Chapter 1: Meeting With the Dragon Consort and the Queen
“PLEASE, Your Majesty,” Jill pleaded as she gazed up, her husband’s hand clasped in hers. “Don’t just make me bait without telling me.”
The Dragon Emperor walked down the spacious stone corridor that led to the Dragon Consort’s Palace. The empty corridor was so wide, the shafts of light didn’t reach them. Only the conversation of the married couple and their footsteps echoed around them.
“Don’t rush into enemy territory all by yourself,” Jill pressed. Her husband, who matched her stride, glanced down at her, but his expression was difficult to read. Jill only tightened her grip on his hand. “Don’t change occupations without consulting others, and don’t test me! And don’t go wandering off with strangers!”
“Okay,” the Dragon Emperor replied.
“And don’t knowingly drink poison, okay?”
“Got it.”
“Do you really?!”
Jill had been duped once and found it hard to believe he wouldn’t do it again. As she stood in place, her husband, Hadis, did as well, right where the light trickled in. His cheeks were tinged pink with embarrassment, but Jill still doubted her husband.
“Stop acting all cute! You’re trying to lie to me, aren’t you?” Jill demanded.
“I’m not,” Hadis replied.
“Then why do you look so happy?!”
“Because I realized that you don’t trust me at all.” Hadis cupped his reddening cheeks and gave an enchanted sigh. “You understand me so, so well, and that makes me really happy.”
“That bit shouldn’t make you happy.”
The Dragon Emperor paid no heed to his wife’s exasperation as he smiled with elation. Jill stomped her foot angrily.
“Let’s review what I just said!” she cried. “First, don’t just make me your bait—”
“Save your breath, Missy,” Dragon God Rave interjected. “You can’t stop him once he sets his mind on something. Emperors are all like that; in fact, it’d be problematic if he didn’t have that attitude as the Dragon Emperor.”
The deity climbed atop Hadis’s head and rested his chin there. Jill glared at her husband’s carefree adoptive father.
“Then it’s your fault that His Majesty is like this, I take it?” she accused.
“W-Well, when you say it like that…” Rave stammered.
“Yep, it’s all Rave’s fault,” Hadis chimed in.
“You shut up!” Jill and Rave shouted simultaneously.
The Dragon Emperor pouted. “Why am I the only one getting a scolding?”
“Because you’re always up to no good the moment I look away, Your Majesty!” Jill replied before she turned angrily to the deity. “And Rave, not once have you tried to stop him.”
Rave cleared his throat loudly. “C-Come on, you only take your eyes off him for a few moments. Besides, with a meeting with Kratos on the horizon, he won’t do anything stupid. Despite all he’s done, he can stay behind like a good Dragon Emperor. Can’t you, Hadis?”
“Yeah, I can,” Hadis replied with a straight face.
A moment of silence settled in between the trio. Jill and Rave let out a sigh.
“Am I the only one who can’t believe a word he says?” the Dragon Consort muttered.
“Sorry, Missy. I’m beginning to lose confidence, too,” Rave mumbled. He turned to Hadis, “Why are you so obedient this time around? Usually, you’d make a huge fuss about how you’d hate to be apart from Missy.”
Hadis puffed out his cheeks angrily as he received a scolding from his wife and his father. “Of course I hate it! I hate to be apart from Jill for even a second! But when she doesn’t trust me at all, her mind is filled with thoughts about me even when we’re apart, worried to death that I’ll be up to no good. And I kind of like the thought of that too.”
“Why did you raise him to become like this?” Jill asked Rave.
“Kids sometimes don’t grow up as you want them to. It’s all very logical,” Rave replied.
“I see… That logic seems to be a very convenient tool for you, Rave.”
“Besides, I’m not some one-trick pony that can only make a fuss. I can mature too, you know!” Hadis declared as he puffed out his chest.
Sadly, no one could place even an iota of trust in him. He scooped Jill up in his arms and walked ahead.
“You’ll be late, Jill,” he said. “Vissel will be angry at me for not better planning out my schedule.”
“Everything you do is so suspect, Your Majesty,” Jill grumbled.
“Really?! You can’t trust anything I do or say?!”
“Ugh, stop sounding so excited by that!”
“Let’s give it up, Missy,” Rave said. The solemn Dragon God flew to meet Jill’s line of sight. “Even if you’re around, he’ll act when necessary.”
Jill couldn’t find it in her to retort as Hadis stepped outside the corridor with her cradled in his arms. The bright sunlight and the dazzling white flowers blinded her for a split second. The front yard of the Dragon Consort’s Palace, laid with a path of stone tiles, had rowdy people preparing to depart. The palace was in a corner of the Empress’s Palace and had been off-limits to men, except for the Knights of the Dragon Consort. However, things had changed. The servants of the imperial castle often visited, along with the Dragon Knights of the imperial army. They ran around to check their belongings and prepare the carriages.
The flora had cast aside the beginnings of spring and turned a vibrant verdure as the air felt crisp and clean. The white flowers that bloomed in the front garden glittered under the sun as the droplets of rain from the previous night rolled off their petals. Wispy clouds dotted the sky as a sliver of rainbow shimmered across the azure canvas of the heavens. It was a refreshing day for departure. The dragons were all lined up, waiting for the Dragon Consort to give her signal.
“No! Why must I head to Lehrsatz?!” an old man cried.
“Come on, Grandpa. You’re a Knight of the Dragon Consort, aren’t you? You’ve got no choice,” Camila said.
“I only accepted the role from the lass because she said I could stay in the library of the Dragon Consort’s Palace!” Rolf shouted. “Now I’m being ordered to leave the palace and ride on the back of a dragon, no less?! I’ve been scammed! Scammed, I say! It’s oppression with the abuse of power!”
“Aw, c’mon, Li’l Raw’s by your side too,” Zeke said. “He may not look like much, but he’s the Dragon King.”
“I’m tired of that squealing squirt of a dragon!” Rolf snapped.
“Hey, don’t be so casually rude to Raw, you two,” Camila scolded.
“No means no!” Rolf shouted. “I swore on me life that I’d never ride a dragon again!”
“Listen, we don’t want to ride a dragon either!” Zeke replied. “Let’s just tie him to the saddle.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Camila agreed. “With Raw on our side, this old man will be fine even if he faints.”
Even from a distance, Jill could tell that her subordinates were arguing, which only gave her a headache.
“It’s the end of the world if Knights of the Dragon Consort all refuse to ride a dragon,” Rave cackled.
“It’s no laughing matter,” Jill replied. “I’ve got three knights, but none have their own dragons!”
“You’ve learned to talk the talk, Missy.”
“Of course! I’ve now got a dragon of my own!”
As Jill gazed proudly upon her dragon, the red beast with a saddle on its back turned around. Unlike the others, some ornate décor adorned this dragon’s face and chest, and its saddle flap contained embroidery of a shield and a flower—the crest of the Dragon Consort.
The Dragon Consort’s personal mount was a red dragon with gold eyes, the highest-ranking beast possible aside from the white Dragon God Rave and the inky black Dragon King and Queen. A red dragon with gold eyes was the best a human could ever obtain.
“Raw was sulking, you know,” Rave said. “Because you kept gloating about how you got a personal dragon.”
“But this dragon is mine! Mine and mine alone!” Jill cried.
She was released from Hadis’s hold and stood before her dragon with her arms held wide to gesture to its glory. The red dragon huffed proudly behind her. The two had met in the Grand Duchy of Laika. Two weeks ago, the red dragon had finished training and challenged Jill to a rematch. Ultimately, Jill had won the match, but as she watched the magnificent scarlet dragon spitting fire while it glided through the air and charged at her with all its might, Jill was impressed. She no longer wished to beat it into submission and instead requested the dragon to become hers. The great beast bowed in acceptance.
While the two couldn’t communicate perfectly with each other like Hadis, both the red dragon and Jill were united in their drive for greater power.
“Well, I don’t mind if you’re happy, but…” Hadis trailed off.
“Rar,” Raw chimed in.
He popped out beside Hadis’s legs, having fled from the quarreling Knights of the Dragon Consort. The baby dragon was tiny and could roll into a ball, but his black scales and gold eyes marked him as the Dragon King. The red dragon behind Jill also bowed its head with respect.
“Are you sure about this, Raw?” Rave asked. “Your favorite Missy has been stolen away. At first, she kept talking about how she wished to ride upon a gold-eyed, black dragon.”
“It’s fine,” Hadis replied. “Raw doesn’t try to fly one bit, after all.”
“Rawr!” Raw chirped grumpily. He slapped his tail against Hadis’s legs.
“Hey, don’t take it out on me.”
“Rawr!”
The two began to bicker, but the Dragon King matured as he used Hadis’s spirit as nutrition. The Dragon Emperor was partially to blame, as Raw remained the same as the day he hatched and refused to fly.
I know that you can grow and fly if you want, Jill thought. Just recently, she had seen a gold-eyed black dragon fly around with Hadis on his back. She was certain that the dragon was Raw. If he chooses to hide the fact that he can fly, I’ve got plans of my own, too.