The flames in the bone bowl burned fiercely.
Aurina really wanted to say, your hair’s about to catch fire, because you’re not a true dragon and not fireproof.
Frostsilver said, “…And the blood relation is quite close, too. No wonder—I feel a special affinity when I see this child. I always can’t bring myself to be ruthless.”
Aurina used her tail to snatch the cake from the maid’s tray below and said, “It’s clearly because this king is strong enough, domineering enough, and tough enough.”
“So,” Frostsilver said, “I demand to raise this child, in the name of a distant relative.”
Richard only snapped out of it to ask, “So you’re a red dragon descendant?”
“Probably.” The fire in the bone bowl was still burning, like a bonfire.
Firelight fell on Frostsilver’s oval face, smooth as congealed fat.
The pale white scales on her neck reflected the light.
“You… aren’t you a silver dragon descendant?”
“This involves family secrets,” Frostsilver said seriously. “I believe my family inherited a more elegant silver dragon bloodline. But evidently, from what we see now, it’s mixed with the Dread Dragon’s bloodline—this isn’t unusual… Wait, bring my knowledge glasses.”
Another maid appeared at some point, a gold-rimmed glasses on the tray.
She put them on, pushed them up with her middle finger toward Richard: “Let me continue generously tossing some ancient secrets into the knowledge beggar’s bowl—if you understand dragon language, during the fight with him, you should have understood this dragon phrase…”
Frostsilver paused, slowly uttering: “Vrak Zharrak Thuris!”
The words resounded, as if thunder echoed in the air.
Sophia had a vision and auditory hallucination of something incredible; she was struck as if by lightning, her face slowly paling.
The pudding in her mouth—she was biting it but froze, not biting down.
Richard said, “I heard something similar, but I don’t know much about dragon language. What does it mean?”
“You should say please,” Frostsilver said. “Especially when you’re asking someone with knowledge because of your ignorance.”
“Please tell me.”
“I am the red dragon champion,” Frostsilver said. “Although red dragons are chaotic by nature and disorganized, every so often, they follow tradition and hold a champion selection tournament, with irregular timing. At that time, they gather and roar at the sky, informing all adult red dragons in the world that the red dragon champion selection has begun.”
“Six hundred and eighty-two years ago, in a battle that decided the Wenlogo Dynasty, history records a roaring red star streaking across the sky, causing the Wenlogo Dynasty’s advantageous cavalry to fall from their horses. Because their mounts panicked, leading to the dynasty’s downfall.”
“That was merely the dragon tournament starting, with the red dragons roaring at the sky.”
Richard said, “How many dragons participate in the dragon tournament?”
“Don’t know,” Frostsilver said. “Said to be over a thousand.”
“Are there that many red dragons in the world?”
Frostsilver smiled contemptuously: “Humans… even adding elf and dwarf settlements, they’re just islands in this world, with wilderness like seas surrounding these islands. Human history is too short—you can ask the elves. Though elves only half-understand dragons, they know more than humans.”
Richard said, “The Dread Dragon was a dragon tournament champion?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not surprising,” Richard said. “What does that have to do with what you said earlier?”
“A key scoring point in the red dragon tournament is how many dragon descendants you’ve sired in the world,” Frostsilver said. “And the Dread Dragon was the champion for one hundred and eight consecutive tournaments—his offspring are more than you can imagine. So, as the world’s oldest dragon descendant family, having some Dread Dragon bloodline is perfectly normal.”
“Only the ignorant would be greatly surprised.”
The fire in the bone bowl was still burning.
Aurina sniffed and said, “The bone seems about to boil.”
Only then did Frostsilver lift her finger, shooting an ice ray to extinguish the bone bowl’s flames.
“Even if you don’t want to believe it,” Frostsilver said, “I am indeed Aurina’s distant relative. In terms of blood relation, I have more right to raise Aurina than you. In terms of material conditions, the gold and food I can provide Aurina won’t lose to an adult giant dragon’s treasures. And you… if I’m not mistaken, Richard, the most expensive thing on you is the fire scale accessory.”
Richard said, “But I can guide her toward the path of good. I even suspect you want Aurina by any means for your ambitions.”
“You’re talking about harnessing a giant dragon to wage wars north and south for my county? Ridiculous—I just need to occupy the Champagne Plains to continuously profit from commerce. Even gaining more land would increase governance difficulty for me, with lesser gains. Why do such thankless work?”
Richard said, “Doing some terrifying research or something.”
“But she’s my distant relative,” Frostsilver said. “Even if you don’t believe it, we can sign a treaty. You said in court before that Aurina isn’t some item—she’s a person. And thus, our previous division treaty on the dragon lair treasures doesn’t apply, so Aurina doesn’t belong to you, unless she’s still an ostrich egg.”
Richard was speechless for a moment.
“Why?” Aurina asked. “You guys are so weird. Why does fire coming from a bone bowl decide who raises me? What’s this relative stuff, this custody—is it some magic spell?”
Richard suddenly realized: “Right, I demand to inspect this bone bowl.”
“Are you doubting me?”
Richard said, “Yes, your credibility is low with me.”
Frostsilver said, “This was made by my ancestor, executing her child in front of a gold dragon mother. Letting the mother’s grief condense into the bone, using the bone as material.”
Actually, it was Frostsilver fighting with one of the Dread Dragon’s gold dragon lovers; she yanked off the other’s dragon horn, and it just so happened the opponent’s horn was old, ready to grow a new one.
“Truly evil.”
“You can use zone of truth to check,” Frostsilver said. “If you’re worried, you can test it yourself.”
Richard seriously activated zone of truth and even tested it himself.
Frostsilver crossed her arms, watching Richard bustle about, filled with a sense of intellectual superiority over him.
What a joke—how could a real thing check out as fake? Aurina really is her niece.
Unless Richard knows this bone bowl well, knowing the relation between flame color, size, and blood relation closeness.
Even then, he’d at most suspect why the surface blood relation is so shallow, yet the fire burns so vigorously?
Without knowing her true identity at all, no matter how smart Richard is, he can’t win in an information asymmetry situation.
Such a pitiful bug, with terrifying martial prowess in vain—he’s just my pawn.
After Richard finished tinkering, he helplessly admitted: “You didn’t lie, and didn’t fake it.”
“Alright,” Frostsilver said. “Congratulations on your marriage in advance. Spend these few days well with Aurina, since these are the last days she’ll stick to you all day. After that, if I have time each year, I’ll bring Aurina to visit you, so you can rest easy. How about that?”
Richard reluctantly looked up at Aurina on his head and asked: “Aurina, what do you plan?”
Though Frostsilver was confident in her wealth—dragons love the rich—she still said: “In custody disputes, the child’s opinion isn’t important; it ranks after economic factors and such.”
Aurina finished her fourteenth pudding and said: “I want to keep riding Richard.”
Frostsilver asked: “Why?”
“What’s so important about fire, or the color of fire?” Aurina said. “This king doesn’t want to be with you, unicorn.”
Frostsilver didn’t get angry—on the surface, she didn’t—and said: “It seems Aurina needs some time to truly understand the conditions of both custody parties. No problem, Richard—I have plenty of time and resources to contest custody with you.”
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