CH 27.5

【Dragon Emperor Side Story】

Blood everywhere.

Blood of soldiers.

Cracked bows, shredded arrows, and broken bodies.

Only one person was standing, and it was their leader, Vane. His chin-length brown hair was soaked in blood. He knelt on the wet ground, propped his body with a sword.

「WHY!」He yelled,「All you need to do is cast a spell, JUST ONE! Then all my enemies would be eliminated, and the people who follow me would be healed. Clarence, is this your love?」

The glorious Dragon Emperor was floating in the air. He had blond hair and golden eyes:「When you left my protection and determined to pick up that sword, I told you I would not interfere with anything you do anymore. However, I love you. My love for you made me cross that boundary. I gave you a set of impenetrable armor; I deliberately letting the wind knocked over that poisoned drink. No one could hurt you under my watch.」

「You make the laws! ‎‎However, not all the dragons followed them!‏ There were dragons violating your law everywhere, then why won’t you cast a spell on my army?」

「Because I am the one who made the laws. If I violate it too, who am I to rule over the other dragons? Vane, you won’t want to know what could happen when all the dragons join the war.」

「You are so clammed, Your Majesty the Great Dragon Emperor!」Vane smiled sorrowfully at him,「I have lost everything except my life. Why don’t you take the last protection away from me? In that case, I can die in happiness and honor. Instead, I am standing here facing these– I promised my man victory; I promised them a flourishing age. Thus, I gained their trust. I told them the most powerful dragon was on our side! Ah! Now, they one by one fallen here in front of you. Aren’t you the one loving humans the most? Aren’t you the one who tells me you are madly in love with me? How could you bear to watch me walking into the abyss, step by step? End me, Clarence, or never show up in front of me again.」

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Clarence looked at him for one last time, then slowly, he turned and flew away. He remembered everything about Vane. Clarence remembered how those brown eyes looked at him with passionate love. His heart was hurting, but he did not look back.

His Majesty, the Dragon Emperor, had a mysterious gallery that only a few dragons had the honor to enter. Again, today he was sitting in the gallery alone. The gallery seems endless. From the beginning to the end, there were human portraits hung on the wall one after another. Clarence did not like to record their images by magic. He preferred to transfigure into human form and paint those memories with his own hands.

Humans’ life spans were always so short. And their love did not outlast their life

He mixed the brown pigment and painted Vane’s brown hair stroke by stroke. Quietly, a drop of tear fell and wet the canvas.

He was not the first and won’t be the last either. Clarence loved to keep his heart young. He would treat every romance like it was his first love. He cherished every bit of pain as he cherished every bit of happiness during that relationship. He was not fear of losing. He was worried that his heart wouldn’t throb when the next smiling face showed up.

He couldn’t bring himself to the mainland for a very long time.

Decades later, Clarence once passed by a human kingdom. His appearance did not change, still shining like the golden sun. A frail old man sat on the throne and surrounded by his offspring. He stopped His Majesty, who was passing by. The old king took His Majesty’s hand and dropped an apologetic kiss on his fingertips.

「Clarence,」His voice was aged,「I’m sorry.」

「Why do you apologize to me, Vane? It is my will to love you, respect you, and that lead to our separation. This is destiny. It is not anyone’s fault.」

「If I stay under your protection forever, then I won’t see anything but your scales. I said that and left you. However, when I was facing my own failure, I repented and blamed it all on you. Now, I have almost experienced my entire life and am about to leave this world forever. I am glad to meet you again, the dragon who gives me the whole world!」

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『Then what? Then what? 』 The young dragon grabbed His Majesty’s front paws and asked. He was the consul’s nephew, and he loved to listen to His Majesty’s stories.

『Then he passed away. If a human lives to his age, certainty, he dies in the end.』

The young dragon had a disappointed look on his face:『This ending is not poetic at all.』

Thus the young dragon decided to take a nap. He balled himself up and pointed his butt at the portrait of a brown hair and brown eyes human. The human in the painting smiled confidently, and there seemed to be a whole world in his eyes.