Vol. 3 Ch. 105

Charlotte rushed into the chamber, her face etched with worry. Leon and Rebecca hurried to meet her.

"Master's wife? Why are you here?" Leon asked, bewildered.

Rebecca held her head in confusion, her wide eyes spinning. "I am so lost—first, Master insisted on coming to the Sea Dragon Clan, and now Aunt Charlotte just shows up out of nowhere! It feels like I’m missing part of the story."

Charlotte looked at Leon, a mixture of urgency and relief crossing her face. But now was not the time to catch up. She quickly made her way to the icy bed.

Seeing Tiger lying there, barely clinging to life, she staggered, her legs nearly giving out. Claudia stepped in, supporting her from behind.

Charlotte stared in disbelief at the man lying before her. Her trembling hand reached out, brushing against Tiger’s weathered, worn face. His warmth was slipping away, his breaths shallow, heartbeat faint.

Her lips quivered, and tears began to stream uncontrollably down her cheeks.

“Tiger… I’m here, Tiger… won’t you open your eyes and look at me?”

Her voice broke, the sadness piercing.

It was as if Tiger heard her call; he slowly opened his eyes. At the edge of life, each blink felt impossibly heavy. But he strained to see the one before him—his beloved, Charlotte.

A soft smile formed on his pale, tired face. Weakly, he murmured her name, “Char… you finally came.”

Tiger tried to lift his hand to touch her face, but he was far too weak. Even breathing was a struggle now.

Charlotte clasped his hand, pressing his palm against her cheek.

“I’m here, Tiger. Can you feel me?”

As his hand touched her face, Tiger felt the warmth of her tears.

“Are you crying? Char… don’t cry… your face will be all messy… and less beautiful…” He coughed, blood spilling from his lips.

Tiger’s heart was so damaged it could no longer pump blood. His life was hanging by the thinnest thread, only held by Claudia’s magic and emergency treatment.

Once that magic and the effects of the medicine wore off—

"Why… why is she here?” Leon whispered, approaching Claudia.

“Your master once told you that after you chose to stand against the Empire, he sent Charlotte somewhere safe,” Claudia replied. “This is that safe place.”

Leon’s mind flashed back. His master had indeed said something like that.

But…

“My master told me… he said she had ‘gone back to her family.’ So, does that mean…”

Halfway through his sentence, the answer dawned on Leon, his realization stunning him.

“Yes,” Claudia said calmly, confirming his thoughts. “Tiger, like you, took a dragon as his wife.”

“W-what—?”

The revelation was short but earth-shattering, like a bomb waiting to go off for the past two decades.

Leon took it surprisingly well, though Rebecca, even with Rosvisser’s support, looked close to fainting.

“Now you understand why he insisted on coming to the Sea Dragon Clan as he neared the end,” Claudia continued. “He knew the severity of his injuries. All he wanted was to see Charlotte one last time.”

"One last time…" Leon murmured.

Claudia placed a hand on Leon’s shoulder. “I know about your plans against the Empire. This is a revolution, Leon, and all revolutions come with sacrifice.”

Leon barely registered her words, feeling like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Moving in a daze, he walked over to Charlotte and wrapped a gentle arm around her shoulder.

His master’s wife clung tightly to Tiger’s hand, refusing to let go, her face streaked with tears.

“Leon… did Rebecca give you the memory stone?” Tiger asked weakly, his voice barely a whisper.

“Yes, Master… she did.”

“Good… that stone contains the evidence to expose the Empire’s schemes. Use it well; it will clear your name.”

“I understand, Master…”

“How are things with the Silver Dragon King?”

“We’re doing—”

“Your granddaughters… the older girls must be five now, and little Aurora, she must be three…”

“Master?” Leon’s voice was soft and tentative.

“Why has everyone gone silent?” Tiger laughed weakly, though it was mostly to himself. “It’s only me talking… I must be so boring…”

He could no longer hear them.

The light in his eyes began to fade.

“Kid… someday, make sure you bring Charlotte to meet them… and tell them… that their grandpa was actually… a great man…”

“I wish… I wish I could hold them just once—”

“But I guess… it’s not meant to be.”

Tiger’s gaze drifted upward, as if drawn by an invisible force, though he continued to murmur, “My life passed by in such a messy blur, without grand achievements… but, in the end, I think I’m content.”

“In my younger days, I served in the Dragon-Slayer Corps, fighting in wars, always without a home.”

“After I retired… I thought I was too old for love and marriage.”

“If I hadn’t met you, Char, this old man would’ve stayed a lifelong bachelor.”

“I used to think the whole world was my home, but it turns out… my home was always with you, Char.”

“It’s just… your family never really accepted us, from all those years ago…”

“But we still spent half our lives together, and at the end of mine, I’m grateful to have you by my side, Char.”

“I remember… I remember a line from a novel. It felt like it was written about us…”

“The dragon must return to the sea… yet the sea does not welcome me… only then do I return…”

His hand slipped from Charlotte’s cheek, and in that last moment, he tried to brush away her tears.

“Tiger?… Tiger! Tiger!!”

“Master… Master!”

“Dad!” Rebecca cried out, clutching his arm as she sobbed.

Charlotte seemed to have cried all her tears. She leaned heavily against Leon, the crushing weight of despair flooding through her, leaving her numb.

Yet Tiger’s last words lingered in Leon’s mind.

The dragon returns to the sea…

A man who had roamed the world with no fixed home had finally found a place to belong. And when death came, he faced it with acceptance.

Tiger Lawrence, a dragon-slayer of the past, died at the hands of the nation he once served with unwavering loyalty.

How… how was anyone supposed to accept this?

“I’m going to save him.”

At that moment of all-encompassing despair, Charlotte’s voice rang out, steely and unyielding, like a sword cutting through darkness.

“His heart is beyond repair, Charlotte. Even Ghost Lotus couldn’t save him,” Claudia said.

“I am going to save him.”

Charlotte stepped up to Claudia, her eyes blazing with resolve.

“His heart is destroyed, right?”

“Yes…”

“Then I’ll use my Heartguard Dragon Scale!”

Heartguard Dragon Scale?

Leon’s eyes widened in shock. He had heard of it only as a safeguard for dragons, a source of life in times of great need. But to create a full Heartguard Dragon Scale took over two hundred years. In a future timeline, Rosvisser had fallen into a coma after a life-saving attack, unable to recover without her scale.

Leon had no idea the scale could also… save a life.

“No, Charlotte, if you give him your scale, what will happen to you?”

“I don’t care. I’m going to save him.”

“Charlotte!”

“Four hundred years!” Charlotte’s sudden outburst surprised even Leon. He had never seen her this furious.

“Four hundred years, Claudia. I’ve obeyed you and father. Marrying Tiger was my one decision. I hadn’t returned home for thirty years.”

“And Tiger saved my life back then, so now it’s my turn to save him. What’s wrong with that?”

“And if I don’t even have the right to defy orders twice in four hundred years, then what is my life worth?!”

“Charlotte…”

“Please… let me do this, Claudia.”

Claudia’s expression softened, frustration fading into helplessness. She exhaled deeply, finally relenting.

“Do as you wish. Everyone else, come with me. Only Charlotte stays here.”

Claudia led everyone out of the chamber, leaving Charlotte alone.

Charlotte moved to the ice bed, gazing at her husband with fierce determination.

“I won’t let you leave me like this, Tiger.”