DMHS 73

‘Did I mistake the reflection of moonlight?’

Since the dead could not return to life, it was certain he saw a mirage because he was nervous.

Asaad stretched out his hand toward Kian’s head again.

However, what Asaad had seen was not a mirage.

Flash.

The red light that surfaced in Kian’s eyes grew clearer, and Kian’s shadow that spread against the wall grew larger and swallowed the entire corridor.

“Uh, ugh…”

The heavy air weighed down on Asaad’s shoulders, his legs lost strength, and he collapsed to the ground. He could not believe what was unfolding before his eyes.

Kian who had just drawn his last breath was raising his body.

‘Impossible.’

A change occurred in his body.

His hair that had been short enough to cover only his ears grew longer, and it grew until it reached his waist, and its color was not black but dazzling white that shone even in darkness.

Kian’s height that had already been tall grew even taller, and Asaad felt suffocated only because Kian stood against the dark and looked down on him.

“……”

Asaad’s eyes met Kian’s, and Kian’s pupils that were blood red stared at him. They were long and narrow like those of a reptile and made his skin crawl.

Asaad realized by instinct.

‘This one is not human.’

Black wings emerged from Kian’s back with a flap.

“…..!”

Asaad crawled back while sitting down, and although he wanted to stood up and run away, his legs had lost strength and he could not stand.

His breath turned ragged even though he had done nothing, and his stomach churned and he felt nauseated. All he could do was tremble like prey that waited to be hunted.

“Hu, huh. Hic…”

Kian’s shadow spread from his feet and covered the ceiling of the corridor, and while the surroundings turned pitch dark, only his red eyes shone with a terrifying light.

The shadow that squirmed like a living creature started to swallow Asaad from his toes, Kian bent his waist and stared at him like he stared at a crawling insect, and by then the wound on his abdomen had healed without a trace.

His index finger with its nail grown long tapped against Asaad’s forehead.

“…Ugh!”

His head turned black, and cold energy streamed into his eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and every opening in his body.

Asaad could not even scream, and even begging for his life was a luxury.

He could not withstand the fear that seized him, and he lost consciousness.

***

‘My mate is late.’

Lucien who was left alone in the banquet hall folded his arms and he glanced at the entrance.

A short while ago, Kian who checked the place where the chieftain collapsed left with the words that he would get some fresh air.

‘He must be trying to resolve this incident.’

Lucien glanced back and forth between the disorderly table and the seat where the chieftain had sat.

He could roughly guess the method of murder.

Lucien had not been affected by the extinguishing of the magic stone in the banquet hall from the beginning, and his spiritual sense worked as brightly as daytime even in the darkened hall.

The first moment the light went out briefly, the scene Lucien saw was like this.

‘The chieftain pulled Bashim’s cup toward himself.’

The chieftain’s movement was quick and concise, as though he had prepared in advance with the knowledge that the light would go out at that moment.

When the light went out again, the chieftain drank the liquor in Bashim’s cup, and he immediately clutched his chest and groaned.

The time he endured the pain was not long, soon his pupils grew unfocused, and he shattered the glass he held against the table and stabbed his own throat.

In that moment of agony, his other hand stretched out reflexively and pulled the tablecloth, and the moment the table turned into chaos was almost the same moment that his breath stopped.

There were not many methods that could drive a healthy man to death in such a short span.

‘They must have used a drug to push him into a powerful hallucinatory state.’

In that case, the drug was most likely in the cup that the chieftain drank.

However, what he didn’t understood was why the chieftain took Bashim’s cup and drank from it.

‘Did he know that Bashim’s cup contained poison?’

If he knew beforehand, the chieftain’s actions were even more suspicious. Why would he knowingly drink liquor with poison while fully aware that it would kill him?

But Lucien’s doubt ended there.

‘Well, he must have had his own thoughts.’

Lucien felt overwhelmed only by being involved in the affairs of the kingdom, and he had no desire at all to unravel events that led endlessly into one another.

‘Of course my mate will not think that way.’

Lucien glanced around the banquet hall with bored eyes.

Then he suddenly felt a power that could not be described by words from outside, and its presence made his hair stand on end.

‘What is that?’

Lucien reflexively turned toward the door, and the other humans seemed to have felt something as well, and they all stared at the door with bewildered faces.

“What was that just now?”

Pearl Asif pressed his brow ridge with his fingers and spoke.

“Well. Was it not the wind?”

“You say wind blew inside a building? It felt more like something swept past.”

Those who had given divided opinions dismissed what happened as imagination because they no longer sensed any presence after that, and the topic changed to the problem of holding the chieftain’s funeral.

“It is custom for the heir to oversee the funeral of the previous chieftain. Yet since the heir’s seat is vacant now, I believe either Jemar or Asif must step forward and proceed with the matter.”

“I agree with that opinion. Too many helmsmen make the boat go up a mountain. I believe it is proper for one family to step forward and handle the matter rather than overseeing the funeral jointly.”

“In that case, wouldn’t you be proper for Jemar to take charge of the funeral? If we compare the number of people in each clan, Jemar ranks next after Harkin.”

“No, that cannot be allowed. Before we compare the total numbers, we must consider the number of shamans capable of performing the rites. Asif currently has more shamans. Therefore it is proper for Asif’s clan to conduct the funeral.”

Lucien sat in his seat and observed the people.

‘As expected…’

Their eyes that glistened with greed were familiar.

They acted as though they sought the good of others or pursued a noble cause, and they wrapped themselves in hollow justifications, and that sight was utterly repulsive.

Lucien had seen countless such people even in the royal palace.

–O great Gold Dragon who guards the kingdom!

‘So the rumor was true, a little brat. Will he ever grow into an adult like this?’

–It is boundless honor to behold you, Gold Dragon.

‘What work does a dragon do? He wastes food while living in the royal castle. He should be grateful when they worship him. Stupid bastard.’

–I heard you found a mate in this tournament. I sincerely congratulate your union.

‘He chose some filthy man of a ruined family. Tsk tsk, he has no eye at all. If it were me, I would have chosen while pretending defeat when the capital’s greatest beauty appeared.’

Fool, idiot, dullard, simpleton, moron…

In front of him they smiled kindly, yet inside they never spared such words. Beyond that, when people with similar thoughts gathered, they laughed together and ridiculed Lucien.

At first he thought they shunned him because he was a dragon, because it was difficult for other races to open their hearts.

Yet humans acted the same even toward King Edward whom they revered like the sky.

Lucien naturally lost interest in humans. If the royal castle that gathered the kingdom’s most precious ones was in such a state, it was clear the rest would be no better.

This place far from the kingdom was no different.

‘If I were the god of this world, I would not allow such beings to rule it.’

As soon as he thought that, his vision turned black. When he blinked again, the scenery surrounding him had changed.

It was a boundless sea without end, and the only things in sight were the vast sky and the sea that touched it, and Lucien floated while keeping some distance from the water.

In that state he confirmed the familiar man standing before him. Golden hair scattered lightly in the wind, and green eyes sparkled, and that figure was identical to his own.

Lucien opened his mouth the moment he saw him.

“Now is troublesome.”

He spoke with the thought that his body would grow larger when he met the man. The man narrowed his eyes and smirked.

“I know.”

“……”

“More than that, did you not just have an amusing thought?”

Lucien recalled the last thought that came to him.

“That I hate humans?”

“Yes. Whether it is like or dislike does not matter.”

Today the man held two spheres in his hands again. Yet their colors were both similar to and different from what he had seen before.

Their hues shifted moment by moment as though they embodied condensed energy, yet one was mostly green while the other was mostly red.

Lucien fixed his eyes on the red sphere, and its color that wrapped it like an unquenchable flame was beautiful, and if possible he wanted to hold it in his hand and looked at it endlessly.

If his heart had not been drawn to the red sphere at that instant, it would be a lie.

But something else weighed on his mind more.

“You are not telling me to choose this time?”

“Whether you choose or not, that too is your choice, so I decided to respect it.”

“What respect?”

Lucien let out a hollow laugh.

“You are restless because I did not pick quickly.”

The man’s face turned rigid, and just as his mood was revealed, the sky that had been clear without a cloud began to darken, and the waves rose higher.

In contrast Lucien became more relaxed.

“Now I have no thought to choose anything. I dislike how you jump out whenever you see an opportunity.”