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JILL raised her head when she heard a dull sound of something breaking.
“Did you hear something just now?” she asked.
“I think so, but where from?” Hadis answered quizzically, tilting his head.
As cheers continued to shower the happy couple, they could see no signs of an accident, but as they honed their senses, they heard a sharp sound of something hurtling through the air—fireworks. Smoke rose in the bright, afternoon sky as a firework burst forth and disappeared. Needless to say, it wasn’t a pretty sight.
They were scheduled to be set off at night, and yet, fireworks continued to pop. Some claimed that these must’ve been celebratory, and they certainly could’ve looked so.
“Maybe there was some kind of mistake,” Jill wondered.
“But that first sound didn’t sound like a firework…” Hadis muttered. “Jill, are all your flowers gone?”
“Just this bit left.”
“Could you scatter them? I think the sound came from the imperial castle. We should go take a look.” Hadis turned to his black dragon. “Hey, don’t say you’re tired. Come on, just a bit more.”
He gripped the reins and the dragon obediently turned toward the imperial castle. Jill tipped her basket over and scattered the petals as cheers arose from the crowd. It didn’t look like they flew away because of some kind of accident.
They disguised themselves with the other dragons, which had sensed the end of the ceremony, and were flying in all directions. Jill and Hadis arrived at the side of the castle when they saw soldiers busily shouting at each other as they arrived at the bridge connecting the wall and the tower. It was near where Gerald was being confined.
That wasn’t all. When Hadis increased their speed, Rave slipped out and shouted, “Hadis! Look! The dragon from before!”
A dragon was defending itself from the arrows that flew toward it, but the moment it saw the Dragon Emperor, it crumbled and vanished like a puff of smoke. The shocked black dragon that Hadis and Jill were riding upon froze.
“It disappeared…” Hadis muttered with a frown. “No, did it die?”
“Hey, stop freaking out!” Rave scolded Raw. “Aren’t you the Dragon King?!”
“Your Majesty, look!” Jill cried.
The bridge, which had been obstructed from view because of the mysterious dragon, was split in half. The moment Jill jumped down, she flinched as the smell of blood hit her nose. As she stepped on the trickling river of red, she left bloody footprints in her wake.
In front of her was a harrowing sight—a blood-soaked Natalie was dissociating from reality as she sat on the ground, and a blade was plunged through Meruonis’s back, blood spilling from the injury.
“Father…” Hadis muttered awkwardly.
Anyone could tell at a glance that Meruonis was dead, his eyes wide and vacant.
“What…happened?” Rave asked with furrowed brows, glancing around.
Hadis closed his mouth and Jill pursed her lips as she slowly approached the bloody princess. She gently shook Natalie’s shoulders.
“Princess Natalie. Princess Natalie, can you hear me?” Jill asked.
“…Jill?” Natalie asked vacantly.
“I’m here. Can you talk? Could you tell us what happened?”
Natalie tried to open her lips, caked with dried blood, but she couldn’t. It looked like she only suffered from a few minor scratches, but something had clearly occurred. A few soldiers had been knocked unconscious by the tower entrance. Jill quietly approached Hadis and looked up at him.
“We should move Princess Natalie to a safe place,” she said. “We can hear her out later.”
“Yeah,” Hadis replied. “Crown Prince Gerald’s gone. Was my father…”
Jill gasped and glanced around. Natalie’s head shot up.
“No!” she cried, clinging onto a shocked Hadis’s legs, her face twisted with desperation. “No! You’ve got it all wrong, Brother Hadis! He… He saved me.”
“Saved you?” Hadis repeated.
“I’m sorry,” she said, large beads of tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Brother Hadis. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wanted to do this well, but I wasn’t good enough. I’m sorry for dragging you down! I’m sorry!” Her shoulders shook as she sniffled and wailed.
Hadis glanced at Jill, and the Dragon Consort grabbed the princess by her shoulders to take her away. All the while, Natalie continued to apologize.
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1312, the year of the divine calendar. Previous Emperor Meruonis passed away.
It had been three years since Emperor Hadis had ascended the throne when the long-forgotten Meruonis had been attacked and killed by someone. Kratos’s Crown Prince Gerald had been dragged into the attack and had gone missing.
As the excitement of the festival still lingered, the imperial capital immediately prepared for a funeral. Confusion about this incident had been kept to a minimum due in no small part to the Three Dukes and Dragon Emperor, who swiftly controlled the information, and the cooperation of the Empress’s Palace, which had ties to the previous emperor.
Who killed Meruonis? There were various suspects, including the Three Dukes, who were on bad terms with him, and the Empress’s Palace, but the primary suspect was Crown Prince Gerald, who disappeared during the attack.
And so, a search commenced throughout Rave for Gerald. Thanks to the Three Dukes’ assistance, the search was on a grand scale like never before.
The citizens continued to gossip in hushed whispers: it might be the start of a war.