Chapter 1312: Angel and Dragon (5)
Erin and Kolt were stunned at the sight of the young lady. She had a head full of pitch-black, silky hair and a gorgeous, black dress wrapped around her curvy body. Her delicate and elegant facial features were like works of art. The smile across her face brought a few touches of charm, so much so that even Kolt couldnât help staring in a stupor. After all, this young lady was equally as beautiful as Erin. But unlike the latterâs soft, gentle, and moon-like aura, the former was more like a thorny rose in full bloom, where one couldnât help but desire her, at the same time being worried about getting pricked by its sharp thorns.
Is that⊠Mr. Rhode?
Not only was Kolt bewildered, but Erin was also speechless. She sized up the âyoung ladyâ before her and recognized some features of Rhode from her face. During her days in Grandia, Erin spent a lot of time with Rhodeâs younger sister, so she wasnât unfamiliar with this pair of siblings. And now, this young lady appeared to be the adult version of Rhodeâs younger sister. Just that⊠The change of her overall charisma was too huge.
Rhode wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses that came from nowhere. His smooth and long hair spread out behind him, making him look like a smart, capable, and graceful woman. Frankly, if Erin didnât know that Rhode had gone to prepare himself for this tea session, she definitely wouldnât have guessed that this young lady was his disguise. While it was a bit of a stretch for protagonists in comics to turn into an entirely different person with just a pair of glasses, for Rhode to transform his charisma and aura into that of another person was totally unprecedented to Erin. But fortunately, she was mentally prepared. After being in a daze for a few seconds, she stood up, padded toward âElizabethâ to hold her hand passionately, and smiled as she spoke.
âItâs fine, Elizabeth. I was bored, anyway, so itâs fine.â
Despite not knowing who exactly this âElizabethâ in Rhodeâs setting was to her in person, Erin spoke casually. She wasnât a fool; she knew that she couldnât possibly discuss with Rhode about his disguise right in front of Kolt. Besides, she also didnât have a spiritual connection with him like his card spirits. That was why she could only do as he told her, at the same time figuring out his intentions. She believed that since he had done this, he must have prepared a countermeasure.
âOh-no, you canât say that, Erin. You have been busy all this while. Now that you finally have the time for a gathering, I donât want to waste your time.â
âElizabethâ revealed a gentle smile, extended her arm, and held Erinâs hand in return, before sitting down on the sofa intimately with her. Not only did Erin gasp in wonder at âElizabethâ, but Angelina, who stood at the side, was also dumbfounded. Honestly, Angelina was stunned by Rhode once in the past. But now, she discovered that this master of hers was flawless in every way! He behaved just like Erinâs closest friend right now.
Facing the looks from Kolt and Angelina, Rhode, however, didnât look uneasy in the slightest. It was Erin who felt a bit uncomfortable instead. Frankly, even though she knew this young lady was Rhode, the intimacy between them was, after all, the intimacy between a man and a woman. Now that the situation had turned into this⊠She felt a bit awkward because she wasnât even as intimate with Lydia. And just as she was about to say something, Rhode winked at her, turned around, and looked at the man who sat across Erin.
âBy the way, this isâŠ? Are you two discussing something important?â
âHe is Mr. Kolt, son of Matriarch Bronis of the night wyverns.â
Upon hearing the question, Erin gathered her thoughts and gave a serious introduction to Rhode. And after listening to her response, Rhode snorted, stretched out his fingers to push up his glasses, and scanned Kolt from head to toe. Aware of his gaze, Kolt bowed to her respectfully, not knowing who exactly this âElizabethâ who showed up all of a sudden was. But it seemed obvious that her relationship with Erin wasnât ordinary. Although Kolt had never heard of this person being around Erin, it seemed like Elizabeth and Erin were indeed close with each other. The interactions between them were also natural as though they had known each other for a long time. Since he wanted to marry Erin, it was only right that he should be more polite to her closer friends.
âOh? What is he doing here? By the way, Erin, I heard you lack manpower, so could it be that this fella is here to help?â
While sweeping a glance at Kolt, Rhode asked. And upon hearing his question, Erin and Angelina chuckled inwardly. Of course, they knew Kolt would be much more embarrassed after hearing this remark. After all, the night wyverns had no intention of sending troops to help Erin. And his daily trips to see Erin had nothing to do with that at all. But now that Rhode asked, Kolt had a hard time responding. If Kolt didnât admit that he was here to help, he might piss off âElizabethâ, and the gap between him and Erin might widen. But what if he admitted? Erin was a real piece of work and meanwhile, as the son of the matriarch, Koltâs status wasnât too low either. If he were to admit it, wouldnât he be in trouble if Erin took his words to his mother?
âMy sincere apologies. I came to discuss something else with Her Majesty Erin. Itâs not for a trivial matter like thatâŠâ
âTrivial matter?â
Upon hearing Koltâs answer, Rhode let out a grunt and stared at him with narrowed eyes.
âErin has been busy all day working on this and you think itâs a trivial matter?â
âNo, I meanâŠâ
Faced with Rhodeâs taunting, Kolt was dumbfounded and speechless. Honestly, he couldnât figure out who this Elizabeth was. She definitely wasnât one of the night wyvernsâthat he was certain of. After all, there were only so many of them, and even if they were old and dead, at the very least, they knew one anotherâs names. But Elizabeth was a name that he had never heard of. Despite that, he was really puzzled because he unmistakably sensed a dragon aura exuding from the young lady. This clearly explained that she was just like him: part of the dragon race. But if she wasnât a night wyvern, which dragon race was she? Could she be a rule wyvern instead? She didnât look like one.
âOh, donât make things difficult for him, Elizabeth.â
Gazing at Koltâs embarrassed expression, Erin felt pleased. After all, this guy was really annoying. But due to his identity, she couldnât beat him up like Lydia had suggested. At that moment, witnessing the awkward look on his face, Erin was instantly in a much better mood. The bitter and lingering annoyance that pestered her for days were wiped off cleanly. That was why she displayed a genuine smile and spoke.
âMr. Kolt is just here to chase me. Right, Mr. Kolt?â
âAh⊠Yes, thatâs right.â
Upon hearing Erinâs words, Kolt finally arranged his thoughts. No matter what, he was still someone of a high identity and that was just a momentary lapse of judgment on his part. After he returned to his senses, he restored his usual calmness.
âYour Majesty Erin, I swear that Iâm truly in love withâŠâ
âOh? For this kind of trivial matter?â
However, before Kolt finished his sentence, Rhode interrupted harshly. At that moment, Rhode crossed his arms and glared coldly at Kolt. Then, the corners of his mouth lifted into a taunting smile as he stared in disdain.
âSo youâre here to chase Erin, huh⊠Interesting. In other words, your nest is prepared and ready for Erinâs acceptance?â
âThatâŠ!â
ââŠ!â
Upon hearing Rhodeâs remarks, Kolt was flabbergasted. The expression that he struggled to restore earlier turned ashen instantly. On the other hand, Erin couldnât help but stare at Rhode. It wasnât that Rhode said something wrong, but he happened to mention one of the strictest and oldest traditions among the dragon race.
Dragonâs nest.
The dragon race was a female supremacist race, which was evident from the fact that most of the inheritors of the dragon soul powers were females, like the twin dragons, Erin, and Lilian, who all fell into this category. Rhode was an exception, but the root of it all was his body and soul that shared his younger sisterâs power, which allowed him to inherit the power of the Void Dragon. Erinâs mother didnât inherit the power of the dragon soul, so Ion, who stole the dragon soul power, was unable to kill her and could only imprison her in the underground prison and manipulate her as the converter of the dragon soul power. This showed just how powerful female dragons were.
However, among the dragons, it wasnât their strength that made them the most powerful. As stated before, male dragons had a low status in the dragon race (at least relatively), and if they wanted to pursue the opposite sex, they would need to go through the trouble of preparing their nests for marriage. And for that, not only did they need to dig their nest large enough, but the nest must also be beautiful, magnificent, and have amassed enough wealth. That was why females among the dragon race occasionally roamed, while male dragons were mostly unseen. They were busy accumulating wealth.
It was just like those poor men in Rhodeâs world who worked their butts off just to buy a high-rise apartment downtown and renovate it in order to be considered qualified to ask for a girlâs hand in marriage. Meanwhile, the otherworldly males werenât much better in that regard. It was just that male humans were still luckier than male dragons. If their arrangement didnât please the female, the worst that could happen was a breakup. It wasnât strange at all to get a marriage certificate today and a divorce certificate tomorrow. In that high-intensity and high-paced society, even though it wasnât a par for the course for couples to get married soon after meeting and get divorced shortly after marriage, it was still commonly seen.
Yes, the worst that could happen was just a breakup, which wasnât really a big deal.
But for the dragon race, it was a matter of life and death.
Female dragons were extremely arrogant and picky, especially when it came to their peers. Of course, if it was another race that fell in love with a female dragon, there would be no problem. Because dragons had longevity and were near-immortal, any other race that fell in love with a dragon would die earlier than them. But it was different in the case of love between dragons because they would spend an eternal life with each other. It could also be said that once they married, the two dragons would be bound to the earth until the end of the world. And for that reason, the dragon race couldnât be more picky when it came to settling down with a partner.
Of course, it was usually the female dragons that were entitled to pickiness.
In this context, before a male dragon built his nest and chased the target of his fancy, it was important to carefully consider whether the nest he built was to the other partyâs liking. If the nest itself wasnât to her liking, she might find the ugly, shabby nest insulting. In such cases, the female would be perfectly justified to kill the male!
Thatâs right; kill the male right away. Not even a trial was needed. It was an immediate death penalty.
And what left one speechless was that this kind of slaughter was a law that the dragon race recognized among themselves. In other words, even if the female killed the male, she didnât have to take any responsibility. Because in the dragonsâ mindset, if the male dragon was killed, it must be that he didnât do a good enough job on his nest. It wasnât the female being unreasonable. Thatâs right. They definitely wouldnât recognize the concept of âunreasonable behaviorâ.
With such a âcustomâ, it wasnât difficult to understand why the fertility rate of the dragon race was so lowâŠ
While Koltâs pestering might seem like perseverance and ingenuity to humans, from the perspective of a dragon, he was just sending himself to his grave. He was also fortunate that Erin never agreed to his request. But what if she agreed to his marriage proposal, went to visit the nest he made, and killed him on the spot?
The night wyverns werenât reasonable in the slightest because it was a tradition of the dragon race and one that defended females, so much so that the matriarch couldnât refute no matter how much she loved her son. If she denied Erinâs right to kill her son, then she, the matriarch, could forget about keeping her role forever.
Kolt was bewildered because he didnât expect this âElizabethâ to be so ruthless. He did, in fact, risk his life by chasing Erin, but it wasnât because he was overwhelmed by love. On the contrary, he had done a thorough investigation of Erin and learned that she lived in the Country of Darkness since she was a child and never returned to the territories of the dragon race, which explained why she wasnât knowledgeable of their customs. Not only that, but Erin was also gentle and kind, which was considered really rare (yes, really rare) among the female dragons. That was why Kolt had the audacity to keep pestering her. However, everything went well until someone threw a wrench in the works and he had to go back to the drawing board.
What surprised Erin was that Rhode was so familiar with the secret customs of the dragon race. This also explained why he showed up in the disguise of a young lady. If he had passed himself off as another man, according to the rules of the dragon race, he wasnât allowed to speak to Erin in principle. It was the same as a slave in human society instructing a great nobleman, which was an utterly disrespectful behavior. But things were different since Rhode showed up as a female⊠And a female dragon at that. That was why no matter how close Lydia and Erin were, there was no way Lydia could have inserted herself into the matter as an archangel.
âPardon me. May I know who you are? I donât remember seeing such a beautiful young lady like yourself among the night wyvernsâŠâ
At that moment, Kolt had no choice but to dwindle his expression and examine âElizabethâ seriously. He didnât know who she was and was really suspicious of her real identity. Because in this world, the only remaining dragon dependents were the night wyverns and rule wyverns. Kolt was sure that there was no dragon named âElizabethâ among the night wyverns. As for the rule wyverns, although he didnât know much about them, judging from the dragon aura emanating from the young lady in front of him, he could tell that she wasnât a representative of Order and rule. In that case, he was highly suspicious of this Elizabeth who showed up here.
Upon hearing Koltâs question, Erin began to feel a little nervous. After all, the circle of dragons was really small. No matter how elaborately Rhode explained, it was true that âElizabethâ didnât exist. As long as Kolt carried out an investigation, he would soon find out this truth. So then, what exactly would Rhode say?
âMe?â
After hearing Koltâs question, Rhode raised a dangerous eyebrow. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly with a somewhat playful smile as he gazed at Kolt.
âHow dare a male of the main plane interrogate me.â
âSsssâŠ!â
As soon as Rhode responded, the air in the surroundings changed drastically all of a sudden. The dark night sky and dazzling stars enfolded the entire parlor as a dragon aura exploded and proliferated from Rhodeâs body. In an instant, the bright parlor was enveloped in a dark curtain, while multiple spots of starlight revolved around him like a river of stars. Not only that, but on his back, a pair of dragon wings was outlined and brought together by illusory starlight as it slowly unfurled.
Staring blankly at this scene, Kolt was baffled.
âStar Dragon?!â
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