CHAPTER 59: TALK WITH THE EMPEROR (1)

"Luke, what’s there?"

These words echoed throughout the area. Luke’s gaze settled on his sister, and he said, "I didn’t send all the dragons to you, sister."

Immediately afterwards, he looked at the habitat he had created on the stone hand and said, "Come, Shenhal."

When he issued this command, a deep roar echoed throughout the city:

"SKRYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

It was a roar that made it clear he was alone in the sky. A roar so powerful it would make the other dragons tremble where they stood.

Following the roar, a dragon emerged from the stone hand and suddenly grew in size.

"WHOOOOMPH!!"

"WHOOOOMPH!!"

"WHOOOOMPH!!"

After flapping its wings three times, the mighty dragon landed on the ground in the courtyard of the enormous palace, having reached its full size. After landing in the courtyard, the Ancient Dragon lowered its head towards Luke.

Penelope and the others were smiling. Even Alfred couldn’t help but smile.

Luke gently stroked the Ancient Dragon Shenhal’s face, covered in pure white scales, and then turned to his sister Penelope and said, "This Ancient Dragon Shenhal is one of the remaining eighteen."

Then he corrected himself and said, "At least, one of the remaining eighteen, as the Hieras believe."

"He’s... so beautiful..." Lucy said suddenly, her eyes almost filling with tears. It was true... Shenhal was a beautiful dragon. Beauty was usually associated with female dragons, but Shenhal was not a female. Still, his white scales were so bright, pure, and beautiful that there was nothing else to say.

At least, when one thought of Shenhal, the first thing that came to mind was her beauty.

"I know," Luke said, then looked at Shenhal again and added, "You’ve been here for a while. Don’t go too far; you can go to the Tholien Mountains and come back, take your time, it can be days."

When the Ancient Dragon Language echoed around them smoothly and gently, Shenhal held his head high and flapped his wings once more, soaring up into the sky.

The Ancient Dragon disappeared over the horizon in just a minute, and Luke turned to Alfred and said, "I think it’s time to talk, father."

Alfred had nothing to say. He might have been the emperor of the Hiera Empire, but the moment Luke had taken control of an Ancient Dragon, that position had already been shaken.

Now, seeing this reality meant only one thing for Alfred.

Luke must want the throne.

Still, when the entire family—at least the nine-member group of the family that came with dragons—entered the palace and went to the meeting room, Alfred realised how wrong he had been.

"I don’t hate you, father."

When the family members sat around a round table, Alfred and Luke were facing each other. Luke had just repeated the words he had heard a moment ago.

When Alfred heard these words, he seemed surprised and asked, "Why?"

"Because I am aware of my own worth. I am aware of what I am capable of and what I have done since I arrived in the place. Technically, I am currently considered the leader of the Hieras, but believe me, I couldn’t care less." Luke replied.

Then he smiled and said, "Instead of wasting my energy hating you, I can use it to save more people. Still, I have a request, or rather a few requests, and I hope you can accept them."

After hearing these words, Alfred looked into Luke’s eyes and asked, "What do you want?"

"First of all, whether you like it or not, Zoey and I are going to get married. It won’t happen now, because everything is very serious and needs to be sorted out and worked on, but it will happen eventually. When it does, I want you to stay with me and accept it," Luke replied.

When Alfred heard these words, he chuckled amid everyone’s astonishment.

"Even when I tried to break off your engagement and separate you, didn’t Zoey leave her home to come to you, Luke? Do you think a woman who gave up her throne to be with you needs my help or support to marry you?" Alfred asked.

Luke knew he could never be the same with his father again. He was hurt, even if he didn’t care much anymore. Still, Alfred had managed to act like his old self for the first time in over half a year.

"You know what I mean," Luke said with a smile.

"Well, you might not know, but even though I was angry with Kassadin, what Zoey did and getting beaten up by Emma helped me get my head together a bit. I was going to send you a letter before you sent out the banquet invitations, letting you know that your engagement is now legal and up to date again," Alfred replied suddenly.

Of course, this surprised Luke.

"I... wasn’t expecting that... But why did you take my princely title? You saw what I could do, you saw what I did even without my gift, you could have given me a chance to show you everything," Luke said. Instead of stating his next request, he wanted to question his father.

The young man was trying to fight against his trauma.

When Alfred heard these words, he truly looked like an emperor in the eyes of the entire family. Luke trembled for a moment in the face of this authority.

It had been more than half a year since he had seen his father’s stern yet compassionate side.

"Hiera Empire, Imperial Law Book, Page 196, Line 12, 3rd word from the beginning. Every prince and princess born within the Empire shall be evaluated on the gifts they have earned in the church when their training period ends and they reach the age of eighteen. If a gift that is not befitting of the Hiera Empire, that is, one that is not war-focused and not used on the battlefield under the name of [death], is obtained, that prince or princess’s rank must be stripped, and they must be exiled. The person who does this must be the current emperor or empress of the Empire. From that day forward, the emperor or empress must sever all ties with that person and erase them from their lives."