Dragon Order of Flame
Volume 1
Chapter 3 – Collision
Luke was the illegitimate child of Count Astal.
Count Astal was constantly filled with lustful thoughts, and although he already had a wife and 2 concubines, there were many scandals of him bothering his maids.
Luke was the aftermath of that lust.
There were many women who slept with the Count and was pregnant with his child.
However, the majority of them were given money by the Count’s wife to be silent. If there were any women who tried to forcefully stay within the castle, the wife would get rid of them through any means. Unfortunately, for the wife, before she could continue with her evil ways, the Count saved 2 of them and kept them as his concubines.
“And my existence was a huge mistake to the Count’s wife.”
A woman was pregnant yet didn’t want to be a concubine, even refusing to collect money in exchange for the annihilation of the child. The existence of this woman was Luke’s mother, Rinal. She continued to keep her silence on the Count’s child and died of poverty and illness.
That’s why, the Count’s wife didn’t know of Luke until he was already 15 years old. During Rinal’s final moments, she gave a letter to Luke which was given to her to use if she was in trouble by the Count, and sent him on his way to the Count’s castle.
Of course, Count Astal flipped when he saw the young boy.
Luke happened to have arrived while the Count was staying with the castle and caused disarray. If the Count wasn’t home, the wife would have killed Luke or locked him up and shipped him far away.
However, seeing Luke who resembled himself and carrying that special letter, the Count quickly recognized Luke to be his son. In the following events that came after, everybody the Count owned came to know of Luke’s existence. The Count caused huge disarray within the family, and left for work the following day. Since then, many peculiar situations arose.
“Which is why, after much thought, the Count’s wife decided to get rid of me and tried to poison me with the milk. All in order for me to not meet my father.”
Volkar questioned.
“Always acting like beasts huh…..That expression is appropriate. I guess that’s normally true. That’s why I was never filled with hope, and just wanted to live a blissful life as a servant in the castle. The place I used to live in was part of the ghettos, so it was a struggle to live there. It would’ve been a dream to work as a servant to the Count.”
However, there was a peculiar law that existed within the outskirts of the kingdom. It was created by the 3rd generation king, who usurped the throne with strength, in order to justify his situation.
“It was stated that if one was of nobility, firstborn, and the heir of the family, that person could deem a child as part of their family member, even if the child was illegitimate. If done well, the child could also succeed as heir of the family.”
“The 3rd generation king was the illegitimate child of the original king. However, he was also an active character on the battlefield, and as he continued with major contributions, he also became a great influence in the royal household.”
Also, the original king did not choose a successor before his demise which lead to a bloody battle between the successors of the throne. Unfortunately, through that battle, all the successors ended up dying and meeting their demise.
“…..That is how the 3rd generation king became who he is, and in order to justify his stand on the throne, he created the law that I spoke of earlier.”
Luke was an unforgiveable existence to the Count’s wife, because he had a chance to become the heir to his wealth and status. She continued to try and kill Luke for 13 years, unbeknownst to the Count.
“Of course, I wouldn’t just sit there and take it as if everything was okay. Since she wanted to kill me, I got angry and also gained greed which I’ve never had.”
Count Astal had impregnated Luke’s mother yet never went to go visit her, and because of that, he was the one to cause her to live in poverty and die of illness.
Because of what he saw his mother go through, Luke didn’t expect any negativity from Count Astal. He neverlooked at the Count as a father. Luke only thought of him as a sliver of hope in this hard life.
In the midst of all this, Luke formed an anger and hatred for the Count’s wife because she kept trying to kill him. How could she even try and be killing an innocence when the blame is all on the Count?
As Luke thought this over, he wanted to destroy the wife as well as Marvin. He did everything in his power to fight against them.
“What do you mean what happened, they were destroyed.”
“For 9 years, we fought and did things we could and could not do, without hiding anything. People died left and right, and we even got external forces to take everything little by little. Eventually, everything was taken away by a neighboring family and the Astal family fell. The family’s disarray grew even further when father went out to subjugate evil and came back with a heavy injury. It lead him to lie in bed for quite a while. Now that I think about it, I was pretty cruel.”
Thinking back on it, it was quite an interesting situation. An illegitimate child like me that came from the streets fought hard for 9 years, in order to become the successor of a noble family.
“Why do you think that?”
“If you say it like that, that’s true.”
Luke smiled brightly. He was a human being that tried to kill an absolute dragon. Although, he came back to the past as if nothing happened, wasn’t he trying to make sure that he succeeded this time?
Fighting with the Count’s wife was nothing when compared to killing a dragon. As Luke thought and laughed.
“Hahahahaha! Ah, how funny. To think that I get a fresh restart……..If it’s like this, my reason for hating you is also gone now.”
Everything that Luke went through became null. Even the fight with the Count’s wife hasn’t happened yet.
‘If only mother was still alive……’
Luke knew it was greed that would never be fulfilled, but he wished he could have gone back in time just a little more. If he was able to go back even 2 or 3 years from where he was at now, he might not have had to see his mother die in pain.
“No, I can’t place the blame on you for that. I still have anger welling up in me when I heard your name, but I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity again.”
Luke thanked Volkar with a complicated heart. To think that there would come a day when he thanked Volkar. It just felt like a dream.
Volkar talked.
“I didn’t do it to get thanked by you. I just wanted to erase my mistake.>
“Ha! Why are you so stiff? I’m already irritated with the fact that I have to share my body with the likes of you.”
It definitely was an irritating feeling to think that someone else’s spirit was inside your body. Doesn’t it mean, that no matter what happens, nothing is a secret anymore?
Luke continued to frown and mutter his discontent as he made up his mind for his future.
Chapter 3 – End.