure.

Pure.

Pure.

Pure.

Malrik felt like snarling under his breath, but held it in.

Tavos certainly wouldn’t have any idea why the air in the room suddenly turned frigid. Chancellor Malrik’s expression was that of extreme coldness as he contemplated erasing Tavos, staring down at the crumpled figure on the ground.

He was certain that he’d already taken care of anyone but that thorn of a woman who might have an idea about his origins, so he shouldn’t be as affected. But hearing about this now, even when unintended, really made him feel like he needed to crush someone’s bones.

But no matter, just like before, no one else would know. After all, of all the dragons, Malrik had worked the hardest to be the most magnificent and dragon-like of all.

Therefore, no one, not even himself, would ever be able to recognize that dirty hydra blood that also coursed through his body.

The Chancellor felt his blood boiling and decided to take deeper breaths. There was really no use in remembering something distasteful, so he had to refocus.

“You already know you’ve made a mistake, so stop wasting my time. We need to find him before anyone else realizes there is a dragon on the loose.”

Malrik clenched his fist as the attendant on the ground trembled before saying, “I understand, my lord.”

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