CHAPTER 89: THE RELUCTANT DRAGON LORD

Obviously, that did not bode well for anyone.

Sure, it was a fruitful investigation—or as fruitful as sneaking around in closets and prowling through trashed dragonling bedrooms could get—but the results left a bitter aftertaste.

Not only had they uncovered the disturbing issue of bloodletting, but now they also knew that some attendants didn’t even have the proper sigils they ought to carry as servants in the nest.

"So the sigil they should have had had more restrictions? Is that it?" the curious aide asked, finally managing to look less like he’d just been tossed around in a portal and more like himself.

"In a sense, yes," Kael replied evenly. "It was specifically made for the attendants working in the nest. However, depending on who those attendants were allegiant to, they may be under more restrictive clauses."

"Hmm... then aside from knowing it’s a dragon, we don’t really have much of a lead?"

"For now. But there is still the issue of the artifact. It may be a different being, but if we find any leads, they could bring us to an accomplice or to the culprit."

"Oh, right! So that artifact, where it’s stored—how many people have access to it?"

"One."

His eyes lit up. "One?! Then if it’s just one, then—"

"Me."

The single word landed like a rock dropped from the heavens. His almost excited expression cracked into something between disbelief and betrayal.

"...what."

Kael’s golden stare stayed flat, calm, merciless.

And in a deadpanned voice, the aide asked, "Then, My Lord, was it you? Did you take out your nephew so you could take care of him outside? Maybe you wanted to laze around together?"

The dragon lord’s face shifted just enough to make it clear what he thought: idiot. Still, he answered anyway, because apparently, that was necessary.

"Who would want to have their personal space invaded like that?"

They stared at each other.

"..."

"..."

"Yeah, fair enough," he muttered at last, conceding after three long seconds of consideration.

"Then if it’s not you, how exactly would it be useful information?"

"Because access to that place becomes limited to the dragon lord only once the title is officially conferred. But during the gap between transferring the titles, in particular during the coronation rites, there would be a moment when the rights are temporarily transferred to the elders."

"!!!"

The coronation rites.

That one he knew about. Maybe not every detail, but enough. It was one of the few things even human schools had them watch.

A major event. A spectacle. The moment that marked Lord Karion’s retirement and the rise of the youngest dragon lord in history.

Well, young by dragon standards. For a guy who had already lived nearly a millennium, Kael hardly screamed fresh-faced youth.

Still, the memory was vivid. His father had even been there, serving as Lord Karion’s aide. He remembered the house as a blur of frantic activity for months before the event was broadcast, because his father had always been busy with something, while his mother continuously prepared food or supplements for him. Because of this, he could clearly remember the coronation he watched.

So if that was the loophole, then—

"In that case... among the seven elders, who wasn’t present during the coronation?" He leaned forward, eyes widening as the realization clicked. That was a solid lead. Actually, a verifiable lead. All they’d have to do was replay the footage. Not that they needed to. Surely his boss already knew. It was his coronation, after all.

But then came the look.

The dragon lord’s expression soured, eyes darting away like a guilty student who had skipped his homework.

His gut dropped.

No. No way.

"Come again!? You don’t know?!"

The words burst out before he could stop them. He stared, flabbergasted, at his boss—the same boss who lectured them about covering every base imaginable. The same boss who demanded order, information, and precision. And yet here he was... looking like he hadn’t the faintest clue.

"Kael! Wasn’t that your coronation?! Like—like the biggest of all the big things?!"

A golden brow twitched.

"Shouldn’t you at least know who was there when you succeeded?!"

"Why would I care about that," Kael replied flatly, "when I didn’t even want to be the dragon lord."

The aide froze. Mid-rant. Mid-sputter. Mid-midlife crisis.

The words sank in slowly. Too slowly.

He blinked once. Twice. His brain short-circuited between nagging hypocrite and world-shattering revelation.

He... didn’t even want the job?

Wait. Should he even know this?

Would knowing too much get him killed?!

Heart hammering, he slapped his hand over his boss’s mouth before the dragon lord could elaborate.

"Nope. Nope. Stop right there. I didn’t hear anything. Nothing. Not a word," he hissed, horrified, as if sheer willpower could erase the confession from existence.

Kael’s golden eyes narrowed, displeasure flickering there, but he stayed silent.

The aide, on the other hand, brushed his hair back with a hand as though the move could cover for the sheer panic on his face. "Look, the information may be classified, so it’s probably best if you don’t say it out loud."

The dragon lord rolled his eyes, slow and unimpressed, while he hurried to steer the subject elsewhere. "Anyway, it’s fine if you’re not sure. We can check the footage. And, to be extra sure, I can maybe ask my father about what happened that day."

A brow arched. Kael let him ramble.

"So we’re just looking for someone who wasn’t there during the actual succession rite, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Are there... like... special restrictions? Maybe it could be transferable or something?"

"None. The only special restriction was that time itself. Unless," Kael added without pause, "you count the moment the dragon lord position is briefly left open after a dragon lord’s death."

"!"

He blinked rapidly, then made a face. "That’s... brutal. Like, ridiculously brutal."

Still muttering, he continued pacing through half-formed questions about how exactly to ask his father, listing all the ways the conversation could go south.

Kael, meanwhile, only watched. The human’s lips moved, his expressions shifting between suspicion, calculation, and plain horror, as though he were trying to solve the world’s greatest riddle while convincing himself he didn’t want the answer.

What he didn’t realize was that Kael had no intention of clarifying. Not about that night.

Not about how he had gone on a rampage hours before the coronation, as the weight of succession was forced onto his shoulders.

Kael never wanted to be the dragon lord. He never asked for it. But his father had insisted. The only way to free him and yet chain him at the same time. The only way to keep his destruction from swallowing everything.

Because only the dragon lord could fully harness their abilities without succumbing to the backlash.

His parents had done it so he could live.

But if they had truly listened, they would have known—he had never wanted to live like this.

Not that he didn’t understand.

Not that he didn’t care about them.

But because they probably didn’t understand what it was like to be in his position.

One that even now threatened to swallow him in a different way.

"My Lord, so like this, are we going back soon?"

"Yeah. After I inspect the vault for myself."