Chapter 74
He wouldn’t have anything else to say. Carl, seated beside the Crown Prince’s seat of honor, swallowed a bitter sneer.
“If you have valid reasons for judging the black dragon to be evil, it may be considered to some degree in your upcoming trial and in this assembly. However, if you committed such a horrific act unilaterally, thinking it was for the Empire’s sake merely because the dragon was black…”
Hendrick let his words trail off as he carefully surveyed the assembled nobles. As if warning that his next words would apply not just to Count Chandler, but to all of them.
“It means you also affirm the rumors that my dragon Nathan is impure because of his purple color. After all, those rumors too arose from the perception that the black dragon Pegadrasil, the absolute evil that brought chaos to the world, was black.”
“That’s a leap, Your Highness.”
The Marquis clenched his fist and shouted. Hendrick regarded him with a cold, expressionless face.
“Where is the leap, Uncle? Prince Carlston’s Idelin has value not merely because he is a silver dragon like Yggdrasil, but because he himself revealed he was Yggdrasil’s successor when choosing his master. Yet many still insist that silver dragons must be good on Yggdrasil’s side, while black dragons must be evil on Pegadrasil’s side.”
“The black dragon’s very existence causes anxiety among the Empire’s people. Just as Your Grace’s Idelin is a symbol of hope without doing anything.”
Someone from the nobles’ section spoke before the Marquis could respond. Carl frowned and raised sharp eyes toward a point beyond the nobles’ section.
“Are you saying we should punish someone without any evidence of wrongdoing just because their existence causes anxiety?”
“The black dragon attacked Brita!”
“That too is strange. What was the black dragon’s purpose in attacking Brita, and why did this black dragon, who could silently penetrate the capital’s barriers and infiltrate the Dragon King’s nest to kill him, flee after only inflicting minor wounds on Brita?”
As Carl spoke in succession, murmuring noise filled the nobles’ section. The Marquis and Antonio exchanged glances.
‘Whether or not he knows the child is the black dragon’s master, the Prince will try to deny the black dragon’s existence. The child beside him will have planted doubt about the black dragon in the Prince’s mind anyway, so he won’t believe Brita’s attack either.’
They both recalled Revenant’s words almost simultaneously. Almost everything was matching her predictions.
‘Then, you two should attack the Prince.’
Revenant had said, half-hiding her expression with a fan. The Marquis pressed his lips together, remembering her chilling smile. Antonio faced Carl.
“Your Grace. You are the master of the silver Idelin, descended from Yggdrasil’s lineage. How can you, who should deny evil more than anyone, take the black dragon’s side?”
“Side?”
Ha, Carlston let out an open laugh of derision.
“This isn’t children’s play—since when did this become about taking sides, Antonio?”
“Even a black dragon that killed the Dragon King might have fled after only inflicting minor wounds on Brita. If you call it strange because Brita is safe, to me it looks like nothing but protection of the black dragon.”
Carl twisted his lips as if finding Antonio’s words absurd.
“Of course, if Brita was attacked…”
“Not ‘if’—she was attacked. Why do you use the conditional tense for a fact, Your Grace?”
Antonio cut off Carl’s words. Carl furrowed his brow as if he’d been struck from behind.
“I clearly saw the black dragon that attacked Brita through her memories. The gleaming black scales, the blood-red eyes melting into shadows. Could it be that Your Grace doesn’t believe Brita’s memories and my words?”
“Surely that couldn’t be the case. Not from Your Grace, master of the silver Idelin.”
The Marquis picked up Antonio’s words, making Carl frown even more deeply. Hendrick glanced at Carl expressionlessly.
The Marquis wasn’t speaking out of genuine belief that Carl wouldn’t take the black dragon’s side. Rather, the opposite. He was emphasizing that Carl, as Idelin’s master, couldn’t possibly be on the same side as the black dragon. As if something terrible would happen if he were.
“The silver dragon must always be the black dragon’s mortal enemy. Isn’t the confrontation between silver and black like the very root of this Empire?”
It wasn’t confirmation but something closer to coercion. Or perhaps a threat.
“Pegadrasil was a dragon that disappeared in Yggdrasil’s time. Just because a separate dragon has black scales…”
“But isn’t this black dragon’s mere existence causing chaos by shaking the public sentiment that is the Empire’s foundation?”
Antonio continued. He was pressing his attack aggressively, not even giving Carl a chance to speak, as if he had been targeting this.
…Could it be that the black dragon rumors were aimed not at Sian, its master, but at me?
Carl finally realized the real reason Revenant had spread rumors about the black dragon so widely. They planned to paint him, who should have been a glorious being from birth with brilliant silver scales as Yggdrasil’s successor, as a traitor by linking him as the black dragon’s protector.
Defending the black dragon would only serve to stain Carl’s honor black. Antonio’s lips twitched slightly as he faced Carl, who had stopped his hasty words.
“Moreover, if the black dragon hadn’t appeared and chosen Count Chandler’s daughter, the misfortune that befell him would never have happened. All of this is because of that impure and evil being. Isn’t that right, Count Chandler?”
Antonio was deliberately driving public opinion, pressing forward without giving time for deep thought. Count Chandler, who had been kneeling miserably on the platform, silent with regret over his crimes, showed a confused expression.
“Nonsense. Did you not hear what His Highness said? It was entirely his fault for rashly judging a dragon that had done nothing wrong as evil merely because it was black…!”
“Then are you saying that you, master of the silver dragon Idelin, would not have acted like Count Chandler if you encountered a black dragon?”
…Damn, what twisted logic is this?
The idea that he must automatically be the black dragon’s enemy because he was Idelin’s master—what nonsense was this? Though he couldn’t understand it, the commotion sweeping through the nobles’ section didn’t quite match Carl’s feelings.
“At least I wouldn’t have immediately thought to kill a daughter chosen by a dragon.”
The more he spoke, the more he was swept up in their twisted logic. Though he knew this, Carl had no choice but to open his mouth while glaring at Count Chandler. He barely suppressed the urge to look toward Sian.
…What expression was she wearing as she quietly listened to all this?
Though he was curious and concerned, he couldn’t bring himself to turn his head. Most likely, the Marquis and Antonio already knew that his fiancée Haley Dude was Aira Chandler and the black dragon’s master.
Looking at her here would be like exposing a vital point for them to attack.
“Then are you saying you would let live a black dragon that shakes the Empire’s very foundations?”
“This is all hypothetical. Moreover, the black dragon…”
“Your Grace! Brita was attacked!”
Antonio slammed the table with a bang. Though he was excited, both Carl and Hendrick’s brows furrowed simultaneously at the rudeness of striking a table in the assembly hall, especially before the Crown Prince and Prince.
“Why do you insist on the black dragon’s innocence? Though we may not know about the Dragon King’s murder, this subversive being who led the Count to kill his daughter, creates public anxiety, and even attacked Brita!”
Then, raising his eyes to the two Imperial dragon masters who were looking at him seriously, Antonio added a counter-question.
“Could it be that Your Grace knows the black dragon?”
