Chapter 39: The Dragon’s Fate

Under the setting sun, chaos suddenly found its way to the peaceful city square.

The guards immediately took action and pointed their spears at Remi. As they charged, the dragon remained motionless, confused.

Shina blocked them with her own body, making the guards stop.

“Get out of the way, Shina!” Emperor Vedis shouted.

“That dragon is dangerous!”

Shina glanced at Dheinyrus for a second before she spoke.

“He’s not an enemy, father. Please, listen to me.”

Vedis angrily swung his arm.

“What are you talking about?! That dragon must be killed!”

“No! He’s my friend, please!”

Vedis’ face turned red in anger.

“You brought that dragon into my palace… Shina, are you out of your mind?”

He turned to the guards.

“Grab her and kill the dragon! Take its mana core and it might serve us well, at the very least.”

On the verge of hopelessness, the scion of divinity stepped in and stood between the guards and Shina.

The emperor looked at him with a bewildered expression.

“What is this, Lord Theocheirós?” he asked.

Hiding the fear that was raging to show in his trembling hands, Dhein answered.

“Please reconsider, Emperor Vedis.”

He looked at Dhein with disbelieving eyes.

“You…”

He raised his index finger, trembling in rage, and then pointed it at Dhein’s face.

“You lied to me about my daughter’s location… and now you’re telling me what to do.”

Dhein swallowed the lump in his throat, giving it his all just to not show a hint of emotion on his face.

“Whose side are you really on, Lord Theocheirós?” the emperor asked and then added:

“Do you want to become my enemy?”

Dhein remained silent before the emperor’s anger.

Shina answered for him.

“Father, if he wanted us dead, the empire would have long perished! He’s just helping me protect Remi!”

Vedis turned to Shina with eyes widening in rage.

“You, STOP TALKING!”

Then, he got back to Dhein.

“Lord Theocheirós, I am not happy to be controlled and manipulated. Whatever you’re planning, leave me and my family out of it, or we will have to go against each other. I don’t care if your power matches that of a god’s.”

Emperor Vedis lowered his hand and then firmly commanded:

“Dheinyrus Theocheirós, step aside.”

Not knowing what to do, Dhein just stood there and met the emperor’s gaze.

“I am not going to say it twice.”

Dhein clenched his fist and then spoke.

“There is an explanation for this, Your Majesty.”

Emperor Vedis glared at him.

“I’m not asking for an explanation. I’m telling you to move.”

Their eyes battled, both refusing to back down. Dhein wasn’t the type to break his words. He told Shina he would help her in protecting the dragon, and that was what he was going to do.

But the Emperor was truly as self-centered as Shina described him to be.

“Dheinyrus Theocheirós,” Vedis muttered with accumulated anger.

“You are now—”

Before he could finish, a soldier interrupted with a report.

“Your Majesty!”

The emperor impatiently turned to the panting soldier who had just came running from out of nowhere.

“I… I have… a report,” he muttered in between heavy breaths.

“I’m in a middle of something, make it quick.”

The soldier took a deep breath and then answered.

“We… We found a demon base. In the Callex Region. They were building weapons and… those food that can turn humans into monsters. They’re the ones that make them!”

Vedis’ eyes widened, this time in shock. The soldier continued.

“Our troops deployed in the area have been wiped out. Right now, Thevon Luxier is fighting them off all by himself!”

The troops sent out to find Shina in the west made up a fourth of the total military forces of the empire. To think that they were all now dead…

Vedis turned to Dhein and looked at him wordlessly, his eyes full of questions. But his pride prevented him from asking them.

He turned back to the soldier.

“Gather my troops. Call the Uthalonicas.”

With that, Vedis and the guards left them in the middle of the city square.

By that time, the sun had completely sunk beyond the horizon. The lamplights illuminated the city in a warm glow.

Dhein looked down to Shina who was clutching the dragon close to her chest.

They were both shaken by what had happened, but he could tell Shina was the most affected. She was stuck between obeying her own father and protecting her friend’s life.

He also knew that she would never let anything bad happen to Remi.

Moments later, footsteps resounded in the silence. Yuhan Venilon, Shina’s mother, had walked up to them.

There was an uncanny resemblance between her and Shina. Their almond-shaped, alluring eyes and small, doll-like face were identical. If only her hair was also jet-black like her mother’s, Dhein wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

Yuhan Venilon crouched down to her daughter’s level and then spoke.

“Does he bite?”

Shina looked at her with teary eyes.

Yuhan continued.

“Don’t cry, Shina.”

The girl immediately wiped her tears and smiled.

“No, he’s very gentle.”

Her mother smiled back.

“Great. Take him inside, I’m cooking dinner.”

***

Dhein and Fiorelle found themselves sitting inside Yuhan Venilon’s personal kitchen. It turned out that the imperial consort’s biggest hobby was cooking. In fact, back in Tianmin, she ran the biggest restaurant with multiple branches around the continent.

“This isn’t enough?” the imperial consort asked, baffled.

“No, mother. I feed him fifty pounds of meat per day back in Selense, of course that’s not enough.”

“My goodness, me,” she mumbled in disbelief, looking down at the petty plate of steak in her hand.

“Then, I’m going to look for more in the inventory. You guys eat and rest up, I know you’re tired,” Yuhan said before walking out.

A few seconds later, Dhein also stood up. Shina and Fiorelle looked at him.

“You’re leaving?” Fiorelle asked.

He nodded.

“It’s time to put an end to this,” Dhein stated.

The two followed him with their eyes as he walked up to the door. Dhein turned the knobs and pulled the door open before throwing a glance at them. They were visibly anxious about the empire’s current situation.

“Relay to Consort Yuhan that I regret not getting to taste her food. I need to leave now.”

With that, Dheinyrus walked out of the room.

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